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Awards Given At Chamber's Annual Dinner

Jun. 12, 2008
The annual Garrett County Chamber of Commerce dinner, held last Thursday at the Lodge at Wisp Resort, saw a record number of attendees this year. With entertainment by the 10-piece local band the Remedy, 244 attendees ate dinner and saw the presentation of the Heise Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, the President's Award, and five Favorite Sons and Daughters awards.
Brenda McDonnell won the Heise Entrepreneurial Spirit Award. McDonnell owns and operates Brenda's Pizzeria and Trader's Coffeehouse at Deep Creek Lake. Winners of the Heise Entrepreneurial Spirit Award must have originated and developed a business from inception, shown a willingness to take risks, shown community involvement, held high ethical standards, and demonstrated leadership by overcoming a formidable problem that threatened the business's existence or shown business acumen through embarking on a creative, insightful or overlooked opportunity that will make an important contribution to Garrett County's business environment through substantive community impact.
The Heise Entrepreneurial Spirit Award committee, comprising previous winners, selects three nominees to be voted on by the general chamber membership. The winner is announced at the annual membership dinner and meeting.
Past honorees include Jonathan "Smiley" Kessler, Bill Sisler, Olen Beitzel, Johnny Marple, and Barry Rush. Last year's recipient, Dave Demaree of Demaree Inflatables, presented the award to McDonnell.
Larry Roby from Rent-A-Chef, Haley Farm Bed & Breakfast, and the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce jointly hosted a private dinner for the present and previous Heise Award winners on Monday at Haley Farm Bed & Breakfast.
Garrett County commissioner Denny Glotfelty received the President's Award from Charlie Ross, president and CEO of the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce. The President's Award recognizes achievement in building the business community in promoting Garrett County beyond its borders and in creating a dramatic shift that improves the quality of life for Garrett County citizens.
"Those who achieve awards, honors, and accomplishments from outside of the county that impact us all and let the world know just how good Garrett County is were the five recipients of the annual Favorite Sons and Daughters awards," according to a chamber spokesperson. The five recipients were the following:
• Crellin Elementary School, which has received three prestigious awards this year under the direction of principal Dana McCauley. It was awarded the Ernest L. Boyer 2008 Best Practices National Award for Character Education and the National Civic Star Award in recognition of its community partnerships that enrich student knowledge and achievement. The parents of Crellin students were also awarded the Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Award for their work in support of Maryland public education.
• The Garrett College Lakers women's basketball team, the 2008 NJCAA Region XX Champion, which earned the team a shot at the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II National Championship in Illinois.
• FIRST Team 1629 (the Garrett Coalition) and its robot Meshach 2.0. Team 1629 was awarded the Engineering Inspiration Award, which celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation within a team's school and community. Team 1629 also won the Delphi Driving Tomorrow's Technology Award, which recognizes a team's elegant and advantageous machine features.
• Emily Rosser, an honors graduate at Northern High School and member of the Girl Scouts Trillium Council, received the Girl Scout Leadership and Gold Award. Rosser gave presentations and demonstrations to local schools, was Student of the Month, was inducted into the NHS Math Hall of Fame, and participated in various sports in which she received three varsity letters.
• Maria Duff, Swan Meadow student, who won the state of Maryland's sixth grade poetry content in the Young Authors Contest. With this honor, Duff and her family traveled to Baltimore for a reception and were able to sight see through the city.
Board of directors chairman Jimmy Flanigan presided over the annual meeting portion of the evening and extended congratulations to the board's outgoing member, George Jones, and welcomed new board member Shane Grady.
Door prizes for the annual dinner were provided by chamber members. Deep Creek Sweets provided a basket of chocolates, Husky Power Dogsledding provided a two-to three-hour kennel tour experience and presentation, Radio FX provided 300 hours worth of air time, Canaan Valley provided a one day/one night golf package for two, DeBerry Farm provided a jar of salsa and pepper jelly, Simon Pearce provided glassware, the Winner's Circle provided a $20 gift certificate, and Alpine Lake Resort provided a dinner gift certificate.

Chambers of commerce play big role in tourism, economic development

Mona RidderCumberland Times-News
Let’s talk a bit about chambers of commerce and what they do for business.It’s important to note that chambers are made up of businesses and their owner/operators within a given area.So first of all, by their very nature, they are interested in what is good for business and promoting local business interests.One of the biggest roles of the chamber is as a local link in a network of resource information that may also include the local library, college or university, Internet and other business and professional organizations.Chambers work very closely with local economic development agencies, both public and private, such as The Greater Cumberland Committee. If they communicate well, there is no conflict or overlapping of responsibilities but a cohesive effort to achieve short and long term goals that will established a unified vision of the future for the region.The region is fortunate to have chambers of commerce in Hampshire, Mineral, Allegany and Garrett counties. Some chambers, such as Allegany County, publish a monthly newsletter that helps to keep members and others informed as to specific activities.The Allegany County Chamber of Commerce newsletter for each month includes a calendar of committee meetings and other events in which the organization is involved, as well as messages from the chairman and the president of the organization.The newsletter, in addition to being printed and mailed to its 400 members, is also available on the chamber Web site.Each of the other chambers in the region also maintain a Web site.The Garrett County Chamber Web site notes that the organization provides support for small businesses and the tourism industry. It lists area job openings, tourism information and educational material as well as other items.It notes that 850 businesses in the county employ 8,680 workers.Tourism is a focal point for the chamber because of Deep Creek Lake and the Adventure Sports Complex providing ever growing summer and winter leisure activities.In West Virginia, Grant County’s chamber Web site is also focused on tourism to a great extent with its outdoor recreation in hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, rafting and mountain arts and festivals in an intensely rural atmosphere.The Web site for Hampshire County’s chamber notes the group is working toward improving the local business climate by strengthening existing businesses through training and support and encouraging new businesses to choose the county in an effort to create jobs for residents as well as build a greater tax base for improvements to the county’s infrastructure. The latter issue has been a major focus of county officials over the last year because much of the continued development in the Romney area of the county hinges on improved water and sewer.The chamber has organized home shows to showcase member businesses and facilitated cooperative advertising in the state travel guide.Similarly the Mineral County chamber has defined its mission to stimulate and enhance the business environment and quality of life.The chamber does that by being an effective, prominent voice for the business community on issues affecting business vitality and an effective advocate for sound government policies and leadership.The West Virginia chambers work closely with local convention and visitor’s bureaus, in fact, in most instances, helping to establish the bureaus to promote tourism in the county.A steering committee in Hardy County is currently working to establish a chamber there with an eye toward also establishing a visitor’s bureau. Some of the financial support for the bureaus comes from the counties’ hotel/motel tax revenues, supplemented by the chambers and other contributions.In addition to tourism and business generally, issues relating to solid waste and water are more and more becoming regional concerns and the chambers of commerce will continue to play significant roles in communication and participation in developing resolutions.

Contact Mona Ridder at monaridder@verizon.net.