This time of year, the Chamber staff reminisces on the days of working with the Christmas Festival—the pressures, the challenges, and the joys.   

    I cannot speak to what life was like working at a Chamber that was focused year-round on making a Festival possible for tens of thousands of people.  I know only that I believe in what the Chamber does now.  Now that we no longer bear the responsibility of Festival, we have the responsibility of making sure that we are catering to the needs of the entire business community, and that we are addressing all of the issues that are important to the business community. 

    My job at the Chamber is to convey the value of membership to businesses, and ensure that investors receive that value.   What is the work of the Chamber without a Festival?  We work toward bettering our workforce, toward making sure the standards of education are high and are held accountable in our community.  We strive to make the information business owners in our area have requested available to them.  We promote the issues that are important to business owners.  We keep business informed about local happenings.  We host events that facilitate interactions between businesses and community members.  We offer many other services, and are always taking feedback on how to improve our services. 
I would be wrong to say that we did not do any of this before, during our years with Festival—but we did not have the time or resources to do as much as we do now. 

    This is my favorite time of year.  I love the Christmas Festival, and what it means to Natchitoches.  I also think it's an important part of Chamber history.  However, I am glad that we have the opportunity to serve the business community in other ways now.  We have an important purpose, one that I gladly stand behind every day.  An investment in the Chamber is an investment in making Natchitoches the best place to live and work.