 The evening was a wrap-up of 2011 and the success the chamber
experienced under the past president, Donna Boyd, and a "ringing in"
of the new year with the 2012 president, Eric Graue. Community
members from all over Logan County came together to show their pride
in the chamber's accomplishments and to embark on a new year.
The Pride & Progress Awards are sponsored by the chamber's
executive committee and are designed to recognize outstanding
achievement and promote positive awareness of local businesses. The
Pride & Progress Awards celebrate and acknowledge excellence,
innovation, initiative, community involvement, and are a thank you
to those who go the extra mile to make Logan County a great place to
live, work and play.
The award recipients are nominated by community members and
judged independently by a committee using scoring criteria for
questions related to the award. All scores are then tabulated, and
the 2011 nominations resulted in the following:
The New Business of the Year was given to Anytime
Fitness, because they opened in 2011 and are making fitness a
top priority in the minds of residents in Logan County. Anytime
Fitness already has 450 members and has been open for only a couple
of months. They offer personal and group training and make sure that
each person is making exercise a part of their routine. Of the 279
Anytime Fitness facilities that were opened in 2011, the Lincoln
facility was ranked No. 4. Chris and Jamie Beard, local partners of
Anytime Fitness, accepted this award.
The Beautification Award winner was Lincoln Theater 4.
The owner of the theater made sure the renovations were going to
attract more people but still keep the historic look alive. He was
successful in doing that, and many people appreciate the historic
look that this building still has. The results speak for themselves
and truly have made Lincoln and Logan County a more beautiful place
to live. David Lanterman, owner of the Lincoln Theater 4, was on
hand to accept this Beautification Award.
NAPA Auto Parts received the Excellence in Service
award for dedication to the community of Lincoln. Each employee of
NAPA Auto Parts makes sure you are helped when you walk in the door
and that you feel welcome until you get in your car to leave. The
owners of this business are very involved in the community and make
sure that each customer is served at the most convenient times, with
changing hours for different seasons. The owners, Dave and Diane
Campbell, were in attendance to accept this award.
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The Ambassador of the Year for 2011 was Marcia Cook.
Marcia received the award for attending ribbon-cuts, Business After
Hours and other chamber events, encouraging chamber membership and
being an overall ambassador and steward of Logan County. It is rare
that there is an event in Logan County that Marcia is not in
attendance to support.
Graue Inc. was the recipient of the 2011 Distinguished
Business of the Year for being a business that not only serves
their customers, but also the community of Lincoln and Logan County
as a whole. The staff at Graue spends a lot of their time
volunteering for events and giving to charities, as well as making
sure their customers always have a way to get where they need to be.
With most of the staff being Logan County residents, this business
will always have a hometown spirit. Graue Inc. is heavily involved
in every event at the chamber as well as many events around the
Lincoln and Logan County area. Chris Graue, owner of Graue Inc.,
along with many other staff members, was there to accept this award.
The Mike Abbott Volunteer of the Year went to Joe
Fitzpatrick, who went above and beyond in the biggest event the
chamber puts on, the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival. Without Joe's
help, the festival would be not what it is today. Since 2005, when
the festival first moved to the airport, Joe was there to help with
the planning and build-out of the electrical infrastructure required
for the event. Thousands of dollars in materials and countless
man-hours were donated to help make the event successful. Since
then, Joe works weeks in advance to make sure that everything is
taken care of. Many trips from downtown to the airport are made, and
he is always on hand during the festival if anything is needed.
After the festival, Joe is back to help take it all down. Joe was in
attendance to accept his award.
The annual dinner and the Pride & Progress Awards are part of the
chamber's mission to serve the membership through a commitment to
the economic prosperity of Lincoln and Logan County.
[Text from file received from
the Lincoln/Logan County
Chamber of Commerce]
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