As of April 1, 2025, My Huntley News is no longer publishing new content but remains active for archival use. For those of you with active subscriptions, a prorated reimbursement will be sent to you no later than May 1, 2025. Refunds will be issued to the name and address listed on your subscription. My Huntley News thanks you for your support and readership, and we welcome you to visit White Silo Media's primary publication, My Sun Day News.
Subscribe Subscriber Login Staff/Contact Advertise Submissions Jobs

 

MY HUNTLEY NEWS

THE DOORWAY TO OUR COMMUNITY
 
News Features Sports A&E Columns Hang Your Hat Obituaries Sun City

February 5, 2021

McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce to host golden envelope event March 6
McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce to host golden envelope event March 6

Features • February 5, 2021

McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce to host Willy Wonka golden envelope raffle event

By

MCHENRY COUNTY – Individuals who remember the fantastical world of author Roald Dahl’s famous character, Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory, may now have the opportunity to delve deep into that childhood nostalgia for a unique experience, thanks to the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce.

While interested participants won’t exactly be visiting any eccentric chocolate factories, McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce President Molly Ostap guarantees a fun themed event with the chance to win various types of prizes.

Ostap explained that the Wonka golden envelope raffle came to light with the help of the Chamber’s Gala Committee, which provided the idea to allow participants to purchase envelopes that will be entered in a drawing for the opportunity to win one of over 50 gift baskets or cash prizes.

Interested individuals are encouraged to act fast as there are only 200 envelopes available to be purchased.

“We’ve almost sold 100 envelopes. It went very, very quickly. We’ve also had interest in the VIP event itself. We’ve sold about a quarter of those tickets already,” Ostap said. “There’s still some available. The thing that we’re excited about is, obviously with the pandemic we can only have 50 safely attend in person, but we’re going to provide lots of opportunities for people to still kind of play along and there will be opportunities for additional ways to win, even if people were not able to buy a ticket. So, we’re encouraging everybody to tune into the live stream because even if you didn’t buy a ticket and can’t win one of these raffle baskets, there’ll be additional ways to win prizes.”

The VIP in-person event Ostap mentioned, will be hosted at the Metalwood Grille in McHenry on March 6 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets are sold for $40 each. However due to the 50-person limit, individuals who are not able to attend, can join in on the fun by ordering an at home VIP package that can be enjoyed while streaming the event on YouTube.

The at home VIP package which also costs $40, includes various items such as wine, gourmet food items, as well as a box of assorted chocolates and a game opportunity. The package can be scheduled to be delivered to either a private residence or a business and will arrive the Friday before the event streams.

The price of each envelope is all dependent on the number that is written on it, according to Ostap. For example, an envelope labeled with the number one will cost $1 and will offer one opportunity to win. Whereas an envelope with the number 30 will cost $30 and will have that number of chances to win and so on.

Ostap made it a point to mention that five envelopes were selected at random to include golden tickets which can be redeemed at the Chamber for an instant cash prize of $100.

“The grand prize is $1,000 and there’s also a Weber grill worth $700, that’s one of the prizes. So, we’ve got some large prizes but you know, the raffle baskets have been donated by the Chamber businesses and so there’s a lot of great stuff out there and we’ll be adding more. We’ll have over 50 prizes once they all come in and we’re able to take pictures of everything. We’ll put those out on the site,” Ostap said.

Ostap stated that the revenue created by this raffle event, will go towards the Chamber in order to continue their efforts to provide business support in the community as well as contribute to community events they host.

“We’ve definitely had some businesses that have been hit really hard. It’s very interesting. Some businesses are having a really bad year and some businesses are having their best year and so we’ve kind of transitioned into what can we provide for everybody and obviously a lot of that, you know, we’ve gone virtual with a lot of professional development and networking opportunities,” she explained. “In addition, we’ve spent a lot of time with working with member benefits, you know, things that are already out there. For example, helping them boost up their social media or other advertising possibilities. So, it has been a very interesting year.”

Ostap expressed how grateful she was to have such a supportive group of people working for the Gala Committee who were willing to go the extra mile to take on the challenge of hosting an event during the ongoing pandemic.

Those interested in participating in the Willy Wonka raffle or to simply find out more information about the event, can visit the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce’s website at mchenrychamber.com.