Business & Tech

Kemba Walker, Coach Calhoun Will Guest at Chamber Breakfast

Former UConn star, NCAA National Champion and current Charlotte Bobcat will accompany Calhoun as he is awarded the chamber's Role Model of the Year Award.

Happy Fourth of July, Middlesex County! It is important to understand what Independence Day is about. On top of celebrations with our friends and families, we should recognize our servicemen and women who protect this independence on a daily basis. 

On this date many centuries ago, the predecessors of our service people battled to liberate the country. The servicemen and women of today all have taken on this responsibility.

We are all very fortunate to live in a nation with the highest standard of living in the world.While the United States has many detractors, I am sure that any one of them would relish in the opportunity to live in our country. Our service people are truly the ones who make this standard of living possible, and I commend them for upholding the same values that we celebrate on the Fourth of July.

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In our county, I am proud of all of our chamber member groups of servicepeople: VFW Post 583, the National Guard, the U.S. Army Middletown Recruiting Station, the U.S. Air Force Recruiting Station, American Legion Post #75 and American Legion Post #206 in Middletown, the Council of Jewish War Veterans, and the State Office of the American Legion.

The Arrigoni Bridge construction started last week and is off to a positive start. Traffic was reduced to a single lane and the contractor installed the line striping and other traffic control devices, including cones and drums to delineate the closed off portion of the bridge’s main spans for Stage 1 of construction. This closed-off portion includes the south side of the bridge’s current eastbound lanes. The installation of the barrier also began on Tuesday night into Wednesday. 

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The Arrigoni Bridge Committee and Emergency Management Sub Committee will continue to meet regularly to follow the progress of this project and maintain the open line of communication with state DOT.

The month of July looks to be an exciting one for the chamber and its members. The highlight of our event schedule is July 12, when we welcome former UConn star, NCAA National Champion and current Charlotte Bobcat Kemba Walker to our breakfast meeting. Coach Jim Calhoun will also accompany Kemba to the event, where he will receive the chamber’s Role Model of the Year Award.

Kemba joins a list of illustrious fellow UConn alums to receive the award such as NBA players Kevin Ollie, Ray Allen, Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor, and Tina Charles—we recently presented Tina with the award in May of this year.

Kemba is a role model for many reasons to the young people in our county. Not only has he epitomized what it means to be a great teammate while at UConn, he also epitomized what it means to be a great student as well. Kemba was just as aggressive in the classroom as he was on the court and, because of his great attitude, finished his coursework in only three years.

We expect this event to be a sellout crowd of over 700, and seats are going very quickly.

For information, contact Matt Fraulino at (860) 347-6924 or matthew@middlesexchamber.com.


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