Cedarstream celebrates new project start
Daniel, Jamie and Darcy Morris thank local officials for participating in a groundbreaking ceremony for Cedarstream’s new manufacturing facility and headquarters.
It was a day the Morris family worked toward since they started their business, when Cedarstream was run on the second floor of the Coaches Corner building. Husband and wife Jamie and Darcy Morris did all the work themselves, from running printing machines to delivering t-shirts to customers in the trunk of their car.
Decades later with two children to ensure the business continues on for years to come, Cedarstream is now big enough they need their own manufacturing facility. The company took their first step toward future expansion on April 19 in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new headquarters that is expected to be done before year’s end.
Local officials praised the Morris family for choosing to invest $4.5 million in their new 38,800 square foot headquarters.
In remarks a crowd that included longtime friends, officials from across the county and representatives from Duffey Southeast, the contracting firm, Jamie Morris told attendees the project wouldn’t have come about without the help of many in the community over the years who have helped Cedarstream become the growing company it is today.
“I’ve always believed that the Lord moves people in and out of your lives at times in your life,” he said.
“We’ve always been blessed that when you need the help of someone, a door comes open and that person comes walking through and entering into the situation.. I’m very thankful for that.”
Morris added that with their project set to start in the coming days in earnest, the new facility is just another sign of more great things to come for the area’s economic development.
“This industrial park that you’re sitting in today, the guys behind us from the past helped put this together,” Morris said. “With their foresight and the city’s strong leadership, today you’re starting to see the fruits of that work that happened years ago. Those fruits are still happening today... we’re still going and moving ahead, and future generations will have the opportunity to do what I’m doing today because of people in the past making it happen.”
Morris said he and his wife started the company more than 30 years ago with a vision, one that they thought one day might bring them where they are now, and have been waiting for the day to come where they could have this level of success and growth in their printing firm.
“This is going to give us the capacity we were looking for, and it is going to open up so many more opportunities for us down the road,” he said.
It was always their hope they could achieve the dream of opening a facility of their own and allow for the company to work together in one place. Especially since the Morris’ said their employees are like family to them. State Rep. Trey Kelley said in his remarks the Morris family “shine as a bright example of corporate citizenship” not only for their investment into Cedartown’s business commu- nity, but also because they give back in a variety of ways to charitable causes.
“Jamie and Darcy, you and your family’s journey serves as an inspiration to all the aspiring entrepreneurs in our community,” Kelley said. “That you can thrive in the same community that you were raised in... you’re from our community, you grew your family in our community, your grew your business in our community, and Cedartown is a much better place for your vision to print America.”
Cedartown City Commission Chair Jordan Hubbard also added his praises during remarks celebrating the Morris family during the groundbreaking, reminding the community that even though most people think of the county’s larger industries as those that are expanding and growing, it is businesses like Cedarstream that are an example for what local owners can achieve. “That is huge for a small town like ours,” Hubbard said.
County Commissioner Scotty Tillery — who has an additional connection to the project through his brother’s business, Polk County Public Service as a subcontractor — said that as a longtime friend of the Morris family, he was happy to see their success and wished them more to come.
“What an honor and blessing it is for Polk County and the City of Cedartown for the Morris family to continue the journey that was started a long time ago,” Tillery said.
Following the ceremony, Morris said construction crews will begin site work for the new construction this week. They hope for a fall completion date as early as September, but as late as November for being able to move equipment from their downtown Cedartown set of buildings to one location. Currently Cedarstream is spread out between portions of the old Coca-Cola bottling plant, and their main offices two doors down.