Why Become a Director of the Chamber?

Susan Bryner

The mission of the Lake Almanor Area Chamber of Commerce is to be a catalyst for connecting and collaborating with our businesses, government, and the community to foster a vibrant, thriving economy and community.  Our Core Values are Relationships, Communication, Innovation, and Persistence

This past year has been challenging, but our vision and commitment has remained strong and we feel we have created much of value for our membership and the community.  Some of the outstanding accomplishments of our 2019/2020 year include:


Innovation

Creation and initiation of the first meeting of Almanor Basin Community Consortium (ABCC) along with the facilitation of Sector meetings of the hospitality industry (lodging and restaurants), non-profits, retail and education.  These meetings generated ideas for moving each sector forward through the unique challenges and opportunities we have to improve business and community conditions.  We look forward to convening more of these meetings this fall. 

An offshoot of ABCC and meetings with Non-Profit sector yielded the creation of the Mountain Volunteer Project (MVP).  Project leaders, Matt Moore, Jobana Townsend, Chelssa Outland and Susan Bryner had plans to launch MVP during the fall of this year.  However, the onset of COVID-19 presented an immediate need for shopping assistance at Holiday Market.  The committee jump started the project to fill the need. CLICK HERE for more information on MVP.

The Town Plaza project, a joint venture of the Chamber, Feather River Tourism Association and Lake Almanor Community Foundation was conceived after research into programs and projects that have been shown to stimulate a town’s economy and improve community opportunities and health.  Research indicated the most cost effective and catalyzing thing a community could do was to develop a place for a public market and plaza, and develop on-going, year-round activities near where people shop, eat, and look for entertainment. Meetings with community members indicated overwhelming support for a Town Plaza located at or near Chester Park.  Work toward this end began in November 2019.  Though community events and meetings have been stalled by COVID-19, planning and envisioning has continued.  For information about the Town Plaza Project go to www.OurTownPlaza.org

Last year’s Scarecrow Contest was the brainchild of our Executive Director, Chelssa Outland.  It quickly became a crowd pleaser with many businesses across the basin participating and in its first year raised over $500 for the Town Plaza Project.  This year funds raised by the contest will target purchasing new lights for our Community Tree.

Communication:

At the outbreak of COVID-19, Chamber directors felt it was crucial to stay in communication with the community and our business members.  At that time, we took our monthly, electronic Town Chatter Newsletter to a weekly publication. This move proved popular.  The Town Chatter is now distributed to over 1,000 business and community members across the region.

Persistence

2019 saw the successful execution of our existing events: Annual Golf Tournament, 4th of July Parade, Safe Trick or Treat, Veteran’s Weekend Community Tree Lighting, Holiday Shopping Tour and Turkey Trot.  Though the danger of fire delayed our 4th of July Fireworks display, we were able secure the ability to execute the event on Labor Day, a move that was reported to have brought an influx of visitors to the area as well as opportunities for new events highlighting restoration work on our watershed, projects involving our lake’s water quality, and forest management practices.
 
Why become a Director of the Chamber of Commerce? 
Because it is your opportunity to become a leader and moving force in the work of building a vibrant, thriving economy and community in Chester/Lake Almanor.  CLICK HERE and go to the bottom of the page for more information and CONTACT us at now at info@lakealmanorchamber.com 
 
Town Chatter - September 2020, Volume 3

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