WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 80th anniversary with a Gala on July 16, presenting awards to the best of its best.
With 164 in attendance, Chamber President Dillon Pullen welcomed members and friends to the dinner/dance at The Barn at South Winns that featured music by Sherri Caffaro and catering by Sarah N’ Geo’s.
New board officials were announced – Tina Johnson (chair), Mary Nappa (vice chair), and Kimberly Roberts (treasurer). New member, Winnsboro Attorney Croom Hunter was also named to the board to replace outgoing board member Charlene Herring.
Highlight of the evening was the presentation of awards to the Chamber’s best.
Small Business of the Year
The 2025 Terry Vickers Small Business of the Year Award went to Ridgeway Marketplace.
In January 2023, owner Liz Humphries opened Ridgeway Marketplace at 110 South Palmer Street, formerly home to The Cotton Yard Market. Ridgeway Marketplace offers a large variety of consigner booths and has become a shopping staple in Historic Downtown Ridgeway. Humphries also owns and operates Blythewood Consignment Store.
Industry Partner of the Year Award
The Fitz-John Creighton McMaster Industry Partner of the Year award was presented to BOMAG. The FAYAT Group, which owns and operates BOMAG, was founded in 1857 in Libourne, France and has grown to more than 230 subsidiaries with a presence in 170 countries. It is the world market leader in the field of compaction technology and manufacturer of machines for the compaction of soil, asphalt and refuse. It also manufacturers stabilizers and recyclers, milling machines and pavers.
In 2015, the FAYAT Group established their North American headquarters in Fairfield County and employees more than 120 people. Last month, the county celebrated the $13.7 million expansion of the FAYAT Group with a 100,000 square-foot parts and distribution facility, bringing 75 new jobs to our county.
Citizen of the Year Award
The Phillips-Edenfield Citizen of the Year award went to LaToya Mickle-Hill and the family of Ron Wyatt.
LaToya Mickle-Hill, a community advocate, is employed by Prisma Health Urgent Care and Fairfield Behavioral Health. She is an alumna of Fairfield Central High School and holds a bachelor’s degree from USC Upstate College of Nursing, a master’s degree as a family nurse practitioner, and post master’s certification specializing in psychiatric mental health. She is currently pursuing a doctorate degree at the University of South Carolina.
As a dual certified family and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, Hill has made significant contributions to her community through various initiatives.
In 2019 she started Operation Equipping Students, a project created in collaboration with members of Evergreen #126, Order of the Eastern Star to provide essential classroom supplies for Fairfield schools. They have hosted back-to-school bashes and awarded 11 college scholarships to Fairfield County graduating seniors.
The late Ron Wyatt began his career with Nationwide Insurance in October of 1974, from humble beginnings in a one-room closet office located across from what was then the TG&Y store on Kincaid Bridge Road.
A year after the category four tornado hit Winnsboro in 1984, Nationwide closed the county to insurance sales and Ron had to move his office to Chester. He was allowed to keep the customers he already had in Winnsboro and went to great lengths to continue to serve their needs – spending time in Winnsboro certain days of the week and arranging for them to drop their payments off at various locations in town. He also set up a 1-800 number so that his clients wouldn’t have to call long-distance.
Ron and his son, Mark, reopened the Winnsboro office in 2001. He was one of the most successful agents in the region and, until his death earlier this year, Ron’s motto was to love his customers and treat them like family.
Tourism Partner of the Year Award
The Tourism Partner of the Year award went to the South Carolina Railroad Museum.
The story of the museum begins with the construction of the “Rock City Railway” by the Winnsboro Granite Company at Robinson Station in 1883. The railway was constructed to the Rock City Quarry (later known as Rion) and hauled monument granite and later crushed stone for many decades to Robinson (now known as Rockton). There it was picked up and transported by the Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad, a precursor to today’s Norfolk Southern Railroad.
Fast forward to 1983, when Martin Marietta Aggregates conveyed the property of the Rockton-Rion Railway to the South Carolina Railroad Museum – including the stone yard at the Rion quarry and the entire right-of-way of the railroad. The South Carolina Railroad Museum and associated Rockton Rion and Western Railroad were designated by Legislative Resolution as the official Railroad Museum of South Carolina, and it has continued over the past 40 years to grow and evolve.
