Celebs Come Out to County Commission Tuesday Afternoon

It was an afternoon filled with celebrities at Tuesday's County Commission meeting.

Even before the meeting began, county employees gathered outside county commission chambers to meet the four members of We The Kings to get autographs.

The local papparazzi were in full force before and during the meeting. Jamie Gregorich, local star of Hell's Kitchen, was having her photo taken in the hallway. While people were out snapping photos of We The Kings as well.

The Commission Chambers were alive with excitement as family members and fans came out to support the home grown celebrities.

Gregorich graduated from Manatee High School and has worked in a kitchen since she was a 15-year-old working at Peach's. She survived five weeks with Chef Gordon Ramsey on Hell's Kitchen before returning home where she is a sous chef at Euphemia Haye and teaches up and coming chefs at Manatee Technical Institute.

For all of her success and her strength on the show, the county commission proclaimed Oct. 12, 2011 Jamie Gregorich day in Manatee County.

"You are commended for your tremendous culinary skills, achieving
recognition for those skills at the local, state and national levels," the proclomation reads, "and...your work ethic is inspirational, your professional manner in the workplace is exemplarily, your passion in the culinary industry overflows and your desire to succeed all culinary expectations are evident."

Gregorich offered a soft spiken thank you for the community support and received a standing ovation from everyone in commission chambers.

Gregorich shared the spotlight with "We The Kings" who brought along some entertainment for the crowd. Along with the official proclamations, the meeting featured a little old school MTV when METV featured a We The Kings video of their single, "Friday is Forever." The crowd watched the video in commission chambers before the band members, Travis Clark, Hunter Thompsen, Daniel Duncan and Andrew Thompsen joined Carol Whitmore, chairwoman of the Manatee County commission at the lectern for their proclamation.

The prpclamation cited the band's platinum records, its international tours, its number 9 spot on the billboard charts for its latest album and its homage to its roots  in naming the band for the middle school the members attended.

But Whitmore put special emphasis on one line in the proclamation: "As our hometown ambassadors to the rock world, We The Kings is proving that Manatee County knows how to rock!"

Each of the band members thanked the county for all of its support, talked about how they love to come home and sincerely appreciated the hometown recognition of their accomplishments.

It wasn't quite like a rock concert, but everyone in the commission chambers stood up and cheered.