The Ferdinand and Huntingburg Chambers of Commerce have expressed the desire to possibly merge the two individual chambers into one for the community. Today, they held their first of three focus group sessions at the Huntingburg Chamber office in Huntingburg.
Chamber members, prospective members, businesses and the public participated in the event, giving their ideas about what they would like to see out of a merger, the benefits of a merger, as well as expressing concerns about what may happen if a merger were to take place.
Executive Director of the Huntingburg Chamber of Commerce Sara Schroeder, who helped bring the event together along with Jessica Lindauer with the Ferdinand Chamber of Commerce, said that the merger would be made to help bring the two communities closer together
Schroeder went on to mention that there has been a lot of positive feedback from the community about a possible merger, however, there has been some speculation about it.
For those still interested, there are still two more focus group sessions to attend. It is only necessary to attend one session and participants can pick the session date and location most convenient for them. Sessions are expected to last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. The next session is scheduled for Tuesday, May 28th at 6:30 pm at Vincennes University Jasper – CTIM building. This session will be geared towards the local Merchant Associations, but anyone is welcome to attend. The 3rd session and final session will be held Wednesday, May 29th at 8:00 am in the Ferdinand Library Community Room.
Participants are asked to RSVP to chamberconnect19@gmail.com and state which session they will be attending. All the information obtained during the last few months will be reviewed by both boards of directors before a final decision is made in mid-June.
