On Saturday, February 8th, The Osceola Chamber celebrated our 100th Annual Meeting at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort with the theme “Boots to Suits – 100 Years of Osceola Heritage.”
We filled a ballroom with 500 Chamber members and community partners who gathered to watch the gavel officially pass from 2024 Chairman of the Board Carlos Velez, Vice President of the Osceola Magic, to our 2025 Chairman Tim Weisheyer with Dream Builders Realty. Under the leadership of Chairman Velez, an Innovation Committee met regularly to review and make fresh the Osceola Chamber membership and maintain the Chamber’s status as an “Accredited with Five Stars” Chamber.
Prior to the evening’s formal program, guests gathered in the foyer for a cocktail reception that included opportunities for souvenir photos with Woody and Jessie from Disney’s Toy Story franchise, as well as photos with a themed backdrop or AI Photobooth sponsored by Orlando Health and HCA Florida Healthcare, respectively, and administered by RTW Photography. Themed bars in the foyer and ballroom served an “Osceola Old Fashioned,” sponsored by Suncoast Credit Union, as the evening’s specialty cocktail.
Inside the ballroom, themed centerpieces assembled by Kissimmee Florist and sponsored by AdventHealth brought the “country-elegant” theme to further life, along with decorations and lighting designed by Disney. Attendees reflected the night’s theme with their fancy cowboy and cowgirl-inspired attire. Micky Mouse even got in on the theme when he joined Elizabeth Watkins, Government Relations Manager at Walt Disney World Resort, onstage to welcome everyone to Coronado Springs. She then shared some of the exciting things we can expect from the Walt Disney Company this year.
Chair Velez kicked off the awards for the night by presenting the 3rd annual Chairman’s Award to Shawn Savage with ABC Paving & Sealcoating. The Chairman’s Award is presented by the outgoing Chairman to an individual they believe has gone “above and beyond” in service to the Chamber, especially throughout the past year.
In honor of our 100th Annual Meeting, tribute was paid to our history throughout the night. A record number of past-Chairs participated in this year’s gavel pass, and they were assisted by none other than Mickey Mouse! A video highlighting the Chamber’s initiatives 100 years ago in 1925 – a year of change much like 2025 ahead of us – played early in the evening as Chamber President/CEO John Newstreet shared facts about the “Kissimmee Chamber of Commerce” in 1924-25. A series of video’s highlighting Osceola County’s commercial and community history over the past 100 years played throughout the evening. County residents and business people shared their memories and experiences with Osceola’s early years in agriculture from 1924-1970, tourism heyday from 1970 to around 2010, and the amazing changes coming as part of technology and industry diversification in places like NeoCity at present.
The Chamber also took the opportunity to honor long-term members. Representatives from member businesses who have been a part of the Chamber for 45 years or more were surprised to be brought up and recognized on stage with a plaque. This award of longevity was sponsored by HCA Florida Healthcare – themselves a 50+ year member of The Osceola Chamber – and HCA Poinciana‘s CEO Cullen Brown also helped us recognize all members with 20 years or more of Chamber membership. They will receive a certificate in the mail in coming weeks. The longest-tenured member was found to be Conrad & Thompson Funeral Home.
The Linda Goodwin-Nichols Service Award is named after Linda Goodwin-Nichols, two-time Chairman of The Osceola Chamber Board of Directors, and a stalwart of Osceola’s Business Community for 50 years. Throughout her career, Linda has epitomized community involvement and giving back selflessly, and this award honors an individual who will carry on her legacy. This year’s finalists for the Linda Goodwin-Nichols Service Award were Samantha Giel with AdventHealth, Martin Levert with Florida Technical College Kissimmee, Angie Rench of Hope Partnership, and Vicky Santamaria with AdventHealth. Sponsored by Orlando Health, the award went to Angie Rench, who as co-founder and Chief Development Officer of Hope Partnership has impacted the lives of over 100,000 of our most vulnerable residents.
To recognize the importance of the Chamber’s core values of “Embracing Heritage,” “Creating Opportunity,” “Building Unity,” and “Membership Value,” and our partners who promote them, in January of 2018, Chairman Tim Finkenbinder announced the creation of an award to emphasize these values – particularly “Building Unity.” The very first Unity Award was presented to Guillermo Hansen and last year the award was renamed in his honor. Finalists for the award this year were Leslie Fletcher, owner of Wide World of Adventures, Inc.; Danny Ruiz Manrique, founder of Total Industrial Supplies; and Hans Steinbrenner, President of the Osceola Magic. Presented with support from AdventHealth, the Unity Award went to Leslie Fletcher, who extolled the importance of always infusing fun into work and service.
Throughout the night, including during dinner, the crowd was entertained by the band Hayfire, whose appearance was sponsored by Strategic Advantage Consulting and whose lead singer is herself a graduate of Osceola High School. After the formal program, attendees took part in a line dancing lesson sponsored by Kissimmee Utility Authority, then put their skills to the test as Hayfire took the stage again. The one-man Sleight-of-Hand Magic Show, sponsored by ABC Paving & Sealcoating, also made the rounds around the ballroom to entertain guests who preferred to stay off the dance floor, which was a perfect way to cap off a completely magical night!
Additional sponsors for the evening were Comcast Business, Osceola Magic, Valencia College, Toho Water Authority, Addition Financial, Florida Technical College, Sunbridge, Bank Florida, Austin Commercial, City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, Overstreet Law, and the University of Central Florida.
Find more photos of the event from RTW Photography here.
Find more photos with Woody & Jessie here.
See the videos that played at the 100th Annual Meeting below:
As of January 2025, The Osceola Chamber is home to a Little Library! Our friends from the Early Learning Coalition Of Osceola County and Reach dropped by, along with Osceola County Commissioner Cheryl Grieb, City of Kissimmee Commissioner Janette Martinez, and members of our Non-Profit Coalition, to dedicate a Little Library here at the Chamber!!
The Little Library sits in the Chamber parking lot fronting Highway 192 and holds about 20 books at a time. The artwork on the library illustrates the history and future of Osceola business and the books are suited to young readers. Visitors can grab a book or drop one off when they visit the chamber office or the new apartment complex next door.
Little Libraries are one of many tools in our County available to parents and caregivers as they prepare our littlest readers to be school-ready on day one!
In honor of the Three Kings Day holiday on January 6th, The Osceola Chamber celebrated our 20th annual Three Kings Day Osceola event at Old Town on Sunday, January 5th. Three Kings Day, or The Epiphany, is celebrated in many countries around the world. In much of Latin America, Three Kings Day, or Día de los Reyes, recognizes the Three Wise Men, or Kings, as they brought their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to baby Jesus. In many Latin American cultures, children anticipate Three Kings Day – and the gifts and treats it will bring – just as much as, or more than, Christmas.
On the Feast of the Three Kings, the Three Kings visited the newly born baby Jesus in Bethlehem and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This tradition is repeated and reflected in present day with the belief that on this evening the Three Kings will visit every child and leave them presents. If a child has been good for the past year they will receive toys, but if the child has been naughty, they will instead find a lump of dirt or charcoal. Excited children leave grass as a snack for the Kings’ camels before they go to bed.
The celebration of the visit from the Three Kings dates back even further than that of Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve, and for twenty years The Osceola Chamber has brought this tradition to life right here in Osceola County with our annual Three Kings Day Osceola event. Each year, in the spirit of gift giving embodied by the Three Kings, The Osceola Chamber’s Three Kings Day celebration includes toy giveaways, bicycle and tablet raffles, business vendors, snow cones and hot dogs, goody bags, live music, and more.
This year, our Three Kings Day celebration began on January 3 when the Kings themselves joined Chamber President and CEO John Newstreet, Special Events Director Paola Parra, and some of our Chamber Ambassadors at Old Town for a press conference to announce their official arrival in Osceola County. Members of the press were there to help us welcome the Kings and share the event with our community.
A major staple of the Chamber’s Three Kings Day event is free giveaways and experiences for the whole family that help extend the spirit of giving of the holiday season. This past Sunday, The Osceola Chamber’s Three Kings Day celebration included toy giveaways; raffles for bicycles, tablets, and Osceola Magic tickets; business vendors; free hot dogs, popcorn, and snow cones; live music; free printed photos with the Three Kings; and more.
Each year free toy giveaways for all children 12 and under are made possible by toy donations from Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort. The Orlando/Osceola Magic also supply hundreds of basketballs. The Disney VoluntEARS and UO Volunteers also come out to Old Town on event day each year to aid the Chamber Ambassadors and staff. Hot dogs were donated by Florida Technical College, prepped by the Masons, and grilled on-site by the Knights of Columbus, making them a true group effort. Thanks to a donation from Pepsico – Gatorade, attendees also received free bottles of Gatorade. This year, popcorn and snow cones rounded out the snacks for the day.Each child also received a raffle ticket for almost 60 bikes and tablets that were raffled throughout the day. The Osceola Magic also supplied some tickets for other lucky raffle winners. Raffle winners claimed their prizes at Old Town’s main stage, where the crowd was entertained by emcees from Exitos 96.5 and Osceola’s own Bethzaida Garcia in between performance sets from Venezuela’s Luifer Chacazo and Puerto Rico’s Ricado Azorcar.
Three Kings Day Osceola was presented this year by our friends at AdventHealth, and was brought to you by Florida Technical College, Kissimmee Utility Authority, ABC Paving & Sealcoating, Florida Blue, Valencia College, Toho Water Authority, Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando Resorts, and SeaWorld Orlando. Our mission at the Chamber is to be “champions for business and the Osceola community," and they are the champions in our community who make this event, this visit from the Kings, and all of the day’s festivities possible.
Presenting sponsor AdventHealth’s booth included a "create-your-0wn crown activity. Also, a 360 photo booth, and lots of giveaways. Other business booths brought their own games and raffles. Gatorland had a gator available for photo opps, and KUA brought their mascot Sparky and their brand new 2024 calendars.
The Three Kings themselves were portrayed by elected officials and other members of our business community. They posed for photos with kids and families that were captured on RTW Photography‘s photo booth as a nice take-home souvenir.
Find some images of our Three Kings Day fun in the galleries below, and thank you to all who attended, sponsored, volunteered, performed, or helped us publicize the event!
