It’s moving day at the Greater Artesia Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has relocated to an impressive new building adjacent to the renovated Santa Fe Depot.
The depot is now a charming visitors’ center and museum. But, this move would never have been made if Richard Price had not made another move some years ago.
Price is a product of this town. Born here, reared here, couldn’t wait to get out of here.
His grandparents, H. D. and Virginia Burch and Leland and Ethelyn Price grew up in Artesia and reared their kids here, including Richard’s parents, Howard and Betty Burch Price.
But living in Artesia was not in Price’s life plan. A 1982 graduate of Eastern New Mexico University in business administration and marketing, he took a job across the continent in Montgomery, Alabama, married and started a family.
It was at that point in time he realized he wanted his children to have the same kind of small town upbringing that he, his sister, Julee and brother, Tim had enjoyed. He says, "I didn’t realize until I was in my twenties the great foundation my folks had given me."
So in 1987, Richard came back home. He opened Take-Two Video and a daycare center, Great Expectations. He later sold both businesses, which are still in operation.
In 1995, the executive director position at the Greater Artesia Chamber of Commerce was open. At the urging of several citizens, Price applied for and got the job.
His accomplishments at the chamber are varied and numerous. The budget at the chamber when he took the reins was approximately $125,000; six years later, it’s $600,000. Membership in the organization has grown by 15 percent and is still headed upward.
During his tenure, speakers for the annual chamber banquet have included Texas Tech football coach Mike Sykes, soccer superstar Kyle Rote, Jr., and Cowboy football stars Bill Bates, Jay Novacek and Moose Johnston.
Price lobbies at the State Legislature and makes frequent visits to both the Artesia City Council and Eddy County Commission on behalf of the chamber.
Commissioner Laurie Kincaid says of Price, "He works hard and is effective. He knows how to present himself.
"... We have more fun than anyone and he’s one of the people who make being on the commission worthwhile.
"We’ve played some pranks on each other, but I’m proud to call him my friend."
Commissioner Kincaid and Price, among others, are members of the "gotcha club," a spirited, running game of humorous practical jokes.
One of the chamber’s giant projects, which is no laughing matter, came about when Price served on a mayoral task force several years ago.
He says, "I felt that teaching kids to say no to drugs in sixth or seventh grade was waiting too late." At the time, his boys Taylor, Brian and Kevin were in fourth, third and second grades. Price approached Select Milk Producers with the idea of reaching elementary school kids with an anti-drug message.
Select Milk Producers signed on and now underwrites the entire cost of the one-day "No Drugs, No Gangs, Drink More Milk" program, including speaker, T-shirts, magician, transportation, pizza and even ice cream for every elementary school child in Artesia Public Schools. This year’s program featured Olympian Dominique Dawes as the motivational speaker.
Price’s brand of motivation impresses businessman Danny Wall. He says Price does an outstanding job promoting Artesia. The chamber has grown and more people are involved because of Richard. He gets people to want to do more.
"I don’t care much for his football politics, though," laughs Wall. Price and Wall have a standing, good-natured disagreement on the relevance of the Dallas Cowboys as a football club and the worthiness of the Green Bay Packers.
Price appreciates chamber member Wall, as well as the commitment of all the chamber member businesses. He cites, as an example, companies that have given each employee Chamber Bucks to be spent in downtown Artesia during the MainStreet project. Marbob Energy Corp., Yates Petroleum Corp., Myco Industries, Inc., Abo Petroleum Corp., and Agave Energy Corp., with a combined 400 employees, have donated $40,000 to be spent only at retail establishments in the downtown area during construction.
In addition to the day-to-day business of the chamber, his appearances at city council and commission, as well as the legislature, a myriad of special events throughout the year, one more project has kept Price busy nearly every day for the past four years.
From the time he accepted the job as director, he was convinced that the chamber building should be more visible.
"The goal was to try to move to the highway to get more people into the chamber," he explains. "We started by trying to get the railroad to donate Santa Fe Depot to the city and then to find funds to renovate it. Getting Burlington Northern to donate the depot was the biggest hurdle.
"At the outset, we had the funds raised and felt we could do the whole project for $675,000 -$700,000."
It has now gone over that amount and he says, "...It is an ongoing battle to raise money. We’re a little bit short, but this is truly a partnership between city and county governments, grants and private industry."
Also, according to Price, donations of services by local businesses have greatly helped with the project.
He applauds building committee members Janis Champion, Mike Butts, Tommy Scroggin and Steve Anderson.
He adds that Peyton Yates and Jeff Bowman were also very active in the project, and when the process bogged down, "Jeff, Tommy, Peyton and I flew to Ft. Worth on the Yates plane and met directly with the Burlington people, sat down face-to-face and things started moving forward."
Asked if he thought the project would ever become reality, he reflects, "A year ago this was still a dream, we constantly needed more dollars here and dollars there, but here we are and it is more than we dreamed."
Now, the chamber staff is situated in the new location and looking forward to a Grand Opening in September. Price says traffic at the facility has already picked up by 50 percent.
The complex at the local landmark is a striking addition to the Artesia landscape, made possible by a group of dedicated citizens who worked diligently to bring the project to fruition.
Those who took the four-year ride with Price and others who only watched as a dream became a reality believe that it would not have happened if a young man, living far away in Alabama, had not decided to come home to give his boys a Bulldog childhood.
Drop by the facility at the depot and discover just one reason this Price is right for Artesia.