With a fitting mix of peeking into our past and looking to the future, the Chamber celebrated its 125^th year with close to 600 attendees at their Annual Meeting Luncheon on Tuesday, October 20^th.  Participants were treated to such congratulatory presentations as a rousing rendition of the song, “You’ll Like Tacoma” (click here for music and lyrics), multiple multimedia productions that included rare historical footage of a Chamber trip to Alaska in 1939 and recognition of a few representative long-standing members who are emblematic of all the Chamber’s valued long-term members.

Plaques were awarded to:  

• Puget Sound Energy (Chamber members since November 1926)
• University of Puget Sound (Chamber members since January 1929)
• Brown & Brown of WA (Chamber members since July 1933)  
• Weyerhaeuser (Chamber members since January 1939)    

And 90-year-old Charles Matthaei received the award for Roman Meal Company who was honored as the Chamber’s longest-standing member on record (since January 1, 1926). 

In looking forward, the meeting featured Keynote Speaker Futurist Glen Hiemstra, who gave his audience food for thought on what he envisions might greet us in the future (read a re-cap of his speech on our Live Wire blog) and clips from a “Next Generation” roundtable held recently (watch the extended version video here). 

Special touches of commemorative keepsake Annual Reports complete with a Chamber History section, chocolate keys created by Affairs Chocolates representing our theme of  “Unlocking our...Imagination, Potential and Future,” an elegant three-course meal with a halibut and crab leg entrée, and a crowd “toast to the future” rounded out the overall celebratory feel of the luncheon.

Special thanks to Presenting Sponsor, Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc., Speaker Sponsor Rainier Connect and Bronze Sponsor Russell Investments.

For more on the Chamber’s celebration, click here for the BE Daily entry and here for the News Tribune article . 

To view photos from the event click here.