Chris Atwood of CBDC Yarmouth says the upcoming Small Business Week event at the Shanty Café will be a chance for people to talk in an informal setting.
ERIC BOURQUE PHOTO
YARMOUTH -- At a time of year when the spotlight shines on the small business sector, an Oct. 22 event in Yarmouth will give people a chance to talk about their businesses, sharing stories about positive things that are happening with the local economy, organizers say.
Billed as Business After Five, the event will take place at the Shanty Café between 5 and 7 p.m. It’s not new, but it hasn’t been held in quite awhile, perhaps a decade or more, says Chris Atwood, executive director of CBDC Yarmouth, the group leading the organizational effort for the event.
“We want people to mix and mingle and talk about success and what’s happening within their businesses,” he said, “and we want a few service providers to be there to let people know what services are available for our business community.”
There will be an “open-mic” opportunity for people to talk if they wish, he said.
In recent years, Small Business Week activities in Yarmouth would include a luncheon with a guest speaker, but Atwood says the decision was made to go with something a little less formal this time.
During discussions about what to do for Small Business Week this year, he said, “It was brought up that in years gone by we used to do this Business After Five. It used to be a relatively regular thing that was put on and we figured why not try it again and see what kind of response we get?”
Organizers ask that those planning to attend let them know ahead of time by contacting the CBDC Yarmouth office.
“We will ask for an RSVP,” Atwood said, “but, by and large, it’s going to be pretty informal. We want people to feel comfortable dropping by and just mixing and mingling.”
The event date – Thursday, Oct. 22 – falls during the second half of Small Business Week 2015, which will be observed Oct. 18-24.
With the event billed as an opportunity for people to talk about positive things, Atwood says that, given what he sees through his work at CBDC Yarmouth, more people seem to be feeling encouraged about the local economic picture.
“We’ve seen an increase in applications coming in to our organization,” he said, “and we’re attributing that to economic growth, more optimism within our economy.”
