A busy year only gets busier for the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce as hot off the heels of its yearly installation banquet, the body prepares to host the first of its monthly luncheons for 2025. To discuss the busy times, the luncheon and what’s coming up for the chamber, Executive Director Barbie Haeck joined Castle Country Radio for a wide-ranging conversation.

Opening the discussion, Haeck covered the Chamber’s Installation Banquet held on Jan. 23. “ It was a great success … They always knock it out of the ballpark like they always do. It looked beautiful.”

As a part of this banquet, the chamber presented several awards to businesses and community members, starting with the Business of the Year, ” this year they did Business of the Year. Sometimes we do small and large business awards, but this year they decided to do a single award and chose Flawless Sheeting. They were chosen not just because they are a terrific business, but because of what they do for the community.”

Haeck continued, “ This year we gave away a Community service award to Kari Richardson from Apple Country Home. We also did a hospitality award, we haven’t done that before and that went to Bill Hicks at Farlaino’s Café. And then of course we did a board member of the year, and this year it was C.J. McManus.”

Haeck moved from the past and looked to the future, speaking on the Chamber’s upcoming luncheon, which will be held on Thursday, Feb. 20 at the Sure Stay Plus Hotel. “Steve (Swinburne) was a speaker for us a couple of years ago and it was about expectation and communication. And man if you missed that I’m sorry because I have people call and ask me if they can hire him to speak to their employees. I’m looking forward to listening to his take on self-leadership.”

As is tradition, the Chamber will also spotlight two businesses in Hilliker Tech and Toby’s Bar and Grill and a community spotlight for Utah State University Athletics. “ Hilliker Tech does information technology services and Toby’s Bar and Grill is going to talk about what they offer. And then Jess Brinkerhoff from USU Eastern Athletics will talk to us about their upcoming casino night and what you can expect from the athletic department this year.”

The final item Haeck touched on was an upcoming ribbon-cutting ceremony for the anniversary of Bill Hicks reopening Farlaino’s Café. “ We talked about doing a ribbon-cutting for Bill (Hicks) when they first opened but he just wanted to make sure everything was dialed in and then it just got away from us. So we’re celebrating his anniversary with a ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, March 4 at noon.”

Closing out our conversation, Haeck shared,” Just be sure to register for the luncheon by the 13th. You can do that online at CarbonCountyChamber.net or call me at the office at 637-2788.”

To stay up to date with what’s going on with the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce you can visit their website or find them on Facebook.