Central to the Chamber’s new mission statement is to provide professional resources, which incorporates encouraging and providing opportunities for small business owners and their employees to learn how to strengthen their business. We invite you to attend one, or all, of the Chamber’s Business Builder Workshops for 2024, featuring panelists to help you navigate challenges in planning, marketing, and more. The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce is coordinating a series of sessions this year focused on some of the keys to success for any business. Business Builder Workshops are designed to offer topical information while also providing a platform for questions and answers, and some business networking. These events are free to all and there is no need to be a member of the Chamber to attend.

Our first session this year is titled Insuring Your Business Success. Tyler Gotowka from Lawley Insurance and Beth Reed and Brian Rovegno from the Small Business Development Center will focus on insurance and business planning. Every business, regardless of size, should maintain some liability insurance, and it can be affordable. In addition, all businesses can benefit from developing a business plan, and tweaking it from time to time to meet new goals or circumstances. This session will be held from 1-3pm, Monday, January 22 at the Carlson Community Center at Lakeside Park, 50 West Lake Road, Mayville.

Our second Business Builder Workshop will be held March 8 and is truly a Last Call for Solar Eclipse Opportunities. As the once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse date approaches, you can learn more about local watch parties, what your business can expect, and how your business can profit from this extraordinary event at could bring an estimated 100,000 extra people to Chautauqua County. Our speakers will be Tom Traub, Chair of the Martz-Kohl Observatory Solar Eclipse Committee and NASA Eclipse Ambassador member; Noel Guttman, Chautauqua County Director of Emergency Services; and Andrew Nixon, President and CEO of the Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau. This event will be held at 9am, Friday March 8, at the Marvin Community House, 2 West 5th Street, Jamestown.

This summer the Chamber will present a special workshop focused on branding your business through storytelling and imagery. Questions about marketing and branding seem to consistently show up as crucial for local businesses, and we want to make sure they get addressed. Watch for more details as we finalize speakers and a venue for this important learning session.

In October we are planning a workshop to help small businesses understand how they can better prepare for holiday season sales and marketing, and how the Chamber and others can assist. There are plenty of tools and opportunities businesses have at their disposal, and we will explore them together.

All these Business Builder Workshops are presented by the Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with Jamestown Community College, Media One Radio Group, Observer, and The Post-Journal. We have an additional sponsor at this time for the March event: Brooks-TLC Hospital System/Kaleida Health.

Registration is open now through the Chamber’s web calendar for the first two workshops in January and March. Sign up now and get these on your calendar to help you achieve greater success in 2024 and beyond.

BE PART OF THE LARGEST WINTER FESTIVAL IN WESTERN NEW YORK

There’s still time to sign up your business to sponsor or be a vendor for the Mayville Winter Festival, the largest event of its kind in Western New York. The annual Mayville Winter Festival is scheduled for Presidents Day Weekend, February 16-18, 2024, and there’s room for all to participate!

This year the organizing committee is working to create a unique vendor experience that will enhance the event for both vendors and attendees. All vendors will be in one easy to find location under a large, heated tent, so visitors will be more likely to see all the merchandise in one place rather than having it spread out in several locations across the wide expanse of Lakeside Park. This vendor focus is designed to help draw foot traffic for local businesses participating, and the Chamber is working to provide additional overnight security so vendors can be assured that their merchandise will be safe overnight in the tent.

Anyone who is interested in being a vendor, food provider, or sponsor for the 2024 Mayville Winter Festival can sign up online through the Chamber’s web calendar. If you have questions, please reach out to Coordinator Shannon Biekarck at (716) 484-1101 ext. 208 or email her at sbiekarck@chqchamber.org.

DOORS OPEN JAMESTOWN IS FEBRUARY 3

Nineteen local venues will participate in Doors Open Jamestown, Saturday, February 3. Doors Open is designed as a day when local museums and attractions open their doors to the public for free, providing opportunities for local people to get a taste of the many assets available right here in our own community. Participating this year are: Audubon Community Nature Center; Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center; Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame; *Fenton History Center; Infinity Visual and Performing Arts; Jamestown Prendergast Library; Lucile M. Wright Air Museum; *Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum; Lucille Ball Little Theatre of Jamestown; Martz-Kohl Observatory; Marvin Community House; *National Comedy Center; *Northwest Arena; Partridge-Sheldon House; Pearl City Clay House; Reg Lenna Center for the Arts; Robert H. Jackson Center; Roger Tory Peterson Institute; and Winifred Crawford Dibert Boys & Girls Club. Those marked with an asterisk require pre-registration. Restrictions and some fees may apply at some venues. Please check their websites for details. Doors Open will run from 10am-4pm and will feature a scavenger hunt using questions at each location with answers to be submitted by text. Some local businesses will also take part in the text scavenger hunt. Watch our website for more information.