The Side Door Jazz Club at Old Lyme Inn will be celebrating 10 years in operation this month.

A passion project of owners Ken and Chris Kitchings, The Side Door at 85 Lyme St. in Old Lyme has presented on its stage some of jazz’s most iconic, influential, and important artists as well as young up-and-comers every Friday and Saturday night (and some Thursdays and Sundays too) for upwards of 1,000 shows in total.

Opened in 2013 by Newport Jazz and Folk festivals founder George Wein, the club’s 10th anniversary show will feature world-renowned saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Chris Potter and the club’s newly renovated house Hammond C3 organ.

For questions, visit thesidedoorjazz.com, call 860-434-2600 or email manager@thesidedoorjazz.com.

PEOPLE & PLACES

Mohegan Sun has announced the appointment of David Fausel as director of advertising. Fausel brings over 20 years of advertising experience, having worked for Cisco, Nike, American Express, Microsoft, Intel, T-Mobile and others.

Fausel will oversee strategy and execution of all brand and entertainment advertising for Mohegan Sun, as well as maintain collaborative relationships with ad agency partners TAXI, Mintz + Hoke and Media Storm.

Kimberly Cardinal Piscatelli, owner and dealer manager of Cardinal Honda, has been elected to Chelsea Groton Bank’s Board of Trustees. She became a corporator of the bank in 2020.

Kim has been with Cardinal Honda since her father Stan purchased the business over 30 years ago. Since becoming a partner in 2013, she oversaw an upgrade to the service facility which doubled the size of the operation. Cardinal Honda is a recipient of Honda’s Global Environmental Leadership Award.

Kim is an associate member of Submarine Veterans Club and is a contributor to Auto Success Magazine. She is a former president of Connecticut Honda Dealers Advertising Association, and a former board member of New England Honda Dealers. Kim earned an associate degree from Mitchell College and a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Connecticut State University. She resides in Stonington.

Named as new bank corporators at Chelsea Groton’s annual meeting this month were Stephen M. Coan of Pawcatuck, CEO emeritus at Mystic Aquarium; Donna Handley, president of the East Region and senior vice president of Hartford HealthCare; Caleb Roseme, chief operations officer of Assured Quality Homecare; Samanta Descombes-Roseme of Norwich, founder and chief visionary officer at Assured Quality Homecare, and Jonathan Shockley, director of business development for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe.

The Mohegan Sun Arena has been ranked by Pollstar Magazine as No. 1 for its size in the United States and No. 2 worldwide. Also, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment’s new 5,000-seat OLG Stage at Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls has been nominated for "Casino of the Year – Arena" by the Academy of Country Music Awards. It finished the month of March as the top ranked entertainment venue for its size in Canada as well as No. 10 worldwide for its size.

TRAINING

SCORE of Eastern Connecticut will present a free Zoom seminar, “Enhancing Business Competitiveness with a SWOT Analysis,” from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 23.

Analyzing your business’s “SWOT,” or Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, helps identify where to focus and where to improve your business. During this interactive webinar, Eric Munro will help you identify the factors in your SWOT and develop plans for enhancing your strengths and opportunities and overcoming your weaknesses and threats.

Munro is a product management, sales, and marketing executive with experience in high-technology businesses, both domestically and internationally. His career includes consulting in business management for a division of DeVry University as well as teaching graduate MBA classes where he provided his expertise on project and strategic management.

To register, visit https://www.score.org/easternct.

EVENTS

The Greater Norwich Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Uniting for United Food Drive from May 15 to June 1 (collection day on June 2).

There is no cost to register your business to participate. Questions? Call (860) 887-1647 or email info@norwichchamber.com.

Sails Up 4 Cancer has received more than $12,000 from Holmgren Subaru during its Share the Love campaign. The money will allow financially stressed cancer patients to tap into the Spinnaker fund to assist with day-to-day needs like groceries, rent and medical expenses.

Eric Holmgren, president of Holmgren Subaru, is an avid boater and friend to Bob Davis, president and founder of SU4C as well as a two-time cancer survivor. Tom Holmgren was also presented with a Golden Jubilee award in recognition of 50 years of service to Subaru.

Three Rivers Community College student Joseph James Cirrito IV has won the American Technical Education Association 2023 Outstanding Technical Student Award, presented by Dominion Energy. This is a prestigious, national award granted to a student with strong academic performance showing potential in their field of study, in this case as a nuclear technician.

A partnership between Three Rivers and Dominion has resulted in over $218,000 in student scholarship support. Joseph is set to graduate this May from the nuclear engineering technology program after two years as a Dominion Scholarship recipient.

EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

The Chamber of Commerce of Eastern CT Foundation offers scholarship opportunities for high school seniors in the region. Students who are planning to attend college or a technical, vocational or apprenticeship program are eligible to apply by the May 7 deadline. Applications are available at ChamberECT.com/foundation.

The Arc Eastern Connecticut last week hosted a ribbon cutting of The Cookie Factory, a vocational training micro-enterprise for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, at 22 Route 171 in Woodstock. The building also houses The Emporium, an upscale thrift store, and Connecticut’s Donation Station, a redemption and recycling operation. The Cookie Factory, The Emporium and the Donation Station all prepare people with IDD for competitive employment.

To learn more about the Arc ECT’s programs in northeastern and southeastern Connecticut, visit TheArcECT.org or contact Denise Tift at (860) 889-4435, ext. 116.

The Ocean Community YMCA will be hosting a celebration to mark the conclusion of the six-week Annual Support Campaign on Thursday, May 4th, at 5 p.m. at The United Theatre in Westerly. Annually, the Ocean Community YMCA raises funds to support the YCares Financial Assistance Program which funds scholarships that provide community members in need access to Y membership, summer camp, and programming. For information, contact Megan Toscano at mtoscano@oceancommunityymca.org

Aquarion Water Company, which serves several local communities, has set a May 5 deadline for its annual Environmental Champion Awards, recognizing outstanding voluntary achievements.

Winners in the Adult, Non-Profit Organization, and Business categories will have the opportunity to select an environmental non-profit to receive a $5,000 grant. The student category winner (grades 9-12) will receive a $1,000 award.

Winners will be announced June 3. For details, visit www.aquarionwater.com/awards.

EXPANSION

Comcast is expanding the Xfinity 10G Network to the town of Killingly, delivering its full suite of services to nearly 5,600 additional residents in the region.

Comcast’s most recent expansion to Killingly, in addition to Plainfield and Jewett City, is part of the company’s latest investment in Connecticut, which also includes expansions to East Lyme, New London and Waterford.

To learn more, visit Xfinity.com, call 1-800-XFINITY or visit the company’s store at 220 Route 12 in Groton.