Auburn honors its best and brightest at State of Community event

The Auburn community showed up to celebrate its best and brightest this week as the Auburn Chamber of Commerce hosted the State of the Community Awards Thursday night. More than 200 people gathered at Gold Hill Gardens in Newcastle to honor several award winners while enjoying refreshments and dinner. "I hope you all realize how much greatness surrounds you tonight," said Peggy Seitzinger, President of the Auburn Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Seitzinger and Allison Harvey served as the event Master of Ceremonies. In between award presentations, city leaders gave brief State of the Community speeches which summed up the previous year's accomplishments and highlights. Auburn Mayor Alice Dowdin Calvillo touted the city's great customer service and said that Auburn has "the best employees." "We've accomplished so much and we still have a couple of months to do more work," Dowdin Calvillo said. Placer County Supervisor Cindy Gustafson also gave a brief update of county business, making sure to thank the crowd. "Our success is really because of the people," Gustafson said. "Thank you for your efforts because what the county does is because of you." Jackie Weston, Auburn Chamber of Commerce CEO, also provided a brief state of the Chamber speech. She stated the chamber has 60 new members this year and its membership numbers are higher than they have been in the past 20 years. "We are devoted to helping our members," she said. "We are here because of our members and we will do anything we can to help them." Honored with the State of the Community awards were Carol Arnold for Friend of Agriculture, Placer County Sheriff's Office for Recreation, Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo, CAL FIRE/Placer County Fire Chief Brian Estes and Placer County Office of Emergency Services Assistant Director Dave Atkinson (aka The Mosquito Fire Task Force) for Friend of Placer County, Mimi Lovisa of The Silver Store for Business of the Year, Dr. Mark Vaughan for Healthcare, Peter Efstathiu for Education, Auburn Symphony for Culture and the City of Auburn Public Works team for City of Auburn. The evening culminated in a presentation of the prestigious McCann Award, named for longtime Auburn Journal employee Vernon Gould McCann, to Auburn State Theatre General Manager Colleen Sands. Before presenting the award, past McCann winner Cheryl Maki gave a short recap on the history of McCann and the significance of this award. In the audience were a number of past McCann Award recipients. "You do not measure this award by the dollars donated but by the heart and soul given to this community," she said. While addressing the audience after receiving her award, Sands fought back tears. "I want to honor the entire Auburn community," she said. "You are the people that make Auburn the most amazing community that I have ever been a part of."