Myth Busters: No matter what organization you are, there are always assumptions made about your business. The Chamber is no different, so I thought it might be helpful to dispel the common myths we hear regularly.
Myth: The City signs our paychecks. We are part of the City. We are one in the same with the City.
Busted: The Chamber is a Separate entity from the City. Aside from collecting Lodging Tax dollars which are used to promote Hutchinson and bring people here, we have no legal connection to the City. Now, that being said, we have a great working relationship with everyone at the city. Hutchinson is very fortunate to have such open leaders, organizations and businesses to get the work done! Don’t feel bad, this is a very common misconception. So all those bank and school holidays…we don’t get (ALL) of them off.
Myth: the Chamber Staff only works from 10am-4pm
Busted: the office is open for calls and walk-ins during these hours, however the staff works 40+ hours a week. We changed the hours when the Dept of Labor was changing overtime rules. We have kept the adjustment as we continue to use the hours we’re closed to work on catching up on phone calls, paper work, etc. it also allows staff some flexibility when we are coming in for early meetings and staying late for events.
Myth: The Chamber organizes all the big events in town.
Busted: We do not. You may see us at many events; you may see our logo attached to many events, but Water Carnival, RiverSong, MN Garlic Festival, Orange Spectacular, MN Pottery Festival, are run by their own set of VOLUNTEERS. Yes, these are volunteer run organizations and they DO A FABULOUS job! So no, the Chamber’s Father’s Day Parade is not a real thing.
We currently host the Annual Arts & Crafts Festival, Bring It Home Family Fun and Business Expo, the Hometown Golf Challenge, and through this summer the Music in the Park Summer Concert Series.
Myth: The Hutchinson Community Foundation is part of the Chamber.
Busted: Nope, this isn’t true either. Fact: the Community Foundation meets at the Chamber, we provide administrative services for them, and they do reimburse us for these services. Now, we love when they are here, and we love October when they invite all their grant winners to come for show and tell, photos and checks are handed out!
Myth: We work with all the Community Organizations
Truth! We do work with MANY Community Organizations, some very closely. For any event happening in town, the general public comes to the Chamber for information and we work to have as much information as possible on the community calendar, which is seen by over 100 people a day, and during the busy summer weekends- even more!
Myth: the Chamber isn’t “political.”
Well…. Sort of. The Chamber Board of Directors has an issue endorsement policy in place, which stipulates we will not endorse any issue that benefits one business or industry over another. We DO support issues that benefit ALL LOCAL businesses. In the past we’ve supported work to protect businesses from drive-by ADA compliance lawsuits, update state business taxes which currently have automatic infiltrators, and represent 30% of most owners taxes. And most recently, we worked with legislators to stop the Dept. of Labor’s ruling on overtime.