The Des Moines Downtown Chamber of Commerce named Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert as the citizen of the year at its annual celebration in February. The chamber has been focusing on connecting its members with city officials and first responders. 

Other awardees included:
– Atlantic Bottling Co. as the business of the year.
– Des Moines Water Works Park Foundation as the nonprofit of the year.
– Paula Foster as the ambassador of the year.
– The Iowa Cubs as the legacy award winner.

A special announcement was made acknowledging that the service award would be renamed the Peggy Patrick Service Award to honor its last recipient, Peggy Patrick, an active chamber member and volunteer who died last month. Frank Strong received the first Peggy Patrick Service Award from the Downtown Chamber.

Past Board President Scott Seeliger helped lead the program with 2020 Board Chair Sid Juwarker.

“We’re engaging our members and community to find out what today’s businesses and nonprofits need from their chamber of commerce and discovering that the answers not only vary amongst members, but are also very different than even just five years ago,” Juwarker said. “We remain focused on delivering on the real needs of our members and are here to serve. Bringing people from all backgrounds and interests together to grow our cumulative local impact is what a great chamber does.”