Chamber awards Jasper River Centre first-quarter business grant

Jasper River Centre won the Dubois County Chamber of Commerce’s first-quarter business grant, a vote of confidence in a downtown venue the Chamber sees as both a business asset and a community gathering place. The check presentation was held June 5, and the $1,000 award is tied to a fundraiser scheduled for Oct. 24 that will support local veterans while bringing more activity to Jasper’s core.

The grant money will help pay for the event’s marketing, staffing and labor, food and beverage, and overall production. The fundraiser will include live entertainment, a silent auction and other activities, giving the Chamber a way to back a visible local event that should pull residents and visitors downtown and add traffic around 3rd Avenue.

The Chamber’s decision also fits its broader grant rules, which are aimed at locally owned businesses that are current Chamber members, based in Dubois County and limited to no more than 50 full-time employees. The program has been described as a quarterly award meant to support growth, improvement and innovation through equipment purchases, facility upgrades, marketing efforts and community initiatives. Under that framework, Jasper River Centre stands out as the kind of business the Chamber wants to strengthen: locally rooted, community-facing and tied to downtown activity.

That emphasis lines up with Angie Sanchez-Hostetter’s priorities since she was hired as executive director in May 2025. Her focus has included business growth, community partnerships, outreach and quality of life in Dubois County, and this grant decision reflects all four. By directing support to a project that combines fundraising, local service and downtown foot traffic, the Chamber is backing a business model that reaches beyond its own walls.

Jasper River Centre itself opened in 2020 as a $40 million redevelopment by Boxer Girl, LLC. The project repurposed the old Jasper Cabinet factory into a 120,000-square-foot mixed-use development with 76 apartments, commercial space and event venues, helping reshape a historic part of Jasper near the Patoka River. The Chamber’s latest grant extends that investment-by-use approach, reinforcing the center’s role in the Old Jasper district as a place where business, housing and public events overlap.