{"id":7602,"date":"2010-03-25T17:42:40","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T00:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spiken.wpengine.com\/news\/kent-chamber-of-commerce-gala-should-be-a-night-to-remember\/"},"modified":"2016-10-23T04:40:28","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T11:40:28","slug":"kent-chamber-of-commerce-gala-should-be-a-night-to-remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/business\/kent-chamber-of-commerce-gala-should-be-a-night-to-remember\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent Chamber of Commerce gala should be a night to remember"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why go to the Kent Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Annual President\u2019s Gala?<\/a><\/p>\n

Why indeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest night we have,\u201d said chamber Executive Director Andrea Keikkala of the April 3 black-tie affair at the Kent ShoWare Center.<\/p>\n

Keikkala noted that with more than 300 of the area\u2019s business movers and shakers, the gala is a great place to network. And with multiple awards to be given out to the region\u2019s top business and community leaders, it\u2019s a way to bask in the glow of what\u2019s good about business in Kent.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have 300 people who are just there, happy and energetic and glad to be part of the community,\u201d Keikkala said.<\/p>\n

Announced that night will be the winners of the Business Leadership Excellence Awards, the chamber\u2019s program to recognize what the chamber calls \u201cexceptional leadership, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that member companies and their employees embody and share with the organization and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gala is no small potatoes from the fundraising standpoint: it\u2019s the biggest draw the business entity has, with a portion of the proceeds going to the chamber budget.<\/p>\n

What makes this year\u2019s event bigger than in years past is where it\u2019s happening. This year, Keikkala said, they\u2019re taking over the whole ShoWare Center floor, rather than just the half they had the year previous.<\/p>\n

That means there\u2019s more room for diners as well as various auction items.<\/p>\n

Every year the chamber gala features an auction with high-end gifts, and this year\u2019s gala is no different.<\/p>\n

Keikkala pointed out several: an afternoon of sailboat racing on Commencement Bay, use of a suite at the ShoWare Center for any event, complete with a goodie basket, a seven-day Mexico vacation, a dinner each month for a year at participating Kent restaurants, and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got above and beyond,\u201d Keikkala said of the auction items the chamber board put together.<\/p>\n

The night features a catered dinner with a choice of courses – everything from crab cakes with roasted red pepper aioli to a rack of lamb, to wild mushroom risotto.<\/p>\n

Dessert includes gourmet cupcakes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

If you go<\/p>\n

Gold for Gold – The annual President\u2019s Gala, Kent Chamber of Commerce<\/p>\n

When: 6-9 p.m. April 3<\/p>\n

Where: ShoWare Center, 625 W. James St.<\/p>\n

Cost: $65<\/p>\n

Contact: Visit www.kentchamber.com, or call 253-854-1770.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why go to the Kent Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Annual President\u2019s Gala?
\nWhy indeed.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest night we have,\u201d said chamber Executive Director Andrea Keikkala of the April 3 black-tie affair at the Kent ShoWare Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":7603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-7602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7602"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}