Chamber banquet unites town in celebration

By Matt Cizek | The Winchester Sun

Each year, the Winchester-Clark County Chamber of Commerce unites the Clark County com­mu­ni­ty at its annu­al banquet.

People from all walks of life, from local ath­let­ics to bank­ing and more, gath­er to rec­og­nize and appre­ci­ate what the orga­ni­za­tion has done.

2026 was no different.

On Thursday, May 7, at Bluegrass Community and Technical College’s Winchester-Clark County cam­pus at Rolling Hills Lane, the Winchester-Clark County Chamber of Commerce ban­quet and silent auc­tion drew hun­dreds of attendees.

“What we basi­cal­ly do as a Chamber…(is) we keep our com­mu­ni­ty alive,” said Tim Duncan, President of the Winchester-Clark County Chamber of Commerce.

In mak­ing the above state­ment and ref­er­enc­ing the Chamber’s year­ly event, Duncan also allud­ed to reg­u­lar cham­ber break­fast meetings.

“How many places do you go where you see a gath­er­ing of 320 (or) 330 peo­ple?” he said. “It’s peo­ple you may not see once (or) twice a year, (but) you’ll see them, and you’ll see them here in Winchester.”

Greg Feeney, President of Bluegrass and Community Technical College, spoke of how host­ing the event was a treat.

“We are so hap­py to host peo­ple in this facil­i­ty. Reason num­ber one is (that) we would not have this if it (weren’t) for the part­ner­ships that we have here,” he said. “It was Mayor (JoEllen) Reed and many oth­er peo­ple (who) helped us land this deal, and it has been a game chang­er for our college.”

Many cor­po­rate spon­sors, with staff present at the event, were thanked.

Among them were Burke & Herbert Bank, Catalent Pharma Solutions, Centerpoint Health-Winchester, Citizens Bank of Kentucky, the Clark County Health Department, Clark Energy Coöperative, Members Heritage Credit Union, Stuff Recycling, WWKY Radio, the Winchester-Clark County Industrial Development Authority, and more.

Shortly after a social hour and din­ner, which includ­ed green beans, chick­en, mashed pota­toes, and more, sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als and com­mu­ni­ty con­trib­u­tors were rec­og­nized with awards.

Awards and win­ners were as follows:

Business of the Year: Hamilton Brooks Design

Nonprofit of the Year: Clark County Animal Shelter, led by Director Addie Wills (award accept­ed by father-in-law David Wills)

Community Service of the Year: Ken Howard

Citizen of the Year: Carolyn Burtner

Director of the Year: Betty Jean Glasscock, own­er of Court Street Gifts

Partners in Education (PIE) Partner of the Year: Community Trust Bank (pre­sent­ed by Greg Yates)

Graham Johns Downtown Award: Jason Stanfield, own­er of Red River Landscaping

Ale-8-One, which is cel­e­brat­ing its 100^th year in 2026, also received spe­cial recog­ni­tion for “bot­tling a cen­tu­ry of excel­lence”, with an award pre­sent­ed by Duncan and accept­ed by Sheila Frye.

As award win­ners were announced, many were over­come with emotion.

Amanda Adams, own­er of Hamilton Brooks Design, spoke on the business’s behalf after for­mer President Darryl Terry announced the award.

“I was not expect­ing this. I just want to thank all of you. I know so many of you in this room. I grew up here,” she said. “I know our busi­ness works with a lot of you already. We hope to keep grow­ing that busi­ness, and we’re going to stay down­town and love our downtown…we want peo­ple to come to Winchester as a destination.”

Later in the evening, after all awards had been giv­en out, the win­ners of the spe­cial auc­tion were announced.

Items includ­ed a Blackstone grill set, Whiskey and Wiles Photography gift set, Ale‑8 gift bas­ket, and much more.

As a spe­cial treat, Gary Hess of Hess Construction Company, who won the famous German choco­late cake made by Carolyn Burtner, allowed ten pieces to be auc­tioned off.

To the crowd’s delight, Magistrate Robert Blanton, draw­ing on pri­or expe­ri­ence as an auc­tion­eer, came to the podi­um and over­saw the dis­tri­b­u­tion, with more than $1,000 being raised from dis­pers­ing the cake alone.

By night’s end, Winchester-Clark County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cindy Banks had pos­i­tive words for all.

“I want you all to award your­self for com­ing and stick­ing it out,” she said. “Thank you for con­nect­ing with one anoth­er. That is so important.”