by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Realtors and the Chamber of Commerce both represent the area and it is important for them to work together to promote their city.
Chairman Pam Brown and President Regina Duncan of the Amelia Island-Fernandina Beach-Yulee Chamber of Commerce visited with the Amelia Island/Nassau County Board of Realtors at their luncheon last month held at the North Hampton Golf Club.
“We have a mission at the Chamber that is very clear,” said Brown. “The Amelia Island-Fernandina Beach-Yulee Chamber of Commerce is a membership-based association of businesses, professional leaders and individuals working together to sustain a favorable business climate that enables existing and new businesses to prosper.
“The Chamber will provide leadership that will aggressively promote responsible economic growth, employment opportunities, responsible government, excellence in education and quality of life.”
Brown talked about the 18-member board of directors of a few Realtors and large businesses and small business in the area.
Brown will end her term as chair this month; Don Hughes of Florida Community College of Jacksonville’s Betty P. Cook Nassau Center will be taking her spot.
The Chamber has five standing committees and last yeardecided on a three-year plan to pare down the committees to a smaller number and attack issues as they come up with task forces.
The committees are Leadership Nassau, Ambassadors, Public Affairs, Restaurant Association and Yulee Area Council.
“The Yulee Area Council has been very active,” said Brown. “This is where all the growth is. Everyone knows that. A few years ago, Yulee started saying that they wanted to make sure that their people were represented as well, so they started the Yulee Area Council.”
Duncan explained how the Chamber has changed its marketing to attract more visitors to the area.
“We will see by the end of December 2004 around 23,000 people through our doors at Gateway to Amelia Island and the historic Depot downtown,” said Duncan. “Those are huge numbers for us.”
Duncan discussed the upcoming Super Bowl and events that Amelia Island will be holding during that time.
“We are looking at Super Bowl in Nassau County a little differently than some of our outlying counties,” she said. “We see our opportunity as really putting on our Sunday best for Super Bowl. We realized there is no way we can compete with what will be going on in Jacksonville. Our concentration will be on treating people well when they are here and making sure we look the best that we can look.”
Though they won’t be putting on a huge show like Jacksonville, Nassau County will be holding a Shellfish Feast, American Beach Celebration and a Pirates on the Run Race that have all been sanctioned by the NFL prior to Super Bowl that Saturday.
For more information on the Chamber visit www.islandchamber.com.