By Bob Martinson
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce is in the business of destination development — and it’s proving to be a successful venture, Marc Abshire, executive director, said Tuesday.
“We have to give people a reason to come here” from out of town, Abshire told those attending the Port Angeles Business Association breakfast meeting.
The chamber board decided to get out of destination marketing and focus instead on community and business development, Abshire said.
“So, we’re out of the destination marketing business, but we’re not out of the destination development business, which is convincing people to come here,” Abshire said.
“We’re trying to build Port Angeles as a destination by coming up with reasons for them to actually come here.”
And that has paid off, according to Abshire, who noted downtown development has grown as has chamber revenue. It’s revenue increased from about $280,000 in 2016 to $311,000 in 2017 and then more than doubled to $634,000 in 2018.
“Now we’re somewhere near $650,000 to $675,000 for 2019, approaching a nearly million-dollar budget now and as a nonprofit, that’s significant,” Abshire said.
“It’s about a vision and following a plan back to our roots. We’re not at all like other chambers; we’re going to move the economy.”
In 2018 the chamber added the Winter Ice Village to draw visitors downtown during the tourist shoulder season, as well as the Port Angeles Maritime Festival in the summer. The board decided this year to expand existing attractions instead of adding more now.
The Winter Ice Village opened a day earlier this year — Nov. 22 — and it will run until Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 20, a date that coincides with basketball tournaments which, Abshire said, will bring more skaters. The skating rink on Front Street also has been expanded from 80 to 100 feet to provide space for more skaters at one time.
Also, the rink in 2018 was powered 24/7 by a diesel generator spewing soot for eight weeks and was costing upward of $15,000, Abshire said.
The rink now is hooked up to the power grid, which saves the city money while providing cleaner power, Abshire said. It can be viewed live online at www.skatecam.org.
Development of the Port Angeles Waterfront Center is another attraction that, once developed, can draw more people to town in the months between November and March, according to Abshire.
“We don’t really need to attract any more summer visitors and conferences usually don’t happen in the summer,” he said. “Those happen in the winter months, so we think we could bring more people here that way.”
PA Panto, a pantomime theater production by Shannon Cosgrove and Naomi Alstrup, is in its second year now. Panto is a British tradition that Abshire hopes will attract visitors from Victoria.
Abshire thanked Edna Petersen, local business woman and community volunteer, for providing a new venue for this year’s show at her building at 1026 E. First St. Abshire said the show, which continues through this coming weekend, was nearly sold out.
Also discussed was Jazz in the Olympics, set for April 17-18.
Abshire hopes to see in the future re-establishment of a float-plane dock at City Pier.
“It goes hand in hand with waterfront development,’ he said. “There are a lot of things to accomplish, such as Army Corps of Engineers [projects] and such, but we can get it done.”
Abshire said that the chamber is working with the city and local businesses on economic studies to enable it to chart a better course.
“This is not now, and it’s not going to be, your typical chamber of commerce,” Abshire said. “I like to think of it more like a business and you haven’t seen anything yet.”
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Bob Martinson is a freelance writer and photographer living in Sequim.
Terry Ward, publisher of the Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum, serves on the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
