Sisters chamber shifts to local promotion

The Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce emerges from a bumpy past year into 2004 with a fresh outlook and new standards for its budget.

The Sisters economy has felt the effect of tumultuous events. The terrorist attacks in 2001 started the chain of events that led up to last year.

"We can't do anything about 9/11 and the fact that the country is in recession," said Chuck Fadeley, Chamber president. "It hurts a town like Sisters because we're so dependent on tourism, traveling, elective spending. This is the sort of thing people cut back on."

With the changing colors of the nation's security codes, traveling habits also changed.

"With the conventional wisdom that people weren't traveling very far we made a decision to advertise almost exclusively local -- tri-county Central Oregon," said Ric Nowak, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce.

Last summer, in the peak of the tourist season, the Santiam Pass was closed due to forest fires. The Chamber of Commerce was forced to cancel its Western and Native American Arts Festival as a result.

Fadeley said that the Chamber took immediate action by shifting its advertising to local Bend and Redmond markets to let people know that the town wasn't full of smoke during the fires.

Over time, the combination of problems took their toll on the Sisters economy -- and the chamber. The summer events in 2003 generated less revenue for the Chamber of Commerce than its leadership had anticipated.

"These events are going to be very hard hit by the fact that people are less likely to travel; less likely to be engaged in elective spending," Fadeley said.

The Chamber of Commerce has assessed its needs and restructured itself "to get the best bang for the buck," said Nowak.

"We decided we needed to step up to the plate as far as allocating resources to hire and retain quality staff," Fadeley said.

"How we've done that is by hiring Nowak and made the events coordinator a full time position and (provided) a compensation package for all the people that will keep good continuity.

"This will make the chamber a real resource."

As the Chamber of Commerce prepares for 2004 it has less to spend. Advertising focus remains local.

"It's redundant for the chamber, with the resources as hard as they are to come by, to try to reach out there too far," said Nowak.

The advertising that the Chamber of Commerce does is focused just in the tri-county area by means of TV, radio, and publications. The Central Oregon Visitors Association (COVA) promotes Sisters in its statewide campaign and beyond.

The Chamber of Commerce works to keep good relations with all other sorts of groups in Central Oregon, whether it's the county, COVA, or the Chambers of Commerce in other towns.

The Chamber of Commerce courted Governor Ted Kulongoski to stay in Sisters and present the award for Barclay Park.

"When Governor Kulongoski says, 'Boy I like to come to Sisters,' that's marketing you can't buy with a check," Nowak said.

It also provides opportunities for lobbying.

"In our conversations with the governor I said, 'Please Ted make sure that ODOT and other agencies keep resources up there (Santiam Pass) and make sure we keep that road open,'" said Nowak.

The chamber has combed its budget for areas to tighten up.

"Our operating expenses are a push," Nowak said. "We got rid of a storage shed here in town. We're utilizing our bulk mailing program to cut down on postage and we made the things we do more efficient.

"Jack McGilvary (Chamber of Commerce treasurer) and I have looked through this budget line-item by line-item," Nowack said.

And, like its membership, the chamber hopes for an open highway and a rebounding economy to keep Sisters' business climate healthy.