(Jan. 28, 2016) Donna Compher, co-owner of Sisters, took the reins as president of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce from Natalee DeHart of Good Clean Fun Life during an installation dinner last Wednesday.
As she stepped down after her year as president, DeHart said the chamber had a year of “growth and stability,” with both the membership base and board of directors increasing. She credited chamber Executive Director Larnet St. Amant and Administrator Morgan Coulson, who were hired in May and June, respectively.
“The last six months has been a huge, huge relief. They’ve done an amazing job,” she said. “I’m looking forward to Donna coming on and taking my place as president, and looking forward to 2016 and all that it has to bring.”
Compher said DeHart helped stabilize the chamber after a period of “ups and downs.”
“You definitely stepped up,” she said. “The growth of the chamber is just incredible right now, and we see a huge new year coming on. We’re all so very excited.”
Also during the dinner, held at the Holiday Inn on 66th Street in Ocean City, Helen and Mike Wiley won an award for volunteerism for the second consecutive year, and Uncle Jon’s Soaps won for best new business.
Bungalow Love Owner Heather Layton received a nod for business philanthropy, for her “Love” campaign. Since December, Layton has donated 10 percent of the proceeds of branded items to three local charities: Diakonia, Maryland Coastal Bays and the Worcester County Humane Society.
Berlin Economic and Community Development Director Ivy Wells won the “Reece Cropper Bright Idea” award, for the “Win the Window” contest, which ran in December.
Cropper spoke extensively about his role in founding the Berlin Chamber three decades ago.
The town, he said, was a much different place in 1978, when he moved away to attend college. When he returned home four years later, Cropper said Berlin was a “desolate” place.
“There were many stores that were empty, and most stores had changed from retail to office space,” he said.
When Roxanne Williams asked him to chair the Downtown Revitalization Organization, Cropper said he came up with the idea to form a chamber of commerce.
“I thought the town had too many offices,” he said. “There were closed storefronts, and maybe we needed a chamber to start to promote the town as a whole.”
He wrote a petition and started to gather signatures, although progress was somewhat slow going and many in town felt change was unnecessary.
“I can remember my great-grandfather was still alive and I said, ‘we’re trying to renovate the town.’ He said, ‘it looks the same as it did forever. It doesn’t need renovating.’ That’s the way people saw things,” Cropper said.
Still, he pressed on, visiting the United States Chamber of Commerce to gather sample bylaws and corporate charters, and holding meetings with the help of chamber co-founders Gee Williams, Terry Sexton, Jesse Turner and Thom Gulyas.
Several of his early ideas fizzled out. The Atlantic Hotel was still years away from renovation, and merchants were “less-than enthusiastic.”
“Somehow, I just knew that tourists would want to come to the town,” he said, recalling meeting two young women from Salisbury at a chamber event. “They had a bus tour company. They were about my age – and they were cute – so I thought maybe I could persuade them to bring bus tours to Berlin.”
Cropper said he showed off the town to “the one that was my favorite of the two,” buying her lunch and an ice cream cone at Rayne’s Reef, and driving her the roughly mile-long length from the Taylor House Museum to Stephen Decatur Park.
“When I got through I said, ‘so, what do you think? Couldn’t you bring bus tours here?’” Cropper said. “She said, ‘Reece, you have a lot of vision.’ She not only didn’t bring the buses – she never went out with me.”
He went on to recall several failed projects, from a Santa house, to renovations of Stephen Decatur’s birthplace, to a train running from Berlin to West Ocean City.
“Not all the ideas that we had came to fruition,” Cropper said. “A chamber will have its success, and it will have its failures. It’s important to realize the goal is to attract businesses and to attract the people to reside in the greater area of Berlin – not just downtown.
“[Downtown Berlin] is the attraction, just like the ocean is the attraction to Ocean City, but you have to move forward,” Cropper continued. “Don’t ever forget the success that you had, and realize that life has its ups and downs.
“If you keep plugging and you promote the greater area of Berlin – and you work with your sister chambers, like Ocean City and Ocean Pines – I think you’ll find that you’ll get more volunteers, and you’ll find that you’re going to end up with a great success.”
As she stepped down after her year as president, DeHart said the chamber had a year of “growth and stability,” with both the membership base and board of directors increasing. She credited chamber Executive Director Larnet St. Amant and Administrator Morgan Coulson, who were hired in May and June, respectively.
“The last six months has been a huge, huge relief. They’ve done an amazing job,” she said. “I’m looking forward to Donna coming on and taking my place as president, and looking forward to 2016 and all that it has to bring.”
Compher said DeHart helped stabilize the chamber after a period of “ups and downs.”
“You definitely stepped up,” she said. “The growth of the chamber is just incredible right now, and we see a huge new year coming on. We’re all so very excited.”
Also during the dinner, held at the Holiday Inn on 66th Street in Ocean City, Helen and Mike Wiley won an award for volunteerism for the second consecutive year, and Uncle Jon’s Soaps won for best new business.
Bungalow Love Owner Heather Layton received a nod for business philanthropy, for her “Love” campaign. Since December, Layton has donated 10 percent of the proceeds of branded items to three local charities: Diakonia, Maryland Coastal Bays and the Worcester County Humane Society.
Berlin Economic and Community Development Director Ivy Wells won the “Reece Cropper Bright Idea” award, for the “Win the Window” contest, which ran in December.
Cropper spoke extensively about his role in founding the Berlin Chamber three decades ago.
The town, he said, was a much different place in 1978, when he moved away to attend college. When he returned home four years later, Cropper said Berlin was a “desolate” place.
“There were many stores that were empty, and most stores had changed from retail to office space,” he said.
When Roxanne Williams asked him to chair the Downtown Revitalization Organization, Cropper said he came up with the idea to form a chamber of commerce.
“I thought the town had too many offices,” he said. “There were closed storefronts, and maybe we needed a chamber to start to promote the town as a whole.”
He wrote a petition and started to gather signatures, although progress was somewhat slow going and many in town felt change was unnecessary.
“I can remember my great-grandfather was still alive and I said, ‘we’re trying to renovate the town.’ He said, ‘it looks the same as it did forever. It doesn’t need renovating.’ That’s the way people saw things,” Cropper said.
Still, he pressed on, visiting the United States Chamber of Commerce to gather sample bylaws and corporate charters, and holding meetings with the help of chamber co-founders Gee Williams, Terry Sexton, Jesse Turner and Thom Gulyas.
Several of his early ideas fizzled out. The Atlantic Hotel was still years away from renovation, and merchants were “less-than enthusiastic.”
“Somehow, I just knew that tourists would want to come to the town,” he said, recalling meeting two young women from Salisbury at a chamber event. “They had a bus tour company. They were about my age – and they were cute – so I thought maybe I could persuade them to bring bus tours to Berlin.”
Cropper said he showed off the town to “the one that was my favorite of the two,” buying her lunch and an ice cream cone at Rayne’s Reef, and driving her the roughly mile-long length from the Taylor House Museum to Stephen Decatur Park.
“When I got through I said, ‘so, what do you think? Couldn’t you bring bus tours here?’” Cropper said. “She said, ‘Reece, you have a lot of vision.’ She not only didn’t bring the buses – she never went out with me.”
He went on to recall several failed projects, from a Santa house, to renovations of Stephen Decatur’s birthplace, to a train running from Berlin to West Ocean City.
“Not all the ideas that we had came to fruition,” Cropper said. “A chamber will have its success, and it will have its failures. It’s important to realize the goal is to attract businesses and to attract the people to reside in the greater area of Berlin – not just downtown.
“[Downtown Berlin] is the attraction, just like the ocean is the attraction to Ocean City, but you have to move forward,” Cropper continued. “Don’t ever forget the success that you had, and realize that life has its ups and downs.
“If you keep plugging and you promote the greater area of Berlin – and you work with your sister chambers, like Ocean City and Ocean Pines – I think you’ll find that you’ll get more volunteers, and you’ll find that you’re going to end up with a great success.”