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Ian Litzenberger speaks to those assembled before the awards are handed out (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)
Samuel McLeod Business Awards

P.A. and District Chamber of Commerce hands out awards

Apr 19, 2019 | 9:04 AM

The Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce handed out some hardware Thursday night.

The business organization hosted their annual Samuel McLeod Business Awards banquet at the Ches Leach Lounge in the Art Hauser Centre. Awards were handed out to a number of businesses and business leaders in a variety of different categories, including business of the year, non-profit and business transformation.

The award for Business of the Year is given to a member that has shown strong performance in a number of categories including customer service and community involvement. This year there were three local businesses up for the award, the Northern Lights Casino, Lake Country Co-op and North Country Massage and Medi Spa.

In the end, the Northern Lights Casino ended up taking the award home, their second one of the evening, as the casino had also been awarded the Community Involvement Award earlier.

While accepting the award on behalf of the casino, General Manager Richard Ahenakew spoke about how honoured the organization was to be nominated.

“It’s such an honour, thank you very much, you look at the people we’ve been nominated with, a company like Co-op, you guys have done so much incredible stuff,” he told the crowd.

During his speech, the long-time general manager thanked his wife for her support, especially during the first two years they were in business. Ahenakew also thanked his employees, some of whom were in attendance, for theirwork and remarked how the workforce has evolved over the years.

“When we started out, there was there were little kids that would come to our Christmas parties, that are now working in the casino in supervisory positons,” he said.

Northern Lights Casino was not the only business that took home multiple awards Thursday night. Paved to Pines, represented by Steven Glass and Mitchell Rosko, a business that specializes in converting older vehicles into tiny homes took home awards for Young Entrepreneur of the Year and New Venture of the Year.

The second business to take home two sets of awards was North Country Massage and Medi Spa, which took home awards for Female Business Leader of the Year and the Business Transformation Award. Lindsey Rask and Bernadette Lavoie, co-owners of the spa accepted both awards.

Lindsey Rask, left with Bernadette Lavoie pose with MLA Todd Goudy after receiving the Business Transformation Award (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

After being announced as the winner of Business Transformation Award, Lavoie made sure to thank the people who helped them get their new location up and going.

“None of this could be possible without firstly my husband, Steve Mitchell, he encouraged me to go forward with the purchase of the building and was also the general contractor who put his heart and soul into creating our vision,” she said.

Rask also thanked their staff, who have helped the business grow and expand to offer new services.

“We could not be prouder of our facility and more appreciative of your hard work,” she said.

Another major award handed out Thursday night was for Non-Profit Organization of the year. With this award the chamber aims to recognize an organization that is dedicated to growing and working toward their mandate and vision. In this category, Habitat for Humanity, the Victoria Hospital Foundation and KIN Enterprises were up for the award.

In the end, Prince Albert Habitat for Humanity took home the hardware.

Other winners of the night included Trudel Auto Body, which took home the Customer Service Award. Jeff Stumpf with Prince Albert Alarms received the Male Business Leader of the Year award. Finally, George Lewko and Paintball Paradise Prince Albert were given the chamber’s marketing award.

Roses Stewart, who was honoured last month as the Chamber’s Legacy Award recipient, was also recognized with a starblanket at the awards event Thursday evening, courtesy of the Northern Lights Casino.

Roses Stewart received a starblanket Thursday evening. (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn

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