Langley chamber reflects on a successful year

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, December 27, 2006

The new director of the Langley Chamber of Commerce looks back on an eventful year — a multi-city visitor center, Choochokam under new direction and bringing the chamber’s finances in order.

“This has been a learning experience. The chamber board of directors, our chamber membership and the city of Langley have been very supportive and I appreciate their patience, encouragement and good humor,” said Nancy Rowan, director of the Langley Chamber of Commerce.

Rowan started work at the beginning of the year. It was a rocky start.

Along with her team, she entered the data of the last five years on Quickbook software and learned that they were $11,000 in the hole.

The chamber recouped from the loss and will break even at the end of the year, Rowan said during a presentation to the Langley City Council last week.

“Great strides have been made” since Rowan took over, said City Administrator Walt Blackford.

He added that communication and cooperation have improved significantly.

But there will be some cash-flow problems at the beginning of the year, due to funding disbursement issues.

The lodging tax is collected by lodging owners in the county and city to be used for tourism promotion and is a great deal of the funding for the Visitor Information Center and chambers of commerce throughout the county.

On the county level, funding had been awarded in the fall and the chamber expects to receive a lump-sum check early in the year.

“We would receive a monthly payment from the city. The State of Washington ruled in 2006 that, starting in 2007, these funds could only be dispersed upon demonstration that the tourism promotion activity has been performed,” Rowan said.

“So, instead of getting one lump-sum payment from Island County and a regularly budgeted city of Langley payment, we have to cash flow all of our activities and then be reimbursed,” she explained.

“This creates a problem only in that fact that, as a tightly budgeted non-profit, we do not have the reserve funds to function for a couple of months without income. We are establishing a line of credit to tide us over,” she said.

The upside is that this process will create a much higher level of accountability throughout the year. It will also guarantee that the funds are spent exclusively for the purpose for which they are collected – promotion of tourism in the city and county.

Rowan also reported that the visitor center/chamber offices are open six days a week; seven during tourism season and at times of special events.

By comparison, the Freeland Visitor Center is open only Tuesday through Saturday for four hours each, and the Central Whidbey/Coupeville center is open at unspecific times due to a lack of staff.

Additionally, the Langley chamber started a new tracking system in September to better track referrals of customers to local businesses.

“The number of hours we are open and the experience of our staff enables us to provide the highest level of service to Whidbey Island visitors,” Rowan said. “Our lodging referral service is unique and will be updated to reflect the changes in how visitors plan their travel, primarily use of the Internet.”

Rowan’s public relations work has been fruitful as well. Langley has been featured in a number of travel magazines and The New York Times. In 2007, articles about Langley will appear in “Sunset Travel Magazine,” “Life” magazine and “Northwest Boat Travel Cruising Guide 2007.”

More work is ahead, Rowan said.

“We have accomplished some of our goals, but have more to achieve and new goals to set. We are implementing our new branding logo with more marketing materials coming shortly after the first of the year,” she said.

Rowan also works with the Island County Joint Tourism Committee for island-wide promotions.

One priority this year was membership recruitment. Rowan reported that the chamber has an active membership committee headed by Kathy McLaughlin. She also said that membership dues were lowered to encourage membership. While the chamber put on seminars for business owners and has regular meetings, another priority for next year is to create a new Langley Ambassador program.

Rowan said she is looking forward to next year’s events, especially Mystery Weekend. The festival brings about 2,000 people to town and fills the area’s bed-and-breakfasts and other lodging spots.

Another highlight will be Choochokam, the annual arts festival that is now under new stewardship and will be led by the chamber, the city and community members.

Once the busy holiday season passes, the chamber will turn its attention to the big events planned for early next year and beyond.

“Our major focus has shifted from the holidays to our ‘Death by Chocolate’ Mystery Weekend the Feb. 24 and 25. We are planning for more suspects, more clues, more sleuthing visitors and more fun than ever. Shortly after that, we will be opening the new visitor kiosk with the Freeland Chamber of Commerce and the support of South Whidbey Rotary Club,” Rowan said.

“Choochokam, thanks to many community members and the support of the Port of South Whidbey, is on track to be a highlight of the summer. And we have some new and exciting events in the planning stages,” she added.

Michaela Marx Wheatley can be reached at 221-5300 or mmarxwheatley@suthwhidbeyrecord.com.