By By Janet Little Cooper
The invitations are out and the reservations are coming in for the 60th annual Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce banquet.
The event, which is slated for the evening of Thursday, Feb. 2 at the Atmore Lions Community Center, will feature guest speaker, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley.
"We are excited and pleased that Governor Riley has agreed to speak at our annual meeting," Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce director Emilie Mims said. "I am sure that our members will be interested in hearing his comments about our state. Alabama has certainly come through some challenging and exciting times in the last four years. We are eager to hear Governor Riley's comments on the future of our state and Atmore's role."
According to David Ford, a spokesman for Gov. Riley, the governor will address the climate of business in Alabama; focusing on the progress being made in the state's economy. His talk is likely to include the state's lowest percentage of unemployment ever recorded at a current 3.5 percent.
This year's banquet will also commemorate the Chamber's change of leadership from P.D. Pollard, who serves as marketing president of Escambia County at United Bank, to Dale Hurst, executive vice president and chief operating officer of First National Bank &Trust.
The winners of the 2005 Citizen of the Year Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award will also be announced at the annual meeting.
"We should reach capacity crowd at this years event," Mims said. "We have already received quite a few reservations. We are planning for a really special event this year with the governor being our guest speaker."
Tickets are $22 each for members and $26 for non-members and can be purchased by calling the Atmore Chamber at 368-3305.
Reservations must be made by Friday, Jan. 27, 2006.