Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there wasn’t a Gala this year, where the Cook County Chamber of Commerce could honor local business leaders and entrepreneurs. Instead, the awards were announced over WTIP radio on Wednesday, October 28. Listed below are this year’s winners.
Entrepreneur of the Year
Christina Conroy, operator of the Rebel Girl Community Minded Catering and Bad Seed Food Stand, has received the 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Cook County Chamber. Conroy’s nomination cited her hard work, grit and determination to ensure local workers, residents and visitors are fed – an especially important goal this year when the pandemic has so reduced the Cook County capacity to serve diners.
Karen Blackburn, board chair for the Chamber, presented the award to Conroy during an hour-long WTIP awards program. Blackburn was joined by Jim Boyd, Chamber executive director, and Joe Friedrichs of WTIP.
Business of the Year
This was given to Grand Marais State Bank for the extraordinary effort it put into providing federal Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loans to Cook County businesses. The nomination of GMSB said the bank staff made applying for a PPP loan “really easy.” Nationwide, many large banks were criticized for making the process deliberately difficult and for awarding most of the loans to the largest corporations instead of the smaller operations for whom the program was designed.
Accepting the award on behalf of Grand Marais State Bank was Mark Youngdahl, bank president. Youngdahl praised the bank’s owners for providing strong guidance that the bank was to do everything it could to help local businesses survive. He also praised the bank staff for diligent work to serve business customers seeking PPP loans. All told, GMSB managed $7 million in PPP loans. A large portion of those loans is forgivable if the receiving businesses pledged to keep their staff employed. Youngdahl and his staff are now in the process of working through the applications for forgiveness.
Other nominees for Business of the Year Award, all eminently deserving, included WTIP, which received two nominations, for its general effort to keep the Cook County community informed and entertained.
Also nominated was Voyageur Brewing Company for “providing consistent safe service for visitors and employees” and remaining open every day of the pandemic.
Johnson’s Big Dollar Food Store, which won this award in 2016, was nominated again for “consistently being there for the community.”
Latz Properties of Lutsen also received a nomination for owner Jeff Latz’s decades of service to the Lutsen community. The nomination said that Jeff Latz, who is retiring this year, has served as “the heart and soul of ‘downtown Lutsen.’ “
A third award presented Wednesday was to the Community Business Leader of the Year. This award goes to someone who has served the community in ways that go far beyond their day job. It recognizes service on boards, as a volunteer and also as a financial benefactor for worthwhile community causes.
The 2020 Community Business Leader of the Year Award went to Dennis Rysdahl, who recently gained the title of FORMER owner of the Bluefin Bay Family of Resorts when it was sold. The nomination said it would be easier to name the Cook County boards Dennis Rysdahl has not served, frequently as chair, than those he has served. Over decades, Rysdahl has been generous with his time, with his considerable leadership skills and with his checkbook.
Norman Deschampe Distinguished Community Service Award
A final award presented Wednesday was the Norman Deschampe Distinguished Community Service Award. This is an occasional award, presented only when someone emerges who deserves a special honor. Norman Deschampe was a founding board member of the Cook County Chamber. The award was presented for the first time in 2019 to One Roof Community Housing for overcoming incredible obstacles to successfully construct workforce rental housing in Lutsen and single-family homes in Grand Marais.
Jim Boyd announced that the Chamber Board had decided the Norman Deschampe Award should be awarded for a second year in a row, this time to the entire Cook County Community, for its “calm, caring and serious response to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.” With very few exceptions, Boyd said, “The people of Cook County have been so impressive in how they responded to this virus threat. They have taken it seriously; they have respectfully honored the varied practices established by county businesses; they have been patient, and they have volunteered in so many caring ways to help keep this community and its visitors as safe as possible.”
Boyd said there were so many people who deserved a shout out for their contributions that it would be impossible to name them all, and inevitably some would be missed.
One that deserves special recognition, Boyd said, is Rena Rogers, who served as interim county administrator through the first eight months of the pandemic. She did an outstanding job of mobilizing the county early in the pandemic and establishing a top-flight Emergency Operations Center staff to direct the county effort to manage the pandemic. Her quiet, effective leadership had a strong influence on the county’s pandemic response.
Rogers accepted the Norman Deschampe Award on behalf of the community. She, too, praised the community for its outstanding performance to this point in the pandemic. The Deschampe Award was a great honor to accept, she said.
Boyd said that when the pandemic finally is over and it is possible to grasp its full effect, the Chamber would like to erect some sort of permanent monument recognizing the community’s excellent response and all of the volunteer effort that went into that response.
But he also emphasized that while the community has performed brilliantly to this point, the pandemic is not over, and though everyone suffers “COVID fatigue,” now is not the time to let up.
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