Chamber celebrates 40 years serving the Troy region

 

By JOSH JONES
Times-Tribune Editor
[email protected]

Forty years of memories and community business involvement were celebrated as Troy/Maryville/St. Jacob/Marine Chamber of Commerce held its 40th anniversary celebration on Sept. 21 in Downtown Troy. 

The event featured ribbon cuttings, craft and food vendors, encouraged visiting to various downtown Troy businesses, video games, an electric car show and much more. Chamber President/CEO Dawn Mushill said that one of the best parts was seeing all the support downtown Troy businesses received.

“It has been a great day, a lot of planning, but the City of Troy I give them tons of credit, because they funded this event and their goal was to have us help them get people into downtown businesses and I think we exceeded those expectations,” Mushill said. 

During the celebration two ribbon cuttings were held. One was to celebrate the event’s opening and recognize the Chamber’s 40th anniversary, the second was for the solar that was placed at the Jarvis Township Building in Troy. Jarvis Township Supervisor and Former Troy Mayor Al Adomite said they wanted to be good stewards for taxpayers and for Jarvis Township so they looked at installing solar panels on the Jarvis Township Office (the old Post Office downtown). 

109th House District State Rep. Charlie Meier was present at the celebration as he gave his thoughts. He said it is important to shop and support local businesses as they are the ones that give back to the communities they operate in. “It is good being in Troy, I love the community and how it thinks ahead of the box, instead of reacting to things going on, they plan towards the future,” Meier said, later adding, “A good solid downtown is very important for our communities.” 

At the electric car show portion of the event Sales Director Bryson Burley of Resla, a virtual luxury car rental company, had a 2024 Tesla Cybertruck on display. He said that the difference is people can sit at home and book from there. “Company wide we are at 1,300 vehicles and hopefully by the end of next year we will be close to 7,500 vehicles,” Burley noted. 

Mushill said that the chamber is at 400 members as she spoke on the importance of paying attention to every member. “I think every member is important and I think that is what we always remember. I have done over 300 ribbon cuttings and every ribbon cutting is important. You have to stay focused on not the past, not the future but to be present with their members,” Mushill said. “We try to be very personal with our members, know a little bit about each of them, find out what they need and try to exceed their expectations.”

 

(Editor’s note: This story also appears in the October 2024 print edition of the Illinois Business Journal.)