On Thursday, June 7, 1918, local leaders in Saratoga Springs organized the first-ever meeting of our Chamber of Commerce!

100 years later we're celebrating this milestone, on that very same day, June 7, 2018, with a BIG Centennial Celebration, on the lawn as the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, just outside of the Hall of Springs, in the beautiful Saratoga Spa State Park.

We have more than 300 members joining the celebration. The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors will be there to honor us with a special proclamation. Mazzone Hospitality will be providing delicious food and champagne for a special toast. Brian Straughter, the Chair of the Chamber's Board of Directors and the President of Turf Hotels, with the help of Saratoga Polo will jump on stage to open a bottle of champagne with a saber performing a "Sabrage." Garland Nelson will be providing entertainment from 5 to 7:00 p.m. We'll have beer samples from Druthers Brewing. Best of all, our request for a warm sunny day was approved!

Earlier in the year, we celebrated our Centennial at our 100th Annual Dinner. We had nearly 1,000 attendees join us at the City Center. Today's event, on the official day of our first-ever meeting, is open to EVERYONE with just a $10 charge. While it was created for the Annual Dinner, we invite everyone to watch this video created by Richard Snyder, our VP for Communications, as a way to understand how our community and our Chamber have transformed Saratoga Springs and Saratoga County in partnership with our members and community leaders. 

Those who live and work in Saratoga County are truly lucky. This is one of the healthiest places to live in all of the US. We have world class amenities from the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to the Historic Saratoga Race Course to the Hudson River and Great Sacandaga Lake to the Saratoga National Historical Park, the Schuyler House and Grant's Cottage, to name a few. Our local and regional economy is outperforming the entire upstate and downtown Saratoga Springs is recognized as one of the most vibrant downtowns in our nation. Our cities, villages and towns have a unique collection of local independently owned firms that are the backbone of our success and are the establishments that make us unique.

We believe this Chamber changes things. Always has. Always will. We have an incredible and talented professional staff. We have a diverse, responsive and engaged Board of Directors with 27 members who all live and work within Saratoga County. Our members volunteer like crazy to help our Veterans, to be Ambassadors to our new members, to advance our Healthy Saratoga movement, and to teach and inspire the next generation of Leaders in Saratoga County. We are a visible and vocal advocate for all of our members and all of the communities in Saratoga County.

We believe membership in the Chamber is an investment in the future built on our history of success!

If your organization is located in Saratoga County or does business in Saratoga County, we invite you to join our team. We do everything we can to help our more than 2,000 members to succeed, grow and thrive. We serve as Saratoga County's official Tourism Promotion Agency working to encourage leisure tourists to visit Saratoga County year round. We have networking and connecting events, educational programs and workshops, seminars and speakers on timely topics. We have opportunities for free and paid advertising open only to our members looking for some added exposure. 

The work we do and the impact we've had over the last 100 years was made possible by those businesses and organizations that have supported us along the way. 

And we're convinced on this most special day that our best days are best to come...as a chamber and as a community. Thank you to everyone for your support. Thank you to our members for your investment. Thank you to those who have volunteered to help us. Thank you to our elected officials who have been our champions. Thank you to everyone. Let's celebrate tonight and get back to work tomorrow as we continue to ensure that Saratoga County remains a great place to live, work and play!