The Durango Chamber of Commerce announced the finalists Wednesday for its 2021 Durango Rocks Awards, for which the ceremony has been postponed until spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rescheduled date for the in-person ceremony is planned to be released soon, according to a news release provided by Kim Oyler, with the Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber Executive Director Jack Llewellyn said in the release that rescheduling the awards show was a challenging decision to make, and while the chamber wants to hold an awards ceremony that’s meaningful to everyone involved, it also cares about the health and well-being of the community.
“For these reasons, we decided to postpone our January event to later this spring so we can celebrate in-person,” he said.
The awards recipients of 2020 will also be recognized at the in-person event this spring because they didn’t have that opportunity last year, he said.
The finalists span four categories, Business of the Year; Small Business of the Year; Nonprofit of the Year; and Spirit of Durango Award:
- Finalists for the Business of the Year: Animas Surgical, Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Kroegers Ace Hardware.
- Finalists for the Small Business of the Year: Hampton Inn, Mountain Auto Care and Southwest Eye Consultants.
- Finalists for the Nonprofit of the Year: Botanic Gardens, Business Improvement District and Professional Women’s Network.
- Finalists for the Spirit of Durango Award: Dietz Market, Durango Montessori School and Tomsic Physical Therapy.
Additional awards will be presented at the in-person event in the categories of Citizen of the Year; Ed Morlan Entrepreneur of the Year; Leadership La Plata Barbara Conrad Award; Bill Mashaw Volunteer of the Year; Morley Ballantine Award; Young Professional of the Year; and Diplomat of the Year.
The Durango Chamber of Commerce decided to delay its in-person awards event in April 2021 and opted for a virtual awards ceremony instead. The virtual event, which was streamed live, attracted more than 300 viewers.
The event opened with a performance by Stillwater Music, a presentation from the organizers of Snowdown and a Faux News segment with Mike Smedley, according to the chamber’s news release.
“Durango Rocks Awards ceremony allows the community to come together, celebrate leadership and achievement, and creates a sense of unity,” Llewellyn said in the release. “We are determined to do this in 2022, just at an appropriate time when we can all gather to celebrate.”
cburney@durangoherald.com