Copelan retires from Wallace Chamber

WALLACE — The Wallace Chamber is looking to fill some massive shoes, as Chamber Coordinator Dave Copelan has accepted another position and will be leaving on March 31.

“He is going to be sorely missed. We depend on him a lot.” Jim Shields, Chamber vice president said.

With a background as a newspaperman, which includes owning his own senior citizen-focused paper in Boulder City, Nev., Copelan has had a knack for working with the media over the years.

“His experience in the news industry really helped us out. He has been able to get Wallace a lot of very expensive free advertisements and get us recognized. TV promotions that we could not have paid for,” Shields said.

An example of this "expensive free advertising" was one of Copelan’s favorite moments working with the chamber.

“The highlight was getting the 'Today Show' in town. In 2018, Rick Shaffer and I decided to have a low-key Center of the Universe Celebration,” Copelan explained. “I got an email the next day from the Today Show and they were asking about the celebration. I told them we do it every year and they believed us.”

Working together with other chamber members, Copelan sent them the framework of the story and they ran it — making the claimed Center of the Universe national news.

“Wallace is full of feisty people,” Shields said. “We have the miners strike in the 1890s, the great fire of 1910, the freeway when the town was going to be demolished to make way for I-90. It’s that kind of spirit that we celebrate at the center of the Universe.”

Copelan was also a significant help in writing grants and getting funds for different signage around the visitor center and the up-and-coming Buffalo Soldiers visit.

“He’s a go-getter that way. He helps get advertisements and articles written. He’s also strong in writing grants and working with companies like Hecla, for example, working on the Hecla buy back program,” Shields said.

The annual visit from the Iron Riders is another highlight of what Copelan has brought to the town.

The all African-American troops were stationed in Missoula in the 1890s. During the mining wars, the troops came to restore order, as well as later rescuing locals from the Great Fire of 1910. One of the most extraordinary accomplishments was an arduous 1,900-mile cycling trip from Missoula to St. Louis, testing the military effectiveness of the bicycle in a battle.

June will see the Iron Riders coming through Wallace to celebrate the 125th anniversary, the proud history of the Buffalo Soldiers in the Northwest and create a Buffalo Soldiers National Trail.

Looking for a new chamber coordinator will be no easy task and has already begun.

“We started putting out ads in the paper, on Facebook and in newsletters looking for applicants. We already have some résumés. Our team will sit down, look over the applicants and eventually take it to the chamber board with who we recommend. It’s going to be some hard shoes to fill,” Shields said.

When asked if Copelan has any advice for the next person filling his shoes, he said, “the next person coming in just has to be welcoming. Find what this little town has, that you can’t find anywhere else. It’s got charm. It’s so little that everybody knows one another. You are treated like a person.”