SRC Banquet will move to Sikeston Municipal Airport

SIKESTON — The Sikeston Regional Chamber Banquet will have a fresh new feel this year.

Held for years at the Sikeston Armory, this year’s event will be held Oct. 21 at the Sikeston Municipal Airport. The change comes after the successful meet-and-greet held last year behind City Hall due to COVID-19.

“After last year’s event, we sent a survey to get feedback on this version of the event,” said Marcie Lawson, executive director of the Sikeston Regional Chamber. “One of the things mentioned most often was that people liked the ability to congratulate the award recipients in person that evening.”

With limited space at the Armory, Lawson said the banquet committee started discussing alternatives that would allow for both formal seating for the program and casual standing room for networking.

“This led us to the airport hanger which offers more room and more convenient parking,” Lawson said. “Plus, this is a celebration of our community, so it’s nice to host the event at a city facility.”

Mandy Leible, chairman of the SRC Banquet, said there were other positives as well.

“With the hangar being both indoor and outdoor it will give the banquet a fresh new feel,” Leible said. “Which is just what we need going in to 2022.”

Another change will be the presenting of the awards. Last year, awards were presented virtually and then recognized again at the meet-and-greet. Due to the success and feedback from last year, this year five awards will be presented virtually and five will be presented at the event.

“This means that those receiving Civic Group of the Year, Law Enforcement of the Year, Sikeston Jaycee Distinguished Service Award, Small Business of the Year and Business of the Year are surprised with their award ahead of the Banquet and captured on video,” Lawson said. “Mark Marshall with John Mark Photography is putting together the videos so they have the professionalism that our recipients deserve.”

The videos will be shared on Facebook the week of Oct. 11 and will be shown at the banquet. The Educator of the Year, SRC Volunteer of the Year, Emerging Leader of the Year, Citizen of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award will all be given live the night of the banquet.

“We anticipate this will shorten the program slightly, again allowing for more time to celebrate with our award winners,” Lawson said.

“Making the banquet a hybrid of last year and years past will allow us to keep with tradition in honoring our award recipients in a big way and also give banquet goers adequate time to congratulate each recipient,” Leible added.

Lawson said that changing the location of the event as well as the format has been scary, but she praised Sikeston City Manager Jonathan Douglass and City Staff who have embraced the idea from the beginning.

“They have been extremely helpful every step of the way, even fast-tracking the installation of new heaters at the hanger,” Lawson said. “Chris Hart and his team at the airport have been fantastic to work with as well. We’ve been out there several times already and they are accommodating every time,”

Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe will be the guest speaker at the banquet.

“The Lt. Governor has played an integral part in securing funding for the infrastructure needed to bring Carlisle Construction Materials to Sikeston,” Lawson said. “We felt he would give a unique perspective on how we all must work together when it comes to industrial recruitment.”

Typically around 400 attend the event and Lawson is hoping for that or more again this year. She said those who have never been to a SRC Banquet should give it a try.

“We’ve got a lot to talk about when it comes to great things happening in our community and the work the Chamber, economic development and tourism team is doing,” Lawson said. “We also have fantastic award recipients this year who I’m excited to recognize. I challenge anyone attending to leave and not feel inspired about our community.”

Lawson praised Leible and her committee for putting together the event and handling all the changes to this year’s banquet.

(The committee) has brought realistic solutions to every potential problem we could identify,” Lawson said. “I’m sure there will be another kink thrown at us before it’s over, but we’ll work through that when it’s presented. I have no doubt that this year’s annual awards banquet will be a great event to recognize those businesses and individuals who work hard to make Sikeston a better place to work and live.”

Leible said she is excited for the banquet.

“Our team has worked hard to come up with fresh new ideas and I think every person in attendance will agree that we delivered,” Leible said. “I personally cannot wait to honor all of our deserving award recipients Oct. 21.”