Sikeston Chamber celebrates growth with historic move and new rodeo museum

SIKESTON — Members of the Sikeston Regional Chamber gathered on Thursday, Jan. 23 for Chamber’s luncheon at the Clinton Building to hear the latest updates from the Chamber.

Taylor Deere, membership and program director for the Sikeston Chamber, shared a few highlights that happened in 2024.

Deere said one of the big things that happened in 2024 was moving the Chamber offices to the new location, which has been named the Sikeston Post.

Sikeston Chamber officially moved into the former post office downtown at 215 N. Madrid St. and houses the offices of the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development and Tourism and Historic Downtown Sikeston.

“This is a symbol of the growth of our chamber while honoring the past,” Deere said. “Being able to save a historical building like that is awesome.”

Deere also reminded everyone the new Sikeston Rodeo Museum will be in the building as well with plans to officially open sometime this year.

Deere also highlighted the annual awards banquet in 2024.

“The banquet was a record-breaking crowd,” Deere said. “It was such an exciting night, and we recognized exceptional winners as always.”

Another highlight Deere mentioned was Sikeston winning the award for the most neighborly city in Missouri. Deere gave credit to the 2024  Sikeston Chamber Leadership Sikeston Class for the award.

Katie Merideth, workforce director for the Sikeston Chamber, talked about the SOAR program.

“A big part of my job at the chamber is planning and working with the schools on programs,” Merideth said. “The SOAR program stands for Students Observing Area Resources. This is something that came out of a Leadership Sikeston project.”

Merideth said the program has been around for five years and in that time has evolved. She said the Chamber and Area Economic Development Corporation teamed up with the Sikeston Career and Technology Center, Sikeston High School and Sikeston Alternative Education Center. The program consists of multiple groups that meet once per month to tour area businesses and participate in team-building activities and bring together their ideas for the overall improvement of the community.

Merideth shared other things the group does as well.

“We try to schedule an entire day where we take them out into the community and show them what that profession would look like,” Merideth said. “It’s offering them a glimpse of what their day-to-day life would look like.”

Merideth said the alternative school also has a SOAR group where they work on life skills, employment skills, job applications and more.

Marcie Lawson, president and CEO of the Sikeston Regional Chamber and Economic Development, shared the chamber is really excited for their leaders and state legislators.

“We have some awesome people up there (Jefferson City, Missouri) that are already working collaboratively, and we want to take advantage of that, too,” Lawson said. “This is why economic development and chamber collaboration works. We are going to be going up there to talk about all the needs we have here, all of our strengths and more.”