Approximately 100 people attended Fall Fest, our biggest party and fundraiser of the year, on Oct. 17th. We held it in the breathtaking event space at Rockwell on the River (3057 N. Rockwell Street), overlooking the North Branch of the Chicago River.
(from left): Eric Lovelady, Andy MacDonald, Becca Tiwet, and Dominique Greeno, VoxSomnia
Attendees enjoyed incredible catered food from Trogo Kitchen & Market, a family-owned catering business in the Green Exchange, as well as drinks, conversation, and live music from Righteous Sound.
During a short awards program, we recognized five organizations that have played an instrumental role in our economic development work this year. The diversity of these businesses and their contributions to the area reflect the dynamic nature of the North Branch.
VoxSomnia won our New Business of the Year Award. VoxSomnia is an engineering company that develops custom data acquisition, controls, and data analyst software solutions for manufacturing and research and development businesses. Our staff has worked closely with VoxSomnia and seen the company experience tremendous growth, leading recently to it moving into mHub.
Chad Herst, Executive Vice President, Ozinga
Our Small Business of the Year is The Alley Chicago. A retail and manufacturing operation, The Alley Chicago designs and sells counter-culture leather, footwear, jewelry, belt-buckles, t-shirts, and hoodies. Owner Mark Thomas (pictured above) has operated The Alley for forty-eight years; the business has played an important role in Chicago by accepting and providing a safe space for people of all backgrounds and orientations.
(from left): Tom Grant, Dave Boulay, and Josh Grodzin, IMEC
Ozinga won our Industrial Business of the Year. A fourth generation, family-owned company, Ozinga is a premier supplier of sustainable concrete, bulk materials, and logistics and energy solutions to builders in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and South Florida. Well known for its red and white concrete mixer trucks, Ozinga helps the city build essential infrastructure and development projects quickly.
We recognized the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) with our inaugural Partner of the Year Award. IMEC is one of fifty nonprofits across the country funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce to help manufacturing companies grow. Indeed, IMEC has incredible resources and expertise that it can share at no or low-cost with manufacturers. IMEC has partnered closely with NBW in the past year, helping twenty companies in our service area access the Cook County Manufacturing Reinvented Grant Program. We highly recommend manufacturers in the North Branch connect with IMEC.
Steve Kersten, WaterSaver Faucet Company
Steve Kersten of WaterSaver Faucet Company won the Donna Ducharme Award for Outstanding Service to the North Branch Community. Steve serves on the board of World Business Chicago, The University of Chicago, and North Branch Works. He is a tireless advocate for manufacturing. His business, WaterSaver Faucet Company, is the largest manufacturer of faucets, valves, safety equipment, and related products for use in science laboratories. A family-owned business, the company employs 160 people in high-quality union jobs.
Thank you to everyone who attended Fall Fest, the businesses that donated items to our silent auction, and our sponsors. It’s been another great year; we hope to see you at an upcoming event soon.
North Branch Works team (from left): Jonathan Snyder, Steve Simmons, Genevieve Cook, Misty LeBlanc, Reggie Hamilton, and Larry Bennett, Board President
