Honors at chamber banquet

A good crowd attended the 97th Annual Chamber of Commerce Banquet on Saturday night at the Hot Springs County Fairgrounds.

"An Evening with the Stars" included dinner, entertainment by local musician Eric Kay, a raffle, guest speaker and the awards for Business of the Year, Non-profit of the Year and Citizen of the Year.

Chamber Director MeriAnn Rush said they sold 163 tickets for the banquet, but at press time they were still compiling figures to come up with final numbers on how much was raised. However, the 18 auction items did raise $4,130.

Service awards were presented to Tracy Linko and Dennis Nierzwicki along with Volunteer of the Year awards to Kay Bjorklund, Martin Andreen, Jackie Manning and Barbara Moeller for their service as Chamber Ambassadors.

Senator Mike Enzi was in attendance, speaking about his time in Thermopolis and keeping folks up to date on a few things going on in Washington, D.C.

VJ Smith, author of the book "The Richest Man in Town," was the speaker for the evening, something the chamber had not tried before. Smith's presentation was not only thoughtful but funny, keeping the crowd entertained during his presentation.

RT Communications was named Business of the Year, but there was a tie for Non-Profit of the Year, with the award going to both the H Diamond W Youth Camp and Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Bill Williams was named the 2017 Citizen of the Year.