Brookville Chamber News

Date: April 3, 2025 Author: Elliot Park, Brookville Chamber Intern The Brookville Chamber has been busy through the first four months of 2025, by developing new branding, organizing community events, and supporting our members. All the projects and events have been perfectly aligned with the Chamber’s overall mission of stimulating the economic climate of the area, promoting membership businesses, and assisting with civic activities, helping to reach the goal of enhancing the quality of life in our community. From a new website to hosting Food Truck Monday there have been all sorts of projects and events happening in the early months of 2025.  New Branding: At the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, the Chamber set out on developing and introducing new branding across the organization. The first component of the new branding started with a new logo, featuring Main Street Brookville. Keeping the iconic light post from the previous logo, the new logo incorporates the light post overhanging an image of Main Street Brookville. Designed by Nerdette Design, the Chamber is ecstatic to have a new logo that helps to enhance their image, reputation, and recognition. The next component to the new branding came through the revamping of the Chamber’s website, which was also performed by Nerdette Design. The most exciting part about the new website is that it is more user-friendly compared to the other website, while also eliminating the majority of glitches and malfunctions experienced. The revamped website has a differing layout compared to the old one, which also enhances the user-friendliness of it. There are also several new features on the website such as the Brookville Chamber Business Blog and the job board, which is set to release on the website here in the next couple of weeks. The final component to the new branding was a new color scheme, which now includes Slate Blue, Brick Red, Soft Sky Blue, Sage, Goldenrod, and Charcoal Grey. The Chamber is beyond excited about the new branding incorporating it in various aspects of their projects, events, and marketing.  The Chamber’s New Logo  Eggs & Issues: In February the Chamber hosted its first Eggs & Issues event of the year, bringing together members and leaders from our local community. Eggs & Issues is a series of informative presentations on a variety of interesting and important topics that impact our community, while also providing a safe environment for individuals to express their concerns, have questions answered, and interact with local legislative leaders. This past presentation featured Mary Milford, Jefferson County Tourism Director, with the topic being centered on tourism within the county. Milford provided significant insights into the direction and efforts of the county to enhance our region’s tourism industry. Some of the notable guests in attendance were State Representative Brain Smith, Jefferson County Commissioners Jeff Pisarcik & Scott North, and many others. The success of this event was overwhelming with roughly 50 individuals in attendance, many questions answered & concerns addressed, and plenty of networking performed along with a delicious breakfast from Honey Cakes. The next Eggs & Issues is May 15th @ 7:30 am and will feature several local government officials discussing updates on several Borough projects and Jefferson County’s community development efforts.  Several Chamber members pose with Mary Milford (Jefferson County Tourism Director) and Brain Smith (State Representative) Ribbon-Cutting Ceremonies: Nothing is better than having a schedule packed filled with ribbon-cuttings, as it represents the growth and opportunities within our community. From welcoming new retail shops and restaurants to showing off some updated improvements and renovations, the Brookville Chamber has been busy with showing the growth and new opportunities in Brookville.  In February the Chamber joined North Fork Veterinary Clinic to show off North Fork’s renovations and recent additions they have added to their already renowned clinic. The ceremony was a morning packed full of activities, with attendees getting the chance to tour the facility, meet with vet techs and doctors, participate in raffles, and enjoy refreshments from Colors of the Forest.  Several Chamber Board members, community members, and North Fork Veterinary Clinic staff members pose for a picture following the Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony.  In March the Chamber welcomed two new businesses into the town. At the beginning of the month we welcomed Toby Hill Pinecrest to the restaurant/bar scene. Bringing over their wonderful food, drinks, and bands from their original location in Clarion, Toby Hill Pinecrest is sure to spark some buzz around the town. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was a success on March 1st with the restaurant being filled from open to close. Throughout the day attendees got to participate in a couple giveaways, along with receiving a free appetizer. Later in the day, the fun was still rocking as Toby Hill was running drink specials and brought in a local band to perform live music. Toby Hill Pinecrest plans on continuing live music throughout the rest of the summer, so be sure to follow them for updates.  Several Chamber Board members, community members, and Toby Hill Pinecrest staff members pose for a picture following the Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony.  Later in March, the Chamber had the pleasure of welcoming Nostalgia on Main to the retail scene in Downtown Brookville. This was another successful ribbon-cutting ceremony with various community members in attendance. Nostalgia on Main ran a 10% off discount special for the event and almost everyone in attendance left with a unique & vintage item. The Chamber also has several other ribbon-cutting ceremonies planned over the next couple of weeks, so be sure to follow us and stay up-to-date on all the exciting events.  Several Chamber Board members, community members, and owner of Nostalgia on Main pose for a picture following the Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony.  Food Truck Monday: With a rotating lineup of vendors, Food Truck Monday promises to tantalize your taste buds with an array of options ranging from sizzling street tacos, crave-worthy burgers, legendary lobster, and a few other fan-favorites. Through the first two food trucks, Food Truck Monday is delivering on its promise and

Date: March 19, 2025 Author: Elliot Park, Brookville Chamber Intern Continuing the focus on utilizing the internet and social media effectively, it is also important to focus on some of the challenges and consequences of incorporating these into your business. The internet and social media has become more ingrained into our everyday lives and more and more businesses are relying on online networks for personal & professional connection, networking, and business transactions. The significant usage has made online platforms increasingly attractive for malicious hackers, has escalated the potential impact of account hackings, and has made protection a critical component to a business’s digital (online) efforts.  There are numerous ways for hackers to attack your business and obtain potentially sensitive information through social media, including account hijackings & security breaches. One major cause of security breaches is due to phishing attacks, which can cause significant damage to an organization. Phishing attacks most commonly occur when a hacker impersonates a higher entity in the organization and gets an employee to click a link through text message, instant messaging, e-mail, or social media. When an individual clicks the malicious link, malware can be instilled allowing hackers to gain access to your online systems. A phishing attack can hurt a business by revealing sensitive information, freezing systems, identity theft (posing as the business), and theft of information and funds. Another common way for hackers to infiltrate your business is by social engineering. Social engineering is similar to phishing attacks by a hacker impersonating a trusted higher entity of the organization but relies on psychological manipulation to convince victims. Hackers convince business members to share usernames, passwords, and other sensitive information allowing hackers to gain access to more sensitive information while infiltrating the businesses online systems and accounts.  To combat these rising issues there are a variety of strategies and design improvements an organization can take that will also help to improve their overall security measures & flexibility. Some of these strategies & improvements focus more on developing training for employees whereas others are on improving the company’s efforts and measures. Some of the most common and most effective strategies and design improvements include the following: Overall, the instillment of social media and other digital platforms into our everyday lives and the increasing usage among more and more businesses has caused several negative consequences, such as becoming more attractive to hackers and has escalated the potential impact of account & system hackings. The numerous ways for hackers to attack a business has not only made digital (online) protection an important component to a business but has also made it much more challenging and difficult for individuals and businesses to protect themselves. Although businesses are essentially more susceptible to digital attacks there are several simple, yet effective, strategies and design improvements that can be taken to add an extra layer of security. By enabling two-factor authentication, educating and training employees, utilizing firewalls and antivirus software, and regularly performing updates can help to protect your business and employees. Be sure to evaluate your digital (online) efforts and develop strategies and design improvements that fit your businesses protection needs.  Sources: Alber, T. R. (2024, September 21). Account Hijacking and Social Media Fraud: How Scammers Exploit Platforms and How to Protect Your Online Identity. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/account-hijacking-social-media-fraud-how-scammers-exploit-alber-ihryc/ Civati, A. (2024, June 1). Social Media Hacking – Five Techniques Used to Hack Social Accounts. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/social-media-hacking-five-techniques-used-hack-accounts-civati-hbebe/ F5. Understanding Security Breaches and Protecting Data. https://www.f5.com/glossary/security-breaches#:~:text=For%20businesses%2C%20breaches%20can%20also,%2C%20ransomware%2C%20and%20social%20engineering. imperva. (n.d.). Phishing Attacks. https://www.imperva.com/learn/application-security/phishing-attack-scam/

February 8, 2025 Author: Elliot Park, Brookville Chamber Intern Technological advances in our society have brought up an array of new trends, tools, and techniques that continue to take over the world as we know it. One of these great advances include the development of social media (SM), which has become a pillar for a diverse array of individuals. With an increase in attention and interest on a variety of SM applications, individuals are spending more and more time “scrolling through their feeds”. Thus, the shift of focus from business leaders and organizations to utilize SM as an effective marketing tool has begun. Utilizing SM as a business leader and marketing tool can provide many benefits such as increased brand awareness, further customer reach, and the building of a community. Although many organizations and business leaders are on SM and know the benefits from it, many struggle with utilizing the different applications effectively to maximize these benefits. Steps to for Effective Use There are many steps that can be taken to enhance one’s understanding and utilization of SM, but here are some of our recommendations: Overall, technological advances and the shift of interest & attention on SM has changed the way businesses and business leaders can utilize social media as an effective marketing tool. Although it can be very beneficial to use for organizations, many lack the knowledge to maximize the benefits. Following some of the simple steps listed above, can help businesses and their leaders effectively use SM as a marketing tool, while maximizing the benefits offered.