After decades of helping people remember birthdays and anniversaries, the printed community calendar may be going the way of phone books.
There will be no Wrangell Birthday Calendar in 2024. The chamber of commerce decided to drop the project from its work list.
The last Wrangell phone book was printed in 2020.
The chamber had used the calendar as a fundraiser to provide an annual scholarship to a graduating high school senior. Last year’s scholarship was $1,500.
“It was discussed and we’re somewhat short-handed over the last few years,” Bill Burr, chamber president, said last week. “We wanted to focus on a few less things so we can do them better.”
Tommy Wells, who started work earlier this month as the chamber’s new executive director, agreed with the decision. “I don’t know that there’s enough time to do it.”
Burr believes the chamber should focus on other popular events in town like the Fourth of July celebration, Pumpkin Patch, Midnight Madness and Jolly Shopping.
The calendars sold for $10 each for years, though the 2023 price was $25. People paid $1 for each birthday or anniversary listing.
The chamber was the latest in a series of community organizations to produce the fundraising calendar.
The calendars have been around since the mid-1950s, according to a story in the Aug. 13, 1954, Sentinel. The article reported that the Parent-Teacher Association was sponsoring a 1955 community birthday calendar to raise money for an annual college scholarship.
The fundraising project was soon taken over by the Women’s Civic Club. When they disbanded, the Emblem Club took over in the mid-1960s, according to Leslie Cummings, who later served as Emblem Club president.
The calendar fund provided three students a $500 scholarship each for four years, according to a March 2012 letter in the Sentinel by Cummings.
The Emblem Club turned over the birthday calendar to the chamber in 2012, as it lacked enough people to handle calendar production due to declining membership.
Despite the chamber’s decision not to produce a birthday calendar for 2024, Burr believes that it could still provide a valuable source as a community-based fundraiser. Cummings said the Emblem Club would possibly be interested in taking over the calendar again.
The chamber announced its decision to drop the calendar on its Facebook page last month: “Calendars are a great fundraising idea for any nonprofit organization. If any nonprofit decides to proceed with a birthday calendar fundraiser, please feel free to reach out to us at info@wrangellchamber.com or call 907-874-3901 and we can share resources and input that we have received from the community.”
Wells said he would consider having the chamber bring back the calendar for 2025 — given that it’s something most residents enjoyed — if no other group decides to take it on before then. “I think it’s good for everyone involved to help fund the scholarship.”
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