Paul Szmal: Once a month we get to talk about travel, tourism, commerce, and other stuff with our friends from the Seneca County Chamber. And this month, Casey Bouch is here. Casey, good morning. How are you?
Guest: Good morning, Paul. Good. How are you?
Paul Szmal: I am good. I am good. And you're just coming off the regional portion of the National Civics Bee. We have been talking about this, Jeff and I, in the previous months. And it sounds like it was a tremendous success.
Guest: Yeah, it was an incredible success. We are just thrilled. We were so excited to be a part of it. And this was our first year, and it was a great success. We got to recognize all of the student finalists who participated from all over New York State, Seneca County, the Finger Lakes, and beyond, as far as Jamestown and Johnson City. And there were like over 200 people there.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. Yeah. Just to watch and see what was going on. So who wound up winning?
Guest: Our top three finalists actually all came from Moody School in Geneva.
Paul Szmal: Oh, wow. Okay. Yay. Way to go, Moody's. Nice.
Guest: Yeah. So three very smart young women were our top three, moving on to the state finals.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. Yeah. And then if they place in state finals, they go to the national finals, and those are in D.C., right?
Guest: Yeah.
Paul Szmal: Oh, okay. So one finalist from each state gets an all-expenses-paid trip to D.C. to compete in the national competition this fall.
Guest: Okay.
Paul Szmal: Well, congratulations to them. Fantastic. I take it, based on the success of this year, that this is going to become kind of an annual thing.
Guest: Yeah. We hope to do this for many years to come.
Paul Szmal: Awesome. Awesome. All right. Let's talk about some of the upcoming events that are happening. We always mention these because, especially now with the way the point system on your license is restructured, you get a couple of those points on the license, and it could lead to your car insurance rates going up. It could lead to some other issues. You want to knock a couple of points off, maybe lower your insurance a little bit. You need to take one of the driver safety courses. And yours is the only place, I think, in the entire state, from what Jeff was telling me, that still does the old-school in-person course.
Guest: Yeah. So they're few and far between at this point, but we're happy to bring this opportunity to our community members.
Paul Szmal: Do we know when the next one is?
Guest: Yeah. This one is a split one. We do both two-day and one-day courses. And for May, I can't believe I'm going to say that, but it's Wednesday and Thursday, May 27th and 28th, beginning at 6 o'clock.
Paul Szmal: All right. So that's at the end of the month, and you can go to the Seneca County Chamber website to find out more. Is there a registration for that?
Guest: Yes, there is a registration. It's $40 to attend, $35 for members, and you can sign up online or also by giving us a call at our office.
Paul Szmal: Okay. Well, Casey Bouch is here from the Seneca County Chamber, and we're talking about some of the events and activities, so on and so forth, and we're going to talk about some of the tourism incentives here in a minute, but a couple other events to talk about. Next business after hours?
Guest: That is going to be on Wednesday, May 20th, always the third Wednesday of the month from five to seven, and this month, we're really excited to be at Lions National Bank in Seneca Falls.
Paul Szmal: Ooh, okay. That's going to be different. Are they going to let you in the vault?
Guest: Ooh, you know, I hope so.
Paul Szmal: Hot ass. Nicely. Yeah. Yeah. That's one of those, if you've never seen like an old school bank vault, that's wild. But yeah, the nice thing about these business after hours events is if you are a business person, it gives you the networking opportunity, and that leads to sometimes business to business transactions, and that's part of the reason why you're in business.
Guest: Yeah, and that's what we're all about, is helping draw those connections that help elevate our businesses and move our community forward.
Paul Szmal: And the annual legislative luncheon is coming up. Try saying that three times fast.
Guest: Well, that's a tongue twister. That is coming up on June 11th, so we've got a little time. I'm still working on the location and time for that, but do stay tuned. It's always a great event.
Paul Szmal: Now, a legislative luncheon, what is that about?
Guest: Yeah, so we bring in our local legislators to talk about what they are working on and what's happening in Albany, and really give our local business leaders and members an opportunity to have face time with their representatives. It's almost like a town hall for business owners.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. Oh, fantastic. Fantastic. So, more details on that coming up as we get a little bit closer to it. Okay, let's talk a little bit about some of the tourism initiatives, because I know this is something that never stops for you guys. You're always working on new ways to bring people in, and one of them is the new visitor guide.
Guest: Yeah, which we are extremely proud of. This is, I think, going to be really new and different from what people expect from a visitor guide. It's really engaging and interactive, and I think does a great job of representing all the wonderful tourism partners we have here in Seneca County. And there's also been work on a new app and a new website, because so many of us do everything by device now.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. So, in addition to that physical visitor guide, there will be a mobile app that pairs along with it. So, it will really allow you to have kind of that virtual visitor guide in your pocket as you're navigating throughout the area. So, if you know somebody from out of town that's coming into town, you can refer them to this app or to the website, and it's going to kind of give them the lay of the land.
Guest: Yep, absolutely. So, I think any of those tools, whether it be the physical guide, the mobile app, or our brand new website, will all help anybody coming to the area find what they enjoy and what's best for them.
Paul Szmal: And it's funny, because we live here, we work here, we shop here every day, and I don't think we have the same perspective of our area as people coming in from the outside. This area is a tourist draw for a number of reasons.
Guest: Yeah, and I think I may have a little bit of a unique perspective as someone who grew up in the area and moved away and came back with new eyes. It really is an incredible place, and we really are so lucky to have the natural resources and all of the incredible businesses and opportunities that we do.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I mean, there's so much cool stuff here. You've got the outdoor rec activities on the lakes of all different kinds, boating, fishing, camping, hiking. And of course, you've got more wine country. I think that's what a lot of people think when they think of the Finger Lakes. First thing is, ding, oh yeah, wine. But yeah, there's so much more outside of that, especially if you roll through the towns. And I think more and more people are starting to do that, where they're staying away from like the big touristy major metropolis stuff, and they're finding small town America again. It's almost like a rediscovery.
Guest: Yeah, I think it's really wonderful to discover the kind of unique flavors of each of these small towns. And we have such a wonderful, friendly population here. So I think that's really refreshing to people coming to the area.
Paul Szmal: Speaking of local flavor, if you've got people coming in from out of town, I borrow a line from Guy Fieri, eat where the locals eat. And we have so many great locally owned and operated restaurants. Many of them now are doing the farm to table thing, because we are in an agricultural area. So if you're looking for good, innovative, fresh eats, this is a good spot to find it.
Guest: Yeah, you really can't beat it.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, the website for people that either want to register for the driver safety course, or perhaps somebody wants to become a member of the chamber, which has plenty of benefits. How do they do that?
Guest: Yeah. So you'll want to visit our website, which is SenecaChamber.org. While you're there, definitely check out Discover Seneca too, DiscoverSeneca.com, excuse me, as well, which is our tourism arm of our website. But yeah, a lot of wonderful resources for business owners there on our chamber website and beyond.
