O'Neill Chamber of Commerce Banquet Held Friday Evening

Cindy Cole holding up her Chamber Community Service Award.

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The Chamber of Commerce Service Award was given to Froylan Altamirano

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Jordan Peterson accepting his Chamber Community Ambassador Award

The O'Neill Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual banquet last Friday at the O'Neill Community Center.

Honors were bestowed for Customer Service, Community Ambassador and Community Service.

Cindy Cole was honored for the Community Service Award.

Cindy demonstrates a true commitment to the betterment of this community, and is helpful, resourceful, and happy to offer service no matter the task. Cindy takes it upon herself to go out and complete tasks that are often left unnoticed by the general public. She has been an unsung hero for many annual projects throughout the years, including the St. Patrick's Day Fun Run, the Summerfest Celebration, and the Christmas Closet, as well as many more. Without her work on these big projects, they might cease to exist.

Cindy is always willing to pitch in for the good of the community regardless of the mission. In our community, she has spent several years serving as Treasurer for the local Rotary Club. Fondly known as the go-to person of the club, Cindy understands the meaning of service and lives it every day.

Cindy has made a difference in our community, exemplifies the Rotary mission, and has positively impacted the people of our state. Her skills, knowledge, willingness to help others, and dedication to this community make her deserving of this award.

The honor of Customer Service went to Froylan Altamirano. Froylan is a waiter at Tacos and Tequila in O'Neill. Froylan can be seen every shift hustling from booth to booth taking orders and always remembering repeat customers favorites with a smile.

The Chamber's pick for this year's Community Ambassador was Jordan Peterson. This remarkable young man was also part of the entertainment for the evening.

Jordan went to his first piano lesson when he was 7 years old, but after that, his mother had to yell at him just to get him to stop. Jordan played classical music and anything his teacher assigned to him, but everything changed when his mom bought him an Elton John songbook.

"It didn't have any words in it for some reason, but I had to sing. So I got the greatest hits CD, and just started belting them out. My love of singing and performing only grew from there. I performed in the high school musicals as well as performing original music for whoever would listen. I developed a love for all genres, though I have a particular fondness for 70's funk/disco and musical theatre," said Peterson.

Jordan graduated from O'Neill High School in 2008.

That love carried him into college, where he was a musical theatre major. He can't help but go all out and perform every song he plays, whether it's Barbra Streisand or Metallica.

After college, he went on to play with various cruise lines doing solo piano bar shows as well as full mainstage shows with a band. It was so much fun, but eventually he was ready to settle down on land. Luckily, a guest on one of the ships referred him to the guys at Jellyrolls, the dueling piano bar at Walt Disney World. There he worked with the legendary Ray McGee who taught him everything he knows about entertaining a crowd.

Now he's with Felix and Fingers and having a blast! "My goal is always for the audience to have as much fun as I am having, and I try to find the fun in any song," said Jordan.

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