Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05

Chalk Up Another Big Win for Blowing Rock: Visitor Center’s Ken Cham Wins NCTIA Silver Service Award

Ken Cham, an employee in the Blowing Rock Visitor Center, is the winner of the North Carolina Travel Industry Association (NCTIA) Silver Service Award for Exceptional Visitor Service. Blowing Rock Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Tracy Brown nominated Cham for the statewide competition, and Cham received the award at the N.C. Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Winston-Salem recently.

The award was based on an incident last April, when a couple stopped in the Visitor Center wanting to get married right then and there. Cham contacted his wife Marcia, who is a retired minister, and she agreed to marry them on the back porch of Cham’s house, while Cham acted as witness and “official photographer.”

“We had just moved into our new house, so we still had unpacked boxes everywhere. Fortunately, they didn’t show on the pictures, and the weather was cooperative,” Cham said.

Brown smiled as he recalled the incident: “Ken jokes that the only reason he received the award is because he's married to a retired minister…but that’s not the whole story. Ken is a fantastic employee who represents Blowing Rock very well. He truly ‘is’ what visitors know and understand about Blowing Rock, a place filled with nice folks who genuinely care about others. We’re very honored that Ken was chosen for this award and we’re blessed to have such great people working at the Visitor Center,” Brown said.