Roxann Booser, executive director of the Maridon Museum, said she and the board were surprised by the award and the honor reassures them of their commitment to the community. “I know that our founder, Mary Hulton Phillips, would be quite thrilled and humbled by this honor,” Booser said.

The Community Champion Award luncheon will be on Diamond Square at 11:30 a.m. July 13 along with a summer concert by the Butler County Symphony Orchestra.

The event is sponsored by NexTier Bank, C.W. Howard Insurance Agency, Kenmac Rental & Sales, Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau and Minuteman Press.

The Butler County Chamber of Commerce will honor the Maridon Museum with this year's Community Champion Award.

In 2003, the chamber began recognizing county organizations that affect the community through a cooperative project or initiative.

The Maridon opened May 8, 2004, and is the only museum in the Western Pennsylvania region with a focus on Asian art and culture coupled with German Meissen porcelain.

The mission of the Maridon is to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of Asian art and culture.

The museum — both the objects and the buildings that house them — was the gift of lifelong Butler resident Mary Hulton Phillips.

Her collection was primarily Chinese and Japanese jade and ivory carvings from 1890-1950 along with art from other Asian countries and paintings.

The museum's permanent collection includes more than 800 objects, including tapestries, landscape paintings and artifacts from Neolithic era to the present along with a set of six 6-foot-by-8-foot ink-on-paper scrolls by the contemporary Chinese artist, Wan Qingli, which were painted in 2002.

There are 300 pieces of Meissen porcelain in the collection. Many works date back to the early 18th century.The Maridon and Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania work together each year to bring educational programs to the community.The museum buildings contain a classroom and multipurpose space for school groups and children's organizations and special exhibits. Lectures and classes are presented for the community throughout the year.“Mary Hulton Phillips was one of our community's greatest benefactors and supporters of numerous projects and organizations,” said Stan Kosciuszko, president of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce.“The museum serves as an educational hub with its numerous lectures and classes, as well as a cultural hub for our county, and is visited as a tourist destination by art lovers from around the world. The nonprofit volunteer board which runs and maintains the facility is dedicated to its mission and has been successful in promoting its assets to the region.“The Maridon Museum is unique to Butler County and we are very proud of their achievements,” he said.Roxann Booser, executive director of the Maridon, said she and the board were surprised by the award, and the honor reassures them of their commitment to the community.“We were wonderfully surprised and I know that our founder, Mary Hulton Phillips, would be quite thrilled and humbled by this honor,” she said. “This helps us know we're doing the right thing for the community, and we are headed in the right direction. We are so pleased we can give back to the community.”

The Maridon Museum, which opened in 2004, is the only museum in the Western Pennsylvania region with a focus on Asian art and culture coupled with German Meissen porcelain.