By Brandon Dietert
2017 Chair of the Board
Working Together and Doing Great Things
As I was working at Wurstfest this past weekend both as a member of the Wurstfest Association and in the New Braunfels Smokehouse booth it dawned on me how special the residents of New Braunfels truly are. Every year we come together as a city to put on what is known across the country as one of the best cultural festivals around. The festival has grown to be a giant economic and cultural gain for our community while bringing our residents and tens of thousands of visitors together for 10 days of Gemutlichkeit.
Working together and doing great things is something that New Braunfels is really good at and Wurstfest is a perfect example of how that spirit makes Wurstfest special. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are raised by the non-profit participants and it truly helps bring people together.
A diverse group of people working for a common goal happens every day in New Braunfels. The week before Wurstfest your Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors got together for a day long retreat to discuss and refine our goals for the organization in 2018. We do this annually to allow the Board and Chamber staff time away from our normal routines to focus on the issues we feel the Chamber should be working on in the coming year.
By breaking into groups we were able to discuss a broad list of topics that included the following:
- Milestones
- City Comprehensive Plan
- Economic Development Strategic Plan
- Chamber Strategic Plan
The Milestones group focused in on the Chamber’s 100 Year Anniversary in 2019 and the City of New Braunfels’ 175th(Dodransbicentennial) in 2020. Both of these events are going to be special and we are creating some great projects for both,
In the City Comprehensive Plan group they focused on the many areas that the Plan can make New Braunfels even better. Areas like tourism, transportation, education and growth. Planning for the future will help keep New Braunfels on the frontside of growth.
The Economic Development Strategic Plan group focused on efforts to help our local members grow and prosper while providing for our city and its residents. One big area of concern is workforce housing and also the availability of employees for all the job types we have in New Braunfels.
In the Chamber Strategic Plan group they focused on the last year of our Chamber’s 5 year Strategic Plan. They covered topics from our priority areas of Strengthen the Local Economy, Be the Voice of Business, Advance Community Excellence and Provide Value to Members. This plan has been a successful tool for us to use the last 4 years and we are trying to finish it with a bang.
As you see we discussed some pretty heavy topics that day but I feel that this retreat is a great tool that our Chamber uses to keep all the balls in the air and help New Braunfels remain the enviable city it is. Bringing our diverse group of Directors together and mining their enthusiasm for New Braunfels helps that happen. I thank them for their time and appreciate their effort.