07/03/2026
Cogratulations to Marc Woodruff at A Marc Above on 2026 Business Person of the Year! Well deserved!
So this evening I won Business Person of the Year from the VACC. I was very surprised, but thankful for the nominations. I was told just a couple days ago that I "can't take a trip this weekend and needed to be around on Thursday night." 😅 Some people know me well. Last night I wrote up a speech I was going to give, but honestly, its 110* and I wasn't trying to stand up there and be all anxious and sweaty, probably would've passed out 😅😅 but I thought I'd copy it and paste it here if you felt like reading it.
First and foremost I want to say thank you for this award. Thank you for the nominations and I am very appreciative of the recognition. Ill try to keep this short and to the point.. when i started doing this, nearly 10 years ago, I was a completely different person. I lacked discipline, structure, just kind of disheveled all around. As this business started to grow, i realized I needed to match the growth as a person.
I have always been very observant, so I would pay attention to a couple things every time.. how people felt when they dropped their car off and how they feel when they pick it up. The before and after transformations aren't limited to just the vehicle. I see it in body language, in emotions, in the unspoken things. For a moment in time, i'm bringing joy to someone that I have no idea what they could be going through.. just through cleaning their car.. as the years passed, I started to realize A Marc Above is going to be so much more than detailing.
I started doing community projects in 2020, starting with 2 Thanksgiving meals, that quickly turned to 8 with a generous donation from a customer. By Christmas we had raised $3000, fed over 50 families and I knew right then, we have the power to make a difference. Each one of us. Somewhere along the line we forgot. We forgot that we can create a community worth investing in. We can have a community put on the map for its hospitality, we saw it with the Hot Rod Power Tour a few weeks ago, hundreds of thousands of views on social media, great comments, loads of fun, just a great day for so many people. Our location hands us thousands of travelers daily from all over the world..as someone who also travels all over the world, I can assure you Virden is unique. Are our issues unique? No. But our history is, our square is, our layout is, our local businesses are.. we have so much talent in just our community alone. I want to get that talent out there, showcase our skills for these travelers to take pictures of, create good memories, send the good vibes with them. Just like the power tour, those memories of Virden went back across the entire country.
With that said, the Roots and Renewal Project has been started to revitalize the square. The banners were the first item on the agenda. My goal is to utilize local artists, fabricators, contractors, and businesses to transform our square into a hot spot for Rt 66 travelers, tourists, art enthusiasts, and history fans, not only them, but for all of us too. Remember what I said about observing people when they drop off their car to when they pick it up? We are going to do that on a much bigger level, the whole town. We have grown accustom to mediocrity, sometimes less because we think someone else is going to do it. Spoiler alert, no one is coming to save us. Its time to bring back the character, the color, the art, the pride in our small town. I promise you, the feeling is real, you'll feel it as we continue to revitalize this beautiful square.
In closing, I want to say if you'd like to get involved, please reach out. We have several exciting things going, including the official virden historical society. Both the roots and renewal project and historical society are operating on donations, so your money will go directly towards supplies, lighting, signs, whatever is needed to make this happen.
And finally, a big thank you to everyone who made these ideas successful over the years and that have also included me in their events. I have several friends/business owners/customers that don't hesitate to jump on board each time. Everything is a group effort and I have a great group of friends to work with. Im excited to see the changes in the next few months. I hope you are too. Thank you
