Chamber holds open house after renovations

Call it a birthdate and a born-again date.

The Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce held a celebratory open house Thursday to commemorate a more than year-long renovation effort and mark the 56th anniversary of the building's groundbreaking.

The chamber, which also houses the Tucumcari Visitors Center, displays a golden-colored shovel from Tucumcari Lumber Co. that was used during the groundbreaking ceremony of the facility a 404 W. Route 66 Blvd. on Sept. 22, 1966.

More than a half-century later Thursday, more than a half-dozen restaurants provided a "Taste of Tucumcari" in the conference room while chamber director Scott Crotzer continued to greet tourists who came through the facility's front door.

The building now comes in brighter colors, a polished concrete floor that features a Route 66 shield, lots of tourism rack cards and plenty of souvenirs and apparel that Crotzer wants to develop into a significant revenue stream.

During the renovations, the chamber also added ADA-compliant bathrooms, free Wi-Fi and an eye-catching Tucumcari Visitors Center sign that aims to draw tourists, especially those who exit Interstate 40 from the city's west side.

Just a few days before, the chamber had a new heat pump installed to replace an aging and failed one. In all, it spent more than $40,000 in lodgers tax funds for the face-lift.

Crotzer said as a fan of midcentury architecture, he liked the chamber's original 1960s design, but "as an outside person coming in, we wanted to make it more fun than that."

"It was in desperate need of a makeover," he added. "I think this is a more welcoming chamber than a bunch of desks."

After Crotzer was hired as chamber director in May 2021, the first day he unlocked the facility he found the sewer line had backed up.

"It was closed because of COVID, and nobody knew," he said.

That unfortunate episode didn't dissuade him, though. As a former restaurant manager, he'd taken over distressed properties before.

"My job is to see opportunity," he said. "I saw opportunity, even with sewage on the floor. It just needed a little love, a little TLC. This place was really successful and a pinnacle part of Tucumcari. It's important place."

He aimed to return the chamber to its original duty as a tourist information center.

"This will do that now for another 20 years or so. I'm excited about it," he said.

Crotzer said there wasn't much left on his to-do list for the building, other than adding LED lighting to illuminate its murals and flags.

He said he's also in the process of updating the chamber's website and Facebook account.

"Now that we got the facility where we want it, now we're moving on to the technical stuff," he said.

Crotzer also is helping gather results for an ongoing tourist survey, helping design a placemat for area restaurants that show area attractions and organizing three festivals each year.