Hermann Area Chamber of Commerce

One way in which the Chamber has strived to achieve those purposes has been by conducting or sponsoring the following events: annual wurstfest each march to promote local sausage-makers, meat-packers, and food service establishments; annual summer and fall antique shows, to promote local antique shops and the tourism industry in general; annual maifest beer garden and entertainment Area (in cooperation with the Hermann lions club); annual christmas time in Hermann, to encourage local businesses and residents to display seasonal decorations, in part by means of contests for best christmas lighting and gingerbread house building. All of these activities are conducted with volunteer labor and frequently with donated supplies.

The Chamber has supported many community improvements projects, such as open house activities for new industries, refuse container cover replacement program, community and special event advertisement programs, u.s. Constitutional bicentennial celebration, fencing of the city park, toll-free telephone line for information about Hermann, publication and distribution of brochures for information about tourism and industrial expansion opportunities in Hermann. A current project for which funds are being raised is the construction of a permanent amtrak passenger platform. The Chamber has recently promoted industrial growth within the community by constructing a new manufacturing facility in the Hermann industrial park which is leased to an industrial gear manufacturer. The Chamber role was vital to procuring financing for construction of the building, which was itself a prerequisite to attracting the new industry to the community. The Chamber, in cooperation with the city government and the local industrial development authority, secured a construction loan for the facility from a consortium of three local banks. Rental payments from the industrial tenant are sufficient to service the loan and gradually build up a fund to be used for future industrial development projects. Monthly meetings of the Chamber membership provide a forum for business people and residents to interact, express their concerns, and develop their common interests. The general nature of the Chamber's activities is probably typical of local chambers of Commerce across the country. Much of the responsibility for carrying out the organization's purposes is delegated to its standing committees, which include the following: economic development committee, which works with the industrial development authority of the city of Hermann, Missouri, to promote growth of industrial and manufacturing business and increase employment opportunities within the Area; Hermann tourism group, composed of members directly involved in tourism business in the Area, with responsibility for coordinating advertising campaigns, billboard advertising, and brochure preparation and for operation of a visitors' information center; business and professional committee, which in cooperation with the university of Missouri extension service and meramec regional planning commission assists local businesses in salesmanship techniques and bookkeeping requirements through classroom instruction and discussion groups, and which sponsors the "shop Hermann first" promotion, and which sponsors spring and fall sidewalk sale promotions within the retail businesses; membership committee, which solicits new members and greater participation by existing members, and provides new businesses within the Area with information about Chamber activities and purposes; riverfront park committee, which coordinates efforts of the Chamber and other civic organizations to establish a public park on the bank of the Missouri river; and the factory committee, which serves as liaison between the city and the industrial tenant which occupies the Chamber's facility in the industrial park.