Chamber needs help to upgrade visitor center
Karen Peterson
Ronan Visitor Center
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RONAN – The Ronan Visitor Center needs some work, so the Ronan Area Chamber of Commerce stepped in to get things done by raffling a Polaris Ranger ATV.
The chamber is selling only 500 tickets at $40 each, and the drawing for the winning ticket will be on Sept. 17 at the Ronan Harvest Fest.
“We’ve only sold about 40 percent of the tickets,” said Lana Bartel, executive secretary of the Chamber. “We hoped to be further along than this by now.”
The chamber purchased the utility vehicle with side-by-side seating and a dump box on the back end from Ronan Power Products with a value around $11,000.
“They gave us a substantial discount on the price,” she said.
The chamber members were hoping to get at least $15,000 from ticket sales to upgrade the log cabin visitor’s center on U.S. Highway 93 in town.
“We’ve already used some of the money for safety reasons,” she said, explaining that the visitor center needed a ramp for people with disabilities. The roof also needed to be repaired. The repairs couldn’t wait if the center was to be open on time from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Electrical repairs are also on the to-do list, including the addition of a meter box.
“We need to upgrade the wiring for safety reasons and so we can have electricity to outside events,” she said.
A portion of the proceeds will go to the Ronan VFW if tickets are purchased from them. Tickets can also be purchased the chamber office and many local businesses.
The chamber has a new website where more information can be found about the town, the visitor center, and the raffle at www.ronanchamber.com
