Chamber Report: Turning the Page in Castle Rock
After a historic year, new plans are in the works to expand organization's strong support of this Colorado city.
After a difficult year, the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce is taking full advantage of 2021, celebrating its history and working hard to assist the Castle Rock region’s business community. As far as celebrations, since COVID-19 restrictions kept it from celebrating a milestone birthday – 65 – the chamber is observing its 66th anniversary this year.
“It’s impressive that our chamber has been around for 66 years,” says Pam Ridler, president/CEO of the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce. “There are chambers of commerce around us that aren’t even 10 years old.”
Funds for Castle Rock’s Future
In addition to recognizing its birthday, this 500-member group is involved in many projects aimed at better assisting area businesses to Castle Rock, CO. 2021 brought CRC (Castle Rock Chamber) Strong, a fundraising campaign held from May through August. The chamber exceeded its goal, raising $201,050 for community purposes.
“Some of the money will go toward preservation of the historic 1889 Victoria/Carriage House where the chamber is housed in downtown Castle Rock, and other funds will go toward growing our business advocacy programs, especially for businesses that need much attention coming out of COVID,” Ridler says.
Ridler notes that the money will also go toward some of the chamber’s established programs, such as job fairs, workforce, leadership and entrepreneur programs, and annual events like Castle Rock WineFest and Colorado Artfest.
“The added funds from our CRC Strong campaign allow the chamber to not just have dreams of developing positive programs, but the funding actually helps us launch initiatives to better help our business community,” Ridler says.
A few plans the chamber has in the pipeline include working to boost and modernize its Leadership Douglas County program, which identifies, educates and motivates current and emerging leaders in the county, as well as working to launch and bolster other workforce development initiatives.
“We are also becoming more regional thinking, working with other chambers and economic development groups to tackle important issues like water, transportation and housing,” Ridler says. “The chamber also keeps in close contact with legislators in Denver for their help with our workforce development and business advocacy programs.”