Observed
During the
SCV Chamber of Commerce Installation Dinner, some nice things happened.
Plumbing by Kirk won for Small Business of the Year.
Keyes Lexus of Valencia showed that they achieved the passionate pursuit of perfection by taking the Medium Business of the Year award and
The Signal scored Large Business of the Year. Outgoing Chamber Chair
Chris Fall handed over the gavel to incoming
Pam Ingram.
Don Fleming & Randall Winter |
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Ken Pulscamp & Ken Striplin |
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Yup. Things couldn't have been better.
And then the lights dimmed, the sound system cranked and some perfectly good corneas were seared beyond all hope for recovery.
Pam & Steve Ingram |
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Sue Mankin |
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It's weird what happens when a whole lot of hard-working business people get together and let their hair down. Otherwise-classy women like
Sue Mankin clear an area of the dance floor in an evident attempt to win an unannounced "How Low can You Go?" contest (The answer: very, very low. Mankin's yoga instructor should be proud). Husband
Larry Mankin, doing his best to not appear like an uncoordinated white man, thankfully was distracted from getting his groove on by Miss Congeniality banker
Kris Hough, who was busy trying to figure out how to hang a bunch of fake grapes from his pants. And where did she get such a prop? Well, we're pretty sure they were acquired from
Gary Choppe, who decided that the stage was where the real party was at; the ad group honcho whooped it up, and threw some plastic fruit, from his perch up high.
And that, my friends, all happened before "Bringing Sexy Back" started playing.
Arif & Pam Halaby |
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Gail Ortiz & Wayne Crawford |
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The night's other highlights...
Chris Angelo, the CFO of Valencia's
Stay Green, attending the gangster-themed event as himself and folks thinking that he intentionally dressed up for the evening;
Arif and
Pam Halaby were some of the few guests who "got" the
Inside SCV Magazine staff's trash-bag-chic attire (In honor of Chris Fall's company, Advantage Disposal. Most thought we were dressed as body bags.); and, well, the stuff that happened after
Justin Timberlake's ditty played. Sorry, folks. It's not fit to print.
The Signal's Newsmaker Awards, in contrast, seemed tame. Sure, there were inside jokes a-plenty (Will the real
Scott Wilk please stand up?), but in the end, business was taken care of (and we aren't just referring to the Westridge Town Council sidebar held by
Don Fleming and
Randall Winter).
Chris Angelo |
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Pinegrove students from Northern India |
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City Manager
Ken Pulscamp took the title of Newsmaker of the Year (and not far off, Assistant City Manager
Ken Striplin wiped away a tear of joy).
Scott Wilk, the
Susan Lucci of the Newsmakers, finally went home with a prize, too; he won for Behind the Scenes.
And who's that sexy man who traded his normally plaid attire for a bona fide suit? Yes siree, that's one of
Inside SCV Magazine's own publishers,
Wayne Crawford (he also owns a little company called
Santa Clarita Concrete), who won the award for Community Service.
And lastly, our town said goodbye to 16 very special students from India last month. The group, seen here dressed in traditional folk dance costumes, performed for their host families at the end of their three-week visit to Santa Clarita. The visit was arranged by the Cultural Bridges Committee, a part of the Santa Clarita International Program.