It’s 1993 and I stand alone on the stage of the Vashon High School theatre. It’s just me – a junior at VHS; my trumpet; and a totally packed house for that year’s Bill Burby memorial fundraiser. A couple hundred folks sit with eyes wide, all waiting silently for me to begin.

Weeks of anxiety and practice have preceded this moment. I was just a kid, but I knew what Bill Burby meant, and still means, to the community. A coach, teacher, mentor, and leader who’d passed away only a few years ago, he was and is an icon of love and service island-wide. And I’m supposed to do him some justice up on that stage.

The VHS band will be playing “Get Me to the Church,” from My Fair Lady, for the event. A few bars in to the song, my friend Dom will stroll on stage with his trombone singing and join me. I only need to get through a few notes. But it’s a solo, cold open from the trumpet.

I so clearly remember how it felt with those hot lights shining in my eyes, hoping beyond hope I wasn’t about to let down a bunch of folks I really cared about. Hoping beyond hope that our band director Mr. Shepherd had not misplaced his trust in me when he put me out on that stage.

It’s all a pretty good representation of how it felt when I started at the Chamber of Commerce about a year ago. There I was in the middle of the bleak Vashon midwinter, nervous as all get out. Suddenly, I was in the seat where the buck stopped for events that mean a lot to a lot of folks: Strawberry Festival, Halloween, WinterFest. Not to mention the trust and financial investment placed in the organization by Chamber members. And stewardship of our beloved candy canes.

But being a solo staff member didn’t mean I was alone in the work at the Chamber. Far from it.

Just as it’s been for so many years, this past year hundreds of community volunteers made Festival, Halloween, WinterFest, and Vashon Summer Nights possible. The Chamber has a dedicated volunteer board that puts in hundreds of hours to make our programming and events shine. We also now have our volunteer-driven, collaborative nonprofit roundtable working to enrich all our island services.

This fall, community leadership stepped up to establish our incredibly talented working group, Islanders for Ferry Action. This dedicated group is putting in time and expertise to coalesce effective advocacy on behalf of the island and seek solutions to one of our most entrenched challenges.

Hundreds more folks joined our initiatives and donated funds to bring the Homegrown Stage to Festival, support Oscar, our troll, and of course, purchase those critical road closure signs.

The work of Vashon’s Chamber — part chamber, part visitor’s bureau, part clearinghouse for our missing municipality — is impossible alone. So many people came forward again this year to join our efforts on behalf of our community. And that investment from all of you has paid off.

Strawberry Festival is stronger than it’s been since COVID. We had record attendance and a spooktacular time at Halloween. Thousands came out on summer First Fridays to dance in the streets and make art and community uptown. Hundreds of folks turned up at our community forum to propose solutions to the ferry crisis.

Because of you, the Chamber is well positioned to fulfill its mission: to cultivate a vital environment for commerce and create opportunities for Island businesses and organizations to prosper, while enriching the unique quality of life for every Islander.

Thank you for giving time and resources to your Vashon Island Chamber of Commerce. We’re happy to report that your investment means we’re now on reliable financial footing to make 2024 even more successful. And we’ve got some really fun things planned.

You can start any song with a few notes from one lonely trumpet. But it takes the whole band to bring the big number home and honor this place that means so much to all of us. Thank you for investing your time and your trust in the Chamber of Commerce, and your Vashon community.

Amy Drayer is the executive director of the Vashon Island Chamber of Commerce.