The Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC) will host its fourth annual Fall Signature Event on Thursday, Nov. 1, highlighting a local manufacturer of health and natural pet food.

Freshpet, based in Hanover Township, Northampton County, will be the featured company at the event, which will highlight the company’s role in the community, recent initiatives, and the impact that manufacturing has on the Lehigh Valley.

The event will be open to LVEDC investors and held on Thursday, Nov. 1, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Blue Grillhouse at 4431 Easton Ave in Bethlehem. Visit here for additional information.

Attendance is free, but pre-registration is required. LVEDC investors can call 610-266-6775 or contact Diane Milia at dmilia@lehighvalley.org to register.

The event comes just a few months after Freshpet announced plans to expand its manufacturing capacity in the region, which is expected to create 100 new full-time jobs over the next three years, and a total of 200 new jobs once running at full capacity.

Each year, the Fall Signature Event spotlights an existing company in the Lehigh Valley that exemplifies a particular industry, in this case food & beverage processing.

Previous companies highlighted by the LVEDC Fall Signature Event include Mack Trucks, Crayola, and Victaulic.

The Nov. 1 event highlighting Freshpet will include remarks by Freshpet CEO Billy Cyr.

The event will begin with networking from 4:30 p.m., following by an hour-long program starting at 5 p.m. Networking, refreshments, and hor d’oeuvres will follow beginning at 7 p.m.

Freshpet, which makes fresh refrigerated food for cats and dogs, plans to renovate an existing 50,000 square foot building and build a 90,000 square-foot addition at its campus at Hanover Township.

“The rapid growth of the Freshpet brand behind our Feed the Growth strategy requires us to bring online additional capacity by mid-to-late 2020 to support our continued growth and enable us to serve more pets,” Cyr previously said.

“It also allows us to provide more career opportunities for the dedicated and talented employees who have helped deliver the success we have had so far,” he said. “We are very excited to have the opportunity to further advance our manufacturing expertise and expand our Freshpet Kitchens campus in Pennsylvania with the support of our local and state governments.”

Freshpet has committed to investing more than $84 million in the project. Production start-up is slated for the second half of 2020, subject to the timing of permits and construction.

Food and beverage processing has been identified as one of the four optimal target industries for the Lehigh Valley based on the site-specific characteristics of the regional economy. The others are high-performance manufacturing, high value business services, and life science research & manufacturing.

This event is made possible in part through the generosity of our presenting sponsor, Highmark; our silver sponsor, Lehigh Valley Health Network; our cocktail sponsors, Baker Tilly and Klunk & Millan Advertising; and our community sponsor, Earthres.