CEO and President December Update

With the temperatures falling and days shortening, it is indeed beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…

We are in full holiday mode as we gear up to bring Santa to our region, encourage locals and visitors to shop local, and celebrate the holidays and year in each of our five communities.

Advertising in our 2022 Greater Cape Ann guide and Director, Map, and Rockport Map is going fast – contact Sam (sam@capeannchamber.com) to reserve your positions today. You can also increase your web presence by advertising on our three websites CapeAnnChamber.com, CapeAnnVacations.com and/or RockportUSA.com

While winter tourism is always a priority for the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce Tourism Council, November is the month when that focus becomes much clearer. When November rolls around, plans for the holiday season are set, and the nip in the air reminds of the region’s colder-weather activities. This was the case for our latest group meeting, on November 19.

November was an eventful month for the Chamber’s Government Affairs Council. The council held its regular monthly meeting on November 9, with members attending in person and via Zoom. Meeting topics included finalizing the agenda for the November 19 Cape Ann Caucus and an update on Ipswich activities and issues from Town Manager Tony Marino. Other topics discussed at the council’s November meeting included impacts of Manchester’s indoor face covering mandate on local businesses, and the upcoming meeting of the town’s Board of Health.

With the Holidays upon us, the Greater Cape Ann Chamber’s Health & Wellness Committee has come together to share resources on staying healthy and ways to give back this Holiday Season in their December Newsletter.

Watch Ken Riehl, Sara Bowen and incoming 2022 Board President Caitlin Pszenny of Laneside Pub & Brewery catch up and recap a busy November, highlighted by the 34th Annual Love Cape Ann Fundraising Auction. They also look ahead to what is sure to be the most festive holiday season Greater Cape Ann has ever seen.

The Businesswomen’s Committee gathered in November at the Beauport Hotel to kick off planning for 2022. The group left invigorated for new opportunities to network, advocate, and support local women on Greater Cape Ann.

The Cape Ann Regional Pilot Grant, a collaboration between the four communities of Cape Ann and the Chamber has delivered a very successful slate of services to Cape Ann’s small businesses. Funded through the Massachusetts Office of Business Development, the grant’s outcomes are impressive and will live on.

The Chamber would like to recognize and thank the Cape Ann Regional Grant Steering Committee for their tireless efforts to develop the grant RFP, provide ongoing direction for all programming and educate and engage the local business community on grant opportunities. We are grateful to: Donna Roy, Essex Merchants Group; Sal DeStefano, Gloucester Economic Development Director; Sue Brown, Manchester-by-the-Sea Town Planner; Mechelle Brown, Town of Rockport Community Engagement and Cultural District Director and Peter Webber, Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce.

Did you know as a Greater Cape Ann Chamber member, you can promote sales and promotions on all three of our major websites? Member sales and promotions appear on our "Shop Our Members" page. 

This is a great way to gain exposure for your business by highlighting your special promotions. Take advantage of this FREE member benefit and list yours today! 

This holiday season, we'll be in our now FIVE Greater Cape Ann communities for a series of holiday parties. Please join us for one or all events as we celebrate the holiday season together. RSVP is not required, light apps and cash bar will be available at all parties.

Coffee & Connections

Thursday, December 2 | 9 - 10 AM

Occurring on the first Thursday of the month at 9am, the Greater Cape Ann Chamber hosts Coffee & Connections, a virtual networking event! We will continue holding these via zoom so that anyone may join us from anywhere. Meet new people, expand your business connections and stay in touch with friends and colleagues.

Manchester-by-the-Sea’s holiday party on Thursday, December 2 at Cala’s will once again include our Lucky 9 raffle. Tickets are $25; with only 100 tickets sold, your odds of winning the $1,000 prize are pretty good! Gift certificate combos include gift cards to Style Snoop, Helen’s Bottle Shop, Stock Exchange, Manchester by the Book, Manchester Historical Museum, Riverside Cycle, and gifts from Ace Hardware, Allen’s Pharmacy, 4Beach, and Michelle James Salon. Tickets are available for sale at our friends Style Snoop or here at the Chamber office. Stop in today to grab yours!

Ribbon Cutting - Bliss Bites Cafe

Tuesday, December 7 | 2 PM

The Bliss Bites cafe recently opened at the YMCA in Gloucester and has quickly gained a following! The Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce has organized a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the new cafe on December 7th at 2pm. Free cookies will be served as a token of gratitude to visitors!

The cafe is located in the lobby of the Cape Ann YMCA and is focused on healthy eating, along with classic grab-and-go meals. The menu features locally roasted Little Wolf coffee, smoothies, daily variations of protein snacks, fresh baked goods, salads, panini, sandwiches and more! A YMCA membership is not required to visit the cafe.

Next Gen’s annual Holiday Party is back! Join us for a festive night of food, drinks, and fun as we celebrate the season with other young professionals on Cape Ann. This event is free, but cash donations to the Cape Ann DCF Holiday Gift fund are greatly appreciated. Donations can be made at the event or online by clicking here.

The Chamber’s Annual Celebration is hosted at the start of the New Year and will be a BIG one in 2022 as we celebrate turning 100 years young. Join us with 200+ business leaders and local, city, and state officials at the beautiful Beauport Hotel to enjoy delicious food, great company, and dance the night away.

This November the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce held numerous ribbon cuttings for local businesses. We held ribbon cuttings at Betsy Frost Design, In Home Design Center, The Open Door and Seaside Creative. Whether it be a new business, a new location, or a grand reopening, we want to help you celebrate! Email Sam at sam@capeannchamber.com to schedule your ribbon cutting today.

Thank You to All Who Supported the 34th Annual Love Cape Ann Fundraising Auction

 

Thank you to our sponsors!

Presenting Sponsor:  Fish Shack Restaurant

Platinum Sponsors:  Beauport Hospitality Group, Institution for Savings

Gold Sponsors:  Bank Gloucester, Brookline Bank, Engel & Volkers

Silver Sponsors:  Applied Materials, Cape Ann Savings Bank, Intershell Seafood Corporation, Johnson O’Connor, Manchester Athletic Club, Seaglass Law & Mediation

Bronze Sponsors:  Beauport Law, Cazeault Solar, Carol Steele, Style Snoop, Horvitz & Frisch.p.c. and our Supporting Sponsors.  

During the month of November, the Cape Ann Regional Grant finished off with three workshops for area business people. The workshops were held at the Beauport Hotel and featured a variety of topics such as merchandising for the holidays, digital branding, turning challenges in to opportunities. Did you miss out on these useful, free workshops? Check out the grant website to watch all the previous workshops.

1 North Main Street | Ipswich

(978) 356-WINE

219 County Road | Ipswich

(978) 356-5728

290 Argilla Road | Ipswich

(978) 356-4351

114 County Road | Ipswich

(978) 312-2100

10 Jeffrey's Neck Road | Ipswich

(978) 312-6654

79 Main Street | Rockport

(816) 803-9244

A Greater Cape Ann Gift Check Every Season

 

The Greater Cape Ann Gift Check Program is the perfect gift to give this holiday season and are THE BEST way to support local business, as they can only be redeemed at more than 200 participating local businesses. We sell more than $70,000 GCs a year and have put over $1,000,000 back into the local economy over the life of the program. These can be purchased at the Chamber Office, both Gloucester Shaw's locations, and Tuck's Candy & Gifts in Rockport. 

Participating Businesses

Looking for some new reading material for you or a loved one this holiday season? This weather is perfect for curling up with a good book! Make sure you check out these two Greater Cape Ann bookstores to find a great read.

With the holidays fast approaching, get out there and enjoy what downtown Gloucester has to eat, play and shop. Mark your calendars with these upcoming dates to get you out to visit local businesses. Can't make one of the themed shopping days, don't worry, it's always a good time to shop local.

Mark your calendars for December 4, 2021, for the 7th Annual Holiday Stroll organized and supported by the member businesses of the Ipswich Business Roundtable. Stop in at downtown Ipswich businesses to participate in the fun.

If you are in the area and are looking for something fun to do take a trip on the Salem Trolley. The Salem Trolley is the best way to see Salem and to experience the Witch City’s unique and colorful past. Since 1982, Salem Trolley has set the standard for sightseeing tours and exceptional transportation north of Boston. Ticket Sellers are located at the starting location. Visit their website to learn more below.

In recognition of the Gloucester's upcoming anniversary and to mark 400+ years of its history, the Cape Ann Museum is organizing a special exhibition exploring the enduring legacy of the family-owned fishing boat. The Museum is inviting members of the community who have paintings, photographs, models, and archival materials related to family-owned fishing boats to share them with us via the link below. Submissions will be fashioned into a exhibition to be shared through an in-person display with a virtual component.

Gloucester, MA (November 18, 2021) – SeniorCare Inc. is proud to announce that the agency’s Nutrition Department is participating in the 2021 Subaru Share the Love Event as a member of Meals on Wheels America. From November 18, 2021, through January 3, 2022, Subaru of America will donate $250 to the customer's choice of participating charities for every new Subaru vehicle purchased or leased.

For the second year in a row, Action Inc., Wellspring House, and Pathways for Children have launched the Cape Ann Kids Holiday Fund to ensure that all families in our community can share the joy, love, and wonder of the holiday season!

Proceeds from the Cape Ann Kids Holiday Fund will be used to provide gift cards for Cape Ann families (Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester, Essex, & Ipswich) who are struggling financially so they can buy holiday gifts for kids in their care. Last year, over 500 families applied and more than 1,000 local kids benefitted from the fund. Click below to donate or learn more.

Beverly Hospital and Addison Gilbert have begun conducting their triennial Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The primary goal of the CHNA is to identify the priority health needs in the community, including various social, economic, and environmental factors that impact the ability to achieve optimal health and healthy equity, i.e. economic insecurity, transportation, access to care, housing insecurity, employment, economic development, education, etc. We greatly appreciate you taking the survey below.

Volunteers work about two hours in the late morning, picking up and delivering meals to older residents. This provides several benefits—the elder receives a nutritious meal (sometimes the main meal of their day), they get a quick visit from a friendly volunteer (sometimes the only person they see that day), and as the volunteer gets to know the elders on their route, the volunteer sometimes notices when the elder’s circumstances and/or status changes and can have SeniorCare check-in with the elder to make sure everything is all right.

The goal of the Gloucester Racial Justice team in issuing this survey is to gather the perspective of our BIPOC Gloucester community members and/or all that love and/or support them. We hope the results will help us to focus our attention on the areas where we can make the most impact. Thank you for your time.

Now entering into its 34th Season, this humorous & whimsical interactive performance reanimates Dickens’ timeless seasonal holiday classic. Experience Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol with a twist. Ride along with Scrooge on the Salem Trolley as the classic tale is brought to life in a completely unexpected way. Shows sell out quickly and seats are limited. Tickets go on sale Monday, September 13, 2021. Tour departs from Salemdipity, 86 Wharf Street (Pickering Wharf), Salem.

Each night Temple Achavat Achim will have a short program where we light, sing and have time for a 5-minute reflection about the light in the darkness. As people have seen over and over again throughout these last few unusual years, it's important to cherish each and every opportunity to come together as a community. We hope to see you all virtually and in person this year at TAA's Chanukah festivities. If your family would like to participate by lighting your candles for the group, or if you would like to share a reflection on light or the season, please sign up here by November 20th.

Everyone who would like to join should register below for the zoom link.

10% of food sales at Woodma's of Essex will go to the Mr. & Mrs. L. Dexter Woodman Scholarship on Giving Tuesday - Tuesday, November 30. Since 1988 the Mr. & Mrs. L. Dexter Woodman Scholarship has helped with young people to attend college in honor of Dexter and Gini Woodman's legacy and memory. Since its inception, we have awarded over $803,999 in scholarships, to over 180 students as well as donations to many organizations that support education.

Schooner Gallery: SeArts Artist and Member Opening Reception Dory Shop Deck: Tree/Wreath Sales with hot cider/snacks Museum Store: Open for Holiday Gift Shopping

Thursday, December 2 | 10 AM - 7 PM Schooner Gallery: seARTS Art Show Dory Shop Deck: Tree/Wreath Sales with hot cider/snacks Museum Store: LADIES NIGHT – Holiday Gift Shopping and Gift Wrapping 2:30 – Light Refreshments in Gallery 5:00 – Light Refreshments in Museum Store

PIER: Winter Lights Event with Discover Gloucester Hot drinks (cider, cocoa)

Candlelit evenings at the castle are simply enchanting. Thursday evenings throughout December, Hammond Castle Museum welcomes you to tour the museum by candlelight! Immerse yourself in the seaside castle dressed up in holiday decor and take a guided tour of the museum.

A true artistic visionary who’s been called “the most provocative thinker in current jazz” (Rolling Stone), pianist/composer Jason Moran is pushing the music forward in bold new directions, unafraid to innovate, take risks and cross stylistic boundaries, yet still honor tradition. He’s making his Rockport debut with a much-anticipated solo concert.

Holiday Gifts! Holiday Cheer! The Cape Ann Artisans invite you to join them at selected studios on Cape Ann on Saturday, December 4 from 10 AM to 4 PM. Just enough time to choose a handcrafted gift for that special person, a future heirloom in the purchasing. In appreciation for the community, we will offer a donation to the Grace Center in collaboration with the Cape Ann Museum’s “Art of Lunch” program. Stay tuned for other special offers done on an individual basis.

Learn how to make your own wreaths. The ancient art of wreath making has been around for hundreds of years and used for protection of homes and blessing upon new family members, and New Years Blessing which in the wreath you will be making. This course will go over the history behind it all.

Join Senator Bruce Tarr at these live

“Toy Drive” broadcast locations. Now accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys.

8am - 10am - Salem Institution For Savings

11am - 1pm - Essex Woodmans

7am - 9am - Lynn Capitol Diner

10am - 12pm - Danvers Recovery Centers of America

12:30 - 2:30pm - Peabody Lyon-Waugh

7am - 9am - North Andover Heavenly Donuts

10am - 12pm - Ipswich Aubuchon Hardware

1:15pm - 2:45pm - Middleton Teresa’s

8:15am - 10:15am - Newburyport Newburyport Bank

10:30am - 12:30pm - Newburyport The Maids

5:00pm - 7pm - Peabody Mill 58

9am - 11am - Beverly Aubuchon Hardware

11:30am - 1:30pm - Ipswich Brookline Bank

2pm - 3:30pm - Rockport Dock Square

4pm - 6pm - Gloucester Cape Ann Savings Bank

Presented by 3X Super Bowl New England Patriot Joe Andruzzi, the evening will be a wonderful way to find out about the Foundation and all it does to help cancer patients of all ages throughout New England who have fallen on financial hardships as a result of their diagnosis. Join us for True North's wonderful brews, music, Pizza, door prize, Hook-A-Cure raffle and swag as our way of saying thanks for attending!

Celebrate the holiday season with Hammond Castle! They invited local florists and interior designers to sponsor a room, deck its halls and trim a tree. You won't want to miss it!  They offer guided and self-guided tours. On these tours, their experienced tour guides will provide a contextualized history of John and Irene Hammond, John’s life work as one of the nation’s most prolific inventors, and the various historical artifacts and architectural elements throughout the Museum.

Join Rebeccah Pearson of Apothecary Suil Crow and learn the art of Candle Magic! This course will go over color association, dressing a candle, blessing your candles, and a group candle incantation will be performed. All supplies will be provided. A detailed list of colored candles, list of flowers and symbolism. Light refreshments will be provided.

Hammond Castle Museum is celebrating the holiday season and decking the halls for a very special visit by our favorite fella, Santa Claus! Santa will be distanced but will listen to your child’s Christmas wishes and each child will be presented with a new, wrapped present. Santa’s elves will also hand out individually wrapped cookies & milk and a photo signed by Santa.  Hammond Castle Museum will be fully decorated for the holidays as part of our Deck The Halls annual tradition and beginning at 4:30pm, the grounds and castle will be illuminated with thousands of holiday lights as part of the Holiday Lights Illumination.

Posting an event on our community calendar is a great way to gain exposure and promote your business's upcoming events. Take advantage of this FREE member benefit and post yours today by logging into your account!

*Contact Sam at sam@capeannchamber.com if you need assistance

Onsite COVID Vaccinations for Businesses and Employees Available for FREE at Conley's Drug Store - Ipswich

The Greater Cape Ann Community Collaborative (GCACC) Offers Regular Vaccination Clinics Throughout the Area

Ipswich: Our Lady of Hope rectory, 1 Pine Swamp Road, Mondays, 2-6 p.m., through the end of 2021. Register for the Pfizer vaccine here.

Essex: Town Hall Annex, 30 Martin St., from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Register for a dose of the Register for Pfizer, Moderna, or Janssen (J&J) vaccine here. (No clinic will be held on Thursday, Nov. 25, Thanksgiving Day.)

10 a.m.-12 p.m. Register for a dose of the Pfizer, Moderna, or (J&J) vaccine here. 

Action Inc. has more than 70 current employees. For over 50 years, our staff has been committed to promoting social change and improving our community. Now, we are looking for dedicated individuals – who want to make a difference – to fill the positions listed below. Apply now to join our team!

Iron Tree Service is looking for a ground crew member to join their team. Their ground crew team members receive competitive rates commensurate with your experience. Working with Iron Tree Service is not a job; it’s a way of life. Their team is the heart of their success. They’ve become the fastest growing and highest rated professional tree service company in Massachusetts.

Anthony & Dodge is a full-service, progressive public accounting firm located north of Boston.

Our firm has been providing consulting, tax, and accounting services to individuals and businesses for over thirty years. We believe in a hands-on approach which translates into an intimate knowledge of our client’s personal and business financial and tax needs. We are currently seeking a self-motivated, highly organized, team player with experience in public accounting to lead tax and accounting engagements.

Senior Care is Hiring for Multiple Positions

Local Colors Artists' Cooperative is Looking For Artists

 

If you are interested in promoting with the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and sponsoring this newsletter, please contact Ken Riehl at ken@capeannchamber.com