Hundreds Kick Off Alpharetta Chamber's Charter Night

More than 300 business executives and owners helped kick off the Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce charter night on Wednesday.

Chamber Chairman Dan Merkel said the organization is well on its way to reaching 400 members by the end of the year.

The new chamber wants to serve the local businesses who don't always manage to reach their potential clients and customers even though they are in the same city.

There was a lot of talk amongst the business community that felt we had a need for a more intimate setting in the city of Alpharetta to promote businesses to the other businesses in the city," said Dan Merkel, chairman of the new chamber.

"All we did was start talking to people, [asking] 'What do you think?' And it was overwhelming the response we got that said look if you do a chamber in Alpharetta we're on board."

A couple of people got together and Merkel was appointed chairman. They began to get the word out about plans for an Alpharetta chamber, and he said the response was overwhelming. That's when he told the other organizers they needed to stop thinking and start doing, and take a leap of faith.

"One of the things is, we are not a regional, we are not working on water or sewer initiatives, we are not working on roads, we're not working on politics, we're not working on city issues," Merkel said.

"We're the chamber for people who are out here every day, trying to do business with other business owners in town, in and around the city of Alpharetta," he said.

They also want to put these business people in front of the community who otherwise wouldn't see them.

Alpharetta has gotten way too big to not have its own chamber of commerce, Merkel said.