Boscobel Restoration on Route 9D in Garrison was officially welcomed into The Greater Mahopac-Carmel Chamber of Commerce May 28 as the chamber”™s 500th member.
Boscobel welcomed its own board and officials of several chambers to celebrate the benchmark initiation with a reception in the rose garden.
There are seven chambers of commerce jigsawed into Putnam County, but since a meeting at The Garrison in December 2009, there has been a push to cobble them into The Greater Mahopac-Carmel Regional Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest of the seven. The remaining members combined account for 200 to 300 businesses.
A second meeting May 25 at Camp Kiwi in Mahopac further cemented the idea.
“It”™s happening as we speak,” said Pete Bardunias, executive director of The Greater Mahopac-Carmel Chamber of Commerce. The chamber is located at 953 S. Lake Blvd. in Mahopac.
The rectangular nature of Putnam County has led to an east-west divide. Bucolic Route 9D on the Hudson, where the Federal-style masterpiece Boscobel sits, can seem a world of twisting roads away from bustling Route 22 on the Connecticut border.
“It”™s very exciting,” said Boscobel board member Betsy Pugh. “I think those of us who have lived here for a long time recognize there is an amazing disconnect between west and east in Putnam County. It”™s time we found each other and this is a very, very good start.”
Boscobel was feted with a cake and coffee, although Bardunias confessed that by the time the celebration had been organized, the number of chamber members had crept above 500. “We continued to grow, even in the recession,” he said.
“This is all part of our interest in doing things together,” said Nat Prentice, president of the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce.
“Businesses come to the chamber for help, for exposure, for networking and for advocacy,” said Bardunias. “The concept of a ”˜greater chamber”™ is routine in other counties of the Hudson Valley, but it is relatively new to Putnam.”
There are four regional chambers in the Hudson Valley: Greater Southern Dutchess Regional Chamber of Commerce; Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce; The New Paltz Regional Chamber of Commerce; and The Greater Mahopac-Carmel Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“Previously,” said Bardunias, “The Mahopac-Carmel Chamber of Commerce would not have been attractive to Boscobel. Now that we”™re a regional chamber, we”™ve reached that critical mass. It presents an opportunity for those on the west side of the county to get exposure on the east side and vice versa.”
