A&P meets to consider requests

— During its meeting on Tuesday, the Camden’s Advertising and Promotion Commission approved two requests for funding and changed the meeting time for next month's meeting.

The Camden Ministerial Alliance had requested $10,000 for the annual fireworks show at last month’s meeting. Charlotte Young was present to represent CMA.

Young told the commission that the fireworks show was being moved to Sept. 4, during the Labor Day weekend. Young explained that this is not a permanent change, that the CMA was trying the move because more people are available to attend. She stated that there are less people traveling and less competition with other cities that also do fireworks shows on Independence Day. Not many cities do events for Labor Day, so it would be an event that people from out of town may attend.

“We will try it this year and see. No commitment to change it permanently," Young said. "We always welcome new ideas and always take feedback we get into consideration.”

The commission approved the request for the fireworks show. Commission Chairman Clara Freeland stated that $5,000 will come from A&P funds, and $5,000 from parks development.

The second item on the agenda was a second reading for a request for $2,000 from Charlie’s Angels - the group that presents the car show during the annual BPW Barn Sale in September. The event is free to the public and the proceeds from the car-show entries go to Relay for Life.

Charlie’s Angels was not in the planned budget for the year, so the commission had to consider granting the amount from the contingency fund. The commission did approve the request. The money will be used for advertising on radio and in print.

There was also a first reading for a request of $5,000 for the Ouachita County Fair Board. Missy Chambers, representing the group, explained that the money would be used to advertise the fair on the radio and in the news.

Freeland stated that the commission had budgeted $3,750 for the fair group this year, even though it has been $5,000 in the past. This is because the commission wanted to have a contingency fund for new events and other groups that may need funds that have not needed it in the past. In order to do so, the budget for every group got smaller.

The commission stated that the request would be considered and for Chambers to attend the next meeting for a decision.

The commission usually meets on the last Tuesday of the month, but there are commissioners that will be out of town that week in July, so it was decided that they would meet a week earlier than usual. The next A& P Commission meeting will be at 3 p.m. on July 19.

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