Chamber Updates

You may have noticed that there hasn't been a post in a while......well, we've been quite busy here at the Pullman Chamber of Commerce!  And it only gets better and better all the time.
After our 4th of July Celebration, we cruised right into the National Lentil Festival.  By itself, the festival keeps us busy with planning, signing up vendors, organizing volunteers, taking care of permits, purchasing festival supplies, and hiring musicians.  Amberly, the Chamber's Events Coordinator, did a spectacular job of keeping us on track and making sure all the logistics were taken care of.  AND she gave birth to her second son right in the middle of it all!
National Lentil Festival also falls, by design, on the Week of Welcome to the students of Washington State University.  Students, parents, and staff all come back to welcome and begin the new school year.  Together, we praise the lentil and farmers who work so hard to put good food on all our tables.  And we have a good time doing it!
With WSU academia, there also comes football. This year has been an exciting one with the anticipation of a winning team with our new coach, Mike Leach, and the state of the art renovation of Martin Stadium.  To help celebrate the football team, we have increased our First Down Friday celebrations.  This tailgating event is being held in different locations throughout Pullman, and the events are all a bit different, but the theme is the same "GO COUGS!"  Visit Pullman Chamber's website or our facebook page to get specifics on each event, and plan on joining us for some fun before the game.
The Pullman Farmers Market continued each Wednesday through the close of the season on October 17th.  We have seen growth in attendance this season and the vendors are all talking about the return and some changes for the 2013 season.
Pullman has had several new businesses open recently: Red Bento, Birch & Barley, Miss Maggie's Antiques, Nomad's Hookah Lounge, Airway Hills Golf, Whiskey Barrel Cider Company and Washington Trust Bank, to name a few.  Dirt is moving on a few new buildings as well, and with each new business, we watch our community grow and prosper.
Along with our events that bring visitors into town, we have seen several seminars and workshops aimed at helping our businesses in their work.  Starting with the new entrepreneur, we had a SCORE workshop on "How to Start Your Own Business".  SCORE also offered "Sales and Marketing for Your Business" and we will continue this series through the spring.  Every second Tuesday of the month......check online for more workshops. Pullman Chamber Calendar of Events
The Pullman Chamber is partnering with the Moscow Chamber and the LEDC (Latah Economic Development Council) to bring a "Social Media Bootcamp" to Pullman in January.  This promises to be a great workshop with social media specialist Josh Wade of Nectar Media.
As we celebrate our 95th Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet this week, I stop to thank Pullman and surrounding communities for investing in our towns and county.  The Pullman Chamber has benefited greatly by our business owners, large and small, and hope that we can continue our work together through the decades.  We continue to strive to make Pullman a better place to live, work AND do business!
Ex Dir~Marie Dymkoski