PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce officials will unveil a new logo, membership packet and other future plans Tuesday.
The chamber is rebranding itself, hoping to provide better tools for businesses and to attract a new generation of business leaders, said Teresa Verraes, chamber executive director.
Officials will announce the chamber’s new look at 7 p.m. Tuesday at its office, 2409 Jefferson St.
The event — which will feature food, music and refreshments from a local distillery and a local cidermaker — replaces the regular After Hours party on the second Tuesday of every month.
The rebranding process began with the June 2015 move of chamber headquarters from the Haines Place Park and Ride, 440 12th St., to its new location, Verraes said.
“The chamber reimagined started with our move and the development of the business resource center,” she said.
“Industrywide, chambers have been trying to get out of the conventional rut they’ve been in.”
At the new location, the chamber is sharing an expanded space with Jefferson County Homebuilders Association and the Washington Small Business Development Center, Economic Development Council Team Jefferson and the visitors center.
One of the plans to be unveiled Tuesday includes the disposition of a building at 2455 Sims Way that served as chamber headquarters and a visitors center prior to 2009.
The building will be demolished, Verraes said, and replaced with public restrooms and a plaza “to welcome people to Port Townsend and greet them when they leave.”
When Verraes joined the chamber in 2011, she said, she “had no idea what chambers were about. We succeeded because there was nothing to compare it to.”
The chamber is offering four membership levels: Launch for $195 a year, Lead for $295, Champion for $595 and Visionary for $1,395.
All feature website and directory listings, while each level offers a number of Chamber Tools including advertising, rack card space, video playback at the visitors center, a ribbon-cutting, a member spotlight and a one-hour consultation with chamber staff.
“Joining the chamber gives a business approval and legitimacy,” Verraes said.
“It’s about access to the information businesses need in order to succeed.”
Verraes said the shift is “more than marketing and PR.”
“It’s about a retooling of the chamber, a narrowing of our focus a little bit so we can have a richer program base,” she said.
That step came in May, when the weekly Monday chamber meetings were reduced by half.
The chamber has met in the Elks Club at 555 Otto St. in Port Townsend since 2009 when the Port Townsend, Port Ludlow and Tri-Area chambers were combined.
Now it meets once a month at Fort Worden Commons and once at the Elks Club.
“We want to concentrate on richer programs and will be a lot more selective,” Verraes said at the time.
“We want to get a diversity of programs and even get some people from out of the area.”
The chamber has 469 members. The luncheons usually attract about 10 percent of the membership, Verraes said.
Verraes hopes the rebranding will attract young business owners.
“We’ve been a champion and a big driver to attract a new generation of business owners and show them how to be leaders,” she said.
For more information, call 360-385-7869 or go to www.jeffcountychamber.org.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
