CEDAR CITY — Southern Utah’s small business community shined during 2023’s National Small Business Week, with two Cedar City entrepreneurs winning statewide awards and three area municipalities landing in the top five best small cities in the U.S. to start a business.
Last month, President Joe Biden continued a 60-year tradition by proclaiming National Small Business Week, beginning April 30, commencing various events and award ceremonies nationwide, and concluding May 6.
“This week, we celebrate the backbone of our economy and the glue of our communities: our small businesses, which help make our Nation strong,” Biden said.
At last Wednesday’s Cedar City Council meeting, Cedar City Mayor Garth Green reaffirmed the proclamation locally.
“Cedar City supports and joins in this national effort to recognize the contributions of small businesses to the American economy and their importance in ensuring that our local communities remain as vibrant tomorrow as they are today,” he said, reading a statement.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. economy has seen its strongest growth in nearly 40 years thanks to “the resilience of our small businesses,” which continue to “pioneer innovative solutions to our country’s greatest challenges and create opportunities for families and workers,” Green said.
Small businesses are the “heartbeat of our communities” and employ half the nation’s workers, Green said. “Historical investments” from Biden’s American Rescue Plan, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and others “will ensure small businesses have access to federal capital support, technical assistance, contracting opportunities and other resources to help lead the way as we rebuild America’s roads and bridges and build a clean energy economy for the future.”
On May 4, the Small Business Administration Utah District Office celebrated business owners from across the state in Salt Lake City, distributing several awards, including Exporter of the Year, Woman-owned Business of the Year and Rural Business of the Year.
Two award winners hail from Cedar City: David Mineer Jr, the owner of Construction Monitor, was named Utah’s Small Business Person of the Year, and RCS Rocket Motor Components’ Gary Rosenfield received the Veteran-owned Business of the Year award, said Danny Stewart, economic development director for Cedar City and Iron County.
Construction Monitor was founded by Mineer’s father in 1989 and monitors construction activity across the country, Mineer said.
Initially collecting a few hundred documents per week, the company now collects weekly data from over 50,000 documents, according to a news release from Southern Utah University. Founded with a single employee 34 years ago, Construction Monitor employs 42 people, with “over 150 additional team members located throughout the United States.”
Mineer said he attended an award ceremony in Washington D.C., visiting the Rose Garden and listening to Biden speak on small businesses.
While he appreciates the recognition, Mineer thanked Councilmember Craig Isom and Joni Anderson for their work at Southern Utah University’s Small Business Development Center, which offers services to local business owners.
“Just having those resources available to businesses here in Cedar City has been a blessing for us,” he said. “And we’re very grateful and I’d like to thank them for that.”
RCS Rocket Motor Components is a “cool little company” offering AeroTech Reloadable Motor System-compatible parts for hobbyists, rocketry companies and the military, Stewart said, speaking on the company in Rosenfield’s absence. It’s been in business for approximately 27 years.
Rosenfield has been the company’s president since its founding and has about 53 years of experience in hobby and professional rocketry, Stewart said. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1976-1980. He founded Composite Dynamics, one of the first companies to sell rocket propellants, and has patented 12 inventions.
“So he’s a big name in rocketry,” Stewart said. “We’re proud to have him and his company here in Cedar City and proud that he’s received recognition as well.”
Additionally, Cedar City was named the third best small city in the country to start a business by WalletHub, coming in after Washington City in first and St. George in second, Stewart said. With Logan taking fifth, four of the top five cities were in Utah.
In 2022, Washington City and St. George had also taken the top spots, with Cedar City coming in fourth, St. George News reported.
The study rated over 1,300 communities from across the U.S. with populations between 25,000 and 100,000, according to 18 “key metrics” across three dimensions, according to WalletHub.
Cedar City was ranked fourth in the Business Environment dimension, 89th in Access to Resources and 204th in Business Costs. Cedar City was one of the municipalities ranked highest for average growth in the number of small businesses in 2023.
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