April represents a good turning point

New ventures and new skills

Local Business

While most tax preparers suffer from lack of sleep during April, many business owners love this month.

Lots of businesses are slow year. During this time, many face challenges with limited cash from the busy season that culminates around winter holidays.

April represents the turning point. Business starts to pick up. Retailers proudly displaytions. Restaurants shift their menus to incorporate seasonal varieties. Breweries with outdoor seating set up their patios and introduce new brews.

For many individuals, April is a month of both remembrance and new beginnings. Many cultures celebrate the coming of spring or a new year on their calendar. This year, Passover, Easter, Eid al-Fitr, and Vaisakhi all come in April. Earth Day and Arbor Day are also celebrated this month.

Locally, lots of things come back into full swing in April. Trees start to bud. Flowers start popping up all over. And the Beaverton Famer’s Market launches into full market season!

At the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce, April tends to bring an uptick in the number of people contacting us about starting a new business. Some come to us with fully developed ideas. Others have only a vague idea about their with all of them.

What about you, our readers? What new ventures, new activities do you hope to develop in April? Where do you look for support, inspiration, or guidance?

Meet the DBA's Interim Executive Director

We have been quite busy the past few weeks!

Downtown

The Beaverton Downtown Association (BDA) is excited to share that we're looking for our next Executive Director!

This is a unique opportunity to make a direct impact and serve our local downtown community. The Executive Director is responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the daily activities and operations of the BDA. We're interested in considering diverse backgrounds of experience fostering relationships, managing planning events. Please share with your network or individuals who may be interested. We encourage all interested individuals to submit an application via LinkedIn.

In the short-term we have appointed Mark Noonan as the

BDA’s new Interim Executive Director while we complete the search and hiring process.

Mark has been actively involved with the BDA for the last several months and is a downtown resident. He would love to hear from you to learn more about how we can best connect with you.

You can reach Mark at our BDA phone number or at Mark@ downtownbeaverton.org.

We are also pleased to announcement the appointment of three new members to our Board of Directors: Kalla Anand, Jeff Sievert, and Kyle Morgan. Read up about them on our website!

We are fortunate in Beaverton to have a wide variety of people and organizations that can help you in your efforts to start something new:

•The new Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Murray Scholls is a wonderful space. My wife and I have talked about taking dance lessons for years. But all we did was talk. Now, after the splendid grand opening event in needed push to do it!

•Interested in learning an art or craft, or in developing your writing skills? Check out the Event Calendar for Tualatin Valley Creates (tvcreates.org/ calendar-of-events). There are dozens of options for developing new talents with a wide range of local businesses.

•Portland Community Col- catalog of classes for late spring and summer. Now is a great time to explore ways to keep learning and growing, all at very reasonable cost with expert faculty.

•Want to start that business you’ve been thinking about for years? Contact us at the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce. We can help you with your next steps, and help guide you in entrepreneurial dreams. We wish you all the best with the new things you venture into this month!

April 9th, 9am

Each new member brings a passion for Beaverton, a long history in the area and unique skills to help us better serve the community.

Finally, we have several events coming up so please mark your calendars:

•May 6: Best Day of the Year Family Bike Ride

•May 20: BDA Wine & Food Walk

•June 3: Boba Dash

Keep an eye on our website and social media for more details!

The Beaverton Downtown Association is currently recruiting a Design Committee Chair and a Youth Chair. Want to get involved? Check out www.downtownbeaverton.org.