The Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance (GWCTA) recently celebrated national Small Business Month by awarding three local businesses with the Small Business of the Year Award.
Quirks of Art, Second Street Bistro and The Drying Company are this year’s winners. The owners were recognized May 17 at the Launchpad, the Greater Williamsburg Business Incubator in New Town.
The winning businesses were nominated by chamber members for their staying power, continued growth, innovativeness of service and product and their response to adversity, according to a recent release from GWCTA.
“These outstanding businesses are staples in our community and are run and managed by incredible business owners who have taken that leap of faith to start their own business and have succeeded immensely,” said Mike Maddocks, senior vice president of Middleburg Bank and chair of the GWCTA Economic Growth Committee.
“Small business is the heart of every community, and we are so lucky in the Greater Williamsburg region to be surrounded with such unique and commendable businesses,” Maddocks said.
A particularly competitive field of award candidates moved GWCTA to expand its usual scope of a single Small Business of the Year to include three winners this year, according to the press release. The award also was changed this year to focus more on the business itself, when in the past it was geared towards the Small Business Person of the Year.
Others nominees for this year’s award included Pinto Chiropractic & Rehabilitation, Five Forks Café, LLC, Hertzler & George, Middle Peninsula Insurance & Financial Services, Aromas Coffeehouse & Café and Odd Moxie, LLC.