Business of the Year award winner: It’s a family, really
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The second annual Business of the Year award was given to The Courthouse Bar and Grille — and all its staff, aka “The CBG crew.”
Business owners, Sheila and James Frost, in accepting the award, said they could not have done it without their exceptional crew. Sheila Frost then proceeded to list all of them by name.
James Frost said it will be 28 years go, this February that they signed the lease for the Courthouse. “It’s been such a rewarding experience for all these years,” he said. He counted the many customers/staff/etc. as friends. “The number of people we’ve met, that we have worked with, the friendships made, the ‘family really’ that we’ve all become has been tremendous,” he added. 
He said, “The downtown has evolved into something I don’t think many of us would have ever anticipated.”
In his remarks, Mayor Barney Seney said “The Courthouse is a staple of our community, what our community became because of businesses like the Courthouse that took a chance, came to Putnam and said it’s a great town and we want to be part of it.”
This is the second year for the award — the brainchild of Economic and Community Development Director Mary Ann Chinatti. Shortly after she arrived in Putnam she saw the need for the recognition for small businesses. She said: “This is important because the businesses that are here are here for the long term and they deserve to be recognized. It just boggled my mind when I got here that this wasn’t done in Putnam so it needed to be done. They need to be recognized.”
In addition, because it was also Small Business Saturday, Chinatti had made the rounds the day before and distributed 260 Putnam shopping bags to local shops and restaurants. They each contained a special, beautiful surprise — a custom Putnam ornament. 
Some of the staff recognized by the Frosts include: Madi Wilcox, Jon Andrews, Cam Heath, Steve Olecki, Saeng Phongsa, Courtney Bremer, Erica Frost, Caroline Frost, Julia Beausoleil, Kaylin Kochinskas, and Tyler Fish. Several of them have been with the Courthouse from the beginning or nearly the beginning. 

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From left: Mayor Barney Seney, Caroline Frost, Sheila Frost, James Frost, Erica Frost and Economic and Community Development Director Mary Ann Chinatti. 

Sheila and James Frost with the award and the 'CBG crew' behind them. Expanded photo array Wed. night on our FB page. Linda Lemmon photos.