Bemidji Chamber’s 116th Annual Gala Shines Light on Local Businesses

Concluding their membership year, the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce held their 116th annual gala Thursday night at the Sanford Center.

In a passing of the gavel, the chamber welcomed the new chair of their Board of Directors, Brad Olson, who is the Scout Executive/CEO of the Voyageurs Area Council of the Boys Scouts of America and has served on the board for three years.

“[It’s] an opportunity to get together with all of our members that are part of our chamber of commerce in town, we have over 400 either businesses or members of the chamber,” said Olson on the gala. “It’s a way to kind of celebrate, it’s a great networking event for people to come together and really showcase what we have to offer here in Bemidji.”

The celebration also included a silent auction, the popular wine wall, and keynote speaker Chelsey Paulson, whose address concerned “Busting Through Growth Ceilings.” The event shined a light on several businesses in town by giving thanks to business owners that have been active in the area and also looked forward to the future by welcoming new business owners.

“[We want to] try to grow the chamber, give us a place where we can have a lot of advocacy, so if there’s issues in the community that we need to come together, from the business community, that we can have a place that we can come and share our voices and have a unified front,” added Olson.

The Bemidji Chamber also handed out their annual honors by awarding Ambassador of the Year to Betsie Curb and Young Professional of the Year to Zach Thoma.