The Chamber Works 2019 Expo will offer 50 local businesses, nonprofits and industries a chance to showcase — and sell — their products and services from 4 to 7 p.m. April 25 at the Owensboro Convention Center.
“We have limited capacity and we have to cut it off at around 50,” Candance Castlen Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, said last week.
She said, “We had several companies that we weren’t able to get in last year. People need to call soon.”
There is no charge for the public to attend the Expo.
The fee for companies showcasing their products ranges from $200 to $350, depending on the size of the company.
This year, the chamber is offering a reduced rate — $125 — to the first 10 nonprofits to sign up.
Thurman said, “We already have a great mix of businesses signed up.”
Last year’s Expo was in March.
“We moved to April for better weather,” Brake said. “People have spring fever now. They want to get out and see their neighbors again.”
In 2016, the chamber decided to have the Expo every other year.
But Brake said, “It was so successful last year, we decided to do it every year again.”
The Expo has been around under a variety of names for decades.
Through the years, it’s been the Greater Owensboro Connections Expo, Owensboro Has It! Expo, Owensboro Buys It!, Small Business Expo and Table Top Night.
But the goal of the expos has always been the same — to give local businesses more exposure.
“It’s very popular with our members,” Brake said. “It’s a great way for them to show off what they do to each other and the community. A lot of deals are made there. Last year, they made just as many connections with each other as they did the general public. It’s about investing in the community.”