The annual Martinsville State of the City event, hosted by the Martinsville Rotary Club and the Greater Martinsville Chamber of Commerce, was slated to take place in mid-March this year, but like so many other local events, was postponed due to the ongoing pandemic. In this everchanging COVID-19 climate, the planning committee, led by Karen Dransfield, decided that there was not a clear path to holding an in-person event yet this year. However, Rotary members and the Chamber board of directors felt that it was important to preserve the major aspects of the occasion that brings business and community leaders together to celebrate all things Martinsville.
While the featured speaker is always the mayor, who delivers that annual State of the City address, the annual event also provides an opportunity for the co-hosts, the Martinsville Rotary Club and the Martinsville Chamber, to highlight their community projects and activities that happen throughout the year.
Traditionally, the president of the Martinsville Rotary Club takes a few minutes to share some remarks about the Rotary and the wonderful things they do in our community. Thanks to Steve Sonnega for leading the Rotary for the past year!
The Martinsville Chamber is lucky to have a wonderful board of directors. It is traditional for the board chair to address the 300+ attendees at the annual State of the City Dinner. Although we were unable to meet in person, due to COVID-19, we wanted to make sure that the Chamber and Rotary remarks didn’t get lost in the shuffle. Thank you, Darcy, for your leadership and for representing the Martinsville Chamber so well!
Thank you to Mayor Kenny Costin for being so flexible as the State of the City Committee looked at the various ways to reinvent our annual event. We appreciated his willingness to record his inaugural State of the City address as we moved toward a virtual event. We would like to send a very grateful shoutout to Jamin Baxter, Inside Morgan County, and Luke Helmer, Home Bank, for doing a great job on this series of videos!