Last week the Chamber held its annual Small Business of the Year Awards Breakfast. While it’s an opportunity to recognize a small group of finalists, it’s also about celebrating free enterprise, individualism and courage.
Sure, that’s over-romanticizing small business because it ignores things like long hours, the challenges of wearing (too) many hats, vendor and supplier challenges, money pressures and everything other problem that goes with running your own business. Even so, when I think ‘small business’ I smell apple pie, see flags waving and hear a John Sousa march. What could be more American than small business?!
Congratulations to the twelve 2017 finalists. They include:
- Small Category (1-10 employees): Onsight Auto Glass, Vern’s Toffee House (winner)
- Medium Category (11-50 employees): FLEXX Productions, Vaught Frye Larson Architects, Inc. (winner), Workspace Innovations, Colorado In Motion
- Large Category (51-200 employees): Forney Industries (winner), Neuworks Mechanical, Inc., The Women’s Clinic of Northern Colorado
- New Kid on the Block: Elevate Chiropractic, Senior Life Solutions (winner), Valimenta Labs.
A big thanks to the Small Business of the Year Awards program underwriters. They are First National Bank, Kaiser Permanente, Adams Bank & Trust, Blue Federal Credit Union, Comcast, Hunt, Spillman & Associates, P.C., Mantooth Marketing Company, Total Facility Care, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Northern Colorado Catering and Sign-A-Rama.