Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.38, it's FNLX Morning Tuesday, it's our regular monthly segment with the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce and my good friend Samantha Masline, the newly married Samantha Masline is here. Good morning, congratulations and many happy years.
Samantha Maslyn: Thank you. So happy to hear it.
Paul Szmal: So Ned, did you say that we're going to talk about the driver training course?
Samantha Maslyn: Yes, I did pull that up, so I do have the dates for that.
Paul Szmal: Alright, so, because that wasn't in the notes I don't think. I usually send it. Before I forget. Remind me which one this is, the two-day or the one-day?
Samantha Maslyn: So we have two one-day ones coming up, Saturday, November 30th, 9 to 3.30 and then Saturday, December 14th, from 9 to 3.30.
Paul Szmal: Now the state has a haunted history trail, it's hauntedhistorytrail.com and one of the locations on it is the Seneca County Historical Society building, which has a long tradition of hauntings and things. So tell us, they say there are three ghosts that inhabit that building.
Samantha Maslyn: Yes, so I went last year and I don't think I experienced anything crazy, but I really feel like I heard something in the staff kitchen when there was nobody in there, but I know one of the ghosts, I think it's Mr. Minders, he will touch your shoulder and kind of tug on your hair. Thankfully that did not happen to me, but I would never go back.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I might go running, I mean my hair wouldn't pull very far.
So it was originally built in 1823 as a one-room wooden house owned by Edward Minders, as you said. They do one-hour guided ghost tours by reservation, Tuesday evenings in October. There are two group ghost tours, so if you go to hauntedhistorytrail.com, you'll just click on the link and you'll see that, and it's a beautiful building anyway, even if you don't believe in all the ghost stuff, just to see the building would be cool.
Samantha Maslyn: Yeah, the history there is really awesome. They have just clothes, and artwork, and toys, and everything that you can think of.
Paul Szmal: So let's talk about leaf viewing season, it's been, I don't think the colors have been really quite as bright this year maybe, but they seem to be lasting for a long time, and I'm one of the people, I always say, I don't really care that much about peak and all that stuff. I like the whole thing, from beginning to even in November when there's just a few leaves left, and I've said one of the most beautiful places is down Route 89.
Samantha Maslyn: Yeah, the Cayuga Lake Scenic Byway, so that would be an awesome day trip for somebody that wants to go leaf peeping. There's so many great wineries and businesses down there, like Finger Lake Cider House, they have a great menu.
Paul Szmal: You know, for so many years, I went by there, and I was always on the way to a game or something, and the timing was never right, and I finally did a game in Ithaca, it got over early, and I got up there, and wow, wow, wow. If you haven't had the food, it's like a small plate kind of restaurant. I had cornbread with local honey that was done in a skillet, cast iron skillet, and I had some kind of a black bean thing, and their ciders are great, and wow, wow, wow, that place is terrific.
Samantha Maslyn: Yep, I get the baklava every time I go.
Paul Szmal: Oh, yeah, and of course, I love Meyers Farm Distillery right down the road.
Samantha Maslyn: Yeah, so there's so much to do while leaf peeping this time of year, and it's good to get out before the snow hits, if the snow hits. All the little farm stands and everything, too, I mean, what a great place we live in.
Paul Szmal: Also, the annual Chamber Dinner is coming up soon.
Samantha Maslyn: Yes, so we are starting to get into the planning of that. We're looking for nominations by our members, so if you visit chamberevents.org, that has all of that information. We're looking for donations for the silent auction, nominations for the awards, all of that. So if you just go online, we're starting to put all that out.
Paul Szmal: Can we win again, or are we?
Samantha Maslyn: I don't know. I'm not the boss. I don't think we can get it two years in a row, but we're very happy to be honored as a small business of the year.
Paul Szmal: Ribbon cuttings are going on. One of them, Valley Pharmacy, 35 years in an era of all the big chains and everything, that's terrific. We just celebrated that one a couple of weeks ago and simultaneously presented Rafik, the owner, with Business of the Month, so that was a nice turnout. And then this Thursday at 6 p.m., we are doing a ribbon cutting for Fall Street Brewings reopening at their new location.
Samantha Maslyn: Yeah, no, I didn't even know they moved, so where are they now?
Paul Szmal: Yeah, so they're across the street and down the road a little bit at 9597 Fall Street. It's a huge space.
Samantha Maslyn: Wow, nice. It's much bigger than their old one. So yeah, we're looking forward to that.
Paul Szmal: And then I didn't want to forget to mention today we actually have a Chamber University event and there's still space. It's called Maximizing Survival During an Active Shooter Incident.
Samantha Maslyn: Wow.
Paul Szmal: Yes, and that's going to be held at Sessler and presented by Sessler, and the company doing it is called Pew Self-Defense and Combatives. I should have written that down before I came, but a really great guy. He kind of goes through and helps teach people just what to do in these crazy situations where you aren't really thinking straight.
Samantha Maslyn: Yeah, I mean it's the kind of thing you go, ooh, but that's the world we live in and, you know, it would make sense. Like anything else, you train for it, so if it ever does, let's hope it never happens. It's like, you know, CPR. I hope I never have to perform CPR on somebody, but if I ever do, I know how to do it. So same thing here. You get training and know what's the right thing to do and what isn't. So that, I'm looking forward to that one.
Paul Szmal: That is today at 1 p.m., so there's still space, so get a hold of the Chamber, 315-568-2906 or email us info at discoversenica.com.
Got any way cool digital or web things going these days?
Samantha Maslyn: I'm still working on the same old stuff. I actually did just publish a blog last week, five fall-themed, Halloween-themed things to do in Seneca County. I think one of the events may have passed, but there's still a lot of fun stuff on there. Apple picking, leaf peeping, which we just talked about. There's a really great pumpkin stand in Ovid called the Pumpkin Stand. I believe it's in Ovid. They are having a spooktacular festival this season, so I need to get out there and get my pumpkins and do all of the fun fall stuff that they offer.
Paul Szmal: Well we just talked about that in our last segment with Ontario County, so they have a blog on visitfingerlakes.com about the spooky Ontario County things. We've got spooky Seneca County things. We've got the Terror Field in Cayuga County that's in a partnership with our radio station, so there's plenty to do there. Sam, great to see you. Happy marriage, and congratulations on landing on your feet at the Chamber and doing cool stuff.
Samantha Maslyn: Thank you. Always good to visit.
Paul Szmal: It is 8.45 now, FLX morning.
