| Picture Butte business wins innovation award |
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| Local Content - Local News |
| Written by production |
| Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:22 |
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Picture Butte’s own Phil and Traci Mack were honoured last week at the SouthGrow Regional Initiative’s annual awards. The couple join County of Lethbridge winners Nobby Sudo and Sumi Tsukishima of Sudo Farms Ltd. who were also honoured at last Friday’s presentation of the annual Celebrating Opportunities awards. In what judges called some of the tightest competition since SouthGrow launched its awards program three years ago, four regional winners were named. Following a celebration banquet, 16 nominees in four award categories were introduced at the Lethbridge Lodge Hotel in the competition designed to recognize organizations, communities, businesses and individuals or agencies for the role played in attracting, retaining and growing business and industry while collaborating to strengthen local and regional economics. Sandra Nelson of Stirling, SouthGrow chairman, said the team of three judges- Dawna Allard of Red Deer, Rick Siddle of Lethbridge with Alberta Finance and Enterprise, and Bonnie Elliott of Lethbridge with the Business Development Bank of Canada- individually judged each nominee’s application and then made final selections as a group. In the Excellence in Business Retention, Growth and Expansion, Sudo Farms in the County of Lethbridge placed first. Nobby Sudo runs a vegetable farm, and with hard work, has managed to capture a continuing market in Japan, Russia and New Zealand for his farm-fresh squash. Among the other local nominees in this category were Bethel Windows and Doors which relocated from Calgary to Coaldale where it built a 40,000 square-foot building and Lethbridge Inland Terminals at Wilson Siding, a producer-owned grain handing terminal. The winner of the Excellence in Innovation was Picture Butte Pharmacy. In 2006, Phil and Traci Mack opened the doors on their new store and included space for a community art gallery. Mack said he and his wife provided the space but it was the Friends of the Picture Butte Municipal Library who got the gallery up and running. “It was a match made in heaven, they just ran with it.” The pharmacy was actually nominated for the same award last year but finished second. “Perhaps the second time was lucky,” said Mack. The Excellence in Collaboration/Partnership award went to the Horizon School Division No. 67 with the Oldman River Regional Services Commission finishing in second place to take the Award of Excellence in this category. The Excellence in Investment/Business Attraction went to the Lomond Multi Purpose Complex. |
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