CRESWELL — The annual Creswell Chamber Awards Banquet was canceled, but celebrating scholarship winners and community leaders remains on the agenda.
All it needs now are nominations.
Creswell Chamber officials canceled the gala in May, and the board still wants to hand out the awards that recognize volunteers, businesses, community leaders and student achievement.
The nominations had closed in May, and “as of right now, we have very few, if any, nominations for the awards,” Chamber president Rain Napper said last week, making for an easy decision for the board to reopen awards nominations.
The awards are something the community looks forward to, Napper said. “It was extremely poor timing with the coronavirus … we realize that with the pandemic and world events that any positive promotion is well-needed.”
The Creswell Chamber Awards nominations are open through July 31, Napper said.
Nominations are open to anyone in the Creswell area in categories ranging from Community Volunteer of the Year, Citizen of the Year, Junior Citizen of the Year, Rose Barker Lifetime Achievement Award, Business of the Year, Agribusiness of the Year, and Educator of the Year.
Last year’s winners were, Rory Tyler, Point S (Business of the Year); for Agribusiness of the Year, Heidi Tunnell, Creswell Bakery; the late Tamara Blum of Creswell Chiropractic (Rose Barker Lifetime Achievement); Patti Scott (Citizen of the Year); Seth and Melissa Clark, Blue Valley Bistro (Community Volunteers of the Year); Brandi Buehler (Educator of the Year); McKenzie Traetow (Junior Citizen), with runner-ups Kelsey Kuhnhausen and Taylor Forsman; and Sue Bowers (CSD Volunteer of the Year).
Look for nomination forms in The Chronicle and on the chamber’s website. For more info, contact Napper at [email protected] or call 541-895-4398.