Forty-three businesses in Tucson have been selected as finalists for the 2007 Wells Fargo Copper Cactus Awards.

The awards recognize small businesses in southern Arizona.

Finalists also were announced Tuesday for Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Leader of the Year Award.

“In the decade since we began the Copper Cactus program, public interest has increased greatly,” said Larry Finuf, regional president for Wells Fargo in Tucson and Greater Arizona. “We’ve grown from about 200 nominations in that first year to 462 today,”

The awards will be announced Oct. 18 at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa.

The awards reception begins with cocktails at 5 p.m., followed by dinner and the award presentations at 6. Tickets, which cost $65 each, can be purchased at coppercactusawards.com.

To qualify for an award, a business must have 250 or fewer employees and be locally owned and operated, profitable and in operation more than two years. Here are the 2007 Wells Fargo Copper Cactus Awards finalists:

Best Place to Work
• Dentistry in Oro Valley

• Frost, A Gelato Shoppe

• Giles Construction

• simpleview

• The Planning Center

• Heinfeld, Meech & Co.

• Mesch, Clark & Rothschild

• Pepper Viner Homes

• Saguaro Ranch Development

• Sheftel & Associates Dermatology

• Beach, Fleischman & Co.

• Gadabout SalonSpas

• Liberty Drywall

• Madden Preprint Media

• Pima Heart Physicians

Business Growth
• A Handyman’s Haven

• Darling Environmental & Surveying

• Nextrio

• National Auto Collision Centers

• The Metal Man

• AllSource Global Management

• Maly & Associates

• Native Tele-Data Solutions

• Paragon Space Development

• Wingstop

• El Charro Café

• Engineering and Environmental Consultants

• HSL Asset Management

• Santa Rita Landscaping

• Tucson Orthopaedic Institute

Community Service
• Elastek

• Personally Delivered

• Raim & Associates

• Swanson’s Furniture

• Tucson Lifestyle Magazine

• Acacia at St. Philips

• Breault Research Organization

• Old Pueblo Anesthesia

Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Small Business Leader of the Year
• Sally Fernandez, Safety Dynamics

• Jeff Katz, Fran Katz and Paolo DeFilippis, Chopped

• Kim Hickey and Ron Hickey, Hickey Automotive

• Elton Kodama, Ventana Automotive & Tire

• Dana Rambow, AristoCare Home Health Services

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