Advocacy

Here at the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce, we are standing up for our business members, all 330 of them, both profit and nonprofit, with our weekly Legislative Alerts that you see here in this column and in our weekly e-blast.

Just this past week, a bill that would have had a serious impact on, for example, a sole proprietor’s ability to have flexibility in scheduling employee work weeks, LD 1345 An Act To Ensure a Fair Workweek, was unanimously voted by the Labor and Housing committee “ought not to pass.” This was due in part to the large outcry of businesses across the state during the April 10 public hearing. In addition, the Maine State Chamber provided testimony in opposition to this bill, as well.

More information about bills that affect your business are forthcoming; stay tuned.

New members

We continue to grow our base of members rapidly with four new businesses becoming part of our Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce in just the past week. They include Bedard Medical Inc, Serenity Place Store, Stony Brook Apothecary, and Robin Cutler/Mary Kay. Welcome, and we look forward to finding ways in which we can help your business become even more successful.

Ribbon Cutting 

I wanted to reach out and tell everyone that the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of its location at the Silver Spur in Mechanic Falls at noon on Wednesday, April 24, with the Chamber of Commerce supplying a ribbon cutting ceremony, with tours of the museum immediately following.

The museum is quite extraordinary with displays from as early as the 1940s, highlighting all the great music makers from the northern New England area. I hope that you’ll come and take a custom tour of the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame with the legendary Slim Andrews after the ribbon cutting. Slim has known every one of the 123 award winners in the Hall of Fame personally, and has a story about every single piece of memorabilia on display. Trust me, I have taken the tour and it is fantastic.

You also have an opportunity to meet the museum’s chairman of the board, Ken Brooks, who gigs with his wife, Jane, and also with the Katahdin Valley Boys Bluegrass Band. If you visited our Chamber Expo in October and/or our recent Annual Dinner, Ken and Jane performed at both events and everyone loved them.

Home Show

Here it comes for the 18th consecutive year, The Oxford Hills Home Show, an incredible collaborative between five major retail centers within a mile of each other on Route 26 in Oxford: Alternative Modular Homes, Turn Key Homes of Maine, Coastline Homes of Oxford, Schiavi Custom Builders and Twin Town Homes.

Over 40 beautifully appointed display homes will be available for viewing during the last weekend in April, Friday through Sunday, April 26-28. It is the largest home show in New England, so don’t miss it. And we’ll kick it all off with an Open House from Twin Town Homes on Thursday, April 25, from 5 to 7 p.m. Come on over and say hello, and have a bite and a drink.

See you next week.

 

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