The Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce has announced that it is postponing its annual breakfast, which is held each October at Crest Hollow County Club to honor business owners and provide an opportunity to network.
The council’s co-chair, Julie Marchesella, said the breakfast committee, in a virtual meeting, decided to postpone the event amid concerns over large crowds gathering, which could prove hazardous as the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the country. She said around 600 people usually gather.
She said she is unsure how many people would want to come amid virus concerns and is not sure the limit on large crowds will allow for it by Oct. 30. The council still has the date reserved at Crest Hollow in Woodbury and is discussing what to do next.
The council is an umbrella organization of all the chambers of commerce in Nassau County. Each chamber of commerce picks one member to be honored at the breakfast.
“It’s a small-business owner who has expanded upon the chamber in some way,” Marchesella said.
Marchesella has been involved with the council for 28 years and is a member of three chambers of commerce on Long Island: Elmont, Merrick and Islip, and is the owner of the Queen of Hearts clothing store in Merrick. Another role of the NCCC, she said, is to help chambers that are struggling to make a community impact and to help them select and train board members.
In addition, the council lobbies in Albany for legislation that will help local business. Marchesella said that in recent years, small businesses have suffered losses to the rise of online retail and the internet.
The breakfast committee did consider having the event remotely. Marchesella said that the reason the group did not do this was that chamber members have great enthusiasm for receiving honors at the breakfast and they did not want to take away from that.
“Most members feel this is the Academy Awards of small business,” she said. “We would sooner hold off and see what transpires. None of us on the breakfast committee felt it would be the same as a virtual event.”
Marchesella said that the event has grown immensely since she first got involved with it. Back then, the event usually garnered around 150 people, but it has slowly grown over time to its current size.
