The Salt Shakers trace their origins back to the post-World War II years when the Chamber formed a Wholesale Trade Committee that made goodwill trips to generate new business for Utah.  That committee operated until 1967 when several members organized the Salt Shakers and first donned their trademark white coats. 

Along with the white coats the shakers defined a mission to promote Utah as a great place to live, work and play, and encourage business development whenever and wherever they traveled.  To accomplish this goal the Salt Shakers limited themselves to no more than 50 active members.  At this size the members got to know each other well and made the group manageable for any projects they undertook. 

The group quickly adopted a three-pronged strategy to accomplish its mission.  The first step was to recruit top people form major corporations and leading entrepreneurs to join.  Next, the group became a public relations tool for the (then named) Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. And the third step was adopting a “Marketing Utah” game plan that involved extensive travel to other states. 

Since then, The Shakers have traveled from Anchorage to Tampa and from San Diego to Washington D.C. and countless places in between.  More importantly, the Shakers have covered Utah from Garden City to Moab, St. George to Vernal meeting with businesses and other chambers throughout the state.

One of their most notable highlights was assisting the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau in attracting the Women’s International Bowling Congress Convention.  For two years the SLCVB had courted this conference, which at the time was the largest in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records, and had been unsuccessful.  30 Shakers boarded flights to Tampa and spent five days convincing the 4,000 delegates for this 70,000-person conference that Salt Lake was the place to take the convention in 1994.  The final vote was 600 for Indianapolis and 2,400 for Salt Lake City.

In addition to recruiting and marketing trips, the Shakers have assisted in economic development for Utah & the Chamber by hosting VIP visitors and conducting several ribbon cuttings a month for new businesses or businesses opening new facilities.  The latter probably gives them their most throughout the community.  The Shakers have been a part of well over a thousand grand openings throughout their years always wearing the white coats and carrying their big scissors. 

In 2007 the Salt Shakers will celebrate their 40th year as the Goodwill Ambassadors for the Salt Lake Chamber.  Probably the greatest part of this forty-year history is that the group has remained tight, with new members joining every year and each year the group continues to enjoy themselves at their parties, banquets, lunches, and formal events.