Chamber of Commerce to award Bolton Bicentennial Awards each month

By Rob Paul

As part of the Bolton Bicentennial celebration, the Caledon Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Bolton 200 + 1 Committees, will be recognizing 200 individuals or local Bolton businesses that have made valuable contributions to the village over the years.

The Heart of Bolton Bicentennial Award highlights recipients who have demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities and have put their heart into the community.

A total of 25 awards will be distributed each month from November 2021 to June 2022. 

The reason for the award is not only to celebrate Bolton's bicentennial, but to continue to support local and bring attention to those who have worked hard for their community.

“We partnered with the Bolton 200 + 1 Committee to celebrate the Bicentennial because this year there's going to be a whole bunch of different stuff going on to celebrate Bolton's 200th year,” said the Chamber's Trudy Valier. “We decided through Verdi Alliance—who sponsored to pay for all the trophies—to go forward with this. Someone came up with the idea because with the Shop Local campaign we wanted to spotlight locals in the community. The nominations are on our website, and we encourage people to visit and nominate those they think are deserving.”

When the idea came up, the Chamber thought it would be a perfect concept to spotlight key businesses and people in the community while building the Chamber up towards becoming a key pillar of both the Bolton and Caledon. 

“We want to get back out there in the community,” Valier said. “Hopefully next year we can do more for the community with some activities, but we thought for now this would be a nice way to make a positive impact. When this idea came up, we all thought it was such a great idea.

“Every month, three of us will go through all the nominations and figure out what they've done that's exemplary for the community. It's not just volunteers, but it's companies and stores too who can make a difference.”

The Chamber is hopeful that if the Heart of Bolton Bicentennial Awards go well this year that they'll continue as a way to bring focus to those in the community who deserve credit for their efforts.

“We've already got some nominations for November and then going forward it'll continue until we have 200,” Valier said. “Hopefully, this goes really well and next year we can do 201 and then 202.”

If you are interested in nominating a business or individual for the Heart of Bolton Bicentennial Award, visit caledonchamberofcommerce.ca.