By Hillary Gavan
For StatelineBusiness

ROSCOE -- The Roscoe Area Chamber of Commerce celebrated the village's growth during its 2008 Annual Dinner held at the Ramada Inn in South Beloit in January.

Former Chamber President Penny Billman kicked off the evening by handing over the gavel to incoming 2008 President Matt Ambrose and introducing Kathy Dyrdahl, the Chamber's new executive director.

Roscoe Director of Economic Development Mary Cacioppi gave the keynote address of the evening.

"Roscoe is one of the fastest growing communities in Winnebago County," Cacioppi said.

A special census in 2005 revealed there are 8,780 people living in Roscoe, a 54.1 percent increase from 2000. The average cost of a home in Roscoe is $215,000 and the average household income is $69,000, or 30 percent higher than that of Winnebago County.

Roscoe also has 167 acres of parks, 3 miles of nature trails and three adjacent forest preserves.

Cacioppi said the village is taking a more proactive stance towards business than it has in the past and will kick off sewer and water projects this year to help make sites shovel-ready for developers.

Growth corridors predicted in Roscoe are the Highway 251 and Elevator Road intersection with daily traffic counts of 18,000 and the Rockton and Willowbrook Road intersection with traffic counts of 8,700 daily.

After a live auction hosted by Prairie Hill School Superintendent Ted Rehl, Ambrose gave out awards.

The Person of the Year Award went to Penny Billman, the 2007 Chamber president and senior research associate at Northern Illinois University.

The Business of the Year Award went to NorthPointe Health and Wellness. Frieda Pulkowski, director of NorthPointe Terrace accepted the award.

The Distinguished Service Award went to Jim Hasler, owner of Padgett Business Services.