Annual Fundraising Event for Chamber Scholarship

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Buy Your Tickets Now!

Call the Chamber at (847) 639-2800 for tickets!

2010 Garden Walk Tour - Saturday, July 17

A unique collection of beautiful gardens will be on tour Saturday, July 17 during the Cary Grove Chamber of Commerce Annual Garden Walk.  The spectacular event, which generally sells out, is the Chamber’s largest fundraiser of the year for the Scholarship Fund, which over the years has provided more than $20,000 in scholarship awards to local high school students.

“The Garden Walk has been raising money for local scholarships for nine years, monies that have benefited students dedicated to studying business related careers,” said Dorothy Miller of Lake Julian Trout Farm, a member of the Garden Walk Committee and a Chamber Ambassador.  “Our hope is that these same students will one day use their business acumen and skills to benefit our own local communities.”

The Cary Grove Chamber Garden Walk is a progressive dinner, wine tasting and garden walk tour of four area homes.  This year’s stops include the homes of Ben and Alice Hammer of Fox River Grove, Kevin and Annemiecke Sullivan of Crystal Lake, Hank and Luann Bauer of Cary, and Bob and Cheryl Pradelski of Cary.  Participants are bused to each stop to not only enjoy the gardens, food and refreshments, but also live musicians at each home. 

Tickets to the Garden Walk are $70 each and include the entire progressive meal, wine tasting and bus transportation to each garden.  Tickets can be purchased at the Chamber office at 27 E. Main Street on Route 14 in Cary, or by calling the Chamber office at (847) 639-2800.  Seating is limited and generally sells out each year.

“This event continues to be a success each year because of the tremendous generosity of our restaurant community,” Miller said. “Each year they donate spectacular food. Their contributions are an important asset to this fundraiser. They have been behind us 110 percent, and as a result, we have raised thousands of dollars for our Scholarship Fund.”

The Garden Walk menu, which includes a variety of wonderful appetizers, salads and dinner, has been donated by such restaurants: Galati’s Pizza and Pasta, Chris' Coach House, Orchard Prime Meats & Wine Shoppe - Tapas Calpe, The Clubhouse of Cary at Cary Country Club, Broken Oar, Brunch Café, the Coffee Station, Dominick’s Finer Foods, Ambrosia, Panera Bread, Wool Street Grill & Sports Bar and others. The wine tasting was conducted by Nick Dominico of Orchard Prime Meats & Wine Shoppe - Tapas Calpe.

The 2010 Garden Walk Committee consisted of Dorothy Miller of Lake Julian Trout Farm, Neelie Kruse of Cary Travel Express, Wendy Franz of R & W Construction Custom Home Remodeling, Patsy Frits of Realty Executives on the Move, Kathie McLaughlin of American National Insurance – Davenport Agency and Betty Carmon of McHenry County College.  Top sponsors of the event include the Northwest Herald, Sage Products, Inc. and Algonquin Township.

This year the Cary Grove Chamber awarded two $1,000 business scholarships to Patrick Zito and Jessica Gronset.  

For information on scholarship winners throughout the years, click on the scholarship page.