Duane Hicks
The Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce has another busy year ahead of it, but this year will be a little extra special given it’s the 100th year since the Chamber first was incorporated.
“The thing we’re really looking forward to, and quite proud of, is this year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Fort France Chamber of Commerce, so any events or anything that we do will all be centered around the 100th anniversary,” new Chamber president Cathy Emes said Monday.
This theme will be applied the spring home and leisure show, for instance, and there also probably will be a separate event held to specifically celebrate the anniversary.
The anniversary also is the reason the Chamber again will be hosting the annual general meeting of the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce in the fall, which was held here only a couple of years ago.
As well, the group will be carrying through with initiatives outlined in the recent Business Retention and Expansion project and Chamber strategic plan, continuing its tourism marketing campaign and “Project Petunia” flower beautification project, and planning for “Quest for the Best” and “Kiddie Quest” in July, and the annual business awards gala this fall.
“We’re also working on a few new things, but nothing is finalized yet,” noted Emes, adding she expects the Chamber will be working with a forestry and rural expo coming here in early June but doesn’t yet have many details about that event.
Emes said the Chamber also will be involved in providing input on both the town and federal budgets—the latter via Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty’s local consultations.
Speaking more generally, Emes said the year ahead should be “a challenge to businesses, large and small, given the current economic conditions we’re experiencing,” adding she’d like to encourage the co-operation of Chambers of Commerce across Rainy River District “so that we work for the betterment of the whole of the district.”
The Chamber also will continue to promote its “Thank You For Shopping Locally” campaign, which most recently was pushed during the Christmas shopping season.
“The one thing we do want to mention is to actually thank the people of Fort Frances for understanding our ‘Shop Locally’ campaign, and how some have commented how they never thought about all the other jobs that are affected by shopping locally—health care, teachers, all of them,” noted Emes.
Emes, who works at Skills & Employment Source, was elected president and sworn in last month, along with vice-president Pam Andersen (Enterprise Rent-A-Car), second vice-president Leo Melanson (B93fm), treasurer Lillian Gerley (UPS Store), and past-president Christine Denby (Gillons’ Insurance).
They join directors John McEvoy (Bell), Darryl Skinner (Wal-Mart), Mark Caron (M.L. Caron Electric), Jill Flamand (Northland Basics), Barb Cournoyer (TD Canada Trust), Bev Kotnik (Good Impressions Printing), and Anne Renaud (Confederation College).
Appointees on the Chamber board include Patti Anderson (BIA), Jane Gillon (Ministry of Northern Development and Mines), Angela Halvorsen (Rainy River Future Development Corp.), Christine Jourdain (Couchiching First Nation), Gary Rogozinski (AbitibiBowater), and Coun. Ken Perry (Town of Fort Frances).
Emes said she’s excited to work with the rest of the board, which represents a blend of experience and new blood.
“We’re looking forward to bringing them on board and up to speed on things that we are doing and things that we plan to do,” Emes said of the newcomers.
“There is a bit of a learning curve but from my experience, it’s pretty easy to catch on, and I am looking forward to working with the new members as well as the ones that have come back with the experience,” she added.
Emes has been on the board of directors since 2004 but she and her husband, George, has been involved in one way or another throughout several decades.
Back in the early 1980s, for instance, she served as Chamber manager—at one point simultaneously co-ordinating both the Chamber and local BIA.
Meanwhile, the Chamber still is looking for two more directors to fill vacancies on the board, which it hopes to fill as soon as possible.
The responsibilities of a director include:
•to help formulate and review various policies, proposed actions, programs, and projects so the best interest of the Chamber and community can be accomplished through concerted action;
•to provide the personal leadership, enthusiasm, and support necessary to help co-ordinate and build an effective organization geared to solving community problems; and
•to evaluate and act on issues which come, or should come, before the board of directors.
As far as time commitment, the Chamber changed its meeting schedule last year so the board only meets once a month instead of twice (as it did for many years).
As well, the number of Chamber sub-committees has been condensed from 10 to five or six, meaning less meetings. Directors are required to sit on at least two sub-committees, and generally are encouraged to volunteer at Chamber events.
For more information on being a director, call Chamber manager Dawn Booth at 274-5773.
