Members of the Palmerton Area Chamber of Commerce praised the work of Winston Scherer in leading the rebirth of the organization during their annual dinner held at the Blue Ridge Country Club.

Scherer’s retirement as president of the chamber after a five-year stint in which it became revitalized was announced during the program. He will be succeeded by Peter Kern.

The guest speaker for the program was John Parsons, who Kern described as being the “one person who probably knows more about Palmerton’s history than anyone else in town.” Parsons spoke about the process of historical research of the community.