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Chamber honors businesses

FAIRMONT — An impending blizzard and the cancellation of the featured speaker didn’t dampen the enthusiasm at the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet on Thursday.

About 100 members and guests gathered to hear a review of the Chamber’s 2016 activities, an overview of plans for this year and the announcement of the Business of the Year winners.

“This Chamber of Commerce is program-oriented rather than event oriented,” Margaret Dillard, Chamber president, told the crowd.

To support her statement, she outlined the various Chamber committees and how their missions and projects positively impact the community.

The Agri-business Committee, host of the annual Blue Ribbon Pork event at the Martin County Fair, presents two $4,200 scholarships each year, and the Chamber Ambassadors, a group that visits new or relocated businesses, annually gives a $1,000 scholarship.

She called Bureau 14 the “premiere networking event” in the county and praised the Business Education Committee for merging the schools with the business community through the teachers banquet, Junior Achievement and Area Career Exploration, which this year will show 650 area 10th-graders what local careers are available. The Glows Committee handles the annual holiday parade, and the Governmental Affairs Committee hosts candidate forums during election years.

And through the retail branch of the Chamber, the gift certificate program “keeps tens of thousands of dollars in the community every year,” Dillard said.

Randy Douglas, project manager at 3M Fairmont, accepted the Business of the Year award for large businesses, those that employ 15 or more people. He commented that the Fairmont branch recently celebrated its 70th year, making it the third-oldest 3M plant in the world.

Accepting the award for the top small business, those with less than 15 employees, Sara Cyphers of D & S Trophies offered her thanks for the community support during a challenging year that began with the death of her grandfather, Don Oechsle, original owner of the 30-year-old business.

Andy Sodersten, owner of Fairmont Crossfit, picked up the award for the “Rising Star,” which is presented to businesses that have been in operation less than three years. He called the experience of moving to Fairmont “just awesome” and mentioned that, after only 18 months in operation, the business is running out of room and looking for a larger venue.

Red Rock Center for the Arts earned the award in the new non-profit category. Norm Langford, treasurer, mentioned the expanded paved parking lot that was added in 2016 and reported that the renovated facility is utilized with a variety of activities almost every day.

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