Happy Summer!Here it is July already and we are sending out our last newsletter for the summer of 2022. The Board takes a break through the summer but that doesn’t mean that the Chamber wheels stop turning 😊
June was a busy month for us at the Chamber. The Chamber received a Bursary from the BC Chamber Executives to assist with the expenses for me to attend the BCCE AGM and Conference as well as the BC Chamber of Commerce AGM and Conference. They were held back-to-back in Prince George and it was an incredible experience for me. The days were packed full with meetings, networking, educational sessions, panel discussions and policy. I had the privilege of meeting Chamber Executives from all over British Columbia who now form a very strong support network for my role at the Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce.
While I was away, Jacquie was busy at the Chamber office preparing for the Golf Tournament and when I got back, I got to experience all the behind-the-scenes preparation for putting on that most exciting event. Thankfully we had an extra set of hands when one of our summer students, Peyton came to our aid with her fundraising experience. This year we sold out our first ‘Memorial’ Golf Tournament that held at Cottonwood Golf Course. We are grateful for a Title Sponsorship from the Ladysmith and District Credit Union and for the Memorial sponsorship in honor of Larry Ingram by his previous employer, David Stalker Excavating Ltd. Thank you to our Board members Cheri, Tammy, Andrea and Kara for coming out to assist us, and to the rest of the Board for their support participation and sponsorships. A full list of our generous sponsors can be found on our website.
With the golf tournament wrapped up, we switched gears as our focus turned towards tourism and our Ladysmith Visitor Center. Has anyone noticed the beautiful sign on our sidewalk? We are very proud of our sign and thank our supportive Town of Ladysmith for resurrecting this sign from storage, fixing it up and installing it for us. In addition, our building maintenance provider painted our building, installed our flags and our beautiful wooden Visitor Centre sign. Our tourist season started with a lovely facelift for the Visitor Center.
The Visitor Centre has started to offer some gift items for sale starting with postcards made from beautiful photographs taken by local photographer, Lulu Vegh and with more to come from local photographer Bob Burgess. The Take 5 has added a postcard commemorating Aggie Hall’s 100th birthday, we have lovely ceramic mugs created by the Ladysmith Historical Society as well as our fantastic Locals Love Ladysmith Tote bags. If you are looking for a gift for a visitor to Ladysmith this summer, or would like your own locally created swag, we welcome you to come in and have a look. In addition, we are in the process of building our small retail section offerings, stay tuned!
We are pleased to announce that with our Canada Summer Job funding and a portion of our Tourism funding from the Town of Ladysmith, we have 3 amazing Summer Students this year allowing us to open daily in July and August! They have all completed the Destination BC Tourism Counsellor training and are ready to go! Peyton and Sarina are taking care of our tourism marketing and are working with Aleisha from Desert Rose Co. on Locals Love Ladysmith, both Instagram and Facebook. They are also reviving the Tourism page on Instagram and taking on the posts for Tourism Ladysmith Facebook page. Keizo’s first priority is providing visitor services at the Visitor Center Please watch for our students around town this summer, you may see them attending the summer events on behalf of the Visitor Center, touring the Ladysmith Museum, visiting the Ladysmith Art Gallery, or taking photos of our beautiful community for social media. Thank you to the Ladysmith Community Marina for taking our students on a Harbour Tour and the Malahat Skywalk for treating our ambassadors to a visit to their attraction.
Save the Date: We have scheduled Governance Training through the BC Chamber of Commerce. These will be a series of 3 virtual sessions September 15, 22 and October 6, 2022. This is an excellent educational opportunity for non-profits and membership organizations with a Board of Directors. Details will be coming soon, please watch our website and Chamber Facebook for details.
If you are social media inclined, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram 😊 We have The Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, Tourism Ladysmith, Locals Love Ladysmith and the Transfer Beach Food Truck Concession. We also encourage you to check in on our websites regularly. Thank you to Ron at Farm Fresh Designs for helping us keep the website fresh and helping us to build it as we grow. Jacquie maintains the website including the current event calendar to help you fill your summer with fun local activities.
August 1st marks my transition from Economic Recovery Coordinator to Executive Director of the Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce. Thank you Jacquie for all your assistance and support this year and to the Board for offering me this great opportunity!
We look forward to seeing you again in the fall. Stay tuned, we are working on a busy fall schedule with educational opportunities, events and of course, the Municipal All Candidates forum.
Wishing you a wonderful summer, with friends and family.