CHAMBER CELEBRATES COLDEN BREWERY WITH RIBBON CUTTING

Colden Brewery

618-973-8802

117 E. Broadway, Centralia, IL

ColdenBrewery@gmail.com

Colden Brewery, in partnership with the Centralia Chamber of Commerce, hosted a ribbon cutting Friday afternoon in honor of the recently opened business.

The event was heavily attended and featured several chamber members, downtown business owners, city officials, local media representatives, and members of the public.

Speaking with the chamber moments after the ceremony, owner Ric Neikes said Colden Brewery was a passion project five years in the making.

“We looked for two years for a building downtown. When we finally found one, it took us a year before we were actually able to get started on it. Then, it was about another six months to get to this point,” Neikes recalled. “I wouldn’t be able to do this without my family’s support, my friends’ support, and really the city as well. It’s been a long journey, five years, but I’m super excited and super happy to see it come to fruition.”

Neikes said he is happy to be a part of Centralia’s growing downtown, and that owning the business has been a dream come true.

“It has always been a dream of mine to own my own business and be able to help out my hometown,” Neikes said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

City Manager Galen Mahle commended Neikes and the Colden Brewery staff on behalf of the city, saying, “You can’t say enough about what Ric is doing here, about what’s going on downtown, everything that’s going on within the community. I’ve been the new city manager since almost the beginning of this year, and I feel like we haven’t gone more than a couple of weeks without a ribbon cutting or a new business opening. That just goes to show what’s actually happening in Centralia.”