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Finalists announced for Kelowna business awards

The 30th annual Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards ceremony goes Oct. 12.
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Current Taxi showcased its fleet of two Tesla vehicles offering a cab service from Peachland to Lake Country.

The finalists have been announced for the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards, to be handed out in October.

Twenty-seven finalists will be honoured at the 30th annual awards ceremony, to be held Oct. 12 at the Grand Okanagan Resort.

The finalists are competing to take home nine awards in their respective categories and the annual Business Leader of the Year will also be crowned, for a total of 10 trophies to be handed out throughout the evening.

After reviewing the Business Excellence Awards program leading up to the 30th anniversary, the chamber decided it was time to rotate their sector-specific awards.

“With such a diverse industry here, we felt it was time to shine a light on some of the other well-deserving sectors that are helping to place Kelowna on the map,” said Dan Rogers, executive director of the Kelowna Chamber.

“We were pleased to see businesses applying that have not participated in the past, perhaps because they believed they didn’t fit into the previous categories.”

The shift in the program proved to be successful in garnering new interest from hopeful businesses, with a total of 162 nominations received and over half of those completing the packages to enter the competition.

After an adjudication process, the eight independent judges shortlisted the 81 applicants to their 27 finalists.

All of the finalists will be profiled on Oct. 12, at the Chamber’s largest event of the year, taking place from 5 to 9 p.m.

The Business Excellence Finalists for 2017 include:

Rising Star Award

Current Taxi

Flask Social House - FSH

Purppl

Small Business Award (1-15 employees)

Hybrid Elevator

Okanagan Wine Country Tours

Prime Physiotherapy

Mid-sized business award (16-50 employees)

Lakeside Medicine Centre

Mission Group

NewCap Radio

Social impact award

The Bridge Youth and Family Centre

CRIS Adaptive Adventures

Volinspire

Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Andrew Gaucher, GGroup Land Development

Meagan Hughes, Cottage Quilting

Jared Lee & Devon Murray, Central Kitchen + Bar

Excellence in Agriculture Award

BC Tree Fruits

Okanagan Lavender and Herb Farm

Old Meadows Organic Farm

Marketing Campaign of the Year Award

CREW

McKinley Beach

Okanagan Water Basin Board

Arts and Entertainment Achievement Award

Ballet Kelowna

Rotary Centre for the Arts

Wentworth Music

Large Business Award (51+ employees)

Chances Kelowna

Northside Industries

Rona Home & Garden Kelowna

The recipient of the prestigious Business Leader of the Year award will be announced prior to the awards dinner.

Ticket Prices: Early bird price $125 plus GST - available only until 11:59 pm on Oct. 1. Following that date, ticket prices will increase. Ticket sales will close at 4 p.m. on Oct. 6.