S-W Chamber To Remain Downtown
During its May 6 meeting, board members approved a new one-year lease, allowing the Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce to remain in its current Main Street location. The building, which formerly housed Leisure Pools, was recently purchased by KSK Real Estate LLC.
It was noted during the meeting KSK Real Estate would be renovating much of the building, from the facade to the roof. The chamber sign will remain off the front of the building since new awnings will be placed, not providing enough space for the sign; however, it was mentioned other options are being considered to note the chamber’s presence upstairs.
Work continues on two events: Cruisin’ Cuse and the annual golf outing. Cruisin’ Cuse has several vendors signed up for Friday, May 15, stated assistant director Kristi Martin, adding, “It’s going to be good this year.”
In addition to vendors, some downtown businesses will be opened for the event, too. Martin added there would be plenty of activities happening that Friday as well.
Chris Cotton has stepped in to man the chamber’s golf outing task force. Currently, the focus is on recruiting sponsors, including an event sponsor and lunch sponsor. Calls for donations will also be made. The event will occur June 17 at Maxwelton Golf Course.
The chamber is currently working with the town of Syracuse to create a three- to five-minute promo video about the town. Chamber Executive Director Tammy Cotton stated the video would feature Syracuse’s industry and retail environment, in addition to education.
The video will take four to six weeks to put together. There was also talk about using portions of the video to create a 30-second TV commercial to promote the town in the South Bend/Fort Wayne markets.
The “Welcome to Syracuse” signs are fully paid for now, with several local service organizations on board. Rinker also donated $5,000 toward the signs. There was some discussion about possibly moving the northern sign onto the industrial park property; nothing was decided at that time.
In other chamber news:
• The purchase of a used Apple computer, with software included, was approved by the board.
• The chamber will be working with the town in order to create new banners for the River Front District and the Village.
• The chamber website will be made more mobile friendly in the coming days to prevent it being lowered in Google search results. While its being updated, there will be downtime; however, it is only expect to last for four hours.
• Reecer Properties, located at 16685 N. Southshore Drive, will have a ribbon cutting May 16. Its grand opening will follow Memorial Day weekend.
Next board meeting is at noon June 3 in the chamber office.