F Reid McLain

The Event

Early in my time at the Chamber I was given a grant that was originally intended for an upside down career fair. I saw an opportunity to do something more interesting with it and put together an event to showcase Macon's small businesses, chamber investors or not. The whole point was to give the community a chance to see just how diverse and active the local small business scene actually is.

Coordinating it was more involved than I expected. Getting city approval to shut down a street, coordinating police for crossguards, lining up a food vendor, a drink vendor, and an Italian ice vendor all took some wrangling. I used a portion of the grant to cover meals for all the attending businesses because I wanted to show them some genuine appreciation for showing up.

There was a small buy-in fee for vendors to ensure real attendance commitment. I matched those funds with the remaining grant money to put together a Biz Boost check awarded to one lucky winner on the day. Planning this was a blast and I came away with a real appreciation for what it takes to pull off a community event where the sole purpose is to give back. The range and diversity of businesses that showed up genuinely impressed me.

Winner's Take

Event Highlights

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