• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Thursday, April 15, 2021
59 °f
Platte
45 ° Fri
47 ° Sat
49 ° Sun
49 ° Mon
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

After successful reign, Mutti leaving chamber

Ivan Foley by Ivan Foley
November 24, 2020
in Headlines
Angie Mutti
25
SHARES
618
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

She spent nearly eight years at the helm

While today’s business owners need to utilize modern technology to thrive and even survive, there is no substitute for good old-fashioned camaraderie.

The best practices, which range from modern social media platforms to those many others may have relegated to the past, are necessary in today’s tougher-than-ever retail and COVID-19-challenged culture.

RelatedNews

Proposed sewer rate hike nixed on split vote

Judge tells city attorney ‘put case on front burner’

Ball field talk gets heated at Parkville

Platte City’s entrepreneurs and business executives realize it takes both to be successful today, said Angie Mutti, who is leaving her post as executive director of the Platte City Area Chamber of Commerce/Economic Development Council.

The 43-year-old knows because she has witnessed many cases of Platte City business owners, even competitors, lending a hand to each other in times of need.

“If a truck breaks down and someone needs supplies,” they automatically reach out to help, she said. It’s the attitude behind them that makes the difference.

“Everyone is so humble (about helping others),” she said. “They’re not boastful about it. It’s just something they do.”

The traits are “really unique and what makes Platte City so special,” Mutti said during a recent telephone interview.

Mutti will leave her post Dec. 3 after eight years leading the organization charged with creating and sustaining a favorable business climate in the small city.

Mutti said while Platte City is considered a small town, with about 4,800 residents, its size is a misnomer and is substantially larger when you consider those who reside nearby but technically outside the city limits. Their influx makes Platte City big enough to have the business connections to pull off some of the chamber’s larger events, but small enough to maintain the small-town, friendly atmosphere, said Mutti, who resides with her family in southern Platte County.

Mutti joined the chamber as its leader after hearing of the position following her service as executive director of both the Platte City and Parkville YMCA. Because of those positions, she already had a working knowledge of the chamber and was acquainted with many of its members and board of directors.

“It’s funny to go back and look at pictures of myself attending chamber events (before she was with the chamber),” she said. “I didn’t think I’d ever land there.”

One of her major jobs as chamber executive has been leading the planning of about six events each year, tailored to area businesses. Mutti and the Platte City “team” of volunteers who sit on the chamber’s board and one or two part-time employees plan a growing list of events that draw large crowds from Platte City and those who live nearby.

September has become the group’s busiest months with two planned main events-the Main Street Fall Festival and the Communitywide Garage Sale. The festival is a traditional street fair featuring vendors, local entertainment acts, food trucks and child-friendly activities such as make-and-take crafts and face painting. The event typically draws about 2,000 people. Due to COVID-19, this year’s event was cancelled due to an inability to control crowds and do contact-tracing of those who attend, Mutti said.

The annual Communitywide Garage Sale is the one local businesses credit with drawing many outsiders, some from nearby states, including Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Mutti said the event is worthy of its own reality TV show due to its unique nature and number of attendees. The event features not only dozens of Platte City homeowners who open their yards and garages to sell their wares, but also includes numerous residents who live outside the area and rent booth space located in front of Platte County High School for a nominal fee.

A major draw is the map organizers create, showing sale locations and key items available. Sometimes unusual, valuable items have attracted a lot of attention, including a recent year when a participant sold an authentic Las Vegas slot machine, she said. Of course, Mutti is quick to point out that each year’s turnout is largely dictated by the weather that weekend.

Chamber staff routinely survey area business owners to learn about foot traffic from the garage sale weekend and most report it draws 25 to 30 percent more shoppers and diners. That event, more than any other, tends to have long-lasting effects on the area, including stories of people who traveled to the event for the merchandise, but ended up moving to Platte City after becoming familiar with and falling in love with the community.

The Celebration of Businesses, which is the chamber’s largest event in terms of fundraising, is held each March. The gala typically draws about 250 people and includes a dinner, silent auction, and entertainment, all at the KCI Marriott.

This year’s holiday lighting ceremony, which typically includes many family-friendly activities, from train and carriage rides and businesses offering giveaways, including hot dogs, popcorn, and donut holes, has been canceled due to COVID concerns.

Still, scenes painted on store windows by area high school students cause Platte City to look “a little like a Norman Rockwell (painting),” she said. While this year’s event has been called off, families are encouraged to drive by to view downtown lights and business window scenes, she said.

While the pandemic has added extra hurdles, she said business owners still find success. She said, “Be creative, use social media and be willing to change.”

Tags: covid-19parkvilleplatte cityplatte county
Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley is owner/publisher of the Platte County Landmark. Foley has been on the news beat in Platte County with The Landmark for 39 years, specializing in local government and accountability journalism. He provides weekly observations and editorial commentary in his Between the Lines column and serves as host of Landmark Live, a light-hearted videocast featuring newsmakers in the Northland. He has penned multiple award-winning pieces during his time with The Landmark. In 2016, Foley won the Tom and Pat Gish Award, a national honor given by the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky for displaying courage, tenacity and integrity in journalism. Foley resides in unincorporated Platte County.

Related Posts

Proposed sewer rate hike nixed on split vote

Proposed sewer rate hike nixed on split vote

by Debbie Coleman-Topi
April 15, 2021
0

Parkville mayor forced to break tie A proposal to raise sewer rates for residents who use the Parkville sewer system failed during a board of aldermen meeting last Tuesday. The measure, which called for raising rates by six percent, followed...

Judge James Van Amburg

Judge tells city attorney ‘put case on front burner’

by Debbie Coleman-Topi
April 15, 2021
0

'You need to do better,' Van Amburg tells city's legal counsel In a hearing in which the plaintiff accused the city's attorneys of "gamesmanship" when it comes to producing discovery, the Platte County judge in a Sunshine lawsuit once again...

Ball field talk gets heated at Parkville

Ball field talk gets heated at Parkville

by Debbie Coleman-Topi
April 15, 2021
0

Aldermen get short with one another The end of the latest Parkville Board of Aldermen meeting erupted into a heated exchange as members debated future plans for a local park, effects on adjoining wildlife wetlands and a grant application that...

Sunshine antics at Parkville

Sunshine antics at Parkville

by Landmark Digital Staff
April 15, 2021
0

EDITOR: I continue to read and be amazed at the antics of the Parkville aldermen over this Sunshine Law and violations thing. They keep losing in court yet keep spending more money on legal fees, with the total growing day...

Next Post
Maki says he can prove Parkville not supplying documents

Maki says he can prove Parkville not supplying documents

Popular News

  • Major subdivision planned along Crooked Road

    Major subdivision planned along Crooked Road

    41 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • City, state will team up to repair Hwy. 92

    13 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • Newest order in Sunshine case favors Jason Maki

    11 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • Say no to new tax

    7 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 2
  • Judge tells city attorney ‘put case on front burner’

    7 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 2
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Subscribe Online
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist