The Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce held their annual meeting during their luncheon held at the Uintah Conference Center on Tuesday. This was the 71st year for their annual meeting and the meeting was an uplifting experience. Chamber Executive Director Joel Brown expressed his appreciation for the solidarity of the business community and how inspired he was by how the Vernal area reacted to the unique circumstances the last few months. He listed several examples of great things that have happened in the midst of the uncertainty including the well loved Cruisin’ Main nights. Chamber President Sidney Smith also commented on the difficulty of the past few months emphasizing that “Challenges make you stronger as long as you allow them to.” In addition to conducting their annual business, several awards were presented. L&L Motor Company was named the Business of the Month and Mike Labrum was there to accept the award. L&L Motor has been family owned and operated for over 65 year and has deep roots in the Uintah Basin. The Outstanding Public Service Award was given to Vernal City Manager Quinn Bennion. Bennion served as a City Manager in Kansas for 20 years before returning to his hometown in 2017 when he accepted the position with Vernal City. Since then he has served on an already long list of committees all aimed at lifting the community, including his close involvement in seeing the Hotel Vernal Haunt a success for two years so far. Quinn’s award was presented by Congressman Rob Bishop who was also the meeting’s special speaker. Bishop’s speech will be the focus of another news highlight that will be shared Thursday on www.BasinNow.com. 
Mike Labrum (Center) L&L Motor.
