The Castlegar Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual Business Excellence Awards Saturday at the Castlegar Community Complex.
The evening started out with live music by Chickadee, while Jordan Perkins started a painting that he worked on for the rest of the evening so that it could be auctioned off at the end of the night to raise funds for the chamber. The painting brought in $1,600 during a lively bidding spree.
Following a Greek dinner by Kim’s Creations — who won the award for best home-based business — Chamber executive director Tammy Verigin-Burk and emcee for the evening Dale Donaldson challenged guests in a teamwork competition that resulted in a representative from each table having to add some interesting pieces of attire to their wardrobes.
Castlegar Mayor Lawrence Chernoff ended up in the spotlight several times during the evening. First, with a speech highlighting the economic growth and other improvements in Castlegar, and second when he had to don sparkly blue glasses during the team challenge.
The next time he hit the stage, it was with Coun. Dan Rye to accept the Tourism Development award on behalf of the city for the Millennium Park.
The final time he was on stage was to honour the Oglow family for their many years of contributions to the community. Dave, Tom and Carol Oglow were this year’s recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
“As the Oglow family grew, they were always there to assist any community project that needed help,” said Chernoff. “The Oglows were a big part of the growth of Castlegar.”
Tom and Dave first purchased the business from their father and his brothers in 1977.
“If you look at the figures — that’s 40 years of dedication to this community,” said Chernoff.
Carol would join her brothers several years later when her brother asked her to help out for just three weeks — that was 28 years ago.
The handprint of the previous generation of Oglows can be seen all around Castlegar as they operated a contracting business and building supply store which was in the building next to Kootenay Market. They would build and expand down the block until they built the current Oglow building. They were also instrumental in developing the Castlebar Subdivision, which everyone knows as the Oglow Subdivision.
The current generation of Oglow business owners owns the building which houses Oglow’s Paint, Grant Thorton, Silver Birch Spa, Supercats Studios, Aeon, and the thrift store as well as the parking lot space across the street. Oglow’s is known for its painting supplies and window blinds, but they are also certified to sell industrial coatings.
“They have been successful by providing a good product, service and loyalty of all customers,” added Chernoff, “but the biggest thing is the family touch.”
The Oglows have been supporters of Art Walk, Sculpturewalk, the Kootenay Gallery of Art, Rotary, the Firefighter Games and many other local service groups and projects.
“We as a community want to say thank you for making Castlegar a better place to live,” concluded Chernoff.
“This is a really big honour for us — it is customer driven we are so thankful to the community and to all the friends and customers who have supported us,” said Dave Oglow.
The other
award winners were:
Business Excellence —
Pinnacle Professional Accounting
Customer Service Excellence — Undercover Secrets
Business Person of the Year —
Chris and Kathy Sykes, Tim Horton’s
Green Award — Selkirk College
Professional Services —
Head 2 Toe Holistic Health Clinic
Contractor of the Year —
WSA Engineering
Tourism Development — Millennium Park
Young Entrepreneur —
Kyle Johnston, Family Tree Gardening
Community Social Award — Community Harvest Food Bank
Home Based Business —
Kim’s Creations
Manager of the Year —
Andrea Foley, Boston Pizza
Restaurant —
Lion’s Head Smoke & Brew Pub
