It’s an honor to announce the recipients of the 2nd annual Downtown Billings Spotlight Awards.
Nominations for these awards came from the general public and downtown Billings businesses who belong to the membership arm of the DBA. We created these awards in 2021 to pause at the end of a fiscal year and before we head into a busy event season and come together as a community to celebrate and honor those who contribute to downtown Billings’ growth, diversity, vitality and investment in our community.
The Monte
Building Improvement Award: Awarded to a building/business owner with the most improved façade or strongest building development project in within the last year.
Ignacio Barrón Viela
Community Builder Award: Awarded to an individual whose efforts positively affect how people feel about downtown Billings. The Community Builder Award recipient has facilitated the development of our downtown community, actively contributing to the growth, vitality, and overall appeal and betterment of downtown Billings.
Jill & Shea Dawson – Thirsty Street Brewing Co.
Best Neighbor Award: Awarded to a downtown neighbor (business owner, property owner, employee, etc) who is always willing to offer a helping hand to fellow “downtowners”.
Zest
Golden Broom Award: Awarded to a business that excels in maintaining an attractive and welcoming street presence.
Yarn Bar
New Business Spotlight Award: Awarded to a downtown business that has been in operation for less than three years and has demonstrated strong potential via growth, innovation, and leadership. Additionally, the business has demonstrated a culture of risk-taking and trailblazing and has positioned itself to achieve similar success in the future through new or innovative product or service, quality of merchandise/customer service, job creation, growth, potential, and market served.
The Fieldhouse
Downtown Gem Award: Awarded to a business who has been in operation for more than 10 years who still shines as a staple in downtown Billings due to their consistent commitment to innovation, community leadership, quality of merchandise/customer service, and job creation.
We added to the Spotlight Awards this year to include and acknowledge the top downtown volunteers from last year. Our downtown events would not be as much of a success without the generosity of the many volunteers to help us season after season.
Cody Floyd
Volunteer of the Year: Awarded to the individual who volunteered at the most events in a year. Cody volunteered at 5 different events in 2021. He helped at all 4 Alive After 5s in the V.I.P section and also arrived bright and early at HarvestFest to assist with Vendor check-in.
2021 TOP 4 VOLUNTEERS
Cody Floyd – Community Member
Ryan Lahey – Valley Credit Union
Jennifer Webber – downtown Resident
Judy Weddel – Community Member
These volunteers each lent a few hours of their time at over 3 of our downtown events throughout the year.
All award recipients will be recognized in-person at the Downtown Billings Spotlight Social, an event we are hosting for downtown allies & stakeholders, including: business owners, property owners, employees, and residents alike. The Spotlight Social is being held Wednesday, June 8th from 11 am to 1pm at the N. 29th Street Alley in downtown Billings, Montana.