Fayette County Chamber of Commerce officials are calling the Community Expo held Sept. 14 at New Hope Baptist Church a success.
“The event was an example of Fayette’s enthusiastic community support for local businesses and a resounding success,” said Fayette Chamber of Commerce President Virginia Gibbs.
Gibbs said the expo’s success came both in terms of the sell-out of 125 exhibitor booths and with the more than 2,000 people attending this year. That attendance compares to the 1,500 people visiting last year, Gibbs said.
And Gibbs said this year’s event included something for everyone. There were free giveaways, product demos, restaurant samples, business-to-business networking and, of course, winning prizes, she said.
“It was just a wonderful and beneficial community event,” said one exhibitor. “I can hardly wait to sign up for what is certain to be a fabulous 2011 Expo. I just have to work hard to exhibit and attend — you truly do not want to miss a thing.”
This year’s winners included:
Best Booth Award — Joe Weigle, Safe Harbor Computer Services. The company was recognized for its especially attractive booth, staff knowledge and courtesy, and sales expertise.
Platinum Plate Award — Sponsored by Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree, the award for the “Small Bites” category went to the Ultimate Cafe at Fayette Senior Services. The “Desserts” award was won by Cookie Express.
Future Fayette 2030 School Art and Science Contest — The winning team was from Starr’s Mill High School, which received $500; each winning student on the team received a notebook computer. Teacher sponsors were Todd Little and Jenny Kelly.
“I think it was truly exciting to see the vision of the young people and their excitement to be involved in the future of the community through this contest,” said competition coordinator and Rotarian Pam Young.
Gibbs said the winning entry was “Dr. John,” a vision for a “smart home” component — a toilet that could perform key monitoring and preventative medicine tests and measurements such as urinalysis, weight, blood pressure, and then send the data directly to a healthcare provider.
A popular competition was the Wii contests held at the Expo, Gibbs explained. Winners were Trevor Dunlap and Carter Rogers, the “Pirates,” for first place. Second place went to Mike Dunlap and Michael Lear of Southern Federal Credit Union. Ron Thiem and Kevi Schrain, the “Superior Junkies,” from Bishop-Thiem Septic Tank, Inc. took third place.
The 2010 Community Expo was presented by Delta Community Credit Union.
