The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
MAKING IN-PERSON CONNECTIONS
Chamber of Commerce Spring Fling event sells out; 100 reps network
COVID-19 has not been eliminated, and neither have people’s desires to make new connections.
The Lorain County Chamber of Commerce held its Spring Fling on March 25, the first in-person networking event in months. Like many organizations, the Chamber has hosted online meetings but avoided large gatherings due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
So seeing people face to face was a switch. Attendance was capped at 100 people, along with Lil, the goose-chasing dog who scares Canada geese away from Black River Landing.
“It feels good to be back, that’s the most important thing,” said Tony Gallo, Chamber president. He greeted the guests with Kristy Kuhn, office and financial manager, and Tammy Cascio, business relations director and fever screener with a touchless temp-taker.
The Lorain Port and Financing Authority was eager to host it, said Executive Director Tom Brown. He also claimed credit
for the name when Gallo suggested an outdoor event at the end of March.
“People are dying to get out and do something,” Brown said.
“I came here tonight as a visitor just to be at a live event, starving to be social again,” said Jack Miller, commercial sales representative for Westland Heating and Air Conditioning. “Just let me get out and see people.”
Miller made the event a stop before heading to downtown Cleveland for the Lake Erie Monsters hockey game. Attendance there is about 2,000 people, he said.
“It’s still weird but it’s still another event, it’s a live event and I miss those so badly,” he said.
It was the first visit to the site in months for Niki Rollins, who works at the 1907 at Central School, a Sprenger Health Care Systems facility in Amherst.
“New year, new hope, things are kind of rounding the bend with everything, so it’s nice,” she said.
Insurance agents Mark Janasko and Allie Engle crossed Broadway from their office at Janasko Insurance Agency Inc.
They worked there daily even in pandemic conditions, but many people called in or emailed with questions and paid online, they said. They also attended as members of Main Street Lorain.
“We’re right down here,” Engle said. “When we saw it was at Black River, we’re like, yeah, we’ll go check it out.”
Janasko said Engle is the agency’s “social butterfly.”
Engle’s cousin, Kevin Kuhn, attended with his parents, Lewie and Shari Khun. Their company, Kuhn Fabricating, in South Lorain, sponsored the event and offered the raffle prize of a custommade fire ring.
“We really enjoy getting out to these events and meeting and talking with a lot of new people,” Shari Khun said. “Some face to face with bankers, insurance people in our business. They get to know us, we get to know them. And it gets our name back out there.”
People know the company’s name “because it’s been around for so long. So it’s nice to maybe associate the face with it,” she said.
They also have been to events at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lorain County, the 1907 at Central School and the Valley of the Eagles Golf Course.
“The Chamber does an awesome job with these events,” and attendees get to see places they may not be familiar with, Shari Kuhn said.
The event was an example of the partnerships that will help Lorain County grow, Gallo said.
Spectrum Catering supplied the food and Heidelberg Distributing provided beverages. WOBL brought the music and speakers.
“That’s why we exist,” Gallo said. “We promote one another, we support one another and it just feels good to be back in that situation again.”
Lorain County Commissioner Michelle Hung attended with a few staffers including James Miller, executive director of the Lorain County Port Authority, and Natasha Cresap, economic development specialist and rising “rock star” in the commissioners’ Community Development Department.
As an area resident and former North Ridgeville City councilwoman, Hung said she visited Black River Landing a number of times in the past.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “And they always do such a nice job at Christmas too. I like coming up for the holidays. Everybody’s been wonderful.”