The Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce will host its78th annual banquet to highlight local achievements and recognizeseveral award recipients later this month

The banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Thames Center atCopiah-Lincoln Community College on Thursday, Nov. 18.

“This gives us the opportunity to bring everyone back together,”said Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce Executive VicePresident Cliff Brumfield. “It allows us to highlight theaccomplishments and award the hard work of our membershipbase.”

Brumfield expects roughly 230 people to attend the banquet. Guestswill observe as plagues are given to outgoing board members, newboard members are inducted, awards are handed out such as Educatorof the Year, Industry of the Year, Ambassador of the Year andlisten to keynote speaker Marshall Ramsey, editorial cartoonist forthe Clarion-Ledger.

In attendance will be chamber members, city, county and stateofficials, all of which Brumfield says collaborate to help create asuccessful business environment in Brookhaven. Brumfield added thebanquet also allows the chamber to thank those officials for theirhard work and support.

“One of the best assets to our city is the relationship ourcommunity has with elected officials,” said Brumfield.

Chamber President Jeff Doremus also credited the businesscommunity’s accomplishments to the networking between businessowners and area officials.

“I think the year for Lincoln County has gone pretty well,” saidDoremus. “In my opinion, more positive than negative. That’s a lotbetter than some locales can say.”

Doremus’ year as chamber president will end in January.

In reflecting, Doremus thinks it has been a good year for thebusiness community.

He said Brookhaven saw a couple of new businesses a month untilOctober. He also said he has enjoyed his experiences interactingwith the community and getting to know business ownersbetter.

“For me, it’s been a real positive experience,” said Doremus. “Isee real positive things for the area in the future.”

In Doremus’ future, he thinks he will stay involved with thechamber and community events. He is also looking forward to gettingplugged back into the Ole Brook Festival.

King’s Daughters Medical Hospital CEO Albert Hoover will replaceDoremus in January.

While chamber Program Director Kay Burton would encourage people tojoin the chamber of commerce, the event is open to the public.Tickets are $25.

Burton thinks one of the benefits of going to the banquet is to geta fresh look at Brookhaven.

“Sometimes on the inside, we don’t realize that we have somethingspecial,” Burton said.