May 21, 2015
The Wyoming County Chamber & Tourism Board of Directors is pleased to announce the 2015 award winners that were presented at the annual awards reception held this year at the Club on Silver Lake, May 13, 2015.
Tourism Business of the Year- Adventure Bound Camping Resorts: Four Winds – Accepted by Dennis Klump, General Manager.
Small Business of the Year - WCJW Radio – Accepted by Lloyd Lane, station owner.
Large Business of the Year - Attica Auto & Hardware – Accepted by owners Bruce Camp and Lynn Camp
Award winners are selected each year by the Board of Directors based on criteria that includes their contributions to the economic vitality and quality of life of Wyoming County, capital investments, business expansions, job growth and retention, community involvement, and their contributions that strengthen their business sector. They are all unique assets to Wyoming County and we are very pleased to present the following awards.
The Wyoming County Chamber & Tourism is the leading membership organization for local and regional growth, advocacy, and connection for Wyoming County’s business community. The Chamber & Tourism’s mission is to serve the members and community; promote and grow the area’s economic and tourism assets; and work collaboratively to create an environment that leads to the success and economic prosperity of Wyoming County. For more information or to become a member please call 585-237-0230 or visit the website at www.wycochamber.org.
Award Presentations are below:
Adventure Bound Camping Resorts: Four Winds – Tourism Business of the Year
Located on Tenefly Road in the Town of Genesee Falls, set on nearly 160 acres, and nestled along the banks of the Wiscoy you will find a real get-away at Adventure Bound Camping Resorts: Four Winds, our Tourism Business of the Year.
Started almost 40 years ago, the recreational camping area was purchased in January 2013 by the family oriented Adventure Bound Campground group which owns eleven campgrounds nationwide.
Since taking over Four Winds, Adventure Bound has had an eye on expansion and they have made the investment to prove it. In the past three years they have made significant improvements to the property and plan for more. There’s big growth potential at Four Winds.
In Summer 2014, Four Winds opened its latest property improvement, a brand new in-ground pool, hot tub, and bath house to welcome visitors. The $500,000 investment in the property also included a new pump house and new roofs on all the buildings. Part of the expansion also included an inflatable water fun zone two waterslides and a bounce house which has been a huge hit with families and kids.
Originally 40 sites, there are now 218 campsites for tents and RV’s with water/sewer and electric, and thirty seasonal spots with demand growing every year. They plan to add 10 more cabins to the property by year end, with 2 coming right away. They also installed new electric at the campsites and underwent major facility upgrades including new panel boxes and transformers.
There are two shower and bath houses in the camping areas and two restroom facilities. There is also a laundromat for guest use. Whenever possible, they have used local construction businesses for most of the expansion project including WyCo Construction, X-Treme Construction and Harding Plumbing.
The campground welcomes visitors from all over the North East including Canadian visitors, New York City, Chicago, and Pennsylvania. They welcomed visitors staying at their campground who were participating in the Civil War weekend at Letchworth State Park.
They are so busy that on major holidays there are at 100% capacity. For example they will have between 800-1000 people at the campground during the Memorial Day weekend.
Adventure Bound: Four Winds is definitely a children friendly and family oriented campground that also welcomes pets. In addition to the 20’ x 30’ inflatable movie screen where they show movies in the evenings, they also offer horseshoe pits, hayrides, games for kids, a full-service office and recreation building, six rental golf carts, and five rental pedal carts for the kids. They also have a GaGa Pit a game like dodgeball but in a 24’ wooden sided octagon. They plan to add sand volley ball nets in the near future. Campers and families can also enjoy fishing along the Wiscoy during the summer.
Bliss native and current Park Manager Dennis Klump has been at Four Winds for three years and he is assisted by office manager Marcy Brace. They are the only two fulltime employees and they employ an additional five seasonal employees during their season which runs from May 1 to Columbus Day.
For significant capital investment, contribution to economic vitality, continued growth and strengthening the Tourism sector, Wyoming County Chamber and Tourism is pleased to present the Award for Tourism Business of the Year to Adventure Bound Camping Resorts: Four Winds.
WCJW Radio – Small Business of the Year
It’s not very often that a business can be described in wattage, but for this awardee it’s true and 8,000 Watts strong. WCJW Radio, located on Merchant Road, Warsaw has been broadcasting for 42 years high atop the Warsaw Valley and is this year’s Small Business of the Year.
Lloyd Lane, station owner, began his career working for WCJW in 1979 as the news director, but when the opportunity came up, and with the help of local investors, he bought the station in 1984, switching the format to Country music in 1986. They have gone from daytime only, to 24 hours with their FM service. Over time they went from 1,000 watts to 2,500 watts ten years ago, to 8,000 powerful watts in 2014.
Almost six years ago CJ added the FM Simulcast originally on 103.7 and it can now be found on five frequencies as well as the original 1140 AM. On April 25, 2015, the station completed its most recent expansion with the Arcade build out which now reaches all of Arcade and Western Wyoming County on the FM dial. Today, all of the County is covered by both the AM and FM frequencies. They can be heard all over Western and Central New York. FM Channel has a three county reach into Wyoming, Genesee, and Livingston counties. Lloyd has continued to upgrade the station with new studio Broadcast Boards, high tech and modernized equipment, building improvements, an IPhone App, Pod Casts, live streaming, and now touch screens in the studios.
The community has always embraced WCJW, and the station has always given back with service like the live radio auctions to help raise funds for Warsaw Youth Baseball which has happened for over 20 years. They are strong supporters of the ACS Relay for Life. Lloyd has also welcomed interns to help students who want to work in the field.
Before there was Ebay and Craigslist, there was Tradio – for 36 years it has been one of the most popular programs on WCJW. Once the host would read postcards of people wishing to sell their items, but Lloyd built the program to eventually take phone calls, and he is still adapting, now the station can even receive text messages.
WCJW prides itself on its ability to bring locally based news seven days a week, updated weather reports from renowned local meteorologist Kevin Williams, and you will hear the best mix of classic country and new country music. They also feature both X-Finity and Sprint Cup series NASCAR races, High School Football and Basketball teams in the coverage area, Agribusiness report, vital statistics, and the extensive community calendar.
In an era when most major broadcast companies rely on electronically imported “on air talents” from hundreds or thousands of miles away, or lean heavily on nationally syndicated programming, their personalities live right here in CJ Country. You can wake up with Jimi Jamm and his good natured humor, or hear the news from Steve Weber, then later in the day you can hear Kelli Carson playing country music’s legendary artists on CJ’s Classic Café.
WCJW has been a springboard for talent that has gone on to local, regional and greater fame across the country.
We’re probably most familiar, if you now and then listen to other stations, with Chet Walker on WHAM, Scott Spezzano from the BUZZ, or with TV personalities Robin DeWind from Channel 10, or Pete Gallivan from Channel 2.
Lloyd credits his continued success to the Team that works at the station from the office staff, on air, programming, sales, and behind the scenes people. They make it all happen at WCJW. The station employs 8 full time and 6 part time employees.
As an affordable advertising tool, local business owners and community residents can also be heard on a regular basis while promoting their businesses, talking about important causes, or during an interview.
The WCJW Van can be seen at events around the area as well as Lloyd and his wife Becky, his family, and the station staff. They can also be seen at the Wyoming County Fair which is a great event for the station. It’s always fun to stop by the little yellow topped booth outside the commercial building and say hello to one of your favorite station personalities.
The Wyoming County Chamber and Tourism office is very pleased to present WCJW Radio, and Lloyd Lane with the Small Business of the Year award for your many years in business, strong support of the Chamber mission, continued investment right here, and your deep commitment to the community.
Attica Auto and Hardware – Large Business of the Year
Originally from the Buffalo area, brothers Bruce and Lynn Camp and later their brother Chris have built an outstanding group of businesses covering multiple locations across Western New York. As the Wyoming County Chamber & Tourism Large Business of the Year, Attica Auto and Hardware represents the very best that Wyoming County has to offer and we are very glad that they made this their home so many years ago. Attica’s motto is “Attica by Choice” and that couldn’t be truer for the Camp family.
Bruce started in the business in 1976 originally as a one man operation, Lynn joined him in 1983, and Chris came on board in 1996. Today you’ll also find Lynn’s son Will as manager of the Attica hardware store.
Bruce and the family were welcomed by solid local people who have supported the business over the years and the relationships they have built within the community has been very important to their success.
They currently own and operate two Ace Hardware stores one in Attica, and the new Warsaw store which opened last year. They also own six Car Quest auto part stores in Attica, Batavia, Perry, Medina, Brockport, and Wellsville. In recent years they’ve updated every store in the group.
They expanded to the new areas based on the store owner/employee knowledge and the effective managers that were there. They are careful about how they grow and that has been another important part of their success. They always look to people who knew what they are doing and who understand the territory.
Because they have quality people who know the businesses, the stores can run themselves and the owners can focus on the bigger picture while maintaining a very active role.
They’ve embraced new technology and marketing that the Ace brand has to offer, from reward cards to sales and promotions and are one of the most recognizable brands in the country for hardware supplies. And with Car Quest, they are able to utilize the Advanced Auto technology to purchase and have access to a vast unlimited auto parts inventory. If they can’t get it, it probably doesn’t exist. The Car Quest part of the business receives four deliveries a day to keep up with demand to make sure that their customers have the products they need. Customers include, schools, towns, agri-businesses and farms, auto shops, garages, auto dealers golf courses and marinas and many more.
They have been recognized by the company for their efforts. In fact the CEO of Advance Auto, the $12 billion company that now owns the Car Quest brand, came to Attica, NY to learn best practices from the Camps.
Their philosophy relative to their customers and business is simple. They follow the Golden Rule of retail. “Treat your customers, like you would want to be treated.” They can serve customers effectively adjusting and finding inventory based on customer demand and seasonal need.
When the Warsaw hardware store was closed this winter due to snow load damage, the Warsaw customers made the trek to Attica to shop Ace because of the great products and the customer service. The Warsaw store reopened last month and the customers have returned. Customer loyalty with the Camps and their team is strong.
The key to their success is a true team approach to running the business, from the salesmen on the road, to the staff in the office, the store managers, to the floor clerks at all the stores they are treated fairly and their employees work hard. They offer their employees the same benefits the owners receive like full health and retirement plans. There are 91 total employees and over 100 during the peak season which is from mid-April to October.
“The future is great and there is always room grow,” says Bruce Camp. They had their best year yet and are going strong - sales are positive and they are always looking at the best ways to serve their customers.
The Attica Auto and Hardware and the Camps have also been generous contributors to the community that embraced them giving to the Hospital’s One campaign, organizations like the United Way, Church fundraisers, local charity groups in the area and countless others including their strong support of the Chamber. Bruce also served in the IDA Board and the Chamber Board, focusing on business growth. The Camps are humble people who prefer to remain out of the spotlight preferring to stick to their business, but always there when a helping hand is needed because they care about their home communities.
The Attic location is the Hub of the Camp’s business at the Attica Auto and Hardware group. This is their home and where their heart is. One if not all of them can be found in or around one of their stores seven days a week. The brothers say it’s because they “love what they do.”
With a vision for growing the local economy, they are now developing Attica’s downtown by revitalizing and rehabbing multiple store fronts. They have undertaken a major rehab of the store front and upper level of the Car Quest location to bring it back to its historic look and character. They have worked with In:Site Architecture from Perry to transform the building to in historic look and will be re-opening the former coffee shop as a restaurant with high quality apartments upstairs.
They are working together with local development partners and businesses to enhance our downtowns across communities to make Wyoming County a great place to live, work, and shop. Ace Hardware’s store opening in Warsaw last year was a huge value to the downtown and has been a great addition to the community.
We would also like to congratulate them in advance as they will be celebrating 40 years of Attica Auto and Hardware in 2016.
For significant capital investment, contribution to economic vitality, continued growth and strengthening the business sector of Wyoming County, the Wyoming County Chamber and Tourism is pleased to present the Award for Large Business of the Year to Attica Auto and Hardware.