Happy Wednesday, Rotarians.

Need to Know

1. Upcoming speakers: On October 11^th, Chris Parker will give us an update on the new Marshfield Senior Center, plus we will receive information on the Gobble Wobble; on the 18^th, we will have a presentation from Arc of the Ozarks; on the 25^th, Carl Hefner from Business Incubator will be speaking to us.
2. John Benson, Marshfield City Administrator, has submitted an application for club membership. If you have any comments or questions about his membership qualifications, please contact a board member within the next ten days.
3. Our Rotary District 6080 conference will be at the Hilton Convention Center in Branson on October 21-23.

Meeting Recap

Our guests today: Garin Ferguson and Laura Ledford from Mexican Villa.

We “sang” to Amy Wilkerson and Jim Mayes for their October birthdays.

Our presentation today was from Garin Ferguson, CEO of Mexican Villa. Mexican Villa is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year. It has been a single-family owned business since its founding, an impressive accomplishment since only 13% of businesses make it to three generations. Garin is the grandson of the founder, also named Garin Ferguson. Founder Garin Ferguson first tasted Mexican food while stationed in the military in Texas during the 1940s. After his military service was finished, Mr. Ferguson started a crop dusting business and took over a barbecue restaurant called Pig N Bun in 1951. This restaurant was located in the building that would later become the flagship location for Mexican Villa. Mr. Ferguson dabbled in Mexican food at the BBQ restaurant, and then leased the building to an Italian restaurant called Italian Villa. Mr. Ferguson started a Mexican restaurant called Old Mexico in another location. After the Italian Villa vacated the National Ave. location, Mr. Ferguson moved his restaurant to that location and decided to save money on replacing an entire neon sign by just swapping “Mexican” for Italian”, thus the name Mexican Villa was born. Mexican Villa still uses recipes developed in the 1950s by Mr. Ferguson and a Mexican friend. The business manufactures all its own sauces and spice mixes at a facility in Springfield. There are currently six restaurants in Springfield and one in Ozark. Mexican Villa now offers catering for groups of ten people and more.

Final Thoughts

I failed you this week, Rotarians. No quotes or clips. I’ll try to do better next time.

Marshfield Rotary Club: Raising the bar through leadership, giving and education

Yours in Rotary Service,

Kristin Grace Krebs