Annual chamber banquet honors local citizens

Poodle shirts, bobby socks, and ponytails tied with scarves was the proper attire for the women, and the men were in muscle shirts and rolled up jeans at last Thursday evening’s annual Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce Awards event. The theme for this year’s banquet and awards was the 1950s.

Attendees to the event were welcomed by outgoing interim CEO Charlie McIlvain who turned the reins of the organization over to Mindy Wendele, the new Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce CEO earlier last week.

Greg Appel from Happy State Bank, the major sponsor of this years event, also welcomed everyone to the evening, which included the awards ceremony, a silent auction, a table decorating contest and other activities.

Ken Stoepel Ford was the sponsor of the entertainment for the evening’s event.

D.J. Owens from KPUB received the chamber Ambassador of the Year award from Albert Vasquez, last year’s winner. Vasquez praised Owens for his work with the chamber and described him as “a person of integrity, kindness and with a caring spirit who is always helping others.”

Local financial advisor Andrew Gay was presented the Volunteer of the Year Award by last year’s winner Pete Calderon. Calderon described Gay by saying “his commitment to helping others has been valuable to the entire Kerrville community.”

Retired physician Dr. Bill Rector received the Bill Dozier Citizen of the Year award from Wanda Garner Cash from the Kerrville Daily Times.

“Bill Rector has dedicated his life to community service,” Cash said.

Rector, a Kerrville native and Tivy High School graduate, returned to his community to practice medicine after medical school. He served on the Kerrville City Council and on the Kerrville Independent School District Board of Trustees and has been a driving force in many community projects including the Heart of the Hills Heritage Center, which is slated for completion next year. Rector’s father received the same Citizen of the Year award from the chamber in 1971.

The Women’s Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year award went to Rose Bradshaw from So Fast Printing. Last year’s winner Kate Allen said of Bradshaw that she “was always at all the chamber events” and has served on the chamber’s board of directors for many years.

The Business Person of the Year award went to two people this year, Kyle Bond and Abram Bueche, founders of BBQ Texas, a new business that began in 2023 producing and selling barbequing products that has quickly gone not only nationwide, but into two foreign markets already.

“We have a lot planned for the future. We’re really honored to receive this award,” Bond told the audience.

This year’s Business of the Year Award went to Ken Stoepel Ford and was accepted by Ken Stoepel’s granddaughter Capricia Stoepel Moran.

To close out the evening’s award ceremony, outgoing chamber board president Pete Calderon recognized each of the board members who took the organization through a very challenging period in 2023. Calderon noted that the changes in leadership in the organization over the past year had presented the board with several struggles to resolve.

Calderon went on to praise Charlie McIlvain for stepping up to lead the organization for the past eight months.

“I want to thank Charlie for his outstanding contribution to the chamber and his willingness to step up and serve as interim CEO this year,” Calderon said.

New Chamber CEO Mindy Wendele took the podium last and assured all the business leaders and others at the banquet that the chamber is in good hands again.

“The business community in Kerrville and Kerr County is alive and well,” Wendele said.

First place in the table-decorating contest went to JAM Broadcasting and second place went to Mo Ranch. In the raffle ticket drawing the Mexico package was won by Wesley Skains, the Las Vegas package by Austin Conroy and the Caribbean package by Logan Ross.