ChamberWorks
February 2006

 » 60th Anniversary Sponsors Update
 » 'Twinkle, Twinkle' Sponsorships Still Available
 » A Virtual Tour of the Chamber Offices

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60th Anniversary Sponsors Update

Several more sponsors have signed on for the 60th Anniversary Celebration, which includes the May Birds of a Feather event. We'd like to welcome Blum Shapiro, Patriot National Bank, Dunlap-Hibbs Real Estate and Landmark Financial Group to the party!

The current sponsors list, as of Feb. 8:

Beach Bums ($2,500)

Coral Reefers ($1,500)

Margariters ($500)

Coco Nuts ($250)

For more information about the sponsorship opportunities for our big birthday bash, see the November ChamberWorks.

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'Twinkle, Twinkle' Sponsorships Still Available

If you can't be a 60th Anniversary sponsor -- or even if you already are -- consider sponsoring our upcoming Twinkle, Twinkle Fairfield Star event, Feb. 16 at the Scandinavian Club.

This is our long-running wine tasting event amped up with beer tasting and a karaoke competition. Believe us, it's gonna be a blast.

Chamber Insurance Trust is our Moon sponsor, which leaves the Sun and the North Star slots still available. Fairfield County Bank and Patriot National Bank have signed on at the Shooting Stars level, which has plenty room for more!

Detailed information about the various sponsorship levels can be found in (you guessed it) the November ChamberWorks.

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A Virtual Tour of the Chamber Offices

For those of you who couldn't make it to the Chamber's open house Jan. 25, here's a quick tour. The office isn't completely finished yet -- we still have some bare walls begging for suitable art -- but it is fully functional.

Appliances by GE, cabinets by Pappas Cabinetry. See below for more photos

The long, long journey to this month's open house started last year with a floor plan by Michael Armstrong of Design One LLC. Fellow Chamber member Solo Construction Services Company began executing that plan in July, knocking down walls and putting up new ones until the place was more or less unrecognizable.

By the time the dust finally settled (and boy did it settle everywhere), we were left with upgraded electrical and phone wiring, improved lighting, and a new wireless network installed by the good folks at Ash Creek Enterprises, LLC.

What made all of this chaos possible were two things: Chamber President Patricia L. Ritchie's determination to find a space big enough to hold our ambitions, and an unexpected vacancy next door. Adair Heitmann, a Chamber member and longtime neighbor at 1597 Post Road, was closing the doors of her Center for Creativity & Wellness for the last time. So instead of moving out, we grew out.

Armed with a color scheme inspired by Adair's black and purple couch (which we acquired along with assorted other furnishings that call this place home), we proceeded to recarpet, repaint and rearrange the expanded offices until everything was just right.

Our landlord Stephen P. Jakab installed a central air conditioning system and brought hot running water to the second floor for the first time in years (don't ask -- it's a long, long story). We can also thank him for bringing in Larry Palko of D & L Painting to give the place a splash of color -- and to lend us a sorely needed helping hand with the new furniture and appliances coming in, and remnants of the old Chamber office going out.

All that remained now was to flesh out two new additions to the Chamber offices.

General Electric kindly donated a table and chairs for our conference room, plus a full-size refrigerator and super-high-tech Advantium oven for the kitchen. And Pappas Cabinetry offered to design, build and install all of our kitchen cabinetry and shelving for free.

All throughout this renovation project, our members had offered their services at a reduced rate or no rate at all, and we cannot thank them enough for their generosity. We also owe thanks to the many, many Chamber members who contributed to our capital and technology improvement funds. We couldn't have done this without you.

Even in the last few days leading up to the open house, Chamber members and others in the community were still pitching in to help. Hansen's Flower Shop and Greenhouses, Inc. spruced up the place with some new greenery, and local photographer Hugh Smith donated some iconic posters of Fairfield landmarks to help us fill those bare walls.

And so it was on Jan. 25 that we invited one and all to come see our "new" digs. It was a chance to drink some coffee, munch on pastries and bagels (not to mention a big tray of healthy muffins -- yes, there really is such a thing -- from Health in a Hurry), mingle and have a general good time.

Adair Heitmann was there, just the latest of her many visits to watch the office go through its transformations. Chamber members new and old came to congratulate us and marvel at how much room we have now.

Also on hand was Lois Schine, the former president of the Westport Chamber of Commerce. During her tenure there, the Westport Chamber had moved into a beautiful old house in the center of town, something that our Chamber aspires to do someday, proud though we are of our newly renovated space. We're pleased as punch that she came out to see us.

And we welcomed two very special visitors to our party: Kit Rippel, who as Executive Director was responsible for bringing the Chamber to 1597 Post Road more than three decades ago; and her successor, Mona Dennehy, who made the actual move. They were also the first of many Chamber executives to have Linda Matthews on staff. By coming to our open house they completed a circuit between the Chamber's past and its future.

I wonder which surprised them more: how far we've come since then, or that we're still beavering away at the same location after all these years.

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