The 95th Annual Plymouth Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony took place Thursday evening at the Swan Lake Resort.
Master of Ceremonies for the event was Francis Ellert from Coca Cola.
The guest speaker for the evening was local attorney Sonny Wyland. Wyland started out congratulating the City of Plymouth on being the 2019 Community of the Year by the State Chamber of Commerce. He then talked about what contributed to the growth of Plymouth Indiana. He said PIDCO for formed in 1958 as a way to grow the community by attracting businesses here. Sonny then mentioned and gave brief stories of some of the early industries; Young Door, American Container, Wiers Trucking, Bomarco, Plymouth Foundry, ITAMCO, Pirod and Aker Plastics.
PIDCO wanted to create an industrial base that was diversified and not all be in the same field. They also wanted to keep companies at 200 to 250 employees so they wouldn’t have trouble like South Bend did when Studebaker went under and 2000 people lost their jobs.
Wyland talked about the growth and vision they had back in the 50’s and 60’s to help Plymouth grow. He also mentioned some of the companies who are here now and expanding like Pretzels Inc. and Culver Tool.
Connie Holzwart, Executive Director of the Chamber then recognized several members who have celebrated milestone anniversaries. Nancy’s Beauty Salon 50 years, Miller’s Merry Manor 50 years, Pregis 50 years, Stockman Coin Laundry now Country Charm Cleaners for 60 years and Johnson Danielson Funeral Home for 140 years.
Several awards were presented during the evening. These awards are voted on by the membership.
The small business award was presented to WTCA AM 1050.
The midsize business of the year award was presented to Plymouth Veterinary Clinic.
The large business of the year award was presented to CTE Solution.
The non-profit of the year award was presented to the Marshall County Humane Society.
Distinguished business woman of the year was Mindy Overmyer with 1st Source Bank while the Distinguished Businessman of the year was local attorney Adam Lukenbill.
The final award presented is the Outstanding Citizen of the Year. This award is selected by the Chamber board of directors. The 2019 Outstanding Citizen was Lyn Ward.
