Staff
New businesses, recently-expanded businesses, and some well-established ones–along with well-known individuals–all were in the spotlight last night during the 21st-annual Rainy River District Business Awards at the Copper River Inn.
Carl’s Eatery, which first opened its doors on Scott Street in 2015 but moved to a larger location on King’s Highway this past fall, came away with three awards, including Business of the Year.
Other nominees for that award included Century 21, Curvy Chick, J Scrub, Flint House, From the Grind Up, Simplicity, Badiuk Equipment, and The Place.
Meanwhile, Caitlyn Morrison of Carl’s Eatery was honoured as the Employee of the Year.
Also nominated were Shelley Matias (RBC Royal Bank), Sherri Christiansen (UPS Store), Nathalie Donaldson (Betty’s of Fort Frances), Kelly McFayden (BDO of Canada LLP), Duane Hicks (Fort Frances Times), Brenda Kellar (Causeway Insurance), and Lise Barker (Lowey’s Greenhouse).
Carl’s Eatery also won the Customer Service Award (Business).
Other nominees included Gold Star Taxi, Nexus Community Savings, Copper River Inn, Sunset Medical Supply, Cousineau Health Services, RBC Royal Bank, and Curvy Chick.
In a first for the awards gala, Doug Cuthbertson (Northwoods Gallery & Gifts) and Duane Cridland (Flint House) both were named Entrepreneur of the Year after they each garnered 31.81 percent of the votes in their category (571 each).
Also nominated were Jennifer Horton (Curvy Chick), Scott Krienke-Turvey (Ink Spotz Apparel+), and April Degagne (hairstylist).
Jennifer Horton (Curvy Chick) won Business Woman of the Year.
June Haver (Nexus Community Savings), Pam Williams (4 Your Pets), Diane Gibson (Gibson Design), and Wanda Huitikka-Wipf (Century 21) also were nominated for that award.
The Home-Based Business Award went to Merge2 (Inga Friesen).
Party Rock DJ Services (Melanie Williams), Young Living Essential Oils (Pam Edwards), and Thirty One (Jessica Ogden) were the other nominees.
Neila Booth (Northwoods Gallery & Gifts) was presented with the Customer Service Award (Individual).
Ashley Trinkner (Shoppers Home Health Care), Angela Halvorsen (Rainy River Future Development Corp.), Barb Everett (Nexus Community Savings), Caitlyn Morrison (Carl’s Eatery), Wanda Huitikka-Wipf (Century 21), Tammy Ouellet (Causeway Insurance), Josh Jean (Sunset Medical Supply), and Ramiro Matias (Sunset Medical Supply) also were nominated.
John Homer (Causeway Insurance) took home the Tony Beyak Memorial Volunteer of the Year Award.
Leslie Feaver Danielson was the other nominee for this prestigious award.
And Belluz Concrete won the Small Business Trainer of the Year Award.
Other nominees included J Scrub, A Buck or Two, KJ’s Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Inc., and Titan Manufacturing.
Voting for the awards was done online between Jan. 27 and Feb. 3.
The evening, emceed by Melanie Williams of Party Rock DJ Services, also featured entertainment by the very talented comedy juggler, Robin Chestnut.
