81 years ago, on August 7th of 1944, the Carmi City Council voted to unanimously back the formation of the Carmi Chamber of Commerce. For 81 years now, 7 businesses have provided rock steady support. They’ve been there since the beginning and Monday night at the Carmi Chamber Annual Dinner, they were recognized for their unwavering commitment to Carmi. Included in the presentation were Carmi Lumber Company, Carmi – White County Unit 5 School District, The City of Carmi, Conger & Elliott, Jordan Funeral Group, Rice Motor Company, and the White County Farm Bureau.
Scott Rice, the 2009 co-Citizen of the Year with his brother Todd, and representing Rice Motors, the 2021 Business of the Year said the town is what you make of it. He recounted a story of two families moving to an unnamed town asking a local what kind of settlement they were arriving at. The parties gave vastly different answers, one saying they came from a horrible place and the other saying they hated to leave it. The local told both their new towns would be about the same. The local’s grandson then asked why he gave the families in tow such opposite answers. Rice says the grandpa replied…
It has nothing to do with the town. It has everything to do with your attitude and how you feel about life. If you have a positive attitude and a good feeling about life, wherever you go it’s going to be great; if you don’t, it won’t. That’s how I feel about Carmi. That’s what brought me back here. It was such a great place to grow up and it’s a great place to live.
Executive Director Megan Newman added these businesses’ commitment through generations is what makes Carmi strong and the Chamber looks forward to celebrating many more anniversaries.
