2009 turned out to be a great year for the newly formed Village of Gurnee Chamber of Commerce.  Just recapping it's first six months can give you an idea of the progress this organization has made. 

The chamber had it's first meeting on June 17th, 2009.  Attending the kickoff meeting was over 175 interested business people.  At the meeting, the chamber introduced it's newly formed website.  A truly unique design for a website to be certain.  Each chamber member receives their own distinct "landing page" that acts as it's own webpage, complete with pictures, links to coupons, contact information, business descriptions, and a handy map to help consumers find them.

Soon after the kickoff, the chamber started it's monthly membership meetings.  Average attendance has been over 50 members.  In addition to those monthly meetings, they also put on quarterly Lunch N Learn educational meetings.  Each meeting has been well attended with an average of 56 member in attendance. 

Next, the chamber embarked on some cooperative negotiation with the Village Hall on behalf of businesses.  Through the chamber's efforts, a deal was reached to ease the restrictions on temporary signage for businesses. 

The chamber took on a large marketing campaign in partnership with the Village of Gurnee.  The two groups co-sponsored the Shop Gurnee contest with WKRS 1220 to promote local businesses.  Member businesses got a boost in marketing during the holidays with the Shop Gurnee program and plans are in the works to do the program again in 2010. 

The chamber is currently developing the Gurnee Community Guide.  The piece will have a historical perspective of Gurnee, as well listing member businesses, and will include a coupon section for the recipients of the guide.  15,000 recipients to be exact.  Each Gurnee resident will receive a copy free of charge.

And finally, the biggest accomplishment of the chamber thus far would have to be the announcement of it's 100th member.  In just six short months, the Village of Gurnee Chamber of Commerce reached this all important milestone.  Many organizations have been around for decades and have never achieved this milestone.  Brad Jenks, Chairman for the chamber, says "It's further confirmation for us, the board members and founders of the chamber, that what we set out to do was right". 

What the chamber set out to do was to promote the local business community.  If it can accomplish all of these things in six month during a recession; what can they accomplish in 2010?