Chamber of Commerce Chatter

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2026 HAS ARRIVED! It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. It was another busy year in the chamber office, and that’s how I like it. We enjoy serving our members and the community making O’Neill a great place to live, work and play! We have welcomed new businesses and sadly said good-bye to others. We are always working on bringing new ideas, events and businesses to our community. We have hosted events that draw people from all over Nebraska and the surrounding states. We welcome visitors for our celebrations, events, school activities and more as this brings dollars into our businesses!

 

We are going to paperless billing as of January 1st! Be sure to send me the email address you want your invoices to go to. My email is lauri@oneillchamber.com. Thank you!

 

As we look forward to 2026, here are some dates for you to mark on your calendars now. The St. Pat’s Celebration will be held from Wednesday, March 11th through Saturday, March 14th. The parade will be on the 14th. The Summerfest Celebration will be Thursday, July 16th through Sunday, July 19th and the Bags, Brew & BBQ Rib Cookoff will be held on September 12th at the community center. We are constantly working on all of these events throughout the year.

 

The St. Pat’s Celebration is when we will celebrate the Community Service, Community Ambassador and the Customer Service awards. We are now taking nominations for all three awards. Please send your nomination with a brief explanation as to why this person deserves this award to lauri@oneillchamber.com. The theme for the 2026 St. Patrick’s Day Celebration will be 250 Years of Irish Spirit (s), in conjunction with the 250th birthday of the United States. Let’s make the 2026 parade the largest we have ever had in O’Neill!

 

Summerfest will kick off again this year with Joseph Hall, Elvis Tribute Artist on Thursday, July 16th. We had great attendance at the 2025 show and many asked to bring him back for 2026, so we have him booked. This will be a new show, so if you were there in 2025, you’ll surely want to be there in 2026! When tickets go on sale, we will let everyone know. Tell your friends about this wonderful show and bring them out for an evening of great music, food and fun! Friday and Saturday nights, there will be Award Winning Rodeo action at the Carroll McKay Arena. The Summerfest Rodeo has won the Mid-States Small Purse Rodeo of the Year ten times! This award is voted on my the Mid-States Rodeo Contestants. We are adding a Summerfest Rodeo Queen Contest this year! The contest will be held on June 13th so the queen can attend other rodeos representing O’Neill Summerfest. On Saturday night, we are bringing big name entertainment to the Irish Capital! Be watching for the announcement coming very soon! We hope you will all come and see what we have in store. Bring your lawn chairs to the concert and sit back and enjoy the evening!

 

The Bags, Brew and BBQ Rib Cookoff will be back at the community center in 2026, on Saturday, September 12th. Start working on your rib recipes now so you will be ready to wow the crowd in September. The bean bag tournament will be going on inside the community center with the ribs being cooked out back! The home brewers will be back with their best of brews for people to try and vote for their favorite.

 

We have another busy fun filled year planned for the community for 2026. We hope to see you out and about enjoying all the festivities! Do you have an idea of something to add to a celebration? Form your committee, do some fundraisers and make it happen! New additions are always welcome!