Planners Convene On Idea


By JIM KEVLIN


COOPERSTOWN

Pamela and Richard Scurry’s daughter Kristina had an enchanted wedding in the environs of Glimmerglass.
The “nice, quiet, simple country wedding,” as her father put it, included a rehearsal dinner at the Leatherstocking Golf Course clubhouse, the ceremony in the old church at The Farmers’ Museum, and a reception on The Fenimore Art Museum’s patio.
At evening’s end, the couple walked along a candlelit path to the shore of Otsego Lake where, to their surprise, an antique canoe, covered with flowers, was waiting to spirit them away. As they approached, fireworks burst over the scene.
It was such a successful weekend – among other things, the Scurrys rented a trolley to ferry guests to the various events 24 hours a day – that the couple found themselves enamored with Cooperstown as a place for people to get married.
With the price of a wedding ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 in these parts, they also came to see the economic-development potential. At those prices, the successful development of Cooperstown as a wedding destination in the off-season could quickly result in millions of dollars being injected into the local economy.
So on Tuesday, Dec. 9, the Scurrys – Richard is fund manager in New York City; Pamela is a noted interior designer – invited a range of businesspeople involved in the business of weddings to one of their local properties, Summertime Hill, halfway up the west side of the lake, to begin discussing how America’s Most Perfect Village might be made as perfect and profitable place for brides and grooms to marry.
“From doing our own wedding here,” said Richard Scurry, “and talking to people, we have discovered it is not well coordinated. There is not a single place to go to find out what venues are available and how to do it.
“How can we cooperate better? How can we promote business? Everybody was very enthusiast,” he said.
By the time the discussion was over, Jennifer McDowell, NYSHA director of marketing, had agreed to try to coordinate the next steps, which would included developing a Web site and a glossy publication that would bring together all wedding-related resources in the community.
In addition to NYSHA, The Otesaga was represented, and Glimmerglass Opera, which the Scurrys only recently learned would like to host more weddings in its pavilion.
Diane Elliot was there from Hyde Hall, as well Brenda Michaels, president of Fly Creek Cider Mill. While the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce was invited, no one attended, although Jennifer McDowell will continue the outreach, Pamela Scurry said.
At the meeting, she continued, she heard about what Deb Taylor, Otsego County’s director of tourism, has been doing to promote the county, and would have invited her if she had been aware of her. She’ll correct that oversight in the future, Mrs. Scurry said.
“One of the things we talked about,” said her husband, “is brides think there are only one or two places here to have weddings. ‘If The Otesaga is busy, we’ll go somewhere else.’ People don’t even think about Hyde Hall, which would like to have more weddings and has a great view of the lake.”
Bill Waller, who was there with his wife, Mayor Carol B. Waller, said there was a consensus that promoting Cooperstown as a wedding destination would be an ideal way to continue beefing up the “shoulder seasons” – particularly the fall. Next, he said, Christmas.
“We need to network and help one another,” said the mayor, who is also proprietor of Mohican Flowers, which does considerable wedding-related business.

Labels: 12-12-08, Front Page, Weddings

Lauren Jean Hardt and Jacob Rinsland Irvin were married April 26, 2008, at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Ocean Springs, Miss. The Rev. Henry McInerney performed the double-ring
ceremony.
The bride is the daughter of Charles and Barbara Hardt of Ocean Springs. The groom is the son of John and Nancy Irvin of Cooperstown.
Both the bride and groom are graduates of the University of South Alabama, where they received their bachelor degrees, hers in marketing and his in criminal justice. Following their honeymoon in Marco Island, Fla., the newlyweds settled in Atlanta, where she is a marketing analyst with Verint Systems, Inc. and he is a life support systems operator at the Georgia Aquarium.

Labels: Locals, Weddings