Premier 1 goes all out on paved road celebration

Premier 1 held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house Tuesday night to celebrate a newly paved road to its facility south of Washington.

“To be frank, I think we used it as an excuse to invite people out to Premier and see what we do here,” Premier 1 CEO Ben Rothe said. “We’re sort of out of town, out of sight, out of mind. We are part of the Washington County community, and we looked around and thought this might be a good excuse to invite dignitaries from the community as well as folks that are just curious about us.”

Rothe said talks for the project began a year and a half ago, spearheaded by then-WEDG director David Collins., who has since died.

“He brought together the resources and connections to take an idea and make it reality,” Rothe said. “He deserves a lot of credit.”

Once construction started in May, Rothe said the project was finished in 30-40 work days.

Washington County Engineer Jacob Thorius said the paving project cost just over $1.616 million, with costs split 50-50 by the county and the company, supplemented by a $250,000 Department of Transportation grant.

Crowds gathered in the largest and newest warehouse of the facility, which began operations in 2020.

“It’s interesting turning a warehouse into an event center, but we made it work,” Premier 1 project and account manager Cheyenne Miller said. “This open area is where we will receive shipments in and stage it and sort it, so it was fairly open.”

The ribbon-cutting was followed by tours of the facility and a herding dog demonstration. Rothe said the festivities attracted around 300 people.