ROCKPORT — The 25th anniversary of the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce annual Business Expo, held at the Samoset Resort Wednesday, April 11, drew a full house of local exhibitors and guests.

“This goes back before the two chambers merged,” said Tom Peaco, the chamber’s executive director. “Even before their merge, the two chambers had partnered on this event and hosted it back and forth for the Knox County community. People want to be part of this event, it’s a very well attended event and a thriving opportunity to promote your business.”

The expo features 120 booths spread out amongst the various ballrooms at the resort, but some of the vendors rent two spaces for their business. On Wednesday, there were more than 100 booths of businesses and nonprofits. Peaco said there are several events coming up that the chamber will be hosting.

“On May 2, we have the Tourism Summit taking place up at Point Lookout,” he said. “We have regional and state tourism leaders from the Maine Office of Tourism, Cruise Maine and the Maine Tourism Association who will speak to our local hospitality members.”

Peaco said first and foremost the chamber is gearing up for a busy season of tourism. Peaco said the number one issue for businesses is securing employees.

“People are feeling  optimistic about the upcoming tourist season,” he said. “The challenge right now is everybody is trying to hire for their summer jobs. Unemployment is low, so I think people are a little nervous about that. Businesses don’t want to have to control their hours because they can’t find enough people to hire.”

The expo —like the chamber —is about sharing ideas through local networking, learning about local businesses for local prosperity and coming together as a community to to celebrate the many local resources.