“Be thankful for what you have. Your life is someone else’s fairy tale.” Wale Ayeni

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our best wishes to you for a wonderful holiday and sincere thanks for all your support during the year!

Tom Morrissette, President

Zoe Basheska, Marketing & Membership Outreach

Karen Waterkeyn, Receptionist & Visitor Desk Associate

Chamber Thanksgiving Week Hours

Wednesday, Nov. 23 – 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Closed - Thanksgiving, Nov. 24 & Friday, Nov 25.

You told us what you wanted, and we listened!

We’re excited to be kicking off a new program year of ChamberSMART offerings with a dynamic session on PowerPoint presentations.

Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

The Chamber and the Ambassadors Team helped Coffé Amor celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Friday! The coffee shop, owned and operated by the Tilton family, is located on 325 West Bay Drive, Suite 4B, Largo. As a welcome to the Chamber, they were also presented with their Member Plaque! For Coffé Amor's contact information, visit our Business Directory. Thanks to Advanced Video Systems for the photos & video.

B2B Holiday Happy Hour

Wednesday, Dec. 7 - 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Clearwater Yacht Club

830 S. Bayway Boulevard, Clearwater, FL 33767

$15 Members; $20 Guests - Register www.CentralChamber.biz

$100 Sponsorships - Gets your business 10x that in promo exposure, a marketing table and time at the mic to address the event crowd.

Email Tom@CentralChamber.biz or call 727-584-2321.

WHEN: Thursday, December 15

11:30 AM - 1:15 PM

WHERE: Holiday Inn Harbourside

401 2nd Street, IRB, 33785

Presenting Sponsor $400: 4 tickets, logo placement, display table and time on the mic!

Marketing Sponsor $200: 2 tickets, logo placement and display table!

Tickets: $30 | Table of 8: $240

Casino Night Rescheduled until Saturday, January 21!

Florida jobless rate up after Ian

Florida saw an uptick in its unemployment rate in October after deadly Hurricane Ian swept through Southwest Florida, while the labor force continues to grow, according to numbers released Friday.

The Amazon Effect: How much money do new facilities generate from property taxes?

For local tax collectors, Amazon is the gift that keeps on giving. Nowhere is that more evident in Florida than in Daytona Beach, where the taxable value on a 211-acre parcel soared from $49,168 to $11,599,157 once Amazon took possession of the property.

Florida hotels have stacked up thousands of violations of a 2019 sex-trafficking law. But not one has been fined.

More than 14,000 citations have been issued to 6,669 hotels and other public lodging establishments for violating the law, which requires employees to be trained to recognize and report trafficking for sex or forced labor.

Florida utility customers will pay more next year as companies look to guard against future storms

State regulators have signed off on electric utilities collecting hundreds of millions of dollars from customers next year to pay for projects aimed at bolstering the power system against storms.