Here's looking at you, kid
Photos by KERI ALEXANDER SVCC Director Juli Zook (right) presentes the Silver Valley Chamber Member of the Year award to Mike and Linda Kennaugh, owners of the Dirty Dog Saloon.
Photos by KERI ALEXANDER Left: SVCC Director Juli Zook (right) presents the Silver Valley Chamber Member of the Year award to Mike and Linda Kennaugh, owners of the Dirty Dog Saloon. Right: WCC Director Dave Copelan (left) presents the Wallace Chamber Member of the Year award to Tommy Hayes (center) and Sano Haldi (right) with the Wallace Elks Lodge.
Cindy Lien (right) presents the Historic Wallace Chamber Volunteer of the Year award to Heather Branstetter.
SVCC President Tara Lodi (left) presents the Silver Valley Chamber Volunteer of the Year award to Amy Wenzel.
Janet Feiler (right) presents the Historic Wallace Chamber Citizen of the Year award to Bruce Flohr.
SVCC 1st VP Diannah Fields-Brown (right) presents the Silver Valley Chamber Citizen of the Year award to Andy Helke.
WCC President Anita Price (center) presents the Historic Wallace Chamber President’s Award to Clint Kunze (left) and Bob Baker (right) with Shoshone Mountain Retreat/ Idaho Servant Adventures.
SVCC Past president Sarah Murphy (right) presents the Silver Valley Chamber President’s Choice Award to 1st VP Diannah Fields-Brown.
SVCC Past President Sarah Murphy (right) presents a second Silver Valley Chamber President’s Choice Award to Tara Lodi.
SVCC President Tara Lodi (right) presents Sarah Murphy with the Past President’s award from the Silver Valley Chamber of Commerce.
SVCC Past President Sarah Murphy (center) presents the Silver Valley Chamber Pay It Forward award to Sydney Werre (left) and Madi Croston (right) with the Kellogg High School Kindness Club.
2020 Silver Valley Chamber Board President Tara Lodi (left) and 2020 Historic Wallace Chamber Board President Anita Price.
Photo courtesy/ WCC 2020 Vice President James McMillan (left), SVCC 2020 Vice President Diannah Fields-Brown (center) and SVCC 2nd Vice President Keri Alexander (right).
WCC 2020 Treasurer Luanne Wuerfel (left) and SVCC 2020 Treasurer Karen Hulstrom.
WCC 2020 Secretary Talen Caraway (left) and SVCC 2020 Secretary Karen Hulstrom.
By CHANSE WATSON
Managing Editor
WALLACE — As many may or may not know, a large majority of the fun and exciting events that occur in the Silver Valley exist due to the efforts of the two local Chambers of Commerce.
The selfless effort that is put forth every year by the Wallace and Silver Valley Chamber leaders allows residents the opportunity to enjoy events such as SilverHoops, the Wallace Blues Festival, a weekly farmers market, Depot Days, the Kellogg Fourth of July celebration, the Wallace Huckleberry Festival, and many more. Both of their marketing efforts also help local businesses by bringing outside dollars to the area.
It is because of these efforts that both chambers set aside a time once a year to jointly recognize those who truly go above and beyond for their organization and the community.
On Friday, the Wallace Chamber of Commerce hosted the 47th annual Joint Installation Banquet & Awards Ceremony at the Wallace Elks Lodge. With a Casablanca, “Here’s looking at you, kid” theme, attendees were invited to show up in their favorite black and white clothes.
Roughly 110 people came out Friday night to enjoy a meal provided by Flavor Fusion Catering, music by John Kelley, and the main festivities in the Elks Lodge ballroom.
The installation part of the event kicked things off as new members for both chambers were called up to be sworn-in.
Following this, the Wallace Chamber then handed out a total of four awards and the Silver Valley Chamber gave out seven.
Though the new and present directors were expected to be up on stage for their brief swearing-in ceremonies, the community focused award recipients were kept a secret until the moment they were introduced.
Wallace Chamber Coordinator David Copelan explained that many of the award recipients had to be slightly tricked just so that they would show up, but still not know they were getting an award.
“What we did that was very surreptitious, we had to get a lot of people there that might not have come to the banquet if they knew they were getting an award,” he said. “For Heather Branstetter, who was our Volunteer of the Year, we told her that the award was for her dad! We told him about it, so she was completely surprised. All her friends were in on it.”
The event has been heralded as a huge success by members of both chambers.
“I really enjoyed the positivity and the connective attitude of the chamber members,” said Juli Zook, Silver Valley Chamber director.
With the 47th Joint Installation Banquet in the books, the Silver Valley Chamber is looking ahead to hosting the event in 2021.
The full list of award winners is as follows:
Wallace Chamber of Commerce
- Citizen of the Year — Bruce Flohr
- Volunteer of the Year — Heather Branstetter
- Chamber Member of the Year — Wallace Elks Lodge, accepted by Tommy Hayes and Sano Haldi
- President’s Award — Shoshone Mountain Retreat/Idaho Servant Adventures, accepted by Clint Kunze and Bob Baker
Silver Valley Chamber
of Commerce
- President’s Award — Diannah Fields-Brown and Tara Lodi
- Citizen of the Year — Andy Helke
- Chamber Business of the Year — Dirty Dog Saloon, accepted by Mike and Linda Kennaugh
- Volunteer of the Year — Amy Wenzel
- Past President’s Award — Sarah Murphy
- Pay It Forward Award — Sydney Werre and Madi Croston with the Kellogg High School Kindness Club