This Friday, March 14, the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber of Commerce is hosting its Annual Awards Night 2025 hosted in part by Wilcox Wellness & Fitness and Clark Insurance with support from MaineHealth as our Video Sponsor and Cook’s Lobster & Ale House as our Catering & Cocktail Sponsor. Primarily, the evening is exactly what it is billed as, a night for us to honor eight outstanding business leaders, nominated by their peers, for the outstanding success over the past year. It’s the one night per year that we celebrate business leaders individually rather than promoting the business region more universally, and we are happy to do it. These winners, along with the dozens of other nominees, are all deserving of praise and recognition for their hard work.

With that, though, I have an opportunity to address a room of 100-175 people about the past year and celebrate our chamber’s successes. Additionally, we get to introduce board members, thank our committee volunteers for their work, unveil annual supporters for recognition and preview the year ahead with some chamber news and project updates.

To be frank, I’ve always protected what that State of the Chamber address is until the evening of the event, yet — and maybe because it’s admittedly top of mind — I want to share a bit of it here. I think also, as a father of two kids under 5, and looking at how hard it is for my wife and I to have night to attend an event like this, I realize more that this message shouldn’t only be for the people in the room but really for everyone. Thus, here is an appetizer of what I will share on Friday night.

Before I dive into that, though, I would not be doing my job if I didn’t give you the quick overview of the event one last time, in case you or anyone you know is interested in attending. Annual Awards Night 2025 is from 5-8 p.m. Friday, March 14, at the St. John’s Community Center in Brunswick (43 Pleasant St. where we hold the Midcoast Tree Festival annually). Doors open for cocktail hour from 5 p.m. to about 6:15 p.m. when the program begins.

This year, we have invited food businesses who want to showcase an item or two to donate a dish that would feed 20 people or so (as the food is stationed), and many have responded. We are still gathering commitments, but one highlight will be the complimentary raw oyster bar during cocktail hour from Mere Point Oyster Company. If your business would like to donate a food dish, email me at cory@midcoastmaine.com ASAP.

The award winners this year are as follows: Brittany Hyde (Citizen of the Year), Hannah Chatalbash (Young Professional of the Year), MaineHealth (Large Business of the Year), Fairwinds Farm (Small Business of the Year), OystHERS Raw Bar and Bubbly (Excellence in Entrepreneurship), Bath Family Area YMCA (Nonprofit of the Year), Sitelines PA (Director’s Award) and Jim Howard (President’s Award). If you are interested in attending, you can find more information our website or call the chamber office at 725-8797.

Now, for what I will be sharing that night. It starts with this quote that I shared in this column a few months ago, but it bears repeating as it is still so relevant. It’s from North Carolina–based author and international journalist Amanda Abrams:

“After all, in a world where the social fabric seems to be rapidly fraying, the economy is uncertain and the future of the planet is at risk, is there a better way to hit the reset button than to come back to the neighborhood level and begin to genuinely rely on one another again?”

Housing, child care, transportation and so many other issues affecting our communities are not going to be solved by one singular entity or by a single statewide or federal mandate. The government has a role to play certainly, but to solve the problems facing our communities will take our collective engagement, and Friday’s address will talk about how our chamber is aiming to convene that in our region.

The lynchpin of it all is partnerships. Not the chamber pushing ahead on its own and dragging along others in our wake whether they want to or not, but genuine partnerships where each side brings the same energy, enthusiasm and resolve to working together and bringing their best talent and ideas to the table. We’ve already seen success with this with our workforce programming. We continue to meet with schools individually on a weekly basis, and our workforce collaborative created three years ago still meets twice per month. Currently, we are enrolling students and businesses into both our newest paid internship program and our business profile student film project (contact me for more info).

Another new partnership is our Platinum Community Partners Program, a new level of multiyear support that we’re enrolling businesses into right now. The program is in addition to our Cornerstone Membership marketing program that has been so successful. Led by our first partner, Priority Real Estate Group, and created in partnership with RE/MAX Riverside, this new program is asking for a two- or three-year commitment from local business leaders. The rationale is simple: For the chamber to participate in the planning and execution of long-range essential economic programs, we must free ourselves of the necessity of focusing on revenue-generating activities constantly. For instance, developing a workforce program or convening an affordable housing forum may not generate income directly for the chamber, but it is essential to our region. To have the freedom to pursue that, rather than creating new events, fundraisers or member drives all the time, has extreme value.

Beyond that, we have added Topsham to our chamber name officially, we have a brand-new event we’re planning for the fall, and we have new workforce ideas to tell you about, too. Want to hear more? Then come see us on Friday. Email with questions — cory@midcoastmaine.com.

Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber of Commerce.