For Immediate Release | | October 22, 2020
Dufferin ON: The Dufferin Board of Trade (DBOT) held their annual Business Excellence Awards last night – with a new format. This year’s awards ceremony was held “under the stars” in drive-in movie style. Approximately 90 local business people and community champions sat in their vehicles watching the event on a big screen and stage at Rotary park in Orangeville.
Guests were treated to a gourmet-to-go boxed meal provided safely by Lavender Blue Catering and enjoyed competing in the Dufferin Trivia competition hosted by Wayne Townsend. The Awards show was hosted by DBOT Treasurer Doug Harkness and featured inspiring and congratulatory video shout-outs from friends of DBOT, Steve Paikin (TVO’s The Agenda), David Visentin (HGTV Love It or List It), and Rocco Rossi (Ontario Chamber of Commerce), as well as Doug Ford, Sylvia Jones, Kyle Seeback, Sandy Brown and others.
Our community recognized and nominated over 50 businesses for a BEA award this September. All of the nominees were asked a few short questions about their business as it related to the award they were nominated for and their responses were sent to judges inside and outside of our area. The judges scores were averaged and that determined the winners.
The 2020 Business Excellence Award winners are:
Adaptability Award – Déjà vu Diner
Association of the Year – Orangeville Food Bank
Business Leader Award – Kimberly Van Ryn
Business of the Year – Under 10 employees – Curry Mantra
Community Builder Award – 10 & 10 Garden Centre
Innovation Award – Art of Storytelling
Business of the Year – 10 or more employees – Lavender Blue Catering
Workforce Builder Award- Whispering Pines Landscaping
While these eight businesses were the official BEA winners, each and every business in Dufferin County that has pivoted, adapted, given back, and carried on through 2020 is truly an example of Business Excellence. We salute all local small businesses and congratulate you on navigating these difficult times. And we encourage every consumer in Dufferin to continue to “Think Local. Think Dufferin”. Now more than ever. Visit the business directory at dufferinbot.ca for a listing of over 300 local businesses to support this year.
These awards would not have been possible without the generous support of our community. Thank you to our sponsors: Town of Orangeville, Shelburne Family Chiropractic, Carters Law Firm, RLB Chartered Accountants, Wightman, Orangeville Hydro, Georgian Career and Employment Community Services, Art of Storytelling, Humber Orangeville, Centre for Business, Snapd Dufferin, Country 105, MyFM, Lavender Blue Catering, JT Home Tours, Skorski Web Design, Domestic Divas, and Music 21. Thank you to our volunteers who helped keep everyone safe and ensure the event ran smoothly.
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The Dufferin Board of Trade (DBOT) is a grass-roots community building non-profit organization serving Dufferin County for over 110 years. DBOT contributes to community betterment by helping local businesses and non-profits thrive. When local businesses are succeeding the local economy flourishes and businesses can better support local charities, events, and their employees. Learn more at www.dufferinbot.ca.
Media Contact
Diana Morris, Executive Director, Dufferin Board of Trade
[email protected] | 519.941.0490 ext. 202