Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony Friday Nov. 28th - Downtown Sun Prairie

A Christmas tradition since 1915!

Come one, come all to the lighting of the Community Christmas Tree, which will take place in Downtown Sun Prairie on Friday Nov. 28, 2008. The event begins at 6:15 in front of the Sun Prairie Historical Museum at 115 E. Main St.

-Free cookies and cider
-Caroling and a visit from Santa Claus (arrives by Fire Truck)
-Horse-drawn wagon rides (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Friday and Saturday)
-Seasonal exhibits at the Museum (both Friday and Saturday)
-Third annual Christmas Fire Truck Parade (Starts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday the 28th)

Santa will be back on Saturday the 29th and Satruday Dec. 6th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Get Downtown early, get some of your Christmas shopping done, and sit down and grab something to eat while you're here!

Click here for additional information on Downtown Sun Prairie.

Click here for additional information on the Sun Prairie Historical Museum.

Sentry's Nate Pederson is Chamber's Business Leader of the Year (Sun Prairie Star)

Photo by Chris Mertes

Congratulations to Nate Pederson, General Manager for Sentry Foods for being named the 2008 Community Business Leader of the Year award winner by the Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce. Nate has served a prior President of the Chamber, and continues to be an active member of the Business and Education Partnership.

Click here for the full story in the Sun Prairie Star.

Sassy Cow Creamery's Chocolate Milk Earns Perfect Score at World Dairy Expo (WisconsinNative.com)

Congratulations to the Baerwolf farm and Sassy Cow Creamery on their Chocolate Milk taking first place at the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest--with a perfect score of 100 points! The judges of the World Dairy Expo Dairy Products Contest picked Sassy Cow as the winner in the annual contest sponsored by the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association.

Sassy Cow Creamery is just north of Sun Prairie on County Highway N.

Click here for the blogged story at WisconsinNative.com.

Click here to go to the Sassy Cow Creamery web site.

Click here for more information on the World Dairy Expo.

ADDITIONAL NEWS: Sassy Cow Creamery earns USDA Value-Added Producer grant award (Sun Prairie Star Online)

U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development State Director, Frank Frassetto, on Monday, Nov. 24 announced the selection of 17 Wisconsin agricultural producers -- including Sassy Cow Creamery in the Town of Bristol -- to receive more than $3.1 million in USDA Rural Development assistance under the Value-Added Producer Grant program.

Click here for the full article in the Sun Prairie Star.

St. Mary's to Hold Informational Meeting on Their Emergency Healthcare Facility on Nov. 20th

St. Mary's invites people to learn about and share thoughts on the new St. Mary's Sun Prairie Emergency Center under construction at Hwy. 151 and Reiner Road.

St. Mary's is holding a community meeting on Thursday Nov. 20th from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Northeast YMCA at 1470 Don Simon Drive (Smith's Crossing) in Sun Prairie.

View a presentation. Get answers. Stay informed.

For additional information, please contact St. Mary's at (608) 258-5065.

Sun Prairie Chamber Hosts Business Appreciation Luncheon on Nov. 20th

Topic: An Overview of Recent & Proposed Developments and the City's Economic Development Plan

Speakers: Scott Kugler, City Planner and Neil Stechschulte, City Economic Development Coordinator. Scott will discuss developments - current and future - in our community and Neil will discuss the City of Sun Prairie's Economic Development Plan.

Date: Nov 20, 2008
Time: 12:00 pm - 01:30 pm
Address: The Roundtable, 1611 N. Bristol St., Sun Prairie, WI

Includes Presentation of the 2008 Community Business Leader Award and Big Cash Raffle Drawing.

Buffet includes Penne Alfredo with salad, garlic bread, dessert and beverages. $12.50 per person.

Contact Chamber Staff with any questions:

Phone: 608.837.4547
Fax: 608.837.8765
Email: spchamber@verizon.net

Sun Prairie Welder Keeps Farmers Farming (Capital Times)

(Photo by John Oncken)

Don Faber of Faber Welding and Fabrication in Sun Prairie is another fixer. His is a one-man business that he bought eight years ago from his dad, Bob Faber, who started the company in 1976. Faber can weld things that are broken, cut and shape metal that must fit into a specific location, drill holes where holes must be drilled and invent something on the spot to fill a need. Recently he made a bracket to hold a manure separator that will be part of a digester being installed on a local farm; retrofitted a draw bar on a tractor to pull a different piece of equipment; and fashioned a 4 x 4 sheet of heavy metal to replace the worn out feeder house on a big combine.

Faber has a good size repair shop in Sun Prairie (608-837-5822) but often times he is gone fixing something, somewhere. A note in the window will give a cell phone number and a time when he expects to be back. He admits with a bit of shyness that he also has a worldwide business. Some years ago, John Blaska, owner of the Oaks Golf Course at Cottage Grove, asked Faber to make a better yardage marker sign for the golf course. Faber produced a welded marker which turned out to be a popular product. He fabricates the markers for National Golf Graphics, a Monona company that markets worldwide. My yardage markers are even on a golf course in Dubai, Faber says with pride.

Sun Prairie is home to many small manufacturing businesses like Faber, and shows there is still a stong demand for their services and products in our economy.

Click here to read the full article on Faber Welding in the Capital Times.

Matrix Product Development Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary (Sun Prairie Star)

Matrix Product Development, located at 13 N. Bird St., celebrated its 10th anniversary on Nov. 5th with an open house at the company's Sun Prairie office. Matrix services include customized engineering services on of a series of products that provide turnkey solutions for their customers. This can be design only, or it can include custom manufacturing of the product. Generally, private companies approach Matrix, but occasionally, entrepreneurs will also approach them with product ideas.

Congratulations on reaching your 10th anniversary, and we look forward to many more!

Click here to read the full article on Matrix Product Development in the Sun Prairie Star.

Click here to go to the Matrix Product Development website.

Madison-Kipp Corporation Posts Video of Sun Prairie Operations

Madison-Kipp Corporation is a producer of precision machined components and system subassemblies for transportation and industrial end markets. Customers include manufacturers from the light weight vehicle, lawn & garden, recreational vehicle and industrial markets. MKC production systems and capabilities are fully automated with robot technology or single purpose integrated operations. The Company manages the customer supply chain from raw metal alloying to final product assembly and integration into the customer’s production system. MKC provides customers with a single source, integrated solution and minimizes supply chain complexity.

MKC opened their Sun Prairie Facility in 2006. A video of the technology being used in their Sun Prairie Operations can be viewed from MKC's updated website at: http://www.madison-kipp.com/video.html.

City Attends Early Stage Symposium for Business Startups

At the invitation of Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still, Mayor Joe Chase, Alderman John Murray and Economic Development Coordinator Neil Stechschulte attended the 2008 Early Stage Symposium at Monona Terrace in Madison on November 5th and 6th. The Early Stage Symposium is an annual event for start up businesses to meet with various forms of investment groups including venture capitalists and angel investors.

"Leading the Pack: Sprint Ahead in the Race for Private Equity" was the theme of the 2008 conference. For more than 20 years, this conference and its predecessors have helped fuel Wisconsin's high-growth economy by matching investors, companies and entreprenuers. This year's conference was open early stage companies representing an array of industries: biotechnology, biofuels and products, “cleantech,” advanced manufacturing, information technology, nanotechnology and business services.

City officials staffed an informational table on Sun Prairie, had materials on the available lots south of the St. Mary's project in TIF 9 and answered questions about the development climate of the City in general. Several development contacts were made with Madison area developers, attorneys, and financial companies that had not been made before--many of whom were suprised by the extent of development occurring in Sun Prairie.

Click here for more information on the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium.

Click here for more information on the Wisonconsin Technology Council.

Sun Prairie's Comprehensive Computer Consulting Awarded $12 Million FDA Contract (Wisconsin Technology Network)

Comprehensive Computer Consulting, located at 1500 W. Main Street in Sun Prairie, along with teaming partner EDS have been awarded a five-year, $12 million contract from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is moving its data center from Rockville, Md. to White Oak, Md.

Click here for the ful article at Wisconsin Technology Network.

UPDATE: Click her for the article at Madison.com.

Congratulations to CCC on this major project!