Tuesday, March 25 – OC Names Top Citizens

OCEAN CITY – The Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce announced last weekend that Brice and Shirley Phillips had been named the 2008 Citizens of the Year.

The public is invited on Thursday evening, April 10, to the Citizen of the Year banquet to be held at the Holiday Inn Conference Center on 66th Street. Reservations are required, call the Chamber office 410-213-0144 to reserve or register on line at www.oceancity.org.

Nominated by Mary Tawney Eastman, the Phillips’ are regarded as one of Ocean City’s most successful and beloved couples. They embody the Eastern Shore family – the father a waterman at heart, the mother a wife and businesswoman, and two sons who grew up in the family operation.

“In the years that I have known them, they have continually been working hands on in one of the two Ocean City restaurants, the Beach Plaza Hotel or at Phillips Harborplace,” Eastman said. “So, the accomplishments that are mentioned are in addition to, but not in place of, their steadfast desire to build a small crab shack carry-out restaurant into a widely known international crab empire.”

Brice and Shirley Phillips started their community activities years ago when the Phillips children were growing up in Ocean City and the number of young students working in the restaurant in the summers, was steadily increasing. To keep the employees occupied when they were not working, Brice and Shirley sponsored softball, midnight football and golf teams for the OC Recreation Dept Summer Leagues. In recent years, they have been sponsors of the OC Drug & Alcohol “Play it Safe” campaigns and have received the Governor’s Citation for their participation in this annual event.

Helping local organizations raise funds has also been a family focus. Brice and Shirley have graciously donated their restaurant and with the assistance of their suppliers hosted crab benefits for the Humane Society and the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce to name just a few. They have also been honored by the Ocean City Art League as Patrons of the Arts.

To read the full story, and many others, see The Dispatch on Friday.