Pinto Pony Cookie Factory sells cookies in Texas-themed tins and boxes from its location just north of the courthouse square in downtown San Augustine, but it also ships them across this country and to 30 others. What's more, the family-owned company is gearing up to open a new 60,000-square-foot factory in its hometown, a move that is expected to create as many as 100 long-term jobs, and it will soon turn an old bank building in San Augustine into a new storefront with lots of cool, quirky touches.

In short, it's the epitome of a successful small business.

We join Texas Workforce Solutions, the Texas Governor's Office and the Texas Forest Country Partnership in applauding the Deep East Texas winners of the state's Small Business Awards, presented Wednesday during a luncheon in Lufkin.

Pinto Pony Cookie Factory was one of those winners, and its president/CEO, Jodi C. Johnson, spoke about how small businesses are a labor of love for people who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

"The luxury that large, corporate businesses have that we don't have is they have a lot of people that can do one job. For those of you that have a small business, you wear a lot of different hats. Sometimes you're the cash clerk, you're the stock boy or girl, you're the baker, the cookie maker. It's hard," said Johnson, whose parents, Tom and Samye, founded the company in September 2007. "It takes a certain love of community to create a small business, and it takes a certain type of really unique individual to come and work for a small company."

The cookie company is but one of the countless small businesses that have kept the Deep East Texas economy afloat as big-name companies and major industries have struggled. Jim Wehmeier, director of Lufkin's economic development efforts and a Texas Forest Country Partnership board member, noted that 70 percent of new jobs are created by small businesses. The "critical thing," economist Ray Perryman said at Wednesday's event, is "small businesses doing what you're doing."

"Bottom line, if you look at it: The Fortune 500 companies aren't creating any jobs. On balance, they're not laying off people off every year," Perryman said. "The mid-size companies are creating some jobs, but the vast majority of jobs are created by small business, and they're created because you provide a service that's better, that's more locally oriented, that meets a need, and that sort of thing."

We are glad Gov. Rick Perry's office and Texas Workforce Solutions are using some time and resources to recognize small businesses around the state, because they deserve a big hand for their contributions to both the economies and the communities in which they operate.