Lake & Trail Storage would like for you to mark your calendars for a special Ground Breaking Ceremony on Oct. 12, at 11 a.m. for Lake & Trail USA at 1253 S.R. 78 W., across the street from Lake & Trail Storage. Everything is ready to go so let’s help them celebrate and hear about all the plans for their new initiative.

Our Chamber October After Hours will be hosted by Treasure Coast Hospice. Come help us celebrate their new Okeechobee Office at 425 S.W. Park Street on Thursday, Oct. 14, at 5 p.m. There will be a ribbon cutting along with refreshments, door prizes and Music played by Raisin’ Cain band in Flagler Park. Don’t miss out on stopping by to meet their Okeechobee Care Team and learn about their services and programs.

The Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the Grand Re-opening and Ribbon Cutting on Oct. 20, at 4:30 p.m. for New Horizons of the Treasure Coast and Okeechobee. This event, reception and Harvest Moon Bazaar will be at their location, 1600 S.W. Second Ave. Refreshments, prizes, music and holiday shopping. Come join in the fun and learn all about their organization and what they have to offer to our community. All of our events are open to the public.

Chamber Business of the Year Awards dinner is fast approaching and the cutoff for ticket purchases is Friday, Oct. 1.  Don’t miss out on attending the Business of the Year Awards on Saturday, Oct. 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Downtown Venue. Thank you to The Downtown Venue and 1 Stop Party Shop for the amazing facility and dinner that Kim will have prepared.

Our 22 finalists for these awards are: 211 Helpline, Badcock Home Furniture & More, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Economic Opportunities Council of Indian River County, Florida Outdoors RV Country, Guardian Ad Litem, Helping People Succeed, Lake Okeechobee News, Mixon Real Estate Group, Okeechobee County Emergency Response Team, Okeechobee Healthy Start, Okeechobee Livestock Market, Okeechobee Main Street Arts & Culture Alliance, Our Village, Penrod Construction, Pregnancy Center of Okeechobee, Raulerson Hospital, Remington Real Estate, SourceOne Solutions, Taylor Creek RV Resort & Marina, The Rustic Store and Zaxby’s.

Our six finalists for our Leading Star Award are: Matt Bowen, J.D. Mixon, Andrea Medellin, Austin Harvey, Tyler Rinderknecht, and Andrea Mulligan.

We want to thank our Gold Sponsor SouthState Bank for quickly stepping up and giving us their continued support of the Chamber and our initiatives. Thank you also to our Silver Sponsors, Treasure Coast Hospice and FPL. We have four Burgundy Sponsors. They are MID-FLORIDA, Mixon Real Estate, Badcock Home Furniture & More and Performance Napa, Inc. Thank you to each of them for their support! We could not celebrate our many deserving businesses without all of your unwavering help.

Thank you to our many table sponsors: FSBDC, Trademark Metal Recycling, Okeechobee Cty Community Response Team, Florida Outdoors RV, Healthy Start Coalition, Remington Real Estate, Helping People Succeed, SeaCoast Bank, Hospice of Okeechoee, Pregnancy Center, Vitas, Gilbert Family of Companies, Mixon Real Estate Group, Zaxby’s, GDC, Raulerson Hospital, SourceOne Solutions, Hoskins, Turco, Lloyd and Lloyd and Fast Break Bait & Tackle.