The 21st Annual Southern Vermont Garlic and Herb Festival roars into town September 3 and 4 of Labor Day weekend this year. 

 I knew we were creating fresh content and a platform that could rival any other chamber in the nation! 

“Bennington Made,” a local series developed by The Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce and CAT-TV was named as a Top 5 Finalist in the 3rd Annual Chamber Innovation Award Competition.

A walk around Camelot Village to see the Southern Vermont Art and Craft Festival the sights, sounds, and smells of Bennington could not escape me as we celebrated another Bennington Arts Weekend. 

When the Chamber looks at economic development, which I believe is part of the mission of the Chamber, we should also consider community development.

On last week’s Chamber LIVE show, a series we host on our Facebook Page live every Thursday at noon, I mentioned that growth and development in Bennington would take Catalytic Leadership. 

This past weekend, being in the Americana-Fourth-of-July-mood, I decided to sit down and watch “Lincoln” again. 

When I’m not working at the Chamber, you can often find me speaking at various conferences or organizations on ‘generations in the workplace.’

John Kotter, renowned author and change management expert, says that 70% of change initiatives in organizations and businesses fail. 

For the last couple weeks we’ve been playing around with Facebook Page’s newest feature “Facebook Live Stream.” 

Americade is coming to Bennington. Well, at least for a small part of it. 

As many of you may have recently read, the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce is in exploratory mode. Much like the intro to Star Trek, we too are “boldly going.” 

This past week the Chamber helped out The Gamer’s Grotto with their World’s First Operations tournament.

Consulting firm McKinsey & Company predicts that by 2020, there will be a shortage of 1.5 million college grads, which means employers will continue to place a high premium on better-educated workers. 

Last weekend Bennington was Race Number 5 at Willow Park for the East Coast Snocross circuit. Although we saw highs of 60 degrees on those two days, the team at Snocross did not fail to deliver. 

This upcoming weekend, weather permitting, we have the great privilege to host race number 5 for the East Coast Snocross organization.

Last year, Yankee Magazine did a great article on the uniqueness of Bennington. This is how they described Bennington, “a jumble of artsy shops and cafés that have a jittery beat-poet buzz, spiced up with some highly regarded museums.”

“What separates us from others?” It’s something that I have long wondered for Bennington.