Six small businesses within the GROWTH Alberta economic development area were honoured at an awards gala in Westlock last Saturday night.
GROWTH Alberta, also know as the Grizzly Regional Economic Development Association, hosted its 10th annual GROWTH Business Excellence Awards gala at the Westlock Inn Jan. 24, with several prominent elected officials in attendance to help celebrate.
While four of the six winners hail from the western part of the area GROWTH serves, Westlock’s Fifth Meridian Coffee Company and Barrhead’s Freson Bros. were among the winners.
The coffee company, a small shop in downtown Westlock run by mother-daughter duo Sheila and Marina Redel, boasts a wide array of made-from-scratch breakfast and lunch options.
The two said they were humbled and surprised to get the award, noting it’s thanks to their loyal customers and hard-working staff that they can keep doing what they do.
“A lot of our success is in the community,” Marina said. “People are happy to talk about us, and we really appreciate everybody spreading the word.”
Sheila said it’s not like they needed more encouragement to keep going, but this kind of recognition provides a nice boost to their spirits.
“You never expect something like this, but it just makes you feel like you’ve done the right thing,” Sheila said. “The community wanted it and they’ve supported us.”
To the west of the Pembina in Barrhead, the Freson Bros. grocery store was recognized for its long-standing service to not just Barrhead but to other communities across Alberta — it now boasts 950 employees in 15 supermarkets from Peace River to Drumheller.
Accepting the award was Barrhead store manager Aaron Coutts, who employs 90 people at the 24-hour-a-day location.
“I’m humbled by it,” he said. “I didn’t do anything to go out and pursue this. It’s nice when the community recognizes you for something you do as your job day after day. It’s a lot of hard work but I’m honoured to be recognized among my peers.”
The other winners were Alberta Motor Sport Sales and Salvage (Lac Ste. Anne County), D&S Custom Meats (Woodlands County), Paddle Plastics (Mayerthorpe) and Uptown Auto (Mayerthorpe).
Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Maureen Kubinec said while her opinion may be somewhat biased, she believes some of the best businesses in the province have been recognized at the GROWTH awards over the past several years — and emphasized the entrepreneurial, hard-working spirit got Alberta through tough times before and will undoubtedly do it again.
“They’re innovate, they meet a niche need, and watching those videos this evening really showed that,” she said. “Even though we may be facing tougher times, this gives me hope that we’ll pull ourselves through. It’s this kind of spirit that does it every time.”
Dwight Davidson, chair of the GROWTH Business Excellence Awards committee, said he was happy to be able to be a part of celebrating small business in the area.
“The businesses represented here this evening rose to the top this year,” he said. “This is your evening, saying thank you for being excellent at what you do.”
A former Westlock town councillor was honoured with a special award in recognition of many years of dedicated service to GROWTH Alberta in general and to the Business Excellence Awards in particular.
GROWTH chair Chad Merrifield presented a special award to Marjorie Sterling Miller, who in her 18 years as a councillor was involved in many subcommittees and helped found the Business Excellence Awards 10 years ago.
“She was the one who really instilled a sense of class into the event, and has helped make it what it is today,” he said.
Sterling Miller was humble and thankful in accepting her award.
“I’m not that good,” she said with a laugh. “But I had my heart in GROWTH Alberta right from the very beginning.”
She praised the spirit of teamwork and the positive attitude of every member of GROWTH she worked with over the years, and those who continue to work now that she has stepped back from the organization.
“Keep it up,” she said. “You did a great job; this was a beautiful night.”
