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WILLISTON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
NEWS & UPDATES
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Dear
Williston Wire Readers,
The City of Williston played an active role in a number of events this week including the Buck Scheele Family Animal Center Grand Opening, Williston High School Job Fair, Albertsons Grand Re-opening, Marketplace for Kids and more! It is satisfying to be involved in a community that is striving to be the best it can be! Join us at our awards banquet to learn about some of the exciting success stories that are happening in our hometown.
Shawn, Ann, Barb & Brenda
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| Williston Economic Development, Small Business Development Center Awards Banquet May 10 |
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Williston Economic Development and the Small Business Development Center are gearing up for their annual awards and appreciation banquet on Friday, May 10 at the Grand Williston Hotel. The gathering will celebrate the achievements of area business owners and recognize supporters of the Williston trade region. Reserve your tickets today at events.willistondevelopment.com.
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Q & A with Shawn Wenko on Retail Recruitment
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The Williston Herald spoke with Shawn Wenko about the challenges of recruiting retailers to Williston while urging shoppers to support the ones that are already open. |
Williston Herald - Indisputably, the City of Williston is growing. It is suggested that the next census will put Williston's population over 30,000 people, with more workers and families moving to the area all the time. And with a population that large, many residents are asking the same question: Why aren't there more retail opportunities?
The Williston Herald spoke with Williston Economic Development Executive Director Shawn Wenko on Wednesday, April 10, to get more insight on the topic. "
I'm going to be upfront, things like the school bond that failed, that doesn't help our efforts to try to recruit more restaurant and retail into this market," said Wenko. Read More
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Hundreds attend Buck Scheele Family Animal Center Grand Opening
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The Williston Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors helped celebrate the ribbon cutting at the Buck Scheele Family Animal Center recently in Williston. Williston Economic Development photo |
Williston Economic Development - Hundreds of people celebrated the grand opening of the Buck Scheele Family Animal Center on Saturday, April 6. The milestone featured a program, ribbon cutting, tours, BBQ, vendor sales and much more. The project has been a dream come true for early the founders and supporters of the MonDak Humane Society. The group was started in 1999 to protect animals and even though the name has changed, the mission has remained much the same, to find forever homes for animals without owners. Read More
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Albertsons celebrates Grand Re-opening
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Albertsons celebrated a ribbon cutting for the grand re-opening of its Williston store including a new Starbucks on Wednesday, April 10. Williston Economic Development photo |
Williston Economic Development - Albertsons celebrated the grand re-opening of its store including Starbucks April 10 in Williston. The event featured a ribbon cutting ceremony, cake, giveaways and donations of $1,000 to Bakken Elementary and the Family Crisis Shelter. Shoppers are encouraged to check out all of the in-store improvements.
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| Williston High School Job Fair attracts Over 200 Job Seekers |
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The City of Williston helped facilitate a job fair for construction and trades careers at Williston High School April 10. Williston Building Safety photo |
Williston Economic Development - About 200 students attended the first Williston High School Job Fair on Wednesday, April 10, at the Jon Cole Gymnasium. The hiring event was designed to teach teenagers about construction and trades opportunities in Williston. About 20 businesses attended the event to fill nearly 60 job openings. Organizers said they were pleased with the strong turnout. Read More
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Veterans invited to Intro to Entrepreneurship Class April 16
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Veterans are invited to the Introduction to Entrepreneurship Course Tuesday, April 16 at TrainND Northwest. |
Williston Herald - The Small Business Administration (SBA), with the help of some local organizations, is putting on a workshop for veterans looking to open their own business. Boots to Business Reboot is a training program that gives vets an overview of business ownership. "The whole program is about trying to get them connected with our free resource partners to learn what they can about going into their own business or doing some federal contracting, things like that," said
Hettianne Cekalla, Senior Area Manager for the Bismarck office of the SBA.
Read More
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| XWA Project on track for Oct 10 Grand Opening |
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KUMV-TV - The City of Williston says the new XWA Williston Basin International Airport is on track to open in 6 months, meeting the planned October 10 deadline.
Airport Director Anthony Dudas says the new airport will be a great first impression for visitors.
Dudas says the 100,000 square foot facility will offer amenities such as free Wi-Fi, passenger boarding bridges, baggage claim carousels, a restaurant, a mothers' nursing room, and a children's play area.
Dudas says as soon as the frost is out of the ground, multiple projects will be started, including a rental car facility, a fire station, several aviation businesses and a commercial parking lot to name just a few.
For more information on the progress of the new airport, you can go to: XWAProject.com.
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Lawmakers consider Funding for Williston Water Treatment Plant Expansion
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North Dakota lawmakers are considering funding another water treatment plant expansion in Williston. AE2S photo
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KXNews - State legislators are considering funding to allow another expansion of the Williston Water Treatment Plant. Money for the project would be part of the 40-million dollars that the Western Area Water Supply Authority is expected to receive from the state in the coming biennium. The Williston water plant was upgraded in recent years to treat 21 million gallons of water per day. The new expansion would push that to 35 million gallons. Read More
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| Williston School District seeks New Solutions to Overcrowding Crisis |
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Williston Public School District No. 1 is seeking ways to deal with critical overcrowding at its schools. |
Williston Herald - The school board for Williston Public School District No. 1 is hoping for help from the community as it tries to find a way to deal with increasing overcrowding without building new schools for now. A proposal to build two new elementary schools, an addition to Williston High School and renovate the district's existing elementary schools went down to a narrow defeat Tuesday, April 9, the second time the proposal failed this year. A proposal to issue a $60 million bond got 57.6 percent of the vote, and a proposal to increase the district's building fund property tax levy got 58.2 percent. Both needed 60 percent to pass. Read More
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| New BBQ Food Truck opens in Sidney |
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Kayla Hilburn poses with the food truck she and her husband Trey own in Sidney. Sidney Herald photo
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Sidney Herald - Owners of Hilburn's BBQ, Kayla and Trey Hilburn aren't new to the food truck scene. While their Sidney location has only been open for only four weeks, the couple has another food truck business at Fort Peck.
Trey, originally from Georgia, met his future wife after moving to the oil patch.
"When he started making ribs and pulled pork, I told him it was good enough to sell," Kayla said. Read More
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White Shield, ND experiences Economic, Population Growth
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| Mountrail County Recorder - What once could be dubbed a sleepy community south of Parshall is now anything but. White Shield reached its stride and is expanding and surging with leaps and bounds. First it was a new state-of-the-art school shown off to 1,300 fans at the recent district basketball tournament. Now it's a new $2 million Head Start facility that will open this fall. Phase 2 of the school plans are falling into place - $2 million in educator housing and a $2 million sports complex for football, baseball and track. Then it's a $2 million Tribal administration office to allow local tribal members to do business via satellite with the New Town administration office. Then there's a $12 million community center with a new rec center An elder tribal center of about $3.5 million will be breaking ground this spring. Read More |
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Hamilton, MT beats Small Town Blues
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H
amilton, Montana has flourished despite being a small rural town. Washington Post photo
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Washington Post/Dickinson Press - As small towns elsewhere saw prosperity pass them by in favor of the big cities, something unusual happened to this rural hamlet tucked in the Bitterroot Valley: It flourished.
Two local boys came home from college and launched a microbrewery that takes in more than $1 million in annual sales. Retirees arrived in droves, drawn by affordable land and recreation opportunities in the area's snow-frosted mountains and trout-filled streams. And the federal government's Rocky Mountain Laboratories opened a state-of-the-art biosafety facility to investigate the deadliest viral diseases, including Ebola. Read More
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Upcoming Williston Events
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04/12 ----- Marketplace for Kids
Elementary students will showcase their startups and learn about running businesses from area business leaders.
04/13 ------ Northern Plains Military Show
The Fort Buford 6th Infantry invites the community to the military show and sale at the Upper Missouri Valley Fairgrounds. Open to the public Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
04/16 ------ Boots to Business Reboot
Veterans are invited to an Introduction to Entrepreneurship course from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at TrainND Northwest. For more information call
(701) 250-4303.
04/23 ------ City Commission
The commission meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
04/27 ------ Clean Up Williston
Volunteers are encouraged to sign up to clean a specific zone or attend the clean up on Saturday from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Davidson Park.
05/06-07 ------ Shrine Circus
The 88th Shrine Circus will be held at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Raymond Family Community Center.
05/08 ------ 1 Million Cups
The community is invited to 1MC at 8:30 a.m. at Williston State College Teton Lounge. The featured businesses will be Deja Brew Coffee and Elite Designz!
05/09 ------ State of the City Address
The community is invited to Williston Mayor Howard Klug's annual address and free lunch at the Grand Williston Hotel from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
05/27 ----- Williston Boys Baseball Golf Tournament
A fundraiser for baseball programs in Williston. Four person scramble to be held at Municipal Golf Course.
Read More
06/21 ------ CHI St. Alexius Health Williston Golf Tournament
The four-person scramble tournament will be held at the Eagle Ridge Golf Club. Call 701-774-7404 for more details.
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06/05-06 ------ 3rd International Safety Culture Summit
The American Petroleum Institute, Saint Mary's University and CN will bring together industry operators, contractors, service/supply companies, academia and regulators together to facilitate collaboration and drive continual improvement. The summit will be held in Chicago.
Registration
07/16-17 ------ Bakken Conference & Expo
The expo is billed as a premier North Dakota Oil Shale event. The two-day show will be held in Bismarck, ND.
Registration Information
10/15-16 ------ The Permian Conference & Expo
The two-day show will be held in Midland, TX. The show is sponsored by the North American Shale magazine.
Registration Information
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City of Williston, ND | Economic Development | 701-577-8110 |
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