The face of the Palmerton Chamber of Commerce plans to retire after three decades of promoting the borough’s downtown business community.

Peter Kern, president of the chamber, made his announcement at the Palmerton Area Chamber of Commerce meeting and luncheon held last week at the Palmerton Pub.

At that time, Kern gave a brief history on how his affiliation with the chamber came to be.

Kern said that Palmerton native Winston Scherer returned to the borough after he retired from business.

He said Scherer was “instrumental in resurrecting the dormant Palmerton Chamber of Commerce.

“He was well aware of its potential, and he helped to restore it to the vitality that is has today,” Kern said.

A new direction

Kern touted veteran chamber members Joe and Marj Federanich as his eventual successors.

“I believed it’s time; time for a new direction, new leadership, new enthusiasm,” he said. “I believe that people like Marj and Joe will bring that.”

Kern said he plans to stick around for the transition period.

“Right now, we’re working with legal counsel to determine how best to structure the chamber going forward as it relates to the Carbon County Chamber since we’re technically separately incorporated,” he said. “We do have to take care of some minor legal technicalities; that will be resolved in several weeks.”

Kern said he anticipates a rather seamless passage, as he believes that by the end of the year, the Palmerton Chamber will have fully transitioned into new leadership.

“There will be a transition; I’ll see that they’ll get the records and whatever documents I’ve accumulated throughout the years,” he said.

“I’ve tried to be a good steward of those records that date all the way back to 1958, when the chamber was first founded.”

Kern attributed much of the success to when the local chambers merged into the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce in 2000.

“It’s been the greatest relationship we could have had,” he said. “It gave us access to over 7,000 other members in the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“The networking potential among our members is multiplied many fold. Tremendous networking capability.”

Kern modestly accepted some of the credit, as he associated much of the prosperity to the return of Scherer.

“The greatest achievement that has been realized since the return of Winston Scherer in 1985, and during my tenure, has been the fact that the downtown community has been strengthened, despite the fact that we’ve had numerous challenges from various economic downturns during that point,” he said.

“I think that is really what the goal of any good chamber of commerce is, and that is to work through the difficult years and build on the strong years, and I believe we have done that in the Palmerton Area Chamber of Commerce and the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m very proud of the work of the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce, and I believe that it is a tremendous asset to Carbon County and the surrounding areas.”

What the future holds

Kern said the borough has forged a wonderful reputation for itself.

“We are the envy of our peers,” he said.

“We are admired by others because of what we have here.”

Fast approaching 81 years of age, Kern, of Brodheadsville, said he plans to continue on with his other associations.

“Many people consider me as an honorary member of Carbon County,” he said. “I’m very active on the board of the Allentown Symphony Association, and serve as treasurer of the Palmerton Area Historical Society, and I intend to continue in those roles as long as my (mental capacity) allows me to.”

After 30 years, Kern said he’s at peace with his decision, and thanked everyone for their support through the years.

“When we had returned the chamber to a functional status - and (Winnie) had served as president for about eight years, he asked in 1992 if I would take it over for a year; he needed a break,” he said.

“I said sure, I would do it for a year, and it’s been the longest year and lasted until 2021.”