The Marshall County Chamber of Commerce kicked off a busy fortnight of activities with something new on Thursday.

The chamber held a legislative coffee at the Lewisburg Rec Center, featuring an update from the county’s two elected representatives in the General Assembly, the announcement of the citizen of the year, and introductions of the current title holders and the contestants for the upcoming Miss Marshall County pageants.

Rep. Rick Tillis and Sen. Shane Reeves welcomed the morning’s crowd with a short introduction of recent developments in Nashville.

“Tennessee is in great shape right now,” Tillis explained. “Tennessee has the lowest debt responsibility per person.”

He also mentioned that the demand for skilled tradesmen for industry in Marshall County is growing. Low unemployment is complicating the search for qualified workers.

Sen. Reeves reemphasized the current shape of the state. After introducing himself to the crowd, Reeves covered his current projects and addressed the state testing issues that happened in April.

“We passed a bill that says teachers, students and the schools would not be held accountable,” Reeves said. “We’ve had several upset families, upset teachers, upset principals and upset superintendents.” Frustrated by the state’s ongoing testing problems, the state has moved forward picking a new vendor for the online testing. Education is one the five main expenditures of the state approved budget. According to Reeves, every single dollar of the $37.5 approved budget goes to education, transportation, healthcare, corrections and social services.

The Chamber of Commerce recognized Marshall County resident Curtis Johnson as 2018 Citizen of the Year. In his letter of nomination, he was recognized for being a “wonderful example of a caring and concerned person.”

Also, the chamber introduced the current title holders and contestants of the upcoming Marshall County Pageant, which is on June 30 at 6 p.m. at the Lewisburg Recreation Center.

The Chamber is moving the pageant this year to avoid conflicts resulting from the traditional July 4 date.

The parade will still take place on the 4th of July, beginning at 9 a.m.

Entry forms for those wishing to participate in the parade are available from the Chamber of Commerce. The theme of this year’s parade is “It’s a Grand Old Flag.”