Furniture, opportunity, progress and community service were topics on the minds of those who attended the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce annual banquet Thursday night at the Cyr-Gates Community Center in New Iberia.

Chamber Chairman Benny Menard challenged all who live in Iberia Parish to gather around a table in 2009 to discuss solutions to problems. Whether it’s a board room table, a kitchen table or the table of the parish or city council, Menard said “go, to whatever table benefits your family, your church and your community.”

“Let’s not be complacent sitting around our own table,” Menard said. “We may find some solutions together in unusual places.”

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Menard said he believes 2009 will be a time of opportunity for the parish.

“Maybe 2009 will let us catch our breath, look at our limitations and give us the time that we need to prepare for the next upturn,” he said. “We all know we will endure and we will prosper again.”

Menard also challenged those in attendance to remember “how special it is to live in Iberia Parish, regardless of what Mother Nature brings.”

Highlighted, and officially presented to the public during the banquet, was the video project the Iberia Industrial Development Foundation spent working on for most of 2008. Titled “Iberia Parish - Experience the Cajun Difference,” the marketing tool is an interactive CD ROM that highlights all that Iberia Parish has to offer.

IDFs president and CEO Mike Tarantino said the disc is a way to share with the world one of its best kept secrets.

“Life is good and business is good here,” he said. “It’s time to let the world know about it.”

The evening’s keynote speaker was Shaw Group founder and CEO Jim Bernhard Jr., who focused on hope amidst these uncertain economic times.

“As bad as things may get, you can be sure prosperity will return,” he said. “We are going down the wrong side of a roller coaster right now, but, this too shall pass.”

Civic leader

The highlight of the evening was the appreciation of the lifelong community service of 2008 Civic Award Winner Caesar Comeaux.

Details about the life of Mr. C, as many in the community know him, were shared with the audience during an introduction, sometimes sprinkled with tears, by Comeaux’s two sons, Audie Comeaux and Troy Comeaux.

The men shared Comeaux’s modest beginnings in Coteau, one of 12 children, too poor to buy shoes. They told of how Comeaux’s education was cut short when in the sixth grade he had to leave school to work, delivering groceries to help support the family.

They said he tried in earnest to join the military before his 18th birthday and was finally granted that wish on Feb. 14, 1944, when Comeaux entered the U.S. Marine Corps. With opportunities presented to him by the G.I. Bill, Comeaux completed his education after his military service, beginning his long history of community involvement in the early 1960s. He was one of the original organizers of the Evangeline Little League, an usher, faithful parishioner and event organizer for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church.

He has sat on various chamber and IDF committees and attends most ribbon cuttings and ground breakings of new area businesses. His sons said he also has a passion for dancing and coffee.

He was elected to the Iberia Parish Police Jury in 1967, serving in parish government continuously until his short term as interim parish president expired in 2007.

“He is a good church-going Catholic, a true Southern gentleman and a walking library of knowledge,” said Troy Comeaux, thanking the community for their love, support and concern for his father.

Accepting the award, Comeaux said it had been his pleasure serving the people of Iberia Parish all of these years.

“You all have been very good to me and my family and this is how I can repay the community for that,” he said.

Comeaux said the recognition is a privilege and an honor, adding in his usual style, “feel free to call on me if you need me.”