community
february21
2019
Intercultural Society of Vernonia
New public charity focusing
on organizing community events
By Scott Laird
The newly formed Intercultural
Society of Vernonia is filling a needed
gap in the community, after the closing
of the struggling Chamber of Commerce.
While the new organization doesn’t di-
rectly benefit local businesses as part of
their mission, they are working to pro-
mote Vernonia as a friendly and interest-
ing place for visitors while organizing
fun and family friendly events for local
citizens.
As a way of introducing them-
selves to the community the Intercultur-
al Society, a volunteer based group, is
hosting a new event next month, a Mardi
Gras Masquerade Ball on March 2, that
will serve as a fundraiser to help support
their other activities.
According to Intercultural Soci-
ety President Nicole Larke, the Vernonia
Chamber of Commerce was struggling
to find funding and provide the ben-
efits their members expected. Without
adequate resources, like staff and over-
head funds, the Chamber was unable to
sustain their general activities that in-
cluded answering phone calls, manag-
ing their website, updating memberships
and their list of current businesses, and
stocking brochures at their office at City
Hall. Slowly they had shifted from being
a support service for local business, and
focused more on promoting tourism and
events already taking place.
“We had to find a way to sup-
port all the events we were sponsoring
in a new way,” said Larke. “We had
been working from funds the Chamber
received from hosting two different Cy-
cle Oregon events in the past. When we
started losing our overhead we really lost
our capacity to promote businesses. We
decided that we needed to found a chari-
table non-profit so we could apply for
grant money and so donations would be
tax deductible.”
Based on that decision, the
Chamber was closed down and the Inter-
cultural Society of Vernonia was found-
ed, which is now officially a 501(c)(3)
entity.
Acting as an umbrella organiza-
tion for numerous events in the commu-
nity, the Intercultural Society will assist
in managing and promoting events, and
also provide financial support.
“The businesses here in town
that were members of the Chamber are
now actively able to participate by spon-
soring or donating to these events and
festivals,” says Intercultural Society Vice
Marie Krahn
Massage Therapy
President Stacey Pelster. “We’ve really
been encouraged by the way businesses
have chosen to get involved.”
Currently the Intercultural Soci-
ety sponsors the Easter Egg Hunt and the
Halloween Sidewalk Parade. They also
organize The Great American Bash con-
cert and parade on July 4 th , (in collabora-
tion with the Vernonia Rural Fire Protec-
tion District who sponsors the fireworks
display) and The Spirit of Christmas in
Vernonia festival.
“With Christmas in Vernonia be-
ing as successful as they have been the
last couple of years, I would really like to
see that flow over into our other events in
some way,” said Larke. “I think we saw
it this year with the Halloween Parade,
where we had almost double our previous
attendance. If things like that can happen
with the Great American Bash, we could
really get some people flowing into town
to enjoy it, and that benefits everyone.”
The Mardi Gras Masquerade on
March 2 is a dinner and ball fundraiser
that will feature a no-host bar, live mu-
sic, and a catered dinner at Cedar Ridge.
Because of business sponsorships the
Intercultural Society has been able to
reduce the cost of tickets to $35. “The
idea behind the Mardi Gras ball is to give
us a way to raise funds so we can have
a match when we apply for grants,” ex-
plained Larke. “If it’s successful it can
also supplement the other events we do.”
They say they plan to hold an annual so-
cial event like this, maybe at different
times of the year; they are currently talk-
ing about holding it on New Year’s Eve
next year. Tickets for this year’s event
are available at Vernonia True Value or at
VernoniaSociety.org.
In addition, the Intercultural So-
community is looking to get involved.
Pelster says there is also a need for help
with subcommittees that work specifical-
ly on events they oversee, like the Ugly
Sweater Run, which is held on the same
day as The Spirit of Christmas. “We can
always use more hands with different
events for people that are interested or
have a passion for a specific thing,” says
Pelster.
“Our ultimate goal is to make
all these events as cost effective for the
community as possible, if not free,” says
Larke. “Being a 501(c)(3) non profit will
allow people to donate and get the tax
write off,” adds Pelster, “but at the same
time their donations will help to make
these events more inclusive for families,
community members, and local business-
es.”
For more information go to vernoniaso-
ciety.org.
VNC
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ciety is serving as the fiscal agent for the
Save the Greenman Field Grandstands
committee. The Intercultural Society
will hold the funds for the project to re-
furbish the facility and will be the signee
on the lease agreement with the City of
Vernonia, who owns the property.
Larke and Pelster say if the an-
nual fundraising ball can be successful,
they hope to build and grow some of their
other events by adding more activities to
their schedules, assist other groups do-
ing events, and maybe add new annual
events. “It’s sort of a give and take with
the different groups since we’re such a
small community,” says Pelster.
The Intercultural Society is run
by a Board of Directors. In addition to
Larke and Pelster, the Board includes
Shawn Gibson, Dean Pearl, Kim Byrem,
Jeana Gump, and Tiffany MacTaggart.
There are two general Board positions
that are currently open if anyone in the
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