What's new with the Tri Town Chamber of Commerce for June

June will be a big month for community outreach in all three towns covered by the Tri Town Chamber of Commerce. Foxboro and Norton are observing birthdays, while Mansfield is home to one of Executive Director Kara Griffin’s long-time affinities.

The town of Norton will be celebrating its biggest birthday yet as the Norton 300 parade runs from noon to 4 PM on Sunday June 12 starting from the Yelle School. Tri Town is proud to participate in the festivities. Thanks to Sharon Credit Union’s Mansfield Branch Manager Donald Cave for the use of his Mustang. Kara has been practicing her “parade wave” for weeks, so come cheer her on!

Foxboro is celebrating its birthday the day before, hosting its Foxborough Founders’ Day on June 11th. The town’s traditional wagon and doll carriage parade will start promptly at 1:00PM in the Bill Hyland Inline Hockey Rink at Booth Playground. Please visit the Tri Town table; we can be found next to the Brigham and Women’s Mass General booth.

Kara Griffin has participated in Mansfield’s American Cancer Society Relay For Life for seven years and will, once again, be leading a Chamber team. The event will be held on June 17 and 18 at Mansfield High School. This is a great cause and the Chamber appreciates the hard work that Kara and other team leaders put forth to pull it off.

On a completely different note, the Chamber was excited to host two very informative “state of the economy” meetings in May. Our Economic Development Committee invited town managers Bill Ross of Mansfield, Michael Yunits from Norton, and Kevin Paicos of Foxborough, to our offices in Mansfield to share issues of common interest. We were excited to hear about new businesses coming to the area and planned infrastructure improvements that will facilitate even more activity later. Chamber Economic Development VP Kurt Wheaton from Epoch Senior Living in Norton chaired the meeting.

Two days later, we hosted Massachusetts Office of Business Development Regional Director Robert Arthur, who provided us with a more detailed understanding of the programs that are available to help area businesses grow and evolve to stay competitive. We learned that there is help available for site selection, infrastructure improvements, tax incentive optimization, energy savings, and employment and training. Thanks to Mr. Arthur, the Chamber is even more equipped than ever to advise local businesses on how to flourish.

Tri Town will be continuing its immensely popular Women’s Link series when inspirational publisher and author Linda Joy presents “When life throws curveballs, be prepared to duck!” on Tuesday, June 14. The event will be held from 7:30 to 9 AM at Showcase Live in Foxboro. Tickets are available for $20 for members and $25 for non-members, including breakfast. Thanks to long-standing Chamber members Gagnon Wealth Management and Debra M. Crowell, CPA for sponsoring.

As it has been for the last two years, our annual Monte Carlo & Silent Auction Night was a great success. While not everyone ended the night flush with funny money, a great time was had by all. Attendees even got the chance to win pseudo cash by answering very strenuous Chamber Trivia questions such as “How many offices does the Tri Town Chamber Office have to rent, 3, 274, or 1620?” Amazing that almost everyone got that one right! Thanks once again to Mansfield Bank for being our Presenting Sponsor and to Mansfield Crossing and Deutsche Bank Championship for contributing as Royal Flush Sponsors.

On the subject of office leasing, we have one office available at the Chamber facility in Mansfield Crossing, conveniently located near the intersection of routes 95 and 495. Email or call the chamber at 508 339 5655 for details.

On the Business after Hours front, we are excited to return to Harbor One Credit Union in Mansfield from 5 to 7 PM on Tuesday, June 14. Thanks to David Arnold and ESP Solutions in Norton for a great after hours event last month.

Join Certified Financial Planner Steve Davis at 7:45 on June 8 at the Chamber office for a Business over Breakfast covering the increasingly important topic “Retirement Plans for Small Business.” After hours and breakfast meetings are free to chamber members and only $10 for non-members. Call the Chamber at 508 339 5655 to sign up.

As President of the Board for the Tri Town Chamber of Commerce, I invite residents and local businesses reading the Foxborough, Mansfield and Norton Patch pages to come to visit us during a chamber event or charity function. If you can’t make it in person, please join our groups on LinkedIn and on Facebook. We want to hear what you have to say!

John Bates is the President of the Tri-Town Chamber of Commerce and operates Job-Guy, a career coaching practice in Mansfield. Since joining the Chamber in 2005, John has also helped out as an Ambassador and as Vice President for Membership Development.