Jessica Linder has a full plate between polishing a master’s thesis and reviving the Galesburg Area Chamber of Commerce at the same time.
The chamber’s executive director has been on the job for about a month now, finding which of the chamber’s long established programs are working, which ones need growing and which one’s can be axed.
Part of the equation she says is fitting the chamber’s programming in with what’s going in organizations like the Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development, the City of Galesburg and various non-profits.
Linder also alluded to conversations with chamber members and Tourism Director Bill Morris on how to make Galesburg Railroad Days into more of a family event that “people and members of the Galesburg community want to go so it’s not just pulling people into town but if you live here or from here it brings you back every year and you want to do this Galesburg thing,” Linder says.
Linder might be uniquely suited to bring Railroad Days to the next level.
Not only does she have a bachelor’s degree in hospitality leadership but she knows what it’s like to be drawn home for a unique patch of culture.
This weekend Linder is headed back to her native Morton, for the Pumpkin Festival that draws nearly 70,000 people to a town of about 16,000.
She would like to see Railroad Days “boom” the way the pumpkin fest has.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has declared this week Illinois Chamber of Commerce week. Illinois has over 400 chambers of commerce, state wide.
