By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce President Natalie Redmond remembers working hard to get the Kansas City Chiefs to hold their training camp in St. Joseph.
Now, Redmond works to keep the team here.
Redmond remembers being part of the team to bring the Chiefs to the Missouri Western State University campus beginning in 2010.
“We use to do a big event down at Arrowhead, St. Joe Day at Arrowhead, when we were recruiting the Chiefs camp here. So, I’ve been involved from the beginning,” Redmond tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “It’s been really, really fun to see it change over the years and evolve and it’s just really fun to get to celebrate with the Chiefs fans. It’s such a point of pride for St. Joe, that we get to be part of the Chiefs’ success.”
Redmond says it has proven to be a good partnership.
“We are hoping to continue to host Chiefs camp for a few more years and we hope to continue to be a part of their success in the future,” Redmond says.
Redmond says hot temperatures at the start of training camp this year nearly got in the way of the city’s annual celebration of the Chiefs coming to St. Joseph.
“The weather has been unpredictable this summer,” Redmond says. “So, it certainly tried to stop the Red Rally, but we were able to have a successful Red Rally with probably 4-or-5,000 people. So, it was just a great way to showcase St. Joseph to Chiefs fans and it’s always great PR for our community.”
Redmond says it was great to greet the Chiefs after a Super Bowl win, especially when camp was canceled in St. Joseph due to the COVID pandemic after the Chiefs’ 2020 Super Bowl win.