Chamber News

INSTALLATION DINNER BEGINS NEW ERA

On Tuesday, February 19th, the Mont Clare/Elmwood Park Chamber of Commerce installed its 2008 Officers and Board of Directors. We also honored outgoing Vice President Nick Sposato for all his hard work in organizing the after hour's events. Vice President Eric Wendt was given the Chamber “Man of the Year” award for his vol-unteer work in the community. Close to 200 members and their guests attended the dinner at Elmcrest Banquets. We want to thank all of our members that showed their support by attending the dinner or donating a raffle prize. Five cash prizes totaling over $1000.00 and twenty-five other prizes were donated for the event.

Hopefully in the future, those members that attend our free after hour's events will be able to support either our Installation Dinner or our golf outing.

Village President Pete Silvestri swears in the 2008 officers and directors of the Mont Clare/
Elmwood Park Chamber of Commerce at the installation dinner at Elmcrest Banquets

Rich Mazzulla, Jr., owner of Baciami Restaurant & Bar will be replacing Walter Saraniecki, as President of the Chamber of Commerce. Rich is a life-long resident of Elmwood Park and both Rich and his family have been very active over the years in the Elmwood Park community.

We regret the retirement of Carol Conboy, owner of The Flower Basket and the departure of Tonia Pacione, Charter One Bank, Peter Volpe, of Lincoln Park Savings Bank and Nick Sposato but welcome Ray Iniquez, Jr. of Ray's Mini Video and Callie Martin of Lincoln Park Savings Bank as new Board members.

Gabe Caporale is our new Vice President of Programming and will be happy to assist any member that would like to host or co-host an after hour's event. We would like to thank John Machonga of Midwest Financial Services and Ray Iniquez, Jr. of Rays's Mini Video for the many raffle prizes that they have donated to our after hour's events. Our members all look forward to our raffles and we would appreciate any raffle prize donations for future events. Check out the Installation Dinner pictures on our website photo-graphed by Larry Hanish and the March after hour's pix by Ray Iniquez, Jr.

CHAMBER JOINS THE OAK PARK CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU

We are happy to announce that the Chamber has joined the Oak Park Convention & Visitors Bureau. This joint venture will provide our members with additional exposure in the publications, web site and referrals that the Bureau will provide. Many of the promotional and marketing projects the OPACVB undertakes are supported by money from the State of Illinois grant funds. By being a member, the Chamber is in a position to benefit from these funds. Our Community Guide will now be available at the Visitors Center.

If you have any information or literature that you would like to be displayed at the Visitors Center, just call Director Rich Carollo at (708) 524-7800 and his staff will be happy to help you. More than 5,000 visitors come through the Visitors Center monthly.

WELCOME THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

JUNE AFTER HOURS EVENT – GOLF OUTING & DINNER

On Wednesday, June 18, 2008 the Annual Chamber of Commerce Golf Outing & Dinner will take place at Villa Olivia Country Club in Bartlett. For our members that do not golf, the Grand Victoria in Elgin is just down the road for those that prefer slot machines to golf carts. We end the day with a delicious buffet dinner followed by our raffle.

If neither option serves your schedule, we have hole sponsorships. The cost to sponsor a hole is $100.00. A sign with your business's name will be displayed on the course for over one hundred golfers to view. Hole sponsors as well as raffle prize donors are announced at the dinner. So save the date and watch for more information coming in May.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND—CHAMBER BANNER PROGRAM

We are happy to announce that Chamber member Tim Rasmussen, owner of IT'S A SIGN has put together a proposal for a banner program for our community.  The banner price will include your business name on the banner, hardware and installation. The banner will have a royal blue background with white lettering and an American flag will be in the foreground. The chamber logo as well as the Village of Elmwood Park logo will also appear on the banner.

The design can be seen on our web site. In order to keep the cost as low as possible, we need as many members as possible to participate. Once a member signs up and pays for the banner, they will get to choose the location of their banner. Banners will be displayed on Grand Avenue, Harlem Avenue and North Avenue. After our members have had a chance to participate, only then will we go out to the other businesses in the community.

For more information or any questions, call Barb at the Chamber office (708) 456-8000.

THE CHAMBER IS PEOPLE

The Mont Clare/Elmwood Park Chamber of Commerce was established in 1945 to promote a spirit of cooperation and friendship between the area businesses, the community and the local government. The Chamber is a non-profit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian and nonpolitical organization. It is a central body devoted to improving business and to building a better community.

As Oliver Wendell Holmes stated, “A Chamber is people. People who believe that a community worth living in or having your business in is a community worth maintaining and improving. The Chamber of Commerce allows us to do collectively what we cannot do individually.”

The Chamber currently has over 240 members that include local businesses, professionals, organizations, schools, houses of worship and community leaders. The Chamber of Commerce maintains an office at 11 Conti Parkway that is open Monday thru Friday from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM. Check our web site at www.mcepchamber.org for all the current news and events.