Courtesy / Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce
Shannon Landwehr
December 10, 2024
PenBay Chamber tells members it will suspend operations, citing declining membership, revenue
The Penobscot Bay Chamber of Commerce plans to suspend operations, it said in a letter to members this week.
The chamber said in the letter that revenue had "declined sharply" since the pandemic. Its membership had fallen to 400 members, down from a peak of 1,000.
"It is with a heavy heart that we share news of significant changes ahead for the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce. After many years of dedicated service to the Midcoast community, we will be suspending operations as of Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. This decision, though immensely difficult, comes after months of tireless efforts to navigate the challenges that have increasingly strained our organization," the chamber said in its letter, which went out to members on Monday night.
The chamber was founded in 2011 to be the voice of business and tourism in the Camden-Rockland area, including 20 surrounding communities, according to its website.
For most of this year, the chamber has been led by Shannon Landwehr, who was hired in March 2024. Landwehr and a membership-services director were the only two full-time staffers.
Landwehr is the chamber's third leader since 2022, when the chamber's leader of seven years, Tom Peaco, resigned to go to the University of Maine. He was succeeded by Eric Belley, who left after a year, citing personal reasons. In the interim, longtime community and civic leader Gordon Page stepped in to run operations.
The chamber is governed by an 18-person board of directors, which was led by David Gogel, who is executive director of Rockland Main Street.
Along with the decline in members, the chamber cited a dip in event attendance, a key source of revenue.
"Despite our best efforts to rebuild membership and secure additional financial support, the economic realities of our times have proven insurmountable," the organization said in its letter to members. "Since the COVID-19 pandemic, our revenue — primarily derived from membership dues and event participation — has declined sharply. While our peak membership once surpassed 1,000 businesses, just over 400 members have renewed their support this fiscal year. Event attendance, another critical source of income, has also diminished, leaving us unable to sustain operations in our current form.
"Over the years, we have reduced overhead, streamlined our operations, and adapted in every way we could imagine to support our members and our region," the letter continued. But even with these adjustments, we have arrived at a point where continuing as we are is no longer viable."
Cory King, executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber, said he was disheartened by the news of a Maine chamber ceasing operations.
“We were as surprised as anyone to hear about the difficult decision the PenBay Chamber’s board of directors made announcing their ceasing of operations as currently constructed," King wrote in an email to Mainebiz. "There’s no question, that post-pandemic the role of chambers is different to what it was pre-pandemic. However, I’m not convinced the pandemic itself is entirely to blame, though the pandemic did accelerate our awareness of gaps in our businesses, and barriers to employment."
He cited the wave of baby boomers retiring and the lack of candidates filling the jobs being vacated.
The PenBay Chamber left open the possibility of another entity coming out of it, but no definite plans are in place.
"As a regional organization ourselves, we would commend that and offer any guidance we can to those community members looking to form something new should any help be needed," King said. "There are many incredible businesses in that area who I’m sure would still love to be a part of the marketing, local events, networking and community building that the PenBay Chamber has provided for so many years to that region."
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