BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Harrison County Chamber of Commerce held its 104th dinner meeting at the Bridgeport Conference Center Thursday night.

Awards were presented to the business of the year, citizen of the year, and community champion of the year along with the graduation of the Leadership Harrison class of 2023. Senator Shelly Moore Capito was the keynote speaker at the dinner with approximately 300 chamber members in attendance.

“Your business grows when you reach out and you grow, so we want to foster that growth with connections, networking, supporting each other, supporting local, shop local, dine local. You know, it is always important to get out there and make connections and relationships and that is what the chamber is here to facilitate,” Kathy Wagner, President of the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce said.

Chamber officials also said that there is a lot of development going on with the construction of the new airport terminal, development within Charles Pointe Crossings, expansion at United Hospital Center, and changes going on at the Meadowbrook Mall.

“The growth, the new housing, the young people, the new restaurants, um the new vibrancy of the community I think it is really attracting business and growing them and I think it also enhances the quality of life that you have here and that is why so many people want to more right here,” Capito said. “What the Chamber of Commerce does is pull people together that have like issues, you know, every small business has certain issues even if you are a franchise business you have, how do you reach out to customers best in your area, how do you mentor young business that are just trying to get started, how do you get new members. And I think the chamber does a really good job with that in terms of growing their membership and when you do that it just feeds on itself.”

Officials with the chamber added that next week they will have their Business at Breakfast event as well as a Business After-hours scheduled in June with many more events to take place throughout the year.