Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.38, it's FLX Morning, New Year's Eve Day edition, and here it is, our 659th and final interview of 2024 with Amy Fuller, Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce at cayugacountychamber.com. Good morning and Happy New Year.
Amy Fuller: Good morning, Ted. Happy New Year to you.
Paul Szmal: So this is funny because I have been to Prison City many times and love it, and I didn't know about the speakeasy. So tell us about the next business after 5 in January.
Amy Fuller: Yes, the next business after 5 is January 22nd, and for those who may not know, what they've done is the downstairs of Prison City, they call that the Armory Speakeasy, and it's located below Prison City. It's kind of cool. You can rent it out for private parties. The upstairs is known, of course, for the beer and everything. The downstairs, or the speakeasy, they have some really cool cocktails down there. So you can go on their website and kind of check it out, but they have Manhattans, Old Fashions, they have a Seward House beverage, but it's a really cool place, and when I was talking with Dawn Schultz, she said, let's do a business after 5 down there so people can see what it's like. But that should be a fun one. It goes from 5 to 6.30.
Paul Szmal: Yes, I went on their website and I looked at the picture, and it's like, wow, they've been keeping it. I mean, I know that's kind of the idea as a speakeasy, but I had no idea that it was there. So that's really neat.
Paul Szmal: Also really neat, I love talking about these members of the month each month. So here's another one, Custom Engraving, family-owned. One member of the family bought it from, is it his or her father, I don't know, is it a woman or a man that runs it?
Amy Fuller: It's Mark and Greg Huber, they bought it from their dad, but all the members of the month are special, but this one in particular, because two years ago when we decided to start this member of the month thing to acknowledge our members all year round, Greg and Mark stepped up and said, Amy, we'll make the plaques for those, just send us over the logo. And they sponsor this every month and make these beautiful plaques that say the member of the month and the month it is, the year, with their logo. So when my member services was chatting for the December one, we decided to kind of blindside Custom Engraving, so we had Christine, my communications person, internally make something very similar to what they do, and then Nash's, another great small business, put a beautiful frame around it, and we went down and presented it to them, and they were very grateful, but we are even more grateful for them stepping up every month and making those beautiful plaques for our members.
Paul Szmal: Oh man, that's a great story. Well congratulations to Custom Engraving, the December member of the month.
Paul Szmal: Now as far as Business After Five, you still do have a couple of dates in 2025. Those don't last very long, because the word gets around and people want to host them, so tell us about the process to get your name in.
Amy Fuller: All you have to do, you have to be a current chamber member and contact us, we'll let you know what months are open. We really pretty much let you pick the day of that month. The days that work best are usually Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, but we're mindful of school breaks and all that stuff, so we'll work with you to select a date that works for both of us, and it's a great way to show off your business or organization. You get people in the door and they see what you do, and it's a great way to let people know that. So, it's a wonderful opportunity, we have one a month, they're 5-6.30, and like I said, it's just a great way to showcase your business.
Paul Szmal: Well, especially, I always talk about this when we have the Sheriff on, is Cayuga County, it's like 75 miles from north to south, so it's a very big county, people can't get everywhere, so outside of Auburn, some businesses might not be as well-known, so here's a great way to get known.
Amy Fuller: You're exactly right, last year we had one down in Aurora with one of their new properties, Taylor House, and we had 65 people there. So people were like, they wanted to know what it was, and then we had one in Weed Sport at Stacy's Permanent Solutions, the salon, and that's brand new in Weed Sport, a new renovated building, so like you said, it's also a great way to see what options are within the county.
Paul Szmal: So here's a great opportunity coming up, Restaurant Week is sponsored by Tompkins Community Bank, it's January 24th through February 1st, so for 9 days, there's special deals and promotions and bargains at all these great places to eat and drink all over the county.
Amy Fuller: Yes, and our restaurants, when we started this 6-7 years ago, we talked to our restaurant members and said, what are you thinking, because I know there's some other chambers that do Restaurant Week, they said, you know, January's tough, after the holidays, before Valentine's Day and Easter and all the early holidays, you know, it's kind of slow in January, so we decided that we would have it in January, and it's worked out extremely well. The restaurants really love it, I've been going around giving them table tents and posters so they can get people excited about it, and you know, we create a landing page and we let the restaurants decide what special works best for them. You know, we have some pre-fixed menus, we have some buy-one-get-ones, we have like free beverages, and we also have included there a Cameron's Bakery that takes a couple dollars off a dozen donuts, and then Simple Roast Coffee does a special every year, but it's a great way. Right now I have, I think, 17 chamber restaurants. You know, if you want to participate and you're not a chamber member, call me, we'll hook you up with a membership and get you on the list, but we create a landing page so people can just go there and see what the specials are for everybody, but a lot of our restaurants, Pavlo's out on York Street, you know, some of the smaller ones, they love it because it gets people in there that maybe never been there before.
Paul Szmal: Right, I was going to say, it's a good chance to get outside your comfort zone, I mean, we all have our couple or three places that we really like and we go there a lot, so here's a chance with these bargain prices to maybe just try a different place or two that you haven't been to before and find a new favorite.
Amy Fuller: Right, when you're going to get a deal, you'll go in the door. That's just how it is, you know? But it's a great, like I said, we're real grateful to Tompkins Community Bank, but like I said, watch for the, you know, Christine does a great job with throwing it out on social media, but like you said, January 24th to February 1st, nine days of deals, you know, get your elastic waist pants, put them on, and just go and enjoy yourself.
Paul Szmal: Now you've got sponsor opportunity open for 2025, so like you said, you've got all these events that dozens or hundreds of people are going to be attending, another great way to just become known. Somebody goes, you know, you sponsor the golf tournament, or you sponsor a chamber event and people see your sign and see you and learn more about you.
Amy Fuller: Absolutely, and we have various levels, prices, we'll work with you if you're really interested in doing it, but, you know, to your point, it is a great way, because as we promote the event, your name, business, or organization is on everything that promotes it. The day of the event, you're all over within that, wherever it is, whether it's table tents or posters or big, you know, we throw it out there to everybody and it's on our website, so it's a great way to get your name out there, absolutely.
Paul Szmal: A great thing that you do, and I love this, is the state of the city and county. You get all those city and county officials all together in one place, you get to hear from them, ask a few questions, details to come, is that, are you still doing that as like a breakfast brunch thing, or lunch, or what is it?
Amy Fuller: Yes, we used to do a lunch, but a few years back, we started it in the morning. People were requesting it in the morning, so we do it in the morning, we do it up at Auburn Public Theater, and it's a great, you know, the city and county, they recap, in this case, what happened in 2024, and they have some details of what to expect in 2025, and it's a great way to hear that from, you know, Mayor Giantino and the county representatives, and it gives you an opportunity to ask questions, but, you know, people want to know what's going to be happening and how we did, so watch for that. It's usually later in March, but we'll be throwing that out there probably the end of January, early February, and you can register for that. We have it from 8 to 9.30 up at Auburn Public Theater, and they provide, you know, some breakfast bites and coffee and all that stuff, so it's, like I said, it's a great way to find out what's coming up and what happened.
Paul Szmal: And by being the final guest of 2024, you get to do the first golf tournament plug of 2025.
Amy Fuller: Yes, we have the dates set, and I know once the warm weather starts in April, hopefully, people are looking to get them on their calendars, so we have the date. It's June 13th. It's at Dutch Hollow. It's our annual Chamber Cup Golf Tournament. As it gets closer, we'll open up registration and have sponsor opportunities, and it's always a great, great day at golf, and they do such a wonderful job up there, but the date's set, so mark it on your calendars.
Paul Szmal: All right, January 22nd, Armory Speakeasy for the Business After Five, Restaurant Week January 24th through February 1st, golf tournament June 13th, so final word of 2024. Just take a quick look back at the year. I mean, it seems like we've been sharing an awful lot of good news stories this year, and I'm happy to do that.
Amy Fuller: We have, and you know, the year just flew by. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden, here we are, and I'm guest number 659, so I'm going to shoot to be 660 in 2025, but no, it was a great year. It really was, and we really appreciate the support of our members and the community with some things that we're doing, and we're going to look at, in 2025, doing a couple of new type of events, so we're working on that with my events committee, so, you know, if you're a business or organization and haven't, you know, joined the chamber, you know, give me a call. Let's see if it'll work for you. Try it for a year and see what happens, but you know, we do our best to get, you know, the word out on your business, and we have our new directory that'll be coming out at the end of January for 2025, so, you know, it was a busy year, and we're looking forward to another busy year in 2025.
Paul Szmal: All right. CayugaCountyChamber.com is the website. Amy, thanks. Appreciate it.
Amy Fuller: Glad to share the stories, and I look forward to continuing on. Happy New Year to everybody.
