By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Good food, live music, and oh, the big awards. Those are some of the planned highlights for Saturday's 104th Annual Great Bend Chamber of Commerce Banquet at the Great Bend Events Center. Chamber CEO Megan Barfield said everything will begin with a social hour.
"The doors open at 6 p.m., and we will have a cocktail hour sponsored by our friends at Equity Bank," she said. "That first hour, as people are coming in and connecting with friends and other businesses, we'll have that cocktail hour. Dry Lake has our bar open this year. We'll have a couple of grazing tables thanks to Paxton (Rein) at Proper Boards & Picnics."
Eagle Media's Shannon Towns will emcee the event, which will feature a live jazz quartet and food made on site by Alan and Gail Moeder with A & G Catering. The banquet, which will culminate with several awards presentations, is presented by Spectrum Partners LLC and The University of Kansas Health System.
"We are celebrating a bunch of amazing individuals," Barfield said. "It feels like our Chamber awards, but our community awards at the same time because these are people and businesses who don't just show up for their chamber family, but they show up for the entire community."
The main program will begin around 8 p.m. The Chamber will recognize the NextGen Leader of the Year, Citizen of the Year, Business of the Year, and a Legacy Award winner.