Ankeny Chamber of Commerce to Celebrate 60th Anniversary

The Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce will celebrate its 60th year of supporting local businesses and boosting the community during a celebration Sept. 20.

The group has about 800 members, according to the Des Moines Register.

“The first thing I did when I came to Ankeny was to join the chamber,” said current president Tom Friedman, market president for First National Bank. “We’re the biggest chamber in the metro area, even though we’re not the oldest. Celebrating 60 years is exciting, especially doing so under one chamber. Words can’t describe how proud we are to be able to do that.”

Organizers expect 22 of the chamber’s past presidents will join in the celebration.

“Each president who comes will be honored in a special way, and we’ll be sharing a bit of information about each one. We want this to be a nice, fun night for everybody,” Friedman said in the newspaper story.

Ollie Weigel, who was the chamber’s third and 20th president, moved to Ankeny in 1951 after graduating from dental school.

He joined a businessmen’s group, whose members then decided that they needed something more formal, launching the chamber.

“We started out with probably 20 members and now we have almost 800,” Weigel told the newspaper.

Julie Cooper, executive director of the Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce, said she and Friedman both were part of the 50th anniversary celebration. Now, the 60th anniversary will celebrate those who helped the chamber reach this milestone.

“This will be an opportunity for the members to hear a little bit more about what each president did and what was accomplished during their term as president, from 1951 until 2012. We’ll be able to see how the chamber has progressed and grown,” she told the Register.