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Upcoming Events
December 5, 2015
North Country Chorus Christmas Concert
7:30 - 9:00 PM
Wells River Congregational
Church
Wells River, VT
December 7, 2015
Most Likely To Succeed Film Screening
(Issues in Education)
7:00 PM
Oxbow High School
Bradford, VT
Film WEB site
December 16, 2015
Using Your WEB Site to Grow Your Business Workshop
2:00 - 5:00 PM
Riverbend Career and Technical Center
Bradford, VT
RSVP Required
January 19, 2016
Chamber Annual Meeting
5:45 PM
Lake Morey Resort
Fairlee, VT
For more info or details about upcoming events, please visit our WEB site at www.cohase.org
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New Sections
Starting with this month's newsletter, you will see two new recurring columns.
Member Moment
This column focuses on a new business each month. Businesses will respond to five questions to help us all learn more about our member businesses.
Ask the Chamber
This column features one or more questions asked by our membership. If you would like to submit a question on any topic, please send your questions to
[email protected]. If you wish to remain anonymous, please indicate that in your email and we will not publish your name or the name of your business. We look forward to answering your questions!
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Quick Links
Please LIKE us on Facebook!
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Dear Members:
I wish everyone a wonderful and prosperous Thanksgiving! As always, please be aware that the Chamber Board and I are very thankful for your membership and participation in our organization and Thanksgiving is just another chance to thank you! Your support and participation helps us to to continue to work to make the Cohase Region a more vibrant region in which to live, shop, work, play and conduct business.
The Chamber is currently actively involved in our 2016 membership drive, preparing for our Economic Summit in December and planning for our Annual Meeting in January. You should have received your 2016 invoice and we encourage you to return the invoice with payment for your 2016 dues prior to December 31. Prompt payment of the invoices allows us to more easily plan our budget and activities for 2016 and eliminates additional administrative time in following up on missing payments.
Information about the Annual Meeting is included in this newsletter. Please note that we have changed the date of the Annual Meeting, due to scheduling issues, to
Tuesday, January 19, 2016. I really hope you will be able to attend and I look forward to meeting many of you in person that I have not yet had an opportunity to meet.
Warm regards,
Erik Volk
Executive Director
(802) 518-0030
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2016 Annual Meeting
We hope you can attend our Annual Meeting on Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at the Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, VT! It will be an exciting and festive event filled with laughter, good food, prizes and fun! Please click the image below to see the full invitation which can be viewed and printed out
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Ask The Chamber
Q.
Why did the Chamber choose to discontinue its storefront location?
A. Thanks for the question!
Our office location which was previously at 47 Main Street North in Wells River was closed just over a year ago for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, the Board felt that the cost of maintaining a physical office location outweighed the benefits. Our office received relatively few visitors as most inquiries came via email or through other electronic means. Although we did use the facility for meetings, due to the size of our region and the availability of better physical meeting space at member locations, it was felt that holding meetings at other locations around our region would be preferable. In particular, the location of our Board meetings regularly rotates throughout the region so all Board Members have a chance to attend a meeting closer to their home and/or business every few months.
Other reasons for closing the physical office included that we did not wish to compete for tourists with the attractive and more strategically placed Wells River Welcome Center which distributes regional information to tourists and which works cooperatively with the Chamber. In addition, it was found that it was more efficient for the Executive Director to work from his home office. This was especially true due to the increasing amount of communication and tasks that were handled electronically. Given the part-time status and varied responsibilities of the Executive Director, it would have been difficult if not impossible for us to maintain standard hours at the physical office which again minimized the effectiveness of maintaining a physical location.
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Member Moment
This column is devoted to learning more about our member businesses. We ask the business five questions. Questions will vary by month
This month we are pleased to speak with
Cory McIntire of
Newbury Service Center in Newbury, Vermont. Newbury Service Center is a full service automobile repair center located at 24 Cross Street, one block off the green in Newbury, Vermont.
Q. When/how did you you start your business?
A. I bought the business from the previous owner, Brandon Boudreau back in 2009. I worked for him for three years prior to buying it. I started out working for him a couple of days a week and before you knew it I was running it for him. Prior to that, I was a carpenter and also worked for the State Highway Department, the town of Bradford and at a brass mill for a few years.
Q. Are you from the area and/or what brought you to Newbury?
A.
I have lived in the area since 1995.
I am originally from Illinois but my wife is from Bradford, Vermont. We met while she was in school in Kentucky. I was in the Army and was stationed at Fort Campbell. We decided that Kentucky was not for us and we wanted to move back to this area of Vermont.
Q. What are your biggest business challenges?
A.
I have two key challenges. One is the limit on space in my current location. The building is grandfathered in but there is not much room to expand due to zoning laws. My other challenge is getting people to know I am here since I am located off the main road although I do have a good core group of customers from the area.
Q. Any recommendations for customers as winter approaches?
A.
Definitely put snow tires on your car. Also, if you are trying to keep the car for a long time, you should have an undercoating added each fall. It helps significantly to prevent rust.
Q. Are there any services you provide that might surprise folks?
A.
I would like to get more into restoration of old cars. That is a service I can provide in addition to the normal auto repair services.
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Film Slam Update
In case you missed our posting on Facebook, two of the movies from our Film Slam are now available for viewing on YouTube. Click the links below to view the films.
Spikes
by Team Now Shooting - Best Picture, Best Use of Props and Best Use of Genre in the 48 Hour Film Slam.
Close Quarters
by Team Malone! 2nd Place and Peoples Choice Winner in 48 Hour Film Slam.
In order to be accepted into the contest, the film had to:
- Be completed and submitted within 48 hours of the start of the contest
- Be no longer than 8 minutes long
- Adhere to a randomly drawn genre
- Include the line "You know something Herman? Something about you just pisses me off"
- Include a sap bucket as a prop
- Include a Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank cup as a prop.
- Include the Newbury Village Store in the film.
Thanks again to the event sponsors
A very special thank you to our event sponsors: Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank, Valley Floors, Odell Insurance Agency Inc., Perry's Oil Service Inc., Wells River Savings Bank, Wells River Chevrolet and White River Indie Films.
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Member Updates
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One of our newest members
Red Kite Candy held the Grand Opening for their new facility and retail location on Saturday, November 21. Their new facility is located at 226B Industrial Drive in Bradford. Please visit them at their new location!
- ARC Mechanical is proud to announce the successful completion of Vermont and New Hampshire plumbing license exams by three ARC plumbers.
-Jake Rhoades, a Taftsville, Vermont, resident and a Master plumber in Vermont, passed the Master plumber's exam in New Hampshire and is now a Master plumber in both states. Jake also holds New Hampshire and Vermont gas licenses. Jake has worked for ARC for almost four years.
- Cole Sanborn, a Bradford, Vermont, resident, passed the Journeyman plumber's exam for Vermont. He has worked for ARC for just over four years.- Andrew Smith, a Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, resident, and a Master Vermont plumber, passed the New Hampshire Master plumber's exam and is now a Master plumber in both states. He has worked for ARC for almost a year.
Click here for full press release and photos.
- Bank of New Hampshire and Community Guaranty Savings Bank jointly announced on November 23 that they have signed a definitive agreement whereby Bank of New Hampshire, through its parent company BNH Financial, has agreed to acquire Community Guaranty Corporation, the parent company of Community Guaranty Savings Bank, in an all cash transaction valued at approximately $12.9 million.
Click here for full press release.
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2016 Annual Awards Nominations Requested!
Nominations are now being accepted for the Chamber's "Annual Awards". You must be a chamber member to make a nomination for Business of the Year and/or Cohase Citizens of the Year. Nominated citizens need not be chamber members.
Nominations will be accepted until December 8th, 2015. There is no limit to the number of nominations you can make. All nominations will be judged by a panel consisting of a previous award recipient plus Chamber Board members.
The eligibility criteria are as follows:
Business of the Year
A. Member of Cohase Chamber
B. Not a previous Business of the Year recipient
C. In operation for more than 1 year
D. Charitable works in the community
E. Innovation and creativity
F. Environmental consciousness
G. Employee friendly
Citizen of the Year
A. Resident of Chamber region
B. Over 18 years of age
C. Demonstrates community/volunteer spirit
D. Charitable works in the community
E. Community impact
F. Inspirational Leadership
G. Not a previous Citizen of the Year recipient
Past Recipients include:
Business of the Year -
2008 - Farm-Way Bradford, VT
2009 - Windy Ridge Orchard, N. Haverhill, NH
2010 - Colatina Exit Restaurant Bradford, VT
2011 - Four Corners Farm, Newbury, VT
2012 - Valley Floors, Bradford, VT
2013 - Puffer Broadcasting, Wells River, VT
2014 - Blackmount Equipment, N. Haverhill, NH
2015 - Chapman's Country Store, Fairlee, VT
Citizen of the Year
2011 - David Keith, N. Haverhill, NH
2012- Nancy Jones and Dr. Mark Harris, Bradford, VT
2013 - Edith Celley, Haverhill, NH
2014 - Marilyn Fuller, Newbury, VT
2015 - Dick McDanolds, Haverhill, NH
Submit your nominations to Lisa Hervey, President at
[email protected]
Please include a brief statement as to why you are making this nomination.
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Using Your WEB Site to Grow Your Business Workshop
Even though almost every business has a WEB site, many site owners are still wondering just how their web site can help them actually grow their business. If that sounds like you, consider yourself invited to a workshop designed to help small business owners, entrepreneurs and marketers understand and create a successful online advertising campaign.
Whether your web site exists to sell products, generate leads, build awareness or support your customers, this workshop will show you how to use your site to meet your marketing goals. You'll learn the basic tools and techniques you need to plan and launch successful marketing campaigns that work across town or cross country.
Working with Google Adwords, we'll look closely at defining business goals, identifying target audiences, how to be relevant, tracking results, profitability, and going from good to better.
You'll also learn how to use the power that Google Analytics can bring to your online marketing. We'll explore what it takes to set up this free tool, and dig into the data and reports you can use to make informed decisions on how to get the most bang for your marketing buck.
Please RSVP to Erin Odell at
[email protected] or by phone at (802) 222-4755. Space is limited and reservations will be taken on a first come first serve basis!
Course Details:
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Riverbend Career and Technical Center
36 Oxbow Drive
Bradford, Vermont
$10/members, $20 non-members
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