The Senator James M. Jeffords Welcome Center, also known as the Bennington State Welcome Center, will be celebrating 10-years of service on Wednesday, October 11 2023. Since its opening in 2013, the Welcome Center, located on Highway 279, has served as a beacon of hospitality and information for travelers and residents alike.

embers of the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce are confident that the region is a good place to do business, and report financial conditions as good or better than the year before the COVID pandemic, according to the results of a member survey conducted by the Chamber last month. According to the survey results, 94 percent of respondents said Southern Vermont is a good place to have a business or organization.

Joining the Southwestern Vermont Chamber has never been easier! As the #1 business and nonprofit organization in Southwestern Vermont, the Chamber promotes, leads and advocates a unified effort, on behalf of its members, to maintain and improve a healthy business climate and rewarding quality of life for the entire Shires of Southwestern Vermont region. Here are the top 9 reasons to join the Southwestern Vermont Chamber.

Women can do it all. We might feel like imposters much of time, winging our decisions. We sometimes get overwhelmed trying to balance work and home. But we have mentors who have helped us overcome the challenges, and nobody works harder than we do. That was the message Wednesday from some of Southern Vermont’s women leaders, speaking to about 130 mostly women from throughout the county at the Inn at Manchester’s Celebration Barn.

Bennington County hugs the New York State line so closely that it has, in the past, sort of suffered an identity crisis: Is it part of Vermont or a suburb of Albany? Perhaps this is no longer a question. Post-COVID, Bennington appears to be flourishing. And flourishing with it is the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce, in no small part because of its executive director, the extremely young and popular Matt Harrington.

Spring cleaning isn’t just for your windows and your garage. Let this time of year inspire you to tune up your business as well! Implement these ten tips, tactics, and tools to freshen up your online marketing and coast into year-round business success.

85% of businesses and organizations indicated they were either optimistic or very optimistic for their business in 2022 according to a recent Southwestern Vermont Chamber poll.

The Chamber’s annual membership meeting, promoted as the biggest night for businesses in the region, took place digitally on Thursday January 27, 2022 and featured a dazzling array of musical performances, wine sabering, annual awards, a digital sparkling wine toast, virtual door prizes every 15 minutes, budget approval and visionary speeches by both President of the Board of Directors and the Executive Director.

The Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce wraps up another year of Vermont’s Stay To Stay Program this December with over 200 families registered, 50 plus people participating in Zoom meetings and 8 families moving to Southwestern Vermont.

The Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce hosted their second golf tournament, the Spring B2B Golf Classic, on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at the Manchester Country Club in Manchester, Vermont.

Bennington has long been an innovation and entrepreneurial community. Whether it’s the small Mason jar — often called a lightning jar — created by Henry Putnam or world-renowned pottery, once featured in the White House, from Bennington Potters, Bennington has often punched above its weight in famous innovation, design and production for generations.

On March 11, 2021 President Biden signed the largest piece of economic legislation in the history of the U.S. Senate. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) has within it over $1.9 trillion in economic relief. We’ll quickly breakdown what the bill does for Vermonters, the State of Vermont, and Vermont businesses.