Business & Tech

Lake Forest Chamber of Commerce Jumps Into New Mixer Series with Gathering at Pump It Up

The event kicked off President Mike Brenhaug's effort toward "taking it to the streets."

The giant slides, inflated houses and multicolor carpeting of Lake Forest's normally host events that center around kids jumping, climbing and consuming sugar.

On Friday, though, it was the site for a business networking mixer organized by the Lake Forest Chamber of Commerce.

"I call it 'taking it to the streets,' " said chamber President Mike Brenhaugh. "We want to go out into the community and provide a different environment for networking. We're trying to be not like the other chambers."

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Between the yellow and purple painted walls of the party zone's lobby, Brenhaug addressed a group of about 20 chamber members, telling them about the group's upcoming activities and inviting each of them to verbally give a "20-second commercial" for their business to the rest of the members there.

Previously, the chamber had held business roundtables every two weeks, usually at restaurant Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ on El Toro Road, the site of the group's . Going forward, though, the chamber will alternate between holding the mixers at Lucille's and at some other business in Lake Forest, like Pump It Up.

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"I have to say I'm having a lot of fun today," Pat Drake of SendOutCards said to the group. "It's really fun to get out and see other businesses."

The mixer was just the latest in the attempt by the group to "break the model" of what chambers of commerce traditionally do, Brenhaug said. Along those lines, Brenhaug and Realtor Chris Holland told those assembled at the meeting that the chamber would also start organizing regular hiking trips for its members, starting with one March 19 in Whiting Ranch.

"It's an opportunity to network and get out in nature," Holland said.

Brenhaug encouraged chamber members to keep Pump It Up in mind when planning events.

"That's what this is about: getting out there and thinking not only about how we can connect, but how we can direct business to members of the Lake Forest community," Brenhaug said. "People like to do business with people they know, like and trust."


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