1st annual Berries, Brew & BBQ

This is the kickoff for the 25th Annual Strawberry Festival. Hosted by the Chamber, Floral City Merchants Assoc, and AG Alliance of Citrus County. Free admission! Located in downtown Floral City. Friday March 2, 6-9PM. Come out and grab a brew!

Kidney for Karen was a Success!

Last nights benefit for Karen Pulcini was a huge success. Thanks to all who came out!

The Citrus Coun…

The Citrus County Chamber of Commerce is Back on Track!!!!

October workshop planned – topic: Social Media 411

The Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Economic Development Council, Small Business Development Center, College of Central Florida, SCORE, and Workforce Connection have announced plans for the October professional development workshop.  This group is informally known as the Citrus County Business Resource Alliance.  For the October workshop, which will cover the broad topic of social media, the group has also teamed up with the Citrus County Tourism office and Constant Contact, an email marketing company.
If the thought of embracing social media as a viable tool to grow your business makes you want to “Yelp!”, you think “twittering” is for the birds, but you want to have your business “LinkedIn” this workshop will be perfect for you!  The workshop will be on Wednesday October 12, 2011 at the College of Central Florida conference facility beginning at 9:00am.
This workshop will be panel style with open questions and after at the end.  The panel will be comprised of four speakers.  Pamela Starr of Constant Contact will open the workshop and speak on the topic of why you need a social media strategy.  Danielle Ackerman from the Citrus County Tourism office will address place and review specific social media sites such as Yelp!, Google Places, and Foursquare.  Local business owner Chris Kingree of SocialMedia Designs will tackle “I have a website – now what?” addressing topics such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), keywords, and google analytics.  Meredith Linley from the Chamber of Commerce will round out the panel speaking on the ins and outs of Facebook, the pros and cons of Twitter, and the Groupon craze – is it for your business?
The workshop is free to members and clients of the hosting groups.  It is open to the general public for a nominal fee of $10.00.  Reservations are required for all and can be obtained by calling 352-795-3149.  For further questions about the workshop please contact Meredith Linley at Meredith@citruscountychamber.com or at 352-795-3149.

Citrus Enterprise Center to have Open House

The Citrus Enterprise Center, Homosassa Office is ready to showcase itself to the community and interested tenants.  This business incubator model is located in the former Chamber office in Homosassa on US HWY 19.  The open house will be on Monday September 19, 2011 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.  Light refreshments will be served.

The concept and project was spear headed by the informally known Citrus County Business Resource Alliance comprised of the Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Council, Small Business Development Center, Workforce Connection, SCORE, and the College of Central Florida.  The Alliance wishes to thank Clark Construction and Schnettler Construction for the donating time and services to convert the building from the former chamber office into the enterprise center.  Additionally, many community businesses gave donations to raise the required funds for the retrofit.

The enterprise center will have the ability to house three separate businesses who will share common services such as utilities and conference facilities.  Incubators, as they are commonly known, are a great resource for small businesses that have been in operation already for one to three years but may not have a permanent location.  Rather than branching out into a storefront or stand-alone office location and bearing the burden of operating expenses solely, an incubator model allows these businesses to share the cost of the services.  Monthly rent will be more affordable than current commercial lease rates.
As residents of the enterprise center, tenants are expected to grow their business and be able to graduate from the incubator program and move into
their own location within one to three years.  Additionally another goal of the program is for the tenants to grow their businesses to the level where they must hire additional employees.

Potential tenants and community members are invited to come to the open house to view the facility and learn more about the concept.  The enterprise center will be ready for tenants shortly and applications for potential tenants will be available at the open house.  For questions about becoming a tenant please
contact Ardath Prendergast at 352-726-2801.

Leadership Citrus to begin recruitment for new members

Leadership Citrus
opens recruitment for Class of 2012

Leadership Citrus is now actively recruiting members for the Class of 2012.  Leadership Citrus is a five month program that gives its members an inside look at the workings of Citrus County.  From learning about county government, to getting a bird’s eye view of the county, and possibly having an encounter with a manatee – Leadership Citrus will change each participant’s perspective on Citrus County.

Class membership is open to anyone, but members of the Chamber of Commerce will receive a discount on their dues.  The recruitment process involves filling out an application and going through an interview process.  Selected members will be notified via mail in December and the class will start on January 5, 2011.  The class meets every other Thursday from January 5 to late May, to graduate each student may only miss one class and are required to attend the first day.

Throughout the class, the students will pick a community project to complete.  Prior class projects have ranged from the creation of Citrus 20/20, a major cleanup of Hunter Springs Park, and last year the class of 2011 held a work day at the Family Resource Center in Hernando.

Local business owners and community leaders are highly encouraged to attend.  The cost of the class is $495.00 for Chamber members and is $595.00 for non-members.  Applications can be found online at www.leadershipcitrus.com

There will be a Leadership Citrus Alumni party on Thursday October 6, 2011 at the residence of Kevin & Karen Cunningham in Hernando.  Contact Tricia Durham at 352-613-0990 for more information.

Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam to address Chamber/EDC at Industry Awards Luncheon

Commissionerof Agriculture Adam Putnam to speak

The Commissioner will be the guest speaker at the annual Industry Appreciation Awards luncheon

The Citrus County Economic Development Council and the Chamber of Commerce are pleased to announce that Florida Commissioner of
Agriculture Adam Putnam will be the featured speaker at the annual Industry Appreciation Awards luncheon to be held Friday September 9, 2011 at the College of Central Florida.  This annual luncheon honors local businesses and industries; awards for Small Business of the Year, Citizen of the Year, and Corporate Citizen of the Year will be given.

As the Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner Putnam is the head of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences.  Commissioner Putnam was elected on November 2, 2010.  Prior to his role as Commissioner, Putnam served five terms as Congressman for Florida’s 12th
district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“We are extremely honored that the Commissioner agreed to be our keynote speaker at the annual luncheon.  The Chamber and the EDC work every year in partnership to make the Industry Appreciation Month events a success; I am confident our luncheon will be a total sellout this year with Commissioner Putnam speaking.”, said Chamber President/CEO Josh Wooten.

The luncheon, held at the College of Central Florida conference facility, will begin promptly at 11:30am.  The cost is $20.00 per person with advance
reservations required.  Reservations can be made on the EDC website, www.citrusedc.com under the events tab or by calling 352-795-3149. Nominations will still be accepted until August 19 for the annual awards, contact Tobey at the above number for more details.

The 29^th Annual Citrus County Barbeque will be the second event during Industry Appreciation Month and will take place on Thursday September 22, 2011 at Holcim Ranch in Crystal River.  More details can be found on www.citrusedc.com.