Image: Jessica McWilliams / Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce executive director Leanna Kemp (at the podium) thanks the event organizers behind Saturday's 28th annual Business Excellence Awards event at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre, as emcee Kirk Dzaman stands behind her.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Business Excellence Awards

Business Excellence Awards event recognizes 12 exemplary Chilliwack-area businesses, individuals

Feb 1, 2023 | 9:43 AM

CHILLIWACK — Organizers of the 28th annual Business Excellence Awards, sponsored by the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce, pulled out all the stops Saturday night (Jan. 28) during a gala celebration at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre.

The event featured a champagne reception, a special First Nations performance by the Spindle Whorl dancers whose ages range from two up to 69 years old, a game show in which businesses shared some of the funnier responses they get from today’s job applicants, and a post-event sushi and dessert bar in the foyer of the Cultural Centre.

Kirk Dzaman, partner at Next Level Financial and chair of the Cultus Lake Park Board who previously served as president of the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce, and Sandra Bonner-Pederson emceed the event inside the Hub International Theatre with humour and poise.

The 12 award recipients consisted of DeVry Greenhouses, Rebalance Rehab, Cowork Chilliwack, Lil Bear Contracting Corporation, Ann Davis Transition Society, Metric, Southern Irrigation, SinAmen Bun Co., The Town Butcher, Emil Anderson Group, Rob Hasell of the Emil Anderson Group, and Marlon Hall (Director of the Year, Metric).

Tim McAlpine, who collected the Innovation Award on behalf of Cowork Chilliwack, brought down the house when he compared his own acceptance speech with a ChatGPT-generated speech, the latter of which seemed to embellish what his family meant to him. His remarks elicited intense laughter from the audience when he contrasted his own commentary versus an AI-generated speech.

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Prior to the awards portion of the event, the Spindle Whorl Dancers entertained attendees with cultural songs and dances. Its youngest performer was an adorable 2-year-old girl adorned in cultural attire. The dancers have been together since 1974 and presentations of both Sto:lo and Prairie style of dancing and singing have been shared at venues around the world, including Saturday night’s sold-out Business Excellence Awards. Today, there are three generations of the family with the eldest at 69 and the youngest at two years old.

Image: Cecile Gambin Photography, via Sto:lo Xwexwilmexw Government Facebook / The Spindle Whorl Dancers (pictured) entertained and educated attendees of Saturday night’s Business Excellence Awards gala with song and dance at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre.

The award nominees were reviewed and scored by a panel of 24 judges broken up into groups of three evaluators.

“The Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce the winners of the 28th Annual Business Excellence Awards,” Chilliwack Chamber executive director Leanna Kemp said. “Over 250 nominations were accepted this year, demonstrating what an amazing business community we have here in Chilliwack. The Chilliwack Chamber wants to acknowledge and recognize the efforts of all the nominees and finalists in their respective categories. After an intense judging process completed by 24 judges in teams of three, 12 local businesses were highly honoured for their outstanding work in the community. Please join us in congratulating all the winners for the 2022 Business Excellence Awards. Thank you to our entire business community for their support of this award-winning event! Congratulations once again to all the winners. We can’t wait until next year!”