By Matt Lasley, reporter for Grayson County News Gazette

http://www.gcnewsgazette.com

On March 5 a group of local business people will launch the Grayson County Business Boosters, an organization designed to help promote the growth and success of community businesses.

President of the Business Boosters and the representative for Wilson & Muir Bank, April Bowman said the group has been meeting for over a year and will continue to meet on a weekly basis.

Bowman said the group's meetings will take place every Tuesday at 8 a.m. in the basement of Wilson & Muir Bank's main office on S. Main Street and will afford its members the opportunity to learn about one another's businesses and the market they try to reach.

The members will then, hopefully, help to provide word-of-mouth advertising for one another, in the hopes of increasing business, Bowman said.

Bowman said the Business Boosters started as a chapter of Business Networking International (BNI), but the group decided to branch off from BNI to better attend to the needs of Grayson County.

A number of representatives from local businesses have already joined the Business Boosters, including Steven Elder of Elder Wealth Management; Mark Godby of Leitchfield Exterminating; John Allen of T-Shirt Express; Dottie Watson of Real Deal Realty; Robbie Whitworth of Dan Powers GM Center; and Ken Rishel of Southern Kentucky Garage Doors.

Bowman said while the group has been meeting for some time now, it welcomes anyone from a community business to join.

"A lot of people have had the perception that [the Business Boosters] is an exclusive club," she said. "That's not the case. It's open to everybody. We're not in this to get rich. We're here to help all businesses in the community grow."

In addition to their weekly meetings, the Business Boosters sponsor the annual Business Expo at the Centre on Main in Leitchfield, during which a number of local businesses set up booths and interact with one another and members of the community.