It’s wonderful to have an occasional rainy day in the middle of summer.  As someone who grew up on the eastern plains of Colorado, I always appreciate moisture coming from the sky!  Rainy days inspire me to pause and reflect, even in the hustle of everyday demands.  Below is a catch-all of today’s observations.

• Hats off to Chamber member and long-time volunteer Carrie Gillis! Carrie is the Real Estate Manager for a grouping of businesses here in northern Colorado and was inducted into the Colorado Apartment Association Hall of Fame.  Carrie becomes one of the few leaders outside of Denver to receive this incredible accolade.  We appreciate the amazing time, talent and treasure that Carrie has shared with not only the Chamber, but with our NoCo Housing NOW conversations the last five years.  She is moving mountains and we appreciate her!
• We are excited to announce that the ReIgnite Our Economy Plan is coming soon! Throughout the pandemic, Economic Developers, Chambers of Commerce and business-serving organizations across Northern Colorado have worked collaboratively to support businesses and best position our community for economic recovery. NoCoRecovers.com has been a valuable one-stop-shop for businesses resources while the Keep NoCo Open campaign communicated the best ways for our community to support businesses during the pandemic. Level Up helped countless businesses open smarter, faster, and safer, CSU’s Pivot program provided businesses with knowledge needed to quickly adapt to changing customer trends and a unique partnership with NoCo Nosh helped expand access to food delivery for many Northern Colorado businesses.As we start to recover from the pandemic a coordinated and organized economic recovery plan is being developed for Northern Colorado. The ReIgnite Our Economy plan will focus on business recovery and resiliency across industries, building a robust and diverse regional workforce, strengthening the role of Northern Colorado as a hub for innovation, and enhancing regional cooperation.

  As the ReIgnite Our Economy plan is released later this summer, we need your feedback. Please watch NoCORecovers.com for updates on the plan and to provide input.

• 144 Chamber members had a great day on the links yesterday. We were able to enjoy the beauty of the Fort Collins Country Club thanks to the sponsorship of 60 chamber members.  A very special thanks to our Gold Sponsors: Ent Credit Union, High Country Beverage, Lamar, Old Town Media and Stonescape Steel Roofing; our Silver Sponsors: AlphaGraphics, Beacon Construction, BluSky Restoration Contractors, Brinkman Construction, Brock and Company, CPAs P.C., Fort Collins Coloradoan/LOCALiQ, Keller Williams Realty Northern Colorado, Mantooth Marketing and Mosaic Employer Solutions; and our Birdie Sponsor: McWhinney.  Make sure to check out our full list of sponsors and winners here.
• In case you missed it, the Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley Chambers continue to work to share a voice of business with state-wide government. We were able to announce last week that the Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment submitted to the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) its withdrawal of the Employee Traffic Reduction Program (ETRP) from the rulemaking process.  The Chambers, under the banner of the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance, were parties of interest to the rulemaking and served as key conveners of business organizations across the state of Colorado.  Our larger coalition was able to effectively convey the debilitating impacts of poorly designed rules on the rebounding economy.  As noted by one of our members:  “Your work to get ETRP nearly eliminated and eventually fully eliminated is worth the price of  FC Chamber membership and every business over 100 employees needs to join the Chamber today!!  We can’t thank you enough for your work and for hiring a wonderful consultant to speak to how onerous this would have been to all involved!!”
• The Fix North I-25 Business Alliance will be heading into retreat on Thursday. This team of incredible northern Colorado volunteers (Barbara Koelzer, Ryan Fertig, Carl Maxey, Mindy Mc Cloughan, Johnny Olson, Bill Becker, Jaime Henning, Tom Norton, Rich Werner, Dave Clark and Steve Tool) working alongside our consultants Sandra Solin and Tari King continue to make our region better.  This team will continue to fight to complete the expansion of North I-25 to three lanes to assure regular trip times to Denver and DIA.
• I hope everyone has time blocked on their calendars to enjoy the Larimer County Fair  this weekend. This celebration of community has something for everyone.  My favorites?  4-H youth showcasing their new talents and experiences, cotton candy and the water skiing squirrel—with that line up, you really can’t go wrong.  And a shout out of Townsquare Media for kicking off festival season with the Taste of Fort Collins.  They brought back live music, fun food and community.  We can’t wait to see what’s next!