The staff at Hope's Diamond Bank location on 400 South Main in Hope.

The Diamond Bank employees put on an excellent coffee this morning in the lobby of their bank in Hope. Among the selections available starting at 9:30 were Buffalo chips, breakfast rolls, croissants and English muffins, sausage gravy, chicken biscuits. There were also desserts like slices of strawberry bread, brownies, fudge, orange coconut balls.

Diamond Bank's Marketing President Kyla Hamilton said the bank is in the midst of a successful period right now. "We have had a successful year. It's actually been pretty successful in the last three or four years. Our loans, our deposits, everything is looking good."

She explained that Diamond Bank prides itself on the quality of its customer service, but it has also made a specialty of issuing loans to one sector of farming. "We are starting to find a niche with poultry moms in this area. So that's one thing that we're really good at. We've gotten it down to an art."

By 10:00 a.m. it began to look like the rest of Hope was getting the idea what good eats were available as about a dozen had come to the lobby to sample the items and socialize.