Greater Owensboro Chamber Names Small Business of the Year

Three named winners of Annual Small Business & Entrepreneur Chamber awards

The awarding of the annual Chamber of Commerce business awards highlighted a busy Rooster Booster Breakfast Thursday morning that was attended by 450 people and included the 8^th Annual Owensboro Has It! expo at the Hines Center. Glenn Higdon of LinGate Hospitality was named winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year. A Unique Video Productions won Small Business of the Year (1-10 employees) honors, and Diamond Lake Resort was the recipient of the Small Business of the Year (11+ employees) award.

Glenn Higdon’s LinGate Hospitality owns and/or manages 19 hotels around the country, 18 of them either Marriott or Hilton properties. This includes the new 109-room Courtyard by Marriott off Highway 54 in Owensboro. Working from age ten on his uncle’s farm and then working himself through high school and college, Higdon developed a strong work ethic and sense of responsibility that he has carried forward through LinGate. This includes guiding the company through the aftermath of 9/11 when travel nationwide came to a halt and hotel operators struggled mightily. Even during that time, LinGate made it through with no loan defaults, foreclosures or lost franchises and never laid off any employees.

Since graduating in 1995 from Western Kentucky University with a degree in broadcast product, Michael Hicks has pursued his own video production business—A Unique Video Productions. His work has won several awards and his 30-minute video highlighting the University of Kentucky’s seven national championships in basketball was distributed nationally by Waxworks. A Unique Video’s gross sales climbed 33% in 2010 over the previous year.

Diamond Lake Resort was purchased in late 2005 by Brian and Janice Smith and Joe and Laurie Meythaler who all moved here from southern California to operate it. They quickly set a plan in place to bring the business back to life. In 2011, it will host 13 major events and the Good Time Theater will be busy on Saturday nights from April to October. Thousands visit the resort for the Grillin’ and Chillin’ BBQ Cook-off, Kentucky’s only sanctioned BBQ championship, and the Street Legends Car Show in August draws as many as 600 vehicles.

The Owensboro Has It! portion of this morning’s Rooster Booster included 52 exhibitors who are this year’s sponsors of the Chamber’s buy local campaign. Billboards around Owensboro are promoting Owensboro Has It! through the month of June.