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The Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance honored its Small Business of theYear Award Winners. Picture here, Alewerks Brewing.
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Other Small Business of theYear nominees were also present.
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Early Stage Business Award Winner Billsburg Brewery.
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Anvil Campground
The Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance honored its 29th Small Business of the Year and 2nd Early Stage Business Award winners on May 1, at The Launchpad in New Town.
The Chamber’s Economic Growth Committee selects its recipients from qualifying members who have the best shop, service, partnership or office with up to 50 full-time equivalent employees, explained Carter Johnson. The difference in the two awards is the Early Stage Business Award goes to businesses open for three or fewer years.
The Chamber nominates based on entrepreneurial spirit, an increase in sales and/or unit volume (SmallBusiness of the Year), innovativeness of a product or service offered, response to business adversity and evidence of contributions to aid community-oriented projects.
In a first, this year the Chamber chose two winners of its SmallBusiness of the Year Award—Alewerks Brewing and Anvil Campgrounds. The two businesses out-dueled apool of five nominees including Streamline Roofing, James A Burden D.D.S & Associates and The Drying Company/ThermalTec.
The nomination and subsequent award pleasantly surprised Michael Claar, operations director at Alewerks.
“We’re very fortunate for the support of the community,” he said. “The identity of Alewerks isn’t created by any one personality—Alewerks is our people.”
Claar said Alewerks, which released 52 beers last year, expects production to “skyrocket” in 2019. Its latest release, Sabado Domingo, has been one of brewery’s most creative explorations to date. “The beer was inspired by an idea from the taproom staff and the brewing team developed it for a large scale,” said Claar.
Alewerks supports 75 charities through its Charity werks program and other contributions throughout Virginia.
“Part of our mission is to be involved community members as a business and as individuals,” said Claar.
When told he was co-winners with Anvil Campground, Claar said,
“They absolutely deserved to win, and I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather be paired with.”
Chris Jump echoed Claar’s delight. Jump is a third-generation owner of Anvil Campground, succeeding his father and grandfather. The property has been family owned and operated for the past 65 years. He hopes the award piques local interest in Anvil. He called winning the Small Business of the Year “rather special.”
“We’re a campground, so we don’t tend to get a lot of local recognition,” he said, citing the property’s popularity with travelers and tourists. Anvil is the reigningNational Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds National RV Park of the Year. Jump hopes the award piques local curiosity in staycations on his property.
“We’ve had Williamsburg vacations where locals have rented our cabins,” he said. “We want to see local notoriety to catch up with our national recognition. It would mean a lot to me, my family and my staff,” he said.
Billsburg Brewery, winner of the Early Stage Business Award, has worked to carve out its niche inWilliamsburg. Dave Baum called winning the award “validation onall of the decisions we make on a daily basis.”
Since opening in October 2017, the brewery has worked to position itself within the landscape of Williamsburg’s craft breweries. Said Baum, “The niche we’re finding ourselves in is making that traditionalGerman-styled beer. The praise we seem to be getting from our customers is how authentic ourGerman-styled beers are.”
He hopes Billsburg can continue to assert itself as partners with the Chamber while helping local businesses and serving within the community. He’s grateful for the confidence the Chamber and its members have shown by choosing Billsburg as its Early Stage Business Award winner.
“Working together within the community allows us all to lean on each other,” said Baum. “It’s really nice when Chamber, community and other business owners chime in and say you’re on the right path.”
Carter Johnson-Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance · carterjohnson@williamsburgcc.com
Chris Jump-Anvil Campground · chris@anvilcampground.com
Dave Baum-Billsburg Brewing · dbaum@billsburg.com
Michael Claar-Alewerks · mclaar@alewerks.com
