Bank of Estes Park held its “Big 60” anniversary ribbon cutting event last Friday, and took that opportunity to present its annual Golden Antler Awards. This award was designed by the bank several years ago to recognize individuals or organizations who have demonstrated outstanding and exceptional community and/or philanthropic contributions to Estes Park, and who might otherwise not be recognized. The bank set this award up so that the recipient would choose a local non-profit to receive a $5,000 grant as part of the award—when there are multiple recipients, this grant is split. This year, Bank of Estes Park was proud to award two Golden Antler Awards to two incredibly deserving people.
Kent H. Smith, in Memoriam: Kent Smith passed away this year, but was a well-known, prominent business owner—in a few years, Smith Signs will be 100 years old—as Kent put it, the art of gold leaf lettering is part of his family’s DNA. He was tirelessly engaged in civic activities his whole life, but specifically in Estes Park he was extremely involved with Partners for Commerce (including serving on that Board). Then came the flood, and the Mountain Strong Committee, the League of Women Voters, he served as a counselor to new entrepreneurs for the SBA, and helped his spouse (Judi) with the Community Recycling Committee and the Junior Election. The number of non-profits that have received free or discounted work from Smith Signs is too long to list—but by itself, would justify this award. He helped in the formation of the new Chamber, and attended virtually all community events. As a side note, he was a dear friend to Bank of Estes Park, and many of the signs you see related to the bank can be tied back to him. The brass logo on the wall in the new “Estes Park Then and Now” conference room in the bank headquarters on Park Lane was his final piece of work before he passed. In recognition of his tireless civic engagement and community involvement for the betterment of the business environment in Estes Park, and of Estes Park in general, Bank of Estes Park is proud to award Kent H. Smith, in memoriam, a Golden Antler Award. Judi chose to award the related grant to The Estes Chamber Foundation.
Nicole Gassmann: Typically, Bank of Estes Park would shy away from recognizing one of our own—we would instead simply choose someone else. However, in this case, it is so clearly deserved that we had no choice but to make the award. Professionally, Niki is a senior officer at the bank, managing the bank’s largest independent location on South Saint Vrain. The bank has more than double the loan growth of our competitors and peers, and Niki personally produces a significant portion of that. She is also currently pursuing a post-graduate certificate in banking at CU. But all of that is just in the professional realm (unrelated to the award)—she was awarded a Golden Antler award because, in addition to excelling in the professional realm, she accomplishes an almost impossible amount of good in our Estes Park community:
She helped found The Bridge of Estes, and currently serves on that Board, bringing services and care to cancer warriors in Estes Park that were previously unavailable in Estes Valley (note that The Bridge of Estes was a prior Golden Antler winner)…