The Demopolis Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Chamber Celebration and Silent Auction on Monday, Feb. 25.

During the event, comedy hypnotist Steve Meade will perform. Meade does shows around the United States in which he takes volunteers and hypnotizes them to entertain the crowd.

“My show is a comedy hypnosis show called the Virtual Reality Tour,” Meade said. “I get a group of volunteers from the audience and hypnotize them to make them think they’re on a vacation.”

Meade said he has been doing the show full-time for 19 years and has hypnotized more than 25,000 people in that time.

“I just enjoy entertaining people,” he said. “Viewers will laugh a lot, sometimes until tears come out of their eyes. I don’t humiliate people, though. All of the volunteers do the same thing, so it’s a group effort. It allows people to take a mental vacation.”

Also during the event, the chamber will give out awards for business of the year, citizen of the year, a lifetime achievement award, chamber volunteer of the year and the community spirit award. The silent auction is also a big part of the event, and the items to be auctioned can be seen on the Demopolis Chamber Facebook page.

“We are thankful to everyone who has donated items because this is a big fundraiser for us for upcoming events,” Executive Director Jenn Tate said. “This is just our chance to thank everyone who has helped up throughout the year in Demopolis and around Marengo County.”

Tickets for the event are $35, and are available at the Demopolis Chamber. There will also be tickets for sale at the door.