The Chamber

Chamber Facts:

Did you know?

The Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce is an accredited Chamber by the
United States Chamber of Commerce and has been since 1979 – one of less than 325 Chambers nationwide!
Our Chamber is a 4-STAR accredited Chamber – one of less than 14% of the accredited Chambers are 4-STAR or higher (5-STAR is the highest!)
The Chamber initiated the Angelina County United Way – originally started by the Chamber as the Red Ribbon Campaign.
A task force of the Chamber researched the need for a community college and help pass a bond issues to create Angelina College in the late 1960’s.
The first event in the Pitser Garrison Civic Center was the Chamber’s annual banquet. A crowd of 1403 heard Paul Harvey speak at the event.
The Angelina Arts Alliance was formed from the Chamber’s Cultural Arts Council in 1996.
Angelina Beautiful/Clean was created in 1984 as an outshoot of the Chamber Beautification Committee – two of the Governor’s Awards for Beautification were won by the Chamber’ committee before AB/C went on to win another.
The Small Business Development Center, now at Angelina College, was started by the Chamber in 1989 and was housed at the Chamber until 1991.
The George H. Henderson Exposition Center was the #1 goal of the Chamber in 1982 and a special task force spearheaded a fund drive that netted $1.6 million in four months! The Expo Center opened in 1983.
The first event at the Expo Center was the Angelina County Youth Fair in 1983.
The Youth Fair was part of the original Texas Forest Festival until 1953 – it has been operated as a separate event since then and has raised in excess of $3.5 million for the youth of Angelina County since that time.
The original Texas Forest Festival was held from 1938-1953 at a fairgrounds complex located where Lufkin Middle School now sits.