Chamber hearkens back to Roaring 20s

A century ago, the '20s were a period of optimism and affluence, and the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce hopes the current decade of the '20s reflects the spirit and economic well-being of the Roaring 20s that began in 1920.

At the chamber's annual banquet Thursday, members recalled the Roaring 20s in style. Men wore pinstripe suits and fedoras, women wore shimmering flapper dresses, long strings of beads and glittering headbands decked with feathers.

One reason for the high spirits, however, was a garment that was missing, the COVID-19 masks of the 2020s. As pandemic conditions ease, hopes are that business recovery will accelerate.

The 1920s were also known as the Jazz Age, and Thursday's banquet featured live jazz, most of it from decades later than the 1920s, from Northshore, a quartet that featured two Eastern New Mexico University music faculty members, a current student and a former student of ENMU.

Thursday night's theme was "Back to Business in the Roaring 20s."

While the atmosphere was festive, the chamber got down to serious business with awards and recognition.

The chamber bestowed its most prestigious award, the Warm Heart of the Sunbelt prize, on retiring ENMU Chancellor Patrice Caldwell, recognizing her 42 years with ENMU and in the city of Portales.

In accepting the award, Caldwell said that when she moved to New Mexico 42 years ago from California, after receiving degrees from the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles, "New Mexico was as exotic and remote as the moon."

Now, she said, after retirement, "I won't leave Portales."

"I can't tell you how much this award means to me," she said.

Other speakers included outgoing chamber president Felicia Powell and incoming president Chase Gosett.

Powell congratulated the Portales business community for achieving "normalcy in abnormal times" during the pandemic.

"Our business community has adapted and survived" through the pandemic, she said. "Some businesses have thrived.'

Gossett concluded his remarks by proposing a toast to Portales as "a light on the hill for others to see."

Enchantment Vineyards, which operates grapevines, makes wines and operates a tasting room in Portales, received a President's Award that goes to a business chosen by the chamber president, usually with help from the chamber's board.

Powell noted that Enchantment Vineyards is a business that "displays a culture of service to its community in its business practices."

Enchantment, she said, is a business that displays a culture of service to its community in its business practices."

She also noted that the vineyard involves six members of the same family who own and operate the business.

Five businesses received Harley and Faye Borden awards for improvements in appearance in appearance over 2021.

They included The Milk Shed, which sells food and dairy products; the J.P. Stone Community Bank; Roosevelt General Hospital; Good Life Senior Living; and the Legacy Church

Peggy Goolsby, owner of the Sweetwaters at Landalls coffee shop, received the Workhorse of the year award for her efforts that have included maintaining a database of local restaurants, making food deliveries for community organziaitons, tracking down movies for the chamber's Amassador Free Movie Nights, and donating "usually more than expected" when asked to contribute, said Karl Terry, the chamber's executive director in presenting the award to Goolsby.

Terry also presented a review of events of 2021, which featured a return to live events that were postponed or canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The restored events, he noted, had "the biggest turnout ever," including the Homecoming Parade, Movies in the Park, Heritage Days in July, the Roosevelt County Fair, the Peanut Valley Festival, and the Christmas Parade.

The Christmas Parade, Terry said, returned to moving past parade goers. In 2020, he said, the parade was "static," which meant vehicles drove past parade entries, which the pandemic made necessary. The static parade caused major traffic problems, he said.

In 2021, he said, "People were ready to get out and have fun."