BY THE CHAMBER
Recently, The Weekly Sun was featured as a member of The Chamber and spotlighted in this column, which is dedicated to giving us more of an understanding about the businesses that make up an important part of life in the Wood River Valley.
Following that, we felt it was time to spotlight The Chamber and find out a little more about this 300-plus-member organization and what it is doing for our community. We sat down with new executive director Jeff Bacon and asked what The Chamber does and some of their plans for the future.
The Chamber: Many people have heard the term Chamber of Commerce and that probably means different things in different cities across the U.S. What does The Chamber do in the Wood River Valley?
Jeff Bacon: The Chamber truly wears two hats. First, we are a member resource, offering our members assistance in many aspects of their business. Through our relationships with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Small Business Development Center in Twin Falls, our members have access to financial advisors regarding their business, mentors to help make important decisions, training classes and training videos. We also assist our members in promoting their products or services to a wide audience. The Chamber is also a great tool for networking opportunities, as we give business owners and managers from every type of business in the Valley the chance to meet. There are many stories of great collaborations starting at a Business After Hours or one of our Leadership Breakfasts. The Chamber also acts as a promoter of the Wood River Valley to both an audience within and within a couple hours’ drive of the Valley. We help events, and businesses with special events, get the word out to both Valley residents and visitors from the Treasure and Magic valleys, Idaho Falls, Pocatello and sometimes Salt Lake City.
TC: You mentioned business-training classes. What’s an example?
JB: Last year, The Chamber offered several different classes, including Getting Found On Google or Using Social Media To Promote Your Business. Classes scheduled for the first part of 2017 will include Customer Service, Marketing 101 and QuickBooks 101. These classes are free to our members and have a lot of great information.
TC: The Chamber is expanding its role in the Wood River Valley. What’s the long-term effect for Valley businesses?
JB: There’s been some confusion recently regarding The Chamber’s function in the Wood River Valley and some of that probably stems from our recent name change. The Chamber has always offered its services to any business or individual that sees the benefit of our mission. We’ve had members from all of the cities in Blaine County for many years, even some from Boise, Twin Falls or Salt Lake City. As we’ve become more successful in our efforts, more businesses are seeing the benefits of our mission and it got to a point where we needed to change the name to better fit the actual membership we represent. Regarding the long-term effects of a Valley-wide effort, communication. We’re all better when we have a way to communicate better. This Valley has a great number of opportunities in front of it and if The Chamber can somehow help facilitate some of those into action, we all win.
TC: You mentioned The Chamber helps events with promotion. Why is this a function of The Chamber?
JB: While we are a great business resource for our members, we also want to help build a market for them to take advantage of, and a great way to do that is bringing in visitors from surrounding areas. We receive monies from Hailey’s LOT, which helps us successfully promote the City of Hailey as a visitor destination. We also work with Idaho Commerce and receive grant monies to promote the Wood River Valley as a whole to a drive-time audience. Events are a great way to showcase our communities. For a county as small in population as Blaine County, we are blessed to have such a great selection of events and programs. Helping promote these to an audience outside the Valley brings in much-needed visitor dollars.
TC: 2016 seemed like quite a banner year for The Chamber. What’s in store for 2017?
JB: 2016 was great, and because of the work of our board, we are perfectly positioned to start 2017 with a bang. We recently found out that we will have nearly double the funding last year from the Idaho Travel Council to promote the Wood River Valley and its events to a broader audience. Also, we’re building the second and improved Community Guide and Membership Directory for use in promoting the area to visitors and that will come out in May 2017. I’m most excited about expanding our training class schedule to include some serious business nuts-and-bolts classes and our focus on women-owned or -operated businesses in March. For anyone that has been thinking about becoming a member of The Chamber, 2017 would be a great year to make that commitment.
For more information, visit haileyidaho.com or call The Chamber at (208) 788-3484.
