The Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Dinner and Business Celebration sponsored by Mercy Health and CSI was held at the Paducah-McCracken County Convention Center and Expo Center on January 27.  The theme was “Celebrating the Spirit of Our Community.”

The 2022 board chair Cory Hicks, Business Services Director at Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, officially passed the gavel to Brent Housman, Senior Vice President and Financial Advisor at Baird, as the board chair for 2023.

The Chamber honored several area businesses and individuals with their annual awards (additional information on the award winners follows the listing):

Business of the Year – Bacon Farmer Workman Engineering and Testing and Marcum Engineering

Small Business of the Year – Paducah Beer Werks

Entrepreneurs of the Year – Jeff and Sharolette Pierce, Atomic City Family Fun Center, Inc.

Co-Citizens of the Year – Tony Reck and Tom Garrett, Paducah & Louisville Railway

Summit Award – Computer Services Inc.

Non-Profit Organization of the Year – The Carson Center

Leadership Paducah Alumnus of the Year – Chris Black, Ray Black and Son, Leadership Paducah Class #4. This award is selected and presented by the Leadership Paducah Alumni Association.

Young Leader of Western Kentucky – Eric Straub, Attorney and Member/Partner, Whitlow, Roberts, Houston & Straub. This award is selected and presented by the Four Rivers Business Journal of The Paducah Sun.  There were 10 finalists honored. (Full list follows.)

Chairman’s Awards – Ken Wheeler and Bill Paxton. This award was presented by 2022 Chamber Board Chairman Cory Hicks.

NEW: Spirit of the Community Awards –

• Sprocket
• Randell Blackburn (Community Financial Services Bank)
• Texas Roadhouse
• The four local school systems: Paducah Independent Schools, McCracken County Schools, St. Mary School System and Community Christian Academy

The Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce is the region’s largest business advocacy organization with more than 900 member partners and one of the larger Chambers in the state. The Chamber is 5-star accredited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and has twice been named “Chamber of the Year” in 2017 and 2011 by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), and was one of three finalists for ACCE “Chamber of the Year” (Category 2) in 2022.