Many of you know that earlier this year we entered the Elkhorn Inn in
the SCORE / Sam's Club "What Makes Your Business Unique" Business Champion contest- over 10,000 of you voted for us, and we won! This is HUGE- not just
for us and our inn- but for tourism in McDowell County, West Virginia!
There were 102 Finalists- two from each state, and two from Washington,
D.C., and the Elkhorn Inn was chosen as one of the two Finalists from West
Virginia! As a Finalist, Elisse was flown to Dallas, Texas for the SCORE Award Ceremony and Training, and we were given a $1,000 Gift Card to use at Sam's Club or Walmart to further our business goals.
The first thing we purchased, as we stated we would in our contest entry, was a brand new refrigerator for the Elkhorn Inn's kitchen! As Chef Dan's dinners at the Elkhorn Inn's restaurant are featured on the Bon Appetit Appalachia 6-state "foodie" map of farm-to-table and artisan food and beverage establishments (and we are the Only such restaurant in "really southern" West Virginia on that map!), outfitting the Inn's kitchen with a great new fridge was of paramount importance! We had a great meeting with the Manager of our Sam's Club in Bluefield, Virginia, and their Team Lead even visited the Inn to learn how Sam's might be able to help us! We have also been assigned two SCORE Mentors to help us grow our business, and will be working with them to find new ways to help promote both our business and McDowell County tourism- and all the fun you can have in our neck of the woods!
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| Elisse, #BizChampion! |
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| Elisse, with the other Business Champions, at the SCORE Award/Training in Dallas, Texas |
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| With the Manager of Sam's Club, Bluefield, VA |
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| Sam's Club Team Lead at the Elkhorn Inn, with Dan! |
Since winning the award, we have been blessed with three programs on WVVA News, including a feature program on "In Focus" with News Anchor Rick Douglas:
Part One: https://www.facebook.com/ElkhornInnandTheatre/videos/10154414488461479/
Part Two: https://www.facebook.com/ElkhornInnandTheatre/videos/10154414721111479/
WVVA News also came to the Inn to cover our recent planting the Sunflower Meadow across from the Inn! http://www.wvva.com/story/35454888/2017/05/17/planting-color-in-mcdowell-county#.WR0wOfXl258.facebook
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| WVVA News interviewing Dan |
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| WVVA News filming us planting the Sunflower Meadow! |
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| What we hope it will look like again in August! |
The Elkhorn Inn and our SCORE Business Champion Award is featured on the Visit McDowellCounty tourism website, and there was a recent article in the Welch Daily News, as well! The Inn is also scheduled to be featured in an upcoming issue of WV Game & Fish Magazine!
SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground, grow and achieve their goals through education and mentorship. They have been doing this for over fifty years, and because their work is supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and thanks to their network of 10,000 volunteers, they are able to deliver our services at no charge or at very low cost. They can provide volunteer Mentors who share their expertise across 62 industries, free, confidential business mentoring in person, via email or by video, free business tools, templates, and online tips, and inexpensive or free business workshops, as well as online webinars. They have 300 chapters that hold events and workshops locally across the U.S. and its territories, and match up entrepreneurs with local, volunteer mentors.
This fall, three of the #BizChampion Finalists will each win $25,000- and we SO hope we're one of the three! If we do win, it would be AMAZING, both for the inn and McDowell County, WV- and we have two GREAT projects lined up! Wish us luck- and come on down to the Elkhorn Inn and enjoy world-class railfanning and train photography, fab fly-fishing, riding the best ATV and UTV trails in the eastern USA, some fun mountain golf, delish Chef Dan dinners, and other fun in the mountains!
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