By Fred Woods
Editor
Last week we reported on Opelika Chamber of Commerce President Barbara Patton’s experience on Lee County farmer Garrett Dixon’s cotton farm as a part of Lee County Farm-City Week’s annual job swap.
Dixon started his day a little different than normal on Oct. 13. He attended an Opelika Chamber Connections meeting, surrounded by a variety of business men and women instead of his usual audience of cattle and cotton. It was role reversal day, and Dixon was going from cotton farmer to Chamber president.
Don Thrash, Lee County Farm-City Committee chairman, was also at the meeting. He explained that the purpose of the job-swap between a member of the rural community and a member of the city community is for each to gain a better understanding and appreciation for what the other does.
After the Connections meeting, Chamber President Patton took Dixon to the Opelika Middle School to interview students for the Young Entrepreneur’s Academy, a program of the Chamber. Dixon got to see first-hand the application process of getting into this prestigious program. “I didn’t realize that the Chamber has several programs with schools. I thought they just worked with businesses,” Dixon said.
“I had no idea there was so much involved in working for the Chamber,” Dixon continued “much like farming, there is so much to juggle at the Chamber.”
Dixon and Patton are pictured at right.