There will be some competition for the annual Chamber of Commerce business awards after a late flood of nominations filled out the categories just before last Friday’s deadline.
“I’m just filing them now. There’s about 30-40 so that’s not too bad,” Chamber co-ordinator Dawn Booth said Monday.
“They were coming in pretty steady Friday, and I think we have at least three nominations in each category,” she noted. “I’m not surprised about the lateness–these are always last-minute things.”
And the nominees are:
•Employee of the Year (private sector)–Christie Bone (Northland Basics), Daryl Eyolfson (Hammonds Nursery), Tara Langtry (The Place), Linda Laroque (Maurice Fillion, C.A.), Kim Miller (Doug Kitowski Trucking), and Karen Robb (Fort Frances Clinic);
•Employee of the Year (not for profit)–Chris Denby (Fort Frances High School), Geoff Gillon (Rainy River Future Development Corp.), Pam Hawley (Fort Frances Museum), Teresa Hazel (Riverside Foundation for Health Care), and Don Lovisa (Confederation College);
•Business of the Year (one-15 employees)–Cars Plus, CFOB Radio, Quality Builders, Rainy River Record, Sight & Sound, and Tammi’s Flowers, Cards and Gifts;
•Business of the Year (16+ employees)–Busch’s Auto Supplies, MacDonald Motors, Norfab Building Components, and Normiska Corp.;
•Abitibi-Consolidated Safety Award (Individual/Employee)–Jeannette Cawston (Rainy River Future Development Corp.), Dale Gustafson (Abitibi-Consolidated), and Donald Marquis (CN Rail);
•Abitibi-Consolidated Safety Award (Business/Employer)–the Northwestern Health Unit, Fort Frances OPP, and the Town of Fort Frances;
•Customer Service (Individual)–Norval Beadle (Safeway), Neila Booth (Tammi’s Flowers, Cards and Gifts), Marilyn McCoy (Northwoods Gallery and Gifts), John Pierce (Fort Frances Times Ltd.), Lori Shoemaker (Tammi’s Flowers, Cards and Gifts), and Lori Toop (Cripes, It’s A Castle);
•Customer Service (Business)–M&S Bootery, McDonald’s Restaurant, PC Express, Rainy Lake Hotel Dining Room, Red Dog Inn Dining Room, Sears Canada, Tammi’s Flowers, Cards and Gifts, and TD Bank;
•Entrepreneur of the Year–Joe Barker (Cars Plus), Jan Hall-Bosma (In-Focus Photography), Mike Maxton (Home Suite Home), and Tom Reid (Voyageur Inn); and
•Northwest Training & Adjustment Board Award–Doug Kitowski Trucking, Gillons’ Insurance Brokers, Videon, and Voyageur Panel.
The award winners will be announced at the Chamber’s annual banquet March 24.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
