By Kristy Kennedy In 2023, the Adirondack Coast experienced remarkable growth in tourism, benefitting from the easing of border restrictions and heightened traveler confidence. Looking ahead to 2024, we are poised to build upon those successes by advancing our marketing initiatives in Montreal, while leveraging partnerships with I Love NY, Adirondack Regional Tourism Council (ARTC) read more

By Garry Douglas | Photo by Jessica McCafferty The recent announcement by SterRx in Plattsburgh, coming on the heels of the recent Nova Bus announcement, was unexpected to all of us, but especially to the employees. One of the reasons to have a strong Chamber is a readiness to respond to such developments and assist read more

by Garry Douglas The Power of Partnership is once again showing the pathway forward following the totally unexpected news that Nova Bus will end U.S. production, likely by the end of 2024. Within an hour of the announcement, the Chamber convened a core Working Group of economic development partners to share information and begin the read more

By Alyssa Senecal | Photo by Pellerito The summer series of professional bass fishing tournaments held on picturesque Lake Champlain is returning and isn’t just about catching big fish. It’s a financial powerhouse for the region. The Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau, a division of the North Country Chamber of Commerce, dove into the economic Impact read more

by Garry Douglas The hardest challenge in economic development — especially for a rural region like ours — is sticking to a long-term strategy with discipline and persistence versus the “strategies du jour” repeatedly generated in many areas and the constant calls to go after the fad of the day.  It takes 20 to 30 read more

By Garry Douglas Years ago, we created the North Country Chamber of Commerce in the wake of the unexpected and unjustified closure of Plattsburgh Air Force Base. We viewed it as a needed step in regionalizing our numbers and capacity in order to “punch above our weight” in Washington, Albany and elsewhere. The key ingredient read more

By Garry Douglas Understanding, cultivating and delivering the Power of Region has been at the core of our Chamber since the mid-nineties, beginning with the creation of a Regional Chamber of Commerce that would have the numbers and capacity to deliver real services and have a real impact on the North Country’s behalf. Today we read more

By Garry Douglas Each year, the North Country Chamber of Commerce conducts a survey on a number of timely state and federal issues. And at the same time, it takes the pulse of the regional business community about its area expectations for the year ahead, asking if they expect their business activity to be up, read more

By Joel Wood At the beginning of January, our friends at the New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals (NYATEP) released their 2022 State of the Workforce report. Each year we look forward to reading their thorough report and this year was no different. The report detailed a lot of what we already know read more

By Garry Douglas Issue: December 2022 A common misconception is that the thousands of organizations across the U.S. who call themselves a “Chamber of Commerce” are somehow affiliated and certainly must be chartered by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with standards and requirements to be met. In reality, the term is in the public domain read more