Six Dakota County businesses were recently honored by the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The six 2010 business award winners were CF Industries of Rosemount, Fairview Ridges Clinic of Eagan, Velocity Telephone of Eagan, Eagan's July 4th Funfest, Cerasis, Inc, of Eagan and Medi-Car Auto Repair of Rosemount.

The "Survive and Thrive Business Awards" were handed out at the Steeple Center in Rosemount Nov. 3.

The recipients received several nominations, according to the chamber, and were judged on a variety of qualifying criteria, including "challenges met and overcame, opportunities gained, and strategies created to thrive into the future."

There were a few reasons Michael Ferber, Eagan's July 4th Funfest sponsorship coordinator, could think of for why his group won the award.

"We are a year-round operation. We have a team of very dedicated volunteers and some of them have a lot of experience with events," Ferber said. "Also, we have a partnership with the city of Eagan and the Eagan Convention and Visitor's Bureau. When the partnership started (five to six years ago), we were able to put together a financial budget and squirrel away money to build a reserve. So, we are financially sound, unlike other events.

"We don't have debt and are frugal with what we spend money on," Ferber added. Also, we joined the chamber since day one, and it has helped us immensely in securing sponsors."

John Hickle, president of Velocity Telephone, Inc., also accepted an award. Velocity Telephone, Inc., through the Eagan Community Fiber Project, is providing and building fiber optics products for voice, Internet and TV services. Hickle's biggest competition is Comcast and Quest.

"We're self-funding our build. We decided not to go after the Thomson Reuters of the world, and instead focused our attention [on providing fiber] to small businesses with completely different needs," Hickle said. "Customers love dealing with us. I'm set up so that you can find me and follow me wherever I am."

Hickle added,"Every year we've grown and last year was our best year. We've added customers, employees, as well as a construction company in Eagan that needed employees, and we continue to grow and build our services to a unique customer base."

Don Chapdelaine of SKB Environmental, Inc. a chamber member since 1965, said it's important to honor companies and "create a positive image of what is going on in the economy."

"Everyone is challenged," he said. "It's good to see new ways on [how businesses are thriving]."

"It's great recognition that we are in a very tough environment and we're doing OK," Ferber added. "[My advice to others] is that it all starts with the leadership. Put together a leader that rolls up their sleeves to work and. ... network to get the support of others."

The awards are an annual event and one of the chamber of commerce's three regional events it hosts each year.

"I thought the awards went really well. One of the most important things we can do is highlight how hard our businesses work to create and sustain jobs," Batulis said.

There were five businesses that sponsored the awards, including Rosemount's Eggen State Farm, Dakota Electric, SKB Environmental, Inc., Fairview Ridges Hospital and Eagan's Anchor Bank.