Outside The North Miami Chamber of Commerce - At Last

I first became involved with the Chamber of Commerce when I was shooting for the North Dade Journal and also the City of North Miami. The Chamber sponsored the annual Miss North Miami Pageant and they needed photographs of the girls for newspaper publicity and for their program. Penny Valentine pretty much produced the pageant herself, twisting arms to get "volunteers" to help out, twisting more arms to get advertisers in the program book, sponsors for the contestants themselves, and then selling tickets to both the pageant and the Miss North Miami Pageant Ball.

One of our Miss North Miami winners, Sandra Santiago, ended up playing the lead female detective in the Miami Vice TV series. Greenwich Studios, where Miami Vice was headquartered is less than a mile away from here. This year we finally made the Big Time when Miss North Miami Jenna Edwards was crowned Miss Florida.

Penney and her husband Bill Valentine were realtors before "retiring", and Bill was on the City Council for a number of years. Now, when most folks would be glad to be celebrating at least a decade of retirement, they're both still active and at the Chamber office everyday, and neither of them looks their age, not even close!

The office is at the corner of West Dixie Highway and N.E. 131st St. The coffee pot is always on. There's parking behind the building. Whatever you need to know about North Miami you can find out at the Chamber. I still end up going to a couple of meetings a month here even though I'm not currently on the board of directors.