There are a few things that I have been wanting to add to my blog site, one of them is to break down the 3 Associations that I am a proud member of and the other is to really let everyone know a little more about LOTOWA and its members.

Since this is tittled LOTOWA this is the association that I will begin with. This is the newest one as well as the smallest however it is growing quickly! LOTOWA was formed in April of 2009, the original members elected Mike Bliele (owner of 7 Springs Winery) as the president, Captain Mike (Celebration Cruises) as the VP, Janine Bullock (owner of Janine's Flowers) as the treasurer, and myself, Stephanie Snofke, (owner of Simply Elegant....) as the secretary.  This association was formed with a few ideas in mind. It all began with a very small meeting of some of the vendors at the lake that I have worked with. I sat them down to see if they shared the same frustrations as I did with the way our community was marketing our industry. I also shared with them the idea of the Stroll at this time. I was surprised to see how many people felt the same way I did as well as how intrigued they were with the concept of the Stroll. The meeting ended and before we all left I said start spreading the word to people that I might have not remembered or thought of at this time.  I think it was the second meeting that we began the process of forming the association. Each meeting we told more people and each meeting the group grew as well as the concepts for the stroll.  The association was officially formed in April and the first thing we did was get the web site up (http://www.LOTOWA.com) thanks to Sandy and Mike at MSW!

Stephanie Stroebel with the CMBA Bride Magazine was the next  form of advertising we decided to go with.  Through the site, magazine and word of mouth we have been able to grow and become a tight community of vendors. Yes, there are board members and everything is decided on a vote by the members but the nice thing about this group is that we all feel equally important! We all have the same goals in mind. It is because of that way of thinking that the group was able to pull of the first annual stroll with such great success! Everyone involved really went above and beyond the call of duty to work on this! I have sat on this idea for 3  years because I just wanted to be  sure and I am so excited at how well everyone in the group stepped up to the plate to work to make it a reality!

There is not one single person that deserves special credit for this project, the entire group deserves the same amount of credit!  Without the "community" working together it would not have gone as well. You can use this Stroll and the success from it on both sides as a true example of the elite professionals that are members of LOTOWA! Make sure to visit the site ( http://www.LOTOWA.com) to see the pictures as well as details. There is another one in the making for March so make sure to keep your eyes and ears open!

A million thank yous to the community of LOTOWA for helping making the Stroll come alive as well as everyone's hard work and dedication to the event!