As the saying goes, “What’s old is new again.” As your Chamber team traversed Columbia and Montour Counties in 2024, we had the wonderful opportunity to learn what resources are well-used and loved by our community. One in particular caught us by surprise – not because we thought less of it, but because as frequent users of GPS and all-things digital, we thought of IT less. You guessed it - I’m writing to announce that your Chamber is taking a page from an old playbook and will publish a printed community map in 2025.

Even as I write this, I can hear the guffaws of millennials and Gen Xers alike who are inclined to think, “Really, Chris? A map?” We were skeptical too, but as it turns out, there’s a real demand for a small, community-based map which serves as a reference to our downtowns, promotes local business, provides easily-readable access for tourists and new workers in the region, has offline usability, and serves as a means of community engagement.

We thought, surely, something simple like this must exist – but as we dug in, we found that apart from the Chamber’s latest, which was published in 2015, no other community organization has created a map for our full footprint, which isn’t specific to a given interest. (Please note, the interactive maps produced by the Columbia Montour Visitors’ Bureau and MARC for boating, fishing, mountain biking, parks, and even the River Rat Brew Trail are awesome.) We hope to make the Chamber map easy to read, easy-to-fold, and easy to reference, with a large map of our two-county footprint, spotlights on our downtowns, reference points through the use of QR codes, and limited advertising. We also hope to provide value back to you, our members, offering you one more tool to highlight why our region is so wonderful – to new employees, new visitors, and new customers.

Given his great success with our Chamber directories, we’re pleased to continue to partner with Victor Koons Graphic Design for sales, design, layout, and printing of this new publication. Additional information, such as ad sizes and rates are included in our advertising contract, and Representative Lois Wolfe will begin reaching out for inquiries in January 2025. You may also reach her at 814-360-0558 or lwolfe2790@aol.com.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact the Chamber at 570-784-2522. Thank you for allowing us to continue to serve your organization.

Respectfully,

Chris Berleth
President