The Garretson Commercial Club met at the Sports Cabin on July 8, 2020.
Club president John Brinkman asked vice-president Garrick Moritz to take the minutes for this meeting, as club secretary Margie Martens was unable to attend.
Present were Laurie Bennet, Anna Uhl, Mary Ann Carlson, Steve Carlson, Tim Mallett, John Brinkman and Garrick Moritz. Also present was city councilwoman Jodi Gloe who accompanied Uhl to the meeting and Oran Sorenson, who had been invited by Moritz, after a phone call earlier in the week about Jesse James Days. Sorenson had a couple of good ideas and Moritz requested he attend. All Commercial Club meetings are open to the public and we welcome the input. Club Treasurer Kris Johnson and board member Ron Luke also joined the meeting later.
At first there were not enough board members in attendance for a quorum. Those present reviewed items on the agenda until a quorum was made. Thankfully, the timely arrival of Kris Johnson gave the club the quorum needed to take votes.
The board approved previous minutes and the treasurer’s report.
Though the members present had already discussed a little bit about Jesse James Days, when Johnson arrived and gave the meeting the quorum required. As soon as quorum was met, board member Anna Uhl requested straight away that the board tackle the big topic of the meeting, the viability of the Jesse James Days event itself.
Many concerns had come to the Commercial Club and its board members. President Brinkman spoke with a local insurance agent (before the last meeting) about how there was not an insurance company in the land right now that would cover a wrongful death lawsuit for a death resulting in COVID-19.
In South Dakota, numbers for coronavirus deaths and infections over the last several weeks have plateaued and now have slightly declined. But elsewhere in the nation, COVID-19 has had multiple and devastating outbreaks in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and California. (In fact, if Florida was an independent nation, it would have the 6th highest infection rate in the world). As is, the US itself is #1 in world for infections and deaths for the coronavirus.
Taking this into account, it would be wrong not to raise the question if the Jesse James Days event would be viable or not.
Brinkman informed those present that the HS band, FFA and TATU groups would not be able to participate in the parade, and that the proposed petting zoo and FFA Fishing derby would also not be taking place. These reasons were not directly but rather indirectly linked to COVID-19. Bandmaster Mr. Nick Sittig did not have enough rehearsal time with his marching band, and FFA instructor Alysha Kientopf would be away on the weekend in question. Last month, the board already voted to cancel the inflatables, deeming it an unsafe activity for families during this pandemic.
Moritz said he’d heard from many citizens and patrons about how much they were looking forward to Jesse James Days, and had expressed their opinion that it was essential for the morale of the community to go forward. However, he also expressed that he felt one death from a COVID-19 infection from a person who attended Jesse James Days was one death too many. Moritz had a conversation with Oran Sorenson about this very topic the previous day and he invited Sorenson to speak at this meeting.
Sorenson was recognized and he spoke well. He said that in his church, they were weekly taking the precautions of masks and distancing. He said despite the pandemic, the people of this area really needed this celebration to bring them some joy and comfort in these dark times and that there should be a way to do this smartly and safely. The parade, for example, he said, must go forward. All the conversations he’d had with local community members cited that was very important to them. He proposed extending the parade to go down more city streets and all over the city. For downtown streets, he suggested using sidewalk chalk or washable paints to section off 12ft areas where family groups could cluster, with 6 feet of space between them. If the parade length could be lengthened across more residential streets, most Garretson residents would be able to watch the parade from the comfort of their own front yards or porches. The parade will go forward as proposed at its scheduled time as well, and by necessity will be completely motorized.
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