New Ulm Area Chamber of Commerce President Sarah Warmka discusses the Chambers’s success in 2025 and how to roll that over into 2026.

NEW ULM – The New Ulm Area Chamber had a strong year in 2025 and as 2026 begins, Chamber president Sarah Warmka said she is excited to continue New Ulm’s success and keep the momentum going.

In terms of numbers, the Chamber saw its business membership increase by 45 members in 2025 for a total of 396 members.

“That is a record,” Warmka said. “We’ve never topped 400 members.”

Warmka credits some of the success to recovery after COVID. After 2020, there were many businesses that let membership lapse. In 2021, when Warmka took over as Chamber President, new memberships were low with only 11 new members but things rebounded. In both 2023 and 2024, the Chamber saw membership grow by over 50 businesses.

In addition, the Chamber added a new tiered membership system. Before, an annual membership was based on the number of employees and the type of business. Now the Chamber offers different levels of memberships, which Warmka feels makes it more accessible for them to join at any level.

The different levels are Business Membership, Progress Membership, Community Promoter, Community Investor and Community Trailblazer. There is also a Retired or Individual membership for people no longer working but want to remain connected to the business community.

Warmka said the other reason for the Chamber’s success is the increased attention on New Ulm.

“We’re a vibrant community and people are starting to notice that,” she said.

One of the aspects of New Ulm that has attracted the attention from visitors and tourists is the many events and festivals hosted in the town and the Chamber is connected to a large share of them.

In recent years, The Chamber has helped host the Women’s Networking event, Mingle with a Purpose.

Warmka said the 2025 networking event had the highest attendance the Chamber has ever had for the event. Romance novelist and Food Network regular Abby Jimenez was the keynote speaker and drew a large crowd.

Warmka said for 2026, Mingle with a Purpose will be held Feb. 19 and will focus more on professional development.

The Chamber’s first community event of 2025 was the Baggin’ in the Street bean bag tournament, which returned for a second year. Warmka said it will return for its third year in 2026, but has been moved to Feb. 28. Registration for the tournament is coming back.

In July, New Ulm’s Crazy Days celebration expanded to include the Polka Palooza celebration on Friday and Saturday evening. The Chamber rolled out its artificial turf for the celebration, which is usually reserved for Oktoberfest. The addition to Crazy Days was well received and will be returning in 2026.

The weekend after Crazy Days, the weekend of July 31 and Aug. 1, will see the return of Spikin’ in the Street for a fourth year. The downtown sand volleyball tournament is held in partnership with several local businesses a continues to draw crowds and attention. In 2025, a special youth sand wrestling tournament was held the night before Spikin’ in the Street, which went over extremely well. The plan is to bring the wrestlers back in 2026, but possibly add a smaller volleyball tournament Friday night.

“We’ve had such a waiting list, people want to play, but we’re maxing out for Saturday,” she said.

The organizing committee for Spikin’ in the Street is looking to add a smaller tournament on Friday night before the big tournament on Saturday.

One of the biggest additions to New Ulm’s festival season was the Weihnachts Markt Holiday. The day after Thanksgiving, German Park hosted a holiday market with several vendors as well as a Christmas tree decoration. The 40-foot upside-down Christmas tree was also moved to German Park and a special lighting ceremony was held for it.

Warmka confirmed the Weihnachts Markt will return in 2026. By popular demand, they will bring back the reindeer and the upside-down Christmas tree.

Warmka said Kraus Tree Service has been great at identifying evergreen trees in the community that can be used each year.

Warmka said the biggest change with the Weinhnachts Markt will be more lighted pathways. This will help direct people to the safe ways to enter the park.

Warmka said it is still in the planning stages, but the idea is to continue adding light displays to German Park for the Weinhachts Markt. The idea is to make incremental increases and work with community partners to make it possible.

“If there is a group who will take this on with us–we could probably go big,” Warmka said.

Warmka acknowledged that the greatest challenge facing the Chamber was the need for volunteers. One of the quickest ways to increase tourism in New Ulm is to promote a new festival, but that’s not feasible without additional community support. However, Warmka said it is possible to scale up existing events. This was one of the Chamber’s secrets to success in 2025. They took existing events and added to them.

The Crazy Days celebration added polka music and the artificial turf. Spikin’ in the Street offered a wrestling tournament. The new Weihnachts Mark was held before the annual Parade of Lights, that was already a large draw to the community.

Overall, 2025 was a strong year for tourism in New Ulm. Warmka said the city’s lodging tax generated more funds then expected this year.

The Chamber’s presence on social media doubled from last year. In 2024, the New Ulm Chamber had 4 million impressions across it’s social media platforms and that increased to 8 million in 2025.

Warmka credited a lot of this increase to Sarah Sveine, the Chamber’s new Tourism & Member Services Manager.

“She has taken our social media to the next level,” Warmka said.

Warmka said the different festival and events is only part of what the Chamber does every year. The fun games attract a lot of attention, but the Chamber works hard to bring important business information to members through Hot Topics meetings on Paid Family Leave or Artificial Intelligence. Behind the scenes, they work to promote different leadership and professional development events. The Helping Young Professionals Evolve (HYPE) program continues to be popular.

Warmka said the best part of her job as Chamber President was getting to know all the business owners and members who invest in the Chamber and the community.

“They really care about the town,” she said. “I don’t think our town would be what it is without that passion.”