50 YEARS OF BUSINESS
Chamber of Southern Saratoga County celebrates anniversary
Dave Meager, a founding member of the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County, remembers when the total membership of the organization was so small they held meetings around a single table in Reich’s Restaurant in Halfmoon.
The restaurant is now long gone, but the local Chamber of Commerce that he and nine other business owners started in 1967 is doing fine. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in late April.
“I remember one of our members saying at one of those early meetings, ‘We have no commerce to chamber,’” Meager said with a laugh at the organization’s annual awards dinner.
The chamber has grown from that single table of businessmen to having more than 1,000 members. It has a reputation throughout the Capital Region as the chamber that likes to have fun and that suits Meager just fine.
At the time the Chamber formed he was the owner of Round Lake Insurance, a company his parents established in 1949. As one of the few, and possibly the only original member to attend the Chamber’s 50th anniversary dinner April 26 at the Hilton Garden Inn, he looked on in wonderment as the crowd began to fill the large banquet room.
“We had two issues when we formed,” Meager said. “We wanted a traffic light to replace the blinking light that we had at Route 9 and [Route] 146 and we wanted a hotel in Clifton Park. Think of that. There were no hotels in Clifton Park.”
Today, the chamber has members from all around the Capital Region and more than 250 were in attendance for the anniversary. The crowd was so large
that they used the hotel’s Adirondack Room for overflow. With a nod to the organization’s start in the Summer of Love, the room was renamed the Woodstock Room for the evening and included tie dye tablecloths, lava lamps, and retro psychedelic posters.
Celebrating a half century of operation is a singular event. However, this dinner is held annually to acknowledge its members and to honor businesses in a variety of categories. The businesses are nominated and later voted on by the members.
The host of the evening was a tuxedoed Chamber President and CEO Pete Bardunias, a relative newcomer to the area but someone who has learned his local history quickly.
“Let’s think back to what it was like here 50 years ago,” Bardunias said. “Traffic was light at the intersection of Route 9 and Route 146. Can you believe it? There were no chain hotels. People were still getting to know the Northway. We were using rotary telephones. And on TV, the hot program at the time was ‘Get Smart’ with Maxwell Smart and Agent 99. What amazing things 50 years has brought.”
In honor of the 50th anniversary, state Sen. Jim Tedisco presented the chamber with a Senate proclamation and a few good words.
“To you, the members of the chamber, I say congratulations,” he said. “It wouldn’t be the chamber it is without you doing the great job you’re doing and without a great leader like Pete Bardunias. To the small businesses here tonight, you are the engine that makes the economy run.”
The evening’s awards demonstrated the breadth of the chamber’s reach. The Inspiration Award went to CAP COM Federal Credit Union. The Strong Community Award went to CDPHP. The chamber’s Entrepreneurial Award went to the Vischer Ferry General Store while the Innovation Award went to Field Foods, LLC. The Connors Agency took home the Endurance Award.
Greg Connors accepted the award on behalf of his family’s Mechanicville business. His remarks reminded everyone that the chamber’s roots are in small, familyowned businesses.
“We’ve been in business 62 years,” Connors said. “My father started it. A family business can be tough at times, but we get to work with our dad and that’s a blessing.”
Meager, 78, knows how tough running a family business can be. After taking the reins from his parents and running the insurance agency for many years, he sold it in 2001 to the Adirondack Trust Company which wanted to get into the insurance business.
Meager himself was part of the deal and continues to work with clients he has known for years. He described himself as having an old school work ethic.
“When we started the chamber we were trying to give a voice to the business community and the community at large. We could offer our views to elected officials,” he said. “We grew almost immediately after starting. When those Van Patten homes started to go up and people began coming in to fill them the businesses followed the people. That’s when it all changed. Saratoga County — it’s a great place to do business.”