Chamber Corner: What is the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce?

Submitted by Tammy Melcher for the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce

Many people ask what is the Manchester Chamber of Commerce (MACC), and what do they do?

The Chamber is a group of business owners and individuals who are committed to promoting, supporting, and improving the Manchester business community. We believe that when you have a thriving business community you will have a thriving town.

Currently, we have 28 members who support the organization with their annual dues. The dues allow us to provide events within the community that draw people to Manchester. The events we currently put together are Christmas in the Village, the Christmas parade that brings Santa to Manchester, the Halloween Caramel Apple Decorating at the Gazebo and the 3rd Thursday Events that run on Adrian Street the third Thursdays of June, July, August and September. In the past we have also put together street fairs, sidewalk sales, business expos, business workshops and business networking opportunities.

What people don’t know about the MACC is that we often work in conjunction with other organizations in town such as supporting a Chicken Broil website, Christmas Home Tour, and the CRC/Chamber Golf Outing. When businesses were leaving town, Jennifer Wojtowicz (who was president of the MACC at the time) got the the idea to get the building owners, realtors, Village, DDA, and others to get together and have a mass showing of the vacant buildings in town.

That's not to say that we haven’t had many failures and flops, but we keep trying to reinvest ourselves back into making the Chamber something viable to the community and our businesses. And all of our successes have started out as GREAT IDEAS from people in the community.

For instance, JoAnn and Monty Okey started the caramel apple decorating at their home back in the 1980s. For years there would be a line up the Manchester Hill on Halloween in anticipating of creating the perfect caramel apple at the Okey’s. A few years ago, the Chamber joined forces with the Okeys and the Caramel apple Event was brought downtown. The Okeys are still very much involved and make a generous financial contribution towards the supplies needed and the Manchester Market and Alber Orchard have supplied apples for the event as well. This is a perfect example of the community and businesses working together!

Another great idea started with the downtown business owners who decided to have late hours to encourage Christmas shopping downtown. Every Thursday night in November and December, they would stay open until 8 pm. The Chamber saw the town hopping and wanted to know if we could join them to keep the momentum going and eventually the 3rd Thursday Events became a collaborative effort between merchants and MACC. It has been a great success! Now with the Riverfolk Gazebo Concerts, the Acorn Farmers' Market, the new Social District, and the 3rd Thursday events, our town is an exciting place to spend your Thursday evening in the summer months.

Our biggest challenges are coming up with ideas for new events, ideas to help the business community operate as one group and network, and to keep funds coming in to support these ideas. The community of Manchester has been very generous.

Last year, for example, when we were struggling to figure out how we could light the downtown with Christmas lights on a budget of $1700 and the bill had come in at over $3000, the Manchester Lions Club, the Manchester Masonic Lodge, and Worth Repeating donated $2000. We also received donations from individuals within the community who responded to our $10 challenge. The DDA and the Manchester Township have also committed a portion of their budget to getting this done in the future.

Community coming together is what it is all about and we are so thankful to everyone who has supported the MACC in the past and look forward to an exciting future for Manchester!

Current Board Members are Barry Allen, Kathy Dimond, Lisa Fookes, Sue LaRocque, Tammy Melcher, Linda Stevens and Joe Walsh.

Current MACC members include: Catherine Mosley, Riverfolk Music & Arts, the Manchester Chicken Broil, Melcher Brothers Carpentry, Sutton Insurance Agency, Manchester Car Wash, Manchester Veterinary Clinic, River Raisin Mercantile, Moxie Graphics, Barry & Peg Allen, Manchester Lions Club, Ray Berg, Manchester District Library, Manchester Ag Parts LLC, Comerica Bank, R.D. Kleinschmidt, Inc., Manchester True Value Hardware - DRZ, Community Resource Center, Inc., Village Tap, The Sassy Peacock, Village of Manchester, State Farm - Donnellon Insurance Agency, The Manchester Mirror, Manchester Area Historical Society, Manchester Community Fair, Old National Bank, Village Hair Forum, and Jam & Suds.

Will YOUR business be the next to join the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce? Go to our website to sign up ... you'll find a "Join the Chamber" button right on our home page!

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.