Exciting things are taking place in Fennimore, and we want you to join our crew! We’re kicking off our 2022 membership drive and we invite all businesses, places of worship, home-based business, or individuals to join the Chamber.
Our mission
Our mission is to support businesses while marketing and growing the community as a great place to live, work and play.
Our vision
Our vision is to be a fan of Fennimore by partnering with the city, businesses, and organizations to provide a positive environment while inspiring growth.
Why should you join the Chamber?
We want you to look at the Chamber as an extension of your business. We are here to help you reach your goals and be successful. We want to provide you and your team opportunities to network with your colleagues and community members. We want to ensure your business is visible when tourists are researching or traveling through our community. We want to help you find the resources you need to take your business to the next level. Most of all, we want to hear directly from you on the best way we can serve your specific needs. For all these reasons and many more, we encourage you to be a Chamber member. We want you to be proud of what we can accomplish when we work together in our community.
Chamber Highlights of 2021
It was an honor to collaborate with so many different businesses and organizations throughout 2021.
Fennimore Doll & Toy Museum
We assisted the Fennimore Doll & Toy Museum in the design and mailing of their first direct mail newsletter and converted it into a digital flip book for the Museum to share on their website and social media.
Heritage Day Celebration
We collaborated with Fred Brechler, the Fennimore Railroad Museum, the Fennimore Doll & Toy Museum, and the Fennimore Giant Pumpkin Growers Club for a successful Heritage Day celebration.
Chicken BBQ and Chamber Golf Outing
We appreciated the dedication behind the Chicken BBQ and the Chamber Annual Golf Outing.
Back to School Showcase
We appreciated the support we received and then distributed to our businesses to encourage school supply donations for the Back-to-School Showcase.
Community Helping Community
In August, it was truly amazing to see the support our businesses provided to our friends in Boscobel after the devastation of the tornado and we had the pleasure of delivering meals and donated items to support the relief efforts.
Shop Local Promotion
Our Shop Local contest participation went from 146 entries in the spring to 1,287 during our most recent contest this winter, which is truly amazing! We collaborated with many businesses to draw our Shop Local contest winners through video announcements, while sharing their own news and promotions.
Ribbon Cuttings, CARE Calls, Business of the Month
We hosted ribbon cuttings, made CARE Calls, and featured a different Business of the Month.
Social Media Engagement and Email Marketing
We have received many compliments our social media engagement and our businesses have benefited from shares and mentions of their promotions. We have increased our utilization of email marketing and have developed regular e-newsletters for Chamber members, community members, and tourists. We created social media marketing campaigns to promote tourism to our area that reached approximately 100,000 people throughout the states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri.
Grant Assistance and Awards
We made it a priority to communicate grant information and provide any assistance necessary to ensure businesses were aware of and could apply for the Wisconsin Tomorrow Small Business Recovery Grant and the Main Street Bounceback Grants, which is still available and provides $10,000 to new or existing businesses and non-profit organizations moving into vacant properties in Wisconsin’s downtowns and commercial corridors. In addition, we wrote some grants of our own and were one of the recipients of the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Destination Marketing Organization grant that assisted with funding for the Lights in the Park and a reinvention of our community festival, which is still to come. We also received a grant from Dairyland Power to upgrade our tourism display.
A Magical Holiday Fen-stival and Lights in the Park
We ended the year with the Holiday Fen-stival, a magical holiday celebration where we welcomed our artists and crafters back to the annual Christmas Creations Craft Show, hosted a wonderful Holiday Parade, collaborated with the Friends of the Fennimore Library to showcase the lighting of the Unity Tree, and lit the Lights in the Park, a beautiful holiday display brought to you by the Chamber, Fennimore Water & Light, Pagel Services, and the entire Fennimore community. We cannot thank you enough for how much you embraced this idea that brought so much joy to so many this holiday season.
Chamber Goals for 2022
As we prepare for 2022, our goals at the Chamber begin with continuing to encourage and foster collaboration between businesses, organizations, and community members. Our next goal is to assist Chamber businesses to identify their unique needs and provide assistance to reach their goals. Whether that need is a video production project, communicating an event or promotion, or assisting with a social media campaign, we are excited to explore these opportunities and see the results they can create for your business. Our third goal is to unite the community through events and activities that foster a sense of belonging and pride. We all choose to live in Fennimore for a reason. Whatever your reason is, we want to celebrate it. We want anyone and everyone to know what a wonderful community Fennimore is, and we want others to want to be part of it.
Join the Chamber!
If you have questions or would like chat about joining the Chamber, I welcome the opportunity to talk with you and can be reached at promo@fennimore.com or 608-822-3599. We look forward to working with you!
