We’re moving into one of my favorite times of the year – autumn!
Fall brings crisp days, all things pumpkin, and, of course, it is the harvest season. At the Batavia Chamber of Commerce, we celebrate autumn every year with our Harvest Celebration. This year’s event takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 21, the day before the autumnal equinox.
One of the event highlights is to pay tribute to the Chamber member who has displayed an outstanding commitment and dedication to the Chamber’s mission, vision and values. This member is recognized as the annual Donna Dallesasse Award recipient. Our board of directors selects this person from submitted nominations. We’ll announce the winner Aug. 26.
Membership Milestone Awards
During Harvest Celebration, we also will hand out Membership Milestone Awards, with four members receiving the 25-Year Milestone Award. We are thankful for their commitment to Batavia and the Batavia business community that we support. If you can, please join us to acknowledge their dedication. Those receiving the 25-Year Milestone Award are the Batavia Avenue Mobil, First State Bank, Kluber Architects + Engineers and Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital.
The Donna Dallesasse Award winner and all the Membership Milestone Award winners will be feted at the Harvest Celebration on Wednesday, Sept. 21, beginning at 6 p.m. The outdoor event takes place under the tent at Oscar Swan Country Inn, 1800 W. State St. in Geneva. Tickets cost $50 a person, which includes food, music, a drink ticket, whiskey tasting from Whiskey Acres Distilling Co. and more. A cash bar will be available. Casual and/or seasonal attire is encouraged. To guarantee your spot, call 630-879-7134 or visit https://www.bataviachamber.org/events to register online.
For those interested in sponsoring this popular outing to gain visibility for your business, contact Patti Anselme at the Chamber at 630-879-7134 or patti@bataviachamber.org.
Chamber of Commerce Week
Illinois celebrates Chamber of Commerce Week during the second week of September. This year it is Sept. 11 -17. The Batavia Chamber is excited to host three ribbon-cuttings during that week and a Coffee & Commerce event, and the Chamber also invites you to go out to lunch with our staff on Friday, Sept. 16!
Coffee & Commerce is a new event that will take place every month on the second Wednesday beginning at 8 a.m. The event will move around to different member businesses. The Sept. 14 Coffee & Commerce event is at BMO Harris, 155 W. Wilson St., Batavia. Visit our Chamber calendar at www.bataviachamber.org/events/ to register.
Oak + Swine, 107 E. Wilson St., Batavia, is hosting us when we are Out to Lunch on Friday, Sept. 16, beginning at noon. We invite you to join us – Margaret Perreault, Patti Anselme and Shirley Mott – for lunch, laughs and chitchat. Because there is no such thing as a free lunch, it is Dutch treat (pay for your own)!
Ribbon-cuttings scheduled during that week include Louie Angelo’s Pizza & Italian, the city of Batavia’s Mahoney Creek Tributary improvement project and Mirus Batavia. Everyone is welcome to join our ribbon-cuttings. Information about ribbon-cuttings is available on our website calendar.
When we aren’t at these scheduled events, we invite Chamber members to stop by the office, 106 W. Wilson St., and bring your business card to be entered into a raffle. Everyone who comes by will be entered into the grand prize raffle, but the first 25 receive a bonus reusable Batavia Chamber swag bag. Random bags will have Batavia Chamber Bucks included. We’ll draw one business card at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, for the grand prize!