Gardiner Association of Businesses; activities, events, and news from the Town of Gardiner

Growing Gardiner, One Business at a Time
by Elizabeth Werlau

While the business base in the town of Gardiner has been dramatically altered over the past decade, the small Ulster County town continues to maintain its rural character. When it was first formed in1853, Gardiner was a small farming community of about 2,000 residents. Today, the town located at the foot of the Shawangunk Mountains has become a thriving small business center, a tourist destination, and a community-minded enclave.
Established businesses such as Majestic Hardware and the nationally known Kiss My Face headquarters and Arthur Lauer teak furniture company have long made Gardiner their home, but numerous new shops, eateries and services are quickly joining their ranks.

   A rejuvenation of sorts began in the town around 1998, when the eye-catching Gardiner Gables complex was built along Route 44/5 5 at the town’s eastern entrance. Today, a flower shop, real estate office and a hair/tanning salon share space in the complex with a video company, a branch of the Walden Savings Bank and the Red Rooster Café. Just west of Gardiner Gables, Gardiner’s Main Street is undergoing another change.
   “We’ve experienced rapid growth in the past two years,” explained Heidi Hill-Haddard the newly-elected president of the Gardiner Association of Businesses.
   Businesses that have opened their doors in the past few years include HillHaddard’s own HiHo Home Market and Antique Center, which will soon celebrate its third anniversary in Gardner. She is flanked by the Enthusiastic Wine and Spirits Shop, the Village Market and Bakery, Catskill Cake Company and Catskill Granola Company, Tiger Lily Jewelers, a new barbershop, an antiques shop, chiropractor and a Pilates studio. Nearby, a new women’s health center offers services ranging from midwifery to acupuncture.
   In addition, the Gardiner Association of Businesses (GAB), a networking group with a focus on business and community, has seen growth in the form of a 56 percent increase in membership over the past year. The group now totals more than 140 members who work or live within the town. On January 16, the GAB launched its new website, which will eventually feature individual web pages for participating businesses.
   “It is an active networking and support group , where members use each other as sounding boards,” explained Hill-Haddard. “We promote thinking local first and giving back to the community.”
   She said that Gardiner attracts a mix of local residents, weekenders and tourists. Close to both Mohonk and Minnewaska and with attractions such as the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, rock climbing and skydiving available within the town, Gardiner has become a destination, allowing businesses such as Lightsey Cycles, a bicycle sales, service and rental shop, to flourish.
   “People come here for the natural resources,” Hill-Haddard said. “We’re close to Mohonk and Minnewaska, the skydivers come for the Blue Sky Ranch, and we have the wineries.”
   Many business owners in Gardiner are resident’s of the town or live nearby, helping to keep the small-town feel that HillHaddard said is a big part of Gardiner’s appeal. And, because of an emphasis on open space and p1anning, Gardiner doesn’t have the same problem as nearby towns.
   ‘People are realizing that there is an alternative to towns that have problems with parking and congestion,” Hill-Haddard said.
   She said because Gardiner is easily accessible from both Interstates 84 and 87 in Newburgh, visitors are able to avoid the often-congested Route 87 Exit 18 in New Paltz.
   “They are starting to realize that waiting in traffic is unnecessary,” she said. “It’s easy to get here.” Hill-Haddard said that while tourism has been an added benefit for the town, Gardiner businesses have seen “huge growth” in their local customer base as area residents not only provide steady patronization, but bring weekend guests to show off all that the town has to offer.
   Gardiner’s transformation seems destined to continue as a new $1.5 million, 4,500 square foot Gardiner Library building will soon be constructed and a recent grant received by the town will allow for the installation of new sidewalks in the business district this year.
   The recent refurbishing of the town’s Town Hall building is an example of the community’s commitment to moving forward while showcasing the past. The updated building, with new offices and a community room, is an addition to the historic 1880 two-room schoolhouse that once served as the town hall. Like its new town hail, the town of Gardiner continues to reinvent itself as a unique blend of past and present.
   “The community has really embraced these changes” Hill-Haddard said. “It’s snowballing – there’s quite a bit happening right now in Gardiner.”
   The Gardiner Association of Business website can be access at www.gardinernybusiness.com.