Manson Chamber of Commerce to host open house at new Wapato Way location

MANSON – The Manson Chamber of Commerce is settling into its new home on Wapato Way and will be ready for residents to check it out at an open house next month.

Susan Templeton, manager of the chamber’s visitor center, said the new location has more space and is in a more prominent location than their previous spot on Hale Street.

“The new location is great,” she said. “We've had a lot more traffic coming into the visitor center just because of the location, and we have our big yellow chair out front, which is welcoming everyone in.”

The chamber was closed for all of February and March while they prepared the new location, which is the old Wells Fargo bank building. Before they could open the doors they needed to install new carpeting and there was a lot of cleaning and painting to be done, Templeton said.

All of the work was done by volunteers.

“Volunteers helped us get this up and going,” she said. “It was amazing.” 

“We have a great community of people who are so helpful, and if they see activity going on, the first thing they do is come in and say, ‘can we help?’,” she said. “So we had people painting and carpet laying and cleaning for two months.”

The new space has a Visitor Information Center with local pamphlets and brochures and a small souvenir shop with wine glasses, coffee cups, t-shirts and sweatshirts and more.

“We don't compete with our businesses downtown and sell lots of different souvenirs, just items more specific to the Chamber of Commerce,” she said.

The new location also has a small meeting space, which allows them to hold some community meetings of up to eight people.

The new space opened in April but will be officially ready for an open house on Saturday, June 28 from 1-4 p.m. at its new location at 590 E. Wapato Way.