The Chamber Beat

Photo:

John Williams

Do not miss this year’s Oxford County Fair. They are longtime Chamber Members and we support their efforts to provide a community friendly event that is affordable and fun. And on Saturday, September 15, one of the great super stars of country music will be performing live on stage.

Multiple Grammy Award and Academy of Country Music Award winner LeAnn Rimes will be in concert at 8 p.m. and all you have to do to see this extraordinary star is pay the admission price of $5 – you heard me right.

The Oxford Hills is thrilled that Ms. Rimes is coming here to grace our communities. By the way, this year’s fair runs from Wednesday through Saturday. Make sure you plan on attending. We also have Fair brochures at the Chamber office.

We welcomed three new members last week, including T.J. Corp in Norway, Lively Accents also in Norway, and MGA Cast Stone on Route 26 in Oxford. I want to thank all three of these companies for becoming a part of the largest business organization in western Maine. MGA Cast Stone has over 30 employees with an eye on continued expansion in the near future. We’ll keep you posted.

I also wanted to remind everyone that in addition to the Chamber of Commerce, we have three other tenants in our building at 4 Western Avenue. Twin City Financial, AVCOG with Larry Giroux as their representative here in western Maine and our newest tenant, the Career Center with Jim Trundy and Diane Peete.

So, we can handle all of your questions about where to go, what to do and we also can access business resources you may need including Financial planning, putting together a business plan and finally if you’re looking for work or need some help determining where you want to go with your career, well, we’ve got the Career Center too.

Speaking of community business partners, SCORE and the Chamber of Commerce are kicking the Fall schedule of Business Roundtables off with a critical event, on Wednesday, September 19, at the Town Office in Norway with our Affordable Health Care Act Round-table.

The Supreme Court recently upheld most of what was included in the Affordable Care Act. To find out how the ACA will impact your business, plan to attend this Business Roundtable, which will run from 8 to 9 a.m.

You can register through SCORE or on-line with the Chamber of Commerce at www.oxfordhillsmaine.com. You can also call the office at 743-2281 to register and of course all of our Business Roundtables are free.

Our September Business After Hours was held at the Roberts Farm Preserve in Norway on Thursday, September 6. Lee Dassler, executive director and her staff welcomed around 50 business people from around the greater Oxford Hills to an early evening of touring the miles and miles of trails available, walking through the preserve’s articulately kept gardens, the chance to run in a 6k relay race and enjoy some refreshments.

The preserve is absolutely beautiful, a real treasure for the area, so if you get a chance, go on over and enjoy all things “Green.”

Finally I want to welcome the newest member of our staff, Mindy Mclaren, who comes to the Chamber through the Community Internship Program at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School for the entire school year.

Mindy is a senior at Oxford Hills and she is interested in pursuing a career in Hospitality. She will be helping us in the office with various projects throughout the year. We’re certainly looking forward to helping Mindy gain some invaluable experience before she heads off to college next Fall.

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 me and we’ll sign you up. I'll see you next week.