Seven awardees are being feted by the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Ulster County Development Corp. for their contributions to the county.
The Gillette family won the award as business “person” of the year, for their decisions to keep Gillette Creamery in the county by moving from their original 12,000-square-foot facility in Ellenville to a 33,000-square-foot facility on Steve”™s Lane in Gardiner.
Company president J.B. Gillette, originally worked with his father to start the company that is co-owned with three brothers.
Gillette Creamery started as Tri-County Ice Cream in Ellenville in 1985 with four employees and two trucks. Since then the company has grown to more than 70 employees and 26 trucks, with 3,000 accounts in 19 counties and a secondary depot in Albany.
It distributes popular brands including Haagen-Dazs, Edy”™s and Good Humor to such major outlets as 7-Eleven and Cumberland Farms stores, Walmart, Stop and Shop, Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid.
The business of the year is Kingston Block and Masonry Supply L.L.C., which is manufacturing a sustainable line of concrete products that uses a patented process to create concrete using recycled materials, including post-consumer glass and recycled aggregates from throughout the Northeast.
Keegan Ale won in the small business category. The micro-brewery and tap room is in Kingston and produces three beers, Old Capital, so named because Kingston was the first capital of New York, as well as Hurricane Kitty, named after brewmaster and company president Tommy Keegan”™s grandmother, and Mother”™s Milk, a dark rich and creamy stout.
The Lazy Swan Golf and Country Club Village won the building project of the year. The unique and scenic public nine hole golf course leads golfers along a uniquely challenging course that includes elevation changes, rock faces, an Alpine garden, and water hazards including cascades and ponds, all in a setting of unsurpassed beauty featuring splendid views of the Catskill Mountains. And all located only five minutes from Thruway exit 20.
The Lazy Swan also has a restaurant and pub open to the public seven days a week, and does catered affairs, weddings, and corporate golf outings.
The tourism business of the year was won by Hudson River Cruises. On the Rondout, just upstream from the Kingston lighthouse, the company has long operated the tour boat Rip Van Winkle and this year started a water taxi service with the Lark, running weekends between Kingston and Rhinecliff.
The cultural business of the year award will go to the nonprofit Catskill Ballet Theatre that is based in the county.
Founded in 1981, the company provides “cultural enrichment within the Hudson Valley through the art of classical ballet,” according to the group”™s website.
The Heart of Ulster County award will be given to Albert Spada, the longtime county clerk until his retirement three years ago. He remains active in county politics.
