Some of the Indian artists and performances missed due to the rained out Indian Market show will now be a part of the Carefree Festival of Fine Chocolate & Fine Arts, February 14th-17th in the Carefree Desert Gardens. Three time World Champion Hoop Dancer Brian Hammill of the Hochunk Nation, along with his wife Toni of the Dine' or Navajo Nation and their two children, will be our guest performers on Sunday at 2pm. Some of the finer Native American Artists have been invited back as a rain check for them and for the public who missed them in January.

Roberta Toombs Rechlin

Magic Bird Festivals

the art of fun

www.magicbirdfestivals.com

480-488-2014

 

(Lyn's note: This show is the first place the winning Carefree Gardens

Photo Contest photos go on display for public favorite voting too, so be sure to come, vote for your favorite photo, and enjoy the Fine Chocolate and Fine Arts Festival. There will be lots of neat stuff to see and to eat!)

 

 

 

 

Hi Lyn:

I am very much looking forward to the Monday event.  I want to express my deep appreciation to the current town council. They have done a fantastic job! I would be honored to work with them if the voters of Carefree see me as the right candidate. Council has put into motion many strong plans for our town but in my view more needs to be done to make a strong future a reality. I am the candidate to help take Carefree to its future. Like my other esteemed candidates I have a family here as well. My resume can give you those an other details. What is important to me is to share why I am running versus sharing my past.

My reasons for running for council are straight forward. I am a resident and a business owner and I am extremely concerned about our town's future. What I mean by that is our ability as a community to define a very specific and actionable plan to sustain our unique charm and beauty yet grow by attracting businesses that match our community culture and thereby attract more visitors. As I was campaigning throughout our town I was saddened by the many vacant store fronts. Store owners all shared the common concern that we need to grow, but the frustration was evident that there was no clear plan to do so. In my view the growth trend is going in the wrong direction. This will result in further decay unless we act now.

I am sure all of the candidates desire to attract new businesses to our town. But what I can provide is a very unique skill set in doing so as I have successfully grown business units and organizations over the course of my professional career through my strategic planning expertise.

Hope is not a plan. I have very deep experience in planning and making things happen. I do not have hope…I have a plan to make things happen for our Carefree. Planning and execution are about coming together to hear all voices and come to consensus on where we desire to go. It is not about a small group making decisions and doing what they feel is best. All constituencies must have a voice. My strengths beyond planning are in facilitation and consensus building. My doctoral work and 30 plus years of senior and executive hands-on experience provide me right the tools, knowledge and skills to make a plan come together and successfully execute it. I will work to create this group of advisors to design our plan for the future.

Many store owners expressed that planning actions were taken in the past only to fade away. Why try again they asked? My answer is simple…."If you do what you have always have done you will get what you have always gotten." We have only two choices…do something or do nothing….I choose to do something.

While we can post signs and placards and enhanced entrance ways and keep streets neatly paved and have beautiful gardens if we don't attract more businesses and work diligently to support our current businesses those who do visit won't return. Then we all lose. It is time to act and I am ready to help us do so. My website is http://michaelkrahephd.businesscatalyst.com/running-platform.html Thanks so much Lyn for all you do for our Carefree.

 

Michael Krahe

 

(Lyn's note: I look forward to seeing lots of Carefree voters at the Forum tonight!  This is your chance to see the candidates speak and to put faces to the names.)