Mitchell business up for Vicki Clarke Prairie Family award

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A Mitchell firm is one of two businesses that have been nominated as finalists for the Vicki Clarke Prairie Family Business of the Year Award.

Scott Supply Co., of Mitchell, along with Cole Papers Inc., of Fargo, N.D., are the nominees for the award, which will be presented on April 11 at the 21st Annual Prairie Family Business Conference in Sioux Falls.

Scott Supply Company has lived by the same adage for 97 years: “Service is more important than the sale itself.” The family has kept this motto through multiple generations, and is evident still today in the way that Robert Scott, John Scott and Chris Scott run the company.

Scott Supply Co. is a distributer of new and used farm equipment and machinery. They strive to ensure their patrons receive quality products at affordable prices, and credit the success of the company to their dedicated employees.

Cole Papers began in 1918 when Robert Cole decided to start a paper supply business. He sold everything from fireworks to Christmas trees in order to keep the business profitable. In the beginning, the employees at this family business consisted of Robert, his two brothers, Roy and Curtis, and Curtis’s wife, Maude.

Now, 95 years later, the business has grown to more than 175 employees and currently has fourth- and fifth-generation family members working in the business.

The Vicki Clarke Prairie Family Business of the Year Award is named after Vicki Clarke, who served on the association’s advisory board from 1997 to 2000. Clarke believed in giving back to and improving the community.

The Clarke family, husband John, daughter Megan and son Steve, of County Fair Foods in Mitchell, endowed the award in memory of Vicki after she died at the age of 56 as a result of an automobile accident.

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