OCT. 26, 2009 — Canadian tanning facility owner Tracey McKone, of Endless Summer in Mitchell, Ontario, is this year’s recipient of the Smart Tan Award, presented in the opening general session at Smart Tan Downtown Oct. 10.

The award – presented at every Smart Tan Convention since 1996 to tanning facility owners whose special accomplishments advanced the stature of the tanning community in the past year – “is about content and character more than bricks and mortar,” Smart Tan’s Joseph Levy explained in presenting the award.

McKone excelled in radio and newspaper interviews and essays after late-July anti-tan attacks unfairly characterized any UV exposure as dangerous – conducting what Levy described as “simply the best interview anyone did anywhere on behalf of our market.”

McKone has been an active Smart Tan and Joint Canadian Tanning Association member, and her media responses used materials from both groups – improving on what she received as a member of both organizations. “You bring us all the information that we could ever need so we may stand up to the sun scare industry,” McKone said. “What I was fortunate enough to be recognized for was easy, because I had all information at my finger tips. As a member of Smart Tan and the JCTA, I was able to utilize this information and use it to the best of my ability. I feel it is up to all salon owners/employees to educate themselves and others, and to present all the facts so our industry will not only succeed but flourish.”