I have done local networking (Santa Cruz CA- similar size) I found that at the chamber events, the audience was more the "hustling in their 20's" crowd - I assume more established owners get less value from those events. I did a proprietary letter campaign locally as well. I had some very interesting conversations out of it but not great prospects.

I would strongly recommend local networking in your first 6 months, to dramatically accelerate your understanding businesses and fit with your own interests. Your "No's" are just as valuable as your yes's at that point. At my current stage I am more focused on searching further afield, based on more specific criteria that are unlikely to be met here.

Wade, there's also a statewide Chamber of Commerce that might be interesting? redacted