We recently connected with Blair Lawton and have shared our conversation below.

Blair, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

One of the things that I was most excited to be a part of when I took this job back in July was to be a part of various community events. Anamosa is the Pumpkin Capital of Iowa. On the first Saturday in October we hold a Pumpkinfest Celebration. This year was the 34th annual event. We have a really great volunteer committee who put a ton of work into this year’s event; creating events, hiring vendors, organizing a parade, having a giant pumpkin weigh-off, etc. I was out of town for this year’s event, as I was officiating a wedding, but really appreciated being a part of the setup stages. We couldn’t have asked for better weather on October 1st. Crowds were great and people had fun!

We also have several events that we organize during Small Business Saturday. We have an annual Reindeer Run, that we added several changes to this year. For the first time, we had a full 5K race and a youth mile run. We timed the race for the first time and gave out trophies to the overall winners. We ended up with 101 finishers!

During the evening, we also have a Parade of Lights, followed by Selfies with Santa and downtown carriage rides. Both Santa and the carriage rides proved to be very popular!

Blair, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m originally from Northwest Iowa. I’ve spent most of my professional life working on various political campaigns; both electoral (Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders), party (Iowa Democratic Party), or issue organizing (healthcare). My wife is originally from Anamosa and that was what brought us here.

Part way through 2022, I decided that I wanted to try something new and the Executive Director position with the Anamosa Chamber of Commerce became available.

My goal with the chamber is to promote our chamber member businesses and organizations. I try to focus on chamber members that are hiring, have sales, or special events coming up. I’ve also been trying to organize more community events. We have several in the works for 2023!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

In August, we hired a small media consultant and then allowed chamber members to take a free 2-hour class with her. I took the class initially. There were some very good tips that I learned that I have tried to apply to our Chamber social accounts since then; including scheduling posts, posting at specific times of day, and utilizing more pictures and less wording.

Have you ever had to pivot?

One of the main reasons for me looking to move out of the political world was that I wanted more time with family. At my various political roles, even when I was off the clock, I was still kind of on. Lots of 80+ hour a weeks, with some travel statewide as well. I was worried that I was starting to miss events that my kids have going on and decided it was time to try something new.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.anamosachamber.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anamosa_chamber/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnamosaChamber
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blair-lawton-72207660/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/blairlawton