It has been a welcoming sight being able to walk down Main Street and observing so many businesses opening up and the crowds beginning to return. Also taking a drive around Town being able to see the same growing activity spreading to all corners of the community. While we are not yet where we need to be in reaching our previous levels of economic activity, it is nice to see that we are back on that path after so many months of inactivity.
We celebrated our monthly Breakfast Club as usual on the first Thursday of the month and we did it by gathering “OUTSIDE! We met on the upper common with our masks, chairs and mugs, each person’s mug contained their own favorite morning beverage. Happy to notice that a fairly good number of attendees had their Breakfast Club mugs. We were very pleased to welcome Town Administrator Steve Maio who joined us wearing his mask and Breakfast Club mug in hand. Special recognition and ‘kudos’ go to Marianne and Ernie Wronka, who out-did us all. They joined us very well prepared with masks, mugs, chairs, side table and their breakfast!! They indeed showed us all how to make the most of this opportunity to once again meet and network in person safely and comfortably.
We are making plans for the Chamber Annual Meeting later this month. Due to the Pandemic this year will obviously be much different from the Annual Meetings of the past. We expect to host it via a Zoom virtual session, which will involve a few updates as to the present status of the Chamber and the election of Directors. Please keep an eye out for the announcement and hopefully you will be able to join in and participate.
The Chamber is leading the way in support of a series of Town wide sidewalk sales, Saturdays on the Sidewalk. The Town Council recently approve three dates for the months of August (8/29), September (9/26) and October (10/24). This will be a very special event and kicks off in August on the “tax free” holiday weekend. In an extraordinary gesture of good will and generosity, our two home town local financial institutions, Wakefield Co-operative Bank and The Savings Bank have both stepped forward to support the Chamber with this town wide effort by offering the following: For every $50 dollars spent at any local Wakefield Business, the chamber will present that shopper with a $10.00 gift certificate to a local participating food establishment.
We were very happy to welcome to the Chamber one of our newest members, Ironside Financial with a formal ribbon cutting. Special thanks to Town Administrator Steve Maio and Town Council Chair Ann Santos for supporting the Chamber and joining us in welcoming our new friends at Iron Financial located at 374 Main Street, Wakefield.
