CUBA CITY—Cuba City resident Daryl Fischer was chosen as the new Cuba City Chamber of Commerce director.

The director is tasked with planning chamber events and promoting chamber member businesses to help grow the Cuba City community.

Fischer said he anticipates spending time getting to know business owners in the community in the coming months. This part-time position allows approximately 10 hours a week to conduct chamber-related business.

“If you’re passionate about something, an hour limit shouldn’t stop you from what you’re doing,” Fischer said.

Fischer, a Prairie du Chien native and 2006 graduate of UW-Platteville, has 15 years of radio broadcasting experience. He started in 2000 at WQPC-WPRE in Prairie du Chien, then in 2004 at Queen B Radio in Platteville, first as a part-time employee doing some on-air jobs and some behind-the-scenes tasks.

He said when he graduated in 2006 with a degree in communication technologies with emphases in broadcast production and journalism and a minor in political science, Queen B Radio had just finished its new facility in Platteville, making it attractive to keep him in the Platteville area. In 2008 he took over the production department and continued to do work in news as well. He has stepped back from some of those responsibilities recently, but continues to work in news and production.

Also, in 2014, Fischer taught the audio production course at UW-Platteville, filling an adjunct instructor position for one semester.

Fischer has previous experience working with groups to organize large events. He was part of a four-person committee that put on the Tri-State Golf Expo in Dubuque. The group did market research, determined the need for a show in the area, created a budget, looked at a 50-mile radius to determine how many people have seasonal memberships at golf courses and then organized vendors that drew more than 500 people to the one-day event.

He also took part in Operation Troop Aid, a non-profit organization that sends items to troops overseas. The event was held to pack boxes of supplies to send to the troops. It was held on Labor Day weekend in conjunction with the welcome back concert at UW-Platteville.

“I’ve always enjoyed the aspect of event planning and I know that the community has put on a lot of events,” Fischer said. “Especially seeing the success of the Christmas Glow last winter and being a part of that, I’m encouraged to put something together that really draws the community together.”

Fischer said he anticipates some changes for the community, although it won’t happen overnight.

“Change is needed, but only because change is inevitable,” Fischer said. “There is going to be an evolution and it’s going to be up to the members of the community to make those changes, too, if they want to grow. I think we have a lot of things that we can put together that really put the City of Presidents back on the map.”

Fischer sees his role of chamber director as a way to take the community’s input and help grow the community in a positive direction. He wants to help chamber members with marketing and event planning to bring more people to the area or get them to stop as they pass through.

“I don’t want to just be an ideas man,” Fischer said. “I want to be able to follow through on things if my name is going to go on it.”

He said he saw it as a positive beginning that although the position was only filled six months before, the Chamber still saw the benefit of having a director and was willing to keep it.

His first day was April 20, although he attended a Grant County Tourism meeting last week.