Cape Chamber honors members, celebrates milestone

Not only did the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce celebrate current community members and businesses who have made a difference in the community, but it also marked a major milestone, the 100th anniversary of the chamber's official start, at its annual dinner on Friday.

"May we remain strong, viable, vibrant, responsive and effective," chamber president and CEO John Mehner said. "For the next 100 years and more."

The annual banquet was held at the Show Me Center with several individuals and businesses receiving recognition in front of a crowd that surpassed 800 people.

Charles L. Drury, a founder of Drury Hotels, was bestowed the Rush H. Limbaugh Award, and the entire Drury family was recognized for their impact.

"This extraordinary family has been so instrumental in enhancing the quality of life in Cape Girardeau and in many other places," David Limbaugh said. "I love how the Drurys have lived out their belief in traditional values and remained closely knit as an extended family, even as they separated some of their business operations. They were enormously successful together and they have all prospered in their various enterprises -- and through the generations."

Jim Limbaugh talked about the family's education, which came from "core family values, a relentless work ethic, a strict adherence to quality, integrity and perhaps most of all a devotion to their church."

Small Business of the Year was a tie between Begley, Young, Unterreiner & White LLC and Bennett Family Dentistry.

Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Brenda Newbern was named Ambassador of the Year.

Mehner was recognized as a recent recipient of the Leadership Missouri Graduate Lifetime Achievement Award from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Congratulations to all those recognized. We wish you the best and we wish the chamber good fortune in its next 100 years.