On Tuesday, Nov. 11, Locally Grown Yoga, located at 921 Broad St. Suite Z, held its official ribbon cutting ceremony to announce its membership in the Chamber of Commerce. Although the studio joined the Chamber last year, the official ceremony was postponed because of scheduling conflicts.

“We had a really hard time figuring out when we could do the ribbon cutting ceremony, and then I left the country for six months,” said owner Monica St. Angelo. “That’s why it took so long … there were kind of extenuating circumstances.”

St. Angelo decided to join the Chamber shortly after the studio’s name change in order to immerse herself in the community and make professional connections through the Chamber’s network of 300 members.

“I wanted to connect to the greater community of Grinnell. I feel like it is important to support the efforts of the chamber,” St. Angelo said.

Locally Grown Yoga has been in Grinnell for four and a half years, formerly under the name Studio Z Yoga. After her business partner left Grinnell, St. Angelo decided to rebrand the studio and gave it a new name.

“Monica’s done a really good job of rebranding [Locally Grown], adding some new things and putting her own spin on it,” said Chamber of Commerce Tourism Director Emily Counts.

St. Angelo cited the Chamber’s marketing assistance and strategies as a major benefit of her Chamber of Commerce membership.

“There are some publicity benefits to joining the Chamber. They put out a newsletter and you can put your events in there … I never really set out to own a business and so it’s all new,” St. Angelo said.  “Being able to talk to the people at the Chamber and get their opinion about things is nice.”

Indeed, Counts confirmed that access to marketing outlets is a major incentive for many businesses to join the Chamber.

“Joining the Chamber is a great way to get extra exposure for your business. We offer a variety of benefits to our members as far as market support and awareness, digital marketing and lots of networking opportunities,” Counts said.

Locally Grown’s membership with the Chamber will help provide continued access to yoga in Grinnell, something St. Angelo feels adds to the unique flavor of the community.

“I think being able to go to them [the Chamber] with ideas and let them know about events and connect with that greater community of Grinnell [is what I look forward to most about the membership] because I think that having a yoga studio makes Grinnell a cooler town,” St. Angelo said.