Greenbuild

Greenbuild comes to McCormick Place next week and local Sloan Valve Company is the Platinum sponsor. What an unsung hero with solar panels and wind turbines on the rooftop of their Franklin Park plant and national headquarters, they definitely are green giants. The champions of water-saving, energy-saving products, just wait til you see their Corn Cob sinks, solar faucets and sooooo... much more. Plus a very green announcement for Chicago schools.

If you aren't attending that mega-tradeshow...then you can read all about it and check it out on the news.

By the way, my new office is on the 5th floor of Greenview in Lakeview, and sports a gigantic green roof!

It's cool to be green...

Bye Bye Suburban Press

You know it was coming. Nonetheless it saddens me for the Sun-Times to chop so many
suburban newspapers. Sign of the times!

TRI IT!

It wouldn't be August without the world's largest triathlon, a designation we sought out in 2006 and landed in 2007 with the Guinness Book of World Records. This year, the weekend of August 28 and 29 brings the Life Time Fitness Chicago Triathlon! It's bigger and better than ever with 8700 athletes enjoying the best lakefront on the continent. If you're not participating, come join the 500,000 folks who love to spectate. The Fleet Feet SuperSprint Triathlon and the Chicago Kids Triathlon presented by McDonald's take place on Foster Beach on Saturday a.m., followed by the Sprint Distance and International Distance races of the Life Time Fitness Chicago Triathlon on Sunday a.m. Some of my favorites...Paralympian Melissa Stockwell and Bob Oury (he's raced in every Chi Tri--this will be his 28th). I've done about 15 of them (done the PR that is, but we definitely do the distance. Tri and make it out! www.chicagotriathlon.com

Happy 4th!

Happy July 4th weekend, a great time to celebrate independence!
I have been enjoying my new PR consulting business that I started setting up 6 months ago and focusing on events, non-profits, pet causes & services, senior housing, new products and sports.

This week was a great one with Chicago Sun-Times and Chicagoland Tails placements for Greenview Place, an Assisted "Living" Lifestyle senior center, and a lot of social media placements for clients-- plus the start-up of a hardhitting advertising campaign. The Chicago Triathlon is coming up in August and is a fabulous event and NoThrow

The West Loop neighborhood is booming in the summertime, with fests and outdoor restaurants. Oprah's studios is two blocks away and a new L stop under construction at Lake & Morgan.

Have a great summer!

Magellan Development Chicago Half Marathon

Always inspiring to start your Sunday with a half marathon...Granted, I didn't run it, but I did run around handling media relations. If you don't know where the Park at Lakeshore East, you need to find it. Walk or drive from Michigan Ave., head east on Randolph and after the intersection of Columbus, turn left on Field Dr. Magellan Development has created a city oasis of great living on the park, just steps from the lakefront running path.
The Magellan Development Chicago Spring Half Marathon sold out at 3500 participants. A shout out to Melissa Stockwell, a challenged athlete who is very well known in the triathlon circuit, and to brain tumor patient Jose Feliciano who participated in the race which helped raise money for the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute.
It was a morning of great achievements and great fun. Chicago Street Musicians entertained at all the aid stations. Legend George performed in the park.
Look for a segment tonight to air on some of the local news stations. Bill Zwecker from the Sun-Times and Fox Chicago was a special guest and LNS covered the event for several local stations.
Although I want to keep this gem to myself, I will share a little about The Park at Lakeshore East...not only has free wi-fi, it has a great dog park, playground, water elements and much more. Great place to photograph the city....people will definitely be guessing as to where you were standing!

McWonderful Walk To Empower

What a great Mother's Day spent with McDonald's team at Walk to Empower at the annual Mother's Day breast cancer walk with Network of Strength. McDonald's sponsors 13 walks across the U.S. and Chicago is always tops with 30,000+ participants. Our booth was fun with thousands of participants, press coverage great and Ronald McDonald thrilled and delighted all! A spectacular day!!!! Plus, great weather at last... (We kicked off the weekend with a rainstorm at NBC plaza Friday; always fun to see the NBC TV morning team, wet hair or not!)

The internet took 5 years to hit 50 million users. It took radio 38 years to reach the same amount of people. Let's keep forging ahead creating milestones.