MacArthur Park owner Mahoney honored by Chamber of Commerce

Each year, the Nassau County Council of Chambers of Commerce recognizes 40 merchants and professionals as the organization’s Small Businesspeople of the Year for their contributions to their hometown chambers and communities.

This year’s honorees include restaurateurs, a legislator, a musician, a therapist and owners of businesses ranging from a nail salon to a gas station and a leather-goods repair shop.

One of those restaurateurs was Tom Mahoney, owner of MacArthur Park in Rockville Centre. He was recognized for his generosity in helping a newly-married couple with their reception during last January’s blizzard.

“{It was} very nice,” Mahoney said. “It was nice to be honored by the chamber and the local businesses.”

Nick and Allison Gubelli were married on Jan. 23, but a blizzard that dropped over two feet of snow on Long Island prompted their original reception hall to request a postponement because of the hazardous conditions. Allison’s brother’s fiancée, Liz Compagnoni, who used to work at MacArthur Park, got in touch with Mahoney, who opened his restaurant for the couple and personally picked up each member of his staff to work the reception.

Mahoney also stopped at an Oceanside bakery to pick up a custom cannoli cake.

“It was great to see so many people there,” he said of the reception.

Honorees were recognized at a special breakfast on Oct. 21 at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, attended by Lt. Gov. Kathy Hocul. Mahoney was vacationing in Florida at the time of the ceremony, so his daughter, Tara, accepted it on his behalf.

Mahoney was honored during the Rockville Centre Board of Trustees meeting on Nov. 7 for his generosity as well as hosting fundraisers and charity events and sponsoring youth league teams.

“Thomas is always lending a helping hand and opening doors to anyone in need,” said trustee Ed Oppenheimer. “He bends over backwards, pleases customers, as well as staff. When the members of the community find themselves stuck in a rut, they know they could count on Tom for help.”

Rockville Centre Chamber of Commerce president Greg Schaefer said that choosing this year’s winner was not difficult.

“This year was a very easy choice to select Tom and MacArthur Park,” Schaefer said. “They’re wonderful to the community, both the chamber and businesses alike.”

Julie Marchesella, the outgoing president of the Council of Chambers, said that the honorees have given back to their communities through volunteer work, either through their local chambers or community organizations. They represent “Main Street’s finest,” she said.

Marchesella noted that a number of chambers have created scholarship funds for graduating high school seniors. The Merrick Chamber of Commerce, she said, began such a fund when she was president for nine years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and has continued it ever since. The Merrick chamber annually awards three $1,500 scholarships, she said. The chamber sponsors a Kids Fest carnival fundraiser to support the scholarship fund.

The Council of Chambers, which now has 6,000 members, formed in 1979, when officials from the Baldwin, East Meadow, Franklin Square, Freeport, Garden City, Great Neck, Hempstead, Hicksville, Levittown, Long Beach, Massapequa, Merrick, Rockville Centre and Westbury chambers, and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce of Long Island, gathered at a workshop and discussed the need to pool their resources.