Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce
Feb. 14-18 is Chamber Week and this year the Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce would like to thank all the businesses, organizations and individuals that support the Chamber and help us play an active role in promoting businesses/organizations, tourism, and community events in the Cowichan Lake area.
We are also thrilled to announce how we’re continuing to support our community and the businesses and organizations within it.
At the beginning of 2021, the Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce stopped operating out of the Cowichan Lake Visitor Centre. This was a big change, and although we knew we would be able to continue to provide the same level of support to our businesses/organizations, we had to completely revamp how we operate. Thanks to our mobile unit, a graphic wrapped trailer featuring Cowichan Lake scenery and businesses, we were able to continue promoting our members in person during the warmer months. We targeted key areas of our communities to safely provide information to tourists and locals. We look forward to seeing everyone this summer.
We also increased our online presence. In April of last year, we began a weekly e-news to keep our members informed of community events, chamber opportunities, and businesses resources. We also promote our members on our e-news, as well as on social media.
We launched the Cowichan Lake Holiday Shopping Campaign near the end of 2021, with a specific focus to drive more local holiday shopping. Towards the end of the campaign, we found out we’d received a grant from BC Chamber’s “Shop Local” program. Using the grant, we placed an ad in the Citizen and Gazette, promoting our business members for free. We were able to place another ad for Valentine’s Day, again offering free promotion to our members. The grant will also allow us to install First Nations art at our kiosk boards at Saywell Park and Mesachie Lake to better represent our community and to add a new attraction to these spaces.
In addition, this grant will allow us to update our website to better serve our community through a more attractive and comprehensive business directory. We are also in the process of filming four videos to promote the Cowichan Lake area—Eat, Stay, Play, and Shop Local.
The “Eat Local” video will promote local restaurants and cafés. The “Stay Local” video will promote local accommodations. “Play Local” will promote recreational activities in the Cowichan Lake area, and “Shop Local” will promote local stores. Further ways we’re making use of the grant include: placing Shop Local signage on the main highway and secondary roads in the Cowichan Lake area, giving Shop Local stickers to businesses to place in their windows, and giving reusable “Shop Local” shopping bags to each household in the Cowichan Lake District.
We recently hosted a Small Business Crawl and were able to provide the prizes (gift cards to participating local businesses) so that it was free for businesses to join. We also were able to support local dining establishments by purchasing $25 gift cards to local restaurants to give to members who renewed their membership before Feb.12.
We’re excited the grant allowed us to do so much for the businesses and organizations of the Cowichan Lake area and we look forward to seeing the lasting impacts the grant will have in our community. The Chamber owes its success to its members, a passionate group of business owners and organizations. To say that we admire our members is an understatement.
These past two years have been full of hardship, yet we have seen so many examples of kindness, bravery, and perseverance. It is thanks to the support of our members that we are able to continue supporting our community and the businesses/organizations within it. If you would like to become a member of the Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce, or if you would like to renew your membership, please email lcchamber@shaw.ca or phone 250-749-3244.