Longtime Associated agency goes out on a positive note with Aero Plains Brewing party

Sheree Nikkel Dixon was a 19-year-old intern in 1990 when she joined what was then called Associated Advertising Agency.

“When I walked into the agency, there was shag carpet, and there were people smoking in the offices,” she says.

That’s just one of the many stories that could be shared Saturday afternoon at a goodbye party for the longtime agency, which once was the state’s largest.

The agency closed in August after more than seven decades in business.

“We felt that it was important to say goodbye in a positive way to an agency that helped grow, train and sort of graduate so many influential advertising people in the community,” Nikkel Dixon says.

She’s organizing the party, which is from noon to 5 p.m. at Aero Plains Brewing, with Danielle Ford and Kathy Wiebe. Wiebe is the daughter of longtime agency chairman Pres Huston.

The party is a come-and-go event, but there will be official story telling at 3 p.m.

Nikkel Dixon says employees from any era of the agency are welcome.

“Everyone is invited.”