Chamber of Commerce hopes to boost membership 2018

By Justin Seward

Commentator/Courier

After the completion of the Burdett-Bow Island Chambers of Commerce AGM on Feb. 7, president Bernice DeLeenheer spoke to the Commentator about the chamber’s the focus for the year ahead.
In 2018, the hope is to find new ways to attract more people to big local events, such as the Trade Show and the Market in the Park, and how the Chamber of Commerce can make them more successful.
“New outlooks and coming to the table on those is always welcomed,” said DeLeenheer.
The Chamber of Commerce currently has 70 members and the board would like to see an increase in people signing up.
“It would be nice if we got to the 100 mark,” she said.
“Years ago before I was involved apparently it was up over the 100 mark and membership has gone down. That could attribute to smaller businesses leaving, maybe some of the farmers that used to be members are no longer members because they’re not farming anymore.
“We have to try and figure out how to get our message out to those smaller businesses and show them what their benefits would be of being a chamber member.”
The annual Trade Show is a fundraiser that brings in money to keep the Chamber of Commerce afloat to run programming, while the Market in the Park brings funds from the vendors and advertisements.
DeLeenheer was re-elected as president, Corrina Roth-Beacome as vice president, Alain Thiebaud as treasurer, Chris Pinchin as secretary. The directors are Kathy Nixdorf, Robin Knibbs, Denise Fode and newly-elected Aprill Hintz from the Servus Credit Union.

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