El Rancho Restaurant named Business of the Year
The Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce held its Annual Awards ceremony on Friday, May
7, with a reception at ENMU’s Campus Union Ballroom. The scaled down event was held in lieu
of its January banquet canceled by public health orders.
The theme of the evening was celebrating local business and the color turquoise. The color
reference was to the level Roosevelt County has attained in the state’s color-coded COVID-19
framework.
“We weren’t even sure if we would have an awards ceremony this year, but once we were in
turquoise the board moved forward with the event,” said Chamber Executive Director Karl
Terry. “We really celebrate the resilience our local businesses have shown throughout a very
difficult year. We’re not home free yet but things are looking up.”
El Rancho Restaurant received the President’s Award for Business of the Year from 2020
President Kathy Mead. Numerous members of the Garcia family and staff were on hand to help
manager Joey Garcia accept the award. The family-owned and operated restaurant has been open
since 1989 and has been a hometown favorite for Mexican food for years in Portales. The
restaurant struggled through numerous hardships and starts and stops in 2020 to finally reopen at
75 percent indoors this spring.
Retiring City Manager Sammy Standefer received the Warm Heart of the Sunbelt award for his
long-time service with City of Portales. Standefer started out mowing grass in the cemetery and
worked his way through the planning department before being named City Manager nearly a
decade ago. He has worked closely with the Chamber and local businesses throughout his
career. His retirement is effective May 28.Matt Hunton received the Workhorse of the Year Award for his service as an Ambassador and as
a County Commissioner. He has been instrumental in helping the Ambassadors implement their
free movie nights, including a drive-in movie this year. He was also active in the Roosevelt
County Complete Count Committee and helped the Chamber organize an online entertainment
event that highlighted the importance of completing the Census. He is also a past president of the
Chamber and a former Portales City Councilor.
Ambassador President Casey Peacock presented the Ambassador of the Year Award to Wanda
Pettus. The award is given to the Ambassador with the best attendance at events and meetings
during the year. Pettus has won the award two previous times.
Three Harley & Faye Borden awards were given out based on upgrades to the outside
appearance of a business. Those awards went to My Time Donuts after owner/operator Kim Kea
built an all new store on South Avenue D in Portales which opened in October. The second
award went to Taco Box and owners Tom and Thomas Martin and staff. This past year the store
on First and Avenue K got an all new paint job, landscaping and drive-thru updates. Finally, Ace
Hardware and the Max Merrick family received the award for their new addition of an all new
garden center to their Avenue D store.
Mead, thanked the Chamber members and staff for her most unusual year as president.
“Some businesses struggled more than others through the pandemic,” said Mead. “Some adapted
and had a great year. For others adapting wasn’t as easy and some didn’t survive. We have lots
of reason to celebrate, though, because our businesses in Roosevelt County are resilient and
resourceful. We didn’t always like it but most of us found a path forward. We’re grateful tonight
for that and thankful that we’ve fared better than many communities.”
Felicia Powell, Office Manager at Roosevelt County Electric Coop. is already serving as the
2021 President of the Chamber.
Ambassador of the Year
Wanda Pettus
The Ambassador of the Year Award has very straight-forward criteria — simply the Ambassador
who shows up at the most events and meetings is the winner.
The group holds monthly meetings, they average one or two ribbon cuttings a month and they
present awards to the Business of the Month and Volunteer of the Month winners. They hold five
family movie nights a year and put together the Little Miss Merry Christmas contest. They are
always on the frontlines of volunteers for everything the Chamber does and have recently been
able to step up their activities as the pandemic restrictions subside.This year’s winner has been an Ambassador for a little over a decade and her dedication to the
group hasn’t wavered. Over that time she was Ambassador of the Year in 2013 and 2014 and
Workhorse of the Year in 2017.
She was careful in 2020 as the virus spread but as things became safe she showed up and showed
our businesses the community cares about them. Please help me congratulate our 2020
Ambassador of the Year Wanda Pettus.
Harley & Faye Borden Awards
Since 1979 the Chamber has recognized businesses who have significantly improved the outward
appearance of their business in the past year. This recognition is called the Harley and Faye
Borden award and is named after a very respected couple here in Portales that were killed in a
tragic car accident in April 1979.
Harley and Faye were very involved in the community. Harley was a farmer and Faye was Vice
President of Portales National Bank. They both had a great love for Portales and Roosevelt
County and their passion was for a community that appeared vibrant and inviting.
In that spirit this year we have three award winners.
My Time Donuts
After graduation Kim Kea began managing her family’s donut shop in Muleshoe and it wasn’t
long before she had expanded to a location in Clovis. After success there it was Portales’ time to
have its own My Time Donuts. The company built a beautiful new building from the ground up
at 1513 S. Ave. D, transforming a vacant lot into a vibrant business with drive-thru and inside
dining. The Chamber helped them cut the ribbon on the new business in October and the drivethru was an immediate hit. Please congratulate Kim and her family on their wonderful new
building.
Taco Box
Opening the area Taco Box stores in 1960s, co-owner Tom Martin has always acknowledged his
funky 1960’s vibe in the interior décor and promotion. The Portales Taco Box opened in 1987.
Tom has been active with the Chamber, having served on the board and Taco Box continues to
give back to our community in many ways every year. Now under his son Thomas’ leadership
the business continues to be a hometown favorite. This year, despite the struggles of the
pandemic, the time was right to upgrade the exterior of the Portales building along with
landscaping and drive-thru changes. The southwestern paint job fits the business image perfectly
and the tacos and burritos kept flying out of the drive-thru all year long keeping our community
fortified through the pandemic. Congratulations to Tom, Thomas, Raul and all the crew at our
“Official Hometown Tacotorium” on the changes.
Ace Hardware
Our next Borden award has won the award previously and that’s probably because the owners
are constantly innovating and improving the way they do business. A few years ago on a visit to
Ace Hardware and Home Center, manager and past Chamber President Megan Hamilton
whipped a set of blueprint drawings and shared her latest dream that included an all new garden center for the store. Last year the old area where those operations were happening was torn down
and a brand new, versatile garden center was erected. The building greatly improved the look of
the store and was more functional for operations and customer friendly. The lawn and garden
season is upon us and the garden center at Ace is stocked with everything you need.
Congratulations to Megan and her staff along with the whole extended Merrick family on the
changes.
President’s Award
Business of the Year
El Rancho Restaurant
This next award is called the President’s Award, because, it is selected by the outgoing Chamber
President, usually with nominations coming from the rest of the committee.
The award goes to a Chamber business that displays a culture of service to its community in its
business practices and can be looked on as “Business of the Year.”
If hometown has a special feel, taste, aroma and friendliness, this business provides all that and
more for Portales.
With multiple generations of family and employees that are just like extended family this
business is a true family affair. Going back to mother and grandmother Josie the family has been
in the kitchen a long time. That’s a good thing for one of Portales’ most iconic restaurants El
Rancho.
In 1989 Rueben Garcia and his family remodeled a building on Chicago that had previously been
a drive-in, adding dining areas and getting the kitchen ready to turn out the finest in Mexican
food. Since the beginning the focus has been on quality, including sourcing ingredients locally
where possible. They didn’t stop there, they utilized the family’s strong work ethic to provide
excellent customer service and they’ve trained up hundreds of young people on how to work
hard by working right alongside them.
They have continually looked for ways to expand and improve the business including adding a
burrito drive-thru and coming up with a line of Garcia-branded sauces and salsas that have won
awards at numerous food shows.
The family has always made giving back to the community a priority and they do that in
numerous ways big and small. None of those ways has touched more hearts than their free
Christmas dinner, which has regularly served 300-400 people in need of a little company and a
slice of home for Christmas.
This past year was a tough time for all our restaurants and the financial struggles for the Garcia
family was no different. They couldn’t employ all the people who depended on them, takeout is
tougher with Mexican food and family health problems compounded the worry.
Joey Garcia, who manages the restaurant put together the financial plan to survive while adding a
drive-thru pickup window and as soon as restrictions were lifted he had a staff ready and waiting
to reopen Portales’ restaurant.
Because of this story of business survival and family success we’re proud to name El Rancho
Restaurant our Business of the Year and present them with the President’s Award.
Outgoing President’s RemarksAs I formally took the reins as President of the Chamber in January 2020 most of us had not
even heard of COVID-19 or Coronavirus. We had no idea the changes we were in for in 2020, or
how much it would reshape and change businesses both locally and nationally.
Who would have dreamed that so many businesses would be shut down for so long. Even the
bank branch where I’m employed suffered through many months without face-to-face interaction
with our customers.
Some businesses struggled more than others through the pandemic. Some adapted and had a
great year. For others adapting wasn’t as easy and some didn’t survive. We have lots of reason to
celebrate, though, because our businesses in Roosevelt County are resilient and resourceful. We
didn’t always like it but most of us found a path forward. We’re grateful tonight for that and
thankful that we’ve fared better than many communities.
When I stood at the podium a little over a year ago at the banquet I pledged to improve the
engagement of our members with the Chamber and better educate the board on the work of the
Chamber.
During 2020 our Chamber pivoted its work like never before. We wanted member engagement
and with the start of the pandemic in March our biggest goal was at that point to engage
members with information on the public health order and where resources were available to help
with payroll, rent and insurance. The Chamber staff performed those newly expanded duties
from home for much of the year, learning to conduct and attend meetings online. Despite the
struggles, the Chamber was connecting with its members like never before and I think it made a
difference to many desperate business people.
The pandemic also presented our board and leadership with more and harder decisions than ever
before, all made over Zoom. We had to cancel beloved community events. Move to safeguard
the financial well-being of the Chamber and take even more stands on legislation and public
health orders so our community’s voice could be heard.
We made a commitment to holding a board retreat where we could bring our group’s leaders
together with information on the work and the workings of the Chamber. We weren’t able to do
that in 2020 but I’m happy to report that this spring thanks to Zoom that board training took
place with plans to carry it on in the future, hopefully in person.
While I’ve long since turned the President’s job over to Felicia Powell of Roosevelt County
Electric, I believe with her leadership and energy the Chamber and our business community will
turn the corner out of crisis this year and continue to thrive.
I want to thank each of you tonight for your trust in me and our Chamber. Your tenacity is
encouraging and is a pleasure to have served such a great community.
Workhorse of the Year Award
Matt Hunton
The Workhorse of the Year is a longtime award for the Chamber that
represents what our Chamber and our town is all about – hard work. It’s
given out each year to the person who gives the most of themselves for
their community and our Chamber.The presentation goes back to the 1960s when board member Gayle
Ferguson came up with the idea after thinking about the teamwork that
existed with two or more horses hitched together using the old horse
collar. In fact in the early years the Chamber inscribed the names of
Workhorse of the Year winners on an old leather horse collar.
Unfortunately we lost Gayle this past year but his legacy of hard work
lives on in this award.
Tonight’s honoree, as the second generation in his family’s business has
set a great example for us all this past year and for over a decade. He
really understands the importance of balancing family, business and
community service and he’s done it with grace and tenacity.
I really got to know Matt Hunton working with him in Rotary several
years ago and then as a board member and president of the Chamber. I
can attest that he sets goals and he works hard to make sure those goals
are accomplished and he understands with transition your service
doesn’t end, new possibilities just present themselves.
He has served both as a Portales City Councilor and County
Commissioner over the last decade and over that time he has brought
folks together as tough issues were debated. As he transitioned out of his
role as County Commissioner he’s already recommitted himself to
helping the Chamber. A long time Ambassador, he has been
instrumental in the group’s free movie night events, including one drivein movie last summer. He also helped organize and co-hosted a livestreamed a music and entertainment event that helped raise awareness
for the Roosevelt County Census.
There could be a bit of truth to the idea that presenting him this award
was contingent on him doing the emcee bit tonight. But the real truth is
he’s always there when we need him and this Workhorse of the Year
Award is long overdue. Congratulations Matt Hunton.
Warm Heart of the Sunbelt Award
Sammy Standefer
(This is just notes from Chamber staff as Matt Hunton was presenting)The Warm Heart of the Sunbelt is the most prestigious award the Chamber bestows on an
individual. It isn’t necessarily given out every year because it’s reserved for special individuals.
The Chamber looks at this award in the same way that some might see a Lifetime Achievement
Award. But it’s not just about accomplishments it’s also about the attitude and underlying
motives displayed by the recipients as they achieve goals for our community.
Portales City Manager Sammy Standefer is retiring May 28.
Standefer, 47, began his career with the city of Portales at age 18 in
September 1992, mowing grass at the Portales Cemetery and in the
city parks. Over the years, he has been planning and zoning director
and city building inspector, with the last six years spent as city
manager.
Major accomplishments are
ADA work
Portales Inn
Well field/water planning
Industrial park expansions
WWTP (I think finished in his administration)
Has always had the Chamber’s back, even when the news was
bad
His common sense approach was perfected as City Manager
As far as I know he never had to duck a punch as building
inspector
Was far and away, the most laid-back City Manager Portales has
ever had, and people worked hard for him because of that
attitude. His style fit Portales perfectly.
He has successfully dodged the media since day one on the
trivial but been there immediately with the straight facts when it
counted.
“We were all just pleased with his performance since he started,” added Councilor Matt
Hunton. “He has a lot of institutional knowledge about the city, which has helped. He’s done
everything the council has asked of him, and he is very responsive and straight forward with
councilors.
