On Thursday, Aug. 11, the Camp Verde Chamber and Business Alliance hosted the first of a new series of Second Thursday Mixer events in the Camp Verde Community Library’s Terracotta Room.
CVCBA President Richard Ellis kicked off the mixer by encouraging attendees to stand up and introduce themselves and their respective businesses.
A variety of local business owners ranging from massage therapists to Realtors were in attendance, as well as economic development specialists from the Camp Verde Economic Development Center and Business Resource and Innovation Center and the Arizona Association for Economic Development.
Tom Pitts, who was one of the founding directors of the Verde Valley Regional Economic Organization, said he has volunteered with multiple business-related organizations in the region, including CVCBA “to help link people up with a whole array of things that are happening, so that business operations in town have access to that sort of thing.”
“Yavapai County is kind of unusual; they do not ‘do’ economic development,” he said. “It’s one of the few [counties] that doesn’t. There is no economic development department, no economic development director and no economic development budget, unlike in Maricopa County or a lot of other places.”
Pitts spoke to the attendees about organizations that assist business owners locally, and encouraged them to attend an upcoming open house at the BRIC, located at 385 North Main Street, in Camp Verde, on Thursday, Aug. 25.
“This is a pretty good resource for us to be acquainted with, so try to make it on the 25th and see what’s going on over there,” he said.
Crisi Clark, economic development specialist at the BRIC, said the event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and representatives from Yavapai College SBDC and other organizations will be in attendance.
The open house is also a celebration of the official opening of the BRIC, which launched earlier this year.
“If you want to stop by, there’s cake,” Clark laughed.
In addition to networking, the mixer included a presentation by owner of Glorybound Publishing and former president and long-time member of CVCBA, Sheri Hauser.
Hauser’s presentation included a 20-minute introduction to the small business networking website, Alignable, where she highlighted some of the site’s features and compared them to features on Facebook and LinkedIn.
“Social media is very, very beneficial to all of us here,” Hauser and Ellis said.
Following the presentation, raffle tickets were drawn, where winners received gift baskets filled with a variety of locally-produced goods, including books, wine and more.
Additionally, copies of the chamber’s new 2022-23 Resource Guide were available.
The guide, which is also available online via Barnes & Noble and Amazon, states it “has the answers to your questions regarding the services which are available in the business community of Camp Verde.”
The book also declares “it is the only book of its kind with a complete list of area businesses, their services and contact information.”
In addition to the Second Thursday Mixer events, the chamber is also hosting “Third Thursday Zoom Mixer” events, of which the next will take place Thursday, Aug. 18, at 9 a.m.
For more information about the CVCBA mixers, visit campverdebiz. com.
Lo Frisby can be reached at 634-8551 or email lfrisby@larsonnewspapers.com
