By Justin Aufdermauer
Executive Director
Take a look around; what do you see? It might depend on where you are standing, but from our front window at the Chamber I see new sidewalks, brand new parking spaces and – most recently – new trees and landscaping gracing nearly every corner of our new downtown. Take a quick walk and you’ll see new businesses selling everything from farm-fresh produce to unique t-shirts and even pottery. Walk even farther and you might stumble upon the nearly-complete Flavors on First food cart court with its new covered pavilion, or the beautifully-renovated Sue H Elmore park overlooking Hoquarten Slough.
And that’s just downtown.
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the brand new Dutch Bros. north of town, or Sand Creek Dental office at the south end.
I always like to take a moment this time of year and remind our readers about the growth we’ve experienced in the last 12 months, and all the reasons why we love living here. And while I can’t mention everything in this column, I hope it spurs a discussion amongst yourselves about the changes and improvements you’ve witnessed in 2018, and encourages you to pick your favorites and nominate them for our annual Community Awards.
We’ve made the nomination process much more simple this year; just go online to www.tillamookchamber.org/nominate, pick a nomination category, a recipient, and tell us why. It could be a single sentence, or a well thought out essay about why a business or person made an impact on your life and the community in 2018.
The categories this year are Business of the Year (eleven or more employees); Small Business of the Year (ten or less employees); Developmental Project of the Year; Citizen of the Year – and new this year Program of the Year. A lot of amazing work happening in the county that doesn’t quite fit into the other categories but deserves recognition. That’s where Program of the Year comes in to play; maybe it’s a program from a local non-profit, a specific event, or a volunteer that makes a large impact through a single initiative.
All nominations are due by Dec. 1 so we have time for the selection committee, comprised of prior year’s award recipients, to review applications and make their decisions. Any and all businesses, projects, and people in Tillamook County are eligible, and nominees will be honored at the annual Tillamook Area Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet in January. You can remain anonymous as the person nominating if you wish, and if you would like to attend the ceremony in January you can request an invitation on the online form.
There is no limit to how many businesses, projects, and people you can nominate. Tell us everything great you see happening all around you in Tillamook County!