Awards ceremony draws large crowds and sparks interest

Posted on: Staff Writer

From edition: October 27 2017 Strathmore Times

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Strathmore and District Chamber of Commerce held their annual Small Business Awards night at the Civic Centre to honour businesses in the community on Oct. 19. Key note speaker Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial gave an engaging address on the state of the economy in Alberta and its future. Lynn Fehr and Rhonda Stockwell gave out three Western Historical Society awards prior to the awards given by the chamber. Manny Everett Photo

Strathmore and District Chamber of Commerce held their annual Small Business Awards night at the Civic Centre to honour businesses in the community on Oct. 19. Key note speaker Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial gave an engaging address on the state of the economy in Alberta and its future. Lynn Fehr and Rhonda Stockwell gave out three Western Historical Society awards prior to the awards given by the chamber.
Manny Everett Photo
Attendance more than doubled for a colossal turnout at the Strathmore & District Chamber of Commerce Small Business Week awards last week, as an unprecedented amount of nominations trickled in to recognize local enterprises.
Over 140 people attended the event – reaching capacity – where the chamber honoured five local businesses following nearly 60 nominations.
The organization presented four awards to members or non-members, and one chamber’s choice award to a member.
Enviro Windows accepted the New Business Award, while Gregory Harriman & Associates received the Community Spirit Award. The Customer Service Excellence Award was presented to OK Tire, the Rural Business Award was handed to Poplar Bluff Organic Farm, and the Chamber of Commerce Choice award was awarded to ATB Financial at the Strathmore Civic Centre on Oct. 19.
“Given the quality of the nominations … anybody nominated should have been feeling pretty good about themselves because there was a tough competition and to come out as winner overall would be pretty impressive,” said Strathmore & District Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Shelley Toderian.
“People need to be recognized and they need to celebrate. We’ve made it through a difficult time and these companies are still thriving or managing to pull through. We’d like everybody to go home with a prize, just because they’re that good.”
In accordance with the anniversary of Canada’s 150 years since Confederation, the chamber partnered with the Western District Historical Society which, in turn, presented three Western Historical Society awards. ATB Financial Chief Economist Todd Hirsch acted as keynote speaker.
Several years ago, the chamber struggled to survive. Over the last few years, the chamber has seen an increase in activity and grown to over 100 members strong.
“I’m really happy,” said Toderian. “I can’t explain the reason why we had such a great turnout but I’m really glad we did, and I hope everybody enjoyed it.”