The Shindig Room was full on March 25th as the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism held their annual awards banquet at Needle in the Haystack, LLC to recognize winners in the following categories:
Volunteer of the Year
Business Person of the Year
Excellence in Small Business
Award winners and honorable mentions were recognized in lovely fashion by those who chose to nominate them. Ruth Reeder received the award for Volunteer of the Year. Business Person of the Year went to Tammy Cook of TLC Advanced Life Support, LLC. TMS Excavating received an Honorable Mention in the Excellence in Small Business category, as did Travis Abbott of Abbott's RC Sales and Service. Recipient of the award for the Excellence in Small Business category was us, the team at Needle in the Haystack, LLC - Carol & Dave Tebo, Taylor Morton, and Dustin & Jamie Bivens along with interns Luke & Avery Bivens.
We wanted to take a minute to express our gratitude for the nomination, and the selection for this award. The following message was posted to our Facebook Page following the banquet:
We aren't really sure where to begin.
When we found out that we had been nominated for this award by John Johnston, we were humbled and grateful. We hadn’t even been officially open a year. When we found out we were selected for the award, words cannot describe the feelings we felt. On Friday night at the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism’s Awards Banquet, we were presented with this beautiful award. We were able to select John to present the award to us which is a moment we won’t soon forget.
For those of you who don’t know, we are a family run business. 3 generations of family who have came together to turn the family farm that they all grew up on and loved into a space that can be enjoyed by all. When we made the decision in the fall of 2020 to become an event venue, we knew we didn’t want to just do weddings, but we wanted to be a space that the whole community could come to and enjoy. All 5 partners are active volunteers and sit in various organizations within the county and we wanted to carry that mentality over into our business and be able to continue to give back to the community that we know and love. We wanted to be able to help out people of our county who are in need. We love that we have the ability to donate our facility for use for the greater good and to help bring people together to support a cause that is bigger than all of us. We take great pride in that, along with every other event we have.
We couldn’t do this without the support of the community either. The attendance for our events and benefits has been amazing, and that’s what keeps us going. The fact that we were accepted and supported as a new business to the extent that we have been has made us realize how truly lucky we are. We’re thankful for every event whether it be a benefit, a birthday party, or a wedding. We’ve enjoyed working with each and every one of our clients and can’t wait to continue to do so in the years to come.
We want to give special recognition to some of the people who helped make this possible:
Jim DeGaetano, Aaron Jackson, & Jeff Cohick - our legal and financial team - for helping us draw up a business model and getting this started. Rita & Deena of PDM Insurance Agency for helping us navigate the waters with coverage. Randy Bunch & the crew of R.H. Bunch Construction for taking our vision and bringing it to life better than we could’ve imagined. Curvin Weaver, our electrician, for wiring the whole place and allowing us to constantly add more to it as we went. Jeff Shearer of Shearer’s Plumbing and Heating for all of the work he did in getting us set up. Nic Erickson and Chance Reecher for their work on our sound system. Morgan Daniels for the design of our logo and website. Jessie Covalt of Jcovalt Photography for always taking our venue pictures. Charlie Harr of Charlie’s Art & Soul and his family for their continued partnership. We’re sure we missed a few people, but know we’re thankful for every one of you that assisted us.
Most importantly, we want to thank our friends and family. Behind every event and behind the 5 of us partners is a support system of help and love that are constantly doing behind the scenes. From helping out with renovations to helping run the concession stand, there’s a whole network that we rely on that just want to see us succeed. We love you guys and cherish you.
We’ve made some great connections and new friendships so far during this journey and are looking forward to what else is to come for us in the future.
We’re not sure what else to say. We’re humbled. We’re thankful. We appreciate all of you. Thank you.
With Love,
Dave & Carol Tebo, Taylor Morton, and Dustin & Jamie Bivens along with interns Luke & Avery Bivens
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