The eighth-annual Groundhog Day Breakfast — sponsored by the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce and McDonald’s of Fayette County — will be held at the Mahan Building on the Fayette County Fairgrounds Monday, Feb. 3 at 7 a.m. with two guest speakers and a new special award.
“This year’s Groundhog Breakfast will truly celebrate the deep agricultural roots of Fayette County,” Fayette County Chamber of Commerce President Julie Bolender said. “Along with our event sponsor, McDonald’s of Fayette County, we will be awarding the first-ever Agri Business of the Year award. We plan to continue this award yearly as we seek to celebrate the many successes of our ag businesses and business people. We encourage everyone to call the office and secure your seat as this event is open to the public and we truly hope those involved in the vocation of agriculture will make a point to attend. This will be a great morning of networking and education with a wonderful breakfast provided by The Willow.”
The first speaker will be Andy Vance. According to the Chamber, Vance communicates today’s issues in the agriculture and food retail industries through powerful storytelling. As a compelling speaker and expert commentator, Vance helps audiences understand how to understand the often distinct perspectives of farmers and consumers. He has presented to hundreds of groups in agriculture and related professions, and been called upon to moderate discussion panels for the Animal Agriculture Alliance, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting and several land-grant universities.
Vance began his career in farm media as a college intern in Columbus, and spent 10 years as a broadcast journalist at WRFD-AM, the Buckeye Ag Radio Network and ABN Radio. He earned the Horizon Award from the National Association of Farm Broadcasting in 2005, and with his team won multiple newscast and news service awards. During his time behind the microphone, he became a noted authority on the use of digital and social media in agriculture. In 2010, Vance made the transition to print media when he joined Feedstuffs as a contributor and blogger.
Today, in addition to writing, pod-casting and speaking, Vance designs multi-platform campaigns for advertisers reaching an agricultural audience via Feedstuffs, National Hog Farmer and BEEF Magazine. From drought-decimated grain stocks to bin-busting crops, the grain and feed market forecast has changed dramatically over the past few seasons. Vance takes a deeper look at the ingredients of today’s market outlook for both the grain and livestock sectors. He will describe the geopolitics and international dynamics at work in today’s truly global market, and illustrate the present trends affecting your farm or organization.
According to his bio, listeners will walk away with an ability to identify the current major themes in the markets, and learn to discern the key macro themes at play beyond individual marketing strategy. Vance has served on the boards of directors of the National Agri Marketing Association, Ohio Cattlemen’s Association, and Ohio FFA Foundation and he makes his home outside Columbus with his wife and daughter.
“We are very excited to welcome Andy Vance as one of our speakers,” Bolender said. “Andy brings with him a lifetime of ag experience, education and insight. I have always appreciated our rich agriculture in Fayette County and we were hoping to help increase our relationship with some of these individuals and businesses by helping to show a great spotlight of Fayette County agriculture. We have also always looked to increase our agriculture membership and help support those businesses in our community.”
The second speaker is Bruce Boguski, a motivational speaker, trainer, columnist, and media personality well known for his ability to inspire others to “do the impossible.” According to Bolender, Boguski knows first-hand the attitude and skills required to overcome physical and mental challenges. At age 18, he was paralyzed as the result of an automobile accident. While doctors were wondering whether he would ever walk again, he was busy recuperating. Two years later Boguski had regained full use of his body and went on to become a two-time state champion in racquetball, a football and baseball coach at Van Buren High School and the men’s and women’s tennis coach at the University of Findlay.
Today, Boguski is president of The Winner’s Edge, a peak performance consulting firm in Findlay, Ohio. He has become an internationally-known presenter on motivational tactics and mental toughness training for education, sports, business and life.
“We are also very excited to welcome internationally known presenter and president of The Winner’s Edge, Bruce Boguski to our breakfast,” Bolender said. “Bruce is such an inspiration and his tactics for mentally strengthening yourself and your staff are sure to be of great value to our attendees.”
Tickets for the breakfast are $25 for individuals or $250 to be a Corporate Table Sponsor which includes eight tickets and a company logo in the program. For more information contact the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce at (740) 335-0761.
The information in this article was provided by Fayette County Chamber of Commerce President Julie Bolender. Stay with the Record-Herald for more coverage of this annual event in future editions of the paper.
Reach Martin Graham at (740) 313-0351 or on Twitter @MartiTheNewsGuy.
