Chamber Banquet

Chamber Banquet Held January 28, 2011 

The 83rd Annual Banquet and Meeting was held on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011, and featured hometown humorist and writer Mark Hinson. It was held at 5:30pm, Friday, January 28th at the National Guard Armory

Our featured speaker for the evening was Jackson County native and noted writer/humorist Mark Hinson. Mark is a senior writer and columnist for the daily Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com, both part of the Gannett news chain. A graduate of Marianna High School, he is the son of legendary Jackson County community icon Dick Hinson and wife Ann.

Hometown Humorist Mark Hinson

For two decades, Mark has covered arts, entertainment, cultural issues and other assorted oddities around the Capital City. His stories have ranged from spending the night at sea on a nuclear submarine to covering the cooking of The World’s Largest Pizza to interviewing writers such as Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Joseph Heller, Amy Tan, Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie. His beat ranges from the serious to the sublime to the downright silly.

Hinson is best known for writing his weekly humor column, “For Amusement Purposes Only.” It’s one of the most popular features in the paper and on the web. As a Marianna native, Hinson often draws on his days growing up on a pecan farm along the banks of the Chipola River for raw material. He once had an editor from Connecticut who asked him, “Are you making all this stuff up?” He answered, “Are you kidding? I’m actually holding most of it back. They wouldn’t let me print all the stuff that really happened, but the lawyers could have a field day with it.”

And, yes, Hinson’s cats, who have recurring roles in his humor column, are more famous than he is.  
Following Mark Hinson’s remarks, we recognized the lifetime achievements of Mark’s father, Dick Hinson, and presented our annual awards: Jackson County Citizen of the Year Award to Homer Hirt of Sneads, Wayne Mixson Economic Leadership Award to Jackson Hospital Foundation, Leadership Jackson County “Excellence in Leadership” Award to Kathy Sloan, and the Frances Ratzlaff Volunteer of the Year Award to Betty Joyce Hand of Marianna.

Tickets for the Chamber’s Annual Banquet and Meeting were available at the Chamber office in the Historic Russ House for $48 each. Tickets had to be purchased and paid for in advance. Credit Cards are accepted. For more information, call the Chamber at 850-482-8060.