Weekly Newsletter
SAVE THE DATES
  • Scholarship Fund Pancake Breakfast - Saturday, April 11th
  • Career & Community Connections Fair - May 1st
  • Auction Gala - Saturday, May 30th
  • Sponsorship Opportunities available HERE
  • Fall Festival & Chili Cook-Off - Saturday, October 3rd
  • Sponsorship & Exhibitor information coming soon

Please email Elyse with any questions and to reserve your sponsorship level.
Chamber Member News & Events
The Insurance Center LLC announces the addition of
Lynn McGreer
Lynn McGreer recently joined the Insurance Center LLC as a senior commercial insurance advisor.   Lynn brings her many years of experience in commercial insurance products and will work primarily in the Newport NH office.   Prior to her joining The Insurance Center, Lynn enjoyed meaningful relationships with clients and colleagues alike at The Richards Group in Brattleboro, Vermont, Cross Insurance in 
Laconia, NH and more recently, Colby Agency in New London, NH.  “We are extremely happy to have Lynn join our agency as she will bring valuable experience and background as our agency continues to grow.  Lynn’s positive attributes and professional view will serve her clients well”, says Senior Vice President Scott Olmstead.    Lynn comes from a local family of business owners and understands the 
challenges businesses face with insurance and risk management.   
 
The Insurance Center, LLC., is a new England based, family owned, full service insurance agency with offices in Claremont, Newport and with agent representation in the upper valley of Lebanon, New London and Keene. 
Kristel Davis Promoted to AVP, Residential Underwriting & Processing Manager
Kristel Davis has been promoted to AVP, Residential Underwriting & Processing Manager at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. In this role, she oversees the underwriting and residential loan processing staff and manages daily operations in this area.
 
Kristel has more than 16 years of residential lending experience. She began her career as a mortgage loan processor at New Fed Mortgage in Massachusetts. She then worked as an operations manager at Humble Home Mortgage, Inc. and in loan production at Ledyard National Bank. Kristel joined Bar Harbor Bank & Trust in 2013 as a mortgage loan underwriter and has continued to expand her role and take on more leadership opportunities at the Bank.
 
A New Hampshire native, Kristel received her bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Plymouth State College. She, her husband Andrew, and their two children live in Unity, New Hampshire.
 
Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSE American: BHB) is the parent company of its wholly owned subsidiary, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. Operating over 50 locations across Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust is headquartered in Bar Harbor, Maine and has more than $3.6 billion in assets. As a leading Northern New England community bank, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust offers a full range of personal and business banking services, as well as wealth management services through its subsidiaries Bar Harbor Trust Services and Charter Trust Company. For more information about Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, visit  www.barharbor.bank  or call 888-853-7100. Member FDIC.
Twin State Innovation is holding its next monthly event on Tuesday February 11 th  from 8-9am at The Claremont MakerSpace! This month will feature two exciting presenters, Claremont Spice and Dry Goods and Polyculture Brewing Company. They will tell their story, share their vision, and discuss the challenges they face.
 
Twin State Innovation is a free monthly event to connect entrepreneurs with each other and their community, provide a space for them to tell their story, and help them collaboratively solve the challenges they face. Everyone is encourage to attend and plays an important role in building entrepreneurship in the Claremont region!
Winter Workshop Series
If you’re looking to start your own business, write a marketing plan or become more adept at search engine optimization and content marketing, SCORE Upper Valley invites you to join its free Winter Workshop Series which occur on Thursday mornings from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon starting February 6 through February 27.
 
Sponsored by Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, SCORE’s workshops are designed for both start-up and in-business entrepreneurs. In addition to learning new content and practices, the workshops also offer an opportunity to interact with other local small business owners, or prospective business owners.
 
The Winter Workshop Series (full descriptions below) includes:   Thursday, February 6: Start Your Own Business; Thursday, February 13: One-Page Marketing Plan:  Thursday, February 20: Content Marketing and Thursday, February 27: Search Engine Optimization.
 
“Some of the most prominent successful businesses in the area have sought SCORE’s counsel and workshops over the decades and we’re proud of that,” said Rich Reece, president of SCORE’s Upper Valley Chapter. “Our workshop presenters bring years of experience to the job. They’re knowledgeable in the workshop subject and bring a down-to-earth approach based on their experience in counseling small businesses.”
 
For more information about the workshops or to reserve a spot , visit Upper Valley Score  www.uppervalley.score.org  or call (603) 448-3491.
 
MORE ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS:
 
Thursday, February 13, 2020 ,  One-Page Marketing Plan:
This workshop helps you create a succinct plan to help you out-perform your competitors and make your business the logical choice. This marketing overview helps you better understand how to build brand awareness, attract customers, create customer loyalty and develop your marketing strategy. You will learn to simplify with clarity on where to focus your attention and gain insights on the 80-20 rule (The Pareto Principle) where roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In the end marketing will help you gain more clients and help you to increase business and profits from existing clients.
 
Thursday, February 20, 2020, Content Marketing:
Content marketing helps you to project your company’s expertise to your ideal audience and can differentiate your business from your competitors. As more businesses aim to be the best source for information and answers that can influence buying decisions, it’s important to understand how to perfect the art and science of content marketing. Whatever your plans, this workshop will guide you in creating content across all stages of the customer journey– Awareness, Evaluation, Purchase and More and unveil the hidden value that it makes you better, increases your expertise and helps you to better understand your ideal audience. Lastly you will learn methods to create content, optimize your content for the search engines, and gain exposure for your content using social media.
 
Thursday, February 27, 2020 ,  Search Engine Optimization
You’ve heard of businesses making it big online, and others not making it at all? The difference is getting noticed. Whether you’re a start-up or an existing business looking to get better results with your marketing budget, this workshop provides the basic building blocks of search engine optimization (SEO) for your website and blog content.   If you depend on your website and blog content to help produce inquiries that lead to sales then this is an essential workshop. SEO encompasses the practices and metrics of trying to increase your web site's ranking with search engines. We examine how users are changing the way searches are performed (voice search for example) and how the major search engines crawl and then index website and blog content. When someone is searching for something specific and a search engine delivers that exact match it is a win-win for businesses and customers.
 
ABOUT SCORE:  a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small businesses start, grow, and succeed nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)   and is funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the SBA, and has been mentoring small business owners for more than forty years.  SCORE Upper Valley  was founded in 1967 as Chapter 184 and currently has more than 30 volunteer mentors who are all experienced business owners and managers. SCORE offers experience and knowledge to help small business owners and potential small business owners achieve success. Services include confidential, free face to face counseling, email counseling, business workshops.
Vital Communities Invites Proposals for Round Two of The Local Crowd Upper Valley
Vital Communities invites emerging and established social enterprises to submit project proposals to  The Local Crowd (TLC) Upper Valley , a new community-based crowdfunding program. The call for proposals follows a successful pilot round of TLC Upper Valley in which five community-based projects collectively raised nearly $50,000 from more than 300 contributors during the last two months of 2019.
 
“We were thrilled with the success of the TLC Upper Valley campaigns last year and are excited to welcome more organizations and projects into the program in round two. Empowering the community to invest in the social enterprises that keep our economy strong and our communities vital is more important than ever,” said Nancy LaRowe, coordinator of TLC Upper Valley, part of Vital Communities’ Local First program.
 
Proposals for round two must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, February 14, 2020. For this proposal cycle, TLC Upper Valley seeks Upper Valley-based projects that support the local community and economy, generate excitement and have a budget of $10,000 or less. All for-profit businesses, nonprofits and community initiatives meeting campaign guidelines within Vital Communities’ 69-town service area are welcome to apply. More information and the request for proposals are available online at  vitalcommunities.org/tlc .
 
TLC Upper Valley will select up to six projects to participate in this crowdfunding cohort, based on the potential of each project to positively impact their local economy and community. With guidance and assistance from TLC Upper Valley advisors, accepted proposals will launch their campaigns to coincide with Vital Communities’ 19 th  annual Flavors of the Valley local food expo on April 19 in Hartford.
 
All five campaigns in TLC Upper Valley round one are using their TLC proceeds to grow their local businesses or community building projects:
 
  • Whaleback Mountain in Enfield raised $21,180 for base lodge energy-efficiency upgrades.
  • Friends of Mascoma in Canaan raised $13,970 to help cover the costs of owning and operating a vehicle to serve its multiple food pantries.
  • Willow Tree Community Compost in Wilder raised $4,080 to help build its composting service and a partnership with Sunrise Farm in Hartford, which raised $4,555 to support its on-farm composting operation and partnership with Willow Tree.
  • The Growing Peace Project in Topsham raised $5,725 to support its free food teaching garden and youth activism program.
 
Vital Communities is one of five sites nationwide selected to participate in the National Science Foundation grant-funded project with Wyoming-based company The Local Crowd. TLC combines a world-class rewards-based crowdfunding platform with business and campaign technical support for the emerging fourth sector of the economy—social enterprise. This initiative is designed to uncover the best ways to support social enterprises—mission-driven organizations that use business principles to make their communities and the world a better place.
 
TLC Upper Valley partners include Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation, Space on Main, Cohase Chamber of Commerce, Vermont Small Business Development Center, BALE (Build A Local Economy), Upper Valley Business Alliance and SCORE. For more information, visit  vitalcommunities.org/tlc  or contact Nancy LaRowe at 802-291-9100.
13th Annual Cardboard Sled Race at Arrowhead
A Message from
Arrowhead Recreation Club

13th Annual Cardboard Sled Race is Saturday Feb 15th, at Arrowhead in Claremont, NH. We encourage everyone to attend the fabulous pancake breakfast in the morning at the Tech Center from 8AM to 10AM.

Really need help with the cardboard sled race, looking for an announcer, judges, timers, registration help and general help. Please, if you can help or know someone who can help with anything let me know.

NO 2-4PM TUBING ON THE 15TH, CARDBOARD SLED RACE IS IN THE TUBING AREA AT 2PM.

Start designing and building your sleds NOW, for both Youth and Adult/ Business /Family categories. Rules basically have not changed. Cardboard and tape only, no tape on running surface, you can wax the running surface, be creative, costumes encouraged. Challenge your friends, neighbors, other businesses, school classes, scouts, and other groups to build a better sled. Full Rules and Regulations available here.

Volunteering! Come and enjoy Arrowhead and volunteer if you can. People ask what they can do to help. Need volunteers, for outside operations, inside concessions and ski shop, open on Friday night, Saturday, Saturday Night and Sunday. In addition we really need help during the upcoming school vacation periods, it’s just four hours a day, noon-4PM each day on Feb 20-21 (Thursday and Friday and Mon-Fri, Feb 24th – Feb 28th, and on our normal weekend schedule.
SHS Alumni Newsletter Advertising Opportunity
Did you know that West Central Behavioral Health
puts out a regular newsletter?
Click the image above to read the current January issue.
Night of Comedy Comes to Claremont Opera House
February 29, 2020 8:00pm
Three comedians fill the house with a Night of Comedy. Comedians scheduled to appear include Tom Hayes, Jody Sloane and Rob Steen.   Tickets are $23 and can be purchased in advance online , by phone at 603-542-4433 or in person at the Opera House Box office in City Hall Complex at 58 Opera House Square. Tickets also available night of show. Beer and wine sales available before the show and during intermission from Sweet Fire BBQ.
Tom Hayes  fell into the Boston Comedy Scene in its heyday in the 1980’s along with such names as Stephen Wright, Lenny Clarke, Bobcat Goldthwait, Denis Leary, etc. Later came such names as Dane Cook and Louis CK. Along the way he rose to a Boston standard and headliner at prestigious Boston Clubs and clubs throughout New England. He has opened for such national acts as Jeff Dunham, Phyllis Diller, The Smothers Brothers, The Four Tops and The Four Seasons. His comedic style is a hilarious self- deprecating style mixed with improvisational and interactive audience participation.
Jody Sloane  is now a regular at esteemed comedy venues, including, Headliners Comedy Clubs through-out New England, Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, Comix Comedy Club at Foxwoods, plus roadhouses, Elks Clubs and dives from Portland to New York.
Rob Steen  has been doing comedy for 25+ years. He began as a street performer at the age of 12 in Boston MA. Using his juggling and improv skills he decided to try Stand-Up! Since then he has kept a full calendar of over 350 shows per year! Rob has also been featured on several TV shows including The Late Show with Dave Letterman.  The Boston Globe said, “Rob’s act is fresh and always different. He has a gift for working the crowd into his act and taking them on a ride into his off-beat world!”
Places we LOVE in
Sullivan County
Choose your favorite outdoor place, building, restaurant, business or historical site. Any place where others can visit is perfect to share. Use your smart phone to snap a photo, then visit bit.ly/LoveSullivan to upload and describe what makes it special to you!
Community News & Events
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