Chamber News

Fourth Annual Waterfront Wine Festival Scheduled For June 26, 2009
Visit the waterfront in beautiful downtown Harbor Springs for an evening of wine tastings, local music and community togetherness at the Fourth Annual Waterfront Wine Festival.  For additional information on this kick off to summer event, please click the link below.

2009 Chili Cook-off Announced For February 15
The first annual Chamber event of 2009 has been scheduled for Sunday, February 15, 2009 at Stafford's Pier Restaurant in Harbor Springs.  The event runs from 2:00-4:00pm and is open to the public.  Lynn Steffens is chair of this event.  For additional information or to download a registration form, please visit the link below.

December 23, 2008
2008 Gingerbread Contest Helps The Manna Food Project
The Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce The Manna Food Project as this year’s winner of the People’s Choice Award in the 4th annual Gingerbread Contest in Harbor Springs. A total of $791.85 was raised this year for various local non-profit groups, including The Manna Food Project. The contest would not have been possible without the strong support of many people. The HSACC extends a special thank you to the major sponsors of the event including Birchwood Equestrian Center (Larry Beck), First Community Bank, Kane Construction and Nubs Nob. Various local businesses provided materials, services, judging, and gift prizes. Personal thank you notes have been sent to those who helped. The Chamber wishes to thank the community for embracing this event and making it the success that it was.

December 5, 2008
Annual Board of Directors Meeting Welcomes New President and Board Members
The annual meeting of the Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors was held this past week at Stafford's Pier Restaurant in Harbor Springs.  2009 President Gregg Garver was sworn in as the new leader along with two new Board Members, Sue McGlaughlin of Taski Sands Delicatessan & Party Store and Linda Shepard with Northern Michigan Hospital.

November 14, 2008
New Employment Page Added To HSACC Website
The HSACC website boasts a new service designed to help local members with their current employment needs.  The Area Employment section of the website has been added as an outlet for member businesses to post job listings.  We encourage all members to visit the Area Employment page and to spread the word about this new service.  There is absolutely no fee to post a listing as this is considered an additional member benefit.  To submit a job listing, please email your information to marketing@harborspringschamber.com for review.  

November 2, 2008
Annual Gingerbread Contest Announced
The HSACC has released all details of the 2008 Gingerbread Contest.  For those of you unfamiliar, this is a wonderful event, now in its fourth year where participants will create gingerbread entries for public display at Stafford's Pier Restaurant in December.  Each entry is associated with a charity of the participant's choice.  While on display, visitors to the restaurant may make cash donations for the entries they enjoy.  Entries are judged and winners announced on Friday, December 12.  The entry receiving the largest amount of donations wins The People's Choice Award - and will have their donations matched by up to $500 by the Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce.  Last year's event raised $2,489 for local, national, and international non-profit groups.  Additional information on this year's Gingerbread Contest including entry forms, rules, and important contest dates can be found on our events calendar.

October 31, 2008
Reminder About Chamber Benefits
All HSACC members are encouraged to review their current benefits and take full advantage of these as part of their paid membership.  A few benefits were recently highlighted in the HSACC Member Connection newsletter and are also noted below:

Events Calendar
One great feature of the new HSACC website is the ability for anyone, anywhere to upload an event for display on our public events calendar.  We hope that everyone will take advantage of this great feature and use it to get the word out about their upcoming events.
 
Biz-2-Biz Program
The HSACC Biz-2-Biz program is a great way for members to promote special savings, discounts or promotions to other HSACC members.  To get involved in the Biz-2-Biz program, please visit our Biz-2-Biz page.  A PDF form is located at the bottom of the page.  Please complete this form and return it to our offices so that we can get your information added to our promotions.

Cost-Effective Advertising Opportunities
Many are businesses are right now looking for cost effective, yet powerful ways to generate awareness for special sales, packages and services.  When considering your next promotion, the HSACC would like to remind you of your Electronic Sales Distribution benefit as an HSACC member.  For $150, the HSACC will take your information on upcoming sales, events, etc., package it neatly in an electronic newsletter format such as this one you're reading right now, and send it away to the 1,000+ active email addresses in our combined databases.  There's simple no better way to reach a captive audience than through this program.  For additional information or questions, please email us (marketing@harborspringschamber.com) so that we can explain this program further and work with you on details.

October 30, 2008
2008 Harbor Heroes Photo Gallery Added To Website
The 2008 Harbor Heroes event was captured by new member Dave Tingleff, with D.H. Tingleff Photography.  A selection of the photos can be viewed on the Chamber website.  We encourage everyone to view the photos marking this special annual event.

October 29, 2008
New HSACC Member Dennis Hug Announced
Please join the HSACC Board of Directors in congratulating Dennis Hug from the Harbor Springs IGA, Inc. as an appointed Board member.  Dennis was unanimously voted in on Thursday, October 23, 2008 at the regular HSACC Board meeting.  His recommendation came from the nominating committee. Dennis will fill Steve Witte’s term, expiring in the year 2011.  Dennis' term became effective immediately on Thursday and we welcome him as a part of our team. We appreciate his interest in serving our Board and we and look forward to his business expertise and strong work ethic.   Thank you Dennis!

October 16, 2008
2008 Harbor Heroes Award Winners Announced
The 2008 Harbor Heroes award recipients were announced on October 15 at the even held at Birchwood Farms Golf & Country Club.  Please join the HSACC in congratulating these outstanding individuals for their dedication to our community.

Preston Feather Architectural Heritage Award, Harbor Springs Area Historical Society (for the restoration of City Hall)
Preston Feather Architectural Residential Award, Tom and Mindy Mooradian
Preston Feather Architectural Beautification Award, Stafford’s Pier Restaurant
Preston Feather Architectural Design Award, Little Traverse Bay Humane Society
Leadership Little Traverse Alumni Mentor Award, Sara E. Smith
Ambassador’s Award, Marge Owen
President’s Business Award, First Community Bank
President’s Individual Award, Art Tebo
Chamber Volunteer of the Year Award, Donna Weber
Community Service Award, John and Mary Fischer
Outstanding Public Service Award, Fred Geuder
Outstanding Citizen Award, Bill Dohm