LIVE OAK, Fla. — Ronnie Skinner summed up the evening quite succinctly.

“We finally got it,” Skinner said to laughs from the nearly 200 business members in attendance at the Suwannee County Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year dinner Monday night at the Suwannee County Coliseum.

Skinner’s Paint & Body was one of three longtime county businesses that were honored in the expanded Business of the Year awards ceremony. Also winning the night’s top honors were McCrimon’s Office Systems, Cheek & Scott Drugs and Love INC.

But winning the Small Business of the Year award in the fifth year the Chamber has honored its members with an awards ceremony, the Skinners were grateful to be recognized among fellow finalists The Music Center and Precision Dentistry of Live Oak.

“We just appreciate being nominated for this,” Fain Skinner said adding that event sponsor RIVEROAK Technical College has made their job easier with access to more trained prospective employees. “Everybody in here that was nominated tonight or has a business, it’s hard. It’s not easy, especially in a small town. Just being recognized for something like this, it’s amazing.”

Those sentiments were echoed by the other winners as well.

Matt Scott represented McCrimon’s, which won the inaugural Mid-Size Business of the Year award out of the finalists, which included All Decked Out and J. Sherman Frier & Associates. Scott said the award was more of a community award than a personal one for MOS.

“This right here is because of y’all, so thank you very much,” he said. “Because without y’all, I wouldn’t be here.

“Thank you for allowing me to have a business here in this community.”

Likewise, Jeff Scott from Cheek & Scott, said the community support has been important for their family business to continue to grow and thrive.

“It’s a great opportunity to be a part of the community and we love it,” Jeff Scott said, who also said the business has benefited from a partnership with RIVEROAK. “This is where I grew up.

“I’ve worked since I was 13 years old at Cheek & Scott. It’s been a long time. We’re very thankful to be a part of the community and in an environment where we can work.

“We thank you for helping us be successful.”

The other Large Business of the Year finalists were Tri-County Irrigation and Walt’s Live Oak Ford.

In addition to adding a Mid-Sized Business of the Year award for the first time, the Chamber also recognized its 43 non-profit members for the first time as well with Vivid Visions and the Pregnancy Care Center joining Love INC as the finalists.

“Thank you to all the members of the community that have supported us,” Love INC Executive Director Martha Wood said. “We just want to thank all of you because we can’t do it without you.”

Introducing the three finalists, Barry Long said the non-profit members are integral parts of the community.

“One thing that’s unique about these non-profit organizations nominated this year, they all focused on the needs of the people of our community,” said Long, the Chamber’s Community Relations Committee chairman.

The finalists were chosen by a committee, which includes past winners and community business members, based on nominations from community members. Chamber Executive Director Jimmy Norris said the only criteria for being eligible to win is the business must be a member of the Chamber.

The event was sponsored by the Suwannee County Economic Development Office in addition to RIVEROAK.