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WORKSHOPS & RESOURCES
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Starting Your Own Business Workshop - March 26th at NVDA in St. Johnsbury. Fee: $129.
Visit www.burkevermont.org for town clerk services, planning, selectboard and other important town meetings.
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SHOP LOCAL
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Support your neighbors and fellow Chamber members by Shopping Locally for goods & services. Visit www.burkevermont.com for directory listings.
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OUR LOGO
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Add the Burke Logo to your website!
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| The Burke Area Chamber of Commerce CHAMBER MEMBER E-NEWSLETTER
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Happy New Year!
We hope you are all enjoying the winter and that 2019 brings much health & happiness to you and our community.
2018 was a busy and productive year for the Chamber including our most successful Fall Festival ever, the creation of new committees and the addition of Business After Hours networking events. CLICK HERE for a summary of the year's actions & accomplishments and to learn more about the committees.
We would like to do even more for the new year, but need more participation from you, our 297 members. If you have feedback to share or if you are interested in joining a chamber committee, please contact the chamber or a board member.
We are pleased to report that visits to our website, burkevermont.com, increased by 10% in 2018 and total an average of 5,000 visits per month. Our facebook page has over 4,000 followers. Monthly enewsletters consistently have a total open rate of 30% or more and click through rates above 20%. These numbers are well above the average enewsletter rates of less than 20% opens and less than 10% clicks, depending on industry, according to this October 2018 source.
Don't forget to
let us know about your events, business news or specials so that we can get the word out via the website, facebook and/or our monthly e-newsletter.
We look forward to a prosperous year ahead for the chamber, your business and our community. As always, your support is greatly appreciated.
With many thanks,
Burke Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors:
John Kascenska, President
(kamountainguides@gmail.com)
Chris Andrews, Vice President
(burkesugarshack@gmail.com)
Linda Lotti, Treasurer
Michelle Cleveland, Secretary
(mcleveland@communitynationalbank.com)
Jim O'Reilly
(jim@wildflowerinn.com)
Tammy Wagner
Gail Weed
(gweed@kingcon.com)
Laura Malieswski, Chamber Administrator
(burkechamber@burkevermont.com)
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Chamber Dues are Due
 If you haven't yet paid 2019 dues, please do so ASAP. If you need more time to pay membership dues, just email Laura at burkechamber@burkevermont.com.
Good news - rates have not gone up! And, more good news, we accept credit cards now!
To pay by credit card,
CLICK HERE to go to the Membership page on the chamber website. There you can select your membership type and pay online via a secure Paypal link. DON'T FORGET to still fill out the
membership renewal form. It's a fillable form so there is no need to print it - just fill it in and email it back.
If you prefer to pay by check, please mail the form to the Chamber with your payment.
(Sorry, the chamber does not have an office).
Checks can be made payable to the Burke Area Chamber of Commerce and mailed to:
Burke Area Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 347
East Burke, VT 05832
As you are renewing your membership, please take some time to review your business listing on
burkevermont.com . Please email the chamber with any listing updates.
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Free and Low Cost Business Promotion
There are lots of ways you can promote your business at no or little cost. Of course, it does take some time, but marketing your business is as important as managing it.
You can also post your events for FREE on many websites including:
Of course, facebook is all the rage these days.
CLICK HERE for some tips on using facebook to effectively market your business.
As a Chamber Member, you also get a 20-25% discount for Constant Contact E-Newsletter Services (we use it to send e-newsletters like this).
CLICK HERE
to learn more and sign up. It's a great way to get your message out there and be able to track who's paying attention.
And, don't forget the local news organizations. It's free to send a press release to news outlets and many small town papers are happy to publish your news. Not sure how to write a press release? CLICK HERE for some tips and free templates.
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Christmas Tree Contest Winners
 Once again, A brilliant display of Christmas Trees lit up the green in East Burke Village as part of the Burke Area Chamber of Commerce annual holiday contest. Ruggles Christmas Trees provided the trees which were each 'adopted' and decorated by a local school or business. The judges have spoken and winners were chosen at a Tree Lighting Ceremony on Sunday, December 9th at the Burke Mountain Club/East Burke Community Library Holiday Party. Each winner received $100 sent to their charity of choice.
And the winners are...
Best School Tree - The Newark Street School won with a message of 'spreading love' featuring origami style heart ornaments made by students. $100 was given on their behalf to The Newark Winter Sports Activity Program.
Best Business Tree - Century 21 Farm & Forest Realty/Burke Vacation Rentals won this category with a Grinch themed tree complete with the Grinch stealing lights from the neighboring tree. Their charity of choice to receive $100 was the Lyndon Area Food Shelf.
Best Lights - The Lyndon Outing Club won this category with a tree that featured their signature red & white colors along with hand-made wooden ornaments. They chose the Darling Inn Senior Meal Site Meals on Wheels program to receive $100.
Best Decorations - The Town of East Haven won with a tree decorated by a group of the town's residents. The tree featured lots of odes to recreation and businesses in East Haven. They chose the Burke Senior Meal Site as the recipient of $100.
And, finally, Best Overall Tree went to Tim Scott Real Estate. Tim enlisted the help of the students of Peacham Elementary School to make the ornaments for his beautifully decorated tree. The Peacham School Burke Ski Program received $100.
Thanks to all the businesses and schools who participated in the contest and made the village look festive for the holiday season. Photos of all the trees are on the Burke Area Chamber of Commerce
facebook page.
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Burke Area Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 347 East Burke, VT 05832
802-626-4124 burkechamber@burkevermont.com www.burkevermont.com |
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