Paula White

Last week your chamber of commerce conducted the most successful membership event in our history. More than 260 businesses and friends joined the chamber over a two day period, making our chamber over 1,000 members strong! The new members cited one or more of the following reasons why they signed on to one of the strongest chambers in Texas.

The chamber promotes the quality of business in Boerne. About a year and a half ago, your chamber took the lead role in forming a partnership between business, local governments and residents of Kendall County. This coalition resulted in the establishment of the Kendall County Economic Development Corporation, the goal of which is to bring the right kinds of businesses to our area. Members of your chamber sit on the board of directors representing local businesses to companies considering relocating to our community.

The chamber promotes Boerne locally, statewide and nationally. Important people all across Texas know how active Boerne’s Chamber of Commerce is and look to your chamber as a leader discussing such issues as water, transportation, and economic development.

The chamber promotes members through its Web site. Every year hundreds of thousands of people both in Boerne and from across the country access boerne.org to find out who to contact for business. We know our Web site works and every member is offered a reciprocal link to make accessing their business even easier! Each member can check their stats on a daily basis if they choose to see how many unique visitors to their site the Chamber has provided through our Web site.

The chamber is a business resource center. Whether a business wants to participate in a mentoring program or find continuing education opportunities for its employees, the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce has programs for them. In addition, the chamber can sign you up for Small Business Administration programs to meet your businesses individual needs.

Now, you know why more than 260 businesses and friends of the Chamber became members in just two days.

On Aug. 30, we invite you to meet our new members at a Prime Time Business Expo. Watch this column for more details. In the meantime, save the date!

Chamber welcomes more than 260 new members

This week the Chamber not only welcomes our 260 plus new members who joined during our membership event last week, but we also welcome two new members who joined prior to the event. Joining at the Bronze Level: Adena Art Glass, Merryl Redding, owner, 216 Hwy. 39, Ingram (arts, culture and entertainment); and Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Oscar R. Arrieta, service manager, relocating soon to Boerne (plumbing, contractor/service).

Help us welcome these new members and make it a point to patronize chamber member businesses for services and products. A complete listing of all new members who joined during our membership event last week will appear soon in this newspaper.

For information on becoming a member of the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce please call (830) 249-8000 and ask for Rita Cornelius, director of membership.

Chamber events

- Thursday, Aug. 2: Ribbon cutting at Rios Golden Cut, 1361 S. Main St., Boerne, 11:30 a.m.

- Thursday, Aug. 2: Business-After-Hours hosted the Kendall County Fair Association at the gairgrounds from 5 to 7 p.m.

- Tuesday, Aug. 7: Ribbon cutting for Ritchie Automotive, 29059 Interstate 10 West, Boerne, 1:30 p.m.

- Thursday, Aug. 9: Ribbon cutting for Massage Etc., 806 N. Main St., 1:30 p.m.

- Thursday, Aug. 16: Business-After-Hours hosted by Boerne Public Library, 5 to 7 p.m.