Chamber sets hospital update luncheon and Nov. 13 member appreciation

North Texas Medical Center will give its State of the Hospital presentation at the November Knowledge NOW luncheon, according to a listing from the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has also set Nov. 13, 2026, for Taco 'Bout Thanks, its yearly event for members.

The chamber's listing names Jim Goldsworthy, State Farm Agent, as sponsor of the hospital program. Knowledge NOW meets four times a year at the Gainesville Civic Center, 311 S. Weaver Street, with sessions running from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch comes with the ticket, which the chamber prices at $25 for members and $35 for everyone else.

The city's official calendar shows a Knowledge NOW State of the City luncheon at the Civic Center on Nov. 19, 2025. The chamber has already posted its 2027 topics. Healthcare costs and insurance come first in February, followed by practical uses of artificial intelligence at work in May. In August the subject is demographic trends affecting Gainesville and Cooke County. The Denton Chamber of Commerce runs a similar schedule of four quarterly meetings a year, and its programs have taken up economic development projects and regulatory changes.

The chamber's page for Taco 'Bout Thanks looks back on the 2025 edition, a breakfast where board members cooked tacos for the membership.

Chamber records reviewed for this report do not set dates for a current Small Business Season, though the campaign has a history in Gainesville. The Gainesville Economic Development Corporation reported that the chamber's second annual campaign opened Nov. 1, 2023, and carried on through Christmas. By the development corporation's account, the chamber's executive director asked residents to keep their money close to home, and the request went beyond retail stores. It also named personal service businesses and small restaurants, along with the artisans and craftspeople who make goods by hand.

The company that provides the campaign describes a November-and-December window that each chamber shapes to fit its own town, with options such as shopping guides, business spotlights, gift-card drives or community events. It lists registration for 2026 as free. The U.S. Small Business Administration puts this year's Small Business Saturday on Nov. 28. American Express started that national day in 2010, and the SBA has cosponsored it since 2011.

The pool of local customers has grown. Census Bureau estimates put Cooke County at roughly 44,500 residents in July 2025, up nearly 7% since 2020. Those numbers describe the market local merchants serve and do not measure the results of any chamber campaign. Across Texas, the SBA's 2025 state profile counts small firms as nearly every business in the state, employing a little under half of its workers.

No current holiday movie announcement could be confirmed in chamber records. Minutes from the chamber board's Feb. 15, 2024, meeting state that the executive committee called off the December movie night because turnout was low and the weather was poor.