It was a evening of celebration at the 2023 Business Excellence Awards Night Oct. 20 at the Clearwater Ski Hill.
About 120 guests were in attendance to socialize, network and honour the achievement in local business excellence. The Business Excellence award winners were:
Old Town Gift Shoppe was awarded top honours in the category of Entrepreneur and Innovation.
The Farmgate/Agriculture award went to Two Crows Farm.
Hop ‘n Hog took home the award in Hospitality.
Interior Whitewater Expeditions won in the category of Tourism.
Pharmasave was honoured for Retailer Excellence.
Maveric Northcott, Wells Gray Outfitters was awarded top New Business; The Rising Star.
Dr. Kara Perdue was honoured for Trades and Services Excellence.
The Business Leaders award went to Wells Gray Home Hardware.
Borrow Enterprises was awarded Large Business of the Year.
Small Business of the Year went to Double R Pizza.
Citizens of the Year went to the ‘dynamic duo’ of Linda Selbee and Pearl Broswick.
Leslie Groulx, the newly-elected president of Clearwater and District Chamber of Commerce (CDCC), commented on the Chamber’s goals following the Business Excellence Awards.
”Our objectives for this year are building a closer working relationship with the District of Clearwater, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, and Community Futures, as we roll out our Chamber Strategic Plan.”
She pointed to five focus areas identified by the CDCC: membership, partnerships, connectivity, communication, and advocacy.
“We’ve actually done quite a bit with regards to membership benefits and enhancements. For this year’s awards sponsors we decided to offer a free membership for the year for any of the sponsors. This has provided us an opportunity to grow our membership.”
Groulx refers to partnerships in the community being very important to her as president of the Chamber, giving the example of her term as CAO for the District of Clearwater. She describes that time as “very successful” and feels it wouldn’t have happened had it not been for those “partnerships that were developed with those stakeholders in the community, so I am using that same philosophy here.”
The Chamber president said she feels confident in the strength of the current board and what can be accomplished on behalf of businesses in the valley.
“One of the first things we did last year when I came on board was to present a position paper in Kamloops to the electoral boundary change committee as a rural chamber. We aligned with the position of Simpcw First Nation as well, and we were pleased that our voices were heard as a collective.”
Groulx says the CDCC is working directly with B.C. Chamber to collectively hold government accountable when advocating for business members.
Part of the strategic plan involves more regular communications and updates with the membership and the public on current goals and projects moving forward, says Groulx.
“I’m looking forward to strengthening our partnerships both locally and provincially as we implement our strategic planning objectives moving forward with a strong working board.”
