The Greater Starkville Development Partnership announced its 2020 Annual Award recipients during this morning’s 20th anniversary virtual award ceremony.
Strange Brew Coffeehouse was honored as the business of the year with the R. Clay Simmons Exemplary Enterprise Award, and Nellah Taylor received the T.E. Veitch Community Service Award, the highest community service recognition within the Starkville Community.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau posthumously honored the late Dan Camp with the Crystal Pineapple Tourism Award for his vision and development of the Cotton District, while the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority recognized II-VI as the Starkville business community’s Industry of the Year.
The Starkville Main Street Association awarded both the Partner of the Year to the Starkville Area Arts Council, and named Mayor Lynn Spruill as the Steve Langston Downtown Revitalization Award recipient.
In addition, four members of the Partnership Ambassadors organization were honored for 19 years of service since the volunteer group’s inception within the organization in 2002: Peggy Buckley, Melanie Mitchell, Pat Lane, and Nina Welch Wofford.
Starkville-Oktibbeha Achieving Results (SOAR) also awarded three teachers of Distinction within the Starkville Oktibbeha School District: Chelsi Brasher, Erin Landrum, and Vijay Pacharne.
President & Chief Executive Officer, Mike Tagert, said, “We are especially proud to recognize and congratulate the 2020 award recipients during today’s virtual ceremony.”
Tagert added, “Now more than ever, it’s important for our organization to honor those who have made such a tremendous impact within the community.”
2021 marks the 20th anniversary for the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, and an in-person celebratory event will be planned in the future as social gatherings become safer and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
The Partnership is comprised of the Starkville Area Chamber of Commerce, Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority, Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Starkville Main Street Association.
For more information on the Partnership, please visit Starkville.org.
