Ephrata chamber moves downtown
File Photo
Volunteers welcome in more visible location
EPHRATA — At times, Suzanne Dahl feels like she's working in a fishbowl.
There are quite a few windows in her new office location, but the Ephrata Chamber of Commerce executive director is getting acclimated to the new surroundings.
"I love it," she said. "I was mentally moved here before I physically moved here."
The chamber moved its office to the corner of Basin Street and Division Avenue Oct. 9.
"Pretty much most everything is set up. We just have some minor details at the old office to finish up with," Dahl said.
The old office was located at the bus station on Alder Street. Dahl said the bus station remains in operation. Bus tickets are available for purchase at All Aboard For Travel.
"The bus still stops there. The train still stops there and Grant Transit Authority," she said. "The only thing that's changed from the building is that we've moved.
The move allows the chamber more time to commit to its membership and functions, Dahl explained.
The chamber board feels moving to Basin Street offers better visibility and accessibility to members.
"So far, just in the short time we've been here, that has proven to be true," she said.
Another factor in the decision was safety, Dahl said, but she declined to comment further.
"The whole big picture was better visibility, accessibility and for traffic coming through," she said. "At our old location we were kind of hard to find. A lot of people didn't know where we were."
Space is smaller at the new location, but Dahl said the only real change is that board meetings gather across the street at a cafe site.
The new location allows the chamber to house its Business After Hours, and hold an open house Nov. 15 and Nov. 16.
The chamber maintains its activities, although the Dec. 2 Christmas celebration name changed from the Mint Explosion to Miracle on Main Street.
Dahl and a part-time employee work in the office.
"We're still looking for volunteers that want to come in and assist in any way," Dahl said.
New members have already signed up and people have stopped by the office every day, she added.
"(They've) said this is so much a better location for them — one of the people didn't know where we were before at all," Dahl said. "If you look at it, we've only been here for a few weeks and they're already saying that."
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