Looking Forward to Happier Times
Written this week by Kate Manle
President of the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce
If you’re anything like me, then by now, you miss gathering together for in-person events. For almost a year now, we’ve all been forced to make adjustments and rely heavily on virtual meetings and videoconferencing to connect with family, friends and business colleagues.
But Zoom fatigue is real, and we know nothing can replace the valuable human connection we enjoy with in-person gatherings. As we progress through this second wave and as New York continues to ramp-up its vaccine rollout, some recent announcements by the State could indicate that hopefully – we are well on our way to returning to some semblance of normalcy.
Recently, the State announced that weddings for up to 150 guests to resume in March. All guests must test negative to attend. This is a major step forward and welcome news for not only our local venues and event halls that have essentially paused operations for the better part of a year but also, florists, photographers, DJs and anyone else in the event industry. In the business community, we are hopeful that this is a positive sign of better things to come this spring and summer.
And speaking of businesses who rely on gatherings, we know our local performing arts and cultural institutions are in need of some sort of immediate relief. Thankfully, the SBA has recently announced a new program to address this with their ‘Shuttered Venue Operating Grants.” Eligible venues that have been closed due to the pandemic may receive up to 45% of their total gross revenue from this grant program. We encourage our local venues who are interested in learning more about this opportunity to visit sba.gov.
As we continue to progress through winter, we at the Chamber want to remind you about the importance of shopping local. Our community of locally owned businesses will need our help to get them through this challenging time. Remember when you spend local, you’re making an investment in our community. It’s time we continue to support our neighbors and their businesses that have been supporting us all along!
At the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce, we remain committed to fostering a vibrant and inclusive business community. If you’re a local business that could benefit from our services, don’t hesitate to reach out to us; we are confident we can be of help to your business! www.RenscoChamber.com