Alva Chamber previews gala, ribbon cutting, pool opening and spring events

The Alva Chamber of Commerce announced a series of spring events and local business milestones at its recent community coffee, including its largest fundraiser of the year, a ribbon cutting for a new escape-room business, plans for the municipal pool, and several community volunteer and fundraising opportunities.

Chamber speakers said the annual gala is the chamber’s biggest fundraiser and will feature a live auction, a silent auction and prizes for best-dressed attendees. Auction items mentioned by speakers include a donated cabin package at Glass Mountains/Cedar Haven with a catered dinner, a four-hour fishing trip at Kaw Lake, and a one-year family membership or service donated by a local business (identified in remarks as “Ralto”). The chamber also said it has received donation offers such as radio-ad packages and gift certificates for auction items.

The announcements included a ribbon-cutting scheduled next Wednesday for Escape Depot, a business owned by Jeff Garza. Speakers said Garza moved to the area from California and has local ties to Oklahoma; Garza plans to hold a grand opening after the ribbon-cutting at a location on College Boulevard (the speaker indicated the street number as “1016”).

Speakers described ongoing school field trips to the chamber’s venue, noting groups come from surrounding areas including Kansas and that one large past field trip included about 262 students plus roughly 80 accompanying children. The venue’s playground and farm-themed attractions, built and maintained by local volunteers and staff (named in remarks as Jared and Braylon), were cited as reasons teachers favor the site because groups can be contained and supervised.

On parks and recreation, chamber staff reported that the municipal pool construction or refurbishment is progressing and that officials are aiming for a Memorial Day weekend opening; they said the date was still tentative. The chamber also said it is recruiting lifeguards and pointed to a lifeguard training course as one route to certification.

Community fundraisers, volunteer needs and local events were also highlighted. The chamber announced a citywide garage sale scheduled for April 12; registration was described as a $15 fee to be included on the yard-sale list. Meeting remarks about registration deadlines contained conflicting dates (speakers variously said April 6 and April 16) and one speaker corrected the schedule within the same discussion. The Little Red Hens group opened a scholarship application (contact email given as littleredhens21@gmail.com) and asked for volunteers for Fourth of July activities. Northwest Domestic Crisis Services plans a “steps for pets” event on April 16 from 8:45 a.m. to 11 a.m., tied to sexual-assault-awareness fundraising, with a prize for the group logging the most steps.

Other community notes included a networking night at Alva Beer Company, merchants receiving new spring inventory, and contact details for donating specific auction items (speakers sought vintage toys such as collectible Care Bears or Rainbow Brite items for the live auction). Speakers also mentioned local small-business participation in donating services and auction items.

Speakers made several informal remarks about playground safety, noting volunteers test new features (one speaker said she injured herself while trying a prototype slide and the group revised designs before opening attractions to the public). That sequence of remarks was presented as background on how volunteers and staff trial new equipment before use by the public.

The chamber’s announcements comprised most of the meeting’s agenda segment and were presented as information items rather than votes or formal board actions; no motions or formal decisions were recorded in the meeting transcript for these items.