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FLX Chamber Holds December BAH at Historic One Franklin Square

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The Finger Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce held a special Holiday Open House event for its December Business After Hours on December 18 at One Franklin Square.

The Chamber has had its downtown Geneva office headquarters in the historic building, located at 537 Exchange Street, since 2014. Over 75 people attended the event, featuring a full array of food and wine from various Chamber Members. The Chamber would like to thank the following customers for their time and contributions to the catering of the event: Bella’s Seneca Lake Steakhouse, Mark’s Pizzaria of Geneva, Ronnie’s Cedar Inn, Simple Sweets Bakery, Taqueria Los Amigos, Tucci’s Family Diner, Geneva Club Beverage, Fox Run Vineyards, and Three Brothers Wineries & Estates.

The event also featured a special opportunity for Chamber members to sign up in advance for reserved spaces with Chamber Photographer, Justina Holcomb, owner of Naturally Chic Photography, who was set up in the back of the offices and offered professional headshots for individuals or businesses at a discounted rate. A variety of members from near and far took advantage of the offer and appreciated the opportunity to bring in their teams and have the service available to them.

During the event’s presentation, the building’s owner, Mark Varvayanis spoke about the history of the building, which dates back to the early 1900’s. Others contributed personal comments and memories from the building’s era as a Montgomery Ward department store from the 1940s through the 1970s.

Other events of a similar nature have drawn guests to the popular building over the years as well. In 2015 the then Geneva Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a building-wide open house where one of the guest speakers from Historic Geneva spoke about the building’s history and shared old photos of the property over the years. Many of those images are now displayed on the walls today. That event featured tours that attracted public interest, as at that time the building was under construction and undergoing major renovations of its top floor being transformed into upscale apartments. At the conclusion of the capital project, a Ribbon Cutting Celebration was held by the Chamber in 2017 which included tours for the public to see the finished spaces and resulted in various media placements.

Business After Hours are held on the second Wednesday of each month from 4 – 6 PM unless otherwise noted and are open to the public, but hosting is one of the promotional opportunities and benefits that is only offered to members. For more information about Business After Hours Mixers, the 2025 Season Pass Program, or learning more about being a customer of the Chamber, please visit www.flxchamber.com or call 315-789-1776.

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