Second in a series on winners of the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau and Hailey Chamber of Commerce Community Awards.
What makes a good service provider? How about cheerfulness without being cloying or fake, knowledge, experience and a bit of empathy? That description pretty well sums up Ketchum resident Crisane Cook. She will be honored by the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitor's Bureau as the Service Person of the Year for excellence in her many jobs, over many years, in the Wood River Valley.
The Sun Valley-Ketchum chamber and the Hailey Chamber of Commerce will present a joint Community Awards Night to recognize individuals, businesses, or organizations who have made outstanding contributions to the community and to the chambers on Wednesday, April 23.
Sponsored by Sun Valley Co., First Bank of Idaho and Momentum Real Estate, the event will feature cocktails accompanied by piano music by R.L. Rowsey and a sit-down dinner followed by the announcement of the awards and speeches from the honorees, including Cook.
Crisane Cook (née Wood) moved from Dallas to Ketchum in 1976. She had friends here and though the winter was severe (31 below) and she didn't know how to ski, she stayed on and on.
"I was from Texas," she said. "I didn't know summers could be so nice."
Her first job was at Louie's pizza parlor in Ketchum, serving lunch. Stints followed at various spots, many of them now defunct, through no fault of her own, including Asia Blue, the Yacht Club, Peter's for 13 years and then Warm Springs Ranch Restaurant.
"Losing Warm Springs was one of the biggest losses," Cook said. "We miss that connection. I worked five nights a week, we would do 500 dinners a night. There was a bond with the people who worked there. I served people and their kids and now I wait on their grandchildren."
She now can be found serving up Italian dishes at Il Naso in Ketchum.
During this time she also had another couple of ventures. In 1981, on Halloween, she married Willy Cook, now the veteran photographer for the Idaho Mountain Express. Out of necessity, Crisane started a junior hockey lease program out of Sturtevant's Mountain Outfitters owner Alex Orb's garage. In 1992, she began working for Sturtevant's full time.
"Isn't that crazy?" she said, amazed at the amount of time that had passed. "The fun thing with Sturtevant's was that both Willy and Billy (their son) played hockey. So I just brought the program here. I was here all the time anyway."
Cook is now the official warranty and inventory manager, the hockey, winter footwear and socks buyer and the assistant to Kathy Clark, Sturtevant's controller.
"The cool thing is they let me build the hockey department," she said. "Rob Santa (current owner) really let me do that."
When a customer gets Crisane Cook as a server in a restaurant or at Sturtevant's, he or she can expect a high level of professionalism. She is not just killing time until she's ready to take her LSATS.
Service according to Crisane Cook:
"I hate being touched by customers in restaurants. Servers should be cheerful and smile. Pay attention to your customers. Make them feel comfortable. They may have lost their luggage. One of the funniest thing I was asked at Sturtevant's was, 'Do you lease long underwear?'"
Cook said she remembered when Jan Mason, then a server at Creekside, was named Service Person of the Year by the chamber.
"I thought she's so nice and always smiles," Cook said. "How can I do that? So maybe in 20 years I get to manage the Gold Mine. It's all good. But I'm not a celebrity, I'm a waitress."
Community Awards
The Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau and the Hailey Chamber of Commerce will present a joint Community Awards Night on Wednesday, April 23, at 7 p.m. in the Sun Valley Inn's Limelight Room. Cash cocktails, accompanied by piano music by R.L. Rowsey, will precede the dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for $50 may be purchased through Nichole Britt, chamber office manager, at 725-2103.
Crisane Cook has worked at Sturtevant’s Mountain Outfitters in Ketchum since 1992. Photo by Willy Cook
