Phil Zimmerly.
He’s the result of mixing coffee with an arts and crafts show, town fireworks, a Thanksgiving celebration, several downtown promotions and all of the activities of the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce.
Phil, owner of Common Grounds coffee shop, is the new part-time director of the Bluffton chamber. With the job comes the best office view in the village – the very front room in the second floor of the town hall.
Of course, lots of other things come with the job for Zimmerly, who became chamber director earlier this month.
Among his immediate “to-do list” includes raising funds of the National Night Out chamber fireworks on Tuesday, Aug. 1, making certain the May 13 arts and crafts show comes together, and working with chamber member businesses to help them grow.
And, if the chamber can pull it off, this year’s Blaze of Lights will have Christmas lights strung to the very tops of the trees on the Bluffton Presbyterian Church lawn.
In recent years the lights stopped midway on the trees due to the cost of stringing them.
In the fun category of his job is the rediscovery of the Bluffton town hall bell. Most residents aren’t even aware that the clock town contains a bell. Zimmerly learned of its existence during a town hall clock tower exploration a few years ago with Fred Steiner, Derek Dukes and Luke Young.
“I think that the bell is the neatest thing. We want to start ringing it for local events,” he said. “Working with the village, we’ve had the bell hooked up and we can now, once again, ring it from the third floor.”
Zimmerly and his wife, Sharon, have owned Common Grounds coffee shop since 2008. Phil is a 1999 Cory-Rawson graduate and his own Main Street connections go back to Nonnamaker, his grandfather. Nonnamaker owned Dean’s Sinclair on the corner of Main and College. The Bluffton Public Library lawn is the site of that former business.
Zimmerly served on the chamber board for four years and for the past year and a half has served as board president. With his acceptance of the chamber’s directorship, he stepped down from the board.
Mandy Gerken-Snyder is the chamber board president. Other board members are Larry Hoffman, treasurer, Jason Brandt, secretary, and Mark Alliman, Robin Bowlus, Ryan Brauen, Derek Dukes, Bob Inniger, Connie Kruse and Luke Young.
