‘A lot of you have been with us since the very beginning’

ROCHELLE — On Friday, Beauty Bar, a salon at 310 N. Main St., celebrated its third anniversary and joining the Rochelle Chamber of Commerce with a ribbon cutting. 

One of the owners of the business, Diana Valdez, said many of those that attended Friday have been with the business since the very beginning when they were working out of their homes and kitchens. 

“We never imagined being here today or winning Best of Ogle County for the second year in a row,” Valdez said. “We won five total awards this year. We wouldn't be where we are today if it wasn't for our families, friends and all of our beautiful guests here at Beauty Bar. Thank you to our amazing salon family. We went from three of us to now seven of us and we couldn't be happier.”

Chamber Executive Director Tricia Herrera spoke at the ribbon cutting and welcomed Beauty Bar to the chamber and celebrated their anniversary and new building.

“Welcome to the chamber,” Herrera said. “We hear all the time about your wonderful team and the wonderful bridal team that you have. What you've done with this building is beautiful. It always looks beautiful. That's very exciting and we like that addition to our downtown. We are here for you and we're your partner now. We're always excited when businesses join us, but we're always very excited when it's young entrepreneurs. And we've had a lot of them lately. We want to celebrate that.”

Rochelle Mayor John Bearrows spoke at the event Friday on behalf of the city and let the owners know that they have new partners in the city and chamber. He mentioned the pandemic and the team effort it was in the community to get businesses back to where they are today.

Bearrows said he was happy to hunt for a parking spot downtown on his way to the ribbon cutting Friday and the crowded event and traffic downtown was encouraging to him.

“We're very fortunate,” Bearrows said. “I will also say that we're committed as a city to provide businesses with more parking. We'll be closing on a property in a couple of weeks that will be turned into another municipal parking lot and it will be great for the downtown area. It's so humbling to be able to come down here and see the downtown. We've done so many ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings over the past few years. We're all here for you. We're glad you're in Rochelle and we're glad you chose to do business here.”