ASHLAND – Seven outstanding Ashland area businesses and organizations were recognized for their accomplishments Thursday by the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce at its annual member awards banquet.
Award recipients were Ashland Symphony Orchestra (Arts and Culture), Ashland Pregnancy Care Center (Health and Medical Services), The Ashland Link – SHC (Social Services), EVA’s treats (Small Business), Charles River Laboratories (Large Business), Armstrong Cable (Professional Services) and Rene Spellman (Entrepreneur of the Year).
The seven winners came from a pool of 50 nominees and 17 finalists and were chosen by judges from the Wyandot County Chamber of Commerce to avoid bias. Selection criteria included business performance and standing, customer service, community involvement and promotion of the Ashland area.
Other finalists included Ashland County Park District, Crystal Care Center, Crazy Monkey Baking, Housekeeping by Heather & Company, Cowen Truck Line, Ashland Board of Realtors, Ashland county Community Foundation, Loudonville Mohican Chamber of Commerce, Ruth’s Driving Academy and Charcoal Mafia.
More than 400 people attended the banquet Thursday evening to celebrate the achievements of award recipients and to hear from keynote speaker Jon Husted, Ohio’s Secretary of State and a candidate for Lieutenant Governor on a Republican ticket with governor candidate and attorney general Mike DeWine.
Husted applauded the Ashland community’s business, education and government leaders for working together to better the community, something Husted said he heard about over and over during his visit to Ashland.
“You’re doing a great job with that and I encourage you to keep it up because the partnerships within government, between government and business, with educational institutions, with your faith-based community, all those tight social and economic bonds communities build together are the difference between those that succeed and fail,” he said. “I really was struck by that here today and during my recent visits.”
Husted, who started his career with the Dayton-Area Chamber of Commerce, said chambers play an important role in facilitating those bonds and building community.
Husted spoke of economic growth and unemployment declines in Ohio but said there is more work to be done, particularly in education, workforce development and combating the opiate epidemic.
While he admitted problems won’t be solved overnight, Husted challenged the crowd to imagine, “What if we did just 10 percent better?”
Change can happen quickest, he said, at the local level.
“You are your community’s leaders, and if there’s a problem in this community, you can solve it,” he said.
