Friday was memorable for Parallel 33 in more ways than one.

After wrapping up a production day for the company’s record books, co-owner Richard Glazier was presented a key to the City of Boaz.

“I really appreciate this,” Glazier said. “We love it here, and we’re not going anywhere. The story since we’ve been here is the hospitality of everyone here in Marshall County … I’ve never been given a key like this before, but we appreciate it very much.”

Parallel 33 is a spinoff facility of Southern Parallel, a Canadian-based company that has a sawmill located in Albertville, owned by Glazier and his brother, Patrick.

Before the presentation, Glazier and Parallel 33 Mill Manager Lorne Barnes took Boaz Mayor David Dyar and Boaz Economic Development Director Kerry Walls on a tour of the new facility that recently opened in April. Parallel 33 is a mill that specializes in repurposing “rejects” and other scrap pieces wood into usable boards by “finger jointing” the pieces together.

“Our goal is to use every piece of board that we can,” Barnes said. “We make sure that there’s as little waste as possible.”

Though Parallel 33 broke its record amount of production since opening its doors, Glazier said there’s a lot of work left to be done and room for improvement. Barnes said workers manufactured more than 26,000 board feet Friday, but the goal is to put out more than 50,000 board feet on a regular basis. Dyar said he was amazed at how efficient the production process was, but Glazier said it was all about having good workers.

“We wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the hard working employees we have here,” Glazier said.

Glazier said the business may have never been brought to Boaz if not for the work of the Marshall County Economic Development Council and Boaz Industrial Development Board. Thanks to Royce Ogle and Ricky Ray of the Boaz Industrial Development Board, Glazier said he was able to find the perfect spot for Parallel 33 on Coosa Road.

The key to the city was the first presented by Dyar during his tenure as Boaz’s mayor. Dyar said he thought the Glaziers were an excellent choice to be given a key to the city. He wanted to make sure the Canadians always felt welcomed in Marshall County.

“I’ve never given out a key to the city before, but I’m glad to be able to give these guys a key to the city,” Dyar said. “I just love what they’ve done here with this business and look forward to working with them in the future. These are great people and I’m glad they’re a part of Boaz.”

Article originally published in Sound Mountain Reporter.