By: Taylor Christensen | Royal Oak Review | Published March 11, 2026
ROYAL OAK — The Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce will host the State of the Chamber and an awards ceremony 9-10:30 a.m. March 26 at the Red Run Golf Club, 2036 Rochester Road.
The ceremony will include breakfast; information from the president of the chamber, Shelly Kemp; and a presentation by Christine Chubenko, chairperson of the chamber and a member of the Royal Oak Young Ambitions Leaders and Network First networking groups.
The cost is $45 to attend the event, which includes a buffet breakfast with eggs, meat, pastries, fruit, coffee and more.
Along with the speakers, the chamber will be honoring its ambassador of the year and giving out its business beautification and economic impact and community engagement awards.
Heather Zeller, director of events and communications for the chamber, said that the chamber will be giving the Economic Impact and Community Engagement Award to the Royal Oak Restaurant Association, and giving the 2026 Beautification Awards to Fourth Street Brunch & Bistro, Oakland Community College Culinary Studies & Institute, and Jinya Ramen Bar.
“The meeting will focus on how the chamber supported Royal Oak businesses over the past year through events, networking opportunities, and community partnerships,” Kemp said in an email response. “We will also be sharing some highlights from 2025 and discuss how we’re continuing to strengthen connections among local businesses while looking ahead to the opportunities and priorities for the coming year.”
The chamber is looking forward to expanding some of its events over the next year. According to Kemp, the chamber has been working on expanding the Summer Concert Series by two weeks, so there will be eight Thursdays of live, local music in Centennial Commons.
“We are also planning some exciting additions to Spooktacular,” she said. “Membership-wise, we have several new offerings this year including a trip to Ireland in September, an extended education series with events once a quarter, and we are planning on more multi-chamber events.”
Zeller said that the State of the Chamber event is a great way to connect more with the community.
‘The state of the chamber is a great opportunity to bring local business and community leaders together to reflect on the past year and talk about what’s ahead,” she said via email. “It’s a way to keep our members connected in the continued growth of our local business community and to recognize those that impact the city we live in.”
Zeller said one of the priorities of the State of the Chamber event is networking.
“All of our networking groups will be talking about how our members can get involved with their groups,” she said. “When we create opportunities for businesses to connect and support each other, it helps them grow and makes our whole community stronger.”
Kemp predicts that the chamber will grow in many different ways over the next year.
“Like many other organizations, we are working in a challenging economic environment, but the Chamber met and exceeded its goals in 2025 through strong member engagement, very engaged ambassador and membership committees and a lot of hard work from the chamber team,” she said. “That momentum gives me confidence heading into the year ahead. Our focus remains on continuing to grow the chamber in ways that support local business and strengthen the Royal Oak community.”
According to royaloakchamber.com, the dress code is business casual. Men must have a shirt with a collar. Nice jeans are accepted, but jeans with holes are not permitted.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit royaloakchamber.com.