Chamber Awards
Oldham County ‘Top Achiever’ Awards
Oldham
businesses honored
at Showcase luncheon”
By
Ruth Wright
Staff Writer
CRESTWOOD, Ky. – (March 2003) In an effort to infuse
the ninth annual Oldham Community Showcase with a dose of business-to-business
networking and recognition, the Oldham County Chamber of Commerce presented
the inaugural Oldham County Top Achiever (OCETA) awards Feb. 7 in Crestwood.
The awards were chosen by a committee of chamber members from nominations
submitted by the businesses themselves. Following are the award winners,
along with the Oldham Community Showcase’s Chairman’s Award
winner:
n “Bedford Bank” Community Service Award & the Business
of the Year Award, Large Business Category (25-plus Employees): Fastline
Publications. Fastline Publications, founded in 1978 by Bill Howard,
is an advertising media company that publishes trade journals for the
truck and farm industries. The publications are designed as buyers guide
and contain no editorials.
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Oldham
County “Top Achiever” |
Howard’s first publication, “The Bluegrass Trucker”
(originally called the Kentucky Truck Trader), was mailed in July 1978.
In just three years the company grew to five publications with a strong
response and support from advertisers.
Now the company publishes 29 magazines including 22 farm publications
and seven truck publications. In 1985, the company purchased the Ohio
Fastline and the Indiana Fastline, two farm trade publications with
similar formats. In 1996, the company acquired MCW Graphics, which provided
the opportunity for printing all of the Fastline magazines. The company
credits capturing a niche market of the farming and heavy duty trucking
industry with its success.
Fastline has approximately 150 employees, including about 70 in its
Buckner, Ky., location just off I-71 in Oldham County.
n “The Bluebook” Business of the Year Award, Small Business
Category (1-24 Employees): Barrow Co. Barrow Co., a wastewater treatment
company located at 2221 N. Hwy. 53 in La Grange, Ky., was founded in
August 1996 by Ray Barrow. Barrow is an expert in the field with more
than 40 years of experience.
The company concentrates in the area of wastewater and drainage in regards
to new onsite wastewater systems, repairs, alterations and system inspections.
The company’s services include site evaluations for proposed new
construction, realty septic inspections for sale of residential and
commercial properties, as well as service agreements for regular maintenance
checks on existing systems. The company also specializes in the design
and engineering of on-site wastewater systems, especially for the more
challenging locations or projects with higher degrees of difficulty.
However, its services are available to both individuals and business
regardless of the scope of the project. Barrow Co. services accounts
in Indiana and Kentucky and holds certifications for both states.
Barrow Company currently has 12 full-time employees and services eight
Kentucky counties on a daily basis including Bullitt, Carroll, Henry,
Jefferson, Oldham Shelby, Spencer and Trimble and the Indiana counties
of Clark, Floyd and Harrison.
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Oldham
Community Showcase |
E-Business of the Year Award: CSI Mid-South. CSI Mid-South,
a credit card transaction service provider, was started by Donna and
Jay Broder in 1996. The company provides card processing to merchants
through a range of traditional and electronic payment options. These
include credit and ATM-debit card processing, check guarantee services,
purchasing card programs and Internet capabilities.
A lot goes behind the scenes from the time a credit card is offered
for payment until the money is deposited into the merchants account,
said CSI’s sales administrator Cindy Shaffer. The fastest growing
segment of the business has been E-commerce. CSI serves its Internet
clients by providing a secure, reliable, cost-effective system of authorizing
payment and managing transactions.
Security has been of special concern, especially since Sept. 11, said
Shaffer. Through their secured gateway options, CSI can alleviate security
concerns for their clients. CSI Mid-South is an affiliate of Cardservice
International, one of the fastest growing transactions processing companies
in the United States.
* Home-Based Business of the Year Award: Eventualities Inc. Diana Polsgrove
started Eventualities Inc., a full service event planning and decorating
company, eight years ago in Jefferson County, Ky. Polsgrove relocated
to Oldham County about four years ago. Eventualities is the state’s
largest balloon decorator.
According to Polsgrove, the company typically uses more than 200,000
balloons each year. While balloons are about 50 percent of the business,
Eventualities also does complete event planning from concept to execution
including sight development, staging, lighting, sound, pyrotechnics,
decorating and entertainment.Various events coordinated by the company
include corporate and private parties and events, weddings, bar mitzvahs,
birthdays and even funerals. The busiest event times are the Kentucky
Derby and Christmas. Polsgrove has only one full-time employee, her
daughter, but works with 25 subcontract employees and a large number
of vendors, entertainers and musicians.
“There are no bad venues,” said Polsgrove, who has done everything
from large outdoor tents to warehouses. If it can be imagined, then
Polsgrove can probably figure out some way to do it.
* Non-Profit of the Year Award: Oldham County Public Library. The Oldham
County Public Library took top honors Non-Profit of the Year. With three
branches and an administrative office, the library serves around 25,000
registered users, said Susan Eubank, library director. Eubank credits
library personnel with being extremely public service oriented. “They
always go the extra mile,” Eubank said.
“Of course, libraries always contribute to the community,”
said Eubank about daily operations. It was the substantial improvements
within the system set that this year apart and brought home the award,
Eubank said. Physical improvements were made to all three branches,
including new paint and carpet at the Mahan branch in Goshen, new computer
furniture and display shelving at the Duerson branch in La Grange and
a new children’s area at the South Oldham branch in Crestwood.
Additionally, the library installed a new automated, web-hosted system,
said Eubank. Using this innovative system, library patrons can renew
and reserve books, search the library catalog, read about programs and
news and access their accounts from home via the internet at www.oldhampl.org.
The Oldham County Public Library has been in existence since 1968. In
addition to books, periodicals, videos, compact discs and reference
materials, the library currently offers a number of services to the
community including adult and children programs, meeting rooms and audio-visual
equipment, coin-operated photocopiers and 18 computers with full internet
access and word-processing capabilities.
* Chairman’s Award: Minish & Potts. Showcase chairman Jon Bednarski
presented Minish & Potts with the Chairman’s Award for the
booth that best represented this year’s showcase theme, “Swing
Into Spring.” In keeping with the theme, the company’s booth
consisted a variety of blooming plants, including snapdragons and petunias,
as well as a brick patio with a table and chairs.
“We also had a fountain in the corner and a few silk arrangements
to represent the full line of our services,” said Mike Potts. Potts,
along with partners Debbie King, Bill Potts and Brad Potts, own and
operate Minish and Potts, a full service florist and nursery.
The company, with 15 employees, provides a broad range of products and
services including floral arrangements for weddings, funerals, events
and parties and complete landscaping from design to installation. The
company has been in business since 1922. Minish & Potts, is located
at 6348 W Hwy. 146 in Crestwood, Ky.