Message from the President & Executive Director

From the October Commerce Connection Newsletter

Dear Chamber Member,

My favorite time of the year is upon us - brilliant fall colors, Honeycrisp Apples, football and Glei’s Apple Cider.  Another bright spot is having the Detroit Tigers in the play-offs and the Detroit Lions 4-0.  Even non-sports fans are talking about the Tigers and Lions - it is great to see the comradery.

I recently had the opportunity to meet with our Lieutenant Governor, Brian Calley along with some business people, a couple Hillsdale County Board of Commissioners and our State Representative Ken Kurtz and State Senator Bruce Caswell.  There was some great discussion amongst the group.  It was refreshing to see the interest, enthusiasm and passion discussed on various topics about our community, county and state.  Hats off to State Representative Ken Kurtz for working to bring the Lieutenant Governor to our community to show off our assets and discuss our concerns.

Another Hillsdale County Fair goes down in the books -  just not sure why this week’s weather couldn’t have been last week?  Thanks to Scott Dow, HCF staff and board of directors and the numerous volunteers for doing another great job.  Our fair brings so many people to our community, it is definitely one of our greatest tourism assets.  Each year, we answer many calls about the fair -  from dates and activities, directions, and this year if things were still on or cancelled.  Eleven of our members took advantage of the ability to use our fair booth.  They were pleased with this opportunity and made many contacts to further their business.  In fact, I just received a call from Therapeutic Massage who used our fair booth on Monday night.  They mailed thank you letters and coupons to all who signed up to win a free massage with Mark during their fair booth shift.  They reported they have already generated several new clients from being at our fair booth.   This is a great example of why we allow our members to utilize our fair booth.

I am pleased to report the TUF program will be continuing in November.  This year, TUF key tags will be used instead of wristbands.  The key tags will be $10 and good from November 1, 2011 through October 31, 2012.  Area school children will again be selling the key tags as well as non profit organizations and businesses.  The TUF committee has made a few changes to the program based on the survey results we received.  Two of the most notable changes will be the key tags and all businesses will have a sign to display in their businesses promoting their monthly offers.   Key tags will be available towards the end of the month.

As always, if there is anything we can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Respectfully,

Karri Doty, IOM, CBSP
President/Executive Director