Laurel Chamber to host annual banquet Saturday

LAUREL — This year’s Laurel Chamber Community Club banquet will be Jan. 24, at the Laurel VFW. 

The evening’s events will begin at 5 p.m., with the Youth Philanthropy Project recognition.  Miss Nebraska Outstanding Teen, Phoenix Stanford, will be in attendance to speak on Youth Philanthropy.  

There will be a social and networking time beginning at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner and program at 6:30 p.m.  Mike Flood will be the keynote speaker and will talk about his “Growing together,” as an area of the state where large and small communities rely on each other for continued success.

Mike Flood is a broadcaster and lawyer from Norfolk, who served in the Nebraska Legislature from 2005-2013. In 2004, Flood ran for a seat in the Nebraska Legislature, representing the 19th legislative district, which is Madison County and includes Norfolk. He served as Speaker of the Legislature from 2007-2013. 

Flood worked at a Norfolk radio station in high school. At Notre Dame, he operated, and hosted a show on the campus’ radio station. Upon his return to Nebraska, he worked as a radio personality at Lincoln country station KFGE. In 1999, he founded Flood Communications; as of 2017, he owns eight radio stations and seven television stations in Nebraska. The television stations are affiliated with the News Channel Nebraska, an in-state television network. 

Flood is married to Mandi, and they have two boys.  In August 2019, Flood announced he would run for office for the 2020 cycle in the 19th district. 

This year’s meal is being catered by Smokin’ T’s Catering and the meal choices include steak, steak tips and shrimp or Chicken Alfredo.  Meal tickets are $20 per person and reservations must be made by noon on Friday, January 17th.  Reservations can be made at the Laurel ED office.