Quincy Valley chamber welcomes new members

Volunteers, businesses, educators honored at banquet

QUINCY — Networking is on the itinerary for members of the Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce at their installation banquet this weekend.

"We do an installation banquet every other year," chamber board member and event co-coordinator Ann Van Dyke explained. "The chamber puts on an installation banquet to bring in their new board members, but we do it every other year, because the off-year, we have a rotary-chamber auction, but we only do that every other year so we're not tapping into our business people too often."

At the banquet, the chamber installs its new president, bids farewell to its past-president and any board member whose terms are up, and welcomes the president-elect. There are three new board members this year, Van Dyke said.

Past-president Patric Connelly leaves, Debbie Graaf assumes the presidency and Dan Robinson becomes the chamber's president-elect, Van Dyke said.

There is room for 150 people at the Quincy Moose Lodge, at 109 E St. S.E., where the chamber is meeting for the banquet, Van Dyke said.

Festivities kick off with a silent auction and social hour Saturday at 6 p.m. Comedian Eric Haines performs and the evening includes information on an upcoming Quincy Valley Allied Arts production and a pending trip to China sponsored by the chamber.

The chamber presents awards for Volunteer of the Year, Business of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Award. New to the reception this year is an Educators' Award.

"We're kind of excited about that," Van Dyke said. "Quincy has some great teachers and it's just a little way of saying we acknowledge what they put into our youth."

The banquet's theme, in conjunction with the city's centennial this year, is "Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future."

"It was a year of growth, a good year of change, which is good," Van Dyke said.

She foresees more growth in the year ahead. A chamber retreat in March addresses some of those changes and seeing how the organization can better support Quincy businesses and bring the community together, she added.

"We're going to see if we're doing all we can do," she said.

The whole point of the banquet is to support and recognize businesses and the community, she said.

"We kind of like to do networking things," she said. "This is just one more way to bring the community together. I'm excited because I think it's going to be a lot of fun."