Chillicothe/Ross Chamber Celebrates Return To Business

Presented By Hometown-Motors, Inc.

The Chillicothe/Ross Chamber of Commerce celebrated the community’s and local businesses’ resilience to not only survive, but also grow in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The chamber highlighted these success stories during Tuesday’s annual meeting held at “Bell Manor” off of Musgrove Road.

Tara Gillum, owner of Steiner’s Speakeasy and ALPHA Femme Boutique took home the top honor as “Entrepreneur of the Year Award”.

(Watch our interview ABOVE with Tara Gillum concerning her secret to success and plans for business growth)

The “Young Professional of the Year” is Mary Montgomery, food services director for Chillicothe City Schools. Mary led the effort to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic, overseeing the feeding of 170,000 children from “Babe- The Big Blue Bus”

Chillicothe/Ross Chamber of Commerce “Young Professional of the Year”

The “Corporate Citizen of the Year” went to Herlihy Moving & Storage, accepted by company owner Joe Herlihy.

Joe Herlihy- Chillicothe/Ross Chamber of Commerce “Corporate Citizen Award”

Petland Corporation owner Ed Kunzelman was presented with a “Special Recognition Award”, for his years working to develop Chillicothe’s downtown. He promised the crowd that within the next year-and-a-half, the city’s downtown will have several more new businesses added to the successful boom already being seen.

Chillicothe/Ross Chamber of Commerce “Special Recognition for work to develop downtown Chillicothe

Tomlinson Insurance was presented with the “Legacy Award”, for their work in taking existing properties and improving their appearance with renovation, which has led to new business and a museum coming to the downtown.

Chillicothe/Ross Chamber of Commerce “Legacy Award” goes to Andy Tomlinson

Mike Thorne, CEO of the Chillicothe/Ross Chamber of Commerce, gave the State of the Chamber Address, highlighting great strides the business community made, despite the emergency of a worldwide pandemic.

In 2020, the chamber saw an increase with 78 new members, saw 13 new business openings, saved local business over $259,000 in Workers Compensation costs, posted 615 jobs that had more than 175,000 website views, held seven events for Greater Chillicothe Women in Business with 244 attendees and conducted 55 events- including 12 virtual events with 1,253 attendees.

Watch our interview ABOVE with Mike Throne, as he reviews his State of the Chamber Address and talks about how he’s seen the city change in his 24 years here…