ELLENVILLE – Ellenville/Wawarsing Chamber of Commerce board president Dr. Mark Craft told attendees at a September 21 mixer at Honor's Haven resort that the chamber, and Ellenville, is having a great year.

"We appreciate your support," Craft said, noting that with membership up to 160, EWCOC was looking to fill three positions on its board. "We'd love some new energy."

Ulster County Office of Economic Development director Suzanne Holt shared an update on the county and community's Ellenville Million project, with a focus on what her office is doing to drum up new business. While much of that's traditionally been focused on assisting businesses with specialized counseling such as the writing of business plans, introduction of businesses to banks and advice for use of the community's county financed revolving loan fund, as well as grant applications, there's also a new push to bring new businesses to all of the county.

In its second year of their "Do Business Differently in Ulster County" campaign, Holt said, her office is seeking to attract small green businesses to the county, with an eye to engaging "second home owners and people who already love it here." The focus is on tech-entrepreneurs. The county, she said, has invited such business owners to the area, showcasing the area's offerings last year via a bus trip that took in New Paltz, the Mohonk Mountain House and Kingston.

"Successful, but it didn't get people out, further out, into Ulster County. It didn't get people to Saugerties or Ellenville, or all the other beautiful places we have," Holt said. "This year, we put together a festival campaign where we've invited people from New York City — people who would consider moving businesses up here or opening businesses — to come up and enjoy our festivals, including the Blueberry Festival and the Rib Fest."

The effort was heavily promoted through social media, Holt added, but the drive isn't just for relocating existing businesses here, but to assist in the startup of new ones.

"There's more money available for businesses to start in Ellenville than anywhere else in the county," she said, pointing out that County Executive Mike Hein's creation of the Ellenville Million initiative using state funds for casino effects, "has really made Ellenville a priority."

"His vision was amazing and he recognized that we needed an injection, a boost," added UC Economic Development Alliance chairwoman Julie Lonstein, an Ellenville-based attorney who headed the local committee that decided how best to use the county-administered funds for local aid. "The Hunt Memorial building received $100,000 and what they've done is beautiful and a testament to what can be done when you get a great group of volunteers together who love their community and love that building."

The Shadowland Theatre has received $75,000 to invest into a Second Stage project, and the public relations and advertising firm BBG&G, based in Orange County, was hired for $100,000 to promote Ellenville through web-based and event planning, including their new FindEllenville Facebook page and other social media campaigns.

There is another $175,000 available, Lonstein added, for new businesses interested in starting up in Ellenville or Wawarsing, with the funds to go towards defraying infrastructure costs and require only the creation of five new full-time jobs. And the think tank Pattern for Progress has been retained to work on an intermunicipal agreement between the village and town for water and sewer improvements, as well as overseeing the creation of a joint parks and recreation commission, "to look into the future and see the beautiful assets that we have and how they can be developed into something that's going to bring tourists here and spur job growth and economic development," as Lonstein put it.

Already, everyone noted, Wawarsing's Lippman Park has become the top biking park in the state, and one of the top ten in the country.

"That's part of what this opportunity to market ourselves and our assets is going to be," Lonstein noted, proudly.

Holt noted, towards the presentation's close, that a snag has been hit in the bettering of broadband access in the area, with no funds as yet allocated, with the county currently working to create new usage and coverage maps using GIS technology.

During a short Q & A session, where chamber members discussed the parameters of the economic development fund as well as other businesses coming to the area, one guest mentioned that he didn't think $1 million was a lot of money.

After a moment's pause, Holt responded.

"Let's put this money to good use," she replied. "Then we'll see if we can get more."