Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Blog - Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce

Northampton Area Chamber: March 2020 Connections Article

3/19/2020

Mark Haldaman
Embassy Bank
Northampton Area Chamber Chair

Two months of the new decade have flown by and I think we are all ready for a little spring weather. I know I can wait to stroll down main street and stop in a few places to shop or grab a bite to eat. The Northampton Area Chamber has been keeping very busy planning some fantastic events for the year.
We had a great time and fantastic food at Sabz Restaurant for their ribbon cutting. Sabz’s Mediterranean flair is a great addition to our ever-growing food scene! Coming up on March 24th at 11:30 we are taking a tour of the FedEx facility on Willowbrook Road. This event will be a joint event with the Whitehall Area Chamber and will at- tract a large group. It will be a very educational tour an interesting peak inside the largest FedEx facility in the US. We will get a firsthand look at how all those packages end up on our front porches so fast! Make sure to register soon as the number of spots are limited. We are also excited for our Pint for a Purpose event with the YPC on July 21st at The Gin Mill. It is always a great event and a portion of proceeds will go to a good cause. Make sure to keep an look out for this event as we finalize the details.
The Chamber is also working on several products to enhance visibility of our local businesses. We are finishing up our Shop Eat Explore maps which will promote local businesses and spread awareness of the various shopping dining and entertainment choices in town. We are also working on new banners that will promote local business by providing additional advertising on various higher traffic roads in the borough. If you have any interest in these programs please contact our chamber liaisons, Liana or Jessica and they can get you the details on how you can become involved.
It’s an early reminder but remember to save the date for September 12th, 2020 for the 31st annual Uptown Northampton Street Fair. This event has grown significantly over the last few years and venders are lining up already! Let us know early if you would like to be involved. Thanks again to my wonderful board and all the local volunteers who make Northampton the greatest town to call home.

Hellertown-Lower Saucon Chamber- March 2020 Connections Article

3/18/2020

Ricky Gower
BB&T
now Truist Vice President/Retail Area Leader
Hellertown-Lower Saucon Chamber Chair

If you’re like me, you don’t want winter to end! We hope you all have had some productive winter months as we are getting closer and closer to the first blossom of Spring. Enjoy the cold and snow while it lasts—you never know what to expect in March! We have a busy April in the Hellertown/Lower Saucon Area so don’t forget to mark some important dates in your calendar. We have an exciting event with our friends from the Young Professionals Council at Black River Farms on Wednesday, April 15th from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm. This will be a great evening. Don’t forget, there will be a delicious food truck on site that will be donating 10% of their proceeds back to continue our local initiatives. Come out and enjoy some great networking at a great venue.
On Thursday, April 23rd, we will cut the ribbon for yet another new business on Main Street in Hellertown at House & Land Real Estate—that’s 812 Main Street. Join in on the fun at 5:45 pm when we make it official, then head over to Lost Tavern Brewing for an after party.
I know you may not be thinking of summer yet, but take a few moments, think about summer, and mark down our first Music in the Park Summer Concert Series in Dimmick Park on Sunday, June 7th at 6 pm. It will be a big night as we welcome The Large Flowerheads to kick off our season! This 5 concert series is presented by Steel Club and in partnership with the Borough of Hellertown; partially funded through the County of Northampton’s Hotel Tax Program.
Interested in sponsoring any of our up- coming events? Contact our liaisons for more information on how you can maximize your membership by putting yourself in front of both business and community leaders. Are you coming up on a special milestone anniversary, or would you like to host an upcoming event? Contact us and let’s start planning an event to drive people from all over to your business.
Momentum continues to build in our area so take some time and visit—you’ll be glad you did! Make sure to also ‘Like’ our Face- book page, to stay up to date on all things happening in our area.

Greater Northern Lehigh Chamber- March 2020 Connections Article

3/17/2020

Andrew Gildner
Keystone Technology, LLC
Greater Northern Lehigh Chamber Chair

We continue to grow and innovate in Greater Northern, and February brought two great events to our area!

On February 19, we hosted our first-ever partnered event with the Veterans & Military Council! “Bucks and Bourbon” brought out quite a crowd and helped to raise funds for Camp Freedom – an organization who strives to help Veterans, First Responders and their families through outdoor healing! A huge thank you to Eight Oaks for hosting our group, Mission BBQ for catering with delicious BBQ, and to our gracious sponsors (Zator Law, Krysta Hankee Memorial Fund, The Link Family, Cynthia Miller - SVN / Imperial Realty, Debbie Minnich/Cruise Planners, Blue Mountain Town & Country Gazette, H&R Block of Schnecksville, Home Helpers & Direct Link, and Northern Valley EMS) for helping to raise money and push this event over the top!

During the last week of February, we showcased some of our area restaurants in our Winter Restaurant Week! Our board and our community enjoyed dining out throughout the week and supporting our local restaurants. Thanks again to Curious Goods at the Bake
Oven Inn, 19th Grille at Woodstone Country Club, Mr. Doggy Style Hot Dog Shoppe, Back Home Bagels, Art of Flavors, Legends Valley at the Best Station Hotel, Willow Street Pub and Mama’s Pizza in Slatington for participating! I hope you all were able to join our participants! Our household didn’t cook for the week.

Finally, we are looking ahead to our annual Spirit Award on April 3! This year, we honor Dave Altrichter from Slating- ton, Eight Oaks (in New Tripoli) as our Business of the Year and our three local food pantries (Parkland C.A.R.E.S., Lowhill and Northern Lehigh) as our non-profits of the year! We hope that you can join us to honor these fine folks and institutions. A big thanks to our presenting sponsor, Woodstone Country Club! Sponsorship opportunities are available for this event and tickets are going fast – be sure to reach out to Kylie or Jessica for more information!

Finally, we continue to host office hours at the Slatington Library weekly (hours are posted at the library) and your Chamber Liaisons are available by phone or appointment at any time – do not hesitate to reach out!

Greater Bath Area Chamber- March 2020 Connections Post

3/16/2020

Ann Flood
Lauren’s Hope Foundation
Greater Bath Area Chamber Chair

The Greater Bath Chamber has hit the ground running in 2020! We have so much going on straight through to May. On February 10th, we partnered with the Nazareth Business Council for the highly anticipated and always successful Chocolate and Wine Pairing event at Widow’s Tavern in Stockertown, PA. It was a night of delectable treats offered by Widow’s Tavern and Sweets and Savories of Nazareth. Attendees sipped various wines from Black River Farms beautifully paired with Crème brulee, vanilla ice cream and berry delight, as well as chocolate cherry cheesecake and chocolate silk pie. It is always a must- be-there event and the night did not disappoint. We are so thankful to our sponsors, Widow’s Tavern, Sweets and Savories, Black River Farms, Susan D. Jarvis, and Terraform Engineering. Looking ahead this month, we have our annual Moo’la for Main Streets event, which is our 2020 Main Street Grant catered luncheon, which will be held at The Town and Country Restaurant in Bath on March 25th from 11:30am- 1:00pm. This is another partnered event with the Nazareth Business Council. Listen to the Main Street Lehigh Valley staff talk about the various types of grants that are available and how to apply. It’s a wonderful event to listen and get inspired with ideas of how we can improve our greater Bath area community. This event is being sponsored by ESSA Bank and Town and Country Restaurant. Also, be sure to mark your calendars for our More For The Corps event on Saturday, May 16th to support East Allen Township Volunteer Ambulance Corp. It is a basket and vendor fair that begins at 8:00am until 3:00pm. There will be food, vendors, activities and lots of fun. So, come spend your day with us. Proceeds from this event will benefit East Allen EMS and the Greater Bath Chamber of Commerce. I know August is a ways away, but save the date for the 5th Annual Spuds & Suds Festival on Saturday, August 29, 2020! Help us make the 5th year bigger and better than ever!

Emmaus Main Street Partners- March 2020 Connections Article

3/15/2020

Michael Irwin
Vinyl Press and JABOA Enterprises
Emmaus Main Street Partners Chair

Spring is in the air! Although this wasn’t the worst winter we’ve ever had, if you are like me, you are ready to move into spring. Our first celebration of the vitality to come is Lucky Bucks Bingo with Emmaus Historical Society! On Sunday March 15, both EMSP and EHS will be at St John’s Lutheran Church to play 20 rounds of regular bingo and a few extra special rounds – with cash prizes! There will also be basket raffles and a 50/50 raffle just to spread the winning and wealth around to all. Tickets are $25 and sold at Emmaus Jewel Shop, David’s Electric, and Laura’s Custom Framing. Thank you to our sponsors Chestnut Ridge at Rodale, John “JT” Tsiouvaras with Farmers Insurance in Emmaus, and Burkholder’s Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. Bring your bingo blotters and your luck to the St. Johns Lutheran Church at 501 Chestnut St in Emmaus.

I want to remind everyone about our monthly EMSP Roundtable. We are in our second year and attendance is still growing. This is a relaxed format where you can get some facetime with other Emmaus business owners and the great townspeople who support all of us. At these, we include a guest speaker. It occurs the third Thursday of every month
starting at 6 pm at Triple Sun Spirits. Bring your self and bring a friend.

The EMSP Board loves getting outside and supporting local and we encourage you to do the same. The easy walkability in Emmaus makes this better than ever. There are new shops and businesses coming into Emmaus all of the time, so park and walk to your favorite places, but look around and see the new businesses that are calling Emmaus home. And don’t just think of the Triangle; there are just as many treasured local shops on the west end and they love your support also.
I hit on the point of parking and walk- ing locally because there is often a different access mentality with shopping local and going to the mall. At the mall, you oftentimes park further away than if you used any of our plentiful parking areas or street parking in Emmaus. Additionally, there are other benefits such as fewer crowds, personalized service, and the most important part, your dollars stay local.
Thanks for your time and I hope to see you all out in EmmaUs!!

East Penn Chamber- March 2020 Connections Article

3/14/2020

Jeff Mcelhaney
Edward Jones
East Penn Chamber Chair

If you’re reading this at the beginning of the month, East Penn Restaurant Week is upon us! March 1st through 7th, East Penn restaurants have special offers or dishes for you to test out. Support your local restaurant businesses and plan to eat out. Participating venues can be found at www.lehighvalleychamber. org/eastpennrw

Also, check out our East Penn Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.

Yergey Brewing and Triple Sun Spirits hosted us for a Preview Night of all participating dining establishments on Thursday February 27th. Not only did we get to sample great food, but the libations were amazing as always. Thank you team Yergey and team Triple Sun! It was yet another chance to get to know folks in the East Penn area as well.
Once more I want to offer a special thanks to our presenting sponsor, New Tripoli Bank. They’ve been with us since the beginning of this annual event and it wouldn’t happen without their support. Our bronze sponsor is Burkholder’s Heating and Air Conditioning. Our supporting sponsors include QNB Bank, Gross McGinely Attorney’s at Law and McDonald’s of Emmaus. Additionally, thank you to our media sponsors for getting the word out; EBC Printing, Lehigh Valley Press and WFMZ 69 News.

Please join us on March 11th at Park- land Manor Senior Living Care, for our monthly program. The topic will be “Community Policing.” The South Whitehall Township Police Department will share information about their services and duties to our communities. These include, but are not limited to DARE, Project LifeSaver, Finger Printing, ALICE, Car Seat Training, and more! It’s really interesting to get a better understanding of the incredible impact our service people within each of our towns.

Easton Area Chamber: March 2020 Connections Article

3/13/2020

Charlie Palmeri
Easton Area Chamber Chair

March is upon us and we at the Easton Chamber really look forward to this month!

So far this year, we have been busy with ribbon cutting ceremonies, networking, and chamber service events to help ‘master membership’ and grow a great business in the Easton and Forks Town- ship areas. We are also in the process of surveying our members for feedback on how the Easton Chamber can provide value to them.

One of our premier events takes place this month, and that is the Easton “State of the City” & Breakfast with Mayor Sal Panto. This great event is held at Lafayette College Marquis Hall on Friday, March 20, starting with a breakfast buffet at 7:00 AM followed by the pro- gram at 8:00 AM. Mayor Panto takes on ‘celebrity status’ and does a fantastic job every year giving us a review of what is happening in the great City of Easton, as well as his vision and plans for the future. This is a ‘must go’ event, so put it on your calendar and join us. It is sure, as always, to be a sell-out! Be well and see you on the hill at Lafayette!

A Delicious Month Ahead: Pocono Mountains Restaurant Month “Taste of the Poconos”

3/12/2020

Carbon Chamber & Economic Development Corp.
Marlyn Kissner
The Chamber Executive VP
Affiliate Chambers & Councils

Prepare to tantalize your taste buds for a delicious month ahead and plan to come out to Pocono Mountains Restaurant Month “Taste of the Poconos”: April 13- May 8, 2020. Bring your appetite and visit your favorite participating restaurants in all four counties of the Pocono Mountains or expand your horizons and try someplace new!

During this month-long promotion, restaurants will showcase a variety of delicious cuisines for lunch or dinner that will be sure to satisfy any palette. Check out who is participating and download their menus at PoconoRestaurantMonth.com or DiscoverCarbon.com for Carbon County restaurants. This is an excellent opportunity to spend some quality time with family and friends while you support local businesses!

Pocono Mountains Restaurant Month “Taste of the Poconos” is brought to you by the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, the Carbon Chamber & Economic Development Corp., the Pocono Chamber of Commerce, the Pike County Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of the Northern Poconos and the Greater Honesdale Partnership.

Bethlehem Chamber- March 2020 Connections Article

3/11/2020

Kristian M. Schafer
Bethlehem Chamber Chair

As you read up each month looking for what’s happening in Bethlehem, I wanted to share some good news- Madison Stephan has joined the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce as our new coordinator! Welcome to the Bethlehem team Madison!

As you look to plan out your calendar, please join us for State of the Schools on March 13th with Superintendent Dr. Roy, where our Bethlehem community and business leaders will come together for a school district update from Dr Roy. We will hear from mental and behavioral health experts on the health of our students & future employees. Breakfast and networking are included; starting time is 7:30AM at our Historic Hotel Bethlehem. You won’t want to miss this incredible program!

The weather isn’t the only thing heating up as we move into March. Bethlehem is on fire, and continuing to build momentum on both sides of the river! This month’s BethleGEM is a business that joined our Community about a year ago, and through its innovative approach, and incredibly hospitable team, has grown to become an invaluable partner to our community- The Factory LLC!

Based in a one of a kind, custom built 40,000 square foot innovation and scale-up facility in our booming Arts District, The Factory provides partner companies with support and resources so invested capital can be used for growth. Rich Thompson and his team are creating the next generation of opportunities for entrepreneurial innovators in the Lehigh Valley in the food, beverage, and pet health industries! They leverage life experience with strong intellectual acuity, and provide expertise in areas like product development, manufacturing, distribution and logistics, finance, legal, social media, and more! The Factory truly is a unique approach to building value and taking your business to the next level. Mind you, it’s not for start-up businesses, and with the capacity to help 20 businesses right here in the Lehigh Valley, 5 lucky businesses are already setting up roots here in Bethlehem for future growth and success! I’m telling you, if you get a chance, head over to The Factory. Take a walk around, and you’ll feel the entrepreneurial energy in the air, and know exactly why the Factory will be a community partner for many, many years to come!

2020...Time to Access! How YPC can help you with your goals

3/10/2020

Young Professionals Council
Staci Saeger
NAI Summit

We are already nearing the end of the first quarter of 2020. What have you accomplished? Are you succeeding with your goals for the New Year? Let the Young Professionals Council help you get there!

Are you looking for new ways to maximize your time and potential? Build your leadership skills? Get your resume critiqued and/or up- date your professional headshot?
Then register now for our YPC Leader- ship Summit on Thursday, March 5th at Moravian College from 7:45 am to 12 pm. Our speakers include Jonathan Hurta from King, Spry, Herman, Freund, & Faul, LLC, Yvette Johnson from Just Born Quality Confections, and Michael Hawkins from Netizen Corporation. Also, there will be a panel discussion including experienced professionals from AmericaVen, Olympus, B.Braun, and Fulton Bank. This event will provide you an opportunity to network, receive valuable content and advice from seasoned professionals, engage in discussion helping you overcome your biggest obstacles, and brush up your professional portfolio.

Are you looking to expand your net- work and meet other professionals in the Lehigh Valley?
Make sure you attend our free YPC Meet and Greet event on Thursday, March 28th from 5:30 to 7:30 at The Pudding Bar in Easton.

Interested in getting involved?
Being a part of a Chamber board has many benefits. You receive the opportunity to contribute to a greater cause within your community, help other professionals and businesses achieve their goals, gain exposure and build your network, and continuously learn from a set of peers within different roles and industries. I truly feel the greatest benefit I have received from volunteering with the Chamber are the friendships I have built throughout the years. It’s a wonderful support system professionally and personally that wouldn’t be here without my involvement on the YPC board. Contact me or YPC President, Sarah Finney-Miller, for more information on how you can get involved!