Officials with Titanic museum and Tantone Industries in Branson shared the spotlight during the 2009 Small Business and Charity of the Year Dinner. Leadership from the Titanic, above, was on hand, including co-owner John Joslyn, third from left and holding the award. The Tantone Industries delegation, below, includes General Manager John Cox, second from left, and LaDonna Johnson, assistant manager, with the award.
Titanic, Tantone share Branson awards spotlight
Eric Olson
Posted online
Titanic museum and Tantone Industries shared the spotlight June 19 during the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce's 2009 Small Business and Charity of the Year Dinner.
The three-year-old Branson museum dedicated to the historic Titanic ship was named Small Business of the Year, and the Taney County sheltered workshop took home the chamber's first Charity of the Year award. Members of the chamber's Small Business Development Advisory Council and city officials served as judges.
Other small-business award nominees were Healing Naturally, Lilley's Landing, Luigi's Pizza Kitchen, Lynina Inn, NewsomCreative and Pure Salon & Spa. The charity nominees were Christian Action Ministries, Christian Associates of Table Rock Lake, Jacob's House at Thunder Ranch and Options Pregnancy Clinic.
Tantone Industries Assistant Manager LaDonna Angel said the new award is important to giving the Branson area's nonprofits due recognition.
"The other nominees are equally active in the community trying to help the people that they can," Angel said. "We just feel that Tantone has been Branson's best-kept secret."
The sheltered workshop started in 1977 and now employs 54 disabled workers - a maximum number until Tantone can expand its 20,000-square-foot plant at 1629 E. State Highway 76, she said.
"We're giving these people who are disabled a meaningful job to do ... and make some money which also benefits the community," Angel added.
Titanic's history in Branson is much shorter. John Joslyn and Mary Kellogg-Joslyn brought their television-production experience to the Ozarks in 2005 and a year later opened the $15 million Titanic museum, 3235 W. State Highway 76. The facility is a one-half-scale replica of the ship, 88 feet tall at the top of its smoke stacks with a water feature that makes the building look like a ship gliding through water. Inside, more than 20 rooms have interactive features such as a replica of the grand staircase, an iceberg and 28-degree waters, as well as about 400 Titanic artifacts.
The Joslyns invested $1 million in museum features, including audio tour technology, in 2007.
This installment of Springfield Business Journal’s Architects & Engineers Project Report showcases 26 endeavors by area design and engineering professionals.
