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Ozark Chamber reports successful Showcase Ozark and membership growth to aldermen
Summary
Chris Russell, CEO and president of the Ozark Chamber of Commerce, updated the Board of Aldermen on Showcase Ozark results, membership growth, upcoming events and staffing at a regular meeting at Ozark City Hall.
Chris Russell, CEO and president of the Ozark Chamber of Commerce, told the Ozark City Board of Aldermen that the chamber's Showcase Ozark event drew strong vendor participation and produced largely positive feedback.
Russell said the event included 73 booths plus an indoor plant sale and that vendor survey responses averaged about 4.6 on overall event satisfaction. "We ended up having 73 booths plus the plant sale," he told the board. "Very highly satisfied, about the foot traffic. I think the foot traffic could have been more. I want more for Showcase Ozark." He added, "I cheated a little bit" when using an analysis tool to summarize vendor survey spreadsheets.
The chamber will continue to refine the event, Russell said, citing vendor requests for dedicated networking time and examples from regional chambers that combine expos with food-truck festivals. He announced the chamber will promote a citywide garage sale on Sept. 13 with a free online map for residents and said web traffic to that map was high last year.
Russell also reported membership growth: "Since the beginning of the year... for the four months of 2025, we've had 36 new members join," and noted a small number of members did not renew for reasons such as going out of business. He asked aldermen to help recruit businesses.
On staffing, Russell said the chamber hired a part-time assistant, Patty Quesenberry, who he said is native to the area and assists with community calls. He closed by encouraging aldermen to participate in upcoming events, including a golf tournament the chamber is organizing.
