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Celebrating Mardi Gras in Odessa

The Odessa Chamber of Commerce held its annual banquet March 16 in the community center in recognition of all the volunteers who make events happen in Odessa throughout the year.

The award for Business of the Year went to Leffel, Otis & Warwick, the CPA firm that allows its employees the latitude to help the community in many different ways. Manager Todd King was on hand, as were two of his employees, Larissa Zeiler and Melissa Schafer.

The Person of the Year award was presented to Lindsy Starkel for her work spearheading the establishment of an expanded commercial kitchen in the community center. She has worked tirelessly to obtain grant money, scour the area for lightly used commercial equipment, hire contractors, line up volunteers and perform any number of other duties to keep the project moving forward.

The theme of this year’s banquet was Mardi Gras, and Jan Webster provided the appropriate atmosphere with the decorations and activities. A trivia game was played in which all of the questions were about the state of Louisiana. Ellen Van Hevel, a relative newcomer to Odessa, won the trivia contest and received a prize of gift certificates from Odessa businesses.

Chiefs Bar & Grill supplied the no-host bar, Helping Hands Catering provided the dinner of pork roast and vegetables either with or without Cajun seasoning, and the Garrett Bartley Band played music for the dance that followed the dinner.

 

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