I’ve noticed our community handles adversity well.

We rally around our own, and you don’t see that everywhere. The pandemic was a difficult time for many, but we all tried to do our best to support each other.

The Chamber worked relentlessly to promote local businesses, especially the heavily effected restaurants in our area.

We also lost the Justin Boot Factory during that time. Several businesses were calling the Chamber wanting to hire those employees. Our Chamber Director worked hard to communicate employment

opportunities. We’ve seen good come out of the pandemic. We’re a small community with 1.9 million people wanting to flock to our back yard to experience the outdoors of Roaring River State Park. Through that, we’ve been able to start TroutFest and have teamed up with Wonders of Wildlife to bring a 10K trail run to Roaring River.

Our community leaders have been having more conversations together about what economic development looks like for our community.

The Cassville Community Foundation has seen a substantial increase in assets, resulting in giving back $13,000 to local nonprofits in 2021.

The Rotary Club is seeing record attendance at the Demolition Derby the last two years and has developed a partnership with the Cassville FFA Booster Club to bring a successful rodeo event to Cassville.

Groups and organizations working together has always and will continue to be what makes this community great.

I’m proud to be a part of it.

Chad Johnson is the president of the Cassville Area Chamber of Commerce Board and owns Johnson Chiropractic in Cassville. He may be reached at dcjchiropractic@ gmail.com.