Small Business Saturday is fast approaching, and we are gearing up for a fantastic shopping till you drop kinda day with our small businesses here in town. The Chamber is once again sponsoring this event and we currently have 39 businesses that have registered with us to be in the park, all set up and ready to go at 9am on Saturday, Nov. 25 and they will be there until 2 p.m. We also have many of our Park Street businesses that will be participating as well. Each business that signed up with us will be placed on our passport card which will show each of their locations on the map. We will be passing out swag bags that will have coupons from the various businesses that can be used that day or at a later date, all depends on the business and what specials they are offering. We will have live entertainment in the park, WOKC will be there giving a shout out to all our businesses There will be games for children, Rotary club will have a gift wrapping station, a Holiday Photo booth by “Lasting Memories," raffles, great deals and so much more. So, get ready and let’s make this one of the best shopping days for our local businesses. We need them and they need us. SHOP Till You DROP!

Socks for Seniors
Our bins are quite empty if you could see, We need to refill them I’m sure you’ll agree. Why not look for more at your favorite store? That’s what all that Small Business Saturday shopping is for.

Socks for Seniors is back. I mean, we only need 1,000 or so to fill the sacks…

So please help us out to warm our seniors' toes, they’ll be grateful to have them when the cold wind blows.

We’ve been collecting these every year, so go shopping and bring them to the Chamber, we’ll be here.

(These socks go to Senior Services, Okeechobee Health Care Facility, Grand Oaks, Multiple Hospices, and others, but if we get more than needed we are happy to give them to Big Lake Missions also, who we know can always use items like these.)

Word is getting out about our upcoming Business of the Year Awards dinner that will be happening Jan. 27, 2024. We’re excited to see who our four winners are, actually who our five winners are, which includes our MVP. This will be a fun and rewarding evening and a great opportunity to thank each of our businesses. Without our local businesses where would we be as a community? In fact, this year we had the five previous winners from last year’s event to compete against each other and we will announce the BOYA 2022 Winner.

We could not do this event without all the great sponsorships that help to make this event one of the best! I would like to thank our Top FEDORA Sponsor: MIDFLORIDA CREDIT UNION who quickly stepped up to secure the spot. Our MOJITO Sponsors are just as important and we would like to Thank: Jones Supply, A.I. Sales & Service, Florida Power & Light, Florida Quality Real Estate, Miller’s Central Air, SouthState Bank, Brown and Company Realty, Inc., Glades Air Conditioning of Okeechobee, Inc., Glades Gas & Electric Corporation, Taylor Rental, The Downtown Venue, HCA Florida Raulerson Hospital, Vitas Healthcare, Okeechobee Health Care Facility and Mixon Real Estate Group. Table Sponsors and tickets can be purchased online at www.okeechobeebusiness.com. Individual tickets are $60 each and table sponsors are $600 and includes a table logo for the business. Don’t miss out on a fun and exciting evening.