It was an evening to celebrate past successes and look ahead to a bright future as the Bell County Chamber of Commerce held their annual Awards Dinner on Friday, July 26, at the Pine Mountain State Resort Park lodge.

In addition to all of the Chamber’s annual awards, Jay Shoffner was presented the Bob Vaughn Legacy Award, State Rep. Adam Bowling received the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce MVP Bat Award and David Ledford from Boone’s Ridge and Gary Cola from Flash Steelworks provided updates on those big tourism and economic development projects.

The Bob Vaughn Legacy Award is a prestigious recognition honoring an individual who had demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurial achievement and a strong commitment to philanthropy. This award celebrates the lasting impact and contributions who have successfully combined their business acumen and dedication to improving their community.

Madison Shoffner Bowling and Mallory Shoffner Quintero presented the Legacy Award to their father, Jay Shoffner.

“We are honored to stand before you tonight to celebrate our father Jay Shoffner,” Madison said.

“Not only is he a life-long resident of Bell County but his ties got back generations. His grandmother had a boarding house and a Shell station right on the corner where you currently get your favorite fried chicken in Middlesboro,” Mallory said. “He grew up in and out of the local businesses run by his grandmother and father until he left for college at the University of Kentucky. But it didn’t take long for him to realize that he wanted to move back home and so began his life-long commitment to bettering our community.”

Jay Shoffner was one of the founding board members of Discover Downtown Middlesboro, now known as Middlesboro Main Street. His leadership has been instrumental in revitalizing downtown. Just last year he was presented the Preservation Kentucky Award and a Kentucky Main Street Award

“It seems as if any time we talk we learn of a new building in downtown Middlesboro that he has plans to renovate and it’s all for the betterment of our downtown,” Madison said. “Each building is meticulously preserved and renovated with the intention of getting businesses set up for success.”

Jay also served as the board chairman for ARH for many years and continues to serve on the ARH Foundation board. He also dedicates time to the Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College Foundation Board and the LMU Board of Directors.

“While obviously he’s so much more to our area than just the chicken man, he has been recognized nationally for his development efforts by KFC Corporate,” Madison said. “In 2021 he was named Bold Developer of the Year. That award reflects his innovative spirit and his dedication to excellence in everything that he does.”

Mallory shared that her dad has always been a mentor to many young business people in the community.

“Growing up, dad drove us to school every morning. Regardless of how quickly we wanted to jump out of the car and slam the door, he did not let that door shut without telling us that he loved us and his famous line: ‘Be a leader,’” she said. “Every single day. That daily affirmation not only inspired us to work hard to be good leaders, but inspires us to instill those same attributes in our children for the next generation.”

Madison said they could not think of anyone who loves Middlesboro and Bell County more than their dad.

“He truly believes it’s the best place in the world and his actions have always reflected that belief,” she said. “He always says we can live anywhere in the world but we choose to live here.”

She said honoring Jay with the Bob Vaughn Legacy Award was a celebration of his achievements as well as his heart and soul.

“Dad, your love for our community and your tireless efforts to make it a better place have inspired us all. Thank you for being an incredible role model and for choosing to live and serve here where your roots are strong and your impact profound,” Madison said. “Learning from you and by your example has been the honor of our lives.”

“That means a lot. Bob Vaughn loved this area more than any man I know. I do too, as do all of you. I appreciate all you do. Everybody here contributes and gives back in their own way,” Jay Shoffner said. “It’s true. We can all live anywhere and we choose to live here. I love living here and I love the fact that you are all here tonight and giving back. Thank you.”

The evening started with a brief message from Judge-Executive Albey Brock who thanked the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for being engaged in the community and spoke about the progress being made at Boone’s Ridge and Flash Steel as well as the cancer treatment center coming to Middlesboro ARH Hospital and Lewis Ridge hydroelectric plant.

“There’s a lot of excitement and momentum right now here in Bell County,” he said. “Boone’s Ridge is the single biggest tourism project in the state of Kentucky and to my knowledge there is not a close second. We are very, very thankful to Boone’s Ridge and the Appalachian Wildlife Foundation.”

David Ledford, president and CEO of the Appalachian Wildlife Foundation said Boone’s Ridge was expected to open in late summer or fall of 2025.

He said the biggest reason for delays in the project was the need to build a wastewater treatment plant.

“It’s the least sexy thing about the entire project but it is absolutely mission-critical that we’ve got to have it. That’s been the hold up,” he said.

Original plans called for a $1.7 million plant had to be revised to a different type of plant that would work on reclaimed mine land. The revised plant and inflation raised that cost to $5 million.

He shared that in 2023 the Appalachian Regional Commission came out with their ARISE Grant Program.

“In May of 2023 we hosted Gayle Manchin and her staff at Boone’s Ridge. Gayle is the wife of Sen. Joe Manchin from West Virginia and the federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission,” Ledford said. “Within 20 minutes of looking around the building she said ‘this place is spectacular and this is the kind of thing we need to be doing.’ As they were leaving her chief of staff said ‘Get that grant application in.’ We did and we got a $9.2 million grant for the wastewater plant, a three-and-a-half mile paved road, a 2-and-a-half mile paved nature trail, an equipment building and some broadened parking lot, sidewalk and landscaping work.”

He said the whole process took almost a year but the advertisement for the bids will run in the Middlesboro newspaper this week with bids opened for the wastewater plant on August 20.

Construction is expected to take 11 to 14 months and Boone’s Ridge will be ready to open once it’s completed.

“When 1 million tourists per year are coming to our spot on the map in Bell County it’s going to be transformative. Just the existence of Boone’s Ridge opening up is going to give a big economic boost,” Ledford said. “When we get that revenue coming in — we’re a non-profit so we have to spend it — We want to use that revenue for low interest loans, no-interest loans and even grants for businesses that are tourism related that can help get things going here in this region. Educational programs on site and off site for K-12. We’re still an affiliate with Cornell University and they have an incredible amount of resources they’re going to let us bring to Bell County.”

Gary Cola, founder and chief technology officer for Flash Steelworks, explained a little bit about the flash technology the company uses. He’s been working with the U.S. Army for about 15 years in perfecting the methods for making lightweight steel stronger while being weldable and malleable.

“It makes steel stronger than titanium, lighter than aluminum and truthfully able to stop speeding bullets at record-setting velocity,” he said. “What we do is a 21st century heat-treating method that’s brand new. We’ve been making swords and bending iron for thousands of years but with our technology we found a different way to do it.”

He said the company uses regular everyday steel. But instead of throwing it in a furnace for hours, they use induction heating to take the steel up to over 2,000 degrees in just a few seconds. The steel is then quickly cooled with water.

“It’s a process that only takes about 10 seconds in total and we have over 36 patents issued around the world with even more pending and more to be filed,” Cola said.

He further explained that Flash is not a steel mill. They use coils of existing steel and treat it with their process.

“We can use steel from just about anywhere and once it has been processed and cut we can ship the bundles of it globally,” Cola said.

The Flash Steelworks process produces steel that can stop armor piercing bullets and even welds better than any other metal the U.S.Army has ever tested, he said.

“So what is coming to Bell County is actually the leading forefront of technology, not just in the steel industry, but in the metals industry,” he said.

Applications for the steel are not limited to just armored plating. Cola said his company just sold 300,000 tent stakes.

“The stakes we’re selling are capable of going into an asphalt parking lot, being pulled out and then put back into the parking lot again. That’s what our technology is capable of,” he said.

He said the Middlesboro plant will be able to use 4.5 megawatts of induction and is working with KU to have a 69,000 volt system. He added that only about one foot of the 250-foot line at the plant will use Flash’s new technology. The rest is low risk. The plant will use 90-foot wide overhead crane that can lift up to 50 tons.

Cola said he chose to locate in Bell County because of the available labor force and its centralized location for distribution to the eastern half of the country.

“We have strong support from visionary government leaders and we’ve all been working together for the good of the community to bring this project together,” he said. “The long-term potential is a lot of growth. We’re continuing to work with the Army and this isn’t just 100 jobs. We expect to operate three shifts in the first half of the building. We plan to double in size within the next three to five years and will be employing hundreds of people.”

There are five equipment mechanics from Middlesboro currently working for Flash Steel in Michigan.

“They’re going to be coming back to Kentucky and they will become the leaders of this facility. We’re not bringing Michigan employees down en masse to run the Kentucky facility. This is all going to be local for the most part,” Cola said.

He added that Bell-Whitley is currently collecting resumes and the company is looking for people that are mechanically inclined to work at the Middlesboro plant, which is expected to start operations within the next month.

“We’re working with KU to get the power installed as soon as we can and we figure by the end of the year we’re going to have all of the equipment moved down here,” he said. “So if you look out on 25E and see a semi rolling with 12 axles and a big piece of equipment under a tarp, it’s probably going to our building.”

The other Chamber of Commerce Awards announced Friday night included:

Outstanding Contribution — Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College

Community Development — Middlesboro Housing Authority

Young Entrepreneur — Dr. Jake Barton of Barton Esthetic and Family Dentistry

Leadership —Corey Eldridge of Middlesboro ARH

New Business of the Year — AL’s Fun Center, Jarrod Nunnelley

Volunteer of the Year — Middlesboro Police Dept. Cops 4 Kids, Harvey Johnson and Floyd Patterson

Businessman of the Year — Trampas Nolan, APRN

Businesswoman of the Year — Dr. Audrey Kinder

Business of the Year — Middlesboro ARH, Michael Slusher

The Leadership Bell County class of 2024 was also recognized. This year’s class included: Jennifer Williams, Carla Gordon Bennett, Chandler Nelson, Chris Epperson, Chris Stotts, Jody Risner, Megan Hopper, Mikey Long, Sierra Higgins, Abigail Thompson, Macie Hendrickson and Melissa Turner.