By Jill Fennema –

Last week Tuesday, the Edgerton Chamber of Commerce held their first meeting of the new season. Chamber president Jeff De Boer ran through the list of upcoming events and Jesse Van Hofwegen gave a quick rundown of how the Dutch Festival went. 

Upcoming chamber events include the Fall Festival on Main Street Edgerton on Wednesday, Oct. 5, Girls Night Out on Wednesday, Oct. 26, and PreBlack Friday on November 18-19. There are also plans for a Holiday Parade of Lights and tree lighting ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 7.

By all accounts the 2022 Dutch Festival was a success. Committee Chairman Jesse Van Hofwegen thanked the chamber members for all their help on the Dutch Festival. 

“We need more committee members,” he said. “A lot of you have been on the committee before or have helped at an event. There are people who need to get off the committee so they can be with their families during the festival, too,” he said. 

We are open to suggestions, “ he added.  “It can be anyone, from a farmer’s wife from Chandler, or someone that just graduated from high school. It’s that simple.” 

Next year’s festival will be held July 6-8. This date has been set for four years due to the band they are bringing in on that Saturday night. The bull ride will be back on that Friday night and it will be their 20th year, so there is some discussion on how to make the bull ride special in honor of that anniversary.

Jesse said that it costs about $165,000 to put on the festival. “It’s hard to believe that that amount of money flows through town that weekend,” he said. 

Chris Moosey, a candidate for Edgerton City Council, was also at the meeting. He is an owner at the Edgerton Food Center. He gave the chamber members a brief recap of his background. He grew up in Canton, Ohio, and went to collage in Lynchburg, Virginia. He worked for Sam’s Club for 23 years before he and his wife, Michelle (De Wilde), decided that it was time to leave the city and corporate life. They have lived in Edgerton for the past 3-1/2 years and have four children. 

“My brother has been in city politics his whole life, and it has always intrigued me,” Chris said. He is hoping he can have a positive impact and play a part in helping the city move forward. 

The other candidate for city council is Justin Ranek. He will be at next month’s chamber meeting. 

City Clerk Joel Farrington gave a quick rundown of city activities. Many of those items are also covered in this week’s city council article. 

Before the meeting adjourned, the Chamber presented the new bakery owners with their First Dollar of Clear Profit plaque.