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It can be tough to operate a small business.
In fact, the statistics can paint a pretty bleak picture. The consensus seems to be the average business will last just about 8.5 years, with about 67 percent of new businesses lasting through two. Just about half will not make it past five years, only 33 percent will make it past 10 years and 25 percent will last 15 years or beyond.
That's why it's important to recognize those companies that have served their communities for many decades, something the Weirton Area Chamber of Commerce again did during Tuesday's membership meeting and awards banquet.
"Longevity is something every business wants to have on their side," Brenda Mull, president of the chamber, said while speaking to the 200 people who were gathered at the Lauttamus Event Center. "It can never be predicted, but it's always aspired to."
Sixteen business from across the Tri-State Area were honored during the event. The list had several companies with more than a century of operation, including Trinity Health System, which has served the region for 135 years; the Fiesta Tableware Co., which has been around for 154 years; WesBanco, which has been around for 155 years; and Huntington Bank, which has been in business for 159 years.
Included among those honorees were the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times -- sharing a legacy that goes back 219 years, to June 7, 1806, when John Miller and William Lowry published the first edition of the Western Herald in downtown Steubenville.
It's likely the names of the businesses have changed as time has passed -- sales, mergers and acquisitions have a way of doing that -- but one thing that never changes is the commitment the owners of the businesses have to their customers and the community. Without that, operating for more than a century -- or two centuries -- would not be possible.
"People do what they do because they love it -- they don't do it for recognition," Mull said.
You can add to that list the Weirton chamber, which has been a part of the community for nearly 100 years -- Tuesday's dinner was the 88th-annual recognition event held by the organization. Mull has been at the helm for 28 years of those years, she added, a job that has been made easier thanks to volunteers whose goal is to improve the business community.
"The makeup of the chamber board is a wonderful group," she said. "I can honestly say, and I mean this sincerely, that I have never worked with a board that I did not like."
That doesn't mean there is not a lot of change -- board members serve three-year terms up to a maximum of 12 years before they have to sit out at least a year.
"Every year it changes. So, you can imagine there's turnover frequently, and, in all of the years that I have been here, I have always had a good board."
Members of the board help to support efforts and events throughout the year. Those include leadership programs for young people and adults, business after hours and other events, like the annual Barbara A. Matey Business Symposium. This year's is scheduled to be held Wednesday.
"Each year, up to 120 students from area schools in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania come to learn about business in one day," Mull said. "They have a project that they have to complete -- they learn about marketing, they learn about budgets -- they learn whatever we can teach them in one day, and they love it."
It's impossible to get any of those events planned or work done without collaboration among the chamber staff and its members -- even among the region's other chambers. Mull said again this year, the Weirton Area, the Jefferson County and the Brooke County Area chambers are planning a joint business after hours event. Scheduled for June 12 at the 7 Ranges Entertainment Center at the Fort Steuben Mall, the evening will follow in the footsteps of last year's successful joint event held at Brooke Hills Park.
Mull also discussed the continuing work on the Weirton Christmas lights program.
"This is something that has become personal to all of us," she explained.
Work to restore and refurbish the old holiday decorations has been continuing for many years. That includes the 40-foot display that is among the centerpieces of the city's Christmas celebration. Keeping the vintage display on Three Springs Drive functioning has been a constant effort.
"The city administration has been a huge help, along with the public works department -- they support us tremendously," Mull said. "The Holiday Inn and First Choice America Community Federal Credit Union allow us to have them there, which is huge, because if they didn't, we wouldn't have a place to put them."
She also thanked the John D. Rockefeller IV Career Center for its help in restoring the display, adding the chamber is optimistic much of it will be done by Christmas.
Those contributions by people who are willing to work together are examples of what it takes to make the community and its businesses thrive.
"I tell you all of this because I think it's important we all remember that working together and supporting one another is how we get things done," Mull said. "I never sit around and think, 'Oh, I did this,' because I can't do what I do if I don't have the help that I have, and I'm sure your business is the same way.
"Without our committees and the people who back us, we don't get anything done."
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)