Chamber Of Commerce

FIRN, the county government, the county Economic Development Authority and the county Chamber of Commerce are sponsoring the seventh annual American Success Awards Dinner from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. May 6 at the Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville. Tickets are $75; $675 for a table of 10. Purchase online at www.firnonline.org or send a check to FIRN Inc., 5999 Harpers Farm Road, Suite E-200, Columbia, MD 21044. Information: 410-992-1923.

Corridor Chamber events The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber of Commerce's 52nd annual Masquerade Ball is scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 28 at BWI Marriott Hotel, 1743 W. Nursery Road, Linthicum. There will be a silent and live auction and performance by The Capitol Steps. Tickets are $100 per person, $950 for a table of 10. Information: 410-792-9714 or 301-725-4000, ext. 102. Leadership Anne Arundel Leadership Anne Arundel hired Kathleen M. Nieberding as Director of Development. Nieberding is responsible for raising funds for Leadership Anne Arundel's Executive Leadership Series, Flagship and Neighborhood Leadership Academy Programs.

Winter Farmers' Market opens today in Annapolis The Winter Farmers' Market will open today at Westfield Annapolis Mall on the first level of the Nordstrom parking garage off the Bestgate Road entrance. The market will be open 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Sundays through April 26. Chamber January events Southern Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce announced its monthly activities for January. The South County festival meeting will be held 6:30 p.m. at the Chamber office, 5503 Muddy Creek Road, Churchton, to discuss this year's festival.

Frank W. Welsh, a one-time aide to former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley who went on to serve as director of the Baltimore County Department of Community Development, died Saturday of kidney failure at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 76. Mr. Welsh was born in Baltimore and raised in Govans. He was a 1950 graduate of City College, where he had been drum major in the school's marching band. An accomplished musician, Mr. Welsh played the clarinet and saxophone. "He also formed an 11-piece swing band - Frank Welsh's Orchestra - and played at dances around Baltimore in the 1950s," said his wife of 48 years, the former Regina Holter.

The Hadassah 2008 Check It Out Challenge will be held Sunday at Hunt Valley Towne Centre, 118 Shawan Road. The challenge is a 5-kilometer run/walk starting at 8 a.m., and a 1-mile fun run at 8:15 a.m. Registration begins at 6:30 a.m. The 5K run/walk will take place on roads near the mall, and the fun run will take place around the mall. Registration fee is $30 in advance at www.active.com, and $35 the day of the event. Proceeds benefit Hadassah's health programs in the Baltimore region.

For Katie Essing, transitioning from one Columbia to another has been quite the shift. Essing, 33, began work as The Mall in Columbia's senior general manager June 30, leaving her post as general manager of Columbia Mall in Columbia, Mo. She was hired in May to fill the spot left open by Karen Geary, who resigned in April. "It's a beautiful property. It's got fantastic retailers and restaurants, and it's just an exciting opportunity," Essing said of the Howard County mall, which is owned by General Growth Properties Inc. The Chicago-based company also owns Columbia Mall and Capital Mall, two shopping centers in Missouri that Essing managed since 2005.