Ipswich Small Business Person of the Year 2025

Description

Ipswich Small Business Weeks Reception

Kerrie Bates of Ipswich ReCreation & Culture is the 'Small Business Person of the Year' Winner from Ipswich. Join the Greater Cape Ann Chamber in celebrating her win at True North Ale Company in Ipswich.​

About Kerrie

It started with a spark—literally. A handful of bonfires on the Ipswich River ignited what would become Ipswich Illumination. Through careful kindling and extraordinary collaboration between the creative community, local businesses, and town government, what began as a playful public art project has evolved into the ReCreation & Culture Department, stewarding a year-round roster of custom cultural traditions that celebrate beauty and reinforce community.

It was the Ipswich Chamber of Commerce that first recognized the potential to harness this creative synergy in service to the business community, and Kerrie was invited to consider taking on management of the Ipswich Visitor Center. At the heart of her calling was a deep desire to serve her neighbors and friends. Informed by the maxim “Think Globally, Act Locally,” Kerrie believed that by celebrating local history and heritage, a welcoming window to the wider world would naturally emerge.

She was hired by the Town in 2011. The term “ReCreation,” with a capital "C," was coined to emphasize the creative aspect of re-creating ourselves and our community through play. Then–Town Manager Robin Crosbie expanded the scope by adding “Culture,” further focusing Kerrie’s efforts on energizing downtown and supporting local business—a capital idea, indeed.

The work, she says, is a veritable kaleidoscope of collaboration. Each project clusters together a custom constellation of contributors. Chief among her consistent collaborators is Town Historian Gordon Harris, who curates and maintains HistoricIpswich.net—a digital treasure trove dedicated to the town’s rich history and an ongoing wellspring of inspiration.

It is in celebration—and on behalf of the entire creative community—that Kerrie receives this recognition.

Kerrie lives beside the Ipswich River in a First Period home with her husband, architect Daniel W. Bates, where they’ve raised two grown sons, Hudson and Parker. She enjoys riding her bicycle, walking and talking with family and friends in Ipswich’s open spaces, and dancing on the roof of her homemade houseboat.

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