The Bragg Creek & Area Chamber of Commerce was founded in the early Eighties by a small group of long-time residents and business owners. Since that time, our Chamber has grown until today we have 157 members and still growing! Our Chamber is proud to work with other community organizations to make residents and visitors alike aware of the beautiful place we call home, BRAGG CREEK. Our goal is to bring awareness of Bragg Creek to people while promoting our business community.

Our membership year runs from October 1st to September 30th. We have monthly meetings except for the months of July, August and December and our Annual General Meeting is held in October. Our Board is comprised of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and up to five Directors. At present, we have a full slate.

With money received through our membership dues and commissions payable by Fauth Financial Group plus grant monies received from Travel Alberta, the Government of Alberta’s “Community Initiatives Program” and Rocky View County’s “Business Center and Commercial Corridor Enhancement Program”, we spent upwards of $60,000.00 on the following initiatives for 2010/2011:

• - 30,000 Bragg Creek Lure Brochures with our Hamlet map on the inside were distributed in Calgary and surrounding area and will be in circulation until August 2012 (funded by Bragg Creek businesses and the Chamber)
• - Destination Awareness Campaign – partnering with Cochrane, 50,000 copies of a four page flyer were distributed in the Calgary Herald (100% funded by Travel Alberta)
• - Superboard Campaign – again partnering with Cochrane, our two communities advertised “Backyard Road Trips” for the months of July, August and September. This initiative resulted in a 50% increase for Cochrane and a 40% increase for Bragg Creek in web traffic. (Travel Alberta funded 50%, with Cochrane and the Chamber splitting the balance)
• - Developed a new website with our new URL visitbraggcreek.com which is linked to braggcreekchamber.ca. Although the site has been developed and is “live” there are a few other initiatives occurring down the road which will result in joint funding by Travel Alberta and the Chamber.
• - Partnering with the Design Review Committee for the garbage can project, new banners for Balsam and White Avenues, partial completion of the lighting project on Balsam Avenue and the Heritage sign both of which will be completed in the spring (funded by Rocky View’s BCCCE)
• - Annual Spirit of Christmas Festival running for the first three weekends in December (funded through the Community Initiatives Program, businesses in Bragg Creek and the Chamber) along with a Superboard on Glenmore Trail advertising the Festival and Bragg Creek for the months of November and December (50% of which is being funded by Travel Alberta with the balance being paid by the Chamber)

The Chamber is now developing their marketing strategy for 2011/2012 and should have it ready for viewing by March 2012.

As you can see from our initiatives, we are a vigorous and committed Chamber.  All the work is done by a board of volunteers, and the atmosphere at meetings is lively and focused.  Note that all members and prospective members are welcome to attend meetings, and we welcome feedback from anyone in the community.  Looking forward to hearing from you!