Amanda Bishop
NCR Editor & Publisher
A group of local business leaders may soon form the West Nassau Chamber.
Those interested in learning more about the chamber’s vision are invited to a public planning meeting March 13 at 11 a.m. at The Pig Bar-B-Q in Callahan.
According to information provided to attendees at the Westside Business Leaders Prayer Break-fast Thursday, “This group’s primary objective it to support West Nassau businesses while incorporating West Nassau’s needs and values.”
Urban Fleming of Callahan spoke about the concept for the new chamber and why it’s needed.
“West of I-95, we have 37% of the population,” he said. That’s a significant amount of people given that Nassau County’s estimated population according to census.gov was 101,501 as of July 1, 2023.
“I love this town,” Fleming said while speaking at The Anchor Church in Callahan. “I think we live in paradise. You look at San Francisco. You look at western Mississippi in the South, there’s bad examples to learn from throughout the country. We live in an awesome place. Things are changing. We need to evolve.”
That evolution includes establishing a resource to assist local businesses, which is why the concept for a new chamber of commerce is forming.
Historically, the towns of Callahan and Hilliard each had their own chambers of commerce in the early 1900s. Those chambers merged to create the West Nassau Chamber. It eventually became the Greater Nassau County Chamber of Commerce, primarily serving western Nassau, but membership grew to include Jacksonville and eastern Nassau businesses.
The GNCCC merged with the Amelia Island-Fernandina Beach-Yulee Chamber of Commerce in 2018, with proponents of the merger stating western Nassau would receive fair representation. The unified chamber was renamed to become the Nassau County Chamber of Commerce.
Currently, of 20 board members, the only one who resides in and has an organization within the Callahan, Hilliard and Bryceville area is Keith Wingate, representing the Northeast Florida Fair. Royce Proctor of Okefenoke REMC, which services parts of western Nassau, is also on the board and resides in Georgia.
The new chamber would keep all voting and leadership exclusive to members who are residents or business leaders within western Nassau County. Membership would be open to all businesses and individuals, though, regardless of where they are located.
The West Nassau Chamber would promote buying local, whether small or large businesses, and facilitate meaningful networking and communication with political leaders.
“We’re not going to duplicate the efforts of the existing chamber,” Fleming said. “We’re not here to do that. We think they do a good job of things that they’re going to do on a county scale like Leadership Nassau. They have some data that they push out that is helpful at this point. We’re going to be networking. We want businesses talking. … We want businesses, not just at the prayer breakfast, I think this is a good spiritual networking event, but we want to control the growth on the West Side. We want our values recognized.”
Membership fees would be kept low, potentially $150 for an individual, $200 for a West Nassau business, and $250 for other business members.
“If we fail, it’s because we weren’t involved,” Fleming said. “Let me be completely clear. The chamber failed last time because the locals weren’t involved. Most of their board was not in western Nassau.”
The Westside Business Leaders, which currently meets for monthly prayer breakfasts, would still exist. The breakfasts are held 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month. The chamber would have lunches or other networking opportunities later in the day since those with young children cannot always make it to breakfasts due to school transport.
The next Westside Busi-ness Leaders Prayer Breakfast is March 27.
The entity got its start after Hurricane Irma caused flooding throughout the area in 2017 and left more than 3,000 residents without power. The Convoy of Hope arrived with five truckloads of supplies for residents. From there, the breakfasts formed, bringing together leaders from rural western Nassau and fostering collaboration, growth, and shared vision.
The West Nassau Chamber planning session is open to everyone March 13 at 11 a.m. at The Pig.