ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
There was a lot of work done in Liberal throughout 2025, and the Liberal Chamber of Commerce has been part of that work.
As Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rozelle Webb tells it, 2025 was very busy for the Chamber.
“We started off 2025 with a job fair, a lot of businesses were looking for a lot of employees, and we helped them out there. The Chamber Bash was also really good, we had a great crowd there. We had a lot of good legislative forums with our state legislators, Senator [Ron] Ryckman and Representative [Shannon] Francis, they always do such a good job letting people know what's going on,” Webb said. “We had the candidate forums and kept pretty steadily busy throughout the year. We also did the Friendliest Employee recognitions, which is always a real fun thing to do, because they get nominated for being friendly, and since it comes natural to them, they're surprised when they get the award. And we gave the Educator of the Month Award each month at the school board meetings, and it's always nice to recognize the teachers that are doing a really good job. We also had a really successful Duck Race Festival in 2025. We also had 17 ribbon-cuttings and we had 17 businesses join the chamber, so we're really happy with that. We lost a few businesses along the way because of the economy, but which is sad, but we try to help our businesses as best we can.”
However, the work did not end there, Webb said.
“Something else I was really happy with, we had our Southwest Kansas Chamber of Commerce legislative dinner in Liberal in November at the country club, and it was very well attended and very well received,” Webb said. “We had eight legislators from Western Kansas speak, and we had three representatives of our federal legislators come, and they were able to ask questions and be informed on what's going on in Topeka and in Washington. There were about 80 people from Southwest Kansas who attended, so it was very good event. One of the new things we started earlier this month was a new program to spotlight businesses – Southwest Glass and Door was our first spotlighted business. What we do is go do a short video with the owner, who tells us about a little bit about the business, and we had several views, so we were really happy with that. We will do another one for January and just keep going throughout next year to spotlight a business each month. I think 2025 was successful for us. The economy was down a little bit, and that kind of hurt a little bit, but I think our businesses, for the most part, are positive, and they're going to work through this period until it gets better. So I'm happy with the year.”
The year also included multiple ribbon-cuttings throughout the community, Webb said.
“We were really happy to have 17 ribbon-cuttings, that's probably right at the average, or just slightly above the average we have each year. But in the middle part of the year, there were no ribbon cuttings for three or four months – they all seemed to come at the first of the year, and then they really came at the last couple of months, so I guess that is just the way it balanced out,” Webb said. “People start a business at the first of the year, or a lot of people start a business at the last of the year, which might seem strange, but that it happens.”
With the success of 2025, Webb said there is a lot of excitement about 2026.
“The spotlight on business videos should be good for us, and we're excited for all the all the events and programs we do every year and do them the best that we can to make them better each year,” Webb said. “If businesses are looking for employees, we have our job fair Feb. 3, 2026. Of course, everybody's always anxious for the Chamber Bash, and we're about to unveil our theme for the 2026 bash, which will be April 4. When we do our planning, we always say we want to do what we've been doing and try to do it better. However, you can only squeeze so many activities into a year, and I think we're about at the max now. But we just want to continue to do our events well and to be good supporters of our community. And again, we're just looking forward to continuing to support our businesses. We also want to keep promoting our businesses, which is the job of the Chamber of Commerce.”
Webb also offered encouragement for joining the Chamber of Commerce and joining the Chamber Ambassadors.
“We really do encourage new businesses to join the chamber, because we can help get the word out about their business. We can have ribbon-cuttings and we have open houses for them, which several of the businesses that had ribbon cuttings this year did,” Webb said. “We can also set them up with their own page on our Web site, and just being a chamber member lets people know their business is good and in the community. Any business that wants to be part of the community, we welcome them to join, and we do have a big variety of businesses. Chamber ambassadors have an opportunity to meet people that have businesses currently, and to meet the new people who are putting in businesses. So that can be good for your business, to get acquainted with other business people. And besides serving the community by being friendly and welcoming to other businesses, it is also an opportunity to get to know more people that way.”
Webb said the Chamber’s new Junior Ambassadors program is also successful.
“It's been great. We have six Junior Ambassadors now – two sophomores, two juniors and two seniors,” Webb said. “They're active, they come to our meetings, and they help us with our events. We've been real happy with our Junior Ambassador program, it's been great, and it gives those students a chance to see how important it is to support your community.”
Overall, Webb said, she is looking forward to 2026.
“I'm very pleased with everyone working together in the community, we couldn't do what we do without them,” Webb said. “We also appreciate everything the City of Liberal and Seward County do for us, they're also a great help, as well as Seward County Community College and USD 480. It's great to see everyone working together to help make Liberal better, and I'd like to see that continue in 2026.”
