Chamber hopes to hold membership numbers

The monthlong Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce membership blitz will end next week.

"We won't have any new numbers until after May 31," said John Mehner, president of the chamber. "With the economy like it is, members are waiting until the final day to rejoin."

Maintaining the chamber's membership is one of the goals of this year's membership campaign.

The chamber is at 1,200, a figure it has maintained over the past few years.

The average cost of membership is $215 a year, said Mehner, "but there are some variations of this number."

The local chamber is first in Missouri in its population category of 50,000 and fourth overall.

Only the Greater Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield chambers have more members.

Over the past decade the local chamber has ranged in membership from 1,022 in 1987 to more than 1,200 last year. Those figures are more than double the 1972 chamber membership of 571.