Chamber Welcomes New Members
The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce gained 44 new members during its spring membership drive. "We are pleased to welcome all of our new members to the Chamber of Commerce. We know that businesses join for a variety of reasons. Whether it's to take advantage of marketing or networking opportunities, or to join our growing health insurance plans, we are here to serve the business community in our county," Chamber President and CEO Todd Tranum said.
Teams of volunteers worked throughout the county to increase Chamber membership and to encourage businesses to join while they had opportunities to win prizes. Names of the new member businesses were entered into a prize drawing. Winner of the third prize was Digless Fencing of Fredonia. The second prize winner was Rookie's on the Lake in Dunkirk. The winner of the first prize was Vacanti's Extreme Signs in Fredonia.
Article Photos
Submitted photo
Guy Ditonto (far left), the Chamber’s Membership Services Director, and Greg Krauza, Member Development Director (far right) hand out prizes to Andrea and Bill Vacanti of Vacanti’s Extreme Signs and Dave Larson of Digless Fencing Solutions, two of the winners in the 2012 Chamber Membership Drive drawing. Rookie’s on the Lake was absent from the photo.
Vacanti's Extreme Signs won a Sapphire Gem Sponsorship with the Chamber valued at $1,000. Company "Why wouldn't you join the Chamber? We thought it was the proper thing to do. We are promoting the area with our business and the Chamber does that as well. It's a great fit for us. The prize package was just a bonus. We really joined to support the community," Vice President Bill Vacanti said.
Vacanti's makes signs of all types.
"Our motto is 'yeah, we do that' and then we figure it out. We never say no. Whatever type of signage people want, we figure out how to do it," Mr. Vacanti said.
His wife, Andrea Vacanti, is the company president and graphic designer.
The second prize winner, Rookie's on the Lake, is a bar and grill overlooking Lake Erie. Their prize is membership dues paid for a year for the 2013-14 membership year.
The third prize went to Digless Fencing Solutions, which is a national distributor and local installer of Straight N' Level products vinyl fencing anchored with steel pipe that makes it faster and easier to fence.
"We felt that joining the Chamber would benefit our business. I am an area native, taught at the college for many years, and really believe in promoting this area, so joining the Chamber was right for our company," Company Vice President Dave Larson said.
"We are grateful for the time and effort everyone put into this project, which was headed up by Greg Krauza our Director of Member Development. Our staff and the coordinators of the community chambers all participated as well. It really was a team effort, and we are already looking forward to improving this project next year," Tranum added.
Volunteers were Jason Ferguson, Maytum Company; Stacey Hannon, Jamestown Gazette; Steve Keefe, Village of Fredonia; Lisa Lynde, Chautauqua Region Community Foundation; Larry Ludeman, DFT Communications; LauraLee Hinman, KeyBank; Debbie Marsala, Mayville-Chautauqua Chamber, John Bauer, Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame; Patti Jordan, KeyBank; Ann Mason, Time Warner Business Class; Mark Summers, Jamestown Rubber Stamp; and Aaron Resnick, Westfield Development Corporation.
A full list of new members can be found through the Business Directory on the Chamber website at www.chautauquachamber.org.
