Haliburton Solar and Wind was the biggest winner of the night at the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce 13th annual Business and Community Achievement Awards Gala March 30.
The energy company was recognized for four different awards at the Pinestone Resort and Conference Centre: innovation and creativity, customer first, business achievement as well as the skilled trades and industry award.
President Brian Nash said all the recognition came as quite a surprise.
“We leave with a great amount of pride,” Nash said. “We’ve worked terribly hard over the last five-to-six years to build a great business and it’s wonderful to be recognized for that from our peers tonight.”
The event honours excellence from businesses and non-profit organizations with 12 different awards through a public nomination process. This year, a total of 127 nominations were received. Nash credited the successful night to the passion of the people who make up the company.
“We strive every day to create incredibly innovative energy solutions and we work very hard to provide our customers with fantastic support,” Nash said.
The award for Highlander of the Year went to Steve Todd of Todd’s Your Independent Grocer.
“I try to do as much as I can in the community,” Todd said. “It’s an honour. There’s a lot of people in this community that do a lot of things and it’s just an honour to be nominated.”
The Warden’s Choice Award, chosen by Liz Danielsen, went to Harvest Haliburton. It was presented by deputy warden Dave Burton.
“Through a series of partnerships and strong collaboration, Harvest Haliburton has done extraordinarily well to identify, develop and grow culture and build environments necessary to cultivate sustainable food systems within the county,” Burton said.
Chamber president Andrea Strano said she wants to work to welcome new ideas and continue to support local businesses.
“We all want to shoot for the same goals. To have a healthy, robust and thriving community for years to come. This is really about businesses supporting one another,” Strano said. “We support each other, we face the challenges together and we embrace change together.”
Category winners:
Not-for-Profit of the Year Award: Rotary Club of Haliburton
Customer First – Employee: Shontel Neville (Heat-Line Freeze Protection Systems)
New Business of the Year: Haliburton County Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
Tourism & Hospitality: Haliburton Forest & Wildlife Reserve
Young Professional of the Year: Dr. Kassie Wright (Haliburton County Chiropractic & Rehabilitation)
Entrepreneur of the Year: Brandi Hewson (WAI Products Ltd.)
