Our Mission

The mission of the Redwood Coast Chamber of Commerce is to provide a leadership role in coordinating business advocacy and development; disseminating information; sponsoring community events and promoting tourism with an effective professional program that benefits both the members and the entire coastal community.  

Attention and emphasis shall be given to the economic, civic, commercial, cultural and educational interests of the area. The organization will foster and promote those activities that enhance the economy, preserve the environment, and provide opportunities for gainful employment and cultural satisfaction to the citizens of the area. The organization will interact with and advise governmental bodies that regulate business and tourism on our coast.

Our Growth Philosophy

We believe environmental stewardship and economic growth can be complimentary.

We want to learn from mistakes made in areas that allowed chain stores, suburban sprawl, bright lights, unrestricted noise and multi-lane highways to diminish the natural beauty.

Rather, we wish to create business opportunities with respect for the precious natural resources of open space, quiet, peace, clean air and water, dark night skies, healthy rivers and wildlife that attracted us and continue to attract tourists to this area.

We believe that the health and appeal of a community comes from within, and the awareness and positive focus of our business community, organizations and citizens towards this goal will result in our redwood coast community becoming a premier destination for like-minded individuals to visit and relocate.

We will assure that our growth and development is consistent with the limit of our communities’ resources to serve it. Such resources include: water, sewage treatment, solid waste disposal, public transportation, highway capacity, parking, schools, parks and recreation facilities, police, fire, medical, and all the other required governmental services.

We expect that tourists and residents alike will see this as a perceptive marketing decision as well as a profoundly wise and moral stance. 

Click below to read the Spirit of the Mendonoma Coast that inspired our Growth Philosophy above. It was written by Tom Dorn and Jan Harris and contributed to, edited and massaged into its current form by a number of Chamber members.

Spirit of the Mendonoma Coast

We are talking about a long stretch along a less traveled coast…
Fort Ross on the south and Irish Beach on the north;
and in its center The Sea Ranch, Gualala, and Point Arena,
sharing 50 miles of rugged coastline
with the Pacific Ocean to the west and
the forested Coastal Ridges to the east. 

It’s quieter here.
All our roads are two-lane, but for the one-laners.
Everyone keeps a sense of personal space relative to the ocean.
Cell-phone service is sporadic.
You see a lot of deer and seals in no hurry to get away
as we may carefully approach. 

We have more artists per capita than anywhere else in California.
At the heart of this Redwood Coast is Gualala…
the “water coming down place”,
where the clean and serene Gualala River meets the sea.
We invite you to come to our Redwood Coast and
Escape for awhile…or a whale. 

When we venture into town,
we don’t find multi-unit fast food and retail chains,
theme parks and mega-malls.
Rather, we find small shops and galleries
offering unique and eclectic local art and crafts
which may or may not match the couch.

The merchants are a friendly lot,
And offer tips on where to find a latte
or the way to the beach,
or the best place to dine al fresco
or with kids
or by candlelight with a view of the sea,
or when the whales will come by. 

On our frequently clear nights,
our country dark skies allow the stars
to multiply and leap out in such profusion
that we seek to reach our hands up
and fill our glasses from the Milky Way 

Waxing and full moons invite night hikes
or summer paddling on the shimmering mirror of the Gualala River
gliding along whisper quiet in a kayak or canoe. 

We get plenty of exercise here:
hiking the craggy shoreline trails
climbing the winding Lighthouse stairway,
riding horses along deserted strands of shore
golfing our world-class, 18-hole links,
muscling through water…boating…surfing…diving,
or swimming in the crystal river warmed by summer sun.

On languid days, we may just poke in tide pools
make castles in the cool sand of pristine beaches,
or tread in silent redwood forests in search of
hidden flowers…lush ferns…and edible fungi. 

But best of all, we enjoy doing less.
We just hole up and enjoy wind, waves,
And the rustle of birds in branches and meadow grasses
And watch the clouds and whales go by 

Our long coast is isolated from
Urban tensions and government authority and care.
Our county seats in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties are hours away.
Tiny Point Arena is our only corporate city
and is anti-corporation. 

Our isolation requires that
We do things and care for ourselves,
And we do. 

We have numerous volunteer driven organizations
Providing community resources for social services
environmental concerns and cultural interest.
Among these are:
Gualala’s Community Center, South Coast Senior Center
Coast Community Library, Redwood Coast Rec Center,
Humane Society and Action Network; Redwood Coast Land Conservancy, Gualala Steelhead Project,
Gualala River Watershed Council and Friends of the Garcia and Gualala Rivers; Gualala Arts Center, Point Arena CityArt Gallery, North Coast Artists Guild and Arena Renaissance Company (promoting and hosting live performance art).
We also have our own branches of the International Service organizations: Rotary, Lions and Soroptimists and clubs for all interests and ideologies.
The community gets together to make these organizations go
and we are proud of them.

Even our movie house was purchased, resurrected and re-conditioned through community effort; an Art-Deco jewel box with the finest first run, art & foreign films, home-baked treats and fresh popcorn with real butter.

 Our attractions include historic sites, and the folks that strive
to preserve them for future generations;
Fort Ross State Historic Park and Point Arena Historic Lighthouse.
and B.Bryan Preserve for endangered African hoof stock.

 Our residents like to play as well,
and our community organizations host periodic picnics and barbecues,
dinners and dances, auctions and other fundraisers
that bring the local population together
and attract visitors to join in.

We are proud of our festivals and holiday celebrations:
Art in the Redwoods, Redwood Coast Whale & Jazz Festival
and our Independence Day, Harvest and Christmas on the Coast festivities.

And when you come and visit, please enjoy our scenery,
our attractions, our events and our bounty…
but leave all as you found it for those of us that live here
and for the visitors that will surely follow!

We want tourism and development,
So long as our rural spirit and country nature can be preserved.
We don’t want retail chain stores, suburban sprawl,
Bright lights, noise or fast-lane living. 

We like simple pleasures
and resist the slick and chic,
the glitz and bling of our big city cousins. 

We like our peace...and piece...
of nature and the sea…
with lots of native trees & wildflowers
and so few lights that we see the stars…
all the stars…at night. 

We want our forests, parks, trails, beaches and rivers
to persist clean and unspoiled,
bearing only footprints,
and taken only as images in an album or a memory. 

We invite people here who concur with such ideals
And who will sustain our intellectual, economic, and physical growth
Without losing the isolated country spirit we love.

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