This Is Your Chamber—and Your Invitation to Help Shape What Comes Next

Every year, the Mad River Valley Chamber holds an Annual Meeting. On paper, it is a requirement: share the financials, elect trustees and report on the work. But that isn’t why I hope you’ll come. I hope you’ll come because this feels like an important moment for the Chamber—and for the Mad River Valley.

When I took this job seven years ago, I believed deeply in this place. After 24 years at Mad River Glen, I understood that the Mad River Valley wasn’t successful because we did things the way everybody else did. It was successful because we didn’t. We have always followed our own path.

That path can be a little crooked. It can be inefficient and occasionally messy. It depends heavily on relationships, collaboration and people willing to roll up their sleeves. But it has also protected something increasingly rare: a real community with a palpable sense of place.

Not a manufactured version of Vermont. Not a collection of individual businesses each looking out for itself. A living, breathing community made stronger by the people who choose to participate in it. That is the vision I believe the Chamber must continue to embrace.

To me, the Chamber is not simply a marketing organization, a business directory or a collection of member benefits. Those things matter, but they are tools—not the purpose.

At its best, the Chamber is a convener, a connector and a catalyst. It brings people together who might not otherwise find themselves at the same table. It helps turn good ideas into action. It advocates for our business community while understanding that a strong economy, a healthy community and the stewardship of this place are inseparable.

You can see that spirit in stewardMRV, the Round-Up Revival, our efforts around workforce transportation, the Short-Term Rental Collaborative, fire and life safety work, the Welcome Center and Recreation Hub, Mad Mingles, community events and countless conversations quietly happening behind the scenes.

None of that belongs to me. It doesn’t belong solely to the Board. It belongs to all of us.

And that is really the point of this invitation.

If you believe in the Mad River Valley, I hope you will become more engaged in its future. Ask questions. Share an idea. Challenge us when we need challenging. Volunteer. Join a conversation. Consider serving on the Board or a committee. Show up and help us keep shaping an organization—and a Valley—that reflects who we really are.

Our Annual Meeting will be held Tuesday, September 15, at the 1824 House Inn & Barn. We’ll begin with cocktails at 5:30 pm, followed by the program at 6 pm.

I’m especially pleased that Heather Pelham, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, will join us to discuss Vermont’s new branding strategy and where the Mad River Valley fits into that evolving story. It is a timely conversation, because Vermont is considering how it presents itself to the world—and we should be thinking carefully about the same thing here at home.

Not how we become something different, but how we tell our story more clearly while staying true to ourselves.

The meeting is free and open to all Chamber members and their employees. We also invite non-member businesses and individuals who have an interest in joining the organization to attend. Afterward, we’ll gather around the table for a family-style dinner prepared by the 1824 House. Dinner is $35 per person and requires advance registration.

I know everyone is busy. I know September arrives quickly, and there is always something else demanding our attention.

But communities don’t remain strong by accident. They remain strong because people care enough to participate.

Please join us. Come hear where we’ve been, help us consider where we’re headed and—most importantly—be part of it.

Because this is your Chamber. This is your community. And what comes next is something we will build together.

Eric Friedman
Executive Director
Email: [email protected]