Northern Virginia Chamber to Host Congressional Roundtable on Dec. 12; 75,000 expected at Rochester Hometown Christmas Parade to help ring in the season; Jefferson County Chamber - The Ugly Sweater Contest for a Good Chamber cause; Romeoville 2016 Community & Membership Directory; #Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotation: Kernersville Chamber - (Thought for the Day); Christian County CEO Kelli Pendleton: Education is Vital to a Successful Workforce; Chamber, city of Vicksburg team up on new website; Indiana Chamber Community of the Year: Fishers; Artery to pump life into vacant Appleton building; Town Square Publications Chamber Membership Directories and Community Profiles: The best in the U.S.

Good morning #Chamber World! It's going to be a GREAT day!



Northern Virginia Chamber to Host Congressional Roundtable on Dec. 12



WHAT: The Northern Virginia Chamber will host its annual Congressional Roundtable on Monday, December 12, from 3:00 – 5:00 PM at the Northern Virginia Chamber in Tysons, Va.

The dialogue will cover several issues at the intersection of federal policy and business – federal spending, energy, trade policy, the sequestration and the effect on Northern Virginia, transportation, taxation and much more. This will be an interactive discussion that will give you the opportunity to ask the important questions on the minds of Northern Virginia’s government leaders.

Registration is $30 for Northern Virginia Chamber members or $50 for non-members and is available online. Registration is free to members of the media who pre-register.

WHO:
Congressman Robert Wittman (R-1)
Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11)
Congressman Don Beyer (D-8)
Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (R-10)
Moderated by: Dr. Mark Esper, Raytheon

WHEN: Monday, December 12, 2016, 3:00 – 5:00 PM

WHERE: Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce: 7900 Westpark Drive, Suite A550, Tysons, VA 22102

NOTES: Members of the media who plan to cover the event, should contact Elaine Gilligan, egilligan@novachamber.org, by Wednesday, December 7 to register.

 

75,000 expected at Rochester Hometown Christmas Parade to help ring in the season

The 65th annual Rochester Hometown Christmas Parade will march to town this weekend, celebrating the mystery and magic of the holidays with a “Holiday Masquerade.”

Beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, the 2016 Rochester Hometown Christmas Parade will roll down Main Street, from the corner of Tienken and Rochester roads south to Third Street.

“We are extremely excited to celebrate the 65th anniversary this year,” said Tim Crawford, who helps organize the parade. “The parade allows our community to come together to kick off Christmas in a community atmosphere.”

The Rochester Hometown Christmas Parade — which is sponsored by Genisys Credit Union — is the largest Christmas parade in Michigan, according to event organizers.

Crawford said that between 75,000 and 100,000 people come out for the parade each year, setting up chairs and blankets along the route as early as that morning to watch the parade’s nearly 3,000 participants.

“Many families have made it a tradition for many, many years. It allows them to showcase everything from what they did when they were youths to their kids and their grandkids as they now march down Main Street — just as they did years ago — in support of many different organizations in our community,” Crawford said.

This year’s parade, which has a Holiday Masquerade theme, will be led by grand marshals Roger and Mary Jo Byrd. The Byrds will be joined in the parade by their four children — Scott, Julie, Michael and David — and their six grandchildren.

For the fifth year, the parade will also host junior grand marshals, who this year are Rochester High School seniors Sophia Shafkalis and Andrew Smith.

This year’s parade will include floats, bands, dancers, horses, a variety of different churches, community organizations, nonprofits and more.

“We have approximately 120 units that will be in the parade, so it will be a little bit longer than in the past, but it should be done by around 4 p.m.,” Crawford said.

Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sheri Heiney said the chamber is honored to play a central planning role for the parade and is dedicated to bringing the mystery and magic of the holidays to the community. Read more: C and G Newspapers

Jefferson County Chamber - The Ugly Sweater Contest for a Good Chamber cause

Click on the Ugly Sweater to learn more about the luncheon, see the ugly sweater contestants, and RSVP. 

Mike always says come out and play with us and this is the perfect time!

The contest will be between the Chamber of Commerce President, Vice President, Executive Director, and Marketing Director. You can vote for your favorite sweater by paying money at the event in the designated voting areas! You can see the photos above of those that will be in the contest and be thinking about who you want to vote for!

​$1.00 = 1 Vote - All money will benefit CASA of Jefferson County!

Romeoville 2016 Community & Membership Directory  

The Romeoville 2016 Community & Membership Directory is available at the Romeoville Chamber of Commerce today! Thank you to Michelle Jarnutowski, Gina Sopko and the Chamber team for their help and direction putting this together! 

Town Square Publications  (www.townsquarepublications.com) can help you accomplish your chamber's gloss map, directory, community profile or publication needs at no expense to the chamber. Please email John Dussman at jdussman@tspubs.com or call (847)-427-4633.

#Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotation: Kernersville Chamber - (Thought for the Day)

Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it, but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.  

 ~ Charles A. Lindbergh 

Christian County CEO Kelli Pendleton: Education is Vital to a Successful Workforce




Kentuckians have a lot to be proud of. We are home to the most talented basketball teams, fastest horses and best bourbon in the world. We are proud to show off our blue grass and big hats to all who come here to visit. We have a lot of to be proud of, but we have a lot to work on.
Education is vital to a successful workforce. Business leaders and educators need to continue to work hand in hand to encourage our young people to realize their potential. We need to help students open their eyes to available opportunities and skillsets that may be more suitable to them. While participating in Leadership Hopkinsville, I heard people ask multiple times how to connect students with various employment opportunities. We have to continue our efforts in workforce education and capitalize on every opportunity to talk to young people about career opportunities in Christian County.

I want our Chamber to be central to this effort. It is the crossroads of where education meets commerce, where military meets civilian, where vision meets reality.

It is also important to be informed of the legislative issues shaping our region. As members, you will soon receive a survey via email regarding issues that affect our community. We hope you will take the time to take it so that we may forward the issues most meaningful to you to the state capital and the nation's capital. We are here to advocate on behalf of our business community and will continue to work hard on your behalf. You will also start to see more correspondence from the Chamber to you about local legislative matters. This is just to keep you informed on issues that could affect your business.

Finally, I would like to wish our teachers great success this school year. I know you have a big job to do. Your dedication to shaping young minds will produce educated, productive citizens who go on to do great things....even greater than basketball.

Kelli Pendleton, CEO, Christian County Chamber

Chamber, city of Vicksburg team up on new website

The city of Vicksburg has launched a website providing a one-stop shop for people interested in visiting or moving to Vicksburg.

The site, “www.livevicksburg.com,” provides access to 13 different websites operated by local organizations, including the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg Warren School District, Vicksburg-Warren County Board of Realtors and the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce.

The website also includes a brochure showing all organizations in the city that can be downloaded and used by visitors.

The website was idea of Mayor George Flaggs Jr., who said he wanted to provide a location where people could access all the information they needed about Vicksburg.

“The good thing about this is people can go and get all those websites and go all over Vicksburg. It’s all connected,” he said. “You can find out anything about Vicksburg.

“I pulled everybody together. What we did was call in realtors, call in ERDC (U.S Army Corps of Engineer Engineering Research and Development Center), the Corps, the school board … everybody involved, “ Flagg said. “I’m trying to recruit people to live in Vicksburg and try to minimize the number of people who work in Vicksburg and live outside Vicksburg.”

Flaggs said the website is another tool to encourage people to live and enjoy  Vicksburg.

“We’ve got to get back above 25,000 people to be able to qualify for most of the grants that are available to cities,” Flaggs said. “Make ourselves much more more competitive when it comes to grant applications and to enhance the livability in Vicksburg.”

“I think it’s great,” said chamber executive director Jane Flowers. “It was great thinking on the mayor’s part to bring everybody to the table and to try to come up with a brochure that kind of pulls the groups together, so somebody from the outside could look in at the website and see what’s in Vicksburg — there’s a lot to see and do here.” Read more: Vicksburg Post

Indiana Chamber Community of the Year: Fishers

No matter who you talk to – business leaders, local officials or longtime residents – they all cite adopting the vision in recent years to become a “smart, vibrant, entrepreneurial city” as the turning point for Fishers. They credit Mayor Scott Fadness and the city council.

What’s followed is quite the transformation. Major economic announcements are the new norm, not the exception. Innovation is now synonymous with the fast-growing city.

That speaks to how dominant a player Fishers has become in business attraction and expansion. It boasts an impressive entrepreneurial spirit thanks to Launch Fishers, the largest collaborative co-working space in the state (if not the Midwest). Collaboration and embracing change have been crucial.

Mayor Fadness: “They (residents) recognize for the most part that change is inevitable and if you can articulate to them why that change makes sense, they’re apt to go along with that. That positions us well to move our community forward.” Read more: Indiana Chamber




Artery to pump life into vacant Appleton building

The return of Bazaar After Dark, the buzzed-about night market that brought some 3,000 people to Wisconsin Avenue earlier this fall, won't be until sometime in 2017.

But what might be the next best thing is taking over a vacant building in Appleton this weekend.

Pulse Young Professionals Network at the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce — who put on Bazaar After Dark in September — will put on their fifth urban market event called The Artery from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the former Valley Packaging building at 1325 S. Perkins St.

The event, whose promo materials bill it as "music, mischief and art" featuring "artists, makers, weirdos, entrepreneurs, creative businesses and you," will feature more than 40 vendors, showing off and selling everything from handmade metal jewelry, photography, wood projects, prints, digital illustrations, knitting, crocheting and ceramics to homemade pasta and industrial lighting fixtures.


New this time around is the addition of food vendors, including Texas Fold 'Em Taco Co., Pop Up Fox Cities, The Coffee Bar, Pagoni's Pizza, Savage Henry's Legendary Chili and On The Fritz Concessions.

Green Bay graffiti artist Beau Thomas, of Trackside Designs, will be doing live painting demonstrations (weather permitting). There also will be craft beer and cocktails available and a DJ will help set the vibe. Read more: Post-Crescent


Prince William Chamber Holiday Open House Toy Drive Benefits SERVE

Manassas, VA- On the evening of Thursday, December 2nd the members of the Prince William Chamber of Commerce gathered for their annual Holiday Open House at Chamber Headquarters near the Manassas Regional Airport. Presented by the Chamber’s Board of Directors, the event was sponsored by C.C. Bartholomew, Keller Williams Solutions. Bartholomew is the Chairman of the Chamber’s Board. It was a festive occasion, complete with door prizes, trays of Christmas cookies and roughly a dozen Christmas trees decorating the room. Most festive of all, attendees were asked to bring a toy for the TML-A Xerox Company Toy Drive to benefit the Gifting for Families program of Northern Virginia Family Service; specifically the SERVE campus in Manassas. Nearly 100 toys, games and puzzles were collected to help the Manassas-area homeless shelter and food pantry reach their goal of providing gifts for children in need across Prince William County and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. 

TML employees kicked off the drive by filling half of a large box with toys before sending the box over to the Chamber Open House. When all was said and done, two large boxes were overflowing with toys for local children. TML President Ben Simms and Major Account Executive Will Nance picked up the toys and delivered them to the SERVE campus the next day.

The Gifting for Families program ensures that children in Northern Virginia receive a gift or gift card for the holiday season. In total, close to 2,000 children will be served across Northern Virginia, many of whom live in the Prince William region.

For additional information about NVFS’ Gifting for Families holiday drive or how to donate, please visit www.nvfs.org/giftingforfamilies or contact Sarah Crosley: scrosley@nvfs.org, 571-748-2502. Contact: Andrea Whaley, Prince William Chamber of Commerce, awhaley@pwchamber.org; 571-765-1876

Town Square Publications Chamber Membership Directories and Community Profiles: The best in the U.S.

Town Square Publications, a division of the Daily Herald Media Group, is a national chamber custom publishing group that specializes in developing partnerships by producing high-quality print and digitally integrated publications along with other added value programs dedicated to creating relevancy for local chambers of commerce and other membership focused organizations interested in raising non-dues revenues.

Town Square Publications parent company, Paddock Publications, has over 100 years’ experience of print product development and dedicated customer service in communities throughout the Midwest. Our experience allows Town Square Publications to offer you attractive royalty and non-dues revenue share streams, provide direct distribution of your custom designed printed publications, including digital and mobile integration, and all with the quickest turn-around times available in the industry. Town Square also offers multi-media maps in both print and online formats, both with our No-Cost guarantee. More information: Town Square Publications

Chambers of Commerce and member focused organizations serve as a valuable resource in the local marketplace. The networking opportunities and representation with a wide variety of diverse businesses in your community is the catalyst of a successful organization. For further information about Town Square's publishing partnership with chambers of commerce and our No-Cost guarantee and Earned Revenue Share Program, To request your chamber publication or map proposal, Contact Town Square Here