New Heber Springs Chamber chairman ready to serve community
HEBER SPRINGS — After being involved with the Heber Springs Area Chamber of Commerce for the past eight years and serving as a board member and vice chairman, Scott Jones is ready to take a leap and lead the board as its chairman.
On Jan. 1, Jones took over as chairman of the board, a role in which he will work with the president of the chamber and the rest of the board to plan events and ribbon-cutting ceremonies to help small businesses.
Ginger Harper, president and CEO of the chamber, said she is excited to work with Jones.
“You can count on Scott to have really creative ideas on how to better serve our members and the community as a whole,” Harper said. “The chamber’s mission is to promote and grow business. I really think of Scott’s dedication to the community; he can really help fulfill that.”
Growing up, Jones said, he never knew what he wanted to be, but he always knew he wanted a career that would allow him to tap into his creativity.
“I’m not a person who fits into a factory job or something that is repetitive because I need to be creative,” he said.
After discovering Jitterbug Coffee House in Heber Springs, he became a business owner and hasn’t looked back. He said being a coffee-shop owner has helped him find a career that allows him to be creative.
“We put out the same kind of things, but every day is different, and that’s interesting to me,” Jones said.
He also loves getting to work in a place that is part of the community.
“It’s awesome. The neat thing about having the coffee shop being in the middle of town is the people who come in,” Jones said. “I like to see that, meet new people and just [experience] the buzz of a busy shop with all the people coming through.”
Before owning a business, Jones was a barista and said that experience helped him understand the coffee industry.
If he hadn’t become a business owner, Jones said, he envisioned himself enrolling in culinary school.
Originally a Searcy native, Jones has been in Heber Springs for the past eight years but sees it as his home now. He decided to move to the city to be close to his parents, who retire to Heber Springs.
“I am somebody who lives in Heber, my business is here, and we’re raising our kids here,” Jones said. “I am fully invested in Heber Springs.”
Jones and his wife, Anna, have two kids — Abby, who is 8, and Austin, who is 1.
As chairman of the board of directors for the chamber, Jones sees an opportunity to serve the community that his family now calls home.
“It’s an opportunity to help the town that has been good to me,” he said. “It’s just an honor to be asked, and I’m going to see what I can do with my experience to help the town.”
As a small-business owner, Jones understands the impact the chamber can have on businesses by showing them support.
“I know what it’s like to be a small-business owner, and if you feel like you’re getting support from the chamber and the town, that’s a big deal — to know you’re not on your own or without any help,” Jones said. “Especially coming out of the past couple of years, so many businesses have struggled through the pandemic and everything. Some businesses have been OK, so anything we can do to help should make a big difference.”
Cheryl Shook, the outgoing chairwoman of the board, chose Jones to take over her position after seeing the work he has done the past few years.
“I selected him in that position because I knew he was going to be a good chairman. Scott has always been available to help out whenever needed, and he’s always been present at the events,” she said. “He also owns a business and is passionate about where he lives, and he’s passionate about giving back to the community, so I knew he would be a perfect fit to fill my shoes as I stepped down.”
Jones said he looks forward to working with the board.
“We’ve got five new members coming on, and we’re excited about that,” he said. “We have board members from a nice variety of the town. We’ve got some big businesses like MEC (Mayville Engineering Co.), and we’ve got small businesses and banking. We try to have a variety so we can get a good team.”
About a week into his term, Jones and the board have already started planning for Freedom Fest on the Lake.
“It went really well last year, so we just want to build on that,” Jones said. “We’re planning for that at Sandy Beach. We had a concert, then a fireworks show the next night and the cardboard boat races during the day.”
Shook and Jones both expressed the importance of making sure Freedom Fest repeats last year’s success.
“Freedom Fest is one of the busiest weekends of the year,” Jones said. “That festival brings a lot of people into town and boosts sales for a lot of businesses with the extra people in the town.”
Jones said other events the chamber will work on planning include the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon and the Business Expo in the fall.
For more information about chamber events in 2022, visit