 Well, my name is Brett Whiting and on behalf of my director. I issue triggers from the office of business opportunity I have the privilege of introducing today The honorable a mayor of Colombia Mr. Daniel Rickham in and he will speak to you guys a few words And again, thank you for coming. Thank you, sir You're welcome Well, it's a beautiful cool day here in Columbia, South Carolina We're excited to be here as you know humidity is good for the skin And so we promote it wherever we can But we're very excited about this re grand opening as I'd like to say of Chessnut College and a cottage Excuse me. I actually stayed here the night. I was married And the in the back bedroom with my wife and that's a story that we can tell another time, but it was This has been an institution in our community and very excited for Crystal and Ken to new be our new in Keepers, I guess is the proper term so congratulations It's incredible to have our past our most past Endkeepers here and then our our I guess the originator you y'all are the original endkeepers of the Chessnut Cottage in 1987 right? Isn't that correct? 87 that so I thought so 91 so that was incredible for a community of us at that time It was pretty Progressive and it has survived the time it continues to be a favorite of visitors throughout And very excited to have this historic cottage here again as it's been through a cycle. It's been medical offices It's been all types of things in its history But now we have our continuation of endkeepers and Crystal and Ken were so excited for y'all I know y'all are going to be excited. I know you've been excited. You've been doing this for a little bit But really for for being part and a way to introduce you to our community and I'd love for y'all to come say a few words About your new venture Thank you, Mr. Mayor Thank you so much. Oh, I needed that extra step We can make that happen Thank you gentlemen, that's why they call it the South I'll tell you this is why we love the South Welcome everyone to the historic Chestnut Cottage Bed and Breakfast It is an honor to share this day with you all and thank you, Mr. Mayor for being here Along with the Columbia City Council The city manager mr. Brett Whiting with the office of business opportunities Mr. Hammond Edwards and your vice president of Optus Bank so many people worked together For us to be here today. So thank you Um having moved here from California just this past December We are grateful for the friends that we have made in such a short period of time here in South Carolina Um and who are here today to show their support and you know Friends like Adam Catledge who drove all the way from Buford and you know people like that And I tell you you have shown us Californians the best of the south Um on this day we celebrate like the mayor said the grand reopening of this one and only bed and breakfast Remaining in Columbia. Did you guys all know that? and um and it was actually about 40 years ago when Gail Garrett and his brother took this dilapidated cottage and revived it and in 1991 um his then um Former wife Diane was the inspiration to turning this into a bed and breakfast So him and his wife Sherwood have started This this service to the community And until recently and back in 19 and in 2019 it was Mary Sparrow who then took over the reins And until recently like about 30 days ago These were the fine people who have preserved the civil wartime home of general james chestnut and mary boykin chestnut We wouldn't be standing here today And so many people would have missed out on the charm and the rich and important history Of this cottage had it not been for these fine folks Who took who took to heart the privilege of being an inkeeper and sharing with guests the relevance of this very important home But after this you will get a guided tour by the way, and mary gives a fabulous guided tour Today my husband ken and business partner are honored and grateful to be given this extraordinary responsibility of being the next generation of Inkeepers for chestnut cottage and we hope to make you all proud We aim to keep this bed and breakfast as a place where people come to experience True southern hospitality and you may be wondering true southern hospitality from californians Well, wait, we do hail from the south of california after all so there there is hope Okay, and we hope that um it could it brings to the community um a place for reflection and education And ken would you like to say a few words? I have to follow that Every day Just say yes, ma'am. Yes ma'am So, uh, thank you for being here this afternoon And you know one of the aspects that we see in the bed and breakfast that we'd like to enhance is you know through the local economy local economic and social systems and how we can bring a part of that down to The downtown and the community of columbia Um, you know through targeted promotions Tourism and up through into the eastern states elevate the awareness of all of the local businesses here We have the local restaurants. We have museums. There's so many local activities when the guests stay here They're always asking us for recommendations. What do we do? Where do we go? And we want to be that source and we've been spending a lot of time this last week or Actually the last couple weeks after we got our feet wet And really going out and visiting a lot of the local businesses around here We believe that you know, we can have a substantial impact You know with these businesses around here not only contribute to economic benefits benefits, but support The growth and innovation the city has planned and I see a lot of stuff going on through main Etc. So there's a lot of things happening here We are strong supporters of promoting a sense of collaboration within the city and kind of along with that theme I would be remiss if I didn't recognize my mother who Has the name Dixie Doyle. Please wave There she is Wasn't born in the south where she carries this other name and she's been one of our biggest supporters And fan, you know raging fan over the years. So Thank you mom for everything you have brought to the table And was there anything else that you were going to say? Well, I was just going to say first of all Thank you again for for coming here, but y'all y'all solidified what I've been trying to tell everybody Nobody retires anywhere but the south. So why start there and and clearly you've listened to our advice And you're gonna be here, but we're excited about this We're getting ready to cut the ribbon here on the grand reopening, but I love your commitment to continuing To push people to our small businesses there are the backbone of our community And if you need a list of places, I've got to one a mile long that you have all over I can tell you what to get when to get it and where to get it. So, uh, we're excited about this and thank y'all Thank you