Hastings Chamber of Commerce holds 119th-annual awards banquet

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) - Businesses and leaders around the Hastings area gathered to celebrate those making an impact Wednesday as the Hastings Chamber of Commerce hosted its more than a century-old awards banquet.

The event recognizes businesses and organizations for being the best in their area, with a total of nine winners taking home hardware.

More than 300 people were in attendance for this year’s event, which had some new categories.

“We actually added two new categories to our lineup this year and that is going to be the young professional of the year and then our outstanding leadership alumni award as well,” said Mikki Shafer, President of Hastings Chamber of Commerce. “That also is going into the traditional awards that we have for businesses that have done some outstanding things in our community.”

She said the awards usually go to businesses that have made an impact in the community between the last two and 20 years. The new awards came about when the Hastings Chamber of Commerce added a new staff member.

“In the recent months, we’ve added a new talent coordinator to our staff and with that position, she’s now in charge of our young professionals group,” said Shafer. “So, we just wanted to incorporate that group into our event, so they can come out and kind of see what all the chamber is about and get those networking opportunities.”

Shafer said the Hastings Young Professional of the Year Award is awarded to those between the age of 21 to 40.

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