The Wallaceburg and District Chamber of Commerce has announced the nominees for the upcoming Business Excellence Awards being held Oct. 29 at the Clubhouse at Baldoon.
Here is a list of all the awards and nominees:
Agriculture Award: IK Contracting, River Bell Market
Technology Award: CK Sports Xpress, Chris Taylor, Brent Foster
Environmental Award: Your Hometown Deli, Tabs Recycling, W.A.T.C.H
Young Professional Award: Gemma Peters, Staci Modde
Entrepreneur of the Year: Foster Visuals, Glass Guru, Tom Cogghe
Business of the Year: Wallaceburg Wellness Center, Royal Bank, Gatsby’s
Volunteer of the Year: Tom Cogghe, Aaron VanDorsseler, Wallaceburg Fireworks Committee
Citizen of the Year: Jay Smith, Carmen McGregor, Bill Wolsing
Chip Gordon Community Builder: Delina Bogaert, Chris Young, 99.1 CKXS
Community Inclusion: Tom McGregor, Boston Pizza, Dover Auto Wreckers
Dresden BIA: McKellar’s Flowers, Dresden Kinsmen, Rose Northcott
Ashley Oughtred, the chair of the Business Excellence Awards committee said they are going with an old Hollywood type theme this year.
“Like a glam award ceremony I guess,” she told the Sydenham Current. “I wanted to make it a little bit more dressed up, a little bit more semi-formal. There is going to be lots of bling and glamour. We have a backdrop. We are working on a red carpet, so hoping to get that.”
Oughtred said local singer Mikayla Lozon will be performing at the event.
“She is going to sing for us… kind of an intermission,” she said. “She is a classy young girl and we are looking forward to that. She is going to sing one song for us. That will be kind of nice to change it up a little bit.”
Oughtred said this is her first year on the Chamber board and will be her first Business Excellence Awards.
“I didn’t know pretty much anything about the ceremony or how it worked,” she said. I have been working on it with my committee since February. So I really made sure to give myself enough time so I could really understand the process of the nominations and the sponsorships and how the night is actually run. It has been a huge learning experience for me. I am excited for the night.”
Oughtred said they originally had 76 nominations.
“From there we have to ask if people will stand for their nominations so that brings things down a little bit,” she said. “So we had a lot to choose from.”
Oughtred added: “There is a diverse group this year. Lots of new names, new volunteers and that was my goal this year. I really wanted to branch out into the community and maybe certain aspects that I’m not part of myself or the committee is not part of. There is a lot of volunteers out there and businesses out there that maybe I don’t know or visit.”
Oughtred said the judges have been to town and they made their decisions last week.
“So the awards are ready to be engraved,” she said. “We are all ready to go. Everything is coming together.”
Tickets are available at at Intrigue Hair Lounge and 99.1 in downtown Wallaceburg.
Cost is $60.
Tickets will be available at the door, if they are not all sold before, but are on a first come first serve basis.
Doors will open at 6 p.m.
The event will feature appetizers from six different vendors/restaurants: Clubhouse at Baldoon, Gatsby’s Grill House, James Street Eatery, Crabby Joe’s, Pita Pit and Your Hometown Deli.
“They will all be under one roof which is awesome because I love all of their food and it gives everybody the chance to enjoy all of them at the same time,” Oughtred said. “It shows great support in the community to have all our restaurants under one roof working together and a good support system. We feel that this supports the community, shows support for our guests as well and gives them a night where they get to enjoy everybody.”
Here is the event poster, with more details:
