Thursday, February 10, 2011

Chamber of Commerce hands out Business Awards

A total of 12 local businesses and business owners have been honored by their

colleagues.

The Kenora and District Chamber of Commerce held its annual business
awards ceremony last night.

Mark Skrzypek from Energy Tech Services was named Business Owner of the Year.

Randy Nickle was named entrepreneur of the year, while Jake Garrow from Custom
Drilling was given the Young Entrepreneur award.

Other Award winners: 

Mayors Award:  Keric Fund

New Business:  Boreal Datacom

Tourism/Hospitality:  Mount Evergreen Ski Club

Customer Service (Staff over 10 employees):  ScotiaBank

Customer Service (Staff under 10 employees): Kitchen and Bath Factory

Environmental Business:  North Winds Energy Inc.

Business Improvement:  Agnew Chapman Optometric Services

Innovative Small Business:  Kenora Design Group

Home Based Business:  DC Productions

Dragon's Den Host Addresses Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet

Just because there is an economic downturn, doesn't mean its a bad

time to start up a new business.

That was one of the messages delivered by Diane Buckner at the Chamber
Awards Dinner last night.

Buckner is the host of the Dragon's Den and says the key to starting up a
new business is to know your market.

Buckner will be making another presentation this morning about the
art of the pitch, at a brunch sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

Rainy River Resources to make a pitch in England

A mining project south of Kenora will be get some international attention next week.


Rainy River Resources will be among companies scheduled to make a presentation about their projects at a conference in London, England.

The conference allows companies to meet with potential overseas investors.

Rainy River Resources is proposing a gold mine north of Barwick.

Public School Board posts Suplus in 2010

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board finished the last fiscal year in the

black.

Trustees were presented the audited financial statement for 2010 at last night's
board meeting.

Finance Manager Kathleen O'Flaherty says they actually posted a fairly healthy
surplus.

O'flaherty says of their 16 million dollar surplus, 14 million will go directly to
pay for the new elementary school in Dryden.

Making Kenora Home Launches Poverty Challenge

The Making Kenora Home Commitee has selected 12 local Kenora residents and given them a challenge.


They are going to be given 35 dollars to live on for 5 days.

Chair of the Communications commitee Dan Jorgensen says they want people to know what it's like to live on Social Asisstance.

Jorgensen says that they are also going to be given a daily challenge card which could be anything from buying toothpaste to getting ready for a job interview.

The challenge begins tomorrow and wraps up on February 16th.

Six medals for Kenora Skiiers At NWOSSA

Kenora Skiiers took home six medals from the NWOSSA cross country ski championships
at Mount Evergreen.

Despite bitterly cold conditions, local racers claimed gold, silver and bronze in the junior girls
race.

Sammi Burkart finished first, followed by Maya Boivin and Keisha Strachen.

In the Senior girls event, Manon Magnon won the gold, while Kaitie Dennis claimed
silver.

Erick Lockhart won the gold medal in the shortened senior boys six kilometer race.

Thistles lose in Winnipeg

The Kenora Triple "A" Midget Thistles have extended their losing streak to three
games.

The Thistles were in Winnipeg last night and were shelled 7-2 by the Wild.

The local midget squad wraps up the regular season at home with a pair of
games at home this weekend.

Broncos lose three of four on the road

Beaver Brae's court teams managed just one win in Fort Frances in their last
road trip of the regular season.

The Bronco senior boys basketball team was upended 53-31, while the junior
squad lost by ten points.

In girls volleyball, Beaver Brae's junior girls won the only game of the day, downing
the Muskies three sets to one.

The Bronco senior girls lost three sets to one.

Beaver Brae wraps up the regular season on home court today with Dryden in town.