Last week, we highlighted three wonderful aspects of our past year: our official name change, our new board President Shannon and her leadership over the last year, and a shout-out to the two best teammates I could ask for in Anthony and Brittany on our chamber staff. Those were all tremendous successes from 2023, and here are a few more, taken more or less chronologically, as we pick up the recap in March.
Cornerstone supporters step up big again
One of the essential programs over the last five years has been our Cornerstone Membership program, where now nine businesses support our chamber at a special rate that includes their annual dues, and in return, they get additional marketing and get tied to all of the programs and events the chamber runs throughout the year. This additional funding has helped cover operational expenses, increased payroll capabilities for more staff hours, and is critical to our growth and success.
Per tradition, at the BBRC Annual Awards Dinner in March, we announce who the Cornerstone members are for that year.
A huge thank-you to our 2023 Cornerstone sponsors:
• Priority Real Estate, our Cornerstone Commercial Real Estate member.
• Mid Coast-Parkview Health/MaineHealth, our Cornerstone Healthcare member.
• Bath Savings Institution, our Cornerstone Banking member.
• Darling’s Brunswick Ford, our Cornerstone Auto Dealership & Service member.
• RE/Max Riverside, our Cornerstone Residential Real Estate member.
• Cook’s Lobster & Ale House, chamber partner.
• Molnlycke, Chamber Partner.
• Sitelines, P.A., Chamber Supporter.
• Lajoie Brothers, Chamber Supporter.
If your business would like to be tied to every program our chamber runs in 2024, as well as having your dues covered, contact me for a meeting at cory@midcoastmaine.com. We typically sign on our Cornerstones in December/January for the full calendar year and announce the support in March. Please note that the top tier ($5,000) is limited by industry, but there is no cap for industries at the Chamber Partner ($2,000) and the Chamber Supporter ($1,000) levels. These funds are essential for covering overhead expenses and payroll, which are the biggest expenses for a service-based organization like us, but our people are also our biggest assets.
Honoring seven outstanding leaders with videos
Our Annual Awards Dinner is typically the first or second Friday of March, and at it we honor six to 10 business leaders for their outstanding contributions to the region. This year, we added a video element thanks to a partnership with John and Samy at Sturdy Productions. They filmed, produced and edited videos for all of our award winners that ran during the event and afterwards on our YouTube channel. We’ll be running those videos again on our YouTube channel and Facebook the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
The night was very special and we look forward to it again this March. Now is the time to nominate a local business leader for recognition this year. Don’t worry about the criteria, just think of an individual, business or organization that you find to be award-worthy and shoot me an email or call our office. The Awards & Recognition Committee gathers in mid-January to select the award recipients based on the nominations received, and we’ll announce them on Jan. 30 at our January After Hours.
We do not award all categories every year but rather base it on the nominations received. Therefore, the other categories in addition to the one’s listed below include:
• Volunteer of the Year.
• Excellence in Entrepreneurship (formerly the New Business of the Year).
• Joshua L. Chamberlain Award (for service to both our military communities and our region as a whole).
• Nonprofit of the Year (brand new).
The other categories are listed below with our deserving award winners from last year:
• Harry C. Crooker Lifetime Achievement Award: John Hodge.
• Citizen of the Year: Sherry Plunkett.
• Young Professional of the Year: Mandy Reynolds.
• Large Business of the Year: Darling’s Brunswick Ford.
• Small Business of the Year: Midcoast Humane.
• President’s Award: Bob Langworthy.
• Director’s Award: Charleen Foley.
While most awards are self-explanatory, for the Director’s Award and President’s Award, the recipients are any person, business or organization as chosen by the president of the chamber board and by the executive director of the chamber.
Our 2023 guest guide and Hacker’s Ball golf tournament
Lastly, a huge thank-you to our members’ businesses that supported both our 2023 edition of the “Eat Play Stay: Companion Guide to Bath, Brunswick and Midcoast Maine” and for those that came out to make our Hacker’s Ball golf tournament a big success again.
The guest guide was one of my first passion projects here at the chamber, as when I arrived it was called the Allure of the Coast, and though it was a nice guide, it desperately needed a refresh. We overhauled it in 2018 and it became the Eat Play Stay. The content was massively altered as we removed some of the generic content that didn’t provide much information and replaced it with information to really help you trip plan and decide when to come here.
For instance, we removed the “Four Seasons” section, which basically said “spring is nice, summer is great, autumn is beautiful, winter is cold but fun” — that doesn’t tell people much. We then added content, like the three top 10 lists we post annually from survey feedback from all of you and a FAQ section gathered from popular tourist questions.
That guide is only possible through the advertising purchased by member businesses promoting themselves and offsetting the printing costs. That member support is critical to us, and we see it in our golf tournament, too. We had nearly two dozen teams come out to play in May to help support our second-largest fundraiser.
The 2024 guest guide ad sales are underway for businesses that want to promote themselves, and the 2024 Hacker’s Ball will be back at Brunswick Golf Club on May 10.
Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber of Commerce.
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