Chamber's Annual Dinner: A night to say “Thank-you”

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[February 06, 2015]  LINCOLN - Saturday evening the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual dinner at the American Legion in Lincoln.

The highlight of the evening, the Pride and Progress Awards, recognized businesses and individuals who achieved above and beyond in the past year.

Emcee Benjamin Yount began by summarizing the major change to the Lincoln and Logan County economic development organizations that took place during the year 2014. Yount explained how the Unified Organization Committee was formed to unify these groups for greater efficacy and efficiency in supporting and bringing new business to Lincoln and Logan County. He noted, the group “stood fast in the belief that working together can only mean good things for this community.”

Tourism Bureau highlights

Yount recounted that the Tourism Bureau had reorganized with a new board, had worked to create a strategic plan to increase tourism, and had created a new logo, new website, and a new tag line ‘Our History, Your Adventure’

Chamber of Commerce

He noted that the Chamber had created a new membership structure that would benefit the entire business community. He noted that the Chamber worked hard with the UOC and was still working hard for local business.

Main Street Lincoln

He offered accolades to Main Street Lincoln, which disbanded at the end of 2014. He drew to attention the hard work that group did in bringing events to the community including their contributions to the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival, Trick or Treat with the Mayor, and he said, “one of the most successful Christmas parades that we have seen in a number of years, and some of those events were pulled off without any staff on hand. So Kudos to the board”.

New Logan County Alliance

Yount said the big win for 2014 was the coming together of the four organizational boards. He noted, “Forty-two people in all came together to work towards one goal; to better serve Lincoln and Logan County. And, we can say now in 2015, that the new Logan County Alliance can do just that.”

When finished, Yount introduced Joe Ryan, the 2014 president of the board of the Lincoln/Logan Chamber of Commerce.

Pride and Progress Awards
Ryan with assistance from Hake presented the Pride and Progress Awards for the year 2014.

First up was the New Business of the Year Award, which was given to By the Bean in Lincoln. The award was accepted by business manager David Williams and owner David Lanterman.

The next award was the Beautification Award, which was given to Seth Goodman of ME Realty.

The Excellence in Service Award was given to Roger Webster Construction. No representative was present to accept the award.

The Distinguished Business of the Year Award was given to the Hampton Inn in Lincoln. Accepting the award was Damon Priddy, Jean Bruner-Jachino, and Tina Simpson.

The Mike Abbott Volunteer of the Year Award went to Karen Deany.

Nicole Cox of the Chamber took the stage momentarily to announce the Chamber Ambassador of the Year. This year the honor went to Josh Slightom of Anytime Fitness.

A new recognition was added to this year’s event; the Educator of the Year Award. The first ever award was given to recently appointed Lincoln Christian University, President Dr. Don Green.

Plaques were given to departing board members from the Chamber, Logan County Tourism, and Main Street Lincoln.

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The last order of business for the night was the passing of the gavel and the swearing in of a new set of board members. With the creation of the Logan County Alliance, the Chamber and Tourism Boards are now dissolved, and a new LCA Board has taken over. Joe Ryan passed the gavel to the LCA Board chairman for 2015, Tom O’Donohue.

The new board of directors was introduced by Yount and sworn into service. Those board members are Tom O’Donohue, Greg Basford, Michael Gowin, Jean Bruner-Jachino, Jessica Hanson, Frank Adubato, and Sal Pollice.

The theme for this year’s event was the Roaring 20’s.

The evening began at approximately 6 p.m. with a social hour followed by an excellent buffet style meal provided by Hilltop Catering.

Among the events included for the evening was a photo opportunity for guests. Provided by Jonae Cheger Photography, guests were encouraged to don 1920’s head gear and accessories to sit for a portrait in commemoration of the evening.

Members of the dinner committee dressed in 1920’s costume acted as “cigarette girls” going guest to guest selling 50-50 tickets and raffle chances for some great prizes offered by local businesses. To make their role more authentic, the ladies carried packs of candy cigarettes on their displays and those who purchased tickets had the opportunity to have a pack.

Serving as emcee for the evening was local radio personality Benjamin Yount. As guests completed their meal, Yount was charged with offering up several “Thank yous” to those who had contributed to the success of the Chamber and the forward movement of Lincoln and Logan County in the past year.

He began by thanking the American Legion for the accommodations, Hilltop Catering for the food, and the dinner planning committee members. The committee this year was made up of Allison Pharis, Tammy Thompson, Marsha Darlington, Jennifer Kirby and Connor Brown.
 


Yount also introduced the Chamber staff; Katie Hopper, Sandry Wagy, Nicole Cox, and Andi Hake, along with Sarah Wallick of the Logan County Tourism Bureau.

He acknowledged city officials who were in attendance, Mayor Keith Snyder, Aldermen Kathy Horn, Marty Neitzel, Todd Mourning, and city manager Clay Johnson. He acknowledged Jan Schumacher, who was in attendance representing the Logan County Board.

Next he asked for attendees from specific groups to stand and be acknowledged. These groups included the board members from the Main Street Lincoln Board, the Tourism Board, the Chamber board, Chamber Ambassadors, this years’ Leadership academy graduates, and the members of the board of the newly formed Logan County Alliance.

Finally, Yount thanked CEFCU for their sponsorship of the evening's events and Frontier Communications for its sponsorship of the 2014 Pride and Progress Awards.


At the end of the night, Cox came back on stage to do the 50-50 drawing and with the assistance of Hake the raffle drawing. Raffles items for this year were donated by Graue Chevrolet and Jim Xamis Ford, MKS Jewelers, and J.K. Williams Distilling.

[Nila Smith]

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