August 2023

Dear Ferndale business community and Eel River Valley allies,

It’s already been a year since I became president of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce and wow —what a year it’s been: The winter that seemingly went on forever; the beautiful snow that covered the town; and then, right before the holidays, the earthquake (yikes) in the middle of the night.

Our neighboring town of Rio Dell and its residents were the most severely impacted. Many people jumped in to help them within 24 hours of the quake. Even “The Queen,” our own beloved bridge took a hard jolt, and our local businesses took a hit too.

Ferndale residents have a long history of helping their neighbors when things get tough. That is one of the many things that make this small town so great to live in. People that live here really care even if they don’t agree on everything. They put aside all of that to help each other. Not many places are like that anymore. How lucky are we?

Challenges also continue for the 118-year-old Ferndale Chamber of Commerce. The portion of the collected Transient Occupancy Tax that the chamber receives from the city to operate is distributed by a formula that is based on years’ past. That means that we are still experiencing the financial consequences of the last year of the pandemic when most people were not traveling nor staying in our hotels or other lodging establishments. A percentage of those bed taxes, along with your membership fee, is what funds the non-profit, all volunteer-run chamber.

Despite the tighter budget, the chamber continues to support, organize, and co-sponsor many traditional annual town events and continue to bring visitors and shoppers into Ferndale stores and customers into our eateries. Additionally, the chamber pays for Hwy 101 billboards, maintains and operates the popular visitferndale.com website, does dedicated social media on practically all platforms, answers all visitor inquires made by telephone, social media and email, purchases and places advertising in local and national outlets, maintains a vast professional digital photo library, organizes and maintains Ferndale beautification projects (such as Main Street hanging baskets), and has a robust email marketing campaign. Your membership fee helps the chamber to pay for many things that we all benefit from — just like it has for the previous 118 years of service to Ferndale.

It is time to renew your membership, or perhaps join us for the first time. We offer 3 types of memberships, and everyone is welcome. Chamber expenses have increased significantly but the membership fee remains the same. This year it is our hope that you’ll renew your membership online. It will take a few moments: go to the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce page on visitferndale.com and select your membership type (Partner membership for businesses, or Stakeholder membership for individuals/households). If you’d rather print a form and mail it, you can download a membership form here, but we are striving to reduce the paperwork and manual tracking. If you’ve ever bought anything online, you will find online membership easy to do.

As always, if you have a question - Email us directly at: info@visitferndale.com.

With great appreciation for everyone that has worked for the betterment of this community for so many years, I look forward to the next year.