The High River & District Chamber of Commerce just won a coveted award at the Alberta Chambers of Commerce AGM last weekend.

Executive Director Lisa Szabon-Smith was thrilled to accept the 2022 Chamber of the Year Award.

"It happened at our annual AGM with the ACC's, so the Alberta Chambers of Commerce up in Fort McMurray and it was a shock. I wasn't expecting it so it was pretty exciting."

And it's a big win for local Chamber in the 50 to 99 members category.

Szabon-Smith says since she took over the role of Executive Director back in February of last year it's been a year of introspection, growth and learning.

"It's been good. It's been a lot of me actually working on to change what my previous perspective of the Chamber was, and coming from that perspective to help better educate or inform or even just better connect with our businesses so they have a full, more broad understanding of what Chambers can do and are here for locally and provincially."

And the High River & District Chamber have shared a key document on working with the film industry on a local level with other Alberta Chambers of Commerce.

As High River is very well known to be a hotbed for filming activity as such shows as Heartland, The Last of Us, Tin Star and many more their insight should help other communities when a movie or television show rolls into town.

President Kevin Generoux explains.

"There's a lot of film activity and we're known for our filming and activity that goes on in High River. Lots of productions and it's probably the number one search when we talk to the town and everyone that people search 'High River filming locations' so we know that's an attraction for us. So, as a Chamber we want to involve more businesses in the filming because when they come to town, they can be very silent, and sometimes they need to be, but one of the things our ask is as a Chamber is that they involve us more, our local businesses.

So, they would use some of our services, they could partner with us, they could keep us aware of upcoming filming dates and they are sharing more of that information with the town, but the Chamber wants to take on a more active role in sharing these days with the business communities so that we're ready for it. Because you might get some traffic on a Sunday afternoon and you're not open for it so you're going to miss an opportunity to make some money.

The last thing is we want to make sure is that the Alberta government is aware of trying to keep all of the film industry talent within Alberta and within our community of High River, so we have the world class best talent which we know we have but we want that to be maintained and we don't want to lose that."

The High River & District Chamber of Commerce also has some changes coming up in September but not before they get set for their annual golf tournament.

Szabon-Smith says it's going to be another great event.

"We will have our golf tournament, in partnership with the Okotoks Chamber on June 15th and that is at the Highwood Golf Club. We still have room for golfers and sponsorships so if anyone wants to jump on board for that they can."

The Chamber also has some changes coming to their monthly mingles in September.

"Looking forward we will be revamping our 'monthly mingles' to having our members in the business community host a mingle. Any business, if you're a member, you can contact us and set yourself up for hosting and showcase your business and then we can talk about all the finer details for that. Those will kick off in September running through till probably June [2024], and then we'll take the summer off. And tentatively we have a summer connection, if you will, to showcase one of our outdoor businesses." 

If you would like more info on the award-winning High River & District Chamber of Commerce, you can email info@hrchamber.ca or call 403-652-3336.