Paul Szmal: And it's time for morning coffee with Amy Fuller from the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce. Morning Amy, how are you?
Guest: Good, good morning. We've got a lot to talk about this morning.
Paul Szmal: Let's start with a pretty unique place that was the member of the month for this month.
Guest: Yes, they're a fairly new member too. It's Mark and Fish Charters. They do fishing charters on Awasco and Skinny Atlas Lake. They're celebrating their 10th anniversary. Mark Jankos has a great great thing going here. He was just at our networking event last night and created a nice basket for one of the door prizes. So, you know, a nice time of year to celebrate a fishing charter.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, a perfect time of year, especially to get out on either Awasco or Skinny Atlas Lake. And hey, if you catch some fish, it's an added bonus.
Guest: Yes, and his information's on our directory on our website. So, if you're interested in booking a charter, give him a holler.
Paul Szmal: And you've got a dinner and show raffle going on. It sounds pretty cool. Tell us about it.
Guest: Yeah, we did this last year too. So, the Rev gave us a couple tickets to the upcoming show Tarzan, which starts on July 8th. So, there's two tickets to the opening week of that. And then our friends at Excelis sponsored the dinner portion. They gave us $100 cash to go with that. So, it's an online raffle. You can go to the KewaCountyChamber.com homepage and it's right there. It's $10 a chance or three for $25. And it ends tomorrow at noon. And then we will announce the winner. So, it's a great deal to catch a show at the Rev and have a nice dinner someplace.
Paul Szmal: And I'm intrigued by the idea of Tarzan as a stage performance. I know.
Guest: I don't know how he's going to be swinging around. I don't know how that's going to work. Let's hope the wires are strong enough.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, yeah. Let's hope the vine is okay.
Guest: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Paul Szmal: Now, are they going to have any live animals on stage?
Guest: I don't know. I don't know much about it. So, I'm going to check it out. I'm planning on going. And we have a little loincloth joke going on in the office about it, too. So, you know, it's just all bad.
Paul Szmal: Well, I see now you're just going to have to go buy a ticket so you can find out.
Guest: I know. I got to check it out. But if you want to take a chance, it's a great price to get two tickets plus $100 for dinner. It ends tomorrow. It's a fundraiser for our programs for the chamber. And check it out. Get your tickets before it closes at noon tomorrow.
Paul Szmal: Now, the Gwen Weber MacLeod. Am I pronouncing that right?
Guest: Yes. The Gwen Weber MacLeod workshops. There are two of them coming up. Let's talk about the one that's happening about mid-July, Thursday, July 16th.
Paul Szmal: Yes, we've had a couple of these and they've been very well attended. Gwen is an awesome speaker and has great insight on things. This next one coming up is qualities of effective teams. It's on Thursday, July 16th. It's 9 to 11. Registration is now open and it's going to be at the Carriage House behind the Cougar Museum. So, you know, she just has great insight and is very popular when we have a workshop with her. They're very well attended. And there's another one coming up Thursday, August the 20th. So let's give an early call out for this one.
Guest: Yes, that one's going to be thriving through change. And as you said, August 20th, again, 9 to 11. That also will be at the Carriage House and registration is open for that one as well. So, you know, it's a great way to kind of regroup and make sure things are going well for your business or organization and get some good insight from Gwen.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and the way things change with everything from technology to regulations for some businesses, so on and so forth, it's important to keep on top of that stuff.
Guest: Absolutely.
Paul Szmal: We're talking with Amy Fuller from the Cayuga County Chamber here on FLX Morning. So August the 5th is a Cocktail and Connections event.
Guest: Yes, we're doing something a little different for our summer event this year. It's called Cocktail and Connections on Cayuga. It's going to be at the Inns of Aurora. Behind the Inns of Aurora, they have a kind of a permanent tent that they have there, that they have their weddings and other celebrations. But we're going to be on the backside of the Inns of Aurora right on beautiful Cayuga Lake. And it should be a great evening. It's going to be from 5 to 8. And it's sponsored by Chemung Canal Trust is the event sponsor. There's also some other sponsor opportunities. We're going to have a great raffle basket that's going to include an overnight at the new farmhouse in Aurora. So it should be a great evening. And like I said, it's always nice to go down to Aurora. It's such a beautiful little town and a lot of offerings down there.
Paul Szmal: I was just saying to somebody yesterday, how important networking can be, especially when you're networking business to business.
Guest: Oh, yeah. And proof of that was our event last night. We had over 100 people at the Yacht Club Business After Five.
Paul Szmal: Oh, that's right. Yeah. I remember you saying last month it was going to be at the Awasco Yacht Club.
Guest: Yeah. This is probably the fourth or fifth year they've done it. And we usually get about 80 to 90 people. And it was over 100 people last night. And Aula that helps keep our lake clean and the Awasco Yacht Club did a fantastic job. It was a great evening out there.
Paul Szmal: Well, who wouldn't want to go hang out at the Awasco Yacht Club, especially with the weather you had yesterday. It was perfect.
Guest: I know. And we really have had challenges with the weather over the past couple of years. So to get a great evening with all those people was just awesome.
Paul Szmal: The next phase of Leadership Cayuga is going to start in September.
Guest: Yes. The application is now open. You can go on leadershipcayuga.com to grab the application. And that program, it runs from September to May. They meet one Thursday a month. You know, they do a bus tour near the end. They get a project to be with a group of people and kind of check out some things in the county and maybe resolve something that someone's struggling with. But Jessica Wrench, my education coordinator, does a wonderful job with this program. It has over 800 alumni in it right now. So, you know, if you have someone in your business that's either new to the area or has a new position and their territory is Cayuga County, it's a no-brainer. You should have them go through this program because Jessica does a great job. They talk about board governance and all different things to get people more involved in our community.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. I kind of think of it as the apprentice and nobody gets fired at the end.
Guest: There you go. I like that. And we have a save a date announcement too.
Paul Szmal: Yes. Our biggest event of the year is our annual dinner. It's always in the fall. And we have secured Wednesday, October 7th up at the Emerson Park Pavilion once again. So mark that on your calendars. You know, registration will open sometime either late July or early August. But that's our biggest event of the year. And at this dinner this year, we're going to be rolling out our new strategic plan. So, you know, it's beneficial for our members to kind of check out what they can expect from us moving forward.
Guest: Yeah. Do we get a sneak preview of that? Or are you going to hold your cards on that one?
Paul Szmal: I'm going to hold on to that one.
Guest: Okay. Okay.
Paul Szmal: Now I've got to imagine that the businesses that are chamber members are gearing up for next weekend because with the 4th of July being on a Saturday, a lot of people are going to get a three-day out of it having Friday off. It's going to be busy, busy, busy.
Guest: Yeah. 250 years. That's crazy. It's crazy, you know. And, you know, I just hope that the weather once again cooperates for the, you know, the fireworks on the 3rd and that everybody stays safe, that makes good choices, you know, so then you can enjoy the holiday with your friends and family.
Paul Szmal: I have to say, I've been to the Emerson Park fireworks a couple of times. It's one of my favorite places to go watch a fireworks show.
Guest: Oh, yes. It's just a wonderful evening. You know, you kind of, you don't even feel like you're in Auburn. You know, you're just sitting there and all these wonderful fireworks and just the camaraderie with everybody around. And I'm sure this year being 250 years, everybody's going to be very excited about it.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. I wonder if they have anything special planned for the display this year.
Guest: I wouldn't be surprised. I haven't heard anything, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Paul Szmal: Not at all. And now, are you still offering that membership deal, Amy? Did that expire or?
Guest: Well, actually, you know what? Thank you for reminding me because we had a special for Small Business Week, but now starting July 1st, if you're not a chamber member, you can join for half price for the rest of the year.
Paul Szmal: That's a good deal. Half price membership. It's a good way, you know, a great way for you to check out how the chamber works, if it would work for your business or organization and kind of feel out the events that we have and things. So, you know, just contact me at the chamber office and we'll hook you up with a membership for the rest of 2026.
Guest: Yeah. And that gives you access to the various chamber events and networking opportunities, as well as things like the listings on the website. There's a lot involved with it.
Paul Szmal: There is. And, you know, like I said, you don't know unless, you know, I know even if your business is just listed there and networking events aren't your thing. We always, you know, if people call and say they need a contractor, we always give them only chamber members, you know, so and people come in the office, especially through the summer. If they're here visiting or they're relocating or here for a reunion, they always come in and want to check out what's going on. So we have brochure racks where members can put all their information. So I think it's a good bank for your buck.
Guest: Yeah. Preferred referential status. There you go. I like that.
Paul Szmal: All right. All right. And Amy, if people want to find out more information about the chamber or they want to search some of the resources on the chamber website, where do they find that?
Guest: CuyahogaCountyChamber.com. The raffle that we talked about is on the homepage, some upcoming events, and then you can click on the top for the member directory. And it's an alphabetical listing or you can sort it by restaurants or anything that you want to sort it by that you're looking for.
Paul Szmal: And remember, the raffle that Amy is talking about, that's the dinner and show raffle, two tickets to the opening week of Tarzan at the Rev, plus $100 for dinner sponsored by Excelus. That ends tomorrow at noon. So you probably want to put that on your to-do list for today.
Guest: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Paul Szmal: Amy, as always, pleasure having you on board. Thanks so much.
Guest: Thank you, Paul. You have a wonderful fourth and I hope the fireworks are up to your expectation.
