It’s time to roll out the red carpet and celebrate business excellence in Lloydminster.
The Business Excellence Awards are right around the corner and Rotarians got the scoop at their Rotary Club of Lloydminster’s Monday Lunch.
On hand were Jackie Tomayer, president of the Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce, and Teri-Lynn MacKie, the chamber’s executive director, to talk about the upcoming event and other items keeping the chamber busy.
“The celebration of the business excellence awards is happening next Thursday, Oct. 30, and there are still some seats available,” said Tomayer.
The 2025 Business Excellence Awards are once again taking place at the WLS Convention Centre. She says it’s an opportunity to highlight businesses and their efforts in the community.
“Here in Lloydminster, we proudly host our annual celebration of business excellence, where we shine a spotlight on the remarkable, contributions of local entrepreneurs on both sides of our border,” she said. “This year’s finalists exemplify the spirit of innovation, integrity and community that drives our region forward.”
Nominations come from the public, with a few exceptions.
“All the nominations come from the general public, except the Think Lloyd First, that comes from the Think Lloyd First Committee,” said MacKie “The non-profit comes from the chamber board and the lifetime achievement comes from the president.
“Then the business of the year is from all the nominations from all the business owners.”
That also means winners are kept a mystery until the night of the event.
“It’s all kept secret until that envelopes opened,” said Tomayer.
Tomayer says she has a special duty as the chamber president.
“As chamber president, I do have the honour of selecting the lifetime achievement winner. That was a surprise to me when I took on the presidency, so I was pretty pumped,” she said.
The awards have been a well-attended event in the past, and this year looks to be no different.
“There’s a lot of room in that WLS convention that you can pack full,” said MacKie.
Following the awards night, the chamber gets set to host its Christmas event.
“The Christmas Craft Fair and Chamber Expo,” said MacKie. “That is Nov. 14, 15 and 16.”
The event packs the Lloyd Ex with shoppers looking to get ready for Christmas.
“There’s over 400 vendors through the whole weekend,” said MacKie. “Last year, there was over 16,000 people through the doors.
“It’s great for our economy, not just the vendors that are in the building but businesses in general.”
Rotarians got the chance to learn about advocacy efforts by the chamber.
“Our advocacy efforts are built on formal policy route resolutions that reflect real challenges and opportunities facing Lloydminster businesses,” said Tomayer. “Many of our resolutions need to be Lloydminster made, because we are very unique.
“We continue to champion issues such as local procurement preferences, public transportation, equitable funding for policing and health care.”
The chamber has been working on a procurement policy, hoping to give local businesses the edge when bidding on contracts.
“The procurement policy, with a little bit of a grace towards local vendors wanting to bid on projects is going to be for council in the new year,” she said. “So, we’ll see what happens, it’ll be in their hands at that point.”
