Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce catches up on meetings and awards

Michael Ballos always wanted to open a boutique in St. Armands Circle. The dream, built over visits to the area and family vacations, came true in 2019 when he opened Cariloha Bamboo on the west spoke of the Circle. 

Ballos’ dream was further verified when he won first place in the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce’s “Good as Green” Small Business Awards category for the renewability of the bamboo that makes up his apparel and home goods products as well as his goal of a zero energy waste building.

As his own only employee, Ballos accepted his award  before leaving early to reopen his store after lunch.

“Bamboo is highly renewable and fast-growing,” Ballos said. “We are a society of waste and we need to be a society of no waste. Sustainability is something we need to keep looking at.” 

Ballos’ award category kicked off not only the 22nd annual Small Business Awards luncheon, but also the 62nd Annual Meeting and the Chamber’s first in-person activity since November. The former, which was scheduled for October and then November, was moved due to scheduling conflicts for speakers and Hurricane Eta, respectively. By the time it was rescheduled, the timeframe bumped up against when the annual meeting would be held, so chamber President Gail Loefgren combined the two. 

The double feature went into overtime, running until about 2 p.m. when it was originally scheduled to run until 1:30. Presenters and winners kept their speeches shorter than normal, and most winners were caught so off-guard by being selected that the acceptances were all brief and grateful. 

“It’s a hybrid year anyway so we might as well have two events for the price of one,” presenter Al Benincasa said. 

Some attendees called in via Zoom to the meeting, including some winners, and every virtual participant was projected onto a large screen behind the podium. When a Zoomed-in winner was announced, their square was made full screen as the in-person presenters posed for a socially distanced photo with the award plaque and the winner’s virtual face. 

“The best part (of judging) was sitting down and interviewing the nominees,” Benincasa said. “I got to know a lot about them and what they and their company are made of.” 

Lisa Baskfield, the owner of Nature’s Gem CBD who won “Rookie of the Year,” shared the backstory of her business when she accepted her award. CBD helped her overcome her chronic pain from fibromyalgia, and she eventually opened a store on Longboat Key. She said it was the best business decision she ever made. 

“I’m very honored, thankful and I might cry,” Baskfield said. 

Small Business Awards took up most of the time, and once they concluded Loefgren announced the chamber's new board members and took the gathered members through an abbreviated update on the chamber’s 2021 goals — maintaining members and growing the organization as businesses recover from COVID-19 — before announcing the annual awards winners. 

In addition to the usual Norm Mallard Ambassador of the Year award and the Chamber Member of the Year award, Loefgren announced a new one: the John Wojtyna Going the Extra Mile award. Named for its late namesake, the award goes to someone who embodies Wojtyna’s habit of going above and beyond. He regularly took on extra organizing tasks and adopted extra children to give gifts to at Christmas. This year, it went to Celia Moore, a newer member of the chamber. 

“I knew this award was going to her before I even knew it was an award,” Loefgren said of Moore.