Chamber awards dinner Thursday at Liberty Theatre

The 57th Annual Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Celebration Dinner and Awards Ceremony is expected to be an evening full of food, music and entertainment options, chamber officials announced this week.

The event, which will feature an awards ceremony honoring several local businesses and businesspeople, and both live and silent auctions, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27 at The Liberty Theatre, 113 S. Main St. Attendees can listen to jazz music played over the theater's sound system as they dine and participate in the evening's activities, FSACC President and CEO Vicki Pritchett said.

"We want to make it a very classy and jazzy evening for everyone," she said.

Dinner for the evening, which will begin at 7 p.m., will include roast pork tenderloin and all the trimmings courtesy of a local professional caterer. Bidding on several items included in a silent auction will take place before the dinner when the doors for the event open at 6:30 p.m. Several new items this year donated by area businesses that will be available for bid in that auction include gift certificates donated by local businesses, a photography package, art prints, a television, a ladies' watch, a steak package, and others.

Pritchett said the theme of the celebration, titled "Hats Off to You," was chosen to recognize those chamber members who worked hard to recruit 112 new members during a three-day chamber membership drive in Bourbon County last fall.

"It will be in recognition of last fall's membership campaign," she said. "We wanted this event to truly be an appreciation dinner."

In November, about 80 chamber members participated in the drive -- which officials called the largest in chamber history -- in an effort to drastically increase the chamber's membership for lobbying purposes in Topeka. The drive was the first event since 2005, but after last year's event, chamber officials said they plan to conduct one every few years. The chamber membership now stands at 441 people, officials said.

Pritchett said the March 27 celebration will also include a live auction for several more valuable items, including luxury suite tickets to Kansas City Chiefs home games; two of Gordon Parks' poems signed by Parks; an $800 "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" spa package donated by the Courtland Aveda Salon and Spa; a "Boys Will Be Boys" whiskey tasting package donated by local residents Jim and Martha Scott; a backyard barbecue donated by local resident Ken Lunt; a trip by plane to a desired lunch location donated by local businessman Jim Smith; and a shrimp boil for eight people and twilight cruise on Lake Fort Scott donated by local residents Larry and Beth Nuss.

The celebration will also include an awards ceremony to honor several local businesses and businesspeople in a variety of categories, including Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Agribusiness of the Year, and the Keystone Award, which is a lifetime achievement award that is presented annually to a person or couple who have remained active in the business world and community for several years.

New categories featured in the awards ceremony this year include the New Business of the Year category, which will be presented to a business that has operated for three years or less; the Businessperson of the Year, which will be presented to a person who personifies the traits of a good businessperson; the Young Professional of the Year, which will be presented to a local businessperson who is 35 years of age or younger; and the Community Spirit Award, which will be presented to a business that has worked the hardest to contribute and add to the overall enhancement of the Fort Scott community, Pritchett said.

Before the event, a reception sponsored by the chamber to welcome Pritchett to the community will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Lunt's home, 512 S. Judson St. Tickets for the event cost $20 per person. Local business owners who wish to invite employees to the dinner may purchase a table sponsorship for a group of eight or more people for $200.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the FSACC Visitor Information Center at 231 E. Wall St., or call the chamber at (620) 223-3566.