Paul Szmal: And welcome back to FLX Morning 838. It is a rather balmy and muggy 79. Joining us now is the president and CEO of Discover Seneca to talk a little commerce and a little tourism. Jeff Shipley is here. Good morning, Jeff. How are you?
Jeff Shipley: Good morning, Paul. Good to be here. Yes. And you've got a busy calendar going on. I do want to mention that the June Driver Safety Courses are sold out, but there's another one coming up in July, am I correct?
Paul Szmal: Correct. It's a Saturday course, July 26th. You know, this course, we talk about it most of the times that we're together here. It really has become a very popular way for people out there across our region to save some money on their car insurance, maybe knock a few points off their license if that applies. But, you know, a lot of people out there, while we're moving to an Internet world, certainly in a connected world, there are still people that prefer to do an in-person course. That's what this is all about. It's a six hour class. We have an instructor that comes right to the Chamber of Commerce. Very convenient. And we've also started getting sponsors. Businesses have started sponsoring the lunch portion of these sessions during the Saturday session. And so it's really become a very popular community service. And we're really proud to offer it at the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce.
Jeff Shipley: I think it's kind of neat to have a lunch sponsor for the defensive driving courses like that. That's not something I would have thought of.
Paul Szmal: You know, it fits really well. We've had several insurance companies sponsor it. This coming month, we have an auto specialist sponsoring it. So it kind of fits in the theme. We're really, really proud. Absolute Auto is the one that's sponsoring this month. So we're really, really proud to see that grow and continue. And it's a great way for businesses to even connect with some of our local community members.
Jeff Shipley: Businesses are going to be a part of the center of attention at the membership celebration event that's coming up on July 9th.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, we hold this event every year. It's a great way for us to kind of reflect on the year that has been really recognized and honor some small businesses, the small business community. It's the lifeblood of not just our state, but certainly our region as well. And we are very happy to recognize we have five categories of outstanding excellence in five different awards that honor small businesses. And this event is such a great way for our membership to come together for a night, listen to some great music. It's going to be at Seneca Lake Resort. So it's a beautiful spot overlooking Seneca Lake. And we would just encourage people to come down, get a ticket for it, and be a part of really what a spectacular community celebration.
Jeff Shipley: And where are the tickets available for that event?
Paul Szmal: Right at the Chamber of Commerce, or you can even get them online if you go to senecachamber.org or call the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce office.
Jeff Shipley: I want to look ahead to the Chamber Golf Tournament that's coming up too. It's a little ways away in August, but I know this is one of the big events the Chamber puts on every year. It's never too early to get your team registered for the event.
Paul Szmal: Paul, as you said there, never too early. And this year's tournament, it's going to be at Big Oak Golf Course in Geneva on Tuesday, August 19th. And I always like to say this, you know, you and I have talked about this in the past as well in previous years. You do not have to be a golfer or very good at golf to come out, participate in this event. There are many ways for you to get involved, even if you don't want to golf. You can be at the course, you can have a table, you can interact with the crowd that comes. It's just a great way to get together, network with our very large and growing Chamber of Commerce network. We have people, you know, last year we had people, members come from as far away as Albany and Schenectady area. So it's just a great way to see people that you might have not seen in the past or for a while and just a great day of networking out on the golf course. There are worse things in life than being on a golf course all day, Paul, as you know. So yeah, we're really excited about this year's event, Tuesday, August 19th, and it sells out every year. So I would encourage our listening audience, if they are so inclined, please get your team in now. And we're going to put the order in now for some good weather for that day too.
Jeff Shipley: Thank you. Yeah. We're talking with Jeff Shipley from Discover Seneca here on FLX Morning. The most recent Business Chamber After Hours event was held at a pretty unique location, Jeff. Tell us a little bit about it.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. Well, first of all, the Business After Hours is our monthly networking program, and it's really meant to bring our membership together on a monthly basis after hours, which obviously with the name, but it's meant to be an informal networking session, but it's also meant to encourage people to get out and experience some of our other members and showcase some of our member properties. This time we were at the Finger Lakes Regional Airport, and Paul, I don't think there were more than a handful of people that had ever been to the facility in Seneca Falls. It was an eye-opening experience from start to finish. We had tours of the entire property, and really, one of the things that we were looking to showcase was the amount of economic activity that the Finger Lakes Regional Airport brings and means to our community. Not just Seneca Falls, not just Seneca County, but also Geneva, Auburn, really the immediate region. There are a number of businesses that have propped up, including one that works on helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. That has become a booming business. There's a helicopter business that's out there that actually does tours of the Finger Lakes during this time of year, a great tourism visitor activity. There's LifeNet, which is the medical helicopter, the medical aircraft for emergencies. There's just so many things that are going on at the Finger Lakes Regional Airport. We thought it was very important to showcase that. The county is a great partner and member of the Chamber of Commerce. We wanted to bring people there and showcase that. The other thing that we learned was the runway at the Finger Lakes Regional Airport is about a little over 4,500 feet, and they want to extend that to get to the threshold where jets can land with their liability insurance concerns at 5,000 feet. There's a lot of activity happening out at the airport. We were really happy to be there and showcase that facility. I think everybody came away with a deeper sense of appreciation for what there is here in this community.
Jeff Shipley: Just listening to your response alone, I've learned more about the airport than I knew previously.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, absolutely. The member's discount program, how is that going for you?
Jeff Shipley: We launched that last month, basically, on this radio show. We are already featuring over 40 exclusive deals for our membership. It has been met with a lot of success. Many businesses have already jumped on. If you are listening, someone out there is listening to this and want to be a part of it, it is a great way to promote your business or to support other businesses here locally while keeping your dollars in the community. It's a great way to encourage business activity, economic growth, and helping fellow small business owners out. We accept all kinds of discounts, everything from restaurants to retail stores. There's so many that have already been announced that we would love to feature your business and be a part of this program.
Paul Szmal: It sounds like a pretty successful takeoff for this program, then.
Jeff Shipley: It really was. It has met our expectations, for sure.
Paul Szmal: All right. I'm going to have you put the tourism hat on now, Jeff. Let's talk about tourism in the area and some events coming up. Current studies are showing that the amount of traffic in our communities is actually up this year.
Jeff Shipley: Yeah. The overall visitation number for the first part of this year has been pretty flat. What we are seeing in Seneca County is that the traffic to our community from other parts of New York State is up extremely high over last year. It's up over 46% from last year. There's a reason for that. We have been focused on marketing to people in other places of New York State within a drive of our community. What we are seeing is that paying off fourfold, really. One of the things that we've done, Paul, is we have encouraged ... We've partnered with the state to encourage New Yorkers to use their paid time off and come visit someplace locally that they've never been to, like Seneca County, like the Finger Lakes. One of the interesting stats that I came across during this whole process was, did you know that New York workers leave almost 25% of their vacation time on the table each year? They don't use it.
Paul Szmal: Mm-hmm.
Jeff Shipley: We've partnered with the state. We have partnered with a program called National Plan Your Vacation Day, which is actually in January, to encourage New Yorkers specifically to come visit our area, see what there is to do in their own backyard. With all the things going on in the world today and traffic is down from Canada and tariffs and people choosing to go other places, we felt it was a better use of our marketing dollars to focus on the people that are here, that are in our backyard, if you will. That's what we focused on. Certainly, the numbers from our studies have shown that there is a tremendous growth of traffic from other parts of New York State that have never been here before. We are excited to bring them here.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. I certainly hope that trend continues.
Jeff Shipley: Well, so do we, Paul. We're going to continue marketing in that vein, but we're excited. We have a great place here. You heard earlier some of the things that is happening in Seneca Falls with the sister communities. There's all kinds of great opportunities, I think, to be found within New York State. New York is such a big state, as you know, that we are really excited and hoping that we can share the gem that we are here, maybe the hidden gem, to some extent with other people in the local area.
Paul Szmal: Of course, we are just a little over a week away from celebrating another American birthday with the 4th of July, and that usually means things like summer picnics and fireworks.
Jeff Shipley: Yep. Fireworks this year for Seneca County, anyways, is going to be happening at Seneca Lake Resorts. That's going to be on July 3rd. They do an incredible job with fireworks. If people have not been there, I would highly encourage you to check it out. It is one of the best fireworks displays in the area. But the other thing that's happening this year on the 4th of July, actually, is an Erie Canal Bicentennial event. Paul, as you know, this is the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal and the Seneca Cayuga Canal, which connects, basically, Seneca Falls to Geneva, is also part of the Erie Canal. This year, on July 4th, we're hosting the Albany Symphony Orchestra in Seneca Falls. It's going to be a day full of events, food, drink, obviously music and entertainment in the evening. There's going to be a drone show that follows the concert, but we're really, really excited. This is the first time, obviously, we've ever hosted the Albany Symphony Orchestra in Seneca Falls. We can't wait. It's going to be a great opportunity to come out and really listen to some world-class music.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, fantastic music. And if you've never seen a drone show before, go check one out in person. I guarantee you're going to get a wow factor out of it.
Jeff Shipley: Oh, I agree. I think it's really going to be spectacular. We can't wait.
Paul Szmal: All right. One more time, if people want to get a team into the Chamber Golf Tournament, how do they do that?
Jeff Shipley: Yeah, please visit senecachamber.org, or you can call the Chamber office at 315-568-2906.
Paul Szmal: All right. Pleasure, as always, Jeff. Thanks for joining us.
Jeff Shipley: Thanks, Paul.
Paul Szmal: All right. It is 8.52 on FLX Morning.
