The best and brightest of Cranbrook’s business and volunteer communities were honoured Oct. 24 during the annual Business Excellence Awards.

Seventeen honours were handed out to local non-profits, businesses and individuals during a gala evening at Key City Theatre.

Leading off was Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce President Travis-Dean Bradley and Chamber executive officer Stacey Brensrud presenting Kathleen Simon with the 2026 Citizen of the Year Award.

Next up was the presentation of the 2026 Business Legacy Award to Ken and Karin Bridge, former owners of Bridge Interiors.

Please click here to see all the 2026 awards recipients.

2026 Business Legacy Award

The following is published on the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce’s website.

“One Twenty Fiiiiiiiive Slater Road, Cranbrook.”

You may not remember your own street address as easily as you can remember the street address for Bridge Interiors.

For decades, that address—and the familiar voices behind it—were part of doing business in Cranbrook. But the legacy Ken and Karin Bridge have built reaches well beyond the walls of their longtime business.

The Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce Ken and Karin Bridge, best known as the owners of Bridge Interiors, as the recipients of the 2026 Business Legacy Award.

Long-time members and supporters of the Chamber, Ken and Karin embody much of what makes Cranbrook’s business community special: relationships that last, businesses that grow alongside their community, and a belief that success is something to be shared.

Bridge Interiors began in 1998, and just two years later, Ken and Karin purchased the building that would become so familiar to generations of local customers. From the beginning, they understood that their success depended on the community around them.

“It’s the only place I’ve ever lived and I don’t want to be anywhere else,” Ken said.

At its busiest, Bridge Interiors employed as many as 15 people. While the products on the showroom floor were important, Ken and Karin say the real heart of the business was always its people.

Customers could see, touch and try products before making a purchase, but what kept many of them coming back year after year was something that couldn’t be found on a price tag. Relationships grew over decades, with customers often becoming friends and, in many cases, feeling more like family.

The same was true of their team.

Ken and Karin credit much of their success to surrounding themselves with good people and treating those people with respect. Long-term employees and minimal turnover were hallmarks of the business. They speak fondly of those who helped build Bridge Interiors over the years, including Kerry Orza, whose hard work and long-time presence at the business were an important part of its story.

Their philosophy was straightforward.

“People don’t work for you, you work for them.”

And they lived by another simple rule: “We never asked someone to do something that we ourselves were not willing to do.”

Those values helped Bridge Interiors navigate an industry that changed considerably over the years. Customers’ expectations changed, buying habits changed and the way people furnished their homes changed. Ken and Karin adapted along with them, finding new ways of doing business while holding firmly to the principles that had worked from the beginning: take care of people, offer good service and earn their trust.

Karin primarily kept the office running, while Ken focused on sales, marketing and selecting products for the store. Together, they built a business that became a fixture in the community.

When reflecting on the people who influenced their own approach, Ken and Karin point to Fred Hoeschmann, whose values and philosophy of business left a lasting impression on them—particularly the idea that businesses and communities succeed when they support one another.

That belief can be seen throughout the Bridges’ own story.

Ken and Karin are characteristically humble when asked about their community involvement. They aren’t quick to list the causes they supported or the people they helped. Yet over the years, countless community initiatives, organizations and individual citizens benefited from their generosity—much of it offered quietly, without expectation of recognition.

Their long-standing membership and support of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce reflected that same philosophy.

For the Chamber, the Business Legacy Award is an opportunity to recognize not simply longevity in business, but the countless ways a business and the people behind it can leave their mark on a community.

For Ken and Karin, that legacy can be found in decades-long customer relationships, employees who became family, fellow businesses they supported, community causes they quietly helped along, and the many people who knew they could count on the Bridges when help was needed.

Looking back, it is the people they miss most.

Their team was family. Customers became friends. And through nearly three decades in business, the community that supported Bridge Interiors was the same community Ken and Karin worked so hard to support in return.

“We tried to take care of people, and in turn people took care of us.”

It is a fitting summary of a business career—and a community legacy—built on reciprocity, respect and relationships.

The Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce congratulates Ken and Karin Bridge, recipients of the 2026 Business Legacy Award, and thanks them for their many years as Chamber members, business leaders, employers, supporters, neighbours and friends.

We wish Ken and Karin all the very best in retirement—and thank them for the countless ways, both seen and unseen, that they have given back to the community they are so proud to call home.

Please note: Event video forthcoming.

Lead image: Karin and Ken Bridge could not attend the awards gala. Ian Cobb/e-KNOW photo

e-KNOW

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