Tucker Murphy
Connecting the Community with Commerce has been the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce’s slogan for several years now, and Executive Director Tucker Murphy said that goal will continue this year.
Murphy said 2016 was a good year for some local businesses, a not so good year for others. In emails to the Advertiser, Murphy detailed accomplishments past and stated visions going forward.
“While retail is still facing challenges both nationally and locally, New Canaan seems to benefit from the experiential aspect of our beautiful downtown,” she said. “What we must not do is take what we’ve got here for granted. Local business, while improving, is still working to find the right balance. Maintaining our local village and the experience it offers is something we believe every resident wants. 2016 was good for some and others struggled. The holiday season seemed to be very robust.
2016 in review
“As far as Chamber accomplishments for 2016, here are a few stats and observations that we presented at our year end board meeting,” she said.
• 45 new members joined. “We always seem to hover at right around the 400-member mark,” said Murphy. “Many join the Chamber to participate in our events and for the marketing opportunities we offer. We recently determined that of all the downtown businesses we still have about 20% that are not members for whatever reason. A goal for 2017 is to bring them on board. Our motto is ‘A rising tide floats all boats,’ and to have businesses ride the wave of our events and not join is frustrating for us.
• A strong sense of trust between the community and Chamber.
• New Canaan Chamber Charitable Foundation continues to serve a need. “The Charitable Foundation was founded in 2014 to help develop and promote a sense of community pride for the residents, businesses and nonprofit organizations of New Canaan,” explained Murphy. “Specifically the foundation Is working toward enhancement through events, activities and beautification projects.
“The Holiday Lights campaign is a good example of a project that the foundation has funded. Donations are made by individuals, and they receive the tax benefit of having the foundation in place. This directly correlated with an increase in donations for the holiday lights.”
• Created, collected data and presented findings to Police Commission to understand the employee parking demand survey (average daily employee parking need is 350+).
• 16 Chamber events carried out.
Goals and priorities for 2017
• Continue to be a leader in advocating for the business community.
• Continue to convene business and community leaders around issues impacting business and the vitality of the downtown.
• Continue to recruit new businesses and support economic growth.
• Provide high quality programming that addresses member needs.
• Be a leader in the community as the “go-to “resource.
• Enhance the quality of life in New Canaan through strategic partnerships.
• Continue to collaborate closely with First Selectman Rob Mallozzi III to achieving parking solutions in the downtown.
“A highlight is the public relations campaign that we have partnered with the Board of Realtors and the Town in hopes of producing a promotional video that can be shared to promote New Canaan,” she said.
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