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A Highly Satisfying New Member Breakfast
Joe's American Bar and Grill was the scene for the May 25 new member breakfast. Chris, the manager, was the quintessential host providing not only great food, but a comfortable ambience conducive to networking.
Each table was set with a platter of fresh fruit and a basket of bagels and homemade blueberry loaf. Along with these warm and tasty treats was a choice of whipped butter or whipped cream cheese spreads. The coffee was endless and served by a most pleasant and accommodating wait staff pouring from silver pitchers as they passed through the crowd. Didn't want coffee or tea? For those who abstain, there was a choice of orange juice or cranberry juice. Scrambled eggs were served family style, along with a platter of sausages, bacon and home fried potatoes.
Business was conducted and connections were made. New members, this free event was in your honor; we hope that you won't miss many more of these purely social networking opportunities.
Patrick Carroll Honored with Harold B. Harris Award
The Chamber will honor Patrick L. Carroll as the 2005 Harold B. Harris winner at its annual dinner on Wednesday, June 8, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Patterson Club, 1150 Cross Highway, Fairfield. The event will feature presentations, awards and door prizes. The Chamber will also present its slate of officers and directors for the next year.
Mickey Herbert, president, CEO and majority owner of the Bridgeport Bluefish Baseball Club, will be the keynote speaker at the event. He is one of three officers of the Atlantic League, and is a general partner of the Philadelphia Barrage, one of six teams in the professional Major League Lacrosse league. He is also a general partner in BridgeSports, a sports and entertainment company marketing Fairfield University Men's and Women's basketball, operating a cleaning company and selling tickets for The Klein and the Playhouse on the Green in Bridgeport.
Herbert was the founder and CEO (for 22 years) of Physicians Health Services, Inc. (PHS), a $750 million-a-year publicly traded health plan serving the tri-state region of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. In January 1998, PHS was sold for $271 million to HealthNet, Inc., a $9 billion company, which is one of the nation's largest publicly traded managed care firms. Herbert received his BA from Swarthmore and his MBA from Harvard.
Patrick Carroll is a former Fairfield Police Captain born and raised in Fairfield. Carroll attended St. Thomas Parochial School and Roger Ludlowe High School. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1947 in the European Theater and remained in the Army Reserves until 1968, retiring with the rank of Lt. Colonel. Carroll joined the Fairfield Police Department in 1948 and retired in 1978 with the rank of Captain. He graduated from the FBI National Academy in Washington, DC in 1960.
With fishing buddy Nick Fingelly, Carroll initiated the Fairfield PAL Fishing Derby in the early 1960s. He served as director of Security at Fairfield University from 1978 to 1979 at which time he left the position to accept an appointment by the U.S. Government to serve as a member of the New England Fishery Management Council from 1979 to 1989.
Carroll has served as president of the Wakeman Boys Club and during his term the club's membership was opened to girls and assumed a new title: Wakeman Boys and Girls Club. Carroll has also served as a member of the Fairfield Fire Commission, the Shellfish Commission, the Harbor Management Commission, and he is currently Southport Harbormaster. He is a 64-year member of the Fairfield Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1 and has served as its chief since 1984. The company at one time was actively engaged in firefighting but over the past years has become a social group.
Carroll is well known now as the Master of Ceremonies for the Fairfield Memorial Day Parade, which he served as from 1983 through 2004. He has been an outdoor columnist for many years for the Fairfield Citizen-News and the Fairfield Minuteman. Carroll has been married 57 years to his lovely wife, Millicent, and he has four children, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
The Harold B. Harris Award honors a resident of Fairfield whose cumulative contributions to the community merit recognition. The award is named for Harold B. Harris, for his outstanding contribution to the town of Fairfield and its business community.
"Neither the Town of Fairfield nor any organization therein owes Pat Carroll a single thing," Carroll said. "John Sullivan often stated that being a volunteer was one of the greatest contributions a person could make to his/her community. Over the past years I have found this to be so true. Fairfield is a great town and it has been a privilege to serve its citizens. To receive the Harold B. Harris award is an honor, not only to me, but to my family, and to the Carroll name which has been a password within this town since the mid 1850s. I am most grateful."
The cost to attend the dinner is $50 for Chamber members and non-members. Reservations may be made by calling the Fairfield Chamber at 255-1011. A cocktail reception begins at 6 p.m. and dinner is served at approximately 7:15 p.m.
Fairfield's Best Looking Businesses Recognized
Approximately 80-90 people attended the VIP Awards party at the Nicholas Fingelly Real Estate Company on Southport Harbor May 18. The event was co-chaired by Catherine Fingelly Granneberg and Peter Ventriglia of Landmark Financial. Peter has become quite a photographer in his mission to get the best shots of the winning entries, and the committee had a hard time choosing the recipients.
This year's Nicholas H. Fingelly award went to Mark Finley and Felix Charney's Rosewell, 96 Old Post Road in Southport, winner in the New Construction category.
Other top winners included the Circle Diner at 441 Post Road (Renovation) and Southport Crossing (Facelift). Each of the top three winners were presented with a framed color photo of their building with an engraved plaque against the matted area.
Runners up were awarded a matted color photo of their respective buildings: Primo Pizza, The Children's Place, Fetzer Tire, The Box Car Café, Il Panino Gourmet Italian Deli, and Bud's Delicatessen.
The reception at Fingelly Real Estate Company was exceptional. The table was laden with scrumptious food provided by The Executive Chef of Trumbull. It was hard to choose between the shrimp, pot-stickers, meat and salad selections. Desserts included homemade cheesecake, brownies and rugelach. Mmmmmmmm! Wine, designer water and soda were available at the reception desk that served as a bar.
Others on the awards committee are Victoria Fingelly, Edward Gleason, Nicholas Granneberg and Patricia L. Ritchie.
Business Showcase, the 2005 Edition
Thousands of visitors attended the 2005 Business Showcase, held at Sacred Heart University's William Pitt Center on May 18. Beginning with the event's keynote speaker, Dr. David K. Katz, author and director of the Yale Prevention Research Center, the day's activities included a variety of hourly seminars with subjects of interest to business people.
The day-long event concluded with a Diamond Networking Event featuring a Taste of the Showcase. The Fairfield Chamber of Commerce is one of nine area Chamber and business organizations that help present this event each year.
Full List of New Members for April
See the complete list of new members from our April 2005 Membership Drive here.
Celebrating the Member Drive Celebration
The fine folks at the Fairfield Auto Group pulled out all the stops as they hosted our April 27 Member Drive Celebration at the Mercedes-Benz showroom on Commerce Drive.
The place was decked out in pink and white, with a player piano setting the mood and so much fabulous food that it all became a blur. It was like a wedding without the annoying relatives. Chamber members new and old mixed and mingled, and David Boczar revealed a previously unknown talent for karaoke -- he does a really mean Elvis in a three-piece suit. No kidding.
Three lucky people won a car ... well, they get to use the car for a week but then they have to give it back (bummer). Kevin Lally of Brooks Community Newspapers will be driving the Porsche Boxter, Seni "Shaney" Akinlade of Mr Handyman gets the Mercedes-Bens sedan, and Joel Yencho of Northeast Generator gets the Audi. You know who to call if you need a ride.
And of course we threw a spotlight on the volunteers who made our big Membership Drive an unqualified success. Mary Ellen McLean brought in eight new members single-handed, with Wayne Savard and Ellen Hyde Phillips close behind at seven and six, respectively.
At five new members apiece, our runners up were Beverly Balaz and the husband-and-wife team of Chris and Jean Gallati. Honorable mentions go out to Jason Hyde, Sean Kilbride, Priscilla Haslob, Bob Sussman, Vicki Ferrara, Terry Medlin, Ted Fitzgerald and Tony Hwang for bringing four new members into the Chamber family.
We don't expect to hold another membership drive for a while, but we'd love to do one of these Mercedes-Benz events every year, they do such a great job as hosts.