CHAMBER - RECOGNITIONS
CHAMBER RECOGNITIONS
Area civic, business and community leaders gathered at Centennial Community Center in Stetsonville on Saturday evening, Jan. 27 to recognize the outstanding achievements of community members at the 2024 Medford Area Chamber of Commerce Recognition Banquet.
Honorees this year included Person of the Year Laura Lundy and Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Diane Albrecht. Laura Lundy spoke about being surprised by the honor. She said on the day the selection committee came to the school district office to announce it, she was in a meeting with district administrator Pat Sullivan when Nicole Gebert came in telling them they had to come out immediately. She said she was concerned there was an incident going on and was surprised by the committee honoring her.
Lundy also shared some of her competitive nature talking about taking part in, and winning, the Chamber’s Amazing Race competition and how that ultimately led to her getting into running and her current role as the race director of the Pine Line Marathon.
Diane Albrecht spoke about her family. She shared how she met her husband through being in 4-H with him and how they have been together since then. She shared about her years of working with her husband at Gad Cheese and about serving on the Taylor County Board of Supervisors. She shared her appreciation and thanks to all the members of the community and the Chamber of Commerce for the honor.
In addition to the Lifetime Achievement and Person of the Year honors, the annual banquet also recognized others for their work in the community. Mack Mulroy was recognized as being the Gwen Jones Ambassador of the Year honoree for his devoted service to the community as a Chamber Ambassador. Charlie Paulson of Nicolet National Bank was recognized with the Employee Excellence Award. Milestone awards were presented to several area businesses for marking 25, 50 and 75 years of service to the community. Dixon Greiner Realty was recognized for 25 years with Luke Dixon accepting the award. Lynn Balciar of Wellness Massage Retreat accepted the 25 year recognition for her business.
Dr. Julie Thums of Healthview Eye Care accepted the recognition for the company’s 50 years of service in the community and talked about plans for future growth including a new location in Medford to help them expand their services.
Sand Box vice president Jina Lange accepted the recognition and spoke about the history of the child care center. Centennial Apartments was also recognized for 50 years of service in the community.
Corey Huotari accepted the recognition for 75 years for Huotari Construction. He spoke of how the company started with selling military surplus steel buildings and has grown to building schools, churches, government buildings and a variety of other work.
Tom Judnic accepted the 75 year recognition for Co-op Transport and talked about the growth the company has seen over the years from the purchase of their first diesel truck to their current fleet size and the expansion into other markets and areas.
