Don't Close the Door

I received a few emails about my post about the pending resort at Belleayre. So I asked a few new acquaintances what they thought about it. Sheepishly, they told me that now that they found their little piece of paradise they want to close the door and not have anything change.

So I asked a few business owners what their real mix of customers is like and what they would like to see more of. The weekend homeowners and tourists are the revenue that keeps businesses open more days of the week or months of the year, keeps them able to hire staff, add a new service like wireless internet, or putting on a new coat of paint. Business owners know that the year-round population cannot support their increased cost of doing business. They need the weekenders but they can't always count on them. Most importantly, they said they really need more tourists.

Being just two to three hours from one of the wealthiest areas of the country means we have a great opportunity to be a destination for that money. It's just like a mall. You have your big draw stores and either end and one in the middle surrounded by lots of smaller niche businesses. We have the Emerson Resort on the east end, hopefully soon the Resort at Belleayre, and later the Aman Resort to the west. In between we have the Roxbury Motel, the Meadowood Inn, Kate's Lazy Acres. We have the Woodstock Film Festival, the Belleayre Conservatory, the West Kortright Center, the Catskill Mountain Foundation. We have the Bear Cafe, the Peekamoose Restaurant, Heaven on Main Street and Slow Down Food Co. We have cool bluegrass musicians and hip Brooklyn transplants performing under the radar in local restaurants. We have internationally known writers, painters and photographers showing their work in our mountains. We have filmmakers and theatrical directors producing vibrant pieces with local talent. We have incredible craftspeople designing furniture and decorative arts using local materials. And hardly anyone knows about it.

Being in the NYC watershed AND with the Catskill Forest Preserve means we have the opportunity to be an environmental and sustainable tourism destination. We have a highly protected natural landscape that is being explored by practically no one. We need more small lodges and resorts, river and mountain guide services, more small farms open to the public, more sporting equipment rental companies, more cafes, more music venues and other small cultural establishments. We have an amazing opportunity BECAUSE we will never have industrial parks and tract townhouse developments.

While change is scary to some, the last decade that I have been here I've found the change all positive and enjoyable. The Catskills can be what the Hamptons failed to be. Protected from sprawl, while embraced by conscientious development.