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Grand Canyon Chamber's new president plans for 2015 events
Chamber of Commerce takes a look at past year and plans for upcoming events, new president steps in

From left: Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Bureau board members Freda Rahnenfuehrer, Chamber President ClayAnn Cook, Clarinda Vail and Julie Aldaz. Not pictured chamber treasurer Kurt Draser, Rich Millron and Wendy Robertson. Loretta Yerian/WGCN

From left: Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Bureau board members Freda Rahnenfuehrer, Chamber President ClayAnn Cook, Clarinda Vail and Julie Aldaz. Not pictured chamber treasurer Kurt Draser, Rich Millron and Wendy Robertson. Loretta Yerian/WGCN

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. - On Jan. 13 former president of the Grand Canyon Chamber, Freda Rahnenfuehrer handed the reins over to the chamber's incoming president, ClayAnn Cook.

While Cook's responsibilities as chamber president may have officially started at the luncheon, Cook already has plans for what the community can look forward to this year.

"This last year was an incredible year for us," Cook said. "We all work so hard to pull off some of the same annual events that we've had in the past and it all came together. I am really, really proud of the board we have and I am so excited that we're all going to continue and all harness together, going forward into this next year."

Some events Cook and chamber members have in store for 2015 include the upcoming Grand Canyon Half Marathon on May 9, Fourth of July celebrations, Roctoberfest in October and Trunk or Treat on Oct. 31

Additionally Cook is looking for a way to bring hospitality and food handling classes, as well as training/certification from the Arizona Business Council for Alcohol Education (ABC) to the Grand Canyon and Tusayan areas.

Cook said she believes offering these and other classes will help to insure quality service and safety in local restaurants.

"This allows all of our people a better opportunity to be better educated in tourism, in the things that we offer here that we do, day in and day out," she said. "A lot of (chamber) member's (businesses) don't have the ability to train in an actual classroom environment for customer service training. This is something where we would have that opportunity."

Cook said she would like to offer the classes periodically through the year.

Currently training and certification for these programs are offered primarily online or from instructors in larger towns like Flagstaff, Prescott and Phoenix.

Former chamber president and director of sales and marketing for the Best Western Grand Canyon Squire Inn Rahnenfuehrer addressed the chamber before handing the position over to Cook. Ranenfuehrer informed chamber members and visitors about changes she anticipated for the upcoming year based on her presidency during 2014.

"We are in the happy position of being both a chamber and a visitor's bureau, which is somewhat unique," Rahnenfuehrer said. "For the most part tourism is all of our business. We don't have a lot of other industry and we definitely focus on tourism. The beauty of being a chamber is there are safety concerns and there are civic concerns in addition to tourism concerns."

Rahnenfuehrer said the Grand Canyon Chamber was one of five small chambers in northern Arizona that gathered to obtain a consensus regarding tourism and other general concerns in small communities.

Rahnenfuehrer said the chambers were informed that based on 2013's Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT), the economic impact for northern Arizona's tourism in 2013 was a little over 39 million for overnight visitors and almost 20 billion in funding for the state. Making tourism the number one export business in the state.

Rahnenfuehrer said her hope for future tourism at the Grand Canyon and Tusayan would be for the chamber to work with other chambers in order to create and promote tourism.

"The goal is not just for us but for all of the communities in northern Arizona to really craft more of a voice as we continue with new legislature and a new governor," she said. "To really affect change and work together as opposed to being in competition to each other."

Rahnenfuehrer said she hoped chambers and the communities they serve would continue to work together during prime tourism times and year round.

"It's nice to have some down time, but we also want to really increase our businesses, not only from mid-March to mid-November but all the way through the end of the year," Rahnenfuehrer said. "I think whether we volunteer in dollars, in time, in gifts in kind - I think all of us as individuals and businesses have so much to bring to this organization and this community and we (the chamber) hope to facilitate more of that."


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