By George Slaughter
The Fulshear Katy Chamber of Commerce is celebrating its growing membership with a Mardi Gras-themed casino night.
The event is set for 7-11 p.m. Friday at the Arc of Katy, 21402 Merchants Way. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased online at the chamber website.
Proceeds from this and other chamber events go to support the chamber’s mission and programs that serve its members and communities.
Attendees will receive a raffle ticket and $1,000 in gaming chips to use on blackjack tables, craps tables, and roulette wheels. Every $1,000 won entitles a participant to purchase another raffle ticket.
“If you have $20,000 in chips, you get 20 raffle tickets,” Don McCoy, chamber president, said.
Raffle prizes include a Pedego electric bike. The evening also includes dinner, with gumbo and other goodies, and a cash bar.
“We’re trying to celebrate the culmination of our membership drive,” McCoy said. “We’re making a big push to sign up new members. We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than with a Mardi Gras party.”
The chamber is a 501 (c) (6) nonprofit organization, and was established in 2013. It has 530 members presently.
“We’re hoping to get over 700,” McCoy said. “We like to think of ourselves as the most innovative chapter in the region. We offer marketing tools that other chambers don’t have.”
McCoy said the chamber serves the Fulshear and Katy areas, but its growing membership isn’t limited to the local area.
“We have members in Katy,” McCoy said. “Chambers aren’t bound by any kind of demarcation line or border. We love to serve the tri-county region (Fort Bend, Harris, and Waller). We have one member in the Cayman Islands, and another member in New Jersey.”
As for Friday’s event, McCoy said the chamber has hosted casino nights in the past, but this will be the first one with a Mardi Gras theme.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” McCoy said.