Hudson Chamber hosts gala, where businesses and volunteers earn honors

The Hudson Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Membership Gala on Thursday, Jan. 25, to thank local businesses and those who help run them.

The chamber awarded Hop and Barrel Brewing the Manufacturer of the Year Award. The brewery staff there has hosted and ran an average of four events a week for more than 200 activities last year. 

“Everyone in this room deals with supply chain issues, ups and downs, market forces, drama in their offices, but at the end of the day, we make beer for a living,” Justin Terbeest said. “And if you can’t enjoy that, then what’s the point?”

In closing, Terbeest thanked the chamber and gave a toast to Steven Travis “Dock” Dockery, a patron of the brewery who died in 2023. 

“As our good friend Dock would say: ‘you are awesome, be amazing and do good things,’” Terbeest said. “Thank you.”

Tricia Christiansen, the President of the Hudson Daybreak Rotary Club and Creative Director of Christiansen Creative, won the Community Volunteer of the Year Award. Her husband, Chris Mick, won this same award six years ago.

“So we are definitely two peas in a pod,” Christiansen said.

SEASONS Gallery earned the Small Business of the Year Award for a business with fewer than 20 employees. Angel MacMenamin said she and her husband, Luke, believed in SEASONS and that the Hudson community would continue to support small businesses like theirs during a challenging time as they bought the gallery in 2020.

“We have a small but dedicated team,” Angel said. 

Citizen State Bank won the Large Business of the Year Award, partially for helping businesses with the Paycheck Protection Program. The bank had year-over-year loan growth of 23% in 2023, compared to a 4% average among peers. 

Pete Keskey of Minuteman Press won the Chamber Member of the Year Award for his “demonstrated significant involvement within the organization in the past year.” Minuteman Press won the Small Business of the Year Award in 2013. And Keskey sells raffle tickets at the Hudson Community Expo. He works at the beverage booth at the Spirit of St. Croix Art Festival, too.

Jacki Bradham of the Hudson Hot Air Affair won the Marie Blakeman Award. Bradham won the award for outstanding community service. Blakeman, who the award is named after, was instrumental in creating the Hudson Memorial Hospital and the Hudson Medical Center. Blakeman and her husband, Harry, started the refrigeration company Nor-Lake. 

New Richmond Chamber has its gala on Jan. 31 and the River Falls Chamber has it on Thursday, Feb. 8.