Each January we publish a special edition of our newsletter which looks back on the previous year. Please check out 2019 in Review (it should download a PDF) for a comprehensive look at what your local Chamber was up to in 2019!

2020 is knocking on our door and we are pleased to start the year with 2 great events:

• On January 21, we are partnering with Community Futures Big Country on an Instagram Workshop
• On January 29, join us for our first Lunch & Learn of the year with Drumheller-Stettler MLA Nate Horner. Tickets are $20 for Chamber members and $25 for nonmembers, lunch is included. Register here.

Stay tuned for details on more Lunch & Learn sessions and our Annual General Meeting in March! 

On Tuesday, November 26 I had the pleasure of attending the ACC Fall Board meeting and Deputy Ministers’ Dinner in Edmonton. The sessions during the day were very timely and informative, followed by an evening Q & A with the Deputy Ministers.

Initial results from the Alberta Perspectives Survey, which focused on red tape reduction, were shared. Across the province, the top three barriers to business identified at a municipal level included municipal franchise fees, mill rates and permitting fees. The survey also showed that business confidence has decreased 20% since the first survey was conducted in June. Please stay tuned for full survey results to be released.

For the 5^th consecutive year, the DDCC partnered with the Grade 11 Career and Life Management (CALM) class at St. Anthony’s School for the You’re Hired Interview Competition. The program gives students the opportunity to apply for fictitious jobs and interview for these jobs with real employers in the community.

Twenty-nine students from Mr. Jay Mulgrew’s CALM class interviewed with seven employers. The employers and their representatives included:

Small Business Week is an initiative started by the BDC back in 1944, and is held during the third full week of October. This year, the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce celebrated Small Business Week with cookies! 

All week long, Chamber staff Heather and Marley were out of the office visiting Chamber members and delivering cookies to celebrate. We were able to visit 79 members in total and delivered 516 cookies. Through the course of our visits, we heard a variety of comments from our members.

Additionally, we held our 8th annual Women in Business Mixer during Small Business Week and had a great group of 40 ladies join us to hear from inspirational speaker Kimberly Lyall.