Reflecting on our triumphs and tribulations

It’s better to look back on life and say: “I can’t believe I did that.” Than to look back and say: “I wish I did that!”

It is a time-honored tradition, to look back on the year past and reflect on our triumphs and tribulations.

After the year 2020, the tribulations were far easier to count. There is no sugarcoating it: that year was filled with historic medical, economic and social crises, any one of which would have been marked as everyone’s least favorite. But lo and behold, 2021 had to have a few more bumps in the road.

But let’s not forget the abundance of human triumphs that did occur in our own community. Surely you witnessed, as I did, the courage and tenacity of our health care workers who battled a deadly virus, every day, from the front lines.

Nor did you miss the tireless efforts of local businesses, citizens, and governments to provide economic lifelines to struggling workers and businesses impacted by the pandemic’s fallout.

That inspiration provided the energy the Hayden Chamber needed to redirect efforts, starting back in December 2020 when I first came on board. I started to focus everything we, as a Chamber did for 2021 on helping our community survive and heal.

Here are a few of the triumphs from 2021 I will recall most fondly:

Signature events

While most Chamber activities were converted to virtual platforms, we did have a few fun and poignant moments during our in-person events.

While January and February breakfast meetings were still held virtually, the Hayden Chamber had their first in-person event in February with the annual Sip, Sample & Savor, which is also coming up again this year. This event had more than 40 attendees and was a great night out for all.

In March, we were able to come back to the Best Western Plus Coeur d'Alene Inn for our breakfast meeting and it was started off with our speaker Joel Nania, SBA. Look for him to update you all again this March with small business updates. We were able to have our first of the year Chamber After Hours at the Liberty Boys Academy Mansion in Liberty Lake.

April brought us to a night out helping with the Gala & Auction for Hayden Canyon Charter School and a beautiful day out with a booth at the Hayden Kite Festival.

In mid-May, the First Bacon, Bloody’s & Brews Festival drew more than 250 people to Stateline Speedway, where 30-plus businesses, organizations and vendors made sample bacon dishes or Bloody Mary concoctions to win trophies for the best of the best! A Chamber After Hours was held at Profile by Sandford, and from that event, some of our attendees signed up for their services.

This May, as we did last year, the Hayden Chamber will sponsor and attended the Women’s Conference that Marilee Wallace hosted.

June was the month for a Chamber After Hours hosted by Photography by Luba, at her mountain top studio and then the Groundbreaking Ceremony for Open Arms Pregnancy Center which is across from the Chamber and progressing nicely.

The Hayden Days parade in July had the Hayden Chamber marching in the streets as we threw out candy to the kids.

For the month of August, the Chamber participated, with a booth at National Night Out, attended the North Idaho Veterans Home Beam signing in Post Falls and welcomed Elevate Academy North with its Groundbreaking Ceremony.

Let’s not forget about the Connecting Community & Business Expo Fair we had in September. More than 50 businesses set up their booths at the Silver Lake Mall with approximately 200 community members walking through. TDS also had its ribbon cutting for its new lounge inside the Silver Lake Mall.

October was a fun time as we passed out candy in the rain to drive-through trick or treaters at the Trunk n Treat event put on by the city of Hayden.

As the year was winding down, November brought a Chamber After Hours at Maximum Exposure Premium Wraps and we delivered Poinsettias to our Legacy & Platinum members for the holidays.

December started out with our 1st Outdoor European Christmas Market where we had more than 55 homemade craft and food vendors with twinkling lights and fire pits. We partnered with the city of Hayden with its Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting to bring more than 1,300 people through our market which led to a successful event. We also were happy to be a part of the Red Kettle Bell Ringing for the Salvation Army in front of Super 1 Foods in Hayden.

Advocating for our business community

As the Chamber has been growing, so has our staff. I was able to hire Deb Wheeler in November as our Director of Operations and we both work full time now to bring you the best of the features and benefits of the Chamber. Thank you again to our office volunteer Kathleen, who comes in twice a week, for her time and support.

The Hayden Chamber tries to make sure you get all the updated information from the city, county and state levels to be able to run your business successfully. Sometimes you may receive a few emails a day, others may be days or weeks. We send email blasts, post to our Facebook page, and update our website as we get in information.

Do you want to be a volunteer?

The Hayden Chamber Ambassadors are volunteers from the community that serve as the welcome committee for new members, help with membership campaigns and act as public relations liaisons related to networking and social events sponsored by the Chamber. As the Chamber’s public relations committee, the Ambassadors perform many important tasks for the Chamber. Most importantly, they help recruit and retain members, and assist the Chamber in meeting its membership goals for the year.

As we begin to get closer to a normal way of life, and our Ambassadors are more frequently visiting our new local and established businesses, for ribbon cuttings, Chamber After Hours and groundbreakings, they thrive on their connections and are loyal to each other’s businesses and love spreading the word to help each other out in any way possible. We understand that our Ambassadors are volunteers and are busy, and making these visits, with Chamber information, isn’t as easy as it sounds but they make it a priority when they can.

In this new year, the Chamber will be offering Ambassadors even more incentives to help drive new memberships, including gift cards to local area businesses, and more. We look forward to a year of making fantastic connections. Join our Ambassador Team! Meet, Greet & Shake Hands! Get to know our members and be a familiar friendly face. Is it you or one of your employees?

Connect with Kim Brown, our Ambassador Chair, or contact the Hayden Chamber office.

Who is the Hayden Chamber?

You, our members, are of course. Whether you are an individual, a small business, a local industry or agricultural company, a local government or nonprofit, YOU are the Chamber! Together we provide a significant voice for change and growth in our neighborhoods, our community and our businesses.

This past year, we have worked together to achieve far more than we could have individually. We welcomed 55 new members in 2021, while averaging 230 members. That is important as we strive to work together to help each other through uncertain times.

Again, we say thank you to our outstanding businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs! We are honored to have you as part of the Hayden Chamber family.

You prove that the tenacity, self-confidence and focus it takes to succeed in business are the same attributes our community needs to make it through this year, and you also prove that with these attributes, Hayden Chamber will remain, for many years to come.

We were excited to have our first Lunch & Learn as the Hayden Chamber took a field trip to Tubbs Coffee Roasters for a lesson on how coffee goes from seed to cup. Guest’s enjoyed samples of different blends and also got to experience the roasting process.

We welcomed one of our newest members — Kenneth Scott/veteran — with a ribbon cutting at the Hayden Chamber office.

Joint grand opening/ribbon cutting with the Coeur d’Alene Chamber on Feb. 1 for The Village Bakery in the Super 1 Shopping Center in Hayden. They give back with offering jobs to those with special needs and disabilities.

The Hayden Chamber had more than 75 business members, friends and family attend our Networking Breakfast & Connections Annual Meeting & Awards Banquet at the end of January. As the president/CEO, I spoke about the Chamber's accomplishments this past year for 2021 and Anita Parisot — incoming chair, presented a Powerpoint of her vision for where we are headed in 2022.

We welcomed our new Board of Directors for this year and Anita presented a beautiful clock to Melissa Schock as we thanked her for her past year as chair.

• VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AWARD — Presented to Carmen Hagenbarth with STCU.

• BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD — Presented to Maximum Exposure Premium Wraps/Josh Scott (Board of Directors).

• PRESIDENT/CEO AWARD — Presented to Kyle Rutley/Wake Media.

“The grass isn’t greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it!”

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Andrea Fulks is the president/CEO for the Hayden Chamber of Commerce.