Community recognizes local business leaders

Community members gathered at the Grand Portage Lodge & Casino on Tuesday, October 23 for the Visit Cook County/Cook County Chamber Fall Gala. A highlight of the evening was the announcement of the recipients of three annual business awards. All of the awardees received a beautiful bowl made by local potter Hannah Laky Palma.

Cook County Chamber members nominated their peers for the awards. Chamber Executive Director Jim Boyd said there were a number of wonderful nominations.
 
Earning the “Business of the Year” award was Java Moose of Grand Marais. The chamber says Java Moose was selected “For serving year-round as the essential gathering place in Grand Marais, where everyone is greeted as a friend, where the coffee is always good and the soup is always on, where life’s joys and sorrows are treated with the care and respect they deserve.
“Life in Grand Marais would be so much poorer without Becca and Ann, Sarah and Gary and their coffee shop.”
 
It is an honor just to be nominated by your peers, so mention should also go to North Shore Health, Dockside Fish Market, North Shore Federal Credit Union and Cook County Whole Foods Co-op.
 
Receiving the “Community Business Leader of the Year” was Nancy Burns and Scott Harrison, former owners of Lutsen Resort. The award was given “In recognition of their decades of devotion to the Cook County community in a multitude of manners both large and small, on the occasion of their sale of Lutsen Resort and transition to a new life.
“Few in memory have given more selflessly of themselves and their talents to the betterment of Cook County and its people.”    
 
Other community business leaders recognized with nominations were Steve Surbaugh, Realtor and co-owner of Cascade Vacation Rentals; Small Business Development Center Representative Pat Campanaro; Sue Prom of Voyageur Brewing Company, Voyageur Outfitters and a number of local charitable organizations; and Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux, Grand Marais mayor and owner of Fireweed Bike Co-op.  
 
There was a tie for the “Entrepreneur of the Year” award. Earning this year’s honors were Voyageur Brewing Company and Village North.
 
Sue and Mike Prom and RitaLee and Bruce Walters were recognized for their work at Voyageur Brewing, “For investing hearts, souls and bank accounts in establishing a brewery in Grand Marais that instantly became an important element of our community.  The continually expanding universe of places down the shore and beyond where Voyageur Brewing Company beverages are enjoyed is testimony to their business acumen.
“Just as powerful is their quite explicit use of the brewery to strengthen and celebrate both Cook County and its people.” 
 
And in recognizing Bruce Block for his Village North low-income housing project, the chamber said, “For his risk-filled, valiant effort to convert the former Gofer Cabins into Village North – a safe, clean, attractive place to live for Cook County families and individuals with few resources.
“In this effort, Bruce is most definitely on the side of the angels.  He would be the first to admit he has had lots of help, but the heart behind the project is his.”
 
Other nominees for the entrepreneur award were Linda Newman of Points Unknown Dog-Based Adventures in Hovland; Teri David-Downing for Wunderbar; and Abby Tofte and Sam Hedstrom for The Big Lake.

The awards were presented at the gala, which is hosted jointly each year by the Cook County Chamber of Commerce and Visit Cook County. In addition to local business owners and community members, Senator Tom Bakk, Representative Rob Ecklund and Iron Range Resources Commissioner Mark Phillips were in attendance. 

 Photo: The winners of the 2018 business awards - Entrepreneur of the Year Award - Sue and Mike Prom of Voyageur Brewing Company; Community Business Leader of the Year Award - Scott Harrison and Nancy Burns, former owners of Lutsen Resort; Entrepreneur of Year Award - Bruce Block for the Village North development; and Business of the Year Award - Sarah Hallberg, Ann and Gary Jorgenson of Java Moose. Photo by Jim Boyd, Cook County Chamber