Community Scene: Westmont Chamber of Commerce

Welcome to Westmont: a tight-knit community of hard-working business owners and an intimate downtown of familiar faces. At least, that’s how Chamber of Commerce President Becky Rheintgen sees it.

Rheintgen, owner of Oakwood Electric & Generator, leads approximately 230 chamber members, who represent the best of what Westmont and its surrounding communities have to offer. From restaurants to insurance agents, the chamber spans dozens of pursuits and provides countless networking opportunities for its members.

“Whenever I’m talking to someone that I’m meeting at a chamber event, I’m like, ‘I wonder how we can help each other,’ and that’s kind of the way I think about it,” Rheintgen said.

One of those events on Sept. 20 gave members a chance to “pitch” their businesses and connect at a baseball-themed networking event full of local fan favorite businesses, complete with the exchanging of business cards over a cold beer and a box of Cracker Jack. For these colleagues-turned-comrades, such events are all about referrals and sharing tips and tricks.

“We get a lot of our business from people in the community who we meet through chamber members or relationships that we’ve built in the chamber,” she said.

The chamber’s impact extends beyond village lines. Rheintgen, a Downers Grove resident herself, welcomes everyone in the surrounding communities to stop by for their holiday events or to check out all the chamber has to offer, especially in the small but mighty downtown district. She’s hoping to share the same hospitality that she and her husband received when they joined the chamber nearly seven years ago.

“We’ve just always been welcomed with open arms…I feel like it’s a really great place to have your home or your business,” she said.