Seven Year Anniversary
Time flies when you are having fun! And I cannot believe this month marks my seventh year as the executive director of the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce. Looking back, we have accomplished and provided a lot of programming through the years. Every year brings its new challenges and priorities, but we, at the chamber, have worked to meet those challenges.
When I stepped into the role, the chamber membership was a low roster and unengaged. We immediately looked for ways to re-engage our members and community, as well as improve the financial outlook. Thankfully, due diligence by chamber staff (me and our wonderful assistant Sharon Williams), we have been able to not only increase our annual budget, but also now have a healthy membership.
Let us recap some of the programming and events that the chamber has presented in the last seven years. We have offered several Lunch and Learn programs ranging from social media, grant writing, how to start a business, and Google operating systems. Our two-year run of the Patrick County Showcase has transitioned into assisting the high school with their career fair. The creation of Hometown Christmas is the umbrella under which we promote all the great events that happen in Stuart for the holidays. The past few years we have expanded this to “Christmas in Patrick County” to help include and promote the ever-growing list of holiday events. Our partnership with Reynolds Homestead has been successful in offering the Patrick County Leadership — hosting the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street exhibit, the county’s first ever economic summit, and our annual Lunch with Leaders program. The chamber also created and offered two bootcamp-style programs: the Short-Term Rental and the PCVA Business Builders. Through a partnership with Step Inc., One Family Productions, and Stuart Rotary, we are able to offer the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program to our county kids. We also partner with the Dan River Basin Association to host the annual Apple Dumpling Festival 5K in October.
From 2017 to the end of 2019, the chamber of commerce was on a robust time offering classes and events. We re-energized our annual membership and awards banquets with fun themes that attendees rallied behind, we resurrected the Blue Ridge Exposition into the Patrick County Showcase, and continued to provide our Business After Hours and several Lunch and Learns.
Then, like for so many, COVID changed the landscape for everything. The chamber was forced to switch gears and work to promote safety for our community and within our businesses and try to help assimilate the information for our business community regarding relief funds. It allowed us to take stock of programming and see where we could focus our efforts. Also, with the increase of the county tourism department, the chamber has relinquished our lead role in promoting tourism. We now function more in an accessory role with tourism and work more with the businesses to help address their needs of resources and labor. Additionally, the chamber created and hosted an informal information session on “How to Start a Business in Patrick County.”
The chamber was awarded the Keep Virginia Beautiful grant that helped fund the creation of the “pocket park” located beside the newly reopened Tony’s Pizza in downtown Stuart. We have also been fortunate to win awards from Friends of SWVA: the 2022 Partner of the Year award, and in 2023, a team win for the Patrick County magazine.
Since COVID, the chamber has maintained its focus on assisting our businesses and keeping the community engaged. Our annual Pick-Up Patrick campaign works to help beautify our county every spring.
And I will always take pause to mention the creation of the Patrick County magazine. Our collaboration with Patrick County Tourism and SilverLining Design to create a twice-yearly magazine that really showcases the best of and the hidden gems of Patrick County. We continually receive praise for the work our team does in producing such a high-quality magazine. And it could not be done without the help of the team.
With trying to keep the community informed, the chamber started the email newsletter, while maintaining social media and website activities, adding our monthly column in The Enterprise and WHEO Radio spot. We also created the Community Resource Guide which lists all the organizations that serve our residents.
The chamber continues to be a resource for visitors and residents alike. We continue to operate a self-serve visitor center in Meadows of Dan as well as our office located at 410 Patrick Avenue in Stuart, answering phone calls daily from individuals requesting a wide range of information. One especially key role I take seriously is representing Patrick County at the local, regional, and state meetings. Meeting with Blue Ridge Parkway representatives to the local workforce development is what makes this job so fun. The last seven years have been so much fun learning about all the great businesses that are in Patrick County and really getting to know the community on a deeper level. There is still work to be done. We look forward to continuing to work to reinvent and rethink Patrick County as the best we can all be.
Adcock is the executive director of the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce
