Sunday evening, the event center at Lakeside Resort and Casino was the location of a gathering to celebrate the milestones made by the Clarke County Development Corporation (CCDC) over the last 50 years. With CCDC board members – past and present – local leadership, regional business owners, and State leadership the evening was a who’s who of Clarke County’s business past, present, and future.
Check out a few photos from Sunday night’s event:
A brief presentation was given by the CCDC board President, Sue Wilder. She spoke of the drive of the original eight members that set the Development Corporation in motion in August of 1969.
“It was the inspiration of 8 men that made Clarke County what it is today,” Wilder said. “Taking Clarke County and our business community from 200 manufacturing jobs in 1969 to over 1,800 today.”
The original 8 CCDC members in 1969 were: E. Eddy Saylor, Fred Wood, Gerald Edwards, Donald Ramsey, Jack Jeffreys, Stanley Samuelson, Ross Gould, and L.P. Van Werden.
Some of the milestones the group reflected on during the evening included the development of Osceola’s first business park in 1969 and recruitment and acquisition of Jimmy Dean – later to become Osceola Foods – SIMCO Drilling Equipment, INC., Altec, Salford and others. Another big achievement, cited in a special video message from Clarke County’s favorite daughter, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, was the effort the CCDC put toward getting Lakeside Casino to the area, kicking off over 2 decades and hundreds of thousands of dollars of grants facilitating regional development and growth.
“This is a hard-working group,” said Bill Trickey, CCDC Executive Director. “And to say we’re proud of what they’ve accomplished would be an understatement.”
As the evening drew to a close the members off the CCDC board and their guests looked toward the future with the latest major catalyst, the Clarke County Reservoir, on the horizon looking to spur on more opportunities for the area and its citizens.