The Covered Bridge Arts & Music Festival brings in visitors from across the country.The heart of the event is the arts and crafts show, but other highlights of the festival include a live music venue, children's fun zone, river walk, car show, Miss Covered Bridge Pageant (a preliminary to Miss Alabama), pancake breakfast and quilt show at Palisades Park.
The annual parade continues to be an essential part of the Chamber’s outreach involving all communities throughout Blount County. With bands from each school and organizations from all corners of the county, the Blount County Christmas Parade continues a tradition.The parade has grown each year and is now the largest annual event in the county.
Throughout the year, the chamber offers a wide variety of programs to promote, connect and celebrate Blount County. Examples include lunches, a Christmas Breakfast, chamber after hours events, a volunteer opportunity fair, a Blount County bridal fair, dinners, picnics, ribbon cuttings and other networking opportunities.
More than 400 people come together each year to celebrate Blount County at the Chamber’s annual dinner. At this event, we recognize the many businesses, industries, people and organizations that continue to make Blount County a great place to live, work and raise our families.
The Chamber continues to offer free local business counseling sessions through its partnership with the Jacksonville State University Small Business Development Center. Each month we see prospective or existing business owners from throughout the county. The Chamber offers open lines of communication to assist current businesses in their development, growth and success.
The Chamber has seen an increase in membership over the past few years. We have grown from 200 members in 2013 to 400 today. These members represent businesses and individuals across Blount County. The Chamber also continues to expand our Sustaining Partnerships as additional businesses join this successful program.
The Chamber partners with many organizations from across Blount County. Strong partnerships create better opportunities for the citizens and businesses throughout the county. A few of these partnerships include the Blount County-Oneonta Agribusiness Center, the Oneonta Foundation for Educational Resources, the Blount County Education Foundation, The Hope House, Blount County Crimestoppers, the Blount County Community Arts Council, Covered Bridge Players, Blount County Economic Development Council, Wallace State Community College, Oneonta City Schools Ambassador Program, the Blount County Schools Ambassador Program, Friends of the Locust Fork River, and many more.
The Chamber works to enhance tourism on many different levels. Production of brochures and maps and a redesign of the Chamber’s website are recent projects as well as the on-going promotion of Blount County's attractions. Events such as the Covered Bridge Arts & Music Festival are the most effective tourism tool. The visitors who attend on this one day event come back throughout the year to shop, dine and visit our parks and rivers. Blount County’s natural resources are recognized throughout the country and we work to highlight these assets to continue to bring additional revenue into the county.
Founded in 2004, Leadership Blount County is a comprehensive series of sessions that is structured to better equip individuals to achieve goals for the benefit of their communities. Through education, awareness and networking, Leadership Blount County lays a foundation for the development and enhancement of leadership potential. The goal of Leadership Blount County is to prepare and encourage our graduations to engage in greater individual and group action in order to contribute to the betterment of the community and its people. Participants need not share a common age, lifestyle or career — only a vision for moving Blount County forward.
In the summer of 2015, the Chamber partnered with the Blount County Education Foundation to present the first Blount County Youth Leadership Camp. Twelve students registered for this two-day event where they spent time meeting with county officials, our local legislative delegation and our United States Congressman, Gary Palmer. Blount County Youth Leadership was expanded in 2016 to encompass three days with an enrollment of 20 students from throughout the county.
The Chamber has been a partner with both the Blount County Schools and Oneonta City School. As part of this partnership, we worked closely with officials to help start the Blount County Career Expo. The expo is a resource for all 10th grade students in each school. It exposes students to the many business opportunities that are present here in Blount County.
Blount County is open for business! Join the Blount-Oneonta Chamber of Commerce as we continue to communicate the benefits of choosing to shop local whenever possible.
The Oneonta Downtown Districtcommittee works to bring both tourists and residents to the heart of Blount County's commercial center to shop and dine at the local establishments.