Cook County Chamber of Commerce award winners honored at the 2019 fall gala were, from L-R: Kate and Jeremy Keeble of Hungry Hippie Tacos (Entrepreneur of the Year); Charles Skinner of Lutsen Mountains (Business of the Year); and Buck Benson, formerly of Buck’s Hardware Hank (Community Business Leader of the Year). Photo courtesy of Visit Cook County
The 10th annual gala hosted by Visit Cook County drew a friendly crowd to Papa Charlie’s on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
Following a period of socializing, light music, cash bar, and buffet, the Cook County Chamber of Commerce presented several business awards, including a new Heart of Hospitality Award and the Norman Deschampe Community Service winner.
Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Kate and Jeremy Keeble of Hungry Hippie Tacos and Hostel received the most votes in this category.
The nomination for the Keebles said, “Kate and Jeremy Keeble have spent years completely revamping their big red barn into the beautiful and comfortable Hungry Hippie Hostel with five private rooms and a large bunkhouse loft. The Keebles worked hard to make sure that their business was ready to impress, and they were able to provide an exquisite experience for their customers from day one. This year, the Keebles have added five campsites and three Frost River wall tents on platforms to the property, with a shower house to boot!
Visit Cook County’s Heart of Hospitality Award winners were, from L-R: Julisa Swader of Grand Portage Lodge & Casino, Mandy Huskey of Gunflint Lodge & Outfitters, Nicole Robert Tate of East Bay Suites, and Dan Hinton of Bluefin Bay Family of Resorts.
“In addition, the Keebles purchased a taco house in 2018 and have in the last year created one of Grand Marais’s most talked-about restaurants, Hungry Hippie Tacos. Slinging hundreds of fresh fry bread tacos each and every day during the summer, smoking many of their menu’s meat options in house, delighting in offering Minnesota’s best craft brews, building out a beautiful patio for customer seating and increasing the wages of their incredibly hard-working staff, Kate and Jeremy are shining lights in our business community. They do all of this while raising two wonderful and hilarious young girls and a wild pup named Charlie.”
Recently retired, Buck Benson was given this award for his years of service to the community. The person who nominated Buck wrote, “As Buck transitions from ownership of Buck’s Hardware, it is fitting to take stock of all he has meant to this community over the years. His intense, lasting involvement in the development of both North House Folk School and WTIP is well known, as is his work on sustainable energy as a co-founder of Cook County Local Energy Project and his strong support for cross-country skiing in Cook County. Less well known is his pretty much single-handed effort to create the North Shore Dragon Boat Festival in Grand Marais, an event that created great community spirit and fun for the years it lasted.
The Norman Deschampe Community Service Award Winner was One Roof Housing. Accepting the award for One Roof was Jeff Corey from Anna Deschampe, daughter of Norman Deschampe, and Julie Petusha, who accepted the award from Mary Somnis, Cook County EDA director.
“Buck’s community service trademark is a deep commitment to causes he recognizes as having great community value. The vitality and growth of North House and WTIP owe much to this commitment from Buck.”
Business of the Year Award
The nomination said: “Without Lutsen Mountains, Cook County would not have much of a winter economy – or, truth be told, not nearly as robust a summer economy, either.
“There very likely would not be a Bluefin Bay or a Caribou Highlands or an Eagle Ridge. No North Shore Winery, either, and Lutsen Resort itself would probably be a much smaller version of itself. That’s because summer tourism alone cannot support operations of the size these businesses have achieved. It takes the winter attraction of downhill skiing at the Midwest’s largest ski resort to ensure these businesses earn enough to cover their costs.
Anna Deschampe, daughter of the late Norman Deschampe, presenting the new Norman Deschampe Community Service Award.
“Lutsen Mountains has a venerable history as one of the many American ski resorts started post-World War II by veterans of the famed Tenth Mountain Division – George Nelson in the case of Lutsen Mountains. But it is the current owners, Charles Skinner and Tom Rider and their families, who have had the vision and shouldered the very large financial burden necessary to modernize and expand the resort so it might survive and the county might prosper.”
Visit Cook County’s Heart of Hospitality Award winners
Kjersti Vick of Visit Cook County announces the new Heart of Hospitality Award winners.
There were four winners from throughout the county selected for this first-time award: Julisa Swader of Grand Portage Lodge & Casino, Mandy Huskey of Gunflint Lodge & Outfitters, Nicole Robert Tate of East Bay Suites, and Dan Hinton of Bluefin Bay Family of Resorts.
Norman Deschampe Community Service Award winners
One Roof Housing took this honor. Accepting the award for One Roof was Jeff Corey and Julie Petusha. Anna Deschampe, daughter of Norman Deschampe, and Mary Somnis of the EDA, presented the awards.
Linda Jurek of Visit Cook County emcees the event.
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