Blount Partnership News and Events

If you or someone you know is looking for a job, please check out www.BlountAreaJobs.com. Additionally, if you need employees, please utilize the job board to advertise your open positions. Click here to get started.

Check out our 83rd installment of The Dialogue at the bottom of this email where we visit with a new chamber member, Bob Kastens of Louisville Christian Church.

WELCOME NEW BUSINESSES

Join us on June 20 at 3 p.m. for the Extended Family Services - Open House & Ribbon Cutting (1021 Hampshire Drive, Maryville -- In the Blount County Habitat Building). Stop by and see their office facility. Refreshments will be provided.

Then on June 21, Concord Title (213 Ellis Avenue, Maryville) is holding an open house from 2-4 p.m. to celebrate its new location. Refreshments will be provided.

HOPS IN THE HILLS/SUMMER ON BROADWAY

The third annual Hops in the Hills festival is set to ramp up June 23 and 24 in downtown Maryville, Tennessee. This yearly craft beer festival will celebrate the science and agriculture of the region, showcasing the area's finest artisan brews. Beer, food and music enthusiasts alike will gather to enjoy the celebration.

Hops in the Hills brew week, June 19 to 22, leads up to the main event over the weekend with a week-long "Celebration of Fermentation." Each day, a different brewery will feature prizes, games and music for visitors to prepare them for the weekend's events.

The larger festivities begin Friday, June 23 with a new craft brew crawl and poker run from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. provided by Knox Brew Tours. Participants pick a card at each crawl stop to build their hand to win prizes. Saturday's main event is a brew festival from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a full schedule of events to be posted soon. Passes to the brew crawl cost $15. General admission tickets for Saturday are $50 per person or $60 the day of the event and include a t-shirt and commemorative glass as well as all of the food and brew visitors can sample. TICKETS

Hops in the Hills is also an opportunity for guests to enjoy historic Maryville, Tennessee, which serves as the gateway to the Smoky Mountains. The event is part of the Summer on Broadway celebration, a series of events to celebrate the summer season.

FREEDOM FEST

The 39th annual City of Alcoa FreedomFest is a free public event held the last Saturday in June. The event is held at the City of Alcoa Duck Pond on Springbrook Road. Held this year on Saturday, June 24, 2017 from 6:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m., attendees can enjoy a variety of food vendors, children's activities, military exhibits , and live entertainment. The highlight of the evening is a 20-minute musically choreographed fireworks display produced by the world renowned and awarding winning Pyro Shows - a provider of fireworks entertainment throughout the world for almost half a century. Pyro has had pyrotechnic displays from Stockholm, Sweden, to San Sebastian, Spain, and from Abu Dhabi in the UAE, to Taipei, Taiwan. This is an annual event anticipated by not only the immediate community, but also by attendees from surrounding East Tennessee counties. A portion of the event proceeds goes to the Alcoa City Schools Foundation.

DEALING WITH WORKPLACE STRESS

Join COMPASSion Counseling on Wednesday, June 28 from 8:30-9:30 a.m. at the Blount Partnership (201 S. Washington St., Maryville) as they offer some helpful ways to deal with workplace stress as a business leader and help your workplace become a healthy environment where employees thrive. Learn what is work place stress, learn leading causes of stress, learn symptons of stress, learn why stress is costing employers $300 billion a year and how employers can prevent burnout. RSVP to Amy.

ETPA's ANNUAL BUSINESS MATCHING & TRADESHOW

The 12th Annual Business Matching Event will be on July 20, 2017, at the Rothchild's Catering and Conference Center in Knoxville. Event attendance is free but on-line registration is required. To register simply go to www.etpanews.org.

The East Tennessee Purchasing Association (ETPA) is the trade association for governmental procurement officers in east Tennessee. Our membership consists of cities, counties, universities, public housing authorities, public building authorities, utility districts and other types of governments. Each year ETPA hosts a "Business Matching Event" to bring small, woman, minority, veteran owned and all other types of businesses together with governmental procurement agents and larger vendors. The overall purpose is to foster relationships between local businesses and local governments so that together we can strengthen the regional economy while helping local businesses grow.

JUNE MEMBER-TO-MEMBER PROMOTIONS

Member-to-member promotions for June are here. Check out the special deals from Pipe Wrench Plumbing and Melaleuca. See these and other promotions at member-to-member promotions. New offers are being posted almost daily, so check out the Blount County Chamber of Commerce Member-to-Member promotions online. This Member-to-Member Promotional Program offers you and your company the opportunity to market your products and services to the membership.

Here's how it works:
1. Submit a PDF of a service, product or discount you'd like to offer to the Chamber membership to jmuir@blountpartnership.com. Be sure to include an expiration date.
2. An email with all the promotions will be sent out on the final Monday of every month to our member database.
3. All promotions will be posted on www.BlountChamber.com

FIVE EVENTS TO HAVE IN JULY

July is a great month to plan some fun and fresh campaigns for your business. With Independence Day nearing, there's still time to get your customers to celebrate with you! Read more

Learn more about marketing your small business in a digital world, ask questions about social media, and take the time to discuss future campaign ideas. What are you waiting for? It's free with your chamber membership. Schedule your FREE session today.

If you have any questions regarding your free digital marketing member benefit ( Save Local Now), your digital platform, or online marketing in general please reach out the Blount Chamber's Rachel Coffman.

REMEMBER TO SHOP LOCAL

Think local first + Buy local when you can = Being a local!

A wide variety of independent businesses, each serving their customers' tastes, creates greater overall choice for all of us.

Find what you're looking for in the Chamber Directory.

GOT AN EVENT OR NEWS? WE'D LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT

Is your organization hosting an event in the community? Submit it here on our community calendar. If it's a tourism event, please email Ashlee so she can post it on www.SmokyMountains.org.

Also, please send us any news releases or good news about your business. We'd love to share it with the community.

REMEMBER WHEN

"Paint It Black," by The Rolling Stones topped the Billboard Hot 100 this week in 1963. The song became The Rolling Stones' third number one hit single in the U.S. Since its initial release, the song has remained influential as the first number one hit featuring a sitar.

	Events

	June 19-25 June 19-21 -- Lyda Plemons @ the Townsend Visitors Center June 20 -- Extended Family Services - Open House & Ribbon Cutting June 20 -- Front Desk Training from PEAK Technical Institute June 21 -- Concord Title - Open House June 22-24 -- Randy White and Corinne Coley at Townsend Visitors Center June 23-24 -- Summer on Broadway/BBQ Bash June 23-24 -- NAPA Know How Auto Fest/Summer on Broadway June 24 -- Pedal for the Red supporting American Red Cross in East Tennessee June 24 -- Hops in the Hills June 24 -- FreedomFest June 25 -- Fred Weiser @ the Townsend Visitors Center June 26-July 2 June 26-30 -- Fred Weiser @ the Townsend Visitors Center June 27 -- Conflict Resolution by BOBA and PEAK Institute June 28 -- COMPASSion Counseling to present Stress in the Workplace June 28 -- Melaleuca Job Interviews June 29 -- Coffee Club at Champion Physical Therapy June 29 -- Free Tea Day at McAlister's Deli July 1-4 -- Cathy Coulter @ the Townsend Visitors Center Save the Date June 23-24 -- Summer on Broadway/BBQ Bash June 24 -- Hops in the Hills June 24 -- FreedomFest June 29 -- Coffee Club at Champion Physical Therapy July 4 -- 4th of July Celebration and Fireworks in Townsend You can access the entire calendar here to see other community events and submit your own.

The Dialogue

This feature is a question-and-answer session with a new Blount County Chamber member. So here we go with our 83rd installment visiting with Bob Kastens of Louisville Christian Church which shares the good news about the love of God expressed in the person of Jesus and to helps Christians grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus while ministering to the needs of our community.

Describe what the church does. We are a Christian church, with services on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. We have Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. and Morning Worship at 10:30 a.m. We have supper on Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m. and Bible Study at 7:00 p.m. We also have special events from time to time and work with the Louisville Christian Assistance Center to help meet the needs of people in our community.

How did it get started? A group of Christians in the area felt the need to establish a Christian church in the Louisville community. This vision was realized in September 1978 when the church was established.

What is your background? I attended the University of Tennessee and graduated from Johnson Bible College (now Johnson University). I have served in the preaching ministry for 50 years (June 4, 2017 was the anniversary). I have ministered to churches in Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, and Kentucky. My wife was born and raised in Blount County. We were married here and our children were born here and we are glad to be back home.

Who is your mentor? My wife, the former Etta Raulston, is the best minister's wife, a guy could possibly have. In addition, my sons are both ministers. Rob serves with the Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland; and Ron serves with Crossway Christian Church in Nashua, New Hampshire. Rob's daughter, Kylie, is a missionary in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. I have had several older ministers who have mentored me over the years - Troy Hasty and Clyde True who served Christian churches here in Blount County; as well as my former associate minister, Charlie Burgin in Louisville, Kentucky. I would be remiss if I did not mention Dr. David Eubanks, a Blount County native and former president of Johnson University and Floyd Clark, former Academic Dean at Johnson who also served Christian churches in Blount County.

Describe your congregation. The doors of our congregation are open to all - whosoever will may come. We are a loving, caring community of believers in Jesus and would like to invite the residents of our community to come and worship and serve with us.

What impacts your church? The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion in America without the fear of government interference in church affairs. Ministry has changed dramatically over the years. From 1 phone at home to everyone having a cell phone. From 1 T.V. at home to everyone having their own T.V. or tablet or whatever. From 1 car in the family to everyone having their own car. And there are more distractions that keep people from attending church services like they used to. The church used to be the center of community life. Not so anymore. The members of the Louisville Christian Church are loving, caring, serving people.

Name three things you wish you knew when you started. I was well trained and equipped for ministry at Johnson Bible College (now Johnson University). I wish that I had the opportunity for an internship back then, which is readily available today. I enrolled at Johnson in January 1967, preached my first sermon in March, and began my first ministry in June 1967 with two small churches in the mountains of western North Carolina. I am a student of the Bible and am continually learning and growing in my knowledge of God's Word.

What do you enjoy about the church? I have the best boss in the world - the Lord Jesus Christ. I work with the best people in the world - Christians. I love teaching and preaching the Word of God. And I love helping to care for people when they are ill, experience a death in their family, or need help in any other way. Preachers never retire - they just go out to pastor!

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