Tickets are on sale now for the 57th Heritage Weekend on September 24-26, 2010. This annual fall event -- always the last full weekend in September -- honors the rich culture and history of Hardy County. Buy event tickets now at www.heritageweekend.com.

This year’s event will feature historic Moorefield, with a focus on Winchester Avenue. From Main Street to Olivet Cemetery, many property owners on Winchester Avenue are opening their homes, churches and businesses to provide a glimpse into life during an earlier time.

Each year Heritage Weekend highlights an historic structure with a professional drawing set on tile, suitable for collection and display. Chipley Homeplace on Winchester Avenue is this year's tile house. Its story warms the heart and its period interior is open for viewing both Saturday and Sunday of Heritage Weekend.

The Hardy County Chamber is working with Heritage Weekend Executive Director Bob Alcock this year to help bring more attention to Hardy County businesses as a part of the weekend's events.

To do this, the Chamber office will be open Saturday and Sunday on Heritage Weekend, to direct folks who stop in to different activities going on at member businesses, such as the craft fair at the Lost River Artisans Cooperative and the band and barbecue at Hardman's Hardware.

We are also providing each participating home and church with a packet of our HCC county roadmaps, so that visitors can feel confident about traveling around the county and that advertisers on our map will have maximum exposure to a new audience!

The 2010 Heritage Weekend festivities begin on Friday evening with the opening of the quilt show at Moorefield Elementary School. The popular craft show opens Saturday morning at Moorefield High School. These events continue throughout the weekend.

The house and church tours remain the highlight of Heritage Weekend. Every dollar spent on a tour ticket is allocated to the Hardy County Public Library and projects that preserve Hardy County's history and culture.

Various communities like Arkansaw, Lost River, Mathias and Wardensville offer crafts, music, and food not to be missed. Two hints: the homemade pies at the Arkansaw Community Center go fast and the pancakes at the Mathias Ruritan Saturday breakfast cannot be equaled!

Tickets for the crowd-pleasing Saturday night South Branch Fiddle, Banjo and Mandolin contest at McCoy's Grand Theatre in Moorefield sell out quickly. This year, audience members will have a say in the judging!

Recently, the HCC asked a business member what it would take to get them energized for the remainder of the year, and guess what? We didn’t get an easy answer.

“What would motivate me is having another month of summer.”

Well, it is without any shame that the HCC admits that there are some things we just can’t do. Adding a month to the calendar would be one of those things. For starters, what in the world would we call it? "Cham-bember?" "Summer-gust?" It just wouldn'’t work.

Still, there are times when we all want the impossible, or what seems impossible. But should that stop us from wanting it? Or even from working toward it? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

It’s what you might call an “Existential Bagel.”

What's that? Well, it goes like this: Down the road at Sheetz, there are pretty much two bagel choices: “plain” and “everything.”

And you have to choose. Do you want a simple round whitebread, or do you want crazytonsofstuffbutohmygoodnessitstasty?

Most of us just want multigrain, or onion, or maybe whole wheat. But no, no. The middle road is not an option. The choices are PLAIN. Or EVERYTHING.

Lots of people avoid the everything bagel because they don’t want to get something in their teeth (poppyseed) or offend (onion).

But let’s face it: the everything bagel is so gooooood. It’s tasty, it’s chock full, it’s livin’ on the edge first thing in the morning. Just like any “everything bagel” the jazzy option has inherent – but surmountable - risks.

What then, is your business' “Everything Bagel?” What is the crazytonsofstuffbutohmygoodnessitstasty thing hanging out there that your heart desires?

Well, here's the HCC's advice: STOP LETTING TINY LITTLE POPPYSEEDS KEEP YOU FROM ALL THAT YOU WANT!

You may not be able to conjure up an extra month of summer, but what might you do if, each day, you put your feet of the floor and exclaimed, “I WANT EVERYTHING!”

That’s what we're calling the “Existential Bagel” – the choices that shape your very existence at this moment are “plain” or “everything” – so choose the gusto, and say this out loud right now:

I WANT EVERYTHING!

I. WANT. EVERYTHIIIIIIIING!!!

And just having SAID it, twice or thrice with feeling, you’ll be much more ready to mow your challeinges down!

Out there on the mysterious web lurks a great website for towns and counties like ours: Small Biz Survival (www.smallbizsurvival.com) One of the creators of the site, Becky McCray, recently posted a helpful entry on making sure your business gets found.

As Becky reminds us, when you do business in a small town, all the locals know where you are. But if you also do business with new residents, visitors (and, in our case, those “visitors” can include folks who would be “locals” in another part of our very spaced out county) and tourists, it's up to you to make yourself easy to find.

So, here are some great steps to get found as recommended by Small Biz Survival:

1. Get a good sign.

Make sure it's clear and readable. Include your business name or category. Not allowed a sign due to zoning? (for example, B&Bs in residential areas) Get large and readable house numbers instead, and include your house number in all your promotions. In fact, ALWAYS make a street your street number visible, because folks who are following directions need to be able to see those numbers – and you would be SHOCKED at how often those numbers aren’t visible.

2. Check different mobile map systems and phones.

Between Google Maps, Mapquest and GPS systems, there are many variations. You may find you need to list your address in a particular way so it will come up right for visitors. The only way to know is to test. Then be sure the address you publicize is the one that works best. My business has an official county-assigned address, but it doesn't correlate to any online mapping systems.

3. Claim your business listing in Google Places.

Need help figuring it out? Well, um, Google this: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/introducing-google-places.html

4. Have at least a basic website.

Make sure you include the following:

• Full business name
• Business category, if it isn't stated in the name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Mailing address
• City and state
• Street address
• Map of your location, or link to an online map
• Business hours
• Bonus: picture of your business from the street
• Lines of business
• Specific brand name

5. Write extremely clear driving directions.

Be extremely clear. Here's some of Becky’s take on how to write better directions:

• Give plenty of space to directions in your materials. Do not pack them into a tiny space in a teeny font. These must be readable – and especially readable while driving.
• For intersections, you can say whether to turn left or right, but also include the direction (north, south, etc.). Include a landmark at the corner and the street names where ever possible.
• Include every single step. Drive through the route and make notes. This has to be the most frustrating and common flaw in directions: the missed step.
• Use your "enter" key. Start a new line for each step.
• Include where to park when they arrive.

Take a moment today and make sure your business is well signed, well represented on the web and has effective rack cards and promotional materials!

As invested members of the Chamber, you most certainly want to put your dollars to good use. There are programs you’d like to see implemented, projects that the HCC could do to help your business, and opportunities that the Chamber could help you capture.

We very much want to know what those things are! Your voice can be heard!

The HCC Board just finalized a strategic plan outlining four committees that will drive the HCC forward. Please choose your area of interest and contact the Chamber office at 304-530-1786 to let us know like to participate.

The HCC's committees are:

The RETAIL COMMITTEE: The the Retail Committee serves our business owners! Activities include planning and implementing a fall shopping event (formerly the Shop Hop), coordinating Chamber After Hours events, attending ribbon cuttings and identifying training and/or educational needs for county merchants.

The MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE: The Membership Committee is all about connecting! Members of this committee reach out to new and existing members to make sure the HCC is meeting the needs of stakeholders. Activities include visits to new and existing members and organizing a New Member luncheon.

The LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE: The Legislative Committee focuses on identifying issues of political importance to our business community, and helps our membership to communicate the Chamber’s positions to the elected officials and community organizations. Activities include events such as the Legislative Breakfast and Meet the Candidates night.

The PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE: The PR Committee is all about visibility! How is the website doing? What should be in the Chamber Corner? Who should the HCC be talking to? How do we best promote our businesses within and outside of Hardy County? These questions will be answered – and in a catchy way that audiences will remember!

Beginning Wednesday, May 12, the Hardy County Chamber office will be moving mountains!

Actually, it's the HCC office that will be moving twice a week.

Thanks to a partnership with HCC member the Town of Wardensville, the Chamber office will be located at the Wardensville Visitor Center two days a week, Wednesdays and Fridays. The location is a part of the Wardensville Visitor and Conference Center at 301 East Main St., Wardensville.

"We are committed to being a business organization that respresents the whole county," HCC President Tracey Ratliff said. "We are happy to have an opportunity to offer weekly office hours on both ends of Corridor H."

The Chamber office has been located in a portion of the McCoy's Grand Theater, 121 N. Main St., Moorefield, since 2007, and will remain open at that location on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Chamber hours will remain the same: 9 a.m.-12 p.m. weekdays. The phone number, 304-530-1786, will also be the same for both locations.

The Town of Wardensville is renting the Visitor Center space to the Chamber for $1 annually. This partnership allows the town to have the Visitor Center open, while also giving the Chamber a chance to interact easily with businesses on the eastern side of the county.

"We're looking forward to having the Chamber office in Wardensville two days a week," said Pat Ford, Wardensville Town Manager. "It's good for the town and good for business, and two 'goods' make a 'great' for Hardy County."