44th Annual Chamber Golf Classic Winners

by Sarah Stephens Krupp Comment Closed

The 44th Annual Chamber Golf Classic was held on Thursday, August 5 at the Fostoria Country Club.  The event hosted 21 teams and experienced nearly perfect weather.  The big winners of the day were UIS Insurance and Investments who walked away with a repeat championship shooting a score of 57.  Second place went to the Technique Roofing Systems team and a score card playoff awarded Clear Choice Exteriors third place.  Skins winners were Technique Roofing Systems and Clear Choice Exteriors.

Contest winners were Kristy Persohn, Women’s Longest Drive; Tom Grine, Men’s Longest Drive; Josh Newlove, Closest to the Pin and Ethan Reinhart, Marshmallow Drive.  

Presenting Sponsors for the day were Mennel, Ohio Logistics, Premier Bank, Whitta Construction, First Insurance Group, Reineke Family Dealerships and Timothy Sulken and Ryan Kinn, DDS, Complete Family Dentistry.  The total cart sponsor was ProMedica Fostoria Community Hospital.  Dinner was sponsored by Superior Credit Union, POET, Good Shepherd Home, Clouse Construction and Charter Steel.  Lunch was sponsored by UIS Insurance & Investments and Best Western Fostoria Inn & Suites.  Contest sponsors were Clear Choice Exteriors, Financial Design, AgCredit, Burns Petroleum, Callies Performance Products and BeerCo.  Additional sponsors and donors were NSI Crankshaft, Alvada Construction, Vanguard Sentinel Career & Technology Center and Edward Jones-Jenna Irwin.

Teams: Mennel, Ohio Logistics, First Insurance Group, Reineke Family Dealerships, Independence House, UIS Insurance & Investments, Blanchard Valley Health System, POET, Clear Choice Exteriors, NSI Crankshaft, Frankart Electric, Technique Roofing Systems, Alvada Construction, Whitta Construction, Fostoria Monument, Charter Steel 1, Charter Steel 2, Burns Brew House, Clouse Construction, American Heritage Realty and Peterman Associates

SAVE THE DATE: 45th Annual Chamber Golf Classic: Thursday, August 11

 

Seneca County Brewery Tour

by Sarah Stephens Krupp Comment Closed

Seneca County Brewery Tour Announced Featuring Local Breweries

Four Seneca County breweries come together for one day Brewery Tour event

The Seneca County Brewery Tour has been announced to take place on Saturday August 14, 2021, beginning at 3pm. The Brewery Tour is put on in partnership with Bliss Charters, Destination Seneca County, Downtown Tiffin, Fostoria Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, and Shuff Consulting.

The Seneca County Brewery Tour will include stops at four local breweries throughout Seneca County.  Breweries include The Laird Arcade Brewery, The Tiffin Brewery, The UrbanWoody Brewery, and Hoptometry Brewing Company.

Participants can register at https://tinyurl.com/SenecaBrewTour and will receive information on their starting location via email one week prior to the event.  Participants will be shuttled around via a Bliss Charters Bus and participating breweries will offer live music, food from local establishments, and food trucks.

The Laird Arcade Brewery: A 3.5 BBL brewhouse focusing mostly on taproom sales, with some local distribution.  They strive to keep their ingredients as locally sourced as possible. 

The Tiffin Brewery: Producing quality beers for Tiffin, Ohio and the surrounding community.  A brewer’s production brewery to offer peer brewery services and quality customer product.

The UrbanWoody Brewery: Family and veteran owned and serves locally crafted beer brewed in house using mostly Ohio grown ingredients

Hoptometry Brewing Company: Downtown Tiffin’s newest brewery coming in 2022!

About Destination Seneca County

Destination Seneca County is the official travel resource for information about attractions and unique places to visit in Seneca County, Ohio. Learn more at www.DestinationSenecaCounty.org.

LAUNCH Fostoria Business Competition Finals

by Sarah Stephens Krupp Comment Closed

The Fostoria Area Chamber of Commerce and Fostoria Economic Development Corporation is excited to announce the finalists in the LAUNCH Fostoria Business Competition.   The LAUNCH Fostoria Business Competition is a three-part, local small business competition which began April 5 by accepting applications from aspiring entrepreneurs.  From the applications a panel of judges selected the top 6 to move on to the semifinals where the competitors pitched their ventures and four were tapped to move on to the finals.  The final four are Vincent Williams, Wavy Baby Clothing; Jena Stearns, Beyond Laser Creations; Jennie Zibbel, Expressions Dance Center and Cierra Valenti, Tiny Steps Child Care. 

Each business will present their business venture to the public on Friday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m. from the new stage on the grassy lot on the corner of Main and Tiffin Streets. People are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, listen to the competitors pitch their ventures and cast their vote for the business they would like to see win the competition.  Each vote costs $5 and the competitors will receive all money from the voting in addition to the prize package valued at over $18,000. 

The prize package includes a one year lease in Downtown Fostoria (or equivalent dollar amount in appropriate space), print advertising courtesy of The Review Times, discounted radio advertising courtesy of WKXA, WFIN and 106.3 The Fox, $1,000 courtesy of the Shuff Family Small Business-Entrepreneur Grant, $5,000 in branding and marketing services courtesy of JYoakam Communications, $900 in trainings and courses at the Fostoria Learning Center courtesy of Northwest State Community College and the Fostoria Learning Center, one hour of legal advising valued at $250, three hours of accounting assistance valued at $875, CO.STARTERS course valued at $250 and a one year Chamber Membership valued at $200.

WKXA will be on hand beginning at 6 p.m. with a live broadcast during the event and on air personality Carla Demitri will MC the competition.  DMT Pasta food truck will be at The Urban Woody Brewery and the Geary Family YMCA leaders club will on hand selling water, pop and snacks.  Immediately following the competition live music from No Eileen will take the stage courtesy of The Urban Woody Brewery. 

“We created LAUNCH Fostoria as a great way to jumpstart ideas, connections and small businesses while inviting the community to invest in an entrepreneur by participating in the finals and casting a vote, said Sarah Stephens Krupp, Chamber/Small Business Director. “This is a unique opportunity for Fostoria, and we are so grateful to everyone who has assisted us in making the competition a reality.” 

The Launch Fostoria Business Competition is part of the Fostoria Chamber and FEDC’s efforts to build a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem in Fostoria.  Both organizations, for the last several years, have been working together to implement programs and resources to assist entrepreneurs, experienced and in-experienced, in starting and growing their ventures.  The organizations have hosted various entrepreneur events and trainings such as Get Started Workshops, starter, and maker events such as the Holiday Sip & Shop, CO.STARTERS courses, Advising Hours, Wayfinding programs and worked with the City of Fostoria to implement a Small Business Revolving Loan Fund. 

“Our work to build a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem is really a grassroots effort to combat the shrinking physical footprint of national chain retailers and fill the gaps in retail and small business in Fostoria with homegrown, locally owned businesses” said Renee Smith, President of FEDC.  “It has been encouraging to see the uptick in entrepreneurs in Fostoria as well as the participation in the competition.”

For event updates and more info, follow us on FB and go to our LAUNCH Fostoria Business Competition Event Page. 

Special thanks to our generous sponsors:

2021 City Council Candidate Forum

by Sarah Stephens Krupp Comment Closed

On Thursday, April 15 the Fostoria Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidate forum for candidates running for city council.  Candidates in attendance were: Ward 1: Brandon Kiser, Ward 3: Don Mennel, Ward 4: Incumbent Tom Lake, Todd Burgei and Michael Spenser.  Mayor Eric Keckler also presented an overview of a 1% income tax renewal levy which will appear on the May ballot.  All questions asked in the forum were not provided to the candidates ahead of time.  The questions were submitted by Chamber and FEDC members and compiled by Chamber staff.  

The candidate forum was recorded.  Watch Now