Attendance to the annual

4 - Ravalli Republic, Friday, January 31, 2020 History of the Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce

The Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce is 450-members strong and celebrated 114 years of community and business support at its annual award banquet, Feb. 8.

Al Mitchel has been a parttime or full-time director of the chamber for 8 years. Other staff includes Pat Easley – Office Manager and Heather Snell - Bookkeeper. Chamber volunteers are Bert Bovee, Marvin Edstedt, Ida Mann, Ruth Hazelton, John Tragmoe and Mary Kay Browning.

A photo of the Hamilton Chamber Office appears on a post card dated 1899, showing the building sitting where the Safeway parking lot is currently located. Chamber minutes go back to 1923 and tell some of their early accomplishments including starting a park just north of the old silver bridge, now called Rotary Park, where they had a summer visitor center. When the Rocky Mountain Lab came to Hamilton, the chamber purchased the land and donated it to the lab.

Mitchell said that each town in the valley had a chamber or a type of civic group, but in 1975 the chambers got together and decided to create the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce. “We represent seven communities - Sula to Florence,” Mitchell said. “We do have members in Lolo, Missoula, and Phillipsburg, but they came to us. It’s good to have members outside the area who support the Bitterroot Valley.”

The Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce promotes tourism and works with the Tourism Business Improvement District, Glacier Country, Montana State Tourism, and the Economic Development Authority.

The chamber also works to bring in tournaments, teams, and their supporters. The chamber has a quarterly newsletter and maintains a calendar of events that anyone, not just chamber members, can call with event information for the website – 363-2400.

The chamber has a “Super Host” (customer service) training in the spring, and an Assistance to Business Clinic (ABC) in the fall with state information about workman’s comp, state and federal unemployment, and tax laws.

Leads Group is where common businesses have one representative and meet once a month to share business leads. The chamber Ambassadors put on the Ravalli County Fair Parade, host political forums, and an annual barbecue. The BVCC Leadership Team attends Montana legislative sessions in Helena to keep in touch with legislators on business issues. Mitchell said that the chamber, rather than being too political, is “pro-business.”

“We’re not big enough to fight and are just trying to get along,” he said. “We’re just trying to make this a better place.” The Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce also hosts the MicroBrew Festival as its largest fundraising event the fourth weekend of July. More than 3,000 people are attracted to the event with live music, food vendors, and microbrews from across Montana and the Northwest. The core 10-member festival group plans the event and 60 chamber members help run the party in downtown Hamilton.

Being a chamber member has benefits. Members place their business cards and information in the chamber office, and are listed and linked on the chamber website, and in the chamber magazine.

“We’re a referral agency basically,” Mitchell said. “We’re tourism related but into business referrals and promotion. We rotate business to business referrals. We like to do business with our own members - if someone comes in looking for a motel we first refer our active members.”

Tied into that is the chamber’s gift certificate program, where consumers can purchase gift certificates any time of the year to be used at 50 locations throughout the valley.

“We are keeping money local,” Mitchell said. “The businesses that want to participate buy into that at $25 a year. It is very popular.”

The Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce has members beyond retail including medical, real estate, title companies, non-profits, and individuals. “It is open to anyone who is pro-business in the valley,” Mitchell said. “We send relocation packets to people or businesses who are considering relocating here.”

The chamber offers networking opportunities such as ribbon cuttings, after-hour events, a Leadership Bitterroot class (one day a month, October through May, to learn about other businesses), and a monthly luncheon that rotates throughout the valley.

“The first thing you should put in your tool box when you go into business is your chamber membership,” Mitchell said. “If you don’t use the tool, it’s not going to work for you - you have to show up once in a while to make it work.”

Pat Easley is starting year 24 as office manager of the chamber.

“She is the glue that has stuck that thing together,” Mitchell said. “The chamber has been in flux ever since it started. Right now we’re pretty solvent.”

The Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce building is open Monday through Friday yearround and is open seven days a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day, at 105 East Main St. in Hamilton. Mitchell and Easley are the only full-time employees; seven volunteers – one per day – work in the office. The volunteers meet and greet people, help them find maps, brochures, business and tourist information.