LOCAL

6 months after tornado leveled Mayfield candle factory, company plans expansion

Louisville Courier Journal

Mayfield Consumer Products, the company that owns a candle manufacturing plant where eight people were killed during a devastating Kentucky tornado outbreak last December, will play a big role in the community's future, according to Gov. Andy Beshear.

In a Thursday announcement, Beshear said the Mayfield-based company will invest $33.3 million over the next five years as part of an expansion at the local Hickory Industrial Park, with plans to employ more than 500 people.

“This reinvestment by Mayfield Consumer Products is good news for Graves County and the surrounding region as they work to rebuild and recover from the deadliest tornadoes in our state’s history," Beshear said in a release, which included statements of support from local leaders such as Graves County Judge-Executive Jesse Perry and Mayfield Mayor Kathy O’Nan.

The company is building a $2.3 million 40,000-square-foot expansion and has plans to put $31 million toward an additional 63,000-square-foot expansion, which will result in a 300,000-square-foot facility in the Western Kentucky town. The project should be completed by 2023, according to the release.

From 2021:After surviving tornado, Mayfield residents wonder where they'll go

In a statement, company founder Mary Propes said members of Mayfield Consumer Products' leadership team "deeply love this community and its citizens."

"This community has a bright future, and we are committed to being a big part of that progress,” Propes said.

The tornado that ripped through Mayfield Dec. 10 was one of four that hit Kentucky in the overnight hours. A total of 80 people were killed across the state.

Graves County, where Mayfield is located, was hit hardest. Two-dozen residents were killed by the tornado, which leveled much of the town's downtown area.

Eight of those deaths occurred at a candle production plant owned and operated by Mayfield Consumer Products, and the company has faced criticism — and legal action — over how officials operated while the storm was moving into the area from the west.

More than 100 employees were on-site at the time of the storm, and dozens were trapped in the wreckage after the tornado destroyed the facility.

From December:Inside frantic hours before candle factory was destroyed by tornado: ‘It should have shut down’

Eight people who were working at the Mayfield Consumer Products plant sued the company after the storm, accusing leadership of "flagrant indifference" over worker safety on the night of the tornado.

The lawsuit at one point said the company refused to allow workers to leave the facility even as the tornado approached under threat of termination, a claim Mayfield Consumer Products has denied.

In January, the company said it planned to lay off 250 employees who could not be transferred to a second Mayfield Consumer Products facility, though a spokesman said the plant was "committed to the rehiring of everyone and to meeting or exceeding the employment levels it had prior to the tornado."

At a press conference Thursday, meanwhile, Beshear also said the Team West Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund, which was started by the state following the storm to help those who had been impacted, will put up $3.25 million through the Graves County Grain Assistance Program to assist local farmers that had lost business in the aftermath of the tornado.

Lucas Aulbach can be reached at laulbach@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4649 or on Twitter @LucasAulbach.