Chamber Reports September 8, 2010

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1 Chamber Reports September 8, 2010 Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce It remains to be a very busy time for us on Clearwater Beach with the filming of the movie A Dolphin s Tale at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. We are now collecting items for the Welcome bags that will be presented to the cast and crew members. Our Chamber is very proud to have been asked by the Aquarium to provide the welcome bags. The scouts are out there right now looking for locations to do filming, what an exciting time!! Our Beach Chamber Visitor Center and offices now look like the beach! We have a brand new look and encourage everyone to stop by and see our new décor. Our walls have all been painted tropical and citrus colors. We have new desks, courtesy of Synovus Bank, and we have reorganized all of our brochures racks. We get compliments every day on the welcoming change. We are most thankful and grateful to Shephards Beach Resort for providing us with their house painter, Joey, to paint the Chamber for us. And our landlord, David Little, donate the paint. How lucky are we? Also we have new photography to display, thanks to our member Wayne at Belleair Images. Our Chamber is working with the organizers of the Super Power Boat Races coming October 1 st, 2 nd & 3 rd and VIP tickets will be for sale at our Chamber for $100 each. Sunsets at Pier 60 continues to run free movies on Friday and Saturday nights. These are all PG rated movies for the families with kids, and this event has turned out to be very successful. We have been promoting the video Clearwater Artificial Reefs on our Home Page of our Web Site, delivering the message that our beaches are and will remain oil free. Our Golf Tournament will be held October 29 th at the Clearwater Country Club. The Beach Chamber is proud to say that we have provided a home to a poor unfortunate dog. Her name is Maria and she was rescued from a Puppy Mill by the very kind people who own Island Dog Outfitters here on Clearwater Beach. We are delighted to help out our community in this way. Maria brings us a great amount of joy and she is loving her new Chamber family. Our Chamber is working very hard right now on a totally new web site. This is a very laborious task and we have spent many hours to create an awesome and user friendly website. We will be very excited to unveil it by October 1 st. Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce The Philadelphia Phillies and the CRCC have partnered to address the oil spill perception in the Philadelphia region. With the help of Sheraton Sand Key, Hyatt Clearwater Beach, Shephards, Hilton Clearwater Beach, Marriott Sand Key, Sand Pearl Resort, Clearwater Marine Aquarium and BayStar Restaurant group the Phillies will be giving away 8 trips for two to Clearwater Beach the last week of the MLB season during their annual fan appreciation events at Citizen Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Phillies supplied 16 round trip tickets from Southwest Airlines through their partnership with the airline. The

2 Phillies will also be providing promotional consideration on their digital big screens in the stadium highlighting the giveaway. The purpose is to provide firsthand experience to show that our beaches are oil free prior to spring training. The CRCC haw been assisting the production company of Winters Tail in locating suppliers, providing visitors guides, community resource guides and other assorted services related to the movie. The production company offices are located directly across the street from CRCC in the Cleveland St. District of Clearwater. Planning is almost complete for the second annual Bright House 2010 Clearwater Super Boat National Championship Festival, October 1-3. The CRCC provide $12,000 in co-op funding with a match grant from the CVB. The funding was used to produce a TV commercial presently being shown in the Central Florida markets of Bright House Networks. Over 110 spots will be shown on the ESPN networks, Speed network and Bright House news networks. Dunedin Chamber of Commerce The Dunedin tourism marketing group, Visit Dunedin, just prioritized its goals for the year. The committee, made up of stakeholders in all areas of tourism promotion and involvement in Dunedin, plans to continue the distribution of the Dunedin brochure throughout the Tampa Bay area. It will also be helping with the branding study that the City is doing RFPs for right now. They have also pledged their support for the effort to bring Jolley Trolley service from Clearwater Beach to Dunedin, and possibly beyond. There is more commitment to this organization than ever before and its more necessary than ever. The Chamber is also extremely thankful to Suzanne Sculley and the staff of VSPC for selecting Dunedin for a dine around program with the Delta fam. Next month s report will have more details. The Dunedin Blue Jays are in the playoffs and the Florida State League game is Wednesday, September 8, at Dunedin Stadium, 373 Douglas Ave. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the game is at 7 p.m. General admission tickets and All-you-can-eat barbecue tickets are available. Call the Jays at to order tickets. Dunedin s Starlight Concert series is free and open to everyone Friday nights at the Community Center in Highlander Park, corner of Pinehurst and Michigan. The concerts are 7 9 p.m. and also include Yappy Hour, a dog-friendly event sponsored by the Dunedin Doggie Rescue. Bring a picnic and a blanket and come enjoy. Saturday and Sunday, October 2 & 3, Edgewater Park is the place to be for the Kiwanis Regatta. Events are 10 a.m. to 4 pm. and are a must for boat lovers. This waterfront Waterfront Festival features entertainment, Kid s Touch-A-Boat, Kid s Art Tent, Kayak Demos, food and more. Plus great sailing races. For more info go to Ladies, come to Dunedin on Thursday, October 7, 6 to 8 p.m. for Ladies Night to promote National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. All the stores and restaurants will be open, special prizes will be given away, and lots of fun is planned. You can even get your hair highlighted pink thanks to the folks at Hair Factor. All proceeds for the event benefit Morton Plant Mease Foundation and their cancer programs.

3 Largo/Mid-Pinellas Chamber Report ~ No Report Palm Harbor Chamber of Commerce ~ No Report Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce Safety Harbor went Stepping with the Stars in August at a black tie dancing contest featuring local notables, and Emcee Jen Holloway of Bright House networks. Out of area people attended, the Chamber made some shekels, and a swinging time was had by all! The monthly 3 rd Friday night drew an unusually large crowd, with possibly 3,000 visitors from the whole surrounding area, and around 200 visitors inside the Chamber. Many locals, but a significant out of area representation. The next really big event upcoming is Harbor Sounds, scheduled for Oct. 1 st and 2 nd, where over 10,000 attendees are expected. Bands from the area will be performing both Fri evening, and most of Saturday, Oct. 2 nd. Committee members, you have our special invitation to attend and enjoy the festive occasion! Seminole Chamber of Commerce During July and August we promoted Seminole through advertising and welcoming visitors to our Seminole Chamber office, including: The new natural habitat park at St. Petersburg College, opened Aug. 31 The Senior Lounge opening at the Seminole Recreation Center Aug. 26 Family aquatics day open house Aug. 29 Historical display at Recreation Center Music in the Park series, beginning Sept. 10 distributed maps, pamphlets advertising pieces on tourists attractions, Pinellas Trail The Seminole Chamber played a major role in developing the Fresh Markets & More event at Seminole Mall. This gives visitors a shopping/entertainment destination to go to Thursdays through Saturday. We also had a ribbon cutting for Aldi food store at 7777 Seminole Blvd. Sept. 2 St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce The St. Petersburg Area Chamber continued to promote Pinellas County area destinations throughout the month of August. The Visitor & Information Center was busy in August promoting and providing information for several events including: Rays home games Weekends at Weedon Island Andrea Keys Connell: Ceramic Sculptures Celebrity Critter of the Week Coffee with a Curator St. Pete Shuffle Albert Whitted Airport Pancake Breakfast Kayak Demo Day Dali Family Fun Saturdays Hot the Hot Shop

4 We continue to field calls of concerned residents and visitors alike answering questions about oil. We continue to use the message and information such as e-postcards, commercials and more provided from the CVB. We continue to distribute the Official Visitors Guide. Chamber staff attended the CVB Social Media Summit in August and is currently upgrading it s Social Media plan for outreach and community promotion. Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce Our Tourism promotion goes into high gear this month with a three month direct print & online into three key Allegiant markets as part of our co-op matching grant. The chamber has made specific visits to all businesses in Treasure Island to communicate beach renourishment and provide the educational marketing piece. Plans are starting around our October Flip Flop Fling, Sales Mission to Tampa and 2 more chamber FAM Tours to member businesses before the year ends. Finally, we are excited to announce our partnership with Cox Media to develop BEACH DAY TAMPA BAY on September 19th (Mark your calendar). We will be broadcasting live from 6 locations along our Pinellas Beaches with deals and contests. The main goal: Get to the beach and enjoy what we have to offer. For more information call: Robin at Tarpon Springs Chamber of Commerce The Chamber of Commerce is offering a week-long schedule of marketing and business workshops the last week in September, including business plans, marketing plans, marketing tools and promotions, customer service, taxes and finance and social marketing. Information will be on the Chamber s website. The Battle of the Garage Bands will be held on Saturday, October 9 th. There are at least 10 bands signed up, plus a Rod Stewart entertainer from Las Vegas and lots of vendors, food and drinks. This will be a great event for those who remember even part of the 60 s and 70 s! The Rotary Club of Tarpon Springs will hold their 2 nd Annual 5K on September 10 th in the early evening at Fred Howard Park. With the work completed on Fred Howard Park and Beach, the 21 st Annual Triathlon is back the next morning, Saturday, the 11 th. The swim is on Fred Howard Beach, with the bike event going through the Historic Downtown and Sponge Docks and throughout the city. There is still time to sign up the day of the events. If you want to learn traditional Kalymnian songs, the Kalymnian Society will be giving lessons throughout September and October. The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Fine Arts is holding art lessons in September and October a variety of art mediums and techniques, such as acrylic-based paints; drawing tools; pastels; collage; and monoprinting techniques without a press. These are available for all levels of art ability and training. Brooker Creek Preserve has ongoing events for all ages. Check their website for their schedule.

5 Plans are underway for a huge Veteran s Day Tribute Weekend. This will take place on November at Craig Park in Tarpon Springs, site of the Fine Arts Festival. Mentioning that, the committee has started meeting for the 37 th Annual Tarpon Springs Fine Arts Festival to be held on April 2 nd and 3 rd. You will get plenty of reminders!! Upper Tampa Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce in Oldsmar We held our annual legislative lunch on August 11. Congressman Gus Bilirakis was the guest of honor. Congresswoman Kathy Castor sent a representative. State Representatives Peter Nehr and Kevin Ambler were also on hand as were dozens of candidates for federal, state and local offices. We also held our Annual Indoor Golf Mixer. Nine local restaurants hosted over 100 golfers.