SCBEX awards night celebrates 25 years of community excellence
The Swift Current & District Chamber of Commerce business awards night had added significance this year, because it was the 25th anniversary of this annual celebration of local community excellence.
The Swift Current Business Excellence (SCBEX) Spirit of Swift Current awards night took place at the Living Sky Casino Event Centre, Oct. 27.
It gave recognition to award recipients in 11 different categories. The event was attended by a capacity crowd and the ceremony included a look back at the event’s origins. It paid tribute to the 1998 chamber board and staff for creating the inaugural SCBEX awards night held in May 1999.
Chamber CEO Karla Wiens emceed the event. She was thrilled that some of the 1998 board members were able to attend the celebration.
“It’s very exciting that we’ve been celebrating excellence,” she said after the awards ceremony. “We’ve had excellence in our community for a long time, but celebrating it for 25 years now is a great milestone.”
There were seven award categories for the inaugural SCBEX awards and a total of 20 finalists were chosen in five of those categories
The winners of the 1999 SCBEX awards were Home Hardware (Customer Service and Business of the Year awards), Gramma Bep’s gourmet foods (Property Appearance), Stark & Marsh (Heritage Award) and Pioneer Co-op (Community Involvement).
There were 104 nominations for the 2023 SCBEX awards and Wiens noted that all those nominations were well put together.
“There’s some thought and consideration that people are putting into who they feel is deserving of an award and they’re all deserving of awards, quite frankly,” she said. “I think Swift Current and southwest Saskatchewan are very fortunate that we are very collaborative and supportive of each other. We don’t hesitate to pat each other on the back when it’s warranted.”
Some changes and additions were made to the award categories for 2023. The chamber gave a nod to the past by bringing back the Young Entrepreneur award. It was one of the original categories for 1999, but it is now called the Emerging Entrepreneur award class. Another new award category was added for Employer of the Year. The homebased business category was dropped, but those businesses could still be nominated in one of the existing categories.
The winners at the 25th anniversary gala received a uniquely designed award in recognition of this milestone.
“They are exceptionally heavy awards that look silver and white,” she said. “We chose it, because we felt it was just celebrating this milestone in a different fashion and they’re each etched with the 25th anniversary on it as well.”
In addition to the full-size award presented to the winners in each of the 11 categories, the chamber presented a miniature version of the award to the sponsor of each category.
“An event like this is not possible without the immense support of many sponsors,” she said. “And for our 25th anniversary, we wanted to say thank you to them as well and have a memento to celebrate this occasion.”
W.W. Smith Insurance Ltd. is the recipient of the 2023 Member Business of the Year award. Business partner Paul Hegglin thanked staff, who are deserving of the award, and he expressed appreciation towards the community for supporting the company.
“If the community supports you, you got to support the community,” he said.
S3 Group Ltd. was the 2023 SCBEX Hall of Fame inductee and also won the Large Business of the Year award.
S3 Group CEO Richelle Andreas said she has the honour of working with talented people who have the vision, skill and drive to make things happen. She noted that being inducted into the SCBEX Hall of Fame is an acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication of the S3 team.
S3 Group Director of Business Development Kelly Silbernagel accepted the Large Business of the Year award.
“It’s a team effort,” he said about the company’s success. “Everybody wants good employees, good customers and good work ethic, and there’s got to be that focus. You’ve got to have the fiveyear plan, the ten-year plan and we just keep working towards that. I think the board of directors and the ownership group are doing a great job of putting the right people in place and just helping us grow as a business.”
Sunny Side Up Stationery Company won the Start-up/new Business of the Year award. Owner Danitra Laverdiere was ecstatic about the honour.
“I only opened like a year ago and so it’s crazy how fast this all just came about,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting any kind of recognition and then when I was nominated, it just blew me out of the water that people are just cheering me on so much.
It has always been her dream to have a stationery store and she also had an idea to open a bakery with it.
“I guess this is just the first step of
maybe going in that direction too,” she said.
Spoon & Bowl Bistro won the Small Business of the Year award. Owner Michael Achurra said it was an awesome feeling and great recognition for his business, which has been operating for five years. He credited his team for the success of the restaurant.
“So helping each other,” he said. “Teamwork actually is the best key to the business.”
Len’s Plumbing & Heating (1981) Ltd won the Medium Business of the Year award. Owner Tom Westbury said the company’s senior core is an important part of its success, because they can guide the younger employees.
“It feels really great to be recognized in the community,” he noted. “We love being part of this community. So to be recognized is just extra special.”
Southwest Youth Emergency Shelter was presented with the Not-for-profit of the Year award. Executive Director Rebecca Donnelly said the organization, which operates the Dorie’s House Treatment Centre, had a long journey that took a lot of hard work and perseverance.
“We were built by this community,” she said. “We remain eternally grateful for that support. I believe that this community believes, as we do, in the importance and the value in supporting and empowering youth in this community.”
Canadian Tire in Swift Current received the Employer of Person(s) Experiencing Disability award.
“This is a big one,” franchise owner Adrian Wardell said. “To help people that don’t get every opportunity in life is really, really rewarding. And to be recognized for that is even better.”
He noted that every business is experiencing difficulty to find labour and
it therefore makes sense to find individuals that will fit a need.
“Whether it’s seasonal work or longtime positions, we’ve had numerous successful stories of staff that we still have today that have been with us for three and four years,” he said.
Nineteen-year-old Kai Haubrich of Haubie Yard Maintenance and Landscaping won the Emerging Entrepreneur award.
“It feels good to get recognized for something that you work hard for, just coming out of high school and not knowing what was going to happen,” he said. “And it turned out better than expected. So that’s a win.”
He started the business at the age of 17 while still in Grade 12. He wanted to start something on his own and it worked out well.
“I like working with people, making customers happy and bringing their dreams to reality in their backyards,” he said.
Stark & Marsh was the recipient of the Employer of the Year award. CEO Elden Moberg said it was pretty humbling for the company to receive this recognition.
“This award is exactly what we’re trying to accomplish,” he noted. “To be a good employer, to provide a good place to work for our people, and ultimately to be good citizens of the communities in which we work. I think ultimately that’s really what all of us in the room are trying to accomplish every day.”
He is proud of the company culture, but it is something they can never be complacent about and they need to continually improve on what they are doing.
“We actually do poll our people and we do that with some regularity to try and see the areas where we maybe can improve,” he said.
The company will consider what it can do to make Stark & Marsh an attractive place to work. It provides flexible work schedules, supports professional development of individuals and provides time to employees to contribute to community initiatives of importance to them.
“Obviously, we have to get work done and we have to take care of our clients,” he said.
“But we don’t draw a map basically to do it. There are lots of different ways we can get to the finish line and still be successful.”
The Plewis Automotive Group was the recipient of the Community Impact award. Partner Mark Plewis said the company’s Better Together philosophy has been an important driving force behind their community giving and involvement.
“It’s all about recognizing that we’re stronger when we come together, when we support one another, and when we lift each other up,” he noted.
He felt this approach is a reflection of the company’s heritage as a legacy business in Swift Current.
“We’ve been around for 113 years now, since 1910,” he said. “Great grandpa, grandpa and my father Jim have all laid roots and the foundation of giving and philanthropy in our community, and it’s been one of those things that’s been instilled in us to do.”