By By Adam Prestridge
A sellout crowd will be on hand Thursday evening for the 60th annual Atmore Chamber of Commerce banquet featuring keynote speaker Gov. Bob Riley.
Chamber director Emilie Mims said tickets to this years banquet sold out quicker than in years past leaving many Atmore residents and business owners out in the cold.
"It was sold out on Friday," she said. "We were hoping that we would uncover some more available tickets on Monday, but it is now definitely a sellout. We're always sold out, but usually not quite this fast. This Chamber banquet has been a sellout for at least the last eight to 10 years. I think people come to see who the citizen of the year and for a lot of people it's a social event."
The sellout crowd of 260 guests will enjoy a dinner at 6:30 p.m., which will be followed by Riley's address, who will be introduced by Atmore Industrial Development project manager Jim Corman.
"We're expecting a very exciting evening with our Governor here," Mims said. "It's not everyday that we have our Governor as our keynote speaker. We're very pleased and very interested in what he has to say."
Those on hand will have the opportunity to hear Gov. Riley 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.
"Preparations for the banquet are going fine," Mims said. "We are getting there inch-by-inch. It's been a bit of a battle this year, but we'll get there."
The winners of the 2005 Citizen of the Year Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award will also be announced at the annual meeting.
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.