Local Awards to Celebrate Local Honorees

By Rachel Douglass Manager of Membership & Engagement The Chamber’s annual Honors Night celebrates an outstanding individual, exemplary corporate citizens, exceptional commitments to the community, and striking architectural achievements. Each honor is bestowed in recognition of a unique contribution to the enhancement of our community. The event is a tradition started more than 50 years ago in 1963. New this year, though, will be the honorees’ awards. For the 2017 Honors Night, three local glassblowers were commissioned to create awards for our six honorees (listed below). Bob Adams, Chad Droegemeier and Robin Lies are glass blowing instructors at Chamber Member CityArts. They not only agreed to assist in the creation of the awards, but they plan to use the award proceeds to purchase new blow pipes and wooden blocks for CityArts. Chad Droegemeier works to create one of the awards that will presented at Honors Night on April 11. “This was a great opportunity for us to partner with the Chamber on a long-standing Wichita program, while also giving back to a studio that offers so much to Wichita’s art scene,” said Robin Lies, General Manager of Burnell's Fine Jewelry and Design (also a Chamber member). “As a Chamber that strives to celebrate Wichita pride, it felt like a natural decision to recognize our Wichita honorees with locally-made awards,” said Angie Elliott, Vice President of Membership & Engagement. Glass blown awards will also be presented to the Tier 1 and Tier 2 Small Business Awards recipients this May. Honors Night 2017 will be held Tuesday, April 11, at Textron Aviation Activity Center, 9710 E. Central. Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling 265-7771. The 2017 Honors Night recipients are as follows:

• Uncommon Citizen: Dawson Grimsley of Davis-Moore Auto Group
• Exceptional Young Leader: Chris Callen of Builders Plus Construction
• Spirit of Wichita: Foley Equipment Company
• Over the Years: Conco Construction and Howard + Helmer Architecture
• Keeper of the Plains: Wichita Art Museum Art Garden Robin Lies is the general manager of Burnell's Fine Jewelry and Design and a glass blowing instructor at CityArts.