We are looking forward to continuing some

Volume 1, Issue 1
January 2015
Business Builder
Happy New Year!
Photograph of Gordon Institute graduating class, Barnesville, Lamar County, Georgia, 1912
Vanishing Georgia, Georgia Division of Archives and History, Office of Secretary of State.
Inside This
Issue:
Business Spotlight
3
Business After Hours
4
Drugs Don’t Work
4
Awards Banquet
5
Member 2 Member
6
Empty Stocking Fund
10
Jingle Bell Jog
10
Battle of the Bones
11
The Barnesville-Lamar County Chamber of
Commerce is gearing up for a brand new year! We
are looking forward to continuing some of our
great traditions here in the community and we are
excited about beginning some new ones as well.
If you are interested in volunteering with one
of our festivals or other community events, please
give us a call or send us an email! We look forward
to working with you in 2015 and want to wish you a
Happy New Year!
Business Builder
Page 2
January 2015
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Schedule of Events
January 1st: Happy New Year!!!
January 5th: Barnesville Battle of the Bones
Meeting at 6 pm
January 15th: Strategic Planning
January 15th: Business After Hours
January 16th: Last day to purchase Awards
Banquet Tickets!
January 19th: Martin Luther King Day
January 21st: Drugs Don’t Work Kickoff
(Business Exchange)
January 22nd: Awards Banquet
January 26th: Relay for Life Meeting
The Methodist Church will be hosting
their annual Daddy-Daughter Dance
on Saturday, February 7 from 7:00
p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Barnesville
Civic Center.
Tickets to the event are $5.00 per
person and are available at the
Methodist Church and
Goggan’s Florist.
For questions or more information,
please call (770) 358-1494.
Page 3
Volume 1, Issue 1
Business Spotlight
Handcrafted Pottery &
Custom Designed Jewelry
by George Weldon
100 Liberty Hill St.
Milner, GA 30257
George Weldon first began making pottery at the
urging of his wife several years ago and it became a
hobby for him. He has taken several pottery classes
at Gordon State College to expand his experience
and talent. More recently, after one of his wife’s
earrings broke and needed repairing, Mr. Weldon
branched out into making jewelry as well. Some
pieces of Mr. Weldon’s beautifully handcrafted
pottery, as well as some of his custom-made pieces
of jewelry, are displayed for sale at Lamar Arts.
Want to win a free ad
in our newsletter?
Join us at the January Business
After Hours event and you could be
featured here next month!
Page 4
Business After Hours
Business Builder
Please join us at our monthly Business After Hours meeting for January.
This month’s meeting will be hosted by:
There will be food, trivia, prizes, and we will draw for the
$75 jackpot and February’s Business Spotlight.
816 College Drive
Barnesville, GA 30204
(678) 359-1800
This month we will not be hosting a Business
Exchange meeting, however we will be hosting a
meeting in its place. On January 21st from 10:00
a.m. to 12:00 p.m. we will be hosting the Drugs
Don’t Work kickoff event at the Chamber.
Participating businesses that go through the
process of becoming a certified drug-free
workplace and pay worker’s compensation
insurance premiums will see their premiums
drop by 7.5%. Chuck Wade from The Council on Alcohol and Drugs will be on hand
to present the program for the Chamber as well as answer any questions you may
have concerning program enrollment.
If you would like to attend the event, please RSVP with the Chamber at (770) 3585884 or e-mail [email protected] by January 14th.
The 32nd Annual
Community Awards Banquet
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 5
Barnesville Civic Center
Thursday, January 22nd, 2015
7:00 pm
Tickets: $25
Outstanding Citizen of the Year
Outstanding Business Person
of the Year
Presented by
The Barnesville-Lamar County Chamber of Commerce
Presented by
The Barnesville-Lamar County Chamber of Commerce
Please come out and join us as this is an important event for our community. The Awards Banquet
is the time when many of Barnesville’s most valuable citizens are recognized for their hard work
and leadership in our community. The Chamber of Commerce sponsors two awards: Outstanding
Citizen and Business Person of the Year. Other awards that will be given out include: Volunteer of
the Year Award (Barnesville Lion’s Club), Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award (Dewaine T.
Bell Difference Makers), Farmer of the Year Award (Barnesville-Lamar County Farm Bureau), Career
Woman of the Year Award (Barnesville Rotary Club of Barnesville), the Brittain Cauthen Firefighter
of the Year Award (Lamar County Fire Department), and the STAR Student/STAR Teacher.
Tickets are available until January 16th, 2015 at the Chamber of Commerce office located at 100
Commerce Place. This is a catered event and tickets will not be sold at the door. The space is
limited so please secure your tickets as soon as possible.
This event will be catered by Humble Pie Catering and the menu will include a spring mix salad with
strawberries, cranberries, walnuts, and goat cheese, chicken marsala, baked salmon with a roasted
red pepper cream sauce, squash frittata, green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls, assorted
desserts, and tea.
For more information about the event, please contact the Chamber at (770) 358-5884.
The 2015 Lamar County Relay for Life event will be held on April 10
from 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Lamar County Recreation walking
track. If you would like to serve on the event committee, you are
invited to attend the meetings, held at 6:00 p.m. at St. George’s
Episcopal School. The final meeting dates will be held on:
January 26
February 23
March 23
Also, if you would like to sign up your business/organization as a
team, please contact Marshall at (229) 376-6003.
Empty Stocking Fund
for 2014
Every year, the people of Lamar County collect and donate toys as well as
money to buy toys for the Empty Stocking Fund. The Empty Stocking Fund
is a program that helps to ensure that underprivileged children in our local
area have a wonderful Christmas, something that every child deserves. This
year, United Bank hosted its Annual December Business After Hours Event
to benefit the Empty Stocking Fund on December 4th, 2014. By that date,
approximately $7,000 had been raised just in monetary donations. With
the amount of toys donated by that date included, the Empty Stocking Fund
was already very close to reaching their goal of $15,000.
However, by the deadline for donations, they had surpassed their
goal, allowing some toys to be saved for the following year. We
would like to take a moment to thank everyone for their
donations of toys, money, and time that helped to make this year
a very successful one and we hope that the Empty Stocking Fund
continues be successful for years to come!
Jingle Bell Jog
December 13th, 2014
Lamar County hosted its first Jingle Bell Jog this year! The Jingle Bell Jog
is a 5k run and walk that raises money to purchase a Christmas dinner
for needy families in our local area while promoting healthy living.
Participants pay a fee to run or walk the 5k and afterwards are treated
to refreshments and given the opportunity to take pictures with Santa.
For its first year, the Jingle Bell Jog went very well with approximately 50
participants and raised enough money to provide a Christmas dinner for
5 different families! Thank you to all the people who made it possible
and a special thank you to the Lamar County Family Connection
Collaborative, the Lamar County Health Department/WIC Department,
and the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension/4-H Department for
organizing this event!
On May 1-2, downtown Barnesville will host the Barnesville Battle of the Bones
Festival. In 2013, the BBQ competition was featured on the Television show BBQ
Pitmasters. The event is sanctioned by the Florida BBQ Association and was
declared a State Championship Cook-off by Governor Sonny Perdue in 2009. Last
year, 36 pro cook teams competed in the event, which was also an automatic
qualifier for the World Food Championships held in Las Vegas, NV.
The Custom Auto and Truck Show will feature cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other
custom vehicles. The show will be held in the United Bank parking lot and will
begin at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 2. Registration is $15.00 per car.
The 2015 Barnesville Battle of the Bones Festival has been declared by the FBA as
the Georgia State Championship. Our competition is also a qualifier for the
following events:
1. Jack Daniels Invitational (The Super Bowl of BBQ World Championships)
2. American Royal in Kansas City, MO (The Largest/Oldest World Championship
3. The FBA’s new invitational “Sonny’s Smokin’ Showdown Invitational” with a
guaranteed purse of $68,000! Our Grand and Reserve Champions will be
invited to compete on January 29, 2016!
This year, we will also award the 8th annual Dewaine T. Bell scholarship in
memory of the late Mayor Dewaine T. Bell. The scholarship is paid for by festival
sponsorships as well as memorial paper pig sales. We will also be bringing back
the ancillary contests, people’s choice, vendors, live entertainment, the kid’s park,
and much more!
We are proud to announce that this year’s festival chairman is Tim Rooks of
Bankston Lumber Company. If you would like to participate in the festival or would
like to volunteer, please call the Chamber at (770) 358-5884 for more information.
President’s Corner
Happy New Year! As I sit here and ponder over all of the exciting
events coming up in January, I cannot help but to think that in a few
days I will have been with the Chamber for one year. This past year has
taught me a lot of great lessons not only about the Chamber, but about
myself as well. So many wonderful things were accomplished in 2014
and I cannot be more excited for the upcoming year.
Marshall T. Hooks
President/CEO
Barnesville-Lamar County
Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 506
Barnesville, GA 30204
Phone: (770)358-5884
Fax: (770)358-5886
Email: [email protected]
www.barnesville.org
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Strategic planning is only two weeks away and the board will meet to
decide the Chamber’s program of work for the year. I am extremely
optimistic that we will have a great year. I know I have said this on a
couple of occasions, but I would like to thank you once again for
welcoming me into the community and I look forward to working with
you this upcoming year.