coldwell banker cb - Watertown Daily Times

20 Sunday,March 2,2008 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
PROGRESS 2008
Chamber encourages, expands business
ECONOMIC ENHANCEMENT: St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce promotes tourism
CANTON — When the phone
rings at the St. Lawrence County
Chamber of Commerce, it’s always
exciting to hear the question
coming from the other end.
Sometimes callers want to
know about fishing and where
the biggest are biting; others,
who once lived here or who visited
through the years, want a relocation
package so they can
come back to the beauty that is
St. Lawrence County and settle
here for good.
Others call about events,
about movie theaters, about
town halls and government
phone numbers. Still others call
for information on taxi service
or where the nearest post office
is located.
Marylee Ballou and Sally
Roberson field all calls about
who, what and where. So when a
fifth-grader from outside the
county wrote and asked for information
about whales in the
Seaway and where exactly they
can be found, the chamber went
to work — to explain, to redirect,
to add to her curiosity.
The St. Lawrence County
Chamber of Commerce tries to
be all things to all people. The
chamber promotes business,
the chamber expands business,
the chamber encourages business.
As the designated tourist promotion
agency for St. Lawrence
County, the chamber promotes
the county to visitors and travelers,
advertises events, activities
and attractions and works with
New York state and local businesses
to help market their particular
company’s assets for
tourists.
One such company is Morristown
Boat Tours, which operates
The Morrisania, an antique
wooden boat, and takes guests
on tours up and down the St.
Lawrence River, stopping for
photos and tours of Singer Castle
off Chippewa Bay. Reservations
for the tours are often
logged through the chamber.
The promotions pay
off: In 2006, the last
year for which statistics
have been compiled,
the county had an
estimated 415,583
overnight visits by
travelers looking for
something unique.
Dedicated to Design Excellence
In order to promote tourism,
the chamber creates publications
like the Comprehensive
Travel Guide, the Waterfalls
Guide and the Anglers’ Guide
and creates new publications
with information on snowmobiling,
hiking, birding, camping,
canoeing and golfing. Planned
for 2008 are new printings on
motorcycling and biking routes.
The promotions pay off: In
2006, the last year for which statistics
have been compiled, the
county had an estimated
415,583 overnight visits by travelers
looking for something
unique. While they were here,
these travelers spent $111 million
on county attractions, including
lodging, recreation,
food, gas and mementos.
Assistant Director Ellen Nesbitt
handles tourism promotion
for the chamber. “Most of our
visitors tell us they’ll be back,”
she says.
The county chamber creates
new business and expands existing
industries through its Chamber
Growth Fund. With money
provided by the USDA Rural Development
Revolving Loan
Fund, the chamber provided the
Heuvelton Historical Association
and Pickens General Store,
Heuvelton; the Ole Smokehouse
Restaurant, Madrid; and the
Bedrock Café, Ogdensburg with
startup funds; expansion
monies were provided to the Roma
Café & Bistro, Canton; St.
Regis Realty, Brasher Falls; and
Packbasket Adventures of
Wanakena.
Bookkeeper Jennifer Dunn
handles the chamber Growth
Fund. “Without these loans,”
she says, “many businesses
would not be able to expand and
grow.”
New and expanding businesses
are also being assisted
through e-commerce classes
conducted through the Northern
Adirondack Trading Cooperative,
a joint venture with Rural
Opportunities Inc., and originally
supported by U.S. Sen.
Hillary Clinton and Hewlett-
Packard. Currently, classes are
being held at Akwesasne and at
the chamber offices, 101 Main
Street, Canton, with more than
25 fledgling businesses learning
to use the Internet for business
purposes.
NATC, under the direction of
Ruby Sprowls, also maintains a
Business Knowledge Center on
the third floor of the chamber offices.
Businesses use these facilities
for training meetings, with
additional use of wireless laptop
computers and the professional
resource library.
The chamber also continues
to support new large drawingboard
projects, like Bion Environmental
Technologies, an integrated
ethanol production facility,
and Northway Island Associates,
a firm planning a
NASCAR-type racetrack and entertainment
complex for the
towns of Brasher, Massena and
Norfolk.
In August, the chamber will
host the sixth annual St.
Lawrence International Carp
Tournament. Last summer’s
three-day event drew 173 participants,
the largest turnout in the
tourney’s history. Participants
came from three counties and
nine states. All guests stayed in
area motels and bed-and-breakfasts
during the event. Kathy
Kelly Ori of Stellar Marketing in
Massena coordinates the annual
carp tournament; Terry
Fishlock of Heuvelton handles
logistics.
“Business in the Spotlight” is a
new initiative undertaken by the
chamber, and focuses attention
on existing businesses around
the county. These after-hours
spotlights are organized by
events coordinator Jo Ann
Roberts and have been hosted
by Sergi’s, Potsdam; Erin’s Isle,
Brasher Falls; Ostrander’s, Canton;
River Myst, Ogdensburg;
Season’s Gift Shop, Massena;
Pickens General Store, Heuvelton,
and the Art Gallery & Gift
Shop, Waddington. More are
planned for 2008.
The St. Lawrence County
Chamber of Commerce is comprised
of 681 full, lifetime and
associate members. Of these
members, 376 are subscribers to
the chamber’s Excellus Blue
Cross/Blue Shield member insurance
programs, according to
Suzanne Casaday, who coordinates
membership and insurance
for the chamber. Both
Chamber membership and the
insurance program participation
have remained stable
through the years.
In July, the St. Lawrence Leadership
Institute brought its nonprofit
operation under the
chamber’s umbrella, hosting
classes and organizational opportunities
for its 25 new students
and 13 board members at
the 101 Main St. office.
In 2008, the chamber will select
a new executive director to
replace Karen St. Hilaire, who
left in July to become St.
Lawrence County administrator.
Pat McKeown, who heads
the Leadership Institute, has
been serving as interim chamber
director.
“We want the new leader to
continue to inspire our current
members and take us in new directions,”
McKeown says.
“There is much to do in St.
Lawrence County to promote
our terrific way of life while expanding
our tax base.”
v
BUSINESS UPDATE v
Copy Shop plans to grow,
expand service offerings
POTSDAM — The Copy Shop
& Business Center, 11 Maple St.,
is a full-service printing, custom
apparel and promotional product
provider. Special offers include
free self-service copies to
Potsdam Food Co-op members,
a senior discount on Tuesdays
for customers 55 and older, free
pickup and delivery options and
new business packages to provide
startup businesses with
printing services, custom apparel
and promotional products
all at one price.
“We are very excited about
the strong growth pattern the
Copy Shop and Business Center
has enjoyed since our inception
in 2004.” said co-owner John M.
Wicke. “In 2008 we expect to
continue to grow geographically
and expand our service offerings
to our large, growing customer
base that includes firms
from Watertown to Malone, and
small not-for-profits to large
manufacturing firms, covering
several counties.”
Photocopiers’ toner contains
soy ink and the business sells environmentally
friendly papers,
recycled papers and American
made apparel.
The full service copy center
offers full-color digital printing
directly from electronic files. It
specializes in designing and
producing logos, business
cards, letterheads, rack cards
and brochures, resumes, postcards,
calendars, greeting cards,
invitations, booklets, forms, labels
and more.
Other production and finishing
services include photo enlargements
and reductions, duplexing,
collating, inserting,
scanning, spiral binding, threehole
punching, stapling, pads,
public fax, lamination and
stamps. The Copy Shop’s highspeed
copiers allow for a fast
turnaround. A growing collection
of papers includes bright,
pastel, parchment, linen, resume,
glossy and photo quality
in standard weights or card
stock.
New items include readymade
frames and new services
including banners, thermal
binding and passport photos.
To help organizations’ fundraising,
The Copy Shop offers
quantity price breaks and specials
on custom apparel with logo,
slogan or photo on t-shirts,
sweatsuits, aprons, mouse pads,
puzzles, hats, pillow shams, quilting
squares and baby onesies and
bibs. Choices are heat press,
screen printing or embroidery.
New promotional products
can help organizations and
businesses advertise effectively
with practical gifts and giveaways.
From pens, magnets, key
chains and mugs to golf balls,
coolers and umbrellas.
A. Fonda, general manager,
and Janice Adderley, marketing
and sales manager, are on duty
from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday.
Call 265-1700, visit
www.potsdamcopyshop.com
or e-mail potsdam@potsdam
copyshop.com.
Ives Hill Community notes
5-year improvement plans
Ives Hill Retirement Community,
1200 Jewell Drive, Watertown,
is run by Donald Alexander,
president, and Dianne
Ward, local manager. It was
founded in 1997 and now has 18
employees. Meals, housekeeping,
maintenance and transportation
are provided.
In the last five years a new
style/floor plan has been added
for a single-family home. Ives
Hill has continued to expand
over the past 10 years.
It sees an increased need for
independent and supportive
housing and is part of the growing
service economy of the north
country. In the next five years it
hopes to expand and it aims to
add one or two new styles of
housing for seniors in 2008-2009.
Plans for development of
phase three will be advanced
provided a favorable tax
arrangement is reached with all
taxing jurisdictions, but especially
with the city of Watertown.
A RCHITECTURE E
Phone: 315.782.2005 Fax:
NGINEERING
315.782.1472
C L AND S ONSTRUCTION URVEYING M ANAGEMENT
Residential, Commercial & Municipal Design
Civil, Structural and Site Engineering
Property Line & Topographical Surveys
516 Bradley Street
Watertown, NY 13601
www.aubertinecurrier.com