Supporting local through our events

Chad Kulas

At the Midway Chamber, the summer is a good time to plan ahead for the upcoming year. This includes planning our events, both formal and informal. As we always strive to build a stronger Midway and look for ways to support our community, here are some programs we have coming up.

During the original Green Line construction, the Midway Chamber created a casual event called “Lunch on the Avenue” where members were encouraged to dine together at a scheduled time at one of the local restaurants impacted by the road work. Later named “Lunch on the Line” after the LRT opened, we continue this program but don’t usually base location on current construction. After selecting Bole for July, we will be at On’s Thai Kitchen Aug. 26 and at Angelea’s Soul Food Kitchen in the fall.

We also do a similar program for the mornings, referred to as Coffee Club. We went to Port 2050 on Aug. 4 and will be at Makwa on Sept. 10. Port 2050 recently opened in the Wycliff Building (formerly Fisher Nut) and Makwa Coffee is in Roseville off Hamline Avenue.

S.A.W. Brewing is another new business in the neighborhood. The brewery has taken over the previous Burning Brothers Brewing space, with their former brewmaster, Kasey Pate, the owner. And like Burning Brothers, the beer is gluten-free.

While we like finding ways to support locally-owned businesses with casual meetings, we also find content we believe our members will appreciate. Thanks to our Events Committee, we have most of our content for our monthly luncheons over the next several months lined up.

Our annual Leadership Summit in August will feature Blaze Credit Union’s Dan Stoltz, with morning sessions by Augsburg University faculty. Their topics will include “Building an Ongoing Leadership Practice” and “Better Together: Why Every Voice Shapes the Outcome.” In September, local author and speaker Rosie Ward will talk about her new book, Future-Proofing Leadership: Navigating Change and Disruption to Thrive in an Uncertain World.

The last three years, the Midway Chamber has held an event on AI. Speakers have talked about the controversies surround the technology as well as the uses which could especially help small businesses and nonprofits. This year, a panel will explore the uses further and offer best practices. An event will be scheduled for October.

November is an election month, and we will be joined once again by Hamline University political scientist David Schultz on Nov. 18. He can offer insights into the election results and what to expect in 2027.

Our Annual Celebration of Nonprofits is scheduled at Hamline on Dec. 17. The morning panel will focus on nonprofits and ever-changing branding, scope of work and mission.
More details are being worked out for early 2027 programming, and we will continue to find more local establishments to support. If you know somewhere we should highlight, please let me know. There will be two restaurants opening in the United Village development soon, too.
We thank everyone who continues to invest in our community in the Midway, both new and old businesses and nonprofits.

Learn more about the chamber and membership at www.midwaychamber.com.