Annual event celebrates those who make Whitewater great
Tom Ganser
Correspondent
Celebration and an insight into the state tourism industry marked the Whitewater Area Chamber of Commerce (WACC) annual dinner and awards presentation at Randy’s Restaurant on Jan. 16.
The event was emceed by WACC President Kim Scharine – of GMA Printing/When Pigs Fly – and featured Wisconsin Department of Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett as the keynote speaker.
Heidi Hayes (Robin’s Nest IV Styling Salon) serves as WACC vice-president; Kim Brotz (First Citizens State Bank), secretary; and Stephanie Abbott (DLK Enterprises), treasurer.
Scharine thanked the service of outgoing board members Jason Mackie (LSM Chiropractic), Jon Laundrie (Culver’s Restaurant) and Bob Herold (Dale’s Bootery) and welcomed new board members Tom Pellizzi (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) and Kent Hutchins (Edward Jones).
In addition to Pellizzi and Hutchins, board members include Denise Derry (Good Morning Advertiser), Danielle Frawley (Fort Community Credit Union) and Phil Frawley (Frawley Oil).
Marie Koch, WACC Executive Director, provided a summary of WACC activities and accomplishments over the past year, including the purchase of a new computer and ChamberMaster, an events and members management software program used by over 15,000 chambers of commerce across the United States. Koch thanked Whitewater’s Culver’s Restaurant, Fort Community Credit Union and First Citizens State Bank for their financial support in purchasing ChamberMaster.
Additional topics covered by Koch included the success of Chamber Checks program, the transformation of “Maxwell Street Day” to “Whitewater Wipeout,” a “Giving Tree” project and “Windows of Whitewater.”
Looking to the upcoming year, Koch highlighted efforts to develop and publish a monthly promotion of Whitewater and Walworth County, create a “Shop and Eat” brochure for Whitewater, and early efforts with the Urban Forestry Commission and Bird City Wisconsin to identify Whitewater as a bird-watching community that encourages urban bird conservation.
WACC Awards were presented after Klett delivered the keynote address (see separate story).
State Rep. Andy Jorgensen was on hand to present a certificate and flag flown over the Wisconsin State Capitol to Tourism Council President Kathleen Flemming (Hamilton House Bed and Breakfast).
“Small business is the backbone of our economy,” Jorgensen said. “That is one thing that Republicans and Democrats can agree upon, that you are the heart and soul of our state. Without you we really, truly have nothing.”
The Chamber Recognition Award celebrating Robin’s Nest IV Styling Salon 40 years in business was presented to Barb Congdon, President of Robin’s Nest Salons and Spa, and Heidi Hayes, manager of Robin’s Nest IV Styling Salon in Whitewater.
In presenting the President’s Award to Danielle Frawley (Fort Community Credit Union), Scharine said, “Your guidance, insights and efforts have taken our organization to new heights.”
Even with things looking up for them, CEOs and business owners will still have a lot of work to do. From making key decisions for the company, to trying to protect employees from leaving often seems to be more of a challenge than a solution. In such a situation, it might be beneficial for the leaders to form business peer groups (look at LXCouncil to gather more information on this) in order to talk about important decisions, or even brainstorm, with people who run other companies. For a business owner flying solo, however, these problems can make them unaware of the problems their employees are facing. Nonetheless, it is yet to be seen as to how the award motivates business owners to further improve upon their services.
Other awards presented included the Director’s Award (Julie Barnes, chair of WACC Retail Committee), Good Neighbor Award (Jon Kachel, Commercial State Bank), Outstanding Business Leader Award (Ron Jongetjes, John’s Disposal), Special Project Award (John Laundrie, Whitewater’s Culver’s Restaurant) and Volunteer Award (Bettie Lee and Kelsey Kruger).
The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Alan Marshall’s “for all his decades’ worth of time for the Farmer’s Market here in Whitewater.”
Jeff Knight, president of the Greater Whitewater Committee, gave an update on the Discover Whitewater series half marathon. Last year, there were 560 registrations for events and a total of $62,000 was raised. The date for this year’s half marathon is Sept. 21 and Knight said the goal was 1,200 runners and $93,000.
Knight said, “We are going to want to partner closely with the Chamber, the Tourism (Council), the downtown group and the university again to make this even bigger and better. The goal is to make this a significant regional event. It’s two weeks before the Chicago and Milwaukee marathon(s) on purpose. It’s a training run. They’re coming to Whitewater. They’re loving it here and they’re coming back and spending the money.”
Looking ahead, Knight announced, “The next thing we’re planning is a major bike run as part of that Discover Whitewater series … running from Whitewater to Lake Geneva. Watch for that in the spring of 2015.”
Pick up a copy of the Feb. 13 Whitewater Register to read what Klett had to say about Whitewater and state tourism at the event.
