June 02, 2021

Beacon Chamber of Commerce Kicks Off Regular Business Call With City Administrator Chris White For Businesses To Call In

June 02, 2021/ Katie Hellmuth

Starting Wednesday, June 2, 2021 at 8am, the Beacon Chamber of Commerce with Chamber President, Ron Iarossi (owner of Beacon Creamery) will host a Zoom call-in with Beacon’s City Administrator, Chris White. Said the Chamber in an email to members: “This will be the first of an ongoing monthly series. The meetings will be designed to update you on what’s happening in Beacon.” According to the Chamber, the first meeting will cover such items as parklets and upcoming TV and film projects. The Chamber encourages businesses to voice their opinions during the call.

City Administrator Chris announced the call during the May 24, 2021 City Council Meeting, where he mentioned the call as an opportunity to speak directly to businesses to get their feedback on future decisions made by the Council, such as allowing different events to come to town.

The City Administrator also mentioned wanting feedback on the growing number of film productions being filmed in Beacon. “Some of the businesses,” Chris recalled, “the last time we filmed, they loved it and made some money. Others weren't so happy.“

The City Administrator alluded to the Cupcake Festival as an example of an event he knew not to have. While some businesses like an art gallery were not happy for the large crowd, restaurants and some retail businesses did very well when the Cupcake Festival came to town, produced by Pamal Broadcasting, the home of K104.7. Beacon Bath and Bubble was one of the biggest critics of the event, but the day after it left town, the owner reversed her opinion after her sales yielded “Christmas numbers,” which means she sold a lot and was happy. Here is ALBB’s economic study of the festival on businesses.

Parking was a problem, and regular tourists and residents were not able to walk down a large section of Main Street as it was closed for the festival. Said K104.7 the year they did not return to Beacon and instead moved to Stormville: “We were hoping to come back to Beacon this year, but given the growing attendance and space/parking constraints, we had to look elsewhere. We’re looking forward to keeping it in the county and growing the festival in new and exciting ways.” One Beacon boutique, La Mere, followed the cupcakes to Stormville in her La Mere Mini trailor boutique on wheels, and had a good sales day.

The City Administrator Chris said during the 5/24/2021 City Council Meeting that he hopes to “activate” the parks, declaring his desire to start “activating the parks and have something cool going on,” as if the parks are underutilized and underenjoyed by locals, which they are not. They are treasured by locals. The City Administrator Chris continued: “The money is not the reason to do it. The reason is to bring people and businesses to Beacon. People think ‘Wow, I want to bring my business here.’”

The first event of the season post-pandemic in one of Beacon’s parks was a Makers Market hosted by Hops on Hudson. The event occupied part of the Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park, and required tickets to get in. While the City Administrator saying that Pete & Toshii Seeger Riverfront park was open to the public despite the large event, police were down by the entrance near the lily pads blocking the opening, under instruction when hired to provide event-duty. People wanting to enter the park needed to speak to the police officer to request permission to go beyond their blockade or state their intent. Police were directing traffic to parking areas from as far away as Beekman Street near the MTA Police barracks.

How To Join The Business Call

The business meeting will be on Zoom, and attendees can join by following this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88241890659?pwd=bVNvd2d0TUt3dWJSQ0dJM3ljZStMUT09

Meeting ID: 882 4189 0659
Passcode: 031504
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March 11, 2019

K104.7's Cupcake Festival Moves From Beacon To Stormville Airport

March 11, 2019/ Katie Hellmuth

UPDATED 3/20/3019: The City of Beacon has since issued a response to our inquiry about the 2019 Cupcake Festival decision. Please see below for that quote from the City Administrator.

K104.7’s annual Cupcake Festival has moved from the Main Streets of Fishkill for a few years, then to Beacon for two years, and now is at the Stormville Airport, which is also known for the Stormville Airport Antique Show and Flea Market. The Cupcake Festival is wildly popular, attracting bakers from all over the state to compete for a chance to be considered at the final judging table to take home a cash prize.

“We were hoping to come back to Beacon this year but given the growing attendance and space/parking constraints, we had to look elsewhere. We’re looking forward to keeping it in the county and growing the festival in new and exciting ways.”

— Zach Higgins, Non-Traditional Revenue Director, Pamal Broadcasting

Attendance to the event has been growing, and possibly grew out of Fishkill, triggering the radio station to consider Beacon. For two years, the festival was hosted in downtown Beacon on Main Street, shutting down the street and leading to an elbow-to-elbow sugared-up experience (parents know how difficult it can be to maneuver children past tables and tables of cupcakes and lemonade).

We reached out to Pamal Broadcasting, the hosts of the event and owners of K104.7, to learn more: “We had met with the City [of Beacon], and after discussing all the particulars, it was in the best interest of both parties to change the location. The two years the festival was in Beacon catapulted this event to the next level and we are very grateful for the city and what it had to offer,” said Zach Higgins, Non-Traditional Revenue Director for Pamal Broadcasting.

“The attendance estimates for this year seemed more than the City could handle in parking and safety constraints. We would love to have them back, but wish them continued success and hope to work with them on other projects in the future.”

— Anthony J. Ruggiero, M.P.A. City Administrator

The City of Beacon’s City Administrator, Anthony Ruggiero, had this to say: “The City had an incredible working relationship with Pamal Broadcasting and their success was our success. However the attendance estimates for this year seemed more than the City could handle in parking and safety constraints. We would love to have them back, but wish them continued success and hope to work with them on other projects in the future.”

How Was The Cupcake Festival In Beacon?

A Little Beacon Blog did a an unscientific economic study of the Cupcake Festival on businesses in town in 2017. Most eateries did extremely well that day, while boutiques reported a mixed experience. One retail store who had been a vocal opponent of the Cupcake Festival in its first year, raved about it the day after the first festival came and went, after the day’s sales came in, calling the day “as good as Christmas," which in retail-sales speak means a very good day.

However, other businesses were not as pleased, including an art gallery owner who found it difficult to keep children away from touchable artwork inside the gallery, and other retail stores who saw lots of lookers, but no buyers. Citizens experienced a deluge of cars parked near their homes, sometimes blocking driveways. To read more about the 2017 cupcake experience, click here. To see pictures from 2018’s cupcakes, click here.

Trash was well-contained for the most part, though residential complaints about overflowing trash cans after most spring/summer weekends with or without events prompted the City to accept the offer from the trash collection company, Royal Carting, to replace the metal trash cans on Main Street, letting go of the two-hole approach for recycling and trash, in favor of a larger hole for all waste.

Now that the recycling market has crashed, and most recycling in this country isn’t getting recycled due to it being dirty (food waste on plastic makes it non-recyclable) or wet (soggy newspapers or cardboard can’t be recycled), this can replacement seems to be containing trash better. A Little Beacon Blog does have an article coming on this, and you can read more about it in the Highlands Current.

Parade-A-Month Keeps Beacon Touchable By Citizens

Beacon is known to have a parade every month from spring to fall, so this is one less event to keep track of on the calendar (well, in town, that is… you could still drive out to Stormville!), but there are new events coming to Beacon at the Riverfront, in addition to the usual annual events and fundraisers that keep the community in Beacon together.

See A Little Beacon Blog’s Events Calendar, Classes For Adults Guide, and Classes For Kids Guide for lots of events you want to plan for. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop and get emailed about opportunities.

Where Is Stormville, Anyway?

If you need a quick map on where Stormville is, here’s a picture of the map. It’s *that* way! Good luck to any bakers entering the contest, or vendors vending on the big day!

May 05, 2018

Cupcake Festival in Beacon, NY 2018 - Reached the Cupcake Mecca

May 05, 2018/ Katie Hellmuth

Streets were packed on Beacon's east end of town for the Cupcake Festival 2018.Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin — Streets were packed on Beacon's east end of town for the Cupcake Festival 2018.
*Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin*

Did you reach the mecca? The Cupcake Festival? The east end of town was thick with cupcake celebrators, but in our journey to walk all of Main Street from the train to the mountain, we got to duck into a few favorite local businesses...

Luxe Optique (where we helped a friend buy some glasses!), American Gypsy Vintage while waiting for a to-go chicken wrap from Ziatun to eat on the way, NFP Studio (got a personal demonstration of how to wear their architecture-inspired sweaters!), Utensil Kitchenware (bought some nesting containers at last!), Jeffrey Terreson Fine Art (always love seeing that guy and he had a stunning, ginormous print on the floor ready for shipping out the door). And at last, we decorated this cupcake from Tops, and indulged in a generous chocolate cupcake with a lot of vanilla frosting from The Chocolate Studio. Alas, we ate it before the camera could capture a picture.