Bemidji Chamber honors storm responders, shares business of the year award

Beltrami Electric Cooperative and Otter Tail Power shared Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year award Tuesday, a top honor that pointed straight back to the June 2025 windstorm response that kept much of Beltrami County from being cut off longer than it was.

The 21st annual Awards of Excellence luncheon drew 265 people to the South Shore Hotel on Lake Bemidji and featured 30 nominations across five categories. Along with Business of the Year, the Chamber recognized Entrepreneur of the Year, New Business of the Year, Healthy Workplace, Community Impact and the Charlie Naylor Lifetime Achievement Award, turning a yearly business celebration into a public accounting of how the region responded when the storm hit.

The scale of that storm explains why the utility awards carried so much weight. The June 20-21, 2025 outbreak brought wind gusts up to 106 mph in the Bemidji area, and state officials later said it produced the strongest measured winds in Minnesota since 2012. Beltrami County and the city of Bemidji declared states of emergency on June 21 after destructive weather displaced about 100 people, damaged many buildings, knocked out power for thousands, caused gas leaks and downed hundreds of thousands of trees. Beltrami Electric said 19,400 members were without power on June 21, while Otter Tail Power reported 11,000 customers in the dark as crews focused on restoring Bemidji downtown. Beltrami Electric later said all members were back online by June 30, with help from crews at five neighboring cooperatives.

Other winners showed how recovery spilled beyond the utility sector. Triple C Excavating received New Business of the Year after its first weeks in operation were spent on storm recovery work. Jason Grauman of Bearded Hauler was named Entrepreneur of the Year, and Pinnacle Marketing Group won Healthy Workplace. The Bemidji Community Food Shelf received the Community Impact Award, reflecting pressure from changes in benefits programs, concern over a possible government shutdown and the closure of Ruby’s Pantry.

Erik Hokuf, founder of Aircorps Aviation, delivered the keynote and argued that Bemidji’s maker culture and hands-on problem solving make it a strong place to build companies. The chamber’s recognition of storm responders made the broader point more plainly: Beltrami County’s recovery backbone is built from utility crews, excavators, employers and nonprofits that can move fast when severe weather turns from a forecast into a countywide disruption, and that network will matter just as much the next time a storm rolls in.