chamber review - Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce

CHAMBER REVIEW
May 2016
Spring is the time of plans & projects
Listening, Building & Maintaining – Oh My!
“If we had no winter,
the spring would not
Bobbie Boettcher
As I head into my second month with the Chamber and looked back at what I
have been doing, I note that there has been a lot of listening, building, and maintaining. As I have made my rounds to meet the community in my new role, I have
been blown away by the passion and genuine care that everyone has for our
community. Thank you to everyone who has taken time to meet with me, invited
me to an event and/or speaking engagement, or taken a moment to ask me how
it’s going and how I am doing.
Listening: As you might guess, with approximately 400 members, multiple
municipalities, and neighboring communities – there are many, many different
thoughts on what the Chamber should be doing and where it should be going.
Therefore, one of my first recommendations to the Board of Directors has been
to update our Strategic Plan. Through this exercise I will have a framework to
build the plan of where to put the Chamber’s efforts and resources.
Building: Staffing at the Chamber has been in flux for some time. At the
time I write this article, we are closing in on the end of the first search for our
“Digital Marketing and Membership Coordinator.” We hope to have this person in
place within the next few weeks. After this position is filled we will finalize the
position of Office and Operations Manager position and get busy filling that role.
While institutional memory will be in shorter supply, the opportunity to take a
good look at our staffing levels and restructure the positions has been invaluable.
… Continued on page 2.
be so pleasant: if we
did not sometimes
taste adversity,
prosperity would not
be so welcome.”
Anne Bradstreet
Baraboo Area
Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
600 W. Chestnut St. / P.O. Box 442
Baraboo, WI 53913
(608) 356-8333 / (800) 227-2266
(608) 356-8422 Fax
Your Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce
staff & contact information:
Bobbie Boettcher - Executive Director
director@baraboo.com
Debbie Zirzow - Customer Service & Communications
Sandy Gavin - Customer Service & Office Assistant
Becky Radke - Events & Member Relations
events@baraboo.com
visitus@baraboo.com
Listening, Building & Maintaining Continued…
Maintaining: As you will see when you read further on, there are a lot events coming up. June 14th brings Our Annual
Golf Outing. As one of our main fundraisers of the year, please consider contributing by pulling a foursome together, becoming a
hole sponsor, or donating items for the raffle and auction. We are grateful for any and all help.
The Big Top Parade and Circus Celebration is in what I call “flurry of activity” mode. Planning an event of this magnitude is a yearlong process and I hope that you will take a look at the Big Top’s website to see how you can participate in the event. We not only
get to showcase our treasured Circus World Museum, we host thousands of visitors which is great for the entire community.
I have only touched the surface of what’s happening here. Working with the tourism committee, the Highway 12 4-Lane Taskforce, recruiting new businesses, attending ribbon cuttings, lunch and learns, and business after 5s are all happening at the same
time. There is not a dull moment for sure!
CONGRATULATIONS BARABOO FOR BEING DESIGNATED AS “BIRD CITY” AND
THANK YOU FOR DEDICATING THE ARBORETUM!!
A Room of One’s Own …
The large conference room here at the Chamber Visitor Center is
available for rental for your business meetings, such as seminars,
sales meetings, and strategic planning sessions. Chamber members receive a discount on the rental fee, and availability includes
evenings and weekends. The room seats up to 60, and you can
configure the space to meet your needs. The rental also includes
kitchen access, free Wi-Fi, phone jack for conference calling, and
ample free parking. Cost for Chamber members is $35 per day, while non-Chamber members pay $50
(plus tax). Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status may also rent the room for $35. Call the Chamber office for
more information.
Payment for conference room rentals goes to the Greater Sauk County Community Foundation. As you are
probably aware, the Chamber shares office space with the Foundation, a public charity that encourages
private philanthropy and supports nonprofits throughout the county and beyond. What you may not know is
the Foundation owns the Visitor Center building, and the Chamber is a long-term tenant. The Chamber’s
need for space actually inspired the formation of the Foundation in 1998. The Foundation has grown steadily and has distributed nearly $2 million in charitable gifts in the last two decades. The Chamber and the
Foundation are more than just good neighbors – our shared space allows our organizations to provide
mutual support.
*** WELCOME NEW CHAMBER MEMBERS!! ***
S5643 State Road 113
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Servicing and Customizing Diesel/
mid size truck and trailers.
We are a small business servicing
Dodge, GM, Ford and VW Diesel
powered vehicles. From mild to wild,
there's nothing we can't handle.
E9745 County Road P
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Homegrown berries, melons,
sweet corn, and veggies.
Bakery & farm gift shop. Have
fun in our Play Village &
Petting Farm! Ride our
Country Bumpkin Express.
Highway 12 4 Lane Taskforce
On February 29th the Chamber hosted a forum regarding the highway 12 bypass up on the UW-Baraboo/
Sauk County Campus. From that forum and feedback received after the event, Chamber Board of Directors Nanci Caflish and Mark Horenberger called together a committee to discuss the issue. On April 13th
that committee met. Invited to participate in this taskforce were representatives from the Village of West
Baraboo, the City of Baraboo, the Township of Baraboo, Downtown Baraboo Incorporated, large manufacturing, hospitality, and real estate. This first meeting was to discuss the issues of the upcoming completion of the 4 lane and develop a plan and timeline to address the issue. The committee will be meeting
again in May and at that meeting will hear more details about the DOT regulations of signs and continue to
gather information on how to move forward together so that when the 4 lane is completed (slated to com-
In April, Elite Catering & Bakery
graciously provided a complimentary
lunch for our Chamber’s Board of
Director’s Meeting…
Thank you!!
Wake Up Baraboo
Hosted by…
May 18, 2016
7 a.m. - 9 a.m.
201 8th Street Baraboo, WI 53913
May 26, 2016
Noon - 1 p.m.
at the
Chamber of Commerce
Avoiding Common Financial Pitfalls in Caring for Elderly Parents
Hosted by...
Business After 5
May 16, 2016
5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
June 9, 2016
at the
Noon - 1 p.m.
Chamber of Commerce