Chamber celebrates 110 years

TIFFIN—The Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce and Destination Seneca County celebrated 110 years at its annual meeting Thursday night at Heidelberg University's Seiberling Gym. The event celebrated local community leaders in tourism and business, later giving out awards to outstanding local citizens for various efforts throughout the last year. Chamber Executive Director Bryce Riggs gave an update on what the Chamber has done in the past year saying that it had helped with at least 30 ribbon cuttings or groundbreakings, had given out $350,000 in chamber cash and offered 60 discounts to businesses among other events and celebrations. Chamber Director of Marketing Marisa Huss advised the chamber and Destination Seneca County had won 11 state-wide awards in 2024, but considered its Elope at the Eclipse event to be one of the most impactful. With 130 couples getting married under the recent solar eclipse with the help of Destination Seneca County, Huss said a total of 12,000 miles were traveled to get to the event, coming from 11 different states, which resulted in over 100 media mentions for Destination Seneca County and the chamber in both local and national news sources including the New York Times and Good Morning America. Owner of Seneca Caverns, Denise Bell was given the Carol Yager Excellence in Tourism Award. Riggs surprised her with the award at an earlier convention in Minnesota. In an announcement video shown at the meeting Thursday, friends and family nominated Bell for her resilience and her ability to bring the community together. In her acceptance speech after being surprised by Riggs, she said "I'm blown away and so grateful." Owner and President of National Machinery, Andrew Kalnow was given the Outstanding Citizenship Award for his "leadership and philanthropic efforts," Riggs said in a recent press release. Kalnow kept his acceptance speech short saying that he would get emotional if he spoke too long, but was very thankful to be honored. Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce Director of Internal Operations Deb Martorana was given the Women's Career Excellence Award. While presenting the award, Riggs said it had been a big effort to surprise her, even pretending to give someone else the award so Martorana would be surprised she was the actual recipient. Huss was also surprised by being honored with the People's Service Award for her work in marketing and events for the chamber. Looking forward, Huss and Riggs said big things are coming and hopes next year will be even better.