JANUARY
EVENTS
The Vine
January 1:
V O L U M E
HUMBOLDT CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE
Chamber Office
Closed (New Year’s
Day)
January 8:
School Board meeting
(6:30 PM)
January 12:
Board of Mayor and
1 ,
I S S U E
January 19:
Chamber Office
Closed (MLK Day)
January 20:
Chamber Board meeting (7:30 AM)
January 26:
Board of Mayor and
Aldermen meeting
(5:15 PM)
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Member of
the Month
2
Christmas in
the Park
2
New Chamber Website
2
Native Son
3
Strawberry
3
Festival News
Won’t You
3
Be My Neighbor?
Major Chang- 5
es at Humboldt City
Schools
News and
Notes
6
Grow Local
8
J A N U A R Y
2 0 1 5
Celebrating 50 Years in Humboldt
You may have seen some of the
media coverage on GMP Metal
Products celebrating 50 years in
Humboldt. And you may have
had the same reaction I first had:
“Wow!”
Aldermen meeting
(5:15 PM)
1
Admittedly, we tend to think of
manufacturing in shorter terms
than half-centuries.
That’s
probably a product of what we
see on the news all too
often...another plant closing and
moving
jobs
elsewhere.
Honestly, that’s more the norm
than
seeing
an
industry
celebrating a milestone like this
one.
Thank goodness for exceptions to
the rule, right? GMP Metal
Products has been stamping,
fabricating,
and
assembling
metal products on North 9th
Avenue in Humboldt since 1964.
Some of their contract work is for
companies you know well, such
as Caterpillar, John Deere, and
Bobcat.
City, County, Chamber, and
GMP leadership at luncheon
Part of a wave of industries that
moved south during the middle
of the 20th Century, GMP has
stayed in Humboldt in large part
due to the quality of its
workforce. I was told they had
low turnover when I first visited
plant manager Bob Haley, but
can you believe that over half
their workforce of 40 at the
Humboldt facility has been with
the company more than 20
years?
Reaching the 50-year mark is no
small feat and it doesn’t happen
by accident. It’s a testament not
only to the quality of the
workforce in Humboldt and the
relationship with this city, but
the quality and commitment of
the ownership.
GMP Metal Products is a division
of Wozniak Industries, based in
Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. The
Wozniak family bought GMP in
1986 and operates two facilities
in this division: one in St. Louis
(Continued on page 4)
Director’s Notes
Happy New Year to all our
Chamber friends!
If you haven’t noticed (and
hopefully
you
have)
this
newsletter is, well, new. The
Chamber got away from monthly
newsletters a while back, but I’m
pleased to say it’s making a
comeback!
I plan to have regular items in
here, like this particular column
from yours truly and the Festival
News you’ll see inside, in
addition to anything interesting
or noteworthy going on in our
membership or this city.
organization or with your
employees. If you think it’s
interesting, chances are at least
some of our other members will,
too. And if they don’t, well, they
don’t have to read it!
It can be a lot of work to produce
a monthly newsletter, so I would
ask you to please submit
anything going on in your
I look forward to communicating
with you this way, and best
wishes to all of you in the new
year! - Lee