Cullman Chamber of Commerce business development director Brian Poole, right, talks growth Thursday with Holly Pond Mayor Bill Oliver, center, and council member Paul Brown, left. The talk was part of a local business roundtable meeting, hosted by the Chamber, at the Guy Hunt Library and Museum.

HOLLY POND — Making last year’s Vintage Day at Holly Pond even more successful, boosting local businesses and restaurants, and devising ways to let more people know Holly Pond is open for business all were part of the discussion Thursday evening at the second in a series on ongoing quarterly roundtable meetings hosted by the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce.

Oliver said one of the town’s big priorities this year is helping organizers improve on the second installment of Vintage Day, which in 2017 brought vendors and visitors into town for a festival centered on both celebrating Alabama’s Bicentennial, as well as Holly Pond’s role in it.

“I’d like to make it big enough to where we have to maybe move it to a bigger location,” said Oliver, adding that nothing solid had yet been planned to assure this year’s event would go forward.

“It was a very good thing for our town last year, and Wayne White, who owns the antiques store here and organized it, did a very good job of making sure that it brought in the right kind of vendors. The crowds were good, and we’d love to figure out a way to make it bigger.”

From jump-starting the town’s dormant web presence to installing new directional signage to expanding on community events like Vintage Day, no idea was off the table at the roundtable. Poole encouraged Oliver and others who attended the meeting, like Holly Pond Cafe’ owner (and council member) Michelle Ball, to return in September for the next quarterly gathering ready to discuss the action plan he’s putting together based on the information he’s collected at the previous meetings.

“The idea is to move together as a family on this; to move forward and make some progress by the time we meet again,” he said.

“Hopefully, you can take these ideas and run with them for yourself, in time. Once we start making things happen, people tend to want to start getting involved, and that’s what we’re aiming for here.”

The next business roundtable is for the Vinemont and West Point Communities on June 28, in the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce’s Walmart Room.

The next business roundtable is for the Vinemont and West Point Communities on June 28, in the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce’s Walmart Room.