LAWTON – Lawton Fort Sill’s Chamber of Commerce wants to build on its 2021 work that included Holiday in the Park, small business development and Grow the 580.
Chamber President Dr. Krista Ratliff said Lawton residents were thrilled with the Holiday in the Park lights and designs with about 30,000 cars making their way through the light display. Holiday in the Park began Nov. 20 and continued until Jan. 1.
“They (residents) were so happy. They made comments like ‘this has been so great.’ It was new for our community and it’s something we hope to build on for 2022,” Ratliff said. “The decent weather we had was also a blessing.”
Ratliff is hopeful the chamber can double the size of the skating rink and create more activities for this year’s Holiday in the Park.
Chamber officials want to continue their promotion of commerce in southwest Oklahoma as “an amazing place to live, visit and do business.”
The Community Life Center is another beacon of light for the community and high school students in particular. The center, which is located off the high school campuses, provides classes in a variety of subjects for Lawton high school students.
“You might have a subject like photography where only a few students are interested. So, they are bussed from the school site to the Life Center and back,” Ratliff said. “This really helps so that when people are stationed on Fort Sill or considering moving to Lawton, they understand how advanced and what amenities LPS has.”
The chamber’s efforts in 2022 will also include the launch of its Historical Tourism app which will allow visitors to see the cultural and historical sites with a guided GPS map and narration. The app will offer outdoor, military, Native American and Lawton historic sites. The app will be made public later this month, Ratliff said.
The chamber will also launch a digital marketing campaign that is designed to bring awareness of Lawton’s small business amenities and attractions.
“We will focus on a continued increase in tourism,” Ratliff said. “We had a record-breaking year in the middle of COVID for hotel stays, due in large part to our shift in strategic planning. We are focusing on the outdoor attractions available in southwest Oklahoma.”
During 2021, Ratliff helped establish the Joint Education Taskforce (JET), which brought Freedom Elementary the Purple Star Accreditation from the U.S. Department of Defense and the Military Child Education Coalition. Freedom Elementary is located on the Fort Sill base. JET identified gaps in educational services and needs and provides a higher level of metrics for students to achieve.
“We are rolling out these services to other schools in Lawton, which include child life specialists for academics and counseling,” Ratliff said.
The chamber also hosted the Oklahoma Mayors Conference in 2021, assisted Lawton businesses by providing 40 webinars about COVID-19 and the Payroll Protection Program and continued its support of the Armed Forces Day Parade, which is the longest running such parade in the U.S.
Grow the 580, a local economic development program, was another focus of chamber officials. Grow the 580 centers on buying gift certificates that can be redeemed at 35 different businesses in the 580 area code. Ratliff said $15,000 in gift certificates was purchased in 2021.
“It’s all about keeping the money local,” she said.