Good afternoon.

I'm Catherine White, Executive Director of the New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce, and we're all here today for the grand opening of Fast Signs of New Rochelle.

We are thrilled to welcome them here today as they are activating this stretch of North Avenue and bringing it back to life with their bold colors and their creations.

What's unique about Fast Signs is it's not just a printer who makes your copies.

There's someone who can help you create your brand and explain to you the benefits of marketing and maybe the best way to do it for your business.

So we are thrilled that their thoughtful business is here with us today, 371 North Avenue.

And to celebrate, we have several guests with us.

Of course, I'd like to introduce Mayor Udira Ramos Herbert.

We have Mariana Husivai, she's the small business relations manager for the city of New Rochelle.

New Rochelle Police Department, always in the house, and we have grand openings, keeping everything safe.

We're thrilled to have them here with us today.

Business owners, of course, we have Michelle and Dave Pottinger.

Doing the hard work.

From the New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce, we have Carol Barella here with us.

And from Fast Science Corporate, we have Charles Carnahan here with us.

Charles Caraghan here with us.

So to begin, I'd like to call up the mayor to say a few words of welcome.

So as Catherine said, it's exciting to see the business opened up here and activating the stretch of North Avenue.

But I think the best part of for me coming to the ribbon cuttings is connecting with the business owners, the really brave, persistent, strong people who have invested.

There's probably no way to measure the time and certainly the dollars to make a vision come to life and that this is sort of a second career to be taking a chance on being your own business owners and then even learning like just what it takes to make if you think about it like what a sign is.

It's a brand, it's a reflection of someone's dream and vision, and you're messaging that to the community, and they're bringing that literally in the heart of our corridor here.

So they're New Rochelle residents, 25 years, and it you know warmed my heart when Dave said they wanted to make sure they stayed in New Rochelle.

So they looked for the right fit, the right space to make sure that they could live, work, and grow here.

So on behalf of the city council, thank you for choosing New Rochelle.

I spent some time with Michelle at a coffee with the mayor.

It was hard, it was a journey.

It was a journey.

I learned a lot.

Um so even more really grateful that you stuck with it that you chose us, and whatever we can do to support you, we will do.

So thank you so much.

And now I'd like to call a business owner Dave Huttinger to tell us a little bit about the journey.

Thank you.

Thank you, Catherine.

First of all, thank you to Catherine the University of Champ of Commerce for organizing this event.

Thank you everybody for coming out, thank you for development.

Coming out.

Thanks to Charlie for corporate to make it out here.

We're just so excited to be part of the business community.

Um I've been there in Corporate America for longer than I may want to count.

Um, but yeah, I want to do something different.

And when we we've been in New Rochelle over 25 years, our kids grew up here, went through the school system, uh, onto college, was about to graduate, which we're excited about.

So really wanted to be part of the New Rochelle community, wanted to start our business here, want to be part of the business community in this next chapter of our lives.

So very excited to be part of the Fast Science organization to have any concept.

Fell in love with this brand, like what they do.

We are very much into helping uh companies, small businesses, branding themselves, getting their messages out and working as part of the local community.

So we're very much excited to be here.

Um look for opportunities to partner to continue support and give back to the community, the sponsorship events and just being part of the community.

So we're very excited to be here.

Thank you, Dave, but don't go too far.

I'd like to call up Carol Barella with a little presentation from the Chamber of Commerce and Dave and Michelle, if you could come forward.

Dave and Michelle, welcome to New Rochelle.

Even though you lived here for 25 years.

It's new now, right?

Because you're a business owner.

So we wish you all the best.

Success in the years to come, and welcome.

This is for you.

Thank you.

We wish you all the best.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Carol, can you get a photo?

Hop back in there.

Staying here.

And now let's cut a ribbon.

Three, two, one.

Woo!

Good luck, we don't know for sure.

I'm convinced.