HEALTH Strings Under the Big Sky - Explore Big Sky

22 June 29, 2012
business
Big Sky Chamber of Commerce news
Chamber moving to new building
BIG SKY – Once upon a time, in 1999, the Big Sky
Chamber of Commerce was at the corner where Lone
Mountain Trail meets Highway 191.
Now, 14 years later, the Chamber will return to that
spot, moving into the space previously occupied by
Rivers to Peaks Realty.
With $45,000 for rent and improvements in funding
from the Big Sky Resort Tax Board set to start July 1,
Chamber board member Shawna Winter has been negotiating
with a representative for the property, Brian
Dolan, to iron out the details of the lease.
“This is big, big, big news,” said Chamber Chairman
David O’Connor.
At 3,200 sq. feet, the building is much larger than the
current 2,000 sq. foot office. Because it’s visible from
the highway, it should draw more drive-by traffic.
“We’ve had huge community support,” O’Connor
said. “It’s so important to everybody—being the welcoming
committee and being able to roll out the red
carpet.”
explorebigsky.com
Since 2000, the Chamber has
been tucked away in a hard to
find office in the West Fork.
That’s why the resort tax
board voted unanimously to
fund the new building, resort
tax chairman Les Loble said.
“I suspect [the chamber of
commerce] is one of the first
places tourists think of as a
place to go for information,”
Loble said. “Having it right
there at the turnoff is the
best possible place.”
With bay windows looking
out at Lone Mountain and Gallatin Canyon, the new
space is “perfect” for a visitors’ center, said chamber
membership and program director Robin Brower-
McBride. “The best of Big Sky is within view, it’s really
cool.”
The building also has offices, a great room, and a small
boardroom.
Clemens is new executive director
BIG SKY – After several months with
very slim staffing and an extensive
candidate search, the Big Sky Chamber
of Commerce has hired a new
executive director.
Kitty Clemens comes from Colorado
Springs, Colo., where she has worked
up and down the Front Range in
economic development, destination
marketing, community relations, public
affairs, advertising and the arts.
For Clemens, the position is “an
opportunity to do what I’m really passionate
about—destination marketing
BIG SKY – The Big Sky Chamber of Commerce
is offering a new monthly orientation to teach
members how to best utilize their benefits.
Designed for new members and members with
new employees, the orientation program will take
place after the Chamber’s board meeting (which is
open to the public) on the second Tuesday of each
month.
and business development for small
communities.”
The tourism industry brings value to
economies and communities, she said.
Clemens has worked in tourism development
in several small Colorado
towns, and most recently focused on
a downtown revitalization project for
Manitou Springs, an art, recreation
and tourism community at the base of
Pikes Peak.
There, as the town was installing new
streetlights, Clemens led a creative
effort to hang banners with artwork
from the local school children. Working
with the school superintendent,
the art teachers, parents, and a local
sign maker, Clemens’ side project
saved the town money and raised
funds for the local education foundation.
“It was a win-win for everyone,” she
said. “It really did involve the whole
community.”
Clemens started working on the revitalization
project in Manitou in 2002
and followed it from the preliminary
planning stages, all the way through
the first half of the final phase eight
years later. Not only was that fulfilling,
she said it also gave her a much
broader perspective of “what it really
takes to provide for your residents and
also for the visitors that actually pay
the bills at the end of the day.”
“It’s being able to look at things from a
30,000-foot view. What you’re asking
people to come experience can be just
as important as the marketing numbers
or the website hits," she said.
Clemens also knows that in small
communities, “you have to be the
chief cook and the bottle washer.”
As an economic development officer,
she doubled as a public information
officer.
Clemens also has also written a crisis
communication plan for a multi county
travel attraction association, done
SWOT analysis, and written grants for
state and federal funding.
Although retired from skiing, she says
she loves hiking, biking, snowshoeing
The Chamber can help new businesses with
licensure, and online marketing through the
Chamber’s website or an individual one, among
other things.
Also a networking opportunity, the meetings will
be a chance to meet and work directly with other
new Chamber members and Chamber staff, said
the Chamber’s membership and program director
Robin Brower-McBride.
explorebigsky.com
Chamber starting orientation program for new members
Big Sky Weekly
by emily stiFler
big Sky weekly managing editor
O’Connor dreams that some day the other buildings
on the corner property could house local nonprofits
like the Arts Council of Big Sky and the Big Sky Community
Corp.
“It could be a community center. All those things
under one roof—parks, trails, arts—all able to work
together. When we start thinking about all those possibilities
it gets our minds reeling," he said.
and gardening.
“The mountains are for me. And definitely
cooler weather is for me.”
She starts Aug. 1, but is still looking
for a place to live, which, she notes,
can be tough with a dog. Her dog, an
Airedale, is named Albert.
The Chamber of Commerce, which
also has several new board members as
of this year, went through a restructure
this spring while looking to fill
the executive director position.
For years the Chamber operated with
only two paid staff, an ED and a membership
director. It’s added three other
new positions this spring: accountant
Wanda McCarthy, marketing specialist
Wendy Swenson, and operations
support Jessica Martin-Trulen.
The new positions are funded by a
combination of Big Sky Resort Tax
dollars, membership dues, and grants
from Yellowstone Country (which
functions as part of the Montana Office
of Tourism).
Other Chambers of Commerce are also creating
similar programs, Brower-McBride said, naming
Jackson, Wyo. and Seattle.
The first Big Sky Chamber of Commerce member
orientation will be Tuesday, July 10, 10:30 –
11:30 a.m. New members and members with new
employees are especially encouraged to attend.