Elmhurst Chamber plans year-long centennial celebration

The Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce and Industry's birthday cake will glow with 100 candles in 2018 as the group marks its centennial.

The yearlong celebration starts Friday, Jan. 26, with the chamber's 99th annual awards gala at the Drake Hotel in Oak Brook.

"That's our big kick off," said Julie Miller, chairwoman of the Centennial Celebration Committee. "We're so excited about the centennial year, the galas and the fundraising."

The business organization will observe the milestone with several fundraising campaigns and a membership drive, capping the festivities with a black-tie event in early 2019, said Miller, who has served on the board of directors for the past nine years and is a past board chairman.

Miller said the first 100 new businesses to join the chamber in the first 100 days of 2018 will pay just $100 for membership. The usual starting membership rate is $325 a year.

The chamber will continue building its Ralph Pechanio endowment fund and its Second Century Fund that will help the group continue for the next 100 years. Miller said the chamber also is raising money for the eventual construction of a Civic Hall of Fame to honor community leaders.

Chamber CEO and President John Quigley says the chamber got its start in 1918 when a group of 60 prominent business leaders and residents gathered to form an organization that would serve businesses' common interests.

"Our forerunner was called the Elmhurst Boosters Club, also known as the Businessmen's Club," he said.

The name later was changed to the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce, adding "and Industry" to the formal name in 1985.

"Members of the business community have always gathered together and it's been primarily through the chamber of commerce," Quigley said. "We're here to market and promote our members first and the Elmhurst business community at-large."

With about 600 members, the Elmhurst chamber is the third largest in DuPage County, Quigley said.

"We're a big enough chamber that we get involved, even at the federal level," he said.

"The Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce today is a very professional business organization, very sophisticated, very tech savvy, and reaches out to its members in multiple ways," said Ken Bartels, the chamber's current chairman. "It gives you a better feel for what's going on in the community."

The chamber offers its members networking opportunities, business education and promotional benefits, Miller said. It also provides services for the community, such as an endowment fund for Elmhurst College that allows the college, Miller's alma mater, to offer paid student internships.

"It had a life-changing impact on me," said Miller, who completed a chamber internship during her senior year at the college.

As an employee of Elmhurst College, Quigley joined the chamber in 1991. Since he became the chamber's CEO and president in 1999, he's overseen several major projects.

Quigley said the chamber's support was instrumental in getting voter approval in 2000 for a $78 million, tax-backed financing plan to renovate York High School.

"We were the first organization of any type to endorse the referendum. We did so because we saw how it would impact business," he said. "We felt our endorsement helped convince business owners and residents."

The chamber also has endorsed the construction of parking decks and multiuse projects, such as Elmhurst 255, a downtown luxury apartment and retail complex created through a public-private partnership between the city and land developers.

Quigley said not all of the chamber's efforts have met with success. The chamber unsuccessfully opposed Elmhurst's home rule food and beverage tax.

"We believe the way to increase sales tax (revenue) is to increase sales," Quigley said. "We also spoke out in favor of video gaming in our community."

Video gaming remains illegal in Elmhurst.

The chamber had to rethink its financial strategy when its annual summer Elm Fest festival ended after its 2008 event due to the economic downturn, Quigley said.

"We got revenue from selling beer," he said. "At the time, it accounted for 60 percent of our revenue."

"Elm Fest used to be our biggest fundraiser of the year," Miller said.

To recover, Quigley said the chamber instituted cost-saving measures and ramped up efforts to recruit and retain members.

"There aren't a lot of chambers that can walk away from their number one fundraising event and keep their doors open," Quigley said.

Since Quigley's tenure began, the chamber offices have relocated three times. For the past five years, its offices have been located in the DeForest building on Lake Street.

"The open space around us has filled up because being around the chamber is a good thing," he said.

Quigley said the chamber's marketing initiatives have evolved with the times. About six months ago, he said, a new website was unveiled at elmhurstchamber.org that maximizes members' ability to reach consumers.

"People love it. We do have a number of members who use their Web page with us as their website," he said.

Miller said this summer's golf outing will be bigger and splashier than in years past. And, in honor of the centennial, business owners will be invited to buy into a Monopoly-style board game.

"There's a game called Elm-opoly in the works. Businesses can purchase game pieces," she said.

Quigley said the chamber plans to continue its tradition of bringing businesses together for mutual gain.

"We strive to be the people you know and the people you trust," he said. "Our job isn't to ring a business's cash register. Our job is to make sure the environment is good to be successful."