The Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce will celebrate an important milestone this year as it reflects on the last 120 years of advocating for local businesses.
CEO Carrie McEachran said the organization has been incorporated for 120 years but its history goes well beyond that.
"What we do know is that it started way back on February 26, 1860, so that was well before our incorporation date," McEachran said. "We don't have the exact date of the incorporation in 1905."
McEachran said the chamber had grown "tremendously" over the years. There are currently 580 members.
"It started off with just a few businessmen in 1860 with just an informal meeting to talk about how to increase economic trade and manufacturing within Sarnia," she said. "Then in 1905, when we became incorporated, it was 33 local businessmen, and at one point, we grew to 612 -- that was in 1919, and then in the 1930s and '40s, we were at 1,000 members."
Looking ahead, McEachran said the chamber plans to continue supporting the local business community and expand its reach.
"A big part of our strategic plan is to increase our support with businesses outside of Sarnia, in the more rural Lambton County areas," McEachran said. "We're finding now that a lot of our newer members coming on board are young professionals which is really nice to see here in our community and they're becoming much more engaged within the chamber."
The chamber of commerce held an open house on January 31 to kick off the anniversary celebrations. McEachran said they're hoping to host more celebratory events, including one in the summer, which is currently in the planning stages.