On Saturday, Oct. 24, Barrhead business owners gathered at the Barrhead Golf and Country Club to celebrate their successes during the first Annual Business Excellence Awards.
The event, which was hosted by the Barrhead Chamber of Commerce and Northplex, featured six awards; New Kid on the Block, the Agricultural Business of the Year Award, the GROWTH Award, the Heritage Recognition Award, the Customer Service Award, and the Barrhead Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award.
The first award for the evening was the New Kid on the Block.
“New Kid on the Block is a business that has been around for less than 24 months, is already in good indication of giving back to the community, they have a good plan, and it is very evident from the three selections tonight that they will succeed,” Richard Parker, one of the organizers and a sales representative for Northplex Ltd., said.
Pure Glass won the title of New Kid on the Block.
The award was sponsored by Community Futures Yellowhead East, and was presented by Community Futures Chair Dwight Davidson.
“Community Futures is very proud to make this presentation,” Davidson said, adding Community Futures is a program that has been in Alberta for 30 years, and offers loans, and assistance to business plans for small businesses.
“We are here to help,” he said.
The second award of the evening was the Agricultural Business of the Year Award.
“This is a farm operation or a business related to the agricultural industry,” Parker said. “At least once in your life you will need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, and a preacher, but three times a day, every day we need a farmer, how true it is.”
This year, Dale and Maureen Greig received the honour, which was sponsored by Martin Deerline and presented by Larry Wolfram, of Martin Deerline.
“Congratulations Dale and Maureen Greig on this award. I know they put a lot of time and effort into their farm,” Wolfram said.
Parker described the third award of the evening, the Heritage Recognition Award.
“These are businesses that have been around for over 10 years,” Parker said prior to announcing Barrhead Shoes as the winners of the award.
The Heritage Award was sponsored by Sanderman’s Home Hardware, and was presented by store-owner and Chamber President Dave Sawatzky.
“Without people like Oscar and Deanne, who started their business 60 years ago, or more probably, Barrhead wouldn’t be what it is today, we need great people like Oscar and Deanne to keep people in our community going and to help us move down the road for the future prosperity of Barrhead,” Sawatzky said. “Thank you both for your outstanding work.”
The fourth award for the evening was presented after a short break filled with entertainment provided by the dueling pianos, Harvey Flemming and Cameron Hinton.
Nikki McKeand, GROWTH Alberta, and Roy Ulmer, Town of Barrhead coun., presented the GROWTH Award, which was sponsored by ATB Financial.
“Every year, GROWTH Alberta recognizes regional businesses that are leaders in the community or industry. This year’s winner has been in business for over 21 years in the Town of Barrhead,” McKeand said, prior to announcing the winner, Tru Value Hardware.
“She is a terrific business lady,” Ulmer said about owner, Durriyah Mithalwala.
Parker started the presentation of the fifth award with a story about becoming a greeter after he retires from Northplex, and added it didn’t take him long to realize the local businesses don’t need greeters like big box stores.
“You can walk into any business, and say hi, do you know where you’ve got three and a half inch bolts, they are not going to direct you to somebody else if you can get their attention, they are not going to say oh that is not my department, they know it, they know every department. Their businesses are good. They don’t need greeters, we have customer service like you won’t believe in Barrhead,” Parker said as he introduced the Customer Service Award. “That’s our next award, is outstanding customer service to an individual or to a business this past year.”
The award, presented by Sawatzky, was awarded to Barrhead Home Building Products.
This year, the Barrhead Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award was awarded to a business that was a member of the Barrhead Chamber of Commerce that had given back to the community, Parker said.
“Our top three vote getters are, ATB Financial, Sanderman’s Home Hardware, and Northplex Ltd.”
Receiving the award for their community involvement was Northplex Ltd.
Jamie McSporran, director of Business Development for Northplex, accepted the award on behalf of the business.
McSporran began his speech by congratulating all businesses.
“You certainly are all well deserving,” he said.
“On behalf of the entire Northplex team, we are honoured to be nominated, and to be selected as the Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year for 2015, this award is a small recognition of hard work, and support of our employees, their families and the community,” McSporran said. “At Northplex, our success is built around great people and our community. We are proud to be a part of the Barrhead community, and we look forward to building together.”
“We do appreciate all of your contributions to our community and the Chamber, and we wish you lots of future success in our community,” Sawatzky said.
Once all of the awards were presented, Barrhead Chamber of Commerce Vice-President Shawn Fillier gave a brief speech.
“I want everybody to look around and take a look at our thriving community. Just look around, this is our businesses, this is what we have every day, day in and day out,” Fillier said. “This is what tonight is all about, let’s celebrate and have fun and enjoy each other.”
Bringing the speeches to a close was the Chamber of Commerce President himself.
“There is no place in Alberta that is better to live, work and play in than Barrhead,” Sawatzky said.
