SWCC hosts 2025 Business Excellence Awards

Posted on: Staff Writer

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Strathmore Wheatland Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual Business Excellence Awards, Jan. 17, to recognize commitment to service within the community. For the majority of categories, due to the number of businesses nominated, as well as voting distribution, the Top 5 businesses were mentioned during the ceremony before the awards were formally distributed.

John Watson Photo

A host of local businesses were recognized for their commitment to excellence, hosted by the Strathmore Wheatland Chamber of Commerce (SWCC) on Jan. 17 at the Strathmore Civic Centre.

The Business Excellence Awards is an annual award event to celebrate nominated local enterprises in a wide variety of categories.

“The event is really to promote our businesses within our chamber members, but also throughout the community,” said Cobe Royal, chair of the SWCC. “These awards recognize something truly special. These awards recognize more than financial success, they honour leadership, innovation, resilience, and community impact. Tonight is about the people behind the businesses that make our region thrive.”

Having sold out of their original collection of tickets, Royal explained the SWCC board ultimately decided to add more tables to the event to accommodate additional requests to attend. 

Thinking forward to next year, she noted excitedly that they will likely be expanding the awards evening.

“We are growing and we are thriving. There are a lot more businesses and three o’clock feels like we are having a little mini rush hour. There are a lot of people moving out of the city and coming into Strathmore,” said Royal. “We are also having a lot more businesses starting to pop up and it’s really rewarding to see the number of nominations that have been put forward. I would say we probably had over a hundred nominations. Every day it was growing and growing.”

It was estimated that over 120 businesses were nominated for the various awards categories. For several, leading up to the announcement of each of the winners, the Top 5 or Top 10 were recognized during the ceremony due to sheer volume of votes or nominations placed for respective businesses.

Royal added among the challenges of hosting the awards night are the measures required to advertise and coordinate the event, ranging from social media engagement to keeping nominations organized.

Inversely, she credited working with her colleagues on the board who each bring their own particular strengths and leadership skills to the table as being a key highlight in bringing the event together.

“Having events like this is really exciting because not only do I get to visit and have fun with friends and colleagues, but also it’s a time to celebrate others in our community,” said Royal. “Our strength lies in numbers, and we encourage members, future members, and businesses to come forward with their ideas and support because collaboration is the foundation of our collective success as a chamber.”

The winners of each of the respective categories are as follows: Non-profit of the Year – Community Futures Wild Rose; New Business of the Year – Kids Connection Daycare; Community Impact Award – Strathmore Fire Department; Retail Business of the Year – Lil Hoots; Social Media Awareness Award – Ranch Dental; Environmental Leader – Strathmore Bottle Depot; Agricultural Business of the Year – Rocking Horse Industries; Home Based Business of the Year – Mia Bella Hair; Youth Entrepreneur Award – M Jean Jewelry; Volunteer of the Year – Lush Realty; Service Excellence Award – Sagestone Skin and Spa; Tourist Attraction Award – Joyland Theatre; Arts and culture Business of the Year – Ally Brigley Music Studio; Educational Hero – Trinity Christian Academy.