The Columbia County Chamber of Commerce is stepping into its next decade with its annual banquet. The chamber celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025.
Preceding the evening banquet will be a special afternoon reception tomorrow, introducing Heath Taylor, the new Chamber President and CEO.
“To celebrate the chamber and what we’ve done and really highlight Heath and welcoming him on board and letting people have an opportunity to come shake his hand and welcome him back to the community,” incoming Chamber Board President Helen Caldwell told ABD.
Heath Taylor stepped into the role on February first, coming from the Dublin-Laurens County Chamber of Commerce. However, he is a familiar face. Taylor is a native of Columbia County and, years ago, served as Vice President of the Columbia County Chamber and Vice President of Business and Community Development for the Aiken Chamber of Commerce.
He said he is ready to take on the leadership of the Columbia County Chamber.
“I’m here to serve. I think that’s it. That’s my role. That’s my job,” he explained. “We’ve talked a lot about it in the office already, but I’m here to build a championship team. We got a great team in place, and my job is to lead them to a championship.”
Caldwell said that future success will come from the chamber’s new strategic plan, developed with input from the staff and external stakeholders.
“It is concise. It’s to the point,” Caldwell said. “We have identified what our strategic priorities are, and we did this as hopefully a recruiting tool for whoever was going to come in to be the President and CEO. Now we have Heath here to help take the strategic plan and implement it.”
“I would say the groundwork has been completed through the strategic plan that Helen mentioned, and it’s time for us to build,” Taylor added. “We’ve had a great foundation laid through the leadership for the last 20 years, through our chamber CEOs, through our boards, through our business community, our volunteers. Everything is in place for us to become the model chamber in the CSRA. And that is our plan, to become a model chamber for the CSRA.”
This year’s banquet will have a noticeable difference from years past. It will be less formal with more of a “come-as-you-are” approach.
“We’re trying to make it a little bit more laid back, because it’s always been everybody in coat and tie and be at an evening event,” said Caldwell. “We’re calling it the Backyard Bash. We want people that are on a roof all day, that own a roofing company, can just walk in the door and feel just as comfortable as somebody that’s coming from a bank.”
The backyard party theme will extend to games like Jenga, Connect Four, and cornhole. There will also be a silent auction to kick off the activities.
The event will continue an annual tradition. The winners of the Small Business of the Year, Large Business of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, and Ambassador of the Year will be announced.
Presented by South State Bank, the bash will be Feb. 12th at the Columbia County Exhibition Center in Grovetown. It begins at 4:30 p.m. with the reception for Taylor.
As he begins his service, Taylor said he keeps two words in mind.
“The two words would be privilege and responsibility. It’s a great privilege that we’ve been chosen and put in place to have the impact on this community that we can have,” he said. “And with that, of course, is a tremendous responsibility to make sure that we fulfill our mission.”
