By Susan Elise Campbell
After five years operating Mr. Electric out of their home, co-owners Sean and Jeanne Dion have relocated to a 1,500-square-foot office space at 94 Big Boom Road, Queensbury.
According to Jeanne Dion, the franchise covers all the electrical needs of clients located between the Twin Bridges and Ticonderoga.
By R.J. DeLuke
A woman who’s career has taken her to London and Ireland is now entrenched in the North Country, operating Placentric Digital Marketing in Glens Falls.
Ann Donnelly has years of marketing experience dealing with a great many companies overseas and in the U.S. She’s concentrating on the Queensbury, Lake George, Glens Falls region, though she can take on clients from virtually anywhere.
Her office is on the third floor at 33 Park St., Glens Falls.
“It’s going well,” she said, noting she belongs to three different chambers of commerce “and they’ve been super supportive of me … The chambers have been a great resource for me and getting to know the area, but also getting to meet the right people.”
Donnelly is from Fulton County in New York state, but circumstances found her moving to Ireland, where she began digital marketing. A job she held at the time was high pressure, allowing little free time. It was time to find something else.
“This was 1998-99. People were starting to use the internet for business and stuff. But I first started doing it just to keep in touch with my family.” With her husband at the time, thy started an accountancy firm. She made a website for the business, “then in a couple of months, we were starting to get inquiries from all over the world.”
The Lake George Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau, an extension of Warren County Tourism, recently launched a refreshed, group-focused website that provides a regional/seasonal focus on meeting spaces and ballrooms, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, wedding venues and services.
The site—meetlakegeorge.com—has information on group-friendly lodging, activities and dining options, officials said. It features venues that can accommodate festivals, smaller reunions and retreats, and unique gatherings with guests who wish to meet and lodge separately.
“Meetlakegeorge.com was designed to be an extension of visitlakegeorge.com with content that would speak to meeting and event organizers that have group business with the potential to bring their business to all of Warren County,” said Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce & CVB Executive Director Gina Mintzer.
By Susan Elise Campbell
The Park Theater Foundation has rolled out some educational initiatives and a free outdoor summer concert series.
According to Chris Ristau, executive director of the nonprofit group, “This is what we are all about, bringing quality entertainment to the community and education programs to our schools.”
Before COVID, performances were held only within the four walls of the historic theater. The first summer series concerts, in July of 2021, produced at the Crandall Park band shell was “for us like an introduction to the community as a nonprofit,” Ristau said.
The application as a 501(c)3 organization had been approved and the paperwork received in mid-February of 2020, just weeks before the pandemic shuttered public venues like the Park Theater. When invitations to performances and educational programs were halted and the schools closed down, Ristau found new ways to collaborate. The outdoor concerts highlight regional music of the same genres that had been performed indoors at the theater.
One of the missions of the foundation is “providing opportunities for members of the community in the performing arts to grow and develop their skills and self-confidence,” he said.
The series thus enabled them to fulfill their mission “when the weather got he said, players could come to the band shell “who were too big or too loud to perform in our indoor venue.”
Stephen Kyne
The year 2022 was an incredibly difficult year for the economy and the markets. In fact, it was the worst year for U.S. stock markets since 2008. Rapidly rising interest rates meant that there were few places to hide as an investor, since even fixed income funds sank due to interest rate pressure.
The S&P 500, the most broadly used US index, ended the year down 20 percent, while the NASDAQ suffered a 33 percent loss, according to FactSet. You’ll be in good company if you open your December statement and find that your balance dropped in 2022.
Down years happen, and it’s something that every investor must accept. The question is: Where do we go from here?
We think that the economy and markets will be impacted by several factors. The first of which will be the continued raising of interest rates by the Fed.
Caught flat-footed in early 2022, the Fed began a rapid series of interest rate increases in a desperate attempt to rein in rampant inflation, which resulted from the wanton subsidies and stimulus of the government’s pandemic response. Since interest rates are essentially the price of money, raising them should slow down economic activity, although it can be a messy and very imprecise process.
By Jill Nagy
Laurella’s Restaurant at 21 Bay St. is new to Glens Falls, but its owner, Jerry Porreca, has a 40-year pedigree in the business.
The new restaurant opened in late December. The ambience is Italian-American, as is most of the menu.
Although most of the entrees are Italian, Porreca said, Laurella’s also offers hamburgers, salads, chicken wings, flat bread pizza, sandwiches and a children’s menu. The restaurant opens at 3 p.m. and the kitchen is open until 9 p.m. seven days a week. There is a full bar and “happy hour” is from 3 to 6 p.m. everyday.
Porreca owned Smokey Joe’s in Lake George for 15 years, then operated the Olde Trading Post in Queensbury. He started his career in Hudson.
Southern Adirondack Realtors installed a slate of new leaders at its holiday gala in December.
SAR officers include Eden Whitaker of DeMarsh Real Estate, president; Jessica Sherry of the Sherwood Group, president-elect; Lisa Ostrander of Howard Hanna Real Estate, secretary; and Saraha Millington of Gallo Realty ADK, treasurer-elect.
Whitaker, who also served in the same role in 2017, intends to lead the association and its members through the transition from a very active housing market to a changing industry in the legislative landscape, focusing on both the professional development of Realtors and their advocacy efforts.
“Realtors engagement in the legislative and political process protects the rights of property owners and ensures the availability and affordability of housing,” said Whitaker. “We are the ‘Voice for Real Estate’ in the region, and part of that charge is the responsibility of being advocates for our clients and customers.”
Whitaker also reaffirmed the local trade association’s commitment to the community, adding that Realtors “are caring members and dedicated volunteers to their communities. We will always prioritize partnership and collaboration with any organization looking to improve our quality of place.”
By Paul Post
The Lake Placid-based, January 12-22 World University Games are having a direct economic impact on the entire North County including Warren County as Great Escape Lodge in Queensbury is the official athlete village for 200 people taking part in freestyle ski events at Gore Mountain.
This includes athletes, coaches, delegates and officials from more than two dozen countries.
“We worked closely with community and state leaders to provide a bid for the opportunity to host this amazing event,” said Jennifer Mance, resort marketing and sales manager. “We’re honored for the opportunity to provide a fantastic experience for visiting athletes. While the popularity of our property is year-round given our indoor waterpark, we are proud to support this event along with our entire region and believe it will have a positive impact for many businesses in our area for the duration of the Games.”
The 2022 Holiday Match Program conducted by Stewart’s Shops has raised over $2 million for local children’s organizations, the company said.
From Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Day, Stewart’s customers donated $1,011,281 to the program. Each individual donation was doubled by Stewart’s Shops. With no administrative fees, 100 percent of the funds benefit local, nonprofit children’s organizations.
“We are continually amazed by the generosity of our customers. We are proud to double their gifts allowing us to share more with our communities. These gifts have the power to accelerate progress where it’s needed most and support projects and services that can fuel real change in our communities,” according to Jennifer Frame, Stewart’s Shops director of corporate philanthropy.
Some 1,716 children’s organizations received funding from last year’s Holiday Match campaign.The grants help children all year long.
The Gene Haas Foundation recently awarded the local Employment Training for Adults (ETA) Machine Tool Technology program a grant to assist with student tuition and program needs.
ETA is affiliated with the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES. The grant will help people enroll in the Machine Tool Technology program and prepare themselves for a successful career.
Dave Sharpe, local sales engineer with Allendale Machinery, recently presented the check to ETA instructor Jason Viele and Michelle Stockwell, administrator for adult programs.
Allendale Machinery Systems supplies manufacturing solutions for local businesses with a main product provided by Haas Automation, the largest supplier of American-made machine tools in the country. Both Allendale and Haas are big supporters of education.
“If you look around, you won’t see a product that didn’t have a machine tool involved in its creation,” Sharpe said. “For example, your toaster, refrigerator, or furnace all had machine tools making components or tooling. Medical products like the MRIs used in diagnosis are made locally. The list seems endless. The demand is behind the supply for trained people to operate the manufacturing equipment for industry.