Chamber seeks business input during meetings

Whitefish business owners will have a chance to talk about the challenges they face during two neighborhood business meetings on Oct. 26 and Nov. 3.

The meetings are hosted each year by the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce with the intent of taking the pulse of local businesses. Business owners are encouraged to share with chamber officials the issues that affect them and ideas for making their business run smoother.

“We want to get a handle on the issues that face Whitefish businesses, and the only way to do that is to ask,” said Jeff Raper, chairman of the chamber’s government affairs committee. “So we’re asking Whitefish business owners — whether they’re chamber members or not — to sit down and have a cup of coffee with us this month, and talk business.”

The Oct. 26 meeting is at 8 a.m. at the Montana Tap House to discuss businesses in the Wisconsin Avenue corridor, and the following November meeting for downtown businesses will be held at 8 a.m. at the Firebrand Hotel. Business owners are encouraged to attend one or both of the meetings regardless of their business’s location.

Members of the chamber’s board of directors and government affairs committee and representatives of the Whitefish City Council will attend the meetings to gather information and ideas.

Chamber executive director Kevin Gartland said participation from the local business community is key to making the meetings worthwhile.

“These meetings are a little bit different from most,” Gartland said. “In that we’re not calling people together to tell them something ... we’re bringing them together so we can listen to what they’ve got to say.”

For more information on this month’s meetings call the Whitefish Chamber at 862-3501.