Former Los Lunas Mayor Louis Huning honored posthumously; local businesses, volunteers celebrated

PUEBLO OF ISLETA — It was a night of denim and diamonds, but also an evening honoring those who give to the community at the annual Greater Valencia County Chamber of Commerce Gala.

The chamber honored its members as well as community organizations on Saturday, Jan. 4, at the Isleta Casino and Resort, culminating with the posthumous recognition of the late Louis Huning as its Citizen of the Year.

Belen City Councilor Rudy Espinoza, who is also the husband of the GVCCC Executive Director Rhona Baca Espinoza, served as the master of ceremonies for the night.

Citizen of the Year

While announcing the Citizen of the Year, Espinoza referred to Huning as a leader, a giving man, who loved his community.

As the longest serving mayor of the village of Los Lunas, Huning was elected seven times, serving as mayor of Los Lunas for 27 years from 1982 until 2009. When he retired from office he was suffering from symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

His children — Ruth Ann Gonzales and Louis Huning Jr. — described him as a visionary man, who loved his family above all else, Espinoza said.

While in office, Huning helped foster economic growth in the village and was always quick to give credit for the success to the village employees.

“Looking out tonight, there’s a lot of friends and colleagues who worked with our family and with my dad. He would have been thankful for this but he never wanted to take the credit,” said Huning’s daughter, Ruth Ann Huning-Gonzales. “He always gave it back to the people he felt it was due to — our state reps, our council, all the village employees that worked so hard to make our community what it is.”

Service Club or Volunteer Group of the Year

This year, the chamber honored a youth and an adult volunteer group of the year — the Valencia High School Future Farmers of America chapter and both chapters of the Moose Riders of Valencia County, Chapter 1680 and La Merced 2550.

The Valencia High School FFA are inspiring a new generation of children to fall in love with agriculture by teaching agriculture to elementary school students in the Los Lunas Schools district.

“They go every other week to a different elementary school. We spend the entire day, and we teach anywhere from 12, to last week, we taught 25 different classrooms,” said Shae Devers, VHS agriculture education teacher.

To date, Valencia FFA has connected with more than 110 classes of elementary schoolers, which totals about 2,240 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

In recognition of their hard work and dedication, the National Agriculture in the Classroom Organization and National Grange Foundation presented the chapter with a Partnership in Agricultural Literacy Award in 2022.

The two Moose Riders chapters were honored for the huge impact they make in funding youth and senior programs around the county. The Moose Riders are a social and civic activity group whose members are part of the Moose Lodge. The group supports MooseHeart, MooseHaven and local charities through motorcycling and volunteer work.

Amigo Award

The Amigo Award is presented to an individual or business that has become recognized throughout the state and nation as presenting a positive, friendly image of Valencia County.

The 2024 recipient of the Amigo Award was the Walmart Distribution Center in the village of Los Lunas.

The center celebrated 25 years of operation in February 2024. When it opened in 1999 on the mesa west of Interstate 25, it was about the only structure in the area. Now there are houses and businesses that did not exist 20 years ago.

The center distributes 250,000 cases of merchandise each day to 98 Walmart stores in New Mexico, west Texas and southern Colorado. This merchandise is delivered to the 980,000-square-foot distribution center by various trucking companies.

Distribution center associates load 135 to 170 semi-trucks a day, which travel an average of 224 miles per delivery trip. Almost 600 people work at the distribution center, with 342 from Valencia County.

Member of the Year

The chamber’s 2024 Member of the Year is Chavez Brothers Winery and Tasting Room. The Belen business was chosen because of its excellent reputation for outstanding customer service, being active in the community and contributing and participating in local events.

Chavez Brothers Vineyard, Inc. is owned and operated by Freddie Chavez and his brother, Will Chavez. The vineyard was purchased in 2014 after the brothers had traveled to Spain and Portugal exploring possible vineyard opportunities. They decided to buy a New Mexico vineyard after finding that New Mexico started its grape growing and wine industry around 1629 in the Socorro area.

The Chavez Brothers Vineyard located in Socorro County, is about eight miles south of Belen. The grape vines are Vinas Viejas — vines that are well over 25 years old and produce high quality, delicious fruitful grapes.

The tasting room, on Main Street in Belen, allows for a small, discrete event or an intimate sampling with the Chavez Brothers staff and boasts a rich, comfortable interior.

Infinity Award

Celebrating 30 years in business, Pavlos and Nicki Panagopoulos, of Cetera Financial and Panagopoulos Agency, were the recipients of the chamber’s 2024 Infinity Award, which is given to the business which has continued as a viable, productive part of the economic vitality in the Valencia County community.

Pavlos has been a registered representative with Cetera Advisor Networks since 1986. He started the Panagopoulos Insurance Agency in 2001 to help his clients with their insurance needs.

A native of Carlsbad, Pavlos received his certified financial planner designation in 1991. With locations in Belen and Albuquerque, they also offer insurance for home, life, renters and more.

Large Corporation of the Year

The Greater Valencia County Chamber honored Colorcon as its 2024 Large Corporation of the Year. The company makes food and medicine safe desiccants, offers a film coating system, which makes pills and tablets easier to swallow as well as spheres made of sucrose and starch to administer sustained or extended release dosages of medications.

Colorcon has a global footprint, with 16 manufacturing facilities including seven film coating plants, five functional packaging sites, 26 technical service laboratories worldwide and more than 2,100 employees.

Their U.S. plant is located in the Rio Grande Industrial Park, south of the city of Rio Communities.