They're White Rock and South Surrey's exemplars in business for 2024.
Local businesses and individuals received recognition last Thursday (June 27) as the South Surrey and White Rock Chamber of Commerce hosted its 25th annual Business Excellence Awards at the White Rock Community Centre.
Taking top honours as businesses of the year were South Surrey Kids Physio (small, 1-10 employees); Innovative Fitness, White Rock (medium, 11 to 25 employees) and A Little Bud, White Rock (large, 26-plus employees).
Best new business of the year honours went to Trendzone Barbershop.
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 008, White Rock, was named community-builder business of the year, while Smash Theatre School was named supporter-of-the- arts business of the year, and the Autism Support Network Society was named non-profit organization of the year (the latter award was accepted on behalf of the society by Nancy Walton).
Business leader of the year (in the corporate category) went to Wes Levesque of Sheila's Catering Co. (which also catered the event); while business leader of the year (in the self-owned category) went to Louise McKnight, of MacDonald Realty's Team McKnight.
Grace Cleveland of Cleveland Doan LLP was named business leader of the year in the under-40 category.
The event, hosted by its longtime emcee, Global News' Mark Madryga, successfully departed from the traditional sit-down dinner format to become a cocktail-style reception (with complimentary cocktail courtesy of TBMS Warehousing), followed by the awards, presented theatre-seating-style.
"This year's format and venue allowed us to celebrate right in the heart of our community, and the feedback has been incredibly positive," chamber president Bill Brooks commented.
"It was wonderful to see everyone come together to honour the remarkable contributions of our local businesses and leaders."
