Richard Froese
South Peace News
The award-winning Peace River and District Chamber of Commerce is celebrating Small Business Week, Oct. 19-25.
Although no special events are planned for the week, the chamber has launched nominations for its annual Davis Awards that will be presented Feb. 7, executive director Reilly Bassen- dowski says.
“For the month of October, we are focusing on celebrating local businesses by opening up nominations for the Davis Awards,” she says.
“It’s really exciting to see the community come together to celebrate their favourite businesses to make our community what it is.”
Nominations close Oct. 31 and can be found on the website at peaceriverchamber.com.
Awards will be presented to honour outstanding business in various categories.
The chamber received the Chamber-of-the-Year Award for chambers with similar numbers of members on May 31 at the annual general meeting of the Alberta Chambers. Several members of the Peace River chamber attended the event.
Chamber president Layne Gardner was appointed to the provincial executive committee and serves as the treasurer of the five-member committee.
At the policy plenary session, the Peace River Chamber played a role to get several policies passed to lobby the provincial government.
“The chamber board and staff continue to work hard advocating for business in the Peace region,” Gardner says.
“From my appointment earlier this year to the Alberta Chambers executive, to our meetings with provincial government ministers and their staff both online and in person, we have had a busy year advocating for utility affordability, economic investment attractiveness, homelessness and crime reduction, transportation enhancements and airport re-investment, medical staff recruitment and retention, Highway 686 expansion and completion and retention and to create a trade corridor, just to mention a few issues we’ve been working on.”
He adds the chamber is committed to building partnerships.
“We have also been working on collaborating with other chambers of commerce throughout the province on similar concerns with a louder and more concentrated voice,” Gardner says.
“I am committed to doing what I can to help make the Peace region stronger and a better place to work, live and raise a family.”
The chamber is also committed to supporting neighbouring chambers, Bassendowski says.
“We also partner with other smaller chambers of commerce by acting as their voice at larger Alberta chamber events where budget may be a limiting factor in their attendance.
“When we join forces, it allows us to take a stronger stance when advocating for the Peace region as a whole.”
The chamber is busy preparing to host several events to promote businesses during the Christmas season.
“We have a few events and initiatives coming up for the holiday season,” Bassendowski says.
“Passport to Christmas promotion starts on Nov. 3, which is great program to encourage people to shop local during one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year while also giving local businesses an opportunity to give back to their customers.”
The weekend of Nov. 28-29 will be busy with activity.
Moonlight Madness on Nov 28 kicks it off, followed by Shop Local Saturday and the Santa Claus Parade on Nov. 29.
Peace River chamber will also host a Small Business Christmas party on Dec. 6 at Peace River Brewing.
“The Christmas party is great for small businesses to bring their staff to enjoy a fun night out with none of the planning,” says Bassen- dowski.
Besides the Davis Awards in February, two other major events are on the calendar in 2026.
The annual general meeting is scheduled for Jan. 14.
For the second consecutive year, the spring trade show returns as Northern Connections Expo from May 1-2 at the Baytex Energy Centre.
Peace River chamber partners with the Town of Peace River and Northern Sunrise County on their separate economic development committees to further enhance economic development in the region.
“Our partnership with the Town of Peace River helped create the annual Peace River and Area Job Fair that was held at the end of September for the fourth consecutive year,” Bassendowski says.