August, 2020
Chamber Chat Newsletter
It has been a welcoming sight being able to walk down Main Street and observing so many businesses opening up and the crowds beginning to return. Also taking a drive around Town being able to see the same growing activity spreading to all corners of the community. While we are not yet where we need to be in reaching our previous levels of economic activity, it is nice to see that we are back on that path after so many months of inactivity.
We celebrated our monthly Breakfast Club as usual on the first Thursday of the month and we did it by gathering “OUTSIDE! We met on the upper common with our masks, chairs and mugs, each person’s mug contained their own favorite morning beverage. Happy to notice that a fairly good number of attendees had their Breakfast Club mugs. We were very pleased to welcome Town Administrator Steve Maio who joined us wearing his mask and Breakfast Club mug in hand. Special recognition and ‘kudos’ go to Marianne and Ernie Wronka, who out-did us all. They joined us very well prepared with masks, mugs, chairs, side table and their breakfast!! They indeed showed us all how to make the most of this opportunity to once again meet and network in person safely and comfortably.

We are making plans for the Chamber Annual Meeting later this month. Due to the Pandemic this year will obviously be much different from the Annual Meetings of the past. We expect to host it via a Zoom virtual session, which will involve a few updates as to the present status of the Chamber and the election of Directors. Please keep an eye out for the announcement and hopefully you will be able to join in and participate. 

The Chamber is leading the way in support of a series of Town wide sidewalk sales, Saturdays on the Sidewalk. The Town Council recently approve three dates for the months of August (8/29), September (9/26) and October (10/24). This will be a very special event and kicks off in August on the “tax free” holiday weekend. In an extraordinary gesture of good will and generosity, our two home town local financial institutions, Wakefield Co-operative Bank and The Savings Bank have both stepped forward to support the Chamber with this town wide effort by offering the following: For every $50 dollars spent at any local Wakefield Business, the chamber will present that shopper with a $10.00 gift certificate to a local participating food establishment. 

For more information, click on any of the following documents: Event Flyer (also displayed below) , Event Details, Food Establishment Details. Please help us spread the word!
 
We were very happy to welcome to the Chamber one of our newest members, Ironside Financial with a formal ribbon cutting. Special thanks to Town Administrator Steve Maio and Town Council Chair Ann Santos for supporting the Chamber and joining us in welcoming our new friends at Iron Financial located at 374 Main Street, Wakefield.
August Breakfast Club-
Beautiful morning meeting in person on the Upper Common. Join us next month, Thursday, September 3rd at 8:30am.
We have upgraded the marketing opportunities for your business on the Chamber website. As a free benefit, there are a number of options for you to update your company information to increase your company’s visibility. Below are examples for of how to better use our web site to your advantage. Contact us if you need assistance on updating your information.
                     
 Additional Features to the Member Information Page Include:
           
  • Description: Up to 1600 characters of description may be typed; will be displayed on the Member Info page
  • Results Summary: Up to 200 characters of description may be typed; will be displayed in the Business Directory search results
  • Hours of Operation: Up to 100 characters describing hours of operation may be typed; will be displayed on the Member Info page
  • Driving Directions: Up to 200 characters giving driving directions may be typed; will be displayed on the Member Info page
  • Bulleted Description: Up to 5 descriptive words or phrases may be typed with a maximum of 120 characters each; will be displayed on the Member Information page (available only for Gold/Enhanced Package participants)
  • Keywords: Up to 240 characters may be typed; keywords are additional words that a consumer may use when searching the web site business directory (Unlimited characters with Enhanced Package)
  • Add a logo
  • Add multiple images
  • Add YouTube video
  • Add a map link

Another benefit to remember is that each member has available one free e-blast to our entire mailing list annually. Additionally, if you choose to utilize the e-blasts they are available to members at the very reasonable price of $50 per blast. Where else could you find a more convenient, easy to use and reasonably priced method in which to advertise and spread the word? Especially if you have just reopened, have a new product or service, new hours or locations or just about anything you would like to announce and let people know – contact us about sending your e-blast.

Lastly, remember the Chamber maintains a limited amount of masks, disinfectant, and hand sanitizer available for sale at our bulk purchase costs due to our working together with other area Chambers to make such products available to our members. As needed, we can also reorder and continue to help you with your PPE purchases. Please reach out to Marie or myself if you would like us to assist you with those needs.

Stay safe everyone and hopefully we will all be meeting again soon. 

All the best,
John

The Chamber will continue to share information from the federal, state and local agencies with you. You can find important links below as well as on our website, www.wakefieldlynnfieldchamber.org: