Last year, as we began the pandemic recovery process, the Chamber launched our Osceola Round-Up series to help drive traffic to our local attractions, activities, and entertainment venues. This series, which allows members to enjoy a new experience in the company of other Chamber members, is back in 2022!
This year, there will be a new twist to the Osceola Round-Up. Each event will be hosted by one of our eight area councils. The featured attraction will have something in common with that council’s geography or demographic. We were thrilled to kick off the new year with the first of these Osceola Round-Ups this month at Mecum Auto Auctions at Osceola Heritage Park. Our Hospitality and Tourism Council, which focuses their efforts on the tourism and hospitality industries, hosted this first Osceola Round-Up. Attendees were treated to a special cocktail reception at the event at which we heard from Mecum CEO Dave Majors, CEO of event partner Experience Kissimmee DT Minich, ORAC Chairman Thearon Scurlock of Old Town, and several of our event sponsors.
Attendees then broke into groups for a special behind-the-scenes tour of the auction. The first stop was the glass structure visible from 192 that houses the auction’s premium vehicles. These included a car featured in the 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life, cars used in the Fast and the Furious franchise, and a curious coffin-shaped roadster called “Dragula.” The tour then proceeded to the live auction, where the groups went behind the auctioneer’s stand and watched as car after car went on the block. The room was full of bidders ready to spend money on these amazing and diverse cars, which led to Mecum breaking their daily record day after day of the event. By the auction’s end, Mecum had not only smashed last year’s event record of $42 million in sales, but had also obliterated the world record of $176 million with an astounding $217 million. The Mecum Kissimmee auction became the first auto auction to break $200 million in sales.
It is the opportunity to highlight unique attractions and events like Mecum that play a role in our community that makes the Osceola Round-Up really special. The next event will be hosted by the Celebration Area Council at Xtreme Ninja Challenge located at Old Town on February 22nd. You can register to join us at that event on our website.
The January Osceola Round-Up was sponsored by Old Town, Ford Insurance, The Marketects, and Osceola History and was presented via a partnership between ORAC/the Kissimmee/Osceola Chamber, Experience Kissimmee, and Osceola Heritage Park.
After a long hiatus, the Kissimmee/Osceola Chamber’s monthly Business After Hours are back!
For years the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber membership was trained to expect a Business After Hours each month on the second Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at a local member business. The pandemic put a halt on that monthly tradition back in early 2020, but for 2022, Business After Hours is back on the schedule.
The first Business After Hours of 2022 took place on January 19 at SouthState Bank. With the exception of last year, SouthState (formerly CenterState) Bank’s Downtown Kissimmee location has hosted the January Business After Hours for many years. The event has become known for the excellent steak and mushrooms they serve each year, great networking, and top-notch raffles. Their 2022 outing was an example of that very hospitality we have come to expect.
Black History Month kicks off at the start of February, and we begin it here at the Chamber with the inaugural meeting of the our new African American Business Coalition on February 2. The African American Business Coalition grew out of requests from individual members to bring together Osceola’s Black business community to look at their collective business needs and assess opportunities to address them, while sharing support, resources, and understanding. The first Coalition meeting will be held on February 2nd, 3:30 – 4:30 pm at the Chamber and is open to all. Chamber membership is not required to attend.
Anyone interested in the African American Business Coalition can register at the Chamber’s website to take part in this meeting and stay apprised of the group’s futures endeavors. This first meeting will allow attendees to introduce themselves and their concerns and interests, assess the proposed direction of the group, and settle details such as meeting dates and regularity and official name.
The African American Business Coalition will join the Chamber’s Warrior Coalition, launched back in November to correspond with Veterans Day. The Warrior Coalition is a group of veterans in business in and around Osceola County. Many members of the group are business owners, though many also work in other capacities in the community.
Said John Newstreet of the Coalition, “As a veteran advocate and proud member of The American Legion, I am proud of the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce’s efforts to establish the Warrior Coalition. The Chamber’s Warrior Coalition seeks to bring together veterans to support veterans and the greater Osceola community. Open to both Chamber members and non-members, the Coalition will meet regularly to identify and discuss the needs and opportunities within the local veteran community.”
The Warrior Coalition met twice before the end of 2021 and will next convene on January 19, 3:30 – 4:30 pm at the Chamber. You can register on the Chamber website if you would like to join the meeting.
The hope is that these two Coalitions will be joined in the future by other needs- demographic-specific groups. Coalitions give the Chamber the opportunity to bring together specific business interests in the County in an informal setting where individuals can pool their collective talents and insights in support of the community and each other. John Newstreet also sees opportunity for discussion at these meetings to aid the Osceola Works initiative that the Chamber recently launched to aid the talent pipeline for our employers, educational partners, and dynamic local workforce.
