Milestone achieved!

And the crowd goes wild!

The Chamber has officially received it's 100th member. What a huge accomplishment in such a short matter of time. Six months ago we launched the Chamber, and already we have 100 members?! A big thanks to all those that volunteered their time and resources to make this organization a huge success. This growth has far surpassed our expectations and goals for our first year. It's refreshing to know that the dream of 8 individuals to have a stand alone Gurnee Chamber, is thus far shared by 92 other members.
Keep up all of the hard work, and let's see how fast the next 100 comes!

Shop Gurnee

Enter the contest to win a $1200 shopping spree. Check out the details here.

Holiday Train 2009 in the books!

The Holiday Train was a HUGE success. 1000 attendees enjoyed the train and the festive atmosphere and got to enjoy the generous snack donations of some local Chamber members. Thanks to Caribou Coffee, RinkSide Entertainment, Salutos, Whole Foods, Great America, and Outback Steakhouse.

$90,000 of corporate donations were received, and a yet to be determined amount of collected canned foods.
Thanks to all of the volunteers and sponsors for another successful event. If you want to learn more or help out, go to Gurnee Chamber of Commerce to contact us.

Muti Chamber Event

The Gurnee Chamber of Commerce hosted the first ever Multi Chamber Networking event. Six local chambers participated in the well attended speed networking program. Waukegan Business Association, Lake Villa/Lindenhurst Chamber, Grayslake Chamber, Deerfield/Riverwoods/Bannockburn Chamber, and the Gurnee Chamber were the Chambers in attendance.
Over 170 attendees got the opportunity to share their "story" and business cards with other participants. The format allowed for 1 minute "commercials" to 9 other attendees at a table. After the 10 minute session was completed, attendees moved to a preassigned new table and repeated the process. After three transitions, attendees got to present their story to 30 different business people. Some attendees like Tim Kobb of JDK Concepts gave out promotional items such as pens and sticky note pads. Nothing like going the extra mile.
Look for another version of this event as the response was an overwhelming "Yes, let's do it again" from those in attendance.

State of the Village

It's more of the same; huge attendance! 90+ business owners attended the first ever State of the Village meeting hosted by the Gurnee Chamber. Police Chief Bob Jones, Fire Chief Fred Friedl, Village Administrator Jim Hayner, and Mayor Kovarik were some of the featured speakers. The message of open communication and proactive department management was the theme. With the budget challenges presented by a sagging economy, each department head has been hard at work to cut cost, but also to improve services.
The Mayor encouraged businesses to join the Gurnee Chamber to get involved in the process. The chamber offers an excellent sounding board for ideas from businesses to be delivered to the Village leadership.
Congrats to all those involved, for another successful event!

Lunch & Learn a HUGE success!

Wow, 61 attendees at our first Lunch & Learn. Brandon Johnson, life skills coach and motivational speaker provided the "entree" for today's event. With membership at a strong 80 members, having 61 attendees is a spectacular turnout. For those in attendance, it goes without saying that this was a benefit that a member could be happy to have received. If you somehow weren't motivated, then you probably weren't paying attention! If nothing else, you had an opportunity to pass your card out to 60 other people to promote your business.
Tune in next week for our monthly membership meeting, State of the Village. Details can be found here.

Chicago Tribune article

We continue to move forward and are making a huge impact on the business community. The State of the Village event on Sept. 23rd 8am at Keylime Cove should be another well attended event. Village Hall sent out invites to the business community, and reservations are already flooding in. Hope to see you there! www.gurneechamber.com