Donnie Bell, owner of Donnie Bell Design, LLC, was recently elected to serve on the Lincoln-Parish Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.   He will serve a three-year term in this capacity.  Have you ever wondered what the chamber does?  Here is a glimpse into its functionality.

The local chamber represents all of Lincoln Parish not only Ruston.  The members of the organization act as representatives for area businesses by adopting policies and resolutions in an effort to produce a strong local economy.  Additionally, the chamber distributes business, tourism, and relocation information daily through the mail.  Many times the chamber is someone’s initial contact with the community.  To keep citizens informed about local events, the organization maintains a calendar of local happenings.  Donnie said that he decided to serve on the chamber board “as a way to get more involved in the community.”

One interesting fact about the chamber is that it is funded by the programs that it plans like the Squire Creek Peach Festival and the Ruston Gun and Knife Show.  In short, the chamber gives to the community and the community gives back.

Thursday was our ribbon cutting at the Donnie Bell Design studio. Sure, we’ve been open for about 10 months, but we never had an official opening and felt it was better late than never. So the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce came over with their diplomats, clients of ours and Ruston business people showed up to take in the sights and sounds we hear every day.

We wondered if there are giant left-handed scissors.

About 100 people showed up for the morning meet and greet. We really enjoyed talking with clients, Ruston-Lincoln Parish diplomats and area businesspeople and officials as we stood elbow to elbow in our studio. Mayor Dan Hollingsworth was on hand to congratulate us and thank us for our contribution to Ruston.

We still don't know how all those people piled in here.

We had some bottled water, real bottled (i.e. glass) cokes and specially crafted cupcakes for everybody to snack on by Social Bites of Ruston. They were custom made to incorporate our branding, including orange-colored cake, grey icing and our logo on top. “So enough about how pretty they were. How did they taste?” They were delicious. Red velvet and chocolate chip cupcakes, plus some brownies and cookies as well. Although it was kind of surreal to bite into our logo.

Sad to report there were no cupcakes left past Friday.

We appreciate everyone who came out and we enjoyed meeting with you all. Feel free to stop in anytime to chat, hangout or inquire about some design work. Photos are courtesy of Henry McCoy.