By Carl Fauver | [email protected]

Always adept at deflecting praise, it must have been a challenging night for Taylorsville Mayor Kristie Overson when she had to sit front and center to accept all the accolades herself, as she was inducted into the prestigious ChamberWest Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame.

With a “Wizard of Oz” theme, the 2022 ChamberWest Gala titled “There’s No Place Like ChamberWest” drew a gathering of more than 400 to the Maverik Center a few weeks ago, including several in Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Wicked Witch costumes.

In addition to Mayor Overson’s honor, others singled out during the evening included:

• Volunteer of the Year – Trish Hull, Kearns Library Manager
• Best New Business of the Year – Nothing Bundt Cakes
• Small Business of the Year – iMpact Utah.org
• Best Place to Work – Summit Vista
• Business of the Year – Markosian Auto

“It was an amazing night, exceeding all my expectations,” ChamberWest President and CEO Barbara Riddle said. “It was so nice to see our gala filled with people again. And we were thrilled to honor Mayor Overson.  She was elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously, by our Board of Governors. She has always been such a champion of business and our organization.”

Riddle launched the ChamberWest Hall of Fame the year after she assumed her post in 2016. Previous ChamberWest Hall of Fame inductees include:

• 2017 – Sen. Karen Mayne and former Sen. Ed Mayne
• 2018 – Bob Harmon and Harmons Grocery stores
• 2019 – Kyle Treadway and Kenworth Sales Co.
• 2020 – Former West Valley City Mayor Ron Bigelow
• 2021 – Dan England and C.R. England Inc.

“I am really humbled and appreciative they would select me,” Overson said. “It was so nice to have city council members and other city officials there. It was a great night. ChamberWest does everything top notch. I was deeply honored.”

Chairman of the ChamberWest Board of Directors Rick Clasby shared Mayor Overson’s induction introduction with the gala audience.

“The Hall of Fame award is presented to a profound leader or organization which has provided extraordinary service to the community,” he began. “Mayor Overson has 20-plus years in public service with Taylorsville City. She served for 11 years on the planning commission, six years as a city council member and is now serving in her second term as mayor.”

In the audience was Taylorsville’s newest city council member Bob Knudsen.

“Mayor Overson is doing such a fantastic job,” Knudsen said. “She makes it a priority to be available—to talk to people. She does a great job making Taylorsville a city where people want to be.”

Among the people at the gala dressed in “Wizard of Oz” costumes was one person who surprised everyone—Taylorsville City Councilman Curt Cochran’s wife, Wendy.

“It’s her all-time favorite movie—our guest bedroom is completely filled with ‘Wizard of Oz’ stuff,” Cochran said. “So, she just decided to show up at the gala in the Dorothy costume she recently got. She surprised the mayor, who got a big laugh out of it.”

Like the other city council members in attendance, Cochran felt ChamberWest made the right selection for its top honor.

“Mayor Overson absolutely deserves to be in their Hall of Fame,” he said. “The mayor is a class act. She always treats staff and employees with so much respect. Mayor Overson tied ‘Wizard of Oz’ themes into her acceptance speech, saying things like ‘there’s no place like home’ in Taylorsville. That really resonated with Wendy and me.”

This was the sixth annual ChamberWest Gala, as the organization succeeded in not cancelling any of the events, despite the two-year COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the business organization held it in late February, just two weeks before coronavirus shut everything down. Then last year the gala was in June, during that brief lull when people thought the pandemic was finally behind them.  

“Last year’s gala was different, with guest seating more spread out,” Riddle said. “It was nice to get back to a more normal cadence this year.”

Up next for ChamberWest is the second of five planned “Professional Development Series” luncheons. The featured speaker at the May 17 event will be the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics Director Jason Perry. The luncheon will be held at the Embassy Suites in West Valley City.

The following week, May 24, ChamberWest will host its annual Women’s Golf Clinic at The Ridge Golf Course.

And June 15 will find more than 250 participants at the annual ChamberWest Golf Tournament, at West Valley City’s Stonebridge Golf Club.

For more information or to sign up for any of these activities visit chamberwest.com.

“ChamberWest is such a valuable organization for our west side of the valley: Taylorsville, West Jordan, West Valley and Kearns,” Overson concluded. “They do a tremendous job promoting our businesses.”