New board offers a fresh start for Cashmere Chamber of Commerce

CASHMERE – After a near collapse at the end of 2024 due to only one remaining board member, the Cashmere Chamber of Commerce is making a revival with a newly formed board of directors at the helm.

“This first year vision is, let's get a healthy board in place, a healthy working board that has very complementary skills…They then bring those skills to the board and can lead different initiatives based on those skill sets. Also…What we're trying to do is make it very kind of representative of the business community,” said new chamber vice president Carrie Pruitt.

After attending a chamber meeting late last year, Pruitt and Andy Thomas of Side Street Cashmere had discovered that the chamber no longer had a director, and was about to lose three out of its four board members at the end of the year. The chamber was already struggling to recruit board members, only filling four out of the 11 available seats.

“At that meeting, it was just clear that things were not in a good place. And so Andy and I had the discussion about, let's just get people together, let's figure something out,” said Pruitt.

The two organized a meeting with the community’s business owners to share the news, and propose either revitalizing the chamber, or transitioning into a downtown business association. Despite the overwhelming frustration with the chamber’s lack of transparency and communication, business owners ultimately decided to reinvest in the chamber.

“It's been a little bit rocky…You know, we don't have the most positive support that we've had in past years…Going to those members and reaching out and gaining back their trust, that's kind of number one, because the chamber can't really exist without members,” said new chamber president Kendra Clark.

Clark, owner of Loves Me Flowers, decided to attend the January chamber meeting after learning of the situation. By the end of the meeting, Clark was president and the chamber had almost an entirely new board, with the exception of the remaining treasurer Wendy Tankersley. Secretary Chad Zimmerman and board members Suzy Hansch and Steve Croci had also stepped up to join.

As they settle into their new roles and work to fill remaining vacancies, the board has already started to make changes. Most recently, it hired a new director, Jeff Jones.

“What we're trying to do differently, is to build that infrastructure that’s a really supportive, collaborative board [with a] manager who's also empowered to really lead the chamber with the support of the board,” said Pruitt.

Moving forward, the board is focused on improving its communication channels, such as hosting social gatherings and utilizing social media.

“Whether that means posting something that [businesses] are doing, or reaching out to our community and letting our [them] know what's either going on at the chamber or what's going on in the community at large…All of those types of things are really important, and have been kind of lacking from the chamber,” said Clark.

The board is also looking to make tourism related improvements, such as installing signage for visitors to better navigate the town and discover businesses. Eventually, it hopes to expand its membership and services beyond city limits to include businesses in the Dryden and Monitor areas, said Clark.

“It's really a special town, and I think there's a lot of small businesses here that want to grow and help each other, and collaborate. So, I just see that as the direction we're heading…Just improving on what's already an amazing community,” said Pruitt.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media