By Jake Schrantz
ALLIANCE, Neb. - Community members in Alliance and surrounding towns came together at the Westside Event Center on Monday evening for the first ever Big Idea event in Box Butte County. At this community event, local entrepreneurs pitched their ideas about improving their local business opportunities. Business plans for affordable bathroom repair, an intimate restaurant with rotating chefs, a members-only bottle club, a laser and engraving business expansion and a de-icing company were presented in front of an excited group of Box Butte County citizens.
Daniel Curtis, Tory McVicker, Tammy & Gary Griffee, Heather Edwards and Patrick Hartman each received five minutes to pitch their 'big idea' for growing a local business. A panel of judges from the Box Butte county area listened to these presentations earnestly, as did over a hundred local community members. After the five pitches were completed, and questions phases occurred for each presenter, the judges met to decide who deserved the prize money. The top prize awarded $10,000 for first place, while second place earned $7,000. An audience vote award saw one presenter earn $500 based on a community vote, in which each person in attendance got to put a vote in for which of the five business ideas they believed in the most.
After the judges made their decision, the winners were announced. The audience vote earned Hartman the $500 for his Liquid De-Icing Fill and Manufacturing Station. Edwards was selected for second prize, earning her Prairie County Crafts Laser & Engraving business $7,000. Finally, the first-place prize selected by the judges panel went to Hartman, who walked out of the Westside Event Center in Alliance with $10,500 in new business funding in total.
With only two of the five presenters leaving with funding provided by the Schmidt Foundation, all five presenters received support and engagement from their fellow community members throughout the night. McVicker's idea to create an intimate 30-seat dining experience set in the prairie, offering weekly rotating guest chefs who craft unique, multi-course menus, sparked interest from the crowd. The chance to have a 'big city' type of restaurant feel in the panhandle of Nebraska was a large selling point of her idea, and many in the audience were seen nodding their head in approval.
Curtis's Budget Bathrooms business idea was met with interested faces as well. His focus of bringing affordable, safe and sustainable bathroom solutions and repair led to many questions as the judges looked for more details on this business plan. With the focus of this 'big idea' being to help local community members have a solution to bathroom repair that wouldn't break the bank, Curtis's plan was well-received.
Griffee's bottle club idea was pitched as an establishment for folks to socialize, have a cocktail without the bar scene and add golf simulators for entertainment. This idea fielded questions from the judges as they looked for further understanding on how the memberships would work at this members-only club. An impressive scaled-down physical model was placed on display to help visualize what the club would look like on the inside.
Once the night concluded, all the community members got up out of their seats to mingle with other friends and family who had come out to show support. The Big Idea event in Box Butte County showcased how often the people who can best support a community are those who come from within it.