Quick quiz: Who comes to mind when you think of a community booster? Someone who promotes businesses, helps with tourism and special events, and is invited to help lead community functions?
Need a hint? Ask your local chamber of commerce; because that is your answer!
Katie Rauber took the reins of the Wahpeton Breckenridge Chamber of Commerce this year (2023), embracing all it entails. And the best part is she grew up in Breckenridge, left for more than 20 years and came back.
Talk about a Live Wide Open vibe!
A lot of Katie’s time away was spent in the Twin Cities. So how was that? “Busy. A lot of traffic,” Katie said, “overwhelming at first. Because coming from a small town, it’s just a whole new world really.
“But eventually you find your place and your people,” she said. One person in particular that Katie found was Dominik, a native of Switzerland and a world class chess player. They met in Minneapolis and eventually married.
Katie and Dominik moved to Breckenridge in 2021 and says they couldn’t be happier. Coming home for Katie just felt right.
“We didn’t have any real ties to Minneapolis,” she said. “I was given the perfect opportunity for us to come home, to help out my parents and my grandparents, and see my nieces play their sporting events and just reconnect with the community again.”
She did say they spent a lot of time “back home,” so Dominik knew what he was getting into. And he also had small town roots.
Katie’s resume included time in human resources, sales and even coaching. “And I am now the executive director at the Chamber of Commerce. I love it. I love every minute of it.”
Her passion for community is obvious. “Breckenridge, Wahpeton, is a bit of a hidden gem,” Katie muses. “There are so many things to offer. We have the amazing zoo, which is really world renowned. We have the golf course that half in one state and half in the other, great school systems, just so much to offer here.”
Winter is also special. “It’s awesome cross-country skiing here,” she said. Of course, because she moonlights as a figure skating coach, Katie should embrace cold weather!
And she doesn’t mince words when it comes to her communities. “We have every opportunity here that I have found in the Twin Cities,” she says, mentioning theatre, sports, and many amenities too numerous to list. “We also have all of these hidden opportunities that you don’t really see unless you start digging.”
One of those hidden opportunities is chess. Katie’s husband Dominik, the renowned player, has been teaching and offering chess at the Breckenridge Library.
And Live Wide Open is an initiative she loves. “We have an unlimited amount of space to do whatever you want to do, to explore whatever you willing to explore. It’s an endless possibility to me. So, yeah, that’s what Live Wide Open feels to me.”
She pauses. “It means you can come home. I came home. I came home for a reason. I just love it.”
