The Alberta Chamber of the Year resides in Airdrie

Earlier this afternoon (July 15) the Alberta Chamber of Commerce handed out a variety of awards to members from across the province.  

While the awards were meant to come as a surprise for the winners, the Executive Director of the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce knew one was coming to them as soon as the Alberta Chamber started to recap many of the things the winning Chamber had done to deserve it.

"It was pretty funny," explains Marilyne Aalhus,  "They were reading the announcement and as soon as I started hearing the work that was being congratulated and celebrated, I knew it was our chamber and of course got very excited with our staff who were on-site to celebrate.  It just felt great because it's been such a team effort and it really has been such a hard 16 months."

Aalhus says of all the years to win an award, this one is extra special.  That award is the Chamber of the Year for chambers with 350 to 650 members.

Business has not been able to maintain the status quo for the past 18 months and the same can be said for chambers.  While listing the Airdrie chamber's accomplishments, the Alberta Chamber highlighted the events that Airdrie managed to keep doing in spite of the pandemic, as well as their efforts to advocate for Airdrie, and all Alberta businesses.

"They very much recognized that we were championing the Support Local Campaign, hosting our own 'Heart' Airdrie toques and collaborating with the city on some of their initiatives. Just the fact that we reached out to pretty much every one of our members during this very challenging time, they just knew that our chamber had gone above and beyond."

Aalhus stressed the 'team effort' aspect of Airdrie's win.  "We have such dedicated staff and volunteers and our board is obviously very passionate about supporting local business.  It's kind of like the cherry on top just knowing that we've worked really hard.  I think we've always known that our chamber has gone above and beyond in many ways.  Now we can finally say it," Aalhus laughs.

Aalhus says she hasn't heard when the award will be presented to them, but when it is, people will know about it. 

"Once we receive that award we'll of course be posting photos and be celebrating it on social media and different platforms for sure."