The Paulding Area Chamber of Commerce held their Annual Banquet on Thursday, October 5th. The Annual Banquet is the Chamber’s opportunity to honor businesses and community members because without them our Paulding County Community wouldn't be as amazing as it is today. This year’s theme was Be a Pop of Color in a Black and White World, to signify that it’s the people of the community that are important and make it successful. Guests were encouraged to come dressed colorfully, enjoy a delicious meal, and take the opportunity to network.
The Chamber touched on many programs and collaborative projects that have occurred over the last year. Those projects ranged from the Community Clean Up Day with Paulding Exempted Village Schools to the current project that is underway with the Wayne Trace Art Department. These collaborative efforts are a staple of the Chamber’s mission to exemplify leadership by positively reinforcing and representing their members and businesses in the communities that they proudly serve.
Throughout the evening the Chamber celebrated with the community by presenting 21 awards in the categories of Milestone Awards, Golden Shovel Awards, Business Leader of the Year, Young Professional of the Year and the Legacy Award. Memories by Tawnya was present to take professional headshots and to capture a picture of each award recipient throughout the evening.
Milestone Awards were presented to businesses and organizations in celebration of their years of service to the Paulding County community.
1 year
- Creekside Solar
- Grounded Coffee & Crumbs
10 years
15 years
20 years
25 years
- OhioMeansJobs Defiance & Paulding Counties
30 years
- Marlin & Associates Financial Services, LLC
- Michael Mott, DDS
50 years
- Paulding County Senior Center
80 years
- Fraternal Order of Eagles #2405
90 years
The Golden Shovel Awards were presented to the following businesses that made improvements or expansions to their facilities to better serve their needs and those of the community.
- 1) Schlatter’s Plumbing & Heating
- 2) The Bargain Bin of Paulding County, Inc.
- 3) Antwerp Pharmacy
- 4) Grant's Catering
- 5) PC Workshop/Limitless
- 6) Buy the Book
- 7) Paulding County Hospital
The final three award recipients are chosen from nominations that were submitted by community members. Those nominations were passed along to three Chamber Directors in the states of New York, Alabama, and Wisconsin. Each of this year’s awards recipients were chosen unanimously by those individuals.
Business Leader of the Year is presented to an individual that has excelled within a leadership role in a Chamber member business. This individual is innovative, motivating to employees and civically engaged. This recipient may have acquired a long-term record of service or may have made one outstanding contribution that made a major impact in their business, industry and/or community. This year’s 2023 Business Leader of the Year is Doug Schlatter with Schlatter Plumbing, Heating, and A/C.
The Young Professional of The Year award is presented to an individual (age 20-40) who has achieved a successful career and has made innovative contributions to their company/community. This individual has distinguished themselves as a future leader in the business/organization. This year’s 2023 Young Professional of the Year is Estee Miller.
The Legacy Award recognizes an individual in our community that has given their time and talent to build a better tomorrow. This year’s 2023 Legacy Award recipient is Traci Koenig.
A fun and creative fund-raising activity that occurs during the banquet is the Dessert Dash. Each table works together as a team to bid on a dessert. The table with the highest bid gets to ‘dash’ to the dessert table to claim their sugary goodness and then so on and so forth. This year’s desserts were provided by Grounded Coffee and Crumb, The Gardens at Paulding, and Grant’s Catering. The funds raised are then used by the Chamber throughout the year on Quality of Life projects throughout Paulding County. Through the kindness and generosity of the attendees we were able to raise over $2,000.
This year’s Annual Banquet was made possible by the sponsorship of It Takes Heart Ohio, Northwest State Community College, State Bank & Trust, The Gardens of Paulding, Baughman Tile Company, Paulding Putnam Electric Co-Op, Sherwood Mutual Telephone Association, The Union Bank Company, and First Financial Bank. Memories by Tawnya was present to take professional headshots and to capture a picture of each award recipient.
