Have you heard of the Committee for Economic Vitality in Essex or its acronym CEVE? If you haven’t yet, then check out their new Facebook Page and learn more!

The group describes itself as follows:

The Committee for Economic Vitality (CEVE) in Essex is a NEW effort started by a few entrepreneurs to help unify the economic community on and off Main Street in Essex, NY. (Essex also consists of several hamlets—Whallonsburg, Whallons Bay, Brookfield and Boquet.) This group is in its early stages of identifying goals and responsibilities to help promote and encourage economic vitality and sustainability in Essex and the region.

Working with the town government, Essex Initiatives (a community group responsible for organizing year round community events in Essex) and our neighboring commerce organizations, we hope to develop marketing strategies, identify needs of the business community, and collaborate to contribute to the region as a whole. The group meets monthly at various locations in Essex, as well as encouraging attendance at area chamber events.

Identify and Organize Essex Events

One of the goals of CEVE’s February meeting was to begin establishing event dates and organizers. This would make CEVE and its members aware of important dates and deadlines—allowing members to volunteer or involve their businesses in the events in other ways, to make sure that conflicting scheduling did not occur, and most of all to make upcoming Essex events the best they can be!

As CEVE member Emily Gardner Phillips says, “It makes a huge difference when we can sit, talk and all be aware of the status and need of volunteers, contributions, and the hard work put into planning events in Essex.”

Here’s a brief recap of what was determined about several big events of the upcoming year:

4th of July in Essex:

• The parade will be on Friday the 4th. Also taking place that day are an Essex Community Concert; Spelling Bee; Fire Cracker Fun Run organized by NEW Health…Know of other activities in the works?
• Fireworks on Saturday the 5th—the Fire Department organizes. (Contact person TBD) Anyone aware of any other events being planned for Saturday?
• There was discussion about the major organizing effort for the 4th by David (& Dianne) Lansing and how to continue his legacy.

Downtown Essex Day:

• Date this summer will be Saturday, August 2.
• The Essex Day Committee so far is Donna Lou Sonnett and Tom & Barb Mangano. Any more volunteers?

Mettawee River Theatre Company:

• Possible Date for show in Essex are  July 29th or 30th ; August 5th or 6th.
• Contact is Emily Abruzzi.

Magic! Christmas in the Village:

• Possible Date is December 6th. Can we make this a 2 or 3 day event? Brainstorm!

Get Involved

If you would like to volunteer for any of these events or have more information that you can share about them, or if you would like to be added to the CEVE mailing list, then please contact CEVE directly at ceve.essex@gmail.com.

At the February meeting CEVE members also discussed making early collaborative efforts to get event information on the Essex on Lake Champlain blog, as well as plugging in dates asap on the lakechamplainregion.com website. If you have event information you would like added to the Essex Events Calendar please contact us.

CEVE’s next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 3rd at 6pm at the Whallonsburg Grange Hall.

Related articles

• Essex-Whallonsburg Entrepreneurs Unite! (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• Westport Hotel to Essex Inn: The Grand Hike on Champlain Area Trails (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• Essex Area Entrepreneurs Update (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• Essex Initiatives’ Holiday Projects (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)