Chamber gives awards, sets a hopeful tone

Local organizations received accolades Tuesday night as the chamber of commerce announced the winners of three awards voted on by chamber members at a dinner for that purpose at MPH Hi-Dam.

Addressing a fairly young crowd, Nancy Zimmerman-Boord, executive director of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, noted that young people are starting new businesses or taking over established ones.

"What I love to see about this community ... is that our kids are stepping up into owning businesses, into leadership roles," she said. "A lot of you left, and then you came back. That is unheard of in the Coulee."

They cheered, and one toddler among them clearly took joy in shouting, "Yay!" repeatedly. Nobody minded. They were all there to hear the good news.

The Business of the Year award went to La Presa and was accepted by owner Eisael Hernandez.

Boord said the comments of members choosing the Mexican restaurant centered around "great customer service, always friendly, accommodating to groups and special requests, delicious food."

Boord explained the awards were, for this year, reaching back to before the Covid emergency hit. Because of that, a business that actually started at that time won "Start-up of the Year." Aunties Salon & Boutique started out with another name, but basically restarted.

"We just wanted to really go the extra mile for businesses that actually started up and survived Covid and continued to grow and prosper," she said.

Owner Morgan Tillman thanked "pretty much ... everybody in this room ... for believing in us ... And a shout out to NNDF for making this possible. They are responsible for the loans to do the expansion where I set out to do what I wanted to do, which was hire mamas to be able to do nails and have a career in the beauty industry. So thank you."

Tillman referred to the Northwest Native Development Fund, the Coulee Dam lending non-profit organization that financed her business.

And NNDF got the final award of the night, a new one allowing the chamber to recognize the contributions of non-profit organizations, the Organization of the Year.

Most of NNDF's staff attended.

Executive Director Jordan Ruiz said NNDF staff came together to make huge changes recently.

"The most common theme that we kept coming up to was that we're not real known in our own community," she said. "We've made it one of our most important strategic goals ... that we're going to show up in our community authentically, unapologetically, and do what we know is needed there."

Ruiz said the organization would be doing a lot this year in the community. They are planning an art show, a gala and a summit, she said without detail. "We're gonna be like rock stars."

Boord said voter comments included "huge strides, and transparency, and communication, solid leadership, active and timely crisis response and communication."

Boord said the chamber has helped three businesses start up so far this year and stands ready to help more.

The chamber is pursuing ways to help the arts community, she said, after a report by the state of Washington that about 20% of revenue generated in the state comes from the creative arts.

"So Washington state has gotten a clue," Boord said, and they're giving a lot of money to accelerate arts and culture and music in rural communities, and especially in communities that have impact on indigenous populations. So, there's a lot of money to be had for everybody."