What’s In It For Me?
The goal of the ABL is to develop and support the entrepreneurial spirit in Alachua, and promote businesses in and around the Downtown area. The Alachua Business League’s mission is to promote business-to-business support, organize events and activities to promote local business, maintain a business development network, conduct roundtable discussions and welcome all new businesses into the area.
Since our beginning in 2003, the ABL has produced two downtown festivals per year. The purpose of these festivals is threefold. First is to promote the downtown area to businesses and consumers. The second is to enable all the local businesses to showcase their wares, especially if they don’t have a storefront. And third is to bring traffic into the city. As of 2019, we have stopped producing two festivals and put all of our efforts into just one festival in November, which is typically held around the middle of the month. However, by popular demand, we will be reinstating the Spring festival in 2025.
As a member of the Alachua Business League we will credit your membership fee towards one standard 10 x 10 vendor space, as long as your membership dues are paid by the end of March and you are an active member of the ABL. Proceeds from these festivals, enable the ABL to offer an annual scholarship for 3 Sante Fe High School students to attend Santa Fe College, as well as support other local programs for new entrepreneurs and existing local member businesses.
We also conduct other casual events, in the form of membership meetings, network challenges and Meet and Greets. These will provide you the opportunity to meet other business owners, learn what is happening in the community, discuss local issues, promote your business through networking, have a voice in local economic development, and to participate in the development of the central business district.
Although we have long been known as the group that produces the Main Street Festivals, we are constantly growing in an effort to better serve our members and the local community. We are in the midst of updating our website to better integrate with other online venues and to better showcase you and your business. We currently have an events calender where you can add your business news and upcoming events. We also have a member directory for all active members. This directory will enable you to add a webpage to your listing, where you can display any information, images and even coupons that you would like to share with potential customers.
As a member, you will also have access to our live business workshops, tech tips, and any other educational materials that we have available to you through our various contacts and resources. The workshops will be recorded, if you are not able to attend in person, and will be made available online, through a members only section of the website.
We are also working towards a comprehensive marketing package that will offer video services, advertising opportunities, training and education, sponsorships for our various events around town and of course, social media presence and interaction. As you know, everything is going digital, so if your business is not online, you are not in business.
We invite you to become an ABL member by completing the online application below. There are three levels of membership. The first level is called Small Business with less than 6 employees and the cost is $85. The second level is called Standard Business with 6 or more employees. This level is $125.00. You will have the option to pay online or you can mail a check. Level three is for non profit organizations as designated by a 501c3 status, and there is no charge for this category.
With your involvement we will continue to make Alachua a great place to live and work. The Alachua Business League’s mission is to encourage all Alachua businesses and organizations to work together to achieve greater success for everyone while maintaining our high quality of life. As with anything, the more you put into the ABL, the more you will benefit from membership. Together, we hope to make a positive difference in our businesses, our town and our lives!
If you are interested in becoming a member, please click on the button below and fill out the form completely.
If you have any problems with this form, please contact the Alachua Business League at Alachua.business@gmail.com or you can go to our contact page.
Also, know that when you fill out these forms you should get an email confirmation. If you don’t receive one, please check your spam or junk folder.