Growing Chamber at heart of Belgium’s revitalization

The Belgium Area Chamber of Commerce named Tara Williams as its new executive director on May 1.

“Tara is a great asset to the Belgium Area Chamber of Commerce as she, along with many other community businesses and organizations, continue to work together to make our community a great place to live, work and play,” Chamber President Annie Noster said.

“Many people in the Village of Belgium have the same goal for our community. It is always more fun working together to achieve the same goal of building a community.”

Prior to being named executive director, Williams served as the Chamber’s marketing director for two years.

In her new role, Williams is responsible for organizing and conducting the day-to-day business of the Chamber, recruiting new businesses and organizations and maintaining relationships with current members.

“I handle a variety of aspects for the Chamber. I do a lot with the membership and working one-on-one with the businesses to make sure they’re growing and succeeding,” Williams said. “I also work with the tourism aspect, which is related to keeping the businesses healthy. If we have a vibrant community, we will attract and sustain our businesses.”  

Williams is also the marketing and communications consultant for the Luxembourg American Cultural Society & Center in Belgium and vice president of the Ozaukee County Tourism Council.

She said Belgium has a number of assets and wants to promote them to attract more tourists.

“From Harrington Beach State Park to the Ozaukee Interurban Bike Trail, it’s such a wonderful place to visit and we want to take advantage of those tourism opportunities and revitalize our community,” Williams said.

Over the last year, the Chamber has experienced steady growth, adding 10 members. It now has 55 members.

“It’s continuing to grow and we’re getting a lot of members from local communities as well. It’s exciting to work with other communities to grow the general area,” she said.

Area members include businesses and the Chambers in Port Washington, Fredonia, Cedar Grove and Grafton.

“I’m very grateful to work with the local Chambers. They’ve been very helpful to me as I’ve taken on this new role, and I’ve learned a lot from the other executive directors,” Williams said. “It only makes sense for us all to work together for the good of the communities.”

Williams is promoting new events in Belgium, such as Belgium Summer Nights Live and Splash Pad Sundays. She also wants to expand existing events like the European Christmas Parade and Market, Easter egg hunt and the Brew & Chew fundraiser.

 “We want to keep promoting and growing these events to have more people come to our community,” she said.

When Williams first became involved with the Chamber, one member compared the organization and community to separate cars driving to the same destination.

“What we needed to do as a village was all hop on the party bus together,” she said. “I love that metaphor and feel that is what we’re trying to do with our community revitalization efforts.”

She said she is seeking volunteers to help out at community events and starting a Belgium Ambassador program to involve students.

“Our students are our greatest resource for help. We want to work with different clubs in the schools,” she said.

When Williams isn’t busy working with the Chamber and Luxemburg American Cultural Society & Center, she finds time to help the Cedar Grove-Belgium School District as a substitute teacher, primarily for the elementary school. She is also a Cub Scout leader.

Williams said she is grateful to be the Chamber’s executive director and credits the Chamber’s growth and success to its board of directors and members.

“Our Chamber works because we have an amazing working board and great members who believe in our mission and our community,” Williams said. “Nothing that we do would happen without these awesome people.”