Friday, April 23 2010

Linda Schantz operating the wine bar for "Business After Hours" hosted by Fitter's Furniture
Mingling is networking at "Business After Hours"









Last Wednesday we were able to photograph a very important event to Main Street in Ellensburg. Actually, it's important to all Ellensburg businesses.

"Business After Hours" as it's known, is an event where a business "shuts down" and then hosts the community beyond their scheduled hours for refreshments, conversation, and a chance for people to get to know one another.

Sounds fun, but not significant at first.

Until you think about it from this perspective.

When you invite your neighbors, who tend to be business owners to your business for a social event, a very essential component for businesses occurs. And that is networking.

Even we were involved in the networking to a degree. Meeting people who served in non-profits, government agencies, and other business owners whom we did not know previously.

Now consider this kind of event occurring on a regular basis, and you begin to see how businesses can meet and form a plan on how to survive together.

It all stems from opening the doors a little longer, and inviting your neighbors in. An oft overlooked gesture by some, but one that is not when it comes to independent business owners.

This particular event was hosted by Fitterer's Furniture, and was a great success. Linda Schantz, owner of Gifts from the Vine provided an excellent array of wine and beer, and Greg Beach, owner of the Valley Cafe provided hors d'oeuvres to the crowd of roughly 80 people.

We saw people introduce themselves to strangers, and friends catch up, and collegues share information.

It's easy to see why this event is so helpful to a community full of independent businesses.

Yes indeed, a very simple gesture of opening your doors after hours can lead to very big things.