I hope that 2014 has gotten off to a good start for everyone. The Lake Gaston Regional Chamber of Commerce has jumped in on starting our New Year’s resolutions. As part of our new year’s efforts, we are eager to continue our Shop Lake Gaston First campaign to encourage everyone in the five-county region to keep their dollars within the region when they shop for goods and services.
As announced in last week’s Chamber Talk, we are launching a Business Blitz as part of the Shop Lake Gaston First campaign, meaning that, predominately on weekends, we will ask as many Lake Gaston regional residents as possible to visit a particular business and support them with a purchase! This weekend (and next weekend if you cannot make it this weekend), we are asking you to support local business Lakeland Theatre Company.
This weekend is the opening of the musical 9 to 5 (made famous by the Dolly Parton movie) performed by students of the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. Please show support for these talented young actors and actresses and for one of our wonderful community theatres by attending a show! Performance dates are this Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m., this Sunday at 2:30 p.m., and next Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m. Let’s get these Business Blitzes started off right and keep our Lake Gaston regional businesses in business!
What else is going on at the Lake Gaston Regional Chamber of Commerce you ask? Well, this Monday was the beginning of our Muffin Mondays. Yes, folks, I am now making my attempt on Sunday evenings to be a Betty Crocker of sorts and bake batches and batches of muffins. You may be asking why, as my husband did when he saw my muffin making madness. On Mondays when I try to be out and about visiting members anyway, I am now also delivering a few of my muffins to brighten the morning. So, be on the lookout for me. You can never tell when this Muffin Maven will strike next.
Our board of directors will also be having our annual retreat next week to craft our program of work for the year and to chart our course for the next five years when the Chamber will celebrate our 50th anniversary! We welcome input from everyone about your vision for the Lake Gaston region, our business community, our non-profit organizations, quality of life, tourism, economic development, important lake issues and more. If you have ideas you would like to share with our board of directors, please call me at 252-586-5711 or send me an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
I would also like for our Lake Gaston regional residents to visit www.lakegastonchamber.com and offer feedback on our website. We are still developing the website, adding information and photographs to enhance our members’ listings, as well as broadening our regional information and links that are useful to local residents and visitors. Please let us know if there is any information or links you would like to see added by calling the office or sending an email.
Finally, I want to remind Lake Gaston residents that this is YOUR Lake Gaston Regional Chamber of Commerce. To that end, we also have an individual membership called the Chamber Champ that is not designed to promote a business, but allows an individual to attend any Chamber events, such as Business After Hours, luncheons etc. If you love the Lake Gaston region and want to support the businesses, organizations and communities of this region, we would love for you to join us as a charter member of the Chamber Champs! Remember, we are better and stronger together.
