Devon Colton needs to be congratulated for her amazing job of putting together the 2023 Chamber fundraising and awards banquet held at the Baker Elks Lodge Jan. 28. After only being on the job as the new chamber director for less than a month she pulled off an amazing evening of entertainment, fine food and networking.

As the recipient of the nonprofit/organization award, Baker City Events, an organization that plans events, we were impressed. Since 2022 was the last year that Baker City Events will be the umbrella nonprofit working on planning multiple events it made this award very special to those of us that have served.

There has been a long history of event planning that culminated into organizing the nonprofit, Baker City Events, with many people involved. The events BCE organized have been a part of Baker culture for many years. As organizations stepped away from the planning of many events I took them on with the blessing of the Baker City Herald as a sponsor so the events would not go by the wayside. When the paper no longer was involved, the volunteer group of Baker City Events was formed to continue these events for our community. Cristi Vega and Lynette Perry founded Baker City Events (BCE) and formed it as a nonprofit in 2014. Deanna Davis joined the board in 2015 and Marilyn Haynes joined the BCE board in 2017.

Without the support of local businesses and individuals, others who have served on the board over the past years, volunteers and musicians none of these events would have been possible.

The events BCE organized included the annual Easter egg hunt, the kids parade, Powder River Music Review, Community Night Out and aided in other local fundraisers. It was my pleasure to be involved for over 30 years in event planning of these and more.

As I step away from Baker City Events, all of these events will continue. BCE handed off the Easter egg hunt to the Rotary Club a couple of years ago and they will continue with that. The Baker City Police and Lions Club partners will continue with Community Night Out. The kids parade will continue under the organizational skills of the VFW. Remaining funds raised to purchase seven benches in the park in the bench/tile fund have been turned over to the city for maintenance of the tiles on the pavilion and bench upkeep.

Powder River Music Revue (PRMR) will continue under the direction of a new board of directors, mostly musicians who will continue to organize the Sunday concerts and other music events as a 501c3 nonprofit. This should be an exciting time with the contacts they have with other musicians. This new PRMR group has some wonderful ideas, including expanding to presentations of youth talent at concerts and mentoring youth with involvement in the schools. The new board includes Marilyn Haynes, Rory Noble, Marven Sundean, Lindianne Sarno and Dave Adler.

Special thanks to long time member of the BCE board, Deanna Davis, who worked with me on closeout of financials to be sure funds for each event were processed and distributed to the correct group.

A very special thanks to Marilyn Haynes who has been president of Baker City Events for the last six years.

Lynette Perry

Baker City