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Category: Chamber Corner Chamber Corner
Published: 06 June 2018 06 June 2018

The mission of the Silver City Grant County Chamber of Commerce is to serve our members by promoting business, commerce, and tourism in Grant County.

I'm dumbfounded when a person gets upset that the Chamber of Commerce can't help with an issue that involves a business that isn't a chamber member… and sometimes we have never even heard of the business. First and foremost, we are in business to serve our Chamber of Commerce business members. If you are not a member of the Chamber of Commerce, don't expect the Chamber office to work miracles for you. Oh, and by the way, if you are a member… don't expect miracles. There's a higher authority that does that kind of work and you don't have to pay him an annual membership fee.

Though our mission is to serve our members, we understand that by serving our community also, we are helping our members. The big picture is simply this… what is good for Grant County and the surrounding area is also good for the members of the Chamber of Commerce.

We try to serve our members in a variety of ways. We can be voice for business in the political forum. We can support business initiatives and provide proper backing for our members. Attracting more people to Grant County can be beneficial for our business members. Whether is it tourism or relocation, people from the outside will spend money or bring new wealth to our community. So, we continue to provide quality tourism and relocation packets for anyone interested in the area.

And yes, we continue to try to entice new businesses to come to Grant County. Literally today, I sent two letters to franchisees of Church's Chicken. Will I hear from either one? Maybe, but on thing is for sure. I wouldn't hear from either franchisee if I didn't try.

We continue our quest to do a very good and professional job managing the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business & Conference Center. Whether it is bringing a large event like the Silver City Wine Festival or a small workshop, we are seeing more and more people and families attending events at the Conference Center. This week alone we are staying late with nighttime events on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and even Saturday. While we are working hard at Gough Park on July 4th. We will also be working hard at the County Conference Center during that same time… when we host the Southwest Quilters Association's annual Quilt Show on the days leading up to and on July 4.

A few weeks later, the Chamber of Commerce will help host the Silver City Wine Festival. This is another event that will help bring new people and new dollars into our communities. Then in August, we will bring the New Mexico Chamber Executives Association to a conference in Silver City and produce a fun fundraising event named the Murray Ryan Invitational Golf Tournament at the University Course at Scott Park.

We are in the middle of a County Map campaign. Yes sir, we are working with a company named Novoprint to produce a first-class, professional quality foldable map of Grant County and the surrounding area. How does this help our members? Believe me, this map will be good for businesses that have delivery drivers. It will be good for our members to use as a marketing tool, as we place a map in every relocation and tourism packet we mail out of Silver City. It will be good for the tourists trying to find places outside of Silver City.

Okay, so this week I'm tooting the Chamber of Commerce horn a little bit. Well… if I don't do it, who will. We believe the Chamber of Commerce provides a great service to our members and when looking at the bigger picture – also our communities. We hope you will agree. Questions, comments… call (575) 538-3785.