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Woodstock-area businesses and community members received recognition Friday evening at the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s annual awards gala.
Kaleb Price, who won Volunteer of the Year and was nominated for the Leadership Excellence award, said of winning that he “didn’t know how to put it into words.”
After receiving the honor, he said he randomly found out through Facebook that he was nominated and was glad to know his work was being seen and felt in the community.
Price is the head of the chamber’s ambassadors program and works as a community engagement specialist for i3 Broadband.
Jim O’Leary, the owner of Copy Express, which won the Professional Service Provider of the Year award, said after the awards ceremony he was proud of the company’s employees, adding they deserve it and work hard.
The full list of winners included:
- Community Event of the Year: Care4 Breast Cancer 5K Run/Walk, Family Health Partnership Clinic
- Nonprofit of the Year: Woodstock Pride
- Volunteer of the Year: Kaleb Price
- Leadership Excellence: Arlene Lynes
- Retailer of the Year: Isabel’s Family Restaurant
- Entrepreneur of the Year: George and Lori Miarecki, Cherry Tree Inn
- Manufacturer of the Year: Phoenix Woodworking Corporation
- Professional Service Provider of the Year: Copy Express
In the speech accepting Woodstock Pride’s award, Melissa McMahon, who sits on the organization’s board and is also a City Council member, said the award wasn’t just for Woodstock Pride, but for anyone in town who needed a place to feel safe, seen and supported.
“In today’s world, supporting LGBT organizations can sometimes feel like a bold choice, but the Chamber and its leadership has shown that this community believes in inclusion,” McMahon said.
The awards presentation wrapped up with the Harold Buschkopf Community Service Award. The honor recognizes a person who has made a “profound and lasting impact” on the Woodstock area, chamber President Brad Ball said. Buschkopf was known for his unwavering commitment to Woodstock," Ball said. The award was named after Buschkopf in 1995, according to the chamber website.
“This award represents a community leader, spokesman and an ambassador who gave unselfishly of his or her time, energy and money. A person who loved Woodstock. This recipient should be a company or individual that is reflective of our community – unique, creative, smart, one-of-a-kind, fun, kind, giving, successful,” the website says.
Donna Besler, this year’s Harold Buschkopf award winner and the vice president of business development for Prairie Community Bank, received a standing ovation when she took the stage to accept the honor.
In accepting the recognition, Besler said Woodstock is a “very special community. We all support each other, we’re all there for each other. And it’s not anything that we think twice about doing, we just do it.”
Besler was also nominated for Volunteer of the Year.
The event took place inside the newly remodeled Woodstock Opera House. Renovations necessitated the performing arts venue’s temporary closure last summer. Some of the new features were on display – including a staircase connecting the bar area to the auditorium staircase – work continues on the addition of a third story to the building’s south annex.