The Chamber Beat

Photo:

John Williams

Congratulations to Bill Ryan and his entire staff for putting on a great show and bringing in thousands of people who in turn spent thousands of dollars in our community during the entire week leading up to the TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.

If you drove by the Plains you already know what this race means to our communities with hundreds of RV’s lined up as families took their vacation right here in anticipation of the richest short track race in the Northeast.

We are very lucky to have Oxford Plains in our area and look forward to supporting Bill’s efforts for many years to come.

The “Cash Mob” was a success with 135 people gathering together to help one of our local businesses and then hanging out for some “post” Mob party time. Many thanks to WJ Wheeler for the genesis behind this and Oxford Federal Credit Union for their sponsorship.

Both Wheeler and Oxford Federal are Members in good standing of the Chamber of Commerce. I also want to thank the Chamber staff for getting the word out to our Members about the “Cash Mob.”

Speaking of Members, we continue to grow with two new Members in just the last week. They are GPM Trucking and Landscaping, owned and operated by Guy McAlister in South Paris. If you need something done, GPM is the company. And The StoreKeepers in Hebron, owned by the Francis Family, and offering general retail sales and scrumptious, homemade pizza, sandwiches and much, much more.

Don’t forget that each month one of Members hosts a Business After Hours and coming up in August, We’ll be at TD Bank in Oxford with Western Maine Art Group, Tuesday, August 7 from 5:30-7 p.m. with food, refreshments, great networking opportunities and super door prizes. Don’t miss it.

The Chamber is continuing to look into new businesses that may have an interest in coming to the Oxford Hills, especially now that the Oxford Casino is up and running, drawing thousands of patrons and visitors each week.

I have been in touch with Best Western Hotels and one of their representatives will be coming up to tour the area at the end of August. I am also having a conversation with a potential sports bar and restaurant that is in the process of franchising locations.

Don’t forget, in fact mark your calendar because our 26th Annual Golf Tournament, which is also the Chamber’s largest and most important fundraiser of the year, will take place on Thursday, August 23 at both Paris Hill and Norway Country Clubs, and I’m proud to announce that our two major sponsors are also two of the Oxford Hills biggest movers.

Oxford Casino is the Signature Sponsor and Norway Savings Bank is our Gold Sponsor. Call our office for more information about the event or go online at www.oxfordhillsmaine.com if you have an interest in becoming a sponsor or enter a four person team, or just call the office at 743-2281.

As always, the Chamber is on top of business throughout the Oxford Hills-are you a Chamber Member yet? It’s easy, just call us at the office and speak with Jennifer or myself and we’ll sign you up. I'll see you next week.