Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce

American Banker magazine and Best Companies Group identifies, recognizes and honors the best banks to work for in the nation Busey is honored to be among the 2016 Best Banks to Work For by American Banker magazine and Best Companies Group. The program—which was established in 2013—identifies, recognizes and honors the best 60 banks to work for in the nation (visit http://www.americanbanker.com/gallery/the-best-banks-to-work-for-2016-1090959-1.html ). Busey is also featured in an article in the September issue of American Banker magazine. To determine the Best Banks to Work For , organizations were nominated in a two-part process. First, banks were evaluated on their workplace policies, practices and demographics—representing 25 percent of their total score. The second part, worth approximately 75 percent of the total evaluation, consisted of an employee survey to measure their experience. The combined scores determined the top organizations and the final ranking. Busey is r...

Visit Champion Fitness Physical Therapy Quarterly Newsletter to read more about the concussion issues, and much more.

Brent Brodeski , chief executive officer for Savant Capital Management , a nationally-recognized fee-only wealth management firm, has been named to Forbes’ 2016 list of America’s Top Wealth Advisors.  The inaugural ranking includes 200 wealth management advisors, naming Brodeski #50. Brodeski is a co-founder of Savant, which manages more than $4.6 billion in assets and employs more than 140 team members. Headquartered in Rockford, IL., Savant also has 11 offices in the following locations: Chicago, IL; Freeport, IL; Geneva, IL; Hoffman Estates, IL; Naperville, IL; Peoria, IL; Sterling, IL; Wilmette, IL; McLean, VA; Madison, WI; and Park Falls, WI. Forbes is an American business magazine and a leading source for reliable business news and financial information. The Forbes ranking of America’s Top Wealth Advisors was developed by SHOOK Research and designed to fairly compare the business practices of a large group of advisors from the financial services industry including ...

Illinois Central College will host Campus Visit Days from 9:30 am to noon on Fridays this fall to give potential students information on various program options and the chance to see the College up close and personal. ICC will feature the following programs on these dates: ·         Health Careers : September 23, Downtown Campus, Thomas Building, Room 210 ·         Financial Aid : September 30, East Peoria Campus, Room 212C/D ·         Agriculture/Horticulture : October 7, East Peoria Campus, Agricultural & Industrial Technologies Building, Room 203 ·         Engineering: October 14, East Peoria Campus, Room 212C/D ·         POWER Programs (automotive, diesel, GM ASEP and CAT programs): October 21, East Peoria Campus, Agricultural & Industrial Technologies Building, Room 212C/D ·  ...

An amazing duck race capped off our two month duck adoption season at the 28 th Annual Duck Race end very fast and furiously! 25,000 ducks raced down the street leading to Eastside Centre in East Peoria. The first 14 ducks won their owners some great prizes. The first duck to reach the finish line belonged to Margot Loy of Peoria. She is the winner of the $5,000 grand prize. Here is a full list of this year’s winners.   Grand Prize $5,000 Sponsored by Associated Bank   Margot Loy, Peoria, IL   $1,500 Sherman’s Gift Card Valerie Mouhle, Pekin, IL   $500 Shoppes at Grand Prairie Gift Card   Janet Alessi-Maurer, Grass Valley, CA   $500 Casey’s General Store Gift Card Lori Skocaj, Pekin, IL   $500 Kroger Gift Card Judy Kemper, Cuba, IL   Chicago White Sox Gift Basket Sponsored by Kaskaskia Engineering Group Carmania Lewis, Peoria, IL   $250 Hy-Vee Gift Card Marianne Sepich, Morton, IL   Hotels at Grand Prairie Party Pack...

Illinois Central College recently welcomed Nahed Shata of Egypt for the 2016-17 academic year to teach Arabic and take courses at the College as part of a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTLA) Program grant. While in the United States, Shata will share her language and culture in the local community to inspire students and residents to travel and study overseas to better engage with businesses, governments and organizations abroad. She is one of nearly 400 young educators from 50 countries who will travel to the U.S. in the 2016-17 academic year through the Fulbright FLTA program to help internationalize colleges and universities and prepare the 21 st Century workforce for a globalized world. The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board selects grant recipients on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential. Shata earned a bachelor degree in education from Mansoura University in Egypt and a professional di...

Be sure to visit the Soldwedel Program Center website to see all of the great programs they have available for your family!

Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, Illinois public high schools are required to administered the SAT to high school juniors instead of the ACT or PARCC exams. Illinois Central College will offer a series of four, three-hour review courses to help students prepare for the SAT test, as well as informational sessions for students and their parents or guardians on this transition. All SAT Prep course sessions and the Introductory Night will be held at Hickory Hall on the ICC North Campus, located at 5407 N. University St., Peoria. Participants must register to take the SAT exam separately. The sessions meet in the two weeks prior to each of the SAT test dates scheduled this fall through spring. Illinois public high schools will administer the SAT test to area high school juniors on April 5, 2016. However, students may wish to take the test more than once to try to improve their scores. SAT Prep course participants will learn strategies for building test-taking skills and improvin...

The 28 th Annual Duck Race to benefit The Center for Prevention of Abuse is almost here, but there is still work to be done to get thousands of racers ready for next Saturday’s competition. Volunteers will be tagging all of the ducks with individual numbers Wednesday night from 5:30-8:30pm at Eastside Centre in East Peoria. Each duck’s number will correlate with someone’s name who adopted it for the race. After each duck is tagged, they will all be placed into the back of a City of East Peoria dump truck.  On race day, the ducks will be cast off the back of the dump truck onto a giant slip-n-slide to race down the hill leading to Eastside Centre. The 28 th annual Duck Race is Saturday, August 27. Activities begin at noon and the duck race kicks off at 2pm. Thanks to our generous sponsors, all of the money raised from the sale of the rubber ducks goes directly to fund local services and programs at The Center for Prevention of Abuse. These dollars help fulfill The Center’...

Kickball, the game we played on the playground when we were younger, is now the hottest new game that all ages and abilities can play.  Playin’ for a Purpose non-for-profit organization, hosted by CEO Scott Price, is administering a Kickball Tournament to benefit our local Special Recreation Association, IRVSRA. The event will be held at Pekin Park District’s central park, Mineral Springs Park, ball diamonds #1, #2, #3, and #4 on Saturday, September 17. Tournament format is double elimination. Trophies will be awarded. Team entry fee is just $200, or $20 per player. The day begins at 8:30am, on the Lette’s Ball diamond in Mineral Springs Park, with local celebrities playing. Event t-shirts will be available to purchase. Concessions will be offered by the IRVSRA participants. For additional information, email playinforapurpose@gmail.com . To register, go to www.playinforapurpose.com or call 347-PARK.

Don't forget to check out this weeks Chamber Connection !

Kurt Bialobreski, P.E., PTOE, a traffic engineer at Hanson Professional Services Inc.’s Peoria office, recently celebrated 10 years of service with the firm.  Bialobreski has served as a project manager and traffic engineer on transportation and infrastructure projects throughout the country, including the Warehouse District revitalization, Washington Street improvements and new westbound span of the McClugage Bridge, all in Peoria; roundabout at Main and Auburn streets in Rockford, which was the first dual-lane roundabout in that city and on a state highway in Illinois; and Interstate 74 Mississippi River bridge replacement from Moline to Bettendorf, Iowa. He is providing traffic analysis for the master plan for a portion of the central Tri-State Tollway in Cook County and is the lead civil engineer for roadway and traffic for the Multimodal Corridor Enhancement (MCORE) project study and design in Champaign and Urbana; both projects are under way. In 2014, he was selected as a 2...

               Illinois Central College’s 36 th Annual Landscape and Garden Day offers a variety of special programs and activities specifically designed for families with young children as well as the usual favorites for local gardening enthusiasts. This year’s theme is “Pollinators, Plants and People – A Great Combination”. The free event is set for Saturday, September 10, from 9 am to 3 pm, at ICC’s Horticulture Land Lab on the East Peoria Campus. Free parking is available in Lot G.                The event features topics and demonstrations of interest to gardeners of all ages and experience levels. The newest winners of the All-America Selection, which include the best and brightest new flowers and vegetables available for next year’s home gardens, will be showcased.                There will be sem...

Acting as the vice chairperson of the Illinois Sportsmen’s Caucus, State Representative Mike Unes (R-East Peoria) will be in East Peoria on this Thursday, August 11 th at 10AM to present fundraising dollars he has secured for two 91 st District not-for-profits: Hooked on Fishing (East Peoria) and Camp Big Sky (Farmington).  The presentation will take place at Hooked on Fishing, located at 1807 B N. Main Street, with representatives from both organizations in attendance.  The Illinois Sportsmen’s Caucus is an advocate for the state’s outdoor recreational assets, and also works to raise and award private funds to local organizations that provide access and resources to the public for various outdoor recreational opportunities. “One of the primary reasons I joined the Illinois Sportsmen’s Caucus is because of organizations like Hooked on Fishing and Camp Big Sky.  The Illinois Sportsmen’s Caucus has an outstanding opportunity to serve and support these types o...

Representatives from the Center for Prevention of Abuse will hold a news conference at 10am Tuesday, August 9 at Eastside Centre in East Peoria to discuss the importance of this year’s Duck Race and how it allows us to continue with the services and programs we currently offer to our clients. While the stopgap budget (SB2047) passed by the Illinois General Assembly at the very end of June appears to have helped in some areas, funding for some client services was not included or was greatly reduced in the temporary spending bill. Center Executive Director Carol Merna will discuss on Tuesday how this has led to changes in some of the services The Center offers and why support through the Duck Race is more important now than ever before. Director Merna will also be joined by officials from the City of East Peoria, The East Peoria Fire Department, Eastside Centre, the Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino and Associated Bank to discuss the plans for the Duck Race event on August 27. ...

Illinois American Water is accepting applications for its 2016 Firefighter Grant Program. Through this program, the company provides financial assistance to fire and emergency organizations serving communities in its service areas. According to Bruce Hauk, president of Illinois American Water, the Firefighter Grant Program is another opportunity for Illinois American Water to support fire protection efforts.  He said, “This program allows our team to build on our partnership with our local heroes and contribute to their hard work.  Since 2010, we’ve had the privilege of awarding over $294,000 for over 280 grants to our community firefighters.” The maximum grant amount is $1,000. Fire departments-districts are eligible for one grant per calendar year.  Only uniformed professional and volunteer fire departments serving Illinois American Water’s service territory are eligible to receive funding. Grants of up to $1,000 will be considered to cover the costs associated wit...