The Village of Irvington wants to capitalize on its October 2010 designation by “Westchester Magazine” as the best place to live in Westchester County. Mr. Marty Ketels from Westchester Magazine recently attended our Chamber of Commerce meeting, and explained the various categories used in its decision. We scored highest for our Main Street, river views and dining scene. Safety, proximity to the water, schools and green space ranked high as well.
What does this mean for our business community? We need to parlay this ranking into attracting more business to our river towns (Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson and Ardsley ranked favorably as well). A tourist board has been formed with Dobbs Ferry and Hastings to market all three communities.
We need to promote our success. Ideas could include: holding a special restaurant week; holding a chef cook-off; featuring the river at every chance – the river was a significant factor in choosing Irvington; and the marketing and promotion of our logo. Westchester Magazine will feature the river towns in its June 2011 issue – let’s use this to our advantage. There will be excellent business advertisement opportunities here. If the community has other ideas for promotion, please feel free to share them with us.
Businesses and professionals – if you’re not a member of the Chamber of Commerce, please consider joining. Not only are there many opportunities to promote your business, members truly like to do business with other members, and like to tell their friends and associates to do business with other members.
We all need to remember to support our business communities by shopping, dining and doing business in our towns. Let’s all think locally first during the upcoming holiday shopping times. We have some of the finest shops and restaurants right in our own backyard. Use some of the many professionals that are domiciled in our towns. It’s a good time to take advantage of this publicity to stimulate business in Irvington and our surrounding communities.
Paul G. Sohigian, The Irvington Chamber of Commerce
