News from Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce

November, 2010

Welcome to Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce

Greetings!

Great News! We have hired Danielle Lillard as our part-time marketing assistant. Danielle started on October 26 and will be working Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays from 8:30-4:30pm. Danielle and her family live in Mount Holly. She has her Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, Marketing, from Castleton State College. She's worked for the SBA and volunteered in marketing research for "Click It or Ticket" campaign with the State of Vermont. She's worked at The Governors Inn in Ludlow and for Consumers Relocation Services in Londonderry. She knows our area and will be an asset to the Chamber. Please join me in welcoming Danielle to the team.

If you missed our 2010 Business Showcase, you can watch it now on lpctv.org.

Our 2011 "A Taste of Every Season from the Okemo Valley" dining calendar is available for purchase. These mouth-watering calendars are $20 each. This year we have chosen to give a portion of the proceeds to the River Valley Technical Center towards a scholarship for a student in the Okemo Valley who is looking to continue their education in the culinary or hospitality field. Purchasing a calendar is just one of the ways that shows you support the many programs that the Chamber offers throughout the year. This is a great holiday gift for both family and friends. 12 special recipes were submitted by your favorite restaurants in the Okemo Valley. Please support your chamber, our restaurants, and scholarship fund.
###

We offered two FREE programs in October in conjunction with the Vermont Small Business Development Center, e-vermont, and the TD Bank Charitable Foundation.

October 21st, Patrick Ripley, the e-vermont broadband specialist, presented a program to Ludlow businesses called 'Getting Your Business Online". October 21st, Debra Boudreau, presented a workshop called "Listening to Your Business" for Chester businesses. They were both well received and informative. The Chamber also wants to thank the Stone Hearth Inn & Tavern in Chester for hosting our Chamber mixer on October 13th.

###

November 10^th is our mixer at Okemo's Jackson Gore Inn at 5:30-7:30pm. RSVP to the Chamber.

###

November 15^th Duncan Winton, Long Term Care Planning Specialist from Northern Benefits will talk to us about Health Care Reform. 8:30am conference room at The Pointe. RSVP to the Chamber.

###

November 17th Collette Tours will be providing information on our next "Travel with the Chamber" to Ireland May 1-10, 2011 at The Killarney at 5:30pm. RSVP to the Chamber.

###

December 8 is our Annual meeting at The Fullerton Inn in Chester. Our guest speaker is either Commissioner Bruce Hyde or Deputy Commissioner Steve Cook from the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing. RSVP to the Chamber.

###

CALL TO ACTION:

We need more towns to submit their Top Ten Events to the Vermont Chamber. The contest is a process where an event's nominator fills out a comprehensive application form, and submits photos and other marketing material of the event. You can read more about the contest and download the information here (page down).

With those nominations as a guide, an independent panel of judges chooses the Top Ten. They do look at regional distribution of events, and the more submissions one has from a region certainly improves that region's chance of winning.

"If we could encourage more people from the Okemo Valley to submit event nominations, chances are that would increase the Okemo Valley's chances of hosting an event that is identified as a Top Ten. "