2019 was a great year for the chamber, as we saw continued growth with 32 new members, for a total of 335 members.

We held 15 ribbon cuttings for newly opened businesses, which is the third highest number we have had in the last 17 years.

We continued to see membership retention rates over 90% for the 15th consecutive year.

We saw growth in our programs as we continued to hold our Chamber Chat sessions the first Wednesday of every month at 8:00 am at the Candi Bar in Galion, we held our Annual Business & Industry Forecast Breakfast in March, we partnered with the Bucyrus Chamber and Wyandot County Chambers and held our first Route 30 Business Expo at Pickwick Place in April, we held our annual meeting in May, we continued Third Fridays in Galion, which ran from May to August and involved the uptowne business district, vendors and various groups and organizations entertaining at the gazebo, held our 4th Annual Manufacturers Breakfast in October at the Galion High School Cafetorium, where we honored women in manufacturing, we had Small Business Saturday the Saturday after Thanksgiving in both Galion and Crestline, we provided a OSHA 30-hour class for Manufacturing, supported the City of Galion in their Retention & Expansion Survey and held our Annual Holiday Open House/Auction in December.

We saw our members save over $700,000 collectively through our affinity programs with our Electric & Natural Gas program with Alternative Energy Source, Workers Compensation Discounts through CareWorks Consultant’s Inc., and our Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Chamber Healthcare Program.

We saw the addition of many new businesses in Galion and Crestline, including CoreCare Chiropractic, Cross Carpet and Custom Floors, Accurate Tax and Business Services, Crestline Massage Therapy, First Federal Community Bank, the Rusty Horseshoe, Galion Shampooch, Five Galion Company who began construction of two 18 unit apartment buildings on Carter Dr., House of Pieces, This, That and the Other, Main Street Team Shop and Serendipity Handmade Gifts & More,

I want to take the time to say, “thank you”, to my fellow chamber employees, chamber board of directors, chamber ambassadors, the entire chamber membership and the many volunteers that help make the chamber the asset that it is to the “business community”.

A special “thank you” to all the elected officials, city and village employees and the Crawford County Partnership Team for their continued hard work throughout the year.

I am looking forward to working with all of you in 2019 to see continued growth in the Galion and Crestline areas, as well as all of Crawford County.