Chamber reports successful Christmas parade

At the December Chamber of Commerce meeting, the Christmas committee said they were wrapping up the few remaining tasks of the year. They also mentioned that they had to cancel their December 20 movie “The Grinch” because the Ritz Theater is closed until further notice. 

Chamber member Howie Samelson commented about the recent Lighted Christmas parade saying “it was very successful”. Chamber director Meri Ann Rush said for some time there were only five entries for the parade and it wasn’t until three to four days prior people started signing up. Some people even signed up one hour before the parade.

The Chamber created a committee to review its SBA Loan. This committee includes Lana Nicodemus, Jana Oliver, Howie Samelson, and Meri Ann Rush. They plan to meet before January 14 Chamber meeting to discuss. 

In Rush’s director’s report, she described that they are working on their first grant for Hot City Alliance to create a trail on Round Top.

The Chamber’s foundation is finally being processed by the IRS. They are a 501c3 and hopefully, they will finalize their filing by the end of December. Attorney Marshall Keller is assisting the foundation in this application. 

During the chamber’s board training session, Rush had the members go through a SWOT analysis. This is where they brought up their thoughts of what are the chamber’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Rush said that doing this will help them prepare for their strategic planning meeting in January.

For Chamber After Hours, the board said they will put it off until March 2021.