Salida Synergy: Helping Local Businesses Thrive
Teamwork is necessary for any city-wide project or initiative, but that’s been especially true this past year, thanks to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Luckily, the City of Salida has a remarkable and close working relationship with the Salida Chamber of Commerce and Salida Business Alliance (SBA). The Chamber’s executive director, Lori Roberts, describes this relationship as “symbiotic.” “It’s all about communication,” she adds.
The Chamber and SBA network with the City, with other groups, and with each other regularly to support the businesses and residents of Salida. When the 2020 pandemic posed a serious new challenge, both of these organizations had to innovate quickly.
Roberts shares that one of the biggest successes the Chamber experienced during the pandemic was a series of videos they created to boost community spirits, including a few with a “small business strong” message to highlight all the small businesses in Salida that were preparing to reopen. “It really helped them to have hope,” she says.
Angel Rowell, President of SBA, meanwhile joined forces with various chambers and development organizations to create the Small Business Coalition – what she describes as a “one-stop shop” for small businesses to gather critical information to stay safely open during the pandemic.
In addition to creating new resources, Roberts and Rowell and their teams planned exciting community events that still followed COVID protocols.
Rowell worked with the City to close down part of F Street to motorists so that more pedestrians could safely shop and businesses could expand their seating outdoors to safely social distance. This new experimental area was dubbed “the Plaza,” and it quickly became a success. “A survey we sent out revealed that 75% of business owners were totally in favor of it,” Rowell shares. The same area has been opened to pedestrians again this year.
For the residents and small businesses of Salida, economic stability goes hand-in-hand with community spirit. The Chamber and SBA work with the City to help business owners feel valued and understood at every opportunity. Celebrating key moments of success, particularly during the pandemic, are an essential part of keeping that community spirit going.
Last year, in September, the Chamber hosted an outdoor picnic at Alpine Park to show the community their gratitude for being so supportive. The event, “Take Me Out to a Picnic,” allowed Salida citizens to gather (within pandemic guidelines) in the beautiful outdoors, many of them seeing each other for the first time since lockdown. “It was like coming out of a cave,” Roberts says. “We received so many thank you’s afterward.”
The City, Chamber and SBA are aware of the importance of building trust and fostering relationships with the business owners of Salida. “Especially with the onslaught of change,” Roberts says, “it’s our job to help them manage that in the best way possible. And the only way we can do that is by keeping our community informed and being transparent.”
