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MABA elections return new officer slate
Coming up in Mt. Airy – November 17+ The Calendar New officers take posts on January 1 o November 13 – There were no surprises at the election of officers for 2009 at the annual meeting this past Thursday at Project Learn. Long time member Kim Miller, of Mt. Airy Promotions, takes office as president on January 1. Joining her, as vice president, is Herb Rothe, III of Rothe Florists, and serving as treasurer will be Bayeh Thompson, of Lutheran Theological Seminary. George Milite, Milite Writing Services, will continue as secretary. Acting president Ellen O’Brien of Stapeley and Aubrey Kenney, vice president and manager of Sovereign Bank, were saluted for outstanding service (Kenney joined MABA’s board in 1996–his bank was then called CoreStates– and has been treasurer most of the time since then.) Appointed to the Board was Elisabeth Moselle of Mt. Airy • USA. She has served as MAUSA’s representative since the departure of Cicely Peterson-Mangum in May of this year. Moselle heads up TAP, The Avenue Program, for MAUSA.
Planning on MABA's holiday outing will be completed
o November 19 – MABA’s Membership and Operations committee, meets in the conference room of The Business Center for Entrepreneurship & Social Enterprise in Elders Hall. 11:00 a.m. to noon. Enter across Germantown Avenue from the Trolley Car Diner. Go to the top of the hill and turn right to park. Planning for the Holiday Outing, a virtual assistant and recent developments in the new member drive.
Decemberfest kicks off on Friday
Shopping promo promises good days for Mt. Airy
merchants starting this Friday
o November 21 – Free money, late night openings, a tree lighting and cookies and cider are all wrapped up in a gorgeous pre-Holiday package that will be placed on the tree for holiday shoppers on this Friday night of this week.
The tree will be lit up, next to the Rothe Florists building, in a promotional event that convenes at the Sedgwick Theatre with the cookies and cider at 6:00 p.m. But wait– there’s more. Lots more!
Other events scheduled as part of Decemberfest include the opening celebration for the new public space now being completed by Lutheran Theological Seminary just half a block up from Mt. Airy Avenue. For this there will be a tree lighting 
and dedication ceremony on Friday, December 5. This will be followed on the next day by a block party all along the Avenue from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. to celebrate the reopening of Germantown Avenue. (SPECIAL NOTE: There will be 25,000 free, reusable tote bags distributed within the few days after the block party. If you have a retail store, you may be one of the distributors. See the letter from Ken Weinstein at the bottom of this newsletter.)
Then, Santa will be at Rothe Florists on December 11, where children under 12 can have their picture taken with the venerable saint. Once again, cookies and cider.
Oh yes, the free money. A $25 gift certificate for every properly authenticated $250 spent in Mt. Airy. There’s certain to be more time available for shoppers to explore the offerings at Mt. Airy shops and boutiques because many owners will be open until 9:00 on these Thursdays: December 4, 11 and 18. Go to http://www.mtairydecemberfest.com for details on this program.
Kim Miller, commenting on the Shop Local for the Holidays theme at the annual meeting remarked, "There’s no reason for shopping anywhere other than Mt. Airy for the Holiday Season."
MABA's annual holiday outing set for December 4
This year's Holiday Outing takes .jpg)
the format of an informal mixer
o December 4 – MABA’s holiday outing. A special opportunity for networking and a last-minute opportunity to learn what others are doing to make their seasonal holiday sales a success. This year the holiday outing takes on a special character as an informal mixer to be held at Rothe Florists, 7148 Germantown Avenue. Watch for more information as the date comes closer.
Two thank loyal customers tomorrow with party
o November 18 – Tomorrow night is a festive night. As the Germantown Avenue PennDOt project comes to a close, Cresheim Cottage and Brewers Outlet want to thank to their loyal customers, so they are co-sponsoring a free celebratory jamboree of great food with great beer. It will be held at the Cottage from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. tomorrow, November 18. Taking part are Penn Distributors, from Domino Lane, a Philadelphia beer distributor since 1951, and Anheuser-Busch who will both join in to meet and to share some of their inside stories. As the folks from Anheuser-Busch say, “Our business is making friends.” Cheers, friends.
It’s Mambo Italiano at Allens Lane
o November 21 – Friday night is opening night for the three-week run of the Steve Galluccio play, Mambo Italiano, directed by Travis A. Whitaker, at the cabaret theatre at Allens Lane. Angelo and Nino, favorite sons of two Italo-Canadian immigrant families, move in together. All is fine until Angelo comes out of the closet and reveals he and Nino are more than mere roommates. Battle lines are drawn and "tutta la famiglia" goes to war in this raucous comedy– with a heartfelt helping of tolerance and acceptance. Final performance is on December 6.
There's a new Audrey at the Video Library
o November 21, 22 and 23 – There was, it seems, once another Audrey– a special Audrey… a memorable one… who appeared along with many other roles as Holly Golightly in a film called Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). Now there’s a new Audrey– Audrey Tautou– and a reconfiguration of the famed Tiffany. It’s called Priceless, and it’s at the Little Theatre at the Video Library at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; 7:00 p.m. and on Sunday. Video Library www.mtairyvideolibrary.com - 7141 Germantown Ave. 215 247-3020. Can there really be another Audrey? Comparisons, anyone?
This is where we bring you ideas you can use in your business every day.
We’ve been talking a great deal in this column about the importance of being highly visible in bringing in sales. Mostly our focus has been on visibility at or within shops, but here comes a letter from Michael Kleiner that opens new vistas for different kinds of members.
“I received the October 31 issue of Norwegian American Weekly today where I am included in an article Beyond the Book: Writing for today’s Norwegian-American audience. The publication originates in Seattle, but in today’s global economy, a somewhat distant location is less and less a drawback. I was included because I met with the author when I attended the big Norwegian-American festival in North Dakota recently. I was there to promote my book, Beyond the Cold and to make contacts. Should I succeed in establishing myself as an important writer for the Nor/Am niche, I might be hired to write for publications based almost anywhere.
“For many, the best kind of contact with customer remains face-to-face, with those who walk through your door. For others, new horizons are opening. For example, I will be featured in an interview in the December 1 issue of The Philadelphia Creative Guide e-newsletter. The Philly Creative Guide is the region's most complete directory of creative professionals, firms and resources and is a valuable resource for all professionals whose livelihood is centered in the creative arts. It's the place to foster relationships within one of the most vibrant creative communities in America.
"They have joined forces and/or become a featured business resource for Innovation Philadelphia, which is committed to providing creative industry employers, professionals and entrepreneurs with high-quality tools and resources to grow their businesses. They offer The Greater Philadelphia Entrepreneurs’ Resource Guide to help small business owners and entrepreneurs grow.
"Philly Creative Jobs is the first-ever regional, interactive web site exclusively featuring creative industry jobs and freelance projects. The site is free to job seekers. Click on the “Find A Job” button on the menu at the top of the page to post and search creative job listings. http://www.phillycreativejobs.com
"Opportunity won’t always knock– you may have to go out looking for it."
As a follow up to our 12/5 Germantown Avenue ribbon cutting and our 12/6 block party, we are distributing 25,000 re-usable tote bags door-to-door to the following areas:
19119: 13,000
19118: 4500
19150: 2500 (concentrate homes closest to Ave)
19144: 2500 (concentrate homes closest to Ave and 19119)
19138: 2500 (concentrate homes closest to Ave and 19119)
Demographics info indicates there are 4,577 houses and condos in CH (19118), so we're pretty much hitting them all.
The remaining 5,000 tote bags promoting Germantown Avenue in MA and CH will be handed out to retailers (50-100 bags per retailer) and at events (block party, DecemberFest launch, etc). MABA and CHBA, please pass on this information to your members so they are aware of this marketing effort on behalf of Germantown Avenue businesses. This tote bags will contain a flyer encouraging local residents to buy local this holiday season (and beyond).
The hope is to get local and city wide press from the 12/5 and 12/6 events, followed by an advertising tote bag on local doors. We need to pull out all stops this holiday season. Together with the 80 banners being installed by the Mt. Airy BID in December, Decemberfest, First Friday, the CH lighting of trees and holiday decorating, shops opening late on Wednesdays and Fridays in CH, etc., we hope to make a difference after a year of difficult PennDOT construction.
Thank you for your ongoing efforts to promote the MA/CH CH/MA business district. After years of good discussions, it feels like we are finally working together to promote our business district.
Ken
