TOFINO – On behalf of our board of directors, I would like to thank all those who supported the 2018 Tofino Business Excellence Awards on Thursday, May 10th at The Shore.
It was an amazing evening, captured beautifully by photographer Paul Levy (please see our Tofino Chamber Facebook page for photos). We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the nominees in all eight categories. You are all winners in our books!
This event was a fundraiser for the Tofino Ambassador Program and we are grateful to Long Beach Lodge Resort and Crystal Cove Beach Resort for their gold level sponsorship. Thanks also to our gold level sponsors: Jamie’s Whaling Station, Ocean Outfitters, Westerly News, Tourism Tofino, Tofino Sea Kayaking, Hotel Zed, Ocean Village Beach Resort, Pacific Sands Beach Resort, and Harbour Air. Our bronze level sponsors were:
Westcoast Wild Zipline, Hotel Zed, Studio One Aveda, Pharmasave Tofino, Surf Sister Surf School, and T’ashii Paddle School, and Sound Skincare.
For more information about the Ambassador Program, please contact the Chamber or the Raincoast Education Society, our program delivery partner.
This year’s winners are as follows:
Non-Profit of the Year: CARE Network
Green Business of the Year: Common Loaf Bake Shop
New Business Award: The Factory Tofino/Tofino Food Tours
Small Business of the Year Award: Tofino Sea Kayaking
Employee of the Year Award: Andy Murray, Tofino Sea Kayaking
Customer Service Award: Pacific Sands Beach Resort
Business Leader of the Year Award: Krissy Montgomery, Surf Sister Surf School
Business of the Year Award: Crystal Cove Beach Resort
Judging these awards is not an easy task, especially given this year’s list of nominees. Thank-you to our judging panel made up of Mayor Josie Osborne, Clayoquot Biosphere Trust executive director Rebecca Hurwitz, Chris Nicholls (Gibsons Chamber), Lara Kemps (Ucluelet Chamber) and Patty Vadnais (Fernie Chamber).
The starfish awards themselves were designed and made by Sol Maya of Spirit of the Fire.
Other thank-yous: to the District of Tofino for the loan of tables and chairs and to Cindy Hutchinson, thanks to Paul Levy Photo for the amazing shots of the evening, to Red Can Gourmet for the fantastic meal, to Tofino Light and Sound, to Crab Apple Floral for the table decoration, to Smashing Glasses Event Rentals, to Rare Earth Weddings and Events for all your help and to The Shore venue.
That’s a wrap for this year, and we look forward to bringing this event back in 2019.
Jen Dart is Executive Director of the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at 250.725.3153. www.tofinochamber.org