Mountain Community Chamber of Commerce

2023 in Review

With 2023 behind us, I’d like to take some time to review the highlights and accomplishments the Chamber of Commerce achieved last year. As your current President of the Chamber and your Field Representative for District 2 for Kern County under Supervisor Scrivner, I’ve been able to better help not only our local businesses but our residents as well. The two overlapping positions seem to serve and complement the scope of their respective duties.

I need to thank our current Board of Directors for all their dedication, time and personal resources that they generously donate year-round: Secretary/Treasurer-Deborah Turner, Director-Elizabeth Cavey-Abshire, Director-Mel Weinstein, Director-Misty Johnson, Director-Michael Karr and Director-Ray McClelland. We have such a great, strong Board!

We had two huge accomplishments worth mentioning. The first was the completion of road improvements around the freeway and intersection near the Flying J. This was a complicated issue, so I’ll make it brief. Even though that section of road belongs to LA County, Kern County made an agreement back in the 1970s to maintain that section. Since then, the trucking traffic has significantly increased, especially since the establishment of the Flying J.  Supervisor Scrivner was able to re-negotiate with LA County and return the responsibility of maintenance back to LA County. After all, the tax dollars from Flying were not going to Kern. Kern County agreed to repair and improve the road one last time, and then return the responsibility over to LA County for future work.

The second huge accomplishment was the improvement and upgrades to our Recreation Building in Frazier Park. Supervisor Scrivner was able to procure funding for many of the parks in Kern County including $300,000 for Frazier Park. The supervisor and I agreed to spend the money on upgrading and replacing existing features rather than new amenities. I had a meeting with all the groups that utilize the building and made a list. We prioritized the list trying to fit as many jobs into the budget as we could. The re-paving and repair of the parking lot was high on the list but would have used up all the money and then some. We’ll save that for the next round of work. Here’s what was completed: new kitchen sink with new garbage disposal, new flooring (in the kitchen, bathroom hallway, utility closet, the Senior room and the back bathrooms), several electrical outlets  added to the main room, new screens/blinds and windows, patch work on exterior wall, all interior walls repainted and a new gas stove for the Senior room. The playground area was re-surfaced with new rubber matting and some new features were added. The county has also recently replaced the crew that maintains the park, and I must say how much more groomed everything looks.

Our 3-2-1 Hiking Challenge continues to draw tourism to our mountain. We had over 120 hikers take the challenge last year with over 60 trekkers sending in their pictures of completion. People often share their experiences when sending us their pictures and at least 30% of the participants say that they stayed in a local BnB and enjoyed the amenities of the PMC village. Learn more about the 3-2-1 Challenge on our chamber website at: MyMountainChamber.com

We were proudly able to donate $1000 in scholarship funds to Frazier Park High School last year. Students were selected by school staff based on their merit towards potential business skills. We intend to donate again this year, and we look forward to the winners’ entrepreneurial endeavors on and off the mountain.

In 2022 we revived having our quarterly social mixers. Last year, we added a “super-mixer” by hosting our premiere Casino Night. The auspicious evening was attended by 60 people who came to play, eat and drink the night away while competing for the raffle prizes by exchanging their play money for tickets. Our grand prize was a 3-night stay at the Gateway Hotel in Las Vegas, 2^nd prize was four tickets to Magic Mountain, 3^rd prize was a set of Corn Hole Game boards.  There were a dozen other prizes of gift baskets and gift certificates donated by local business owners.  We intend to make Casino Night an annual event and look forward to more of you joining us next time. Also, if you would like to host a Chamber mixer, please get in touch with us to schedule the event. 661-245-1212.

It has been an honor and a privilege to be able to serve on the Board of the Chamber of Commerce. I truly enjoy being able to help others get things done and will continue to do my best for all of us.

Thank you and Happy New Year,

BJ Saidi

President

 Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce