I hope that everyone is enjoying the nice spring weather
that has finally entered our area. It sure does make it easier to deal with the
influx of spring traffic. As anticipated,
this year has started with a flurry of activities, events, and opportunities.
Membership
continues to increase with each passing week, and I especially enjoy meeting
everyone at the New Member Receptions held each quarter at the Chamber office. At the most recent reception, I believe we set
a new all-time high number of attendees, so thank you to all who turned out for
this event. We also celebrated our
Member Appreciation Day on Feb. 10, with a proclamation from the City of Destin
and distribution of the 2015 membership directory to all of our members. I would like to thank all the volunteers who
assisted with delivering the directories. If for some reason you did not
receive your directory, please contact the Chamber, so we can confirm your
mailing and physical address.
Despite
the seasonably cool weather, Destin’s Bayou, Bay & Back 1-Mile Fun Run, 5K
Run/Walk, 10K & Half Marathon was another successful event, with almost 500
participants from 26 states and Canada.
This event continues to draw runners in from all over the United States,
a number coming specifically for the event and long weekend. I would like
to thank all the sponsors and volunteers who made this event possible, and I
was proud to issue donations to both the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance and the
Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Posse.
I hope to see everyone when we hold our first full marathon and name
change to Destin’s Bayou, Bay & Beach on Jan 23, 2016.
This spring we’ve had great participation at the
Leaders in Business monthly luncheons, ribbon cuttings, Business After Hours at
World of Beer, and the 8th Annual Multi-Chamber Business Expo. Thank
you for everyone’s support and participation.
If your business is interested in hosting or sponsoring an event or
program, please contact the Chamber.
We
have also had the pleasure of working with a number of the community leaders on
some critical issues within the Destin area.
For those of you that were not able to hear Mayor Mel Ponder’s State of
the City, you missed a great presentation.
The Mayor highlighted all the challenges the citizens overcame in 2014
and all the success stories as a result of all the cooperation within the
community. If you would like to view the
presentation, you can via the City’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4yhWIms13s. In addition to the Mayor’s activities, the
City staff has held a number of meetings with key business owners challenged
with the issues that come with increased amounts of visitors and
residents. I truly think that the City
staff is focused on improving the challenges our business owners are facing, so
please be sure to work with them toward positive solutions.
The
Destin Forward leadership class continues to make the community proud with its
tireless efforts to restore the Primrose and Post Office. Over the past two months, the class held a successful
Pins and Pancakes fundraising event at Uncle Buck’s Fish Bowl & Grill in
the Destin Commons, as well as received recognition from the Destin Rotary
Club. The class also made its annual
trip to the State Capitol to meet with the locally elected representatives, and
I was fortunate enough to join them, so thanks for spending the day with
me. This group is a great representation
of the future leaders of our community, so please plan to attend the relocation
of both historical items to the Destin History & Fishing Museum in May. If you know of any young up and coming
leaders in the community, please encourage them to sign up for the next class.
Finally
I just want to share a few statistics about the traffic to the Chamber office
and website. In 2014, we had 5,101
visitors in the office, fielded 6,064 phone calls, distributed more than 16,000
of the award-winning Destin Area Visitors Guide & Membership Directories, and
had 183,114 users on our website, which generated 549,384 page views. The top
three searched categories on the website were restaurants, accommodations, and
attractions. Through the first two months
of 2015, we are pacing ahead of the 2014 numbers in all categories, so the
future business opportunities for the area are bright.
If there is ever anything we may do for you, please do not
hesitate to call the Chamber at (850) 837-6241. We look forward to serving you throughout 2015 and together building this world-class community one business at a time. I hope everyone is Living
the Dream in this place we call home, the Destin Area.
Sincerely,
Ken Wampler
2015 Chairman of the Board of Directors
Newman-Dailey
Resort Properties, Inc.
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