Around the Chamber - November 2021

Around the Chamber Addison County Chamber of Commerce E-Magazine

Annual Awards Presented

NOVEMBER, 2021

Features DIRECTORS CUT

ANNUAL AWARDS

COMMUNITY/MEMBER UPDATES

LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS

HOLIDAY MIXER December 16 5:30-7:00 PM

WAYBURY INN

Table of Contents

4 Director's Cut

5 Annual Awards

9

13

14

Community/ Legislative Member Member Updates Spotlight Updates

ACCOC publishes our e-magazine monthly and reaches thousands of business, non profit leaders and other decision makers in Addison County and beyond.

Members are encouraged to supply their announcements and events by e-mailing phil@addisioncounty.com. For ad availability and rate card email phil@addisoncounty.com.

Addison County Chamber of Commerce. November 2021, All Rights Reserved

Director's Cut Phil Summers - ACCOC Executive Director

The Importance of Brand Brand is “The intangible sum of a product’s attributes: its name, packaging, and price, its history, its reputation, and the way it’s advertised.” David Ogilvy, Author of "On Advertising".

Your business brand represents a set of values, a consumer view which relates to your values such as success, reputation, status and positioning against competitors. Your brand has the effect of inspiring feelings or interest, desirability, trust and loyalty.

Consistency in Color and Fonts Across All Assets Businesses that use consistent color or color combinations that tie to every potential branding asset are more recognizable and perceived as successful and strong. For example, families easily recognize the red bullseye as the color/logo of Target without ever having to see the word "Target" in the brand asset. Businesses that constantly change color schemes and other brand assets do a disservice to their overall brand development and recognition. The same should be applied regarding fonts and font sizing. Choose fonts that help your brand stand out and then utilize that font across every communication asset.

Taglines/Brand Messaging Developing a tagline that accompanies all branding assets can help to strengthen a brands recognition with consumers. Think Nike’s “Just do it” or Hannaford's "Helps fight hunger".

In short. brand is caring about every aspect of your business or non-profit. It includes vision and mission but also your staff and every interaction you have between your organization and a customer or constituent

Phil Summers is the Executive Director of the Addison County Chamber of Commerce.

Prior to ACCOC, Phil was the Executive Director of the Virginia Youth Soccer Association and earlier held senior marketing positions at the National Football League, Sirius Satellite Radio and MSG Varsity where he was a two time Emmy Award winner (2011 & 2012) and two time Silver Addy Award winner (2013). Phil has also taught undergraduate courses in advertising and marketing at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.

Annual Awards On October 28th the Middlebury Inn hosted the ACCOC Annual Meeting where 2021 Awards were presented and ACCOC 2021 Officers announced.

Congratulations!!

Buster Brush Citizen of the Year Award KAREN DUGUAY

Community Achievement Award ADDISON COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (FRED KENNEY)

Business of the Year Award VERGENNES ANIMAL HOSPITAL (DR. MARK BASOL)

Annual Awards More photos from our 2021 Annual Meeting and Award celebration!

Annual Awards VPR Provides Media Package Worth Over $5,000 to Non-Profit Charter House Coalition!!

VPR generously donated a media package worth over $5,000 to benefit ACCOC at our Annual General Meeting and Awards Breakfast. A raffle, supported by our members was drawn and non-profit member Charter House Coalition was the winner!

Heidi Lacey, Executive Director, Charter House Coalition "I am elated to read this announcement! The universe works in such fabulous ways; this opportunity confirms it! Wow, what an email to get back to after spending the day at the shelter. The population Charter House, and other area agencies serve, need collaborative efforts and respectful messaging to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges our neighbors in need face. Systemic change cannot happen otherwise. I can't think of many better ways than with VPR, to share the stories of challenge faced by persons experiencing homelessness, hunger and other obstacles and to take a look at the social services currently available. This could get interesting".

Jen Jarecki, Corporate Support Associate, VPR "We enjoy this annual collaboration with the Addison County Chamber of Commerce and appreciate that this year we'll be helping a non-profit organization inform our listeners about their important work."

k n k a n h T Tha ! u ! o u y o y

Community/Member Updates Bixby Memorial Free Library (Vergennes) Local History – Historic Photograph Show and Tell December 9 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm Do you have a personal photo from your past with a good story? Maybe a photograph of yourself or a relative, a family farm, or historic business you are connected to? The Bixby Library is hosting a historic photograph show and tell! We are putting out this call for you to share a photograph dated 1970 or older, taken in Addison, Ferrisburg, Panton, Vergennes, or Waltham.

Wright Theatre Middlebury College December 2,3,4 7:30 PM $15/10/8/5 Open to the Public

Tickets: $15 public, $10 Middlebury faculty/staff, alumni, and emeriti; $8 youth; $5 Middlebury College students.

Vaccinations and masks required. Additional health and safety information here. Buy tickets online

Rokeby Holiday Open House

Saturday, December 4 – 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

For a second year, Rokeby Museum will open its doors for holiday shopping. We’ll have special sale prices in the museum store and the exhibit Free & Safe open for you to explore.

HANNAFORD CAREER CENTER Tool Training is a one-night prerequisite for new participants to use our Woodworking Lab. The next Tool Training is scheduled for Tuesday, November 30th, 5:30 to 7:30 pm. You'll learn how to use:

· Intro to the shop and properties of wood

· Delta 8" jointer use and safety · 24" Powermatic planer ·Compound slide miter saw · 10" table saw · Band saw Children 16-18 are welcome if accompanied by an adult, they will need to register separately. Register HERE.

Community/Member Updates Tri-Valley Transit provides transportation to area business, Consider them for your transportation to and from work. See the general list of businesses covered, and their system map

Save the Date for #Farm24VT 2022 The second annual #Farm24VT is happening May 18, 2022 starting at 5:00 a.m. and running for a full twenty-four hours!

Addison County Relocalization Network Get your thanksgiving turkey from a neighboring farm! Stonewood Farm in Orwell, Maple Wind Farm in Richmond and Misty Knoll Farms in New Haven all sell whole birds.

HOPE and the Giving Fridge also have holiday meal programs available for the whole community. Learn more about their Holiday Meals on the HOPE and Giving Fridge websites - and check out Vermont 21-1 for more resources.

Woodchuck Hard Cider, the brand that started the American cider revolution in 1991, celebrates its 30th anniversary this Fall. Go HERE for more

Virtual Webinar: Nonprofit Strategic Planning December 7th 9:30am-11:00am ZOOM

Now Playing! MNFF Selects ’21-22 Humans and Animals: Shared Experiences, Intersecting Worlds Monthly Screenings October through May at Town Hall Theater in Middlebury Passes & Tickets On Sale Now!

Updates from Montpelier

LCC reports that Vermont's labor force as contracted by 7% or 25,000 workers since the beginning of the pandemic. More HERE

Federal Infrastructure Bills: How they can effect you? MORE

The Vermont DOH has released additional resources, including a checklist for what businesses and employees should do if there's COVID-19 in their workplace and guidance on what a vaccinated employee should do if they are exposed to COVID-19.

HERE

Feds Say 7 Percent of jobs in Vermont are Open MORE Want to receive regular Legislative Updates?

Email: phil@addisoncounty.com

Member Spotlights

MEMBER SINCE

1982

MEMBER SINCE

MEMBER SINCE

2018

2012

MEMBER SINCE

2020

Every month "Around the Chamber" features four ACCOC members for recognition.

Members who would like to be considered for future issues should contact Executive Director Phil Summers at phil@addisoncounty.com

2021 Legislative Briefing

December 2nd 10:00AM via Zoom Sponsored by the Addison County Chamber of Commerce

Go HERE to Register

Highlights of Membership in the Addison County Chamber

JOIN US!

Employee Education – we host monthly seminars on topics including social media, Google Analytics, SEO, employee benefits plans, ownership succession, worker’s comp, cybersecurity and much more. All member employees attend at no charge.

Access to Insurance – through our partnership with other Vermont Chambers and VACEplus, we offer excellent dental and vision insurance at discounted prices.

Events – we help draw customers to our area through downtown festivals, athletic events, specialty events and sponsorship of other organization’s events.

Tourism – we run the Visitor’s Center which houses maps, brochures and information to direct tourists and locals to our businesses, nonprofits, historical sites, and the vast natural resources of our county.

We also refer our members extensively.

Business Advocacy – we provide legislative updates for our members during the session, sponsor the Addison County legislative breakfasts, host legislative and gubernatorial candidate forums, and speak up for businesses.

Marketing – with more than 60,000 visitors to our website annually, we provide members with a strong presence in search, plus a place to post events, member discounts and job openings.

We also promote our members through our monthly E-magazine which reaches thousands of business leaders and others in the community. We provide our members discounted advertising opportunities in the Addison County Guide and through paid advertising in our E-magazine and website.

Networking – we help organizations connect through our monthly mixers, seminars, referrals, and introductions.

Coming in December

- New Feature: Behind the Scenes - New Feature: Member of the Month - 2021 Year in Review - Member Spotlights - 2022 Business Preview - Community/Member Highlights - Updates from Montpelier - and more!!

Addison County Chamber of Commerce Officers and Directors Officers Robert Feuerstein, Kennedy Brothers (Chair) Bethany Dever, Dever Accounting Services (Treasurer) Meaghan McLaughlin, National Bank of Middlebury (Secretary) Adam Rainville, Maple Landmark (Past Chair)

Phil Summers, ACCOC (Executive Director)

Directors Dickie Austin, Black Sheep Bistro Amy Carlin: Middlebury College Gretchen Cotell, Hannaford Career Center Nancy Foster, Champlain Valley Properties Justin Hescock, Putnam & Menard, PLC Ned Horton, Otter Creek Bakery and Deli Marty Kulczyk, Robert Frost Mountain Cabins Megan Mandigo, Marble Trail Financial Article IV, Section D Designate Directors Karen Duguay, Better Middlebury Partnership Kate Bentley, Bristol Core Robert Feuerstein, Addison County Economic Development Corp.

Renny Perry, Vergennes Partnership Bill Sayre, Addison County Regional Planning Commission

DECEMBER 3 - 5 & 9 - 12 EVENING SHOWS AT 7PM SUNDAY MATINEES AT 2PM A CHRISTMAS CAROL BY CHARLES DICKENS ADAPTED AND DIRECTED BY GARY SMITH TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT: TOWNHALLTHEATER.ORG OR BY CALLING 382-9222