On Sunday, Dec. 4, the Chamber celebrated Season’s Greetings in the Lakes Region commencing with the annual Chinese Auction in Naples held at the Town Hall.
Over 400 items were on display, including many gift certificates donated by local Chamber business members. This very popular annual event was once again a huge success with about 150 shoppers in attendance and funds raised were the highest recorded to date for this event – $3,800.
The proceeds from this auction remain in the town of Naples to support the Naples Information Center that is open during the summer months for visitors to the area, as well as to provide a civic contribution to the Naples Resource Council supporting local community programs, including the Naples food pantry.
The Chamber would like to thank the members of the Auction Committee for their dedication throughout the year collecting items from the business and residents of the regional communities: Committee Chair Karen Thompson of DownEast Engraving, her family and friends who worked on the setup, food booth, and delivery of the items to the recipients; Chamber members Iva Carroll, her husband Don, and daughter-in-law Amanda, Allan Phinney and his wife Rachel, Jim Miller, Kelly McKeil, and Lee Ann Sanborn, Connie Eldridge and Holly Chase.
A visit from Santa and his elves, Jean Keyes-Berg and Barbara Clark, at the auction brought a holiday spirit to the event as Santa greeted the guests upon their arrival. Then the holiday sleigh, complete with a Christmas tree on the trailer, left the Town Hall and went to the following shopping centers: Naples Shopping Center, Raymond Shopping Center, Walmart and the Shops at Sebago/Maine Bean and Bakehouse, where Santa was greeted by many children and their parents. The elves gathered the children and brought them from the shops to Santa and delivered candy canes to all of the good boys and girls.
A tree lighting ceremony took place and the Windham Chamber Singers brought musical joy to those present as the group prepared to light the tree. Many thanks to Tom and Sue Saunders of the Shops at Sebago who donated the tree for the holiday lighting, and to Larry and Jean DeHof of Essential Massage of Windham for preparing Santa’s Sleigh and taking Santa and his elves to the various shopping centers so that holiday shoppers could partake in the Season’s Greetings events of the day.
Many of the retail stores have decorated for the season and Chamber members celebrated the day by offering a 10 percent discount on Dec. 4 to the shoppers in the region. Each year, the Chamber offers a program in the region to encourage local shoppers to visit the many businesses who have valuable products and services and are local so that shoppers do not have to travel to Portland or other communities. It is important for our region to reach out to those in the area through decorating towns and encouraging civic groups to partake in tree lightings and holiday events at a local business, church, community hall or town common.
With an annual plan and the work of organizational committees throughout the year, we can continue to have festive events during the holiday season. The new Naples Main Street Committee, as part of the Lakes Region Development Council (LRDC), recently held a very successful event also on Dec. 4, and many local residents and businesses were glad to have a tree lighting, Santa and holiday cheer with cookies provided by the Inn at Long Lake, Lambs Mill Inn and Freedom CafA?©, and refreshments at the Causeway Landing business in Naples.
The Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce encourages the business members to become involved. Working with other community organizations will bring about new and continued annual events that will be beneficial the Lakes Region.
We wish Santa a great trip on Dec. 14 as he travels to the Sebago Lakes Region, we know that his sleigh is in great condition and ready for travel, and he really enjoyed meeting a lot of the children in the region on Dec. 4.
Chamber Annual Meeting
Plans are underway the 2006 Chamber Annual Meeting to be held in late January. At this meeting businesses and individuals will be recognized for their work throughout the year to enhance the programs of the Chamber and the local communities. A change of officers will take place as Kelly McKeil of Northeast Bank, current Chamber President, will hand the gavel over to incoming Chamber President, Kelly Fowler of Coldwell Banker Real Estate in Naples. The Chamber is also seeking new members for the Board of Directors and if you are a current business member who would like to be on the board, please contact the Chamber office at 892-8265.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
