The Middlebury Chamber of Commerce and the Middlebury Community Public Library will co-sponsor a Meet the Candidates Forum and Networking event on Thursday October 21 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, at the Middlebury Community Public Library, 101 E. Winslow Street, located on SR 13 on the north end of downtown.

The public is invited to attend and take part this event where voters will have the opportunity to meet face to face and ask the candidates questions that matter most. Candidates from both parties for local offices have been invited to participate.

The program will begin at 7:00pm with candidate introductions, followed by a public question and answer session. Around 8:30pm the formal portion will conclude and candidates will have the opportunity to meet and mingle with everyone in attendance until 9pm.

Email: middleburychamber@gmail.com for more information.

THIS IS A SCAM!

Per Dave Harms, Northridge Athletic Director, there is no such solicitation taking place at this time. The only fund raising taking place this fall will involve our student athletes in sales promotions on behalf of their particular sport.
Later on, the Middlebury sports booster organization will be mounting a fund drive managed by local representatives.

Should you have any questions about a sales promotion or campaign on behalf of Middlebury athletics, please contact Dave Harms at the high school, 825-2142.

Thank you.

We will hold our monthly Retail and Tourism meeting tomorrow morning at 7:30am (Thursday August 19) at the Essenhaus!
Will you be there? If you plan on attending please quickly respond back to this email.
Come listen to some Fun information about 3rd Fridays in August, the Theme will be Bike Night and BBQ, Next Month’s Fall Festival, October’s pumkin-fest, November’s Hometown Holiday shopping night and what we happening in the months come! Share what’s new with your business, There are ots of fun events coming up and we always have room for new ideas & voices around our table! You can find last month’s minutes attached to this email for your review.

The Official 3rd Fridays meeting will be Next Thursday evening, call the chamber office if you need more information 825-4300.

THE CIRCUS IS COMING!!!! The Middlebury Men’s Club welcomes back the Kelly Miller Circus, August 28th with performances at 2pm and 5:30pm Tickets are available around town and at the door! Be sure to stop by one of the participating area businesses for presale tickets which are discounted over day of show. The show will be held at Coachmen Industries, 423 N. Main. Street.

The Elkhart Chamber OSHA Council has scheduled the following Safety Workshops for area businesses. Any business holding a membership in one of our local Chambers of Commerce (NOT the State Chamber), qualifies for the significant Chamber discount:
Safety Conscious Supervision – September 23rd
OSHA 10 Hour Voluntary Compliance – October 12 & 13th
OSHA 10 Hour Voluntary Compliance – February 8 & 9th, 2011
OSHA 20 Hour Voluntary Compliance – March 8, 9 & 10th, 2011
Contact Jim Walsh, Chamber Liaison to OSHA and Technology Councils
Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce
418 S. Main St., Elkhart, IN 46516
Phone: (574) 293-1531 ext. 121, Fax: (574) 294-1859
www.elkhart.org

SBDC Presents: Increasing Sales & Profits as a Destination Business
August 24, 2010, Das Dutchman Essenhaus
Registration, 8:00am-8:30am
Seminar 8:30am-11:45am
Lunch, Roundtable, 1:00pm-2:30pm
$59 This reduced price is made possible through Bank of America’s support of local entrepreneurs!
Reservations Required! Call to reserve your space TODAY!
Would your sales and profits grow if you could bring more customers “in the door?” Your answer is probably yes! Whether you are a retailer, service provider, manufacturer, or e-commerce business, you can learn how to “think outside the geographic box” when it comes to reaching out to customers by attending “Increasing Sales & Profits as a Destination Business,” presented by internationally known expert Jon Schallert.
To register call 574.282.4350 ext. 0 or 866.508.7232

MIDWEST TANDEM RALLY- Coming to Shipshewana (and Middlebury):
Time is nearing for the Midwest Tandem Rally September 3-6, 2010 and their registration is continuing to receive more and more teams ready to visit and share in the experience. As of today’s date there are an estimated 500 teams which gives us over 1000 people. If you are not familiar with tandem bikes, they can ride two people and a few that are designed to ride up to 4 people on a bike. The CVB along with the MTR committee will be putting together Welcome Packets and we want to invite you to include any information, brochure, coupon, promotional item, etc in these packets. If you are interested in having something placed in the packets we would need 500 – packets will be put together August 20th; so please have your items to the CVB office no later than August 18th.

I have listed their website for you to visit –http://www.mtr2010.org they are in need of some volunteers to help at various places…..those are listed below. If you are interested in helping please contact JoDee at 768-4008 or email at jodee@lagrangecountycvb.org Volunteers will receive a FREE T-Shirt & lunch., Volunteers are needed In Shipshewana (Rally Weekend):
Sag Stops – help with food & drink stations, Transportation (Pick-up and Deliver Food to Sags and Lunch Stops) and the ever popular and exciting, TASK TO BE DETERMINED!

They have rides scheduled for Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday – these rides are all mapped out and can be viewed at the CVB office or on the website above. On the Self-Supported rides (Friday & Monday) they will dine on their own and on Saturday evening dining will be on their own. The schedule below is mainly more for the MTR participants but should give you an idea on when they have things available to them – there will be down time for the participants to give them an opportunity to shop and wander the area. Each participant will be wearing a lanyard to identify them to the merchants……The rides have 3 levels – Short Route/Medium Route/Long Route…participants have the option of choosing which route they want to take; so those taking the short route & medium route will have more down time than those on the long route.

They have two routes to choose from for Friday & Monday which takes them into Howe or Middlebury and back to Shipshewana
On Saturday their route starts them off with the Mass Start at the Auction Barn, riding through LaGrange, Mongo, Wolcottville, Topeka, Emma, and back to Shipshewana
On Sunday their route starts them off with the Mass Start at the Auction Barn, riding through Middlebury, Mottville, Bonneyville Park and back to Shipshewana

The Mass Starts will begin at 9:00 am at the Auction Barn on SR 5 between the Auction Restaurant & Yoder’s Meat….this is an exciting site to see. The MTR committee and Tom Fitch have been working together to ensure the safety of the riders and local tourist. Tom will have some of his cruisers available to help with the traffic until they can get on their way…..We want to make sure that everyone is aware of the Mass Start times and also to be especially alert of the riders on the roadways.

Owners Raymond & Debra Miller have been in the antique business for many years and are excited to open this new shop. They feature antiques & vintage collectibles. The breadth of antiques is very good. They feature especially good collections of Fiesta, LuRay, Jade-ite / Fire King, books, sheet music, vintage jewelry & clothes and art pottery besides many areas. The shop also carries a line of plate hangers and other home display accessories.

Please Join Dusty Miller Antiques for their GRAND OPENING AUGUST 13 and 14th during the Middlebury Summer Festival and especially the RIBBON CUTTING FRIDAY August 13, 2010 at 2pm. They will have gift certificate drawings and be serving Essenhaus Lemonade on the porch all weekend. It’s the perfect opportunity to stop by and welcome this new business to our area!

**If we like this format we will continue with different topics the 1st Wednesday of every month throughout 2010. Future topics include; lead generation, search marketing and email marketing.

Congratulations to the Winning Team

1st Place Lehman Hershberger and Company, P.C.

2nd Place Jayco

3rd Place First State Bank

Show your support there are Sponsorship levels available for all budgets and the playing field is still wide open.

SPONSOR A HOLE or ENTER A TEAM!

Congratulations to the Amerian Legion, 2010 Winners! 

Advertising, Marketing and Prospective Problems.
How to attract all the good/new customers (or clients) you can handle In any economy

 Lunch-N-Learn Seminar
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Noon to 1pm
Middlebury Community Public Library
Bring a Lunch and Learn from the expert
This Seminar is Free and Open to everyone.

 Presented by
John Cohoat, Certified No B.S.Business Advisor

Sponsored by
The Middlebury Chamber of Commerce

Please RSVP to the Chamber 574-825-4300, MiddleburyChamber@gmail.com

 If you are wondering how to come back and thrive, even when times are tough, this seminar is just for you
Put it on your calendar!

TIMES:  Registration begins–7:30am;  Walk/Run begins–9:00am
LOCATION:  MES Track (behind the school at 432 South Main)
COST:  $5 for children under 14 and $10 for adults

Pre-registration is available and encouraged.  See the registration pamphlets at local merchants and the Chamber of Commerce office at 801 Wayne Avenue, Suite 4.  Those pre-registered will receive a T-shirt and everyone completing the 5K will receive participation awards.

PURPOSE of EVENT:  1) to encourage physical activity for wellness and 2) to raise funds for the MES Coordinated School Health Program benefitting all MES students.

Come out and join us, get some exercise and learn what you can do to improve your health while helping the students at MES as well!