Stage 2 Burn Ban Begins Today
Kitsap is a month ahead of normal fire conditions
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The Kitsap County Fire Marshal is implementing a stage 2 burn ban beginning Wednesday, July 12. "Kitsap County is about a month ahead of fire conditions we normally see during this time of year due to a dryer than normal spring, according to David Lynam, Kitsap County's Fire Marshal. "Weather predictions call for normal or below precipitation and above normal temperatures over the next couple of months," Lynam added.
Under a stage two burn ban, all outdoor burning – including recreational fires is prohibited.
The ban includes recreational fires in the open – like those on beaches or bonfire locations, improved fire pits in yards, parks or camping areas, backyard or other outdoor fireplaces or similar in improved firepits, backyard fireplaces, beach or bonfires, are prohibited.
Burning permits are suspended, all outdoor burning is suspended, recreational burning is now prohibited including those in improved fire pits in parks or campgrounds, outdoor fireplaces and similar appliances, and the use of charcoal or charcoal briquettes unless the use involves a barbeque or other appliances specific for the purpose and occurs over a non-combustible surface like concrete.
"We regularly review conditions but based on forecast I anticipate the ban remaining in place until the fall rains," Lynam added. You can find updates and other information online at the Fire Marshal's Office Burn Ban page.
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Bremerton GreenDrinks @ Kitsap Credit Union
Thursday, July 13, 2023
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July Luncheon & Education Carnival
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Reserve your carnival booth now - spaces are limited!
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Apply for Chamber Foundation Scholarship
Applications due Saturday, July 15th
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Best of Kitsap Voting Open Until 23rd
Vote for your favorites across Kitsap today
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It’s time again to vote for your favorite businesses online for the Best of North Kitsap, Central Kitsap, South Kitsap and Bainbridge Island.
Nominations have identified the top 5 businesses in each category and you can vote for your favorite now. You may vote once per day in each category. Finalist voting is now through July 23rd. Results will be published in special sections inserted in the newspapers in September.
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Renew your membership today to ensure your place as a Charter Member of the Greater Kitsap Chamber! Questions about when to renew or how to upgrade your membership? Contact Irene now!
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Missed a previous edition of the Chamber's Community Connections?
View all the past issues on our website HERE.
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New Members - Welcome to the Chamber! |
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Columbia, the flagship brand of Portland, Oregon-based Columbia Sportswear Company, has been creating innovative apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment for outdoor enthusiasts since 1938. Columbia has become a leading global brand by channeling the company’s passion for the outdoors and innovative spirit into technologies and performance products that keep people warm, dry, cool and protected year-round. To learn more, please visit the company's website at www.columbia.com.
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9990 Mickleberry Road NW | Silverdale, WA 98383 | (360) 536-9865 |
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The Central Kitsap Performing Arts Center has some exciting news to share: We are working to bring the Vienna Boys Choir to our stage on October 14, 2023!
To make this event possible, we are looking for local sponsorship and advertising support at multiple levels, from businesses or individuals. To learn how you and/or your business can support this concert via a tax-deductible sponsorship, view our Vienna Boys Choir Support Packet.
We are also seeking sponsorships for our first-ever all-ages summer musical, Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. This production features a cast of students, teachers, parents, and community members with a full, live orchestra and all the songs you love! For our summer musical sponsorship and advertising opportunities, view our Music Man Support Packet.
Sponsorship changes lives! Thank you for helping us bring world-class performances to our community!
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Voices of Pacific Island Nations Benefit
Saturday, August 12, 2023
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The Voices of Pacific Island Nations (VOPIN) is committed to inspiring Pasefika (Pacific Islander) students and families by providing high-quality, culturally responsive services and resources to eliminate educational and opportunity inequities. We serve as a bridge to develop stronger relationships between students, families, schools and the community. |
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Growing Greater Businesses Grant Spotlight:
Ride or Dye
A place of acceptance, empowerment, and hope
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Step into Ride or Dye hair salon and barber shop in Bremerton, and you’ll immediately sense the unique atmosphere that owner Sarah Borden has cultivated. This community-focused establishment caters to diverse groups, including single mothers, individuals in recovery, and military families. Beyond providing exceptional hair services, Ride or Dye goes above and beyond, welcoming homeless individuals, offering support for drug addiction, and providing a safe space for everyone to hang out, regardless of whether they’re getting a hair service or not. Sarah Borden’s personal journey and commitment to her community have shaped Ride or Dye into a place of acceptance, empowerment, and hope.
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2512 6th Street | Bremerton, WA 98337 | (360) 627-7193 |
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Member Education & Training Resources |
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SBA Seattle: Funding a Business Acquisition
Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 10:00 am
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Join staff from the Seattle SBA office to learn how SBA-backed loans may be utilized for the acquisition of an existing business.
Wednesday Webinars with SBA Seattle is an ongoing series of free, virtual, webinars covering a variety of topics to benefit small business owners. On the second Wednesday of each month, we will be highlighting SBA loan programs and opportunities for small business funding.
About the Presenter
Today's topic will be presented by Janie Sacco, Outreach and Marketing Specialist with SBA's Seattle District. Janie started working for the SBA in 2020. Janie has been in banking since 1975 providing funding to the small business community in the greater Puget Sound market. Janie serves both SBA lenders and borrowers. She is devoted to providing quality financial education to small business owners and entrepreneurs, specifically focusing on women, minority, and veteran-owned businesses.
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SBDC: eCommerce 101
Thursday, July 13, 2023, 11:00 am
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In this webinar, we’ll talk through what you need to get together, prepare, and decide, in order to build a successful ecom operation. We’ll talk about the potential platforms that you might use to build and/or host your ecom site, and help you understand the costs and the pros and cons of each platform.
We’ll cover selecting what products or services to offer online, how to name them, and how to put your best foot forward in the online selling game via product and lifestyle photos, videos, and product descriptions. We’ll talk through merchant processing options, shipping, pickup, sales tax, and order fulfillment.
Finally, we’ll cover some basics of optimizing your site for search engines, across all platforms, to support your new or existing ecommerce operation. We’ll show you an example marketing funnel system, and provide you with a list of types of business software and apps that you might consider using, to support your ecom operation.
There will be dedicated time for questions and answers, so you can see how to apply what you’ve learned to setting up or improving your own ecommerce operation.
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SCORE: Taking Your Website from Bad to Great
Tuesday, July 18, 2023, 1:00 pm
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When did you last look at your business’s website? Or perhaps you are still trying to develop one? Websites remain an incredibly popular destination for site traffic. When you add up all of the functions and ways they can work for and represent your business, nothing works harder online than a professional website.
It can also be daunting to create one with various tools and design suggestions floating around. In this workshop, we will cover recent trends in website design for businesses and other organizations. That will include the latest in content and design best practices and what tools you can use to create a site and why. But most importantly, we will cover the 10 key elements of website design that determine whether a website is just OK or great. We will also touch on submitting your site to Google for rankings and security and hosting considerations.
Workshop Fee: $40
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Business News & Resources |
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Calls to WA Lawmakers: Fix Carbon Program That's Hiking Gas Prices |
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Washington has entered its fourth straight week of having the highest gas prices in the nation, with Washingtonians paying on average $4.96 per gallon of regular gas. In a new editorial, the Tri-City Herald called on state leaders to fix the flaws in the state’s cap-and-invest program that’s contributing to the sudden price spike.
“What makes the price jump more upsetting is that state officials were way off base when they said the new carbon reducing cap-and-invest program wouldn’t have much effect on gas prices,” the Herald wrote. “… They need to quit pointing fingers and fix the flaws in the program.”
Concerns with carbon auctions: The cap-and-invest program, part of the Climate Commitment Act, requires businesses to purchase allowances to cover their emissions. AWB has raised similar concerns about the higher-than-expected prices in the first two quarterly auctions and cost impacts on employers and consumers.
Meanwhile, a workgroup is working on solutions for farmers to receive the exemption from the cap-and-invest program they were initially promised.
The group Affordable Fuel Washington has launched an email campaign to encourage legislators to fix the program.
Contact AWB Government Affairs Director Peter Godlewski to learn more and get involved.
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How do you rate the economy? Does your business use AI? Take AWB’s latest quarterly survey.
Pulse check: AWB has launched a new quarterly survey to gauge WA employers’ economic outlook. How healthy is your business at the moment? Do you expect Washington’s economy to enter a recession? What are the biggest challenges facing WA employers?
Artificial intelligence: The survey also includes a new question on how WA businesses use or plan to use AI.
Your voice matters: Your answers to the survey will help us better serve you as an advocacy organization. We also share data points with legislators and policymakers on what AWB members rank as the most important challenges and policy issues. Results from our spring survey are available online.
It’s quick: The survey only takes a few minutes to complete. It will remain open through July 19.
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Quick and interesting reads for employers, employees,
local leaders, and everyone in between!
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Nonprofit News & Resources |
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The Greater Kitsap Chamber is proud to be one of only five Chambers statewide selected to partner with the Nonprofit Association of Washington (NAWA) to bring education and resources to nonprofits in Western Washington. Stay tuned to this section of our weekly newsletter for education, resources and more for our nonprofit community.
To learn more about NAWA, please visit their website here.
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Ways to Save on Your Direct Mail Campaigns |
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Published on NonProfitPro.com, July 10, 2023
Photo: Getty Images by The Good Brigade
With the cost of postage increasing yesterday — for the second time this year, it is imperative that nonprofits find a way to save on their direct mail campaigns. As the lifeblood of fundraising, direct mail is a very valuable tool. The best way to increase the value of your fundraising campaigns is to save where you can and increase donations too.
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From Narrative to Action:
Leveraging Storytelling for Success
in Communications & Fundraising
July 19, 2023, 7:00 am
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In nonprofit communications, storytelling plays a crucial role in driving awareness, garnering support, and inspiring action. However, for small communication teams within nonprofits, crafting compelling narratives can be a daunting challenge, especially when operating as a “department of one.” Simultaneously, leveraging the power of story-based marketing is key to driving donor engagement, securing support, and maximizing fundraising efforts.
In this workshop, learn to harness the power of storytelling in communications and fundraising and explore strategies to collect, craft, distribute and effectively tell stories across multiple teams.
Participants will:
- Discover the science behind storytelling and why it matters
- Learn where to look for stories and how to engage other departments
- Uncover the top three things stories do for a nonprofit and ways to catalog stories
- Increase knowledge on where to use stories for maximum impact
- Review common storytelling mistakes
$45 for NAWA Members
$65 for Not-Yet-Members
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August Ballots to be Mailed This Week |
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Ballots for the August 1, 2023 Primary will be mailed this week to most Kitsap County voters.
Kitsap residents will decide who moves on to the General Election for one city council position, seven school board spots and one fire district commissioner position. Voters in two districts will vote on funding measures.
Residents on Bainbridge Island and a few unincorporated pockets near Bremerton do not have a Primary.
Ballots should arrive to most voters by the end of the week, but some will arrive the next week. Voters who don’t receive a ballot by July 20 can contact the Kitsap County Elections Division at auditor@kitsap.gov, or at (360) 337-7128.
This is the second year that 17-year-old residents who pre-registered to vote and will be 18 by the General Election will be able to vote in Primary candidate races.
Online and mail registrations and address changes must be received by July 24.
Registrations and address changes can be made in person Kitsap County Auditor’s Office, 619 Division Street in Port Orchard from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.
Residents can also register and report an address change at one of three vote centers from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, July 29 and Monday, July 31 and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, August 1. The Vote Centers are at the Kitsap County Administration Building, 619 Division Street in Port Orchard; the Marvin Williams Recreation Center, 725 Park Avenue in Bremerton, and at the Poulsbo Fire Station, 911 Liberty Road in Poulsbo.
All ballot drop boxes will be opened by Friday. For their location and other information about the Primary, go to kitsap.gov/elections.
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A view of the new hospital tower expansion that will link to the existing St. Michael Medical Center building in Silverdale. |
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New Hospital Tower in Silverdale Announced
Old Bremerton campus to be razed soon
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Photo: Virginia Mason Franciscan Health
Construction on a new patient tower at St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale is set to begin in the coming months as the hospital’s old campus in Bremerton is demolished. And soon Virginia Mason Franciscan Health plans to open up a set of emergency department beds as part of a new care facility in Bremerton.
Hospital president Chad Melton told the Kitsap Sun that planning work for the new 74-bed, four-floor addition to the Silverdale hospital, which will span a driveway on the north side of the main hospital building, is underway. Melton said plans call for a groundbreaking later this year and for the work on the new tower to be wrapped up by the end of 2025.
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League of Women Voters Hosts
School Board Candidate Forums
July 12 & 13, 2023
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The League of Women Voters of Kitsap County are hosting several candidate forums for the various school board elections coming up this fall. Forums will be hosted on Zoom and registration is not required. All candidates have been invited to participate and answer questions submitted by the public.
Dates and times for each candidate forum can be found here:
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The League of Women Voters of Kitsap is a nonpartisan political organization which does not
support or oppose any candidate or political party.
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Silverdale GreenDrinks @ Maynard's
Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 5:24 pm
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Haselwood Family YMCA Summer Concert: Color Me Paisley
Friday, July 21, 2023, 6:00 pm
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By popular demand, the Haselwood Family YMCA summer concert series is back!
Come join us for the first of two evenings of music, food and community. We’re excited to be kicking off our two-part summer concert series with Color Me Paisley on July 21. The evening will include the band, a Taqueria food truck, bounce house, youth activities and more!
Bring your blanket, chair and enjoy a great evening. Everyone is welcome.
The always-popular Navy Band NW will be performing on August 25th at 6:00 pm.
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Ride the Clear Creek Trail
Saturday, July 22, 2023, 2:00 - 4:00 pm
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Bridging Bremerton 2023
Saturday, July 29, 2023
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Masks & COVID Testing Kits Available
Free at the Greater Kitsap Chamber & Visitor Center
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The Greater Kitsap Chamber still has some supplies available if your local business is in need of KN95 masks or COVID testing kits. Pick up your supply at both GKC locations today. Available while supplies last.
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Chris Craft Rendezvous at Port Orchard Marina
July 13 - 16, 2023
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Do you own a Chris Craft or know someone who does? The Port Orchard Marina is once again hosting the Christ Craft Rendezvous, July 13-16.
Join us in viewing and celebrating these beautiful boats. All vintages, styles, and conditions are welcomed, and the event is entirely family friendly.
If you have any questions, please reach out to one of the event coordinators, Andy Carlson, at acarlson@drizzle.com. All traditional activities, including the Friday hamburger dinner and our morning donuts and coffee, are still being offered this year.
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Port Gamble Theater: Romeo & Juliet
July 14 - 30, 2023
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Join the Port Gamble Theater as they present Shakespeare's tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. Two star-crossed young people, separated by an ancient family hatred must navigate the obstacles against them for true love.
Friday and Saturday evening performances at 7:00 pm, Sunday performances at 2:00 pm.
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Kingston Wine & Brew Fest 2023
Saturday, July 15, 2023, 1:00 - 5:00 pm
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Admiral Theatre Presents: Prom Date Mixtape
Saturday, July 15, 2023, 8:00 pm
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Prom Date Mixtape is the Ultimate Live 80s New Wave Experience! Recently named “The Greatest 80s Tribute Band in the Pacific Northwest” by KOMO TV 4’s Seattle Refined, Prom Date Mixtape delivers the most authentic and energetic renditions of your favorite decade-defining new wave, pop, and rock tunes that you will ever hear. |
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Kitsap Pride
Saturday, July 22, 2023
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Entertainment, vendors, food and drink, community, support - join us for the family-friendly Kitsap Pride Festival at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Bremerton. |
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Save-the-Date: Whaling Days
July 28-30, 2023
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Stay in the know with what's happening for events
in Central Kitsap by checking out and liking the
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Have something to share? CLICK HERE to submit stories and
events for Tuesday's Community Connections!
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David Emmons
President/CEO
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Irene Moyer
VP, Membership & Strategic Communications
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Tiffany Diamond
Events Coordinator
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Brenda Kelley
Tourism Coordinator
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Bremerton Office (360) 479-3579 | 4th & Pacific Downtown Bremerton
Silverdale Office (360) 692-6800 | Kitsap Mall next to Macy's
PO Box 1218 Silverdale WA 98383
If you need assistance, please contact us directly.
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