Crowd packs festive fair to learn about business community — and have fun, too

COEUR d’ALENE — Julie Kelly knew why, for the first time, she came to the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce’s After Hours Business Fair on Tuesday.

“I’m here to network,” said the group sales specialist with Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

Kelly was looking to connect with businesses that would be interested in coming to the Sandpoint mountain to hold conferences, retreats or team-building exercises.

She liked what she found at the three-hour event attended by an estimated 1,000 people checking out about 75 vendors at The Coeur d’Alene Resort and Convention Center.

“We’ve got such a big business community market in Coeur d’Alene and I thought, ‘I’m going to just give it a try’ and I have been so impressed,” Kelly said.

It was a fun, friendly and festive fair billed as the region’s largest business expo of the year. It included music, appetizers, prizes and plenty of laughs and conversation. Vendors included banks, credit unions, home products, salons, health services, publishing companies and nonprofits like United Way and St. Vincent de Paul.

As well, there were breakout sessions offered that covered how to grow your business, using social media, leasing commercial real estate and dealing with a tight labor market.

Organizers made it easy for folks to attend with free admission and free parking.

Derrell Hartwick, chamber president and CEO, praised the support of businesses and the community for coming out.

“They want to know what’s going on, they want to see what the businesses are doing, and businesses want to promote what they’re doing, as well, so it’s just a great event,” he said. “It shows why Coeur d’Alene is so special and what makes it so great.”

People milled around, many carrying brochures and goodies picked up from vendors.

Darwin and Linda Schultz of Rathdrum read about the fair in Saturday’s Coeur d’Alene Press and opted to attend. They enjoyed the food, the giveaways and learning about what businesses had to offer.

“There’s a chiropractor here who’s pretty cool that I talked to a while ago,” Darwin Schultz said.

Steve Russo, owner of Like Media with offices in Hayden, said he usually has a booth at the fair, but this year, decided to “get more out of the experience” and just check things out.

“I love the energy,” he said.

Dixie Gehlen and Heidi Burk, recruiting managers with Provisional Recruiting in Spokane, said the company has been part of the fair each year for the past 10 or so.

Gehlen loved how interactive the fair was and said it gave them a chance to see new faces and greet old ones, too.

“We build up friendships over time,” she said.

They were offering bottles of wine as prizes in a ring-toss game that was one of the more popular of the night. While only a few won, all came away with smiles.

“People are very happy to be here,” Gehlen said.

Ali Shute, executive director of Coeur d’Alene Arts & Culture Alliance, said the evening was going well.

“The amazing thing about this is being able to meet people and update them on what we’re doing,” she said.

Most people that come through have been to one or more of the nonprofit’s free events, Shute said.

“It’s important to us that they know who is putting on that event and why they should support us,” she said.

Chris Stephens, president of Uncle Dan’s seasonings and dressings in Hayden, was enthusiastic as he encouraged people to take a taste test of two ranch dressings, one of them his company’s, and then fill out a brief questionnaire.

He was confident fair-goers would chose Uncle Dan’s dressing, with results to be posted on their website.

The 54-year-old, family owned company moved its operations to Idaho from Washington last year. While Stephens has been a vendor at business fairs around the region, this was his first in Coeur d’Alene.

“It’s a good business climate in Coeur d’Alene,” he said. “I’ve always loved it over here.”