Yadkin County Chamber of Commerce members gather for 2015 annual dinner and awards banquet at Tractor Brown’s Museum in Yadkinville.
File photo
For more than 30 years the Yadkin County Chamber of Commerce has hosted an annual banquet an awards ceremony in January to celebrate the accomplishments of local businesses and community leaders. In light of the continued safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s celebration has been put on hold.
“This year will be our 32nd Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet — after much discussion, the Chamber Board decided to not hold virtually and to wait until such time as we can safely meet in person — hopefully late this spring or into the summer,” said Bobby Todd, director of the Yadkin County Chamber.
In the early days, the annual meeting was in the Yadkinville School Multipurpose room, but the event has grown to a much larger space in recent years. Todd said the Yadkin Moose Lodge, Holiday Inn in Jonesville, Shelton-Badgett Viticulture & Enology Center at Surry Community College in Dobson, The Studio at Hanover Park Winery, Tractor Brown Museum & Event Center are among the past locations the event has been held.
For the past several years, the ceremony has taken place in the Banquet Room of the Yadkin County Agricultural and Educational Building on the grounds of the Yadkin Center of SCC.
The annual meeting of Chamber members has been a time to present awards to local businesses as well as community members in the areas of leadership, economic development, partnership, volunteerism, and the Chairman’s Award.
New awards were introduced in 2005 and 2009 to recognize service as well as local farmers. In 2005, the Duke Energy’s Citizenship & Service Award was first presented to Wayne Matthews.
CMS Insurance and Financial Services began sponsoring the Yadkin County Farmer of the Year in 2009; Lenuel Chamberlain was the first recipient.
The 2019 award winners included: Mary Reavis, Volunteerism Award; Tom Bastable, Community Service Award; Shore Scholars Program, Impact Award; Hands of Hope/Yadkin Medical Clinic, Chairman’s Award; Apache Solutions, Entrepreneurship Award; Moxley Family Farm, Yadkin Famer of the Year; and Ed and Dorothy Carter, Duke Citizenship Award.
Solicitation for nominations for the 2020 awards will be posted once a date is selected for this year’s meeting and banquet, possibly later this year.
For more on the Yadkin County Chamber of Commerce, visit yadkinchamber.org or call 336-679-2200.
Kitsey Burns Harrison may be reached at 336-258-4035 or follow her on Twitter @RippleReporterK.