As with most entities here in Fountain Hills, The Chamber of Commerce has been very busy this past month. We hosted our annual Community Expo, which was my first Expo as the new executive director, and I thought it was a terrific sampling of our Chamber members with a great turnout from our residents! We, as a staff, are discussing ways to change things up a bit for next year’s Expo including more food trucks, perhaps some live entertainment, possibly even adding a Fountain Hills “Founders Day” theme to the event, holding it on a Saturday versus during the week and possibly not even in the month of October. As Scott Sommer from ProSkill Services mentioned recently, “There is a tidal wave of change coming at the Chamber, so you will want to make sure to be a part of it.”

Our continued partnership with the Town of Fountain Hills culminated in presentations at the end of October at the Town’s Small Business Workshop for local businesses and a dual presentation from the Chamber and the Economic Development Department, which includes tourism to the fourth class of the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy. The FHYC (Fountain Hills Young Community) held its first ever Golf Scramble, which was a huge success. The FHYC is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and partnered with the Town to promote tourism and vitality in the Hills.

We were invited to participate in the unveiling of the Dark Sky Discovery Center, to speak at the morning Rotary Club, the Sunset Kiwanis Club and featured on Money Talk Radio. We wrapped up October with Sami Fine Jewelry’s event, Halloween in the Hills, welcoming countless darling kiddos dressed up in their Halloween best! All of that while welcoming seven new businesses as Chamber members and participating in six ribbon cuttings and six Elite Leads meetings and holding our annual Expo!

Community engagement through Chamber-created and sponsored events included sponsoring the FHYC Golf Scramble, the VFW Golf Tournament and hosting most of session seven for the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy. Our famous art fair, Fountain Festival, which not only promotes tourism in Fountain Hills but also locally supports countless non-profit organizations who count on this event for their annual fundraising goals, is this weekend.

Chamber members were invited to have their collateral at our Chamber information booth during the festival so, if you need a referral for a local business while you are walking the fair, stop by and see us in our info booth. Lastly, our Thanksgiving Day Parade and Stroll in the Glow with the Chill in the Hills ice skating rink are just around the corner, with Thanksgiving Day just 22 days from today!

A FHConnect breakfast is coming up and, with this breakfast being so close to the holidays in mid-December, we will have holiday entertainment and Joe Bill from the Dark Sky Discovery Center presenting. This breakfast will be free to all of our Chamber members and non-members are invited to join us for half price. Eagle Mountain truly does a beautiful spread and it is rumored they serve the best bacon in Arizona.

We look forward to the next year of celebrations aligning with the Town’s 30/50 year and our 45th anniversary. The incorporation of our town 30 years ago and the 50th anniversary of our Fountain festivities begin the day of our Stroll in the Glow and will continue throughout 2020. We plan to honor and promote our Chamber businesses with monthly anniversary celebrations throughout the year. We welcome the community to join us as we promote and celebrate our local businesses all year long!