Hayden Chamber of Commerce recognizes citizen contributions

The Hayden Chamber of Commerce recently honored several area citizens for their contributions to the community at its annual banquet. The annual H.A.Y.D.E.N. awards were presented for Human Rights, Arts and Culture, Youth, Distinguished Citizen, Education, and Noteworthy Business.

This year’s recipient of the Human Rights Award was Eula Hickam, a longtime community volunteer and former executive director for Habitat of North Idaho. Hickam has been instrumental in starting a lunch program for the homeless and disadvantaged, helped to launch the Habitat ReStore facility, and guided the Brush with Kindness program to create opportunities to repair homes in need.

Michael Horswill received the Arts and Culture Award for his many colorful sculptures in Coeur d’Alene and now Hayden. Horswill’s work is installed at the Community Roots Garden near North Idaho College, in the Harding Family Sculpture Garden, in a roundabout on the NIC campus, and now in front of the Hayden Library.

Two Hayden Little League teams received the Youth Award. The 2015 10- and 11-year-old All Star Team and the 13-and-under Intermediate Team represented Hayden at the state tournament last summer. The 10- and 11-year old All Stars won the local District championship and went on to win the state tournament by defeating West Valley 14-4 and 10-3. The 13-and-Under Team won a state championship and then advanced to the Western Regional Tournament in Arizona where they lost four games.

Former Hayden Mayor Ron McIntire was the recipient of the Distinguished Citizen Award. McIntire started his first grocery store in Hayden in 1970 and currently oversees the Super 1 Foods chain that includes 19 stores in Idaho, Washington, and Montana. McIntire served as the mayor of Hayden for 16 years and he and his wife, Joanne, recently donated $1 million for the Kootenai Health hospital expansion.

This year’s joint recipients of the Education Award were David and Lindsay Patterson, owners of Java. The Pattersons have supported the EXCEL Foundation, the Coeur d’Alene Education Partnership, and many local schools. Their contributions to Hayden Meadows Elementary have included sponsoring Family Fun Night, Girls Night Out, PTO meetings, and many, many other events.

The Noteworthy Business Award was presented to Triple Play Family Fun Park, the largest tourism-related business in Hayden that has infused millions of tourism dollars into the local economy. Triple Play recently invested $1.5 million dollars in a huge facility expansion which brought work to many local trades.

The chamber’s President’s Award went to Karen Hanks, branch manager at the Hayden Numerica Credit Union. Hanks has served on the chamber board for many years and is involved in many committees and community events.