Foster honored as Citizen of Year at Chamber of Commerce Banquet

Four individuals were honored Saturday night during the Awards Banquet sponsored by the Portageville Chamber of Commerce. The event was held in the Portageville Community Center. The award banquet had been held since the mid 2000's.

Kelly Kellams was selected as Farmer of the Year, Bill Foster was selected as Citizen of the Year, Donna Hawkins was selected as Teacher of the Year, and Dr. Clint Klipfel was selected as Business of the Year.

"On behalf of our entire chamber, I would like to welcome you to the Annual Awards Banquet! This event is a long-standing tradition of the past that we are very excited to be bringing back to the calendar, said Dr. Clint Klipfel, President of the Portageville Chamber of Commerce."

"Events like these allow us to come together to celebrate our awesome unique community in which we are so fortunate to have and be a part of. Without our local schools, businesses, agricultural market and citizens like each of you, Portageville would not continue to be as prosperous and successful as it

has been for so many years," he said.

Klipfel then explained some of the recent and new events the Chamber has conducted and hopes to continue with.

"In the past year, our small Chamber has really tried to make a BIG impact on the community! Our 70th Annual National Soybean Festival was a great success with large crowds and participation! We also

ramped up our efforts with the Holiday Open House, offering Horse-drawn wagon rides, raffles, and of course the Second Annual Tree Lighting ceremony," said Klipfel.

"New to the calendar last Christmas was the Cocoa Crawl which brought out large crowds to shop local and enjoy even more holiday cheer! This Spring, we also added the Bunnies and Blossoms

Event featuring none other than the Easter Bunny! Despite the weather, we were still able to hold our first GLOW egg hunt, rain boots and coats in tow."

"We look forward to growing this event to be even bigger and better in the future. In addition to special events, we have also re-structured our meetings, now offering three meetings per month!

We invite everyone to attend our Coffee Club, Lunch Bunch or General Business meeting each month; more information about each of those can be found on our Facebook page or just ask any chamber members," he added.

The Awards Ceremony honored the top four nominees in the following categories:

Farmer of the year, Citizen of the Year, Educator of the Year, and Business Person of the Year!

Due to technical advances from the last awards banquet, Klipfel explained how the process worked.

"The chamber accepted nominations for each of the categories for time frame of two weeks. Forms were either emailed or hand-written and turned into the Chamber. The nominations were then compiled

and reviewed. The top four nominees of each category were then comprised and put onto the official ballot.

Voting was open for a two and a half week period to the entire community via online and paper ballot.

Voters could vote up to one time per day during that time frame. At the end of the voting, the winner was chosen based on total number of votes from the community.

The Chamber had no impact on voting or choosing the final winners-for which we are extremely thankful as there were some tough choices and very tight races," he said.

The first award was presented the Farmer of the Year. The nominees are: David Klipfel, Kelly Kellams, Lee Richardson and Mike Rone.

The winner of Farmer of the Year is a man who loves farming almost as much as he loves his family. He has seen many ups and downs in the industry but has never waivered. His hard work, dedication and passion for our town and farming is what makes Mr. Kelly Kellams the Farmer of Year!

Kelly Kellams humbly accepts his plaque for Farmer of the Year. Kellams is a not only a one of a kind family man, he also has a big passion for farming. He is a friendly face and helpful smile to all he meets. He dedicated his life to farming and has instilled that drive to work hard in the generations following him. -Scott Seal photo

Kelly Kellams humbly accepts his plaque for Farmer of the Year. Kellams is a not only a one of a kind family man, he also has a big passion for farming. He is a friendly face and helpful smile to all he meets. He dedicated his life to farming and has instilled that drive to work hard in the generations following him. -Scott Seal photo

The nominees for the Citizen of the Year are Bill Foster, Don Rone, Luke Keene and Neil Essary. The Citizen of the Year is a man who has spent many years and countless hours serving his community. He is a very likible person and appreciated by many. This year's Citizen of the Year is Mr. Bill Foster.

The nominees for Educator of the Year are Amy Moylan, Christina Brands, Denise Darst and Donna Hawkins. The winner of Educator of the Year is Donna Hawkins. She not only teaches the core subjects, she is teaching the value of work ethics and how to grow in the community to become an asset and productive citizen. The best teachers are those who tell you where to look but don't tell you what to see.

Dr. Clint Klipfel presents Donna Hawkins with the Teacher of the Year Award at the Chamber Awards Banquet Saturday night. She genuinely cares about the well-being of each child that walks the halls of PHS. She is involved with many activities such as the food drive, toy drive and many more-all of which she uses to encourage her students to show kindness, respect and thankfulness in everything they do. Many nights you can find her at the kitchen table, helping a student study for an exam or write a resume. -Scott Seal photo

Dr. Clint Klipfel presents Donna Hawkins with the Teacher of the Year Award at the Chamber Awards Banquet Saturday night. She genuinely cares about the well-being of each child that walks the halls of PHS. She is involved with many activities such as the food drive, toy drive and many more-all of which she uses to encourage her students to show kindness, respect and thankfulness in everything they do. Many nights you can find her at the kitchen table, helping a student study for an exam or write a resume. -Scott Seal photo

The Business Person of the Year nominees are Betty Roston, Dr. Clint Klipfel, JoBeth Williams and Trey Rone. The winner of Business Person of the Year is Dr. Clint Klipfel. He is a person who runs a successful business while also helping others grow theirs. This person is generous with time, talent and inventory which is living proof of God's promise that if we give, he will super-fold it for us.

Dr. Clint Klipfel accepted the award from Chamber member Joy Partin. Klipfel owns two businesses in town and is very involved in the community. He goes above and beyond to help our community, including the less fortunate and those facing a medical problem. He became President of the Chamber of Commerce in August where he continues to work to promote small business growth. -Scott Seal photo

Dr. Clint Klipfel accepted the award from Chamber member Joy Partin. Klipfel owns two businesses in town and is very involved in the community. He goes above and beyond to help our community, including the less fortunate and those facing a medical problem. He became President of the Chamber of Commerce in August where he continues to work to promote small business growth. -Scott Seal photo

On a final note, the dates for 71st Annual National Soybean Festival have been set for October lst-6th. Official calendar announcements will be made but one noteable change is that Main Street Madness will

conclude the festival on October 6th rather than be at the beginning. The theme for festival is..."Music of Days Gone By-Dancing Through the Decades"

Klipfel give a special thanks to Lori Robinson, Tonya Vannasdel, Joy Partin, Millie and Joey Terrett and Nick Cartee for their help in planning and executing Awards Banquet. Also to Lester Vannasdall of

Old Habits BBQ for the Dinner, and Juice Box for the Sound System.