Mountaindale Hosts Chamber of Commerce

Terri Ward & Cathy Paty

The Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce has been serving the Sullivan County business community for more than 35 years. Their Mission Statement includes: "... bringing together the business and professional interests of the county, permitting them to accomplish collectively what none could do individually. The focus and objective of the Chamber shall be the growth and retention of its member businesses and other enterprises in Sullivan County."  Their challenge is that the businesses are spread out over the 970 square miles of our sprawling county. They tried to reach everyone from offices that were based in Monticello and Liberty at different times over the years. Chamber President Terri Ward and Vice President Cathy Paty were concerned that too many members weren't availing themselves of all the numerous Member Benefits and only viewing the Chamber as an organization to wite a check to once a year.

The Chamber Staff and Board of Directors were deeply concerned about how to remain relevant in these changing economic, technological, and environmental times. They made a bold, creative move on September 1st, by eliminating their physical office and creating the world’s first completely mobile chamber of commerce. They purchased a 37' Coachman RV which is now the Chamber's sole office, moving throughout the county servicing each township for a minimum of two-weeks at a time while appearing at many county events and festivities. They post their weekly location and hourly schedule on the homepage of the Chamber website to ensure that community businesses know where they are. A video blog of the journey is on the Chamber’s Facebook page.

Mobile Chamber on the Run

Next week, Main Street Mountaindale will proudly be hosting the Chamber. Diversified Realty Services will be supporting our guests by donating electricity, parking and whatever else might be needed. Although the Chamber Staff seems pretty self sufficient. They are extremely "green" and have begun the process of going paperless and communicate with their member base electronically or face-to-face in The Chamber on the Run TM. The RV currently runs on diesel fuel but plans to eventually run their electricity off mounted solar panels and a small wind turbine as a backup. The office utilizes laptops and cell phones, allowing the Chamber Staff to move from town to town and business to business at ease.

The RV will be parked in position on Main Street to take advantage of the strong Verizon WiFi signal we have. So far, the Chamber has been experiencing the significant savings in expenses that were projected under this Mobile Chamber initiative. This savings will enable the Chamber to continue to provide valuable services to their members while keeping its membership, sponsorship, and attendance fees low. If you are already a Member, please stop in to visit next week to find out more about what the Chamber can do for you and how you might better utilize your membership. If you are not yet a member, Terri and Cathy will be glad to let you know more about what they do in our community and how they try to attact more positive growth with tools like the Relocation Guide and their Shop Local Campaign.

Local Citizens Pitch In To Get Mountaindale's Rails To Trails Segment Back Open

There are a lot of counties, the towns and hamlets in them that got hit a lot harder than we here in Mountaindale got hit...that said, we took our share of the pounding that Hurricane Irene (which is shaping up financially to be one of the top ten disasters America has ever witnessed) delivered to the East Coast this past weekend. Many people are still without electricity, and some small towns have been hit so hard they may never recover. Governments up and down the coast have their hands full, and in many cases, they need citizens to step up and help with some of the heavy lifting as cleanup after Hurricane Irene progresses forward.

Yesterday, we had some of our own citizens who live, work or recreate here in Mountaindale up on the Rails To Trails leading by example, doing the heavy lifting necessary to get our trail back open and accessible to members of the general public who use it frequently during the summer months. Ken and Barb Schmitt from Diversified Realty Services brought in the heavy equipment, sending their backhoe onto the trail to do some of the serious lifting. Charlie Sanborn of Cinder Track Bicycles and Mike Yavaniski (who is still without electricity in his own home) were out there with chainsaws, rakes and shovels. It took a couple hours, but the trail is now at least open and available, though it may take weeks, even months to repair some parts of the trail here in Mountaindale, as the Hurricane washed away a lot of the foundation base on the rail head, the water even causing land collapse in a couple of areas.

The good news is we can access the trail, and some of the heavy lifting has been done, thus freeing up town and county resources right now for other more pressing problems. Our after storm problems need to be addressed, but right now there are other communities that have far more pressing concerns to deal with...so, if any of our readers find themselves with a few hours to spare, we encourage you to consider volunteering anywhere where Hurricane Irene clean up is being done.

Winter and Snow Not Quite Done With Us Here In Mountaindale

Last night as I walked across Main Street here in downtown Mountaindale, saw the first large billowing snowflakes dropping down from the heavens above, and knew we were not done with winter just yet. This despite my own best efforts too speed the onset of spring by spending the past week and a half in shorts...I know, just a tad eccentric on my part, but think of it as a modern reincarnation of the rain dance, only this time calling on the heavens above to bring us spring, and bring it right now. By very early this morning, the streets of our small hamlet were covered in heavy, wet, slushy , even ugly snow that was resembling something more along the lines of a dirty gray, overly gigantic ice cone that had spilled from its cup onto our streets.

This reminder that winter was not quite ready to relinquish his cold grasp presents our little news blog with the perfect opportunity to thank our snow removal team who through the worst kinds of weather has our streets, clean and safe too travel on even after the worst winter storms...think Nor'easter. So, if you see Mike, Ken or Aaron in and around our community, be sure to thank them for a job well done.

Heart of Sound Harp Concert-Enjoyable Time Had by All

On Sunday February 6th, 2011, harpist Lindsay Perricone performed here in Mountaindale, New York at the Radiant Yoga studio located at 63 Main Street. The event include the opportunity for morning Yoga, followed by a scrumptious vegan brunch, with the concert started at 1:30.

Lindsay Perricone started the event off letting those gathered get UP CLOSE and PERSONAL with her two harps as she explained the inner workings of the instrument, and gave us all a brief history . Who knew a harp had so many working parts in it, or that most pieces composed for the piano are so easily adapted for this beautiful melodic instrument? Lindsay fell in love with the harp at the age of 14, and her love and passion for this instrument, which can trace its root back to Ancient Egypt, and the year 2500BC, was clearly evident in her 90 minute performance.

For the nine people in attendance, the entire event was a true treat, and we all want to extend our thanks to Janet from Radiant Yoga for making it happen. We also thank Lindsay Perricone for being such a great ambassador for this wondrous instrument, and all of us who attended look forward with anticipation to your first CD.

Radiant Yoga
63 Main Street CR-55
Mountaindale, NY 12763
(845) 866-7822

Lindsay Perricone-Harpist
Music for Special Occassions
Private Instruction
(631) 553-0934