Brainerd Lakes Chamber Hosts Annual Holiday Extravaganza

The Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce hosted a business holiday extravaganza this week to let Chamber members mix and mingle with other members and their employees. The event was held at Madden’s Resort Town Hall where over 60 businesses including nonprofit organizations presented tables with brochures, posters, and refreshments to influence attendees to stop at their specific stations.

“Today we’re having the 24th annual Holiday Extravaganza, it’s our last Business After Hours of the year, and also for our decade, so it’s pretty exciting,” said Sue Galligan, Brainerd Lakes Chamber Connections Manager.

“We have about 60-some Chamber members here that have businesses and nonprofit organizations, which is awesome for them because they can present their information and their services to 400-plus attendees, and it’s a really nice social event, also plus it’s being a holiday season, so it’s a really nice atmosphere here at Madden’s,” said Galligan.

For some of the businesses that are attending, it’s more than just a sale – it’s about the experience, and remembering to have fun.

“We make artistry cutting boards, they’re all made in Crosslake. We just really wanted to meet everybody locally and it’s really fun to be at these events, you get to meet everybody, you get to showcase what you do, and so it’s a lot of fun,” said Rob Porter, owner of Hi-Line Hard Woods.

We also can’t forget about those organizations that help those in need especially during the holiday season.

“We do suicidal prevention in our schools, and we cover 18 different schools in the fall and we also do QPR training, which is ‘question, persuade, refer,’ it’s like if you have CPR, when someone is physically having a situation, QPR is when someone is feeling suicidal or in a mental health crisis, said Mary Marana, Crisis Line and Referral Services Executive Director.

The business holiday party was to showcase businesses that you might not have heard of and to bring friends together that have not seen each other in some time.