Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce

Weekly Update      September 26, 2003

 

FIFTH THIRD’S THE WINNER: The chamber’s annual golf outing Thursday at Running Fox Golf Course was a huge success. The weather went from bleak to perfect in about 30 minutes, extra runs had to be made for hot dogs and beverages and the Fifth Third Bank team was hotter than the steaks perfectly grilled by the course staff. Greg Woods, Scott Rothenbush, Wayne Bowman and John Fittro shot a 16-under par 56, one stroke ahead of the Running Fox team and two ahead of the third-place Adkins Realty team among the 31 teams entered. Tim Spradlin of non-chamber member Golden Corral helped the Running Fox team to three of the six skins awarded with his hole-in-one on No. 12. Complete results are available at this link: Golf outing results. In a few days, photos of each team and others will be posted on the website. And again, a big thanks to all the players, sponsors, volunteers and the Running Fox staff for a great day.

 

TIME TO SIGN UP FOR THE BUSINESS EXPO: This year’s Expo will be vastly different than last year with the biggest change being guaranteed traffic for the exhibitors. We have combined November’s Business After Business with the Expo and lengthened the time to 8 p.m. It will be held Nov. 19 at Horizon Technology Center on Ohio 104 north and it will be open to the public. We are asking for attendees to donate a boxed toy that will be given to a charity helping needy children during the holidays or $5 cash. Chamber members will get four free beverage tickets while extra tickets and those for non-chamber members will be $1 each. Exhibitors will be charged $175 for a 6-foot table and will be required to conduct a door prize drawing during the event. The prize must be worth at least $25. For complete information, including the form to reserve exhibition space, go to: Business (Expo) After Business

 

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE KICKS OFF IN A WEEK: The first true membership drive of the chamber in years is set for the week of Oct. 6-10 and has a goal of 50 new members. Former board chairman Connie Smart is heading the campaign in which more than 200 non-member businesses will receive a specially designed mousepad touting the chamber’s benefits. Members of the campaign committee then will make follow-up visits and phone calls. New members will be become eligible in a grand drawing of a special package which will include two free tickets to next year’s annual dinner featuring OSU Coach Jim Tressel. As an incentive, prospective new members will receive the remainder of this year dues free if they pay for at least six months of 2004. All members are urged to talk to their peers about joining the county’s most active and largest business organization. Application can be done online from the homepage of the chamber’s website, www.chillicotheohio.com.

 

MAYORAL DEBATE IS TUESDAY: Round II of the chamber’s Candidates Nights on Tuesday will feature the two candidates for Chillicothe mayor answering business-specific questions. Republican Diane Carnes and Democrat Joe Sulzer will square off in the Ross County Service Center following presentations by the candidates for City Council president and law director. This past week’s forum, sponsored by the chamber’s Governmental Affairs Committee, attracted about 50 people and featured presentations by candidates in the six ward races as well as the five candidates for the three at-large berths. As the Gazette Thursday editorial mentioned, it’s a shame not more genuinely interested people don’t attend. And chamber members are reminded that these forums are being conducted mostly for their benefit to help determine those candidates who would be most friendly to business interests, if elected. At right, board member and GAC member Lawrence Brown signals to a candidate that they’ve used their five minutes.

 

RESTAURANTS CLOSE TO OPENING: Construction and remodeling continues on the Bob Evans Restaurant on East Main Street in the former Shoney’s location. Word is that the eatery will be open by late October. Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3) apparently is hoping to open its location next to Elder-Beerman on North Bridge Street the first week of November.

 

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS AVAILABLE: In last week’s newsletter, we noted the website for those interested in doing business with the federal government. To get a real close look at the process, the Ohio Employer Council is hosting a meeting Thursday, Oct. 9 devoted to the topic and featuring Kelly Lawhorn. She’s the director of the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation Procurement Outreach Center. The luncheon will be in the back room of the Dock at Water and begins at 11:30 a.m. Make reservations by e-mailing Sonya Brown at Personnel Solutions at sony@personnelsolutions.com.

 

CHANCE FOR A NEW – AND FREE – WEBSITE: One of our newer members, Westside Media, is offering a chance for a business to have a website built and maintained for a year free. It will serve as a model for Westside and gives the business a chance to have a state-of-the-art site on the Internet. For complete details, go to www.westsidemedia.com and check out the link on the lower left.

 

NEWEST MEMBERS: Here’s who’s joined the chamber recently, giving us 526 members vs. 484 this same time last year:

 

VENDORS LICENSES: Here’s who’s received vendor’s licenses from the county auditor recently:

 

CHAMBER CALENDAR:

 

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