Dan Cherry receives Dallas Jones Lifetime Achievement Award from SKYHA at Star Awards

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Southern Kentucky Hospitality Association held its 4th annual Star Awards, recognizing the very best of hospitality and tourism in the area… including one local legend who received the biggest award: the Dallas Jones Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award, named in honor of the legendary owner of Beech Bend Park and Raceway, was presented to Brigadier General Dan Cherry of the Aviation Heritage Park.

“He’s been instrumental in so much that’s happened in Warren County and the surrounding area, and tourism with the train park and the air park and just everything he has meant to the community. This is an award, a long time coming, and it could not be more deserved,” SKYHA president Michael Nunn says.

The award isn’t given out every year, and Cherry is honored to be one of the few chosen to receive it.

“It’s so important to our town and to our area, our community, the tourism industry is… and so for me to be honored in this way is just something unbelievable, really… and I’m just delighted,” he says.

The tourism business is thriving in Bowling Green, and it’s all because of people like Cherry.

“You don’t come to Bowling Green for one thing most of the time. You come for what you’re doing, and then you find something else. The Heritage Park, the Train Museum, the Corvette Museum. It’s all a piece of the puzzle, and General Cherry’s impact with those two places are… you can’t put a word. You can’t quantify what that’s meant,” Nunn says.

Cherry says he can’t do it alone though, because it takes a team.

“Out at Aviation Heritage Park today, it makes me very proud because when we first started, we had one airplane and no place to put it… and to look out there now, we’ve been able to create a true community asset. I’m very proud of that, very proud of Bob and… both Bobs and all the work that they do on a daily basis to make it what it is,” he says.

Congratulations to Cherry and all the other winners, including:

• Above & Beyond Award: Larry Pople, Embassy Suites
• Star Mentor: Karla Jones, Tru by Hilton
• Emerging Star Leader: Gabriel Stiltz, Holiday Inn Express
• Community Service Star: Mariah Hughes-Ortega, National Corvette Museum
• Best Breakfast Attendant: Ifeta Hibic, Staybridge Suites
• Food & Beverage Star: Dewey Lyons, Courtyard by Marriott
• Best Chef: Michael Thorp, The Mustang Club
• Attraction Frontline Star: Debbie Hyatt, The Mint Kentucky Downs and Springhill Suites Franklin
• Hotel Front of House Star: Kevin Switzer, Fairfield Inn & Suites
• Best Housekeeper: Joe Wilson, Fairfield Inn & Suites
• Best Houseman: Alex Garcia Hernandez, Fairfield Inn & Suites
• Best in Laundry: Brandy McClure, Springhill Suites Franklin
• Maintenance Engineer Star: Terry Blanton, TownePlace Suites
• Best Hospitality Professional: Leonard Cox, Home 2 Suites by Hilton
• Best Tourism Professional: Maegan Williams, Lost River Cave
• Best Attraction Volunteer: Priscilla Ferrell, Historic RailPark & Train Museum