Herburger is Citizen of the Year

Melvin Herburger is Sisters' Citizen of the Year, and ENERGYneering Solutions, Inc. is the local Business of the Year.

The Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce handed out its awards last Friday at the annual banquet held at FivePine Lodge & Conference Center. This year, the food was provided by five different Sisters restaurants at food stations located around the conference room. Judging from the number of times patrons walked back to their tables with full plates, the new format was a success.

Herburger is one of Sisters' most beloved citizens, and in presenting the Citizen of the Year Award, Chamber President Ann Richardson listed numerous reasons why. He is a longtime booster of Sisters Outlaws activities, serves on the school board and volunteers for all kinds of fundraisers by community groups. He donates from his store, Melvin's Fir Street Market, to support Sisters Family Access Network and the Kiwanis Food Bank. And he does it all with his trademark sense of humor.

That sense of humor was on display in his acceptance of the award.

"Wow," he said, "since you put it that way, I guess I am a pretty nice guy! I'd like to thank the committee that let this one slip by. I don't know how that happened. You might want to review your process."

On a slightly more serious note, Herburger told the audience, "It's easy to be me in this community."

Benny and Julie Benson accepted the Business of the Year Award on behalf of the company they founded in Sisters just a few short years ago. The Bensons are also the owners and operators of Sisters Eagle Airport.

"We moved to Sisters for the lifestyle," Julie Benson told the audience. "Then we started ENERGYneering; then we bought the airport. All of those things happened because of Sisters."

"This is a great town," Benny Benson said.

He believes Sisters should think of itself as more than a little town. He gestured to the large-scale photographic mural of the Three Sisters that served as a backdrop to the awards presentation and noted that the image of the Cascades is iconic.

"There's only one picture you see, and it's not called 'the Bends' - it's the Sisters," he said.

He urged the audience to keep pushing for positive developments in a sometimes contentious city.

"We've got a little tail wagging the dog around here sometimes," he said. "Sometimes it's the fleas wagging the dog. Let's keep it great and keep that 'positive' going."

The Chamber celebrated a page turned in an often-contentious relationship. The Chamber's Pioneering Spirit Award went to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) for their efforts to act as a community partner in getting through the Cascade Avenue project last winter.

Board member and Cascade Avenue business owner Chris Wilder detailed the many ways in which ODOT went above and beyond the call of duty to make the project work smoothly for the community.

Accepting the award on behalf of ODOT, Gary Farnsworth acknowledged that Sisters and ODOT haven't always gotten on and noted with pleasure that "the relationship has changed in an awesome way."

Sisters Family Access Network (FAN) was named Nonprofit of the Year. FAN supports some 600 Sisters Country families in need every year by steering them to resources to help them navigate hard times.

Theresa Slavkovsky and Dawn Cooper accepted the award. Cooper noted the profound satisfaction of helping families "go from coming in tears and walking out with a little bit of hope."

Slavkovsky and Cooper thanked the Sisters community for their support, which makes FAN's work possible.

Cycling advocate and community volunteer Jerry Norquist was honored as Volunteer of the Year. Unable to attend the event, Norquist sent a written statement praising the community of Sisters for its willingness to pitch in and get things done.

"I raise a glass of wine to you all," he said.

Norquist opined that there are many, many people in Sisters deserving of honors as volunteers. Judy Trego, Chamber executive director, emphasized that though that may be true, Norquist has certainly earned his recognition as an advocate for cycling tourism who has benefited Sisters Country and the whole state of Oregon.

"I can't think of anybody who deserves it more," Trego said.

3 Sisters Shell Station in downtown Sisters was honored with the Customer Service Award for consistently offering friendly, capable and efficient service that makes people want to come back.

Richardson presented Erin Borla with the President's Award. The award acknowledges the former chamber executive director for her stellar work in marketing Sisters and laying a solid operational foundation to carry the Chamber forward into the future.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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