Greater Mankato Events : Founders

Founders

	Greater Mankato Growth Greater Mankato Growth, Inc. is the area's integrated chamber of commerce and economic development organization, serving Mankato, North Mankato and the regional marketplace. Greater Mankato Growth is committed to supporting and promoting the economic growth and vitality of our members and the regional marketplace as a whole by delivering programs and services that make Greater Mankato an ideal location to live, visit and do business.
	Greater Mankato Convention & Visitors Bureau The Greater Mankato Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) promotes Greater Mankato as a premier destination for conventions, tournaments and tourism. These activities bring a steady flow of people and business activity to Greater Mankato resulting in a flood of visitor spending that in the end helps local residents. The work the CVB does helps strengthen the hospitality industry which provides jobs, a diverse tax base and amenities for everyone to enjoy. Not only does the CVB market the community but it also provides free professional services to meeting and tournament planners and provides local residents and visitors information on the community, events and attractions.
	Twin Rivers Center for the Arts As Greater Mankato's regional arts and culture service organization, Twin Rivers Center for the Arts (TRCA) works to ensure that arts and culture thrive in the community. TRCA is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the arts, cultivates public participation by connecting people to arts and culture, serves as the collaborative voice for the arts, and creates partnerships between the business, cultural, and academic communities. TRCA is located in the Emy Frentz Arts Guild in downtown Mankato, and represents nearly 30 arts and culture nonprofits in dance, music, poetry, visual arts and more. TRCA operates a central box office for local performing arts groups and is leading the implementation of Greater Mankato's cultural plan, which includes the development of an Arts & Historic District and the creation of a public art program. For more information about TRCA and its programs, visit them online at www.twinriversarts.org.
	The Free Press On April 4, 1887, Editor L.P. Hunt published the first issue of the Mankato Daily Free Press and found it wasn't all that easy. In an apology to his readers, Hunt wrote "The labor incident to getting out the intial number of a daily paper is vastly more trying than people not familiar with newspaper work and worry are aware of or can be devised of. The fact, therefore, that today's Daily Free Press is decidely short on telegraphic, as well as some other matter, is no exception to the perplexities experienced by newspaper men and we feel sure the public will bear with us a day or two until the 'mercheen' is fairly oiled and put in good running order." Since that time, the 'mercheen' hasn't skipped a beat publishing more than 120 years serving the Mankato region. The seminal publication actually was the Independent which began in 1857. Six years later, it was bought by Charles Slocum and named the Mankato Union. Then in 1880 the Union and its rival Mankato paper, the Record, merged and became the Mankato Weekly Free Press. It ran as a weekly until that fateful day in 1887 when it became a daily. It began as a conservative Republican newspaper remaining that way until modern days. In 1970, the newspaper dropped "Mankato" from its name. In 1940, the word "Daily" was eliminated 40 years earlier. The last local owner of the paper was Jared How, who sold The Free Press Co. to Ottaway Newspapers Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co. Ottaway acquired 11 percent of the company in 1977 and the remainder in 1979. In 2002, Ottaway sold The Free Press and other papers to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. its present parent company. On its 50th anniversary, The Free Press circulation was 12,000; today it stands at 22,500. It also publishes the Mankato Magazine, Minnesota Valley Business magazine and The Land a Midwest agricultural publication. It also serves its readers through www.mankatofreepress.com which started in 1994 and now ranks as the No. 1 news website in the region.
	VoyageurWeb VoyageurWeb, originally founded as Internet Connections in 1993, is an Internet web site service company. VoyageurWeb provides web site hosting, design, analysis, maintenance, programming and consulting services. Yvonne Cariveau, Owner and President, and her staff have created over 400 web sites in the past fifteen years. That experience helps their clients avoid pitfalls and create web sites that are maintainable and help achieve organizational goals. Anyone can make a web site these days, it takes expertise to make a web site that works and that can grow smoothly. To see examples of their work and learn more, visit http://www.voyageurweb.com. VoyageurWeb chose to invest in this community calendar project after Yvonne participated in the Envision 2020 project and realized the need in our area for a comprehensive, easy-to-use community events calendar.