SPCC President Kay Wilson-Bolton and Howard Bolton set the booth up in the morning, and “it was gorgeous, and it was staffed all day by myself and many volunteers,” enabling the Santa Paulans to hand-off booth duties and visit the rest of the show.As a member benefit, the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce booth handed out brochures and business cards, as well as information on upcoming special events including the Ghost Walk.“People had no idea so much goes on here,” said Maland.The only city-based business that had a booth was Santa Paula Memorial Hospital.“Next year I would like to see more businesses from Santa Paula participate, see more exposure for our businesses.”
SP Chamber wows the business Sea Trade Show at Seaside Park
October 09, 2002
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesThe Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce was front and center at recent Business by the Sea Trade Show at Seaside Park.More than 235 mostly West Ventura County exhibitors filled the park’s Anacapa and San Miguel halls late last month with booths highlighting their businesses or, in the case of the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce, an event co-sponsor, what they can do for business.Nobody went hungry, with area restaurants offering nibbles of their menus’ best in a bid to attract more business to their eateries. The tradeshow showcased all sorts of businesses, from the smallest mom-and-pop shops to corporate branch offices and non-profits. No matter the business, they shared the common goal of raising awareness of their existence, even to one another.It had been a rough year for many of the exhibitors: last year’s showcase came on the heels of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but the relatively quiet first anniversary of the attacks as well as renewed confidence in the economy brought more visitors to the 2002 Trade Show.Jeanette Maland, executive director of the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce, spent the day at the trade show at the chamber booth and said the SPCC’s goal was to “expose Santa Paula in a positive way to the general public and other businesses.”About 4,500 people visited the trade show, which included a luncheon keynote speech about marketing.“The Santa Paula booth was the nicest looking, most well-stocked booth there, that’s what people said,” noted Maland. “People would come up and say, ‘Wow! I didn’t know so much was going on in Santa Paula!’ We had brochures on the Mural Project which people said they had heard of, boxes of agricultural products donated by Tresierras Market, who also gave us plastic bags to hand out, American flags from the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley which were gone in the first 45 minutes.”