Meeting & Mingling with the MSPA

What a nice time we had earlier this month at our first Montrose Shopping Park Association “Meet & Mingle” event. This was an idea that came out of last year’s events committee and was spearheaded by Montrose Ambassador Steve Pierce. The purpose was to provide a forum where business owners in the shopping park could meet with the MSPA board and Glendale city officials to become better acquainted with how the MSPA works and what we do to promote the Montrose Shopping Park.

The meeting was held in a large room at the Sparr Heights Community Center and was well attended. Delicious fresh sandwiches from Al’s Deli were brought in while folks were greeted and business cards collected for an end-of-evening-raffle. The atmosphere was very jovial as introductions were being made all around.

Once we all got settled, MSPA President Ken Grayson opened the meeting by sharing our vision and introducing the MSPA board. We were happy to meet new Glendale City Manager Scott Ochoa and hear a few words of introduction from him. The meeting was then turned over to MSPA Executive Director Dale Dawson. Dale gave us an interesting, professional, and thorough presentation of the history of the MSPA, our full “friend-raising” events calendar, and how those activities are funded.

Question and answer time came next. We are very thankful for the support and turn out of the City of Glendale officials who actively listened and participated throughout the evening. City Manager Scott Ochoa was joined by of Public Works Director Steve Zurn, City Councilman Frank Quintero, City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian and many others.

The evening ended with MVCC Chamber Executive Director Melinda Clarke and me giving out the raffle prizes. We had such fun doing this! A good laugh was had by all when the first prize, donated by Village Travel, was won by Montrose Travel. Alas the “trip around the world” was given to someone else. As luck would have it, Julie McClure, owner of Montrose Travel, won again! This time she went home with a brand new guitar from Grayson’s Tune Town.

We are looking forward to our next “Meet & Mingle” to have business owners come to the “mic” and tell us about themselves and their business. In the meantime, I posted lots of pics of the event on our blog. You can see them by clicking on the “BLOG” tab of www.shopmontrose.com.

  Mary Dawson