Chamber's Membership Growing

The Plainview-Old Bethpage held a celebration Wednesday afternoon, an outdoor picnic of pizza and optimism. 

The annual year-end party is the chamber’s way of assessing the past year and looking ahead to the future, said Chamber President Gary Epstein. Growth and the future were in full evidence at Wednesday’s event, held at Haypath Park in Old Bethpage.

The chamber saw a big jump in membership in the past year, growing by 28 members in 2010-11 and that could be a sign of better economic times to come.

“The fact is we had 91 members last and now we are at 119 members,” Epstein said. “That leads me to believe businesses are being proactive in getting their names out there.

“They are willing and able to take on new clients and grow their business,” Epstein said.

Several new members addressed the 50 people in attendance, providing a look at their objectives, an idea of their client sources, and how they intend to grow over the coming years in Plainview, Epstein said.

Included among the newcomers were three financial institutions: , , and

“There seems to be a general theme of optimism in the Chamber and among our board members,”  said Epstein, who added he enjoyed the pizza, provided by Chamber member

The Chamber is already looking forward to next year’s promotions. They include a September kick-off event on Sept. 21, a restaurant week as well as a meet-the-candidates night in October, and a year-end party in December. 

The Chamber, which does not meet during the summer months, is also promoting a community outing to a Long Island Ducks game on July 21. For information on this event, click here.