(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2023)
At a pre-tourney meet-n-greet, New York State public high school boys basketball coordinator Bob Mayo thanked Glens Falls for hosting the tournament. "We are so happy to be back here," he said. "We have a lot of good teams. It's going to be fun."
The New York State Boys Basketball Championship tournament officially starts Friday March 17 and runs through Sunday in Glens Falls’ Cool Insuring Arena. It unofficially started Thursday evening with a meet-and-greet event hosted by The Greater Glens Falls Amateur Athletics Association at the Bullpen Tavern on Glen Street and with a press conference earlier in the day.
For the first time, the city has produced video commercials — titled “The Road to Glens Falls” — that include highlights of games including former superstars at the high school level such as Jimmer Fredette and Joe Girard III. It was the first time the city had produced commercials like this, and was an effort to help people see Glens Falls as a tourist destination, Mayor Bill Collins said during the meet-and-greet.
The New York State Public High School Athletic Association controls the tournament that includes the boys’ games and the girls’ games at Hudson Valley Community College this weekend.
Arthur “Chip” Corlew, the NYSPHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament Director, thanked NYSPHAA and all of the “70-plus volunteers” who make the tournament possible.
He also thanked Warren County, the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce and CVB, individuals and companies whose funding makes the tournament possible, including, “all the people that helped in financing and getting through this so we could offset the amenities to run a tournament like this, promote a tournament like this.”
Officials, including Corlew, also thanked the Adirondack Civic Center Coalition. In 2015 the tournament left Glens Falls after about two decades, and the coalition raised and spent money to upgrade the facilities in what is now the Cool Insuring Arena. They said that was key to bringing the tournament back last year.
“We know anecdotally, these events are economic drivers, no doubt about it,” Mayor Bill Collins said during the meet and greet event. He talked about being out of town and even in other states, talking to people about Glens Falls. He said they knew of the city because of basketball.
“People throughout New York and the rest of the country have come to identify Glens Falls as a basketball town,” he said.
He also admitted that the city does not crunch numbers for events like this, but then he added that the city has not had the economic development director and community development director, both of whom were hired in the past two years.
Also, the city is still “doubled up” with some positions such as that of Amy Collins, no relation to the mayor, is the both director of tourism and recreation currently.
Jeff Flagg, the city’s director of economic development, said that yes the city could analyze sales tax figures and other data to check the economic effectiveness of the tournament. For the hospitality industry, the tourney is a great help, he said, adding that February and March is the time of year the city's tourism activity is “sitting in the doldrums."
The Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce and CVB website says that last year’s tournament brought more than $5 million in economic benefit to the region. The impact is measured by the Destinations International Event Impact Calculator, which takes data from sources such as the the number of rented hotel rooms.
“Spending on accommodations, food and beverage, retail, recreation, transportation, and more are factored into this equation,” their website says.
In other tourism news…
The Warren County Board of Supervisors is set to offer outgoing Lake George Village Mayor Bob Blais a job as the event coordinator for Charles R. Wood Park in Lake George Village. The county would pay him $15,000 annually for that role.
The mayor says he has been speaking with the town and village of Lake George about similar activities, adding that all three are willing to contribute, so long the person — in this case, Blais — advocates for the town, village and county together.
The county is actively looking for a permanent director of tourism.
The Warren County tourism office also works closely with the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce and CVB, which markets to people and organizations downstate and out-of-the-region to visit, hold conferences and other events in the Lake George area.
Last year, the village was forced to call a referendum on whether or not to merge into the town.
The referendum lost, but a study conducted to consider the merger said that Blais, as mayor, spent as much as 40% of his time on tourism-related promotion. Next week, the village will choose a new mayor. Raymond Perry is running unopposed.