On Tuesday, March 3, the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce held an open house to share their optimism and exciting plans for the future. Close to 70 members of the community attended the event.

At the event, Board of Directors president Douglas Goldhirsch spoke about the activity currently underway. “We are engaged in a lot of positive change, and so far, the feedback from the community has been excellent,” Goldhirsch said. “We have been working hard since late last year to revitalize and reenergize this organization. We have seven new board members, and are evaluating our staffing needs to determine how to best to move forward. John Nunan, our marketing and communications director is doing a fantastic job streamlining operations. We cannot thank him enough for his commitment and energy over these past few months.”

Nunan said, “We are in a restructuring mode. This gives us the opportunity to look at our processes and also re-evaluate existing pricing tiers and look for ways to enhance value for money for our members. It’s difficult to make changes mid-membership cycle, but we want to make clear that is very much our intent for the upcoming year. That is why we are asking for your feedback and suggestions, and are interested in sitting down and listening to you moving forward.”

There were comment and suggestion cards handed out at the event, and those will be reviewed and discussed by the board and staff at the Chamber. The board emphasized that the door is always open for any community members that have ideas or comments on how the Chamber is operating. The Chamber is your advocacy organization, and wants to hear from you — feel free to stop in any time.

In his closing comments, Nunan said, “We recognize that we can’t do any of this alone. We very much need each other to survive and thrive. This community is rich in tradition and we are actively reaching out to work with all sectors of our community. We need to represent all forms of business and industry to succeed. Although we are a tourist location, people also live and work here too and need all types of services — fishermen, artisans, restaurants, teachers, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, etc. As a Chamber it is important that we reflect that diversity and seek out ways to expand our community and welcome others to live and do business.”