Since our last news update, we have been VERY busy at the Chamber doing a ton to support local businesses! On February 9th we were excited to have one of our largest Chamber audiences of nearly 200 attendees at Sweetwater County Club for our first Member Banquet since 2019. It was a beautiful evening of great food and great fellowship. Check out photos from the event here.
But we have not rested on our laurels, pushing towards our next big event, the Blessing of the Crops on March 23rd. We have a great committee of Ag producers and supporters helping make this event AWESOME, which will not be JUST for farmers, featuring an incredible meal of local ingredients by Melinda Ray of Lucy Lu’s Cafe, out at the beautiful King George Lavender Farm. This event WILL sell out, so get your tickets TODAY!
If you follow us on Facebook, we are spending the entire month of March celebrating Women leaders in our region. As a part of this celebration we are giving away a FREE business website and chamber membership, in collaboration with rockstar web designer (and chamber member) Laura Gibbons of Blue Salamander Solutions. Nominate your favorite Woman owned business by March 31, and they could win! We will also have a Women Leader luncheon on April 13th organized by our own Rebekah Grubbs continuing the celebration of the incredible women leaders in our community. Send her an email, if you’d like to attend!
And, of course, we have been busy every week since January supporting entrepreneurs as a part of the Propel Business Lab program. The student’s enthusiasm is infectious, and I’ve really enjoyed sitting in on classes and collaborating with Alicia Davis and our own Enterick Lee to bring this program to life. I hope you will join us to witness their pitch competition on April 13th, 6-9pm, where all of the students will be competing for $10,000 of funding for their businesses live on stage at the Carolina Theater! We have to give a big shout out to SRP Federal Credit Union and Barnwell County EDC for helping to make that event possible!
Things have also been moving along with our Code Sunday School program, supporting adult learners wanting to break into the field of software development and computer programming. We have a great group that meets the second and fourth Sunday of every month to get guidance by experienced local programmer Edward Wald. He’s an incredible educator, and I invite you to join us THIS Sunday 2-5pm to get your code on! Edward also joined us alongside some great local organizers recently for a Digital Economy Ecosystem fieldtrip to Barnwell with folks from Newberry and Williamsburg counties to checkout what we’ve done at the Palmetto Innovation Center and hear from both Edward and Alicia on their awesome programs! Thanks to the South Carolina Office of Rural Health for helping us make that happen!
Whew! That’s a lot of news and we also made the news in the People Sentinel about our work transforming the organization and our support of local businesses. Check it out here! Scroll to the bottom of the page to join our Newsletter and get these updates right in your inbox, and come by to see us at the Palmetto Innovation Center! We are here to help you have a successful business in this region we love so much, and there’s never been a better time to join the chamber to help us help you!
Best,
Bob Snead
Chamber President / CEO