CORTLAND, N.Y. — The Cortland County Chamber of Commerce has joined the CenterState Chamber Alliance.

The Cortland County Chamber joins CenterState CEO and the Cayuga County and Greater Utica Chambers of Commerce in the Chamber Alliance, “furthering the reach of the already broad regional-business community,” according to a news release the alliance issued on Thursday.

Syracuse–based CenterState CEO — a regional business-leadership, chamber of commerce, and economic-development organization — formally launched the alliance in June 2012.

The four organizations say they will actively market each other’s programs and events and promote cross-member participation.

Under the partnership, the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce will maintain its local identity, management team, board control, member-relations efforts, and services, the Chamber Alliance noted.

The Chamber Alliance offers members access to “even more” benefits and member-to-member connections, according to the news release.

The CenterState Chamber Alliance lists member benefits that include cost savings and access to training programs, regional networking opportunities, inclusion in a printed regional chamber directory, and a “unified voice for advocacy.”

“We are excited to welcome the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce as our newest partner in the CenterState Chamber Alliance,” Jane Amico, vice president of chamber services at CenterState CEO, said in the news release. “This further strengthens the reach of our alliance, and broadens the benefits all of our members receive.”

As a member of the CenterState Chamber Alliance, the Cortland County Chamber will be able to deliver more services and leadership opportunities to its members, and advance opportunities for regional growth,” the alliance contends.

 “As we look to expand the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce’s regional economic-development focus, it makes sense to be part of an organization that can strengthen our members’ connections across the region,” Bob Haight, president and CEO of the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce, said in the news release. “Through this partnership, we have an amplified and more unified business advocacy voice, and can better position our members for future growth.”

The opportunity for “enhanced member-to-member connections are instrumental” as the CenterState Chamber Alliance advances the region’s economic-development strategy, the alliance said in the release.

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

 

WATERTOWN — The Watertown City Council finalized more than $9 million in construction contracts after voting, 4 to 1, in favor of a $10.3 million project on April 6 for the reconstruction and expansion of the Watertown Municipal Arena. The city council awarded the contracts on March 30 in a special meeting, but the contracts were conditional upon the approval of the project itself.

 

The city-owned arena, located at 600 William T. Field Drive at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds, is an enclosed structure used as an ice rink in the winter months. It’s used for concerts and other events, including the Jefferson County Fair, in warmer months.

 

The general contractor for the project is Bette & Cring, which is based near Albany. It also has an office at 18438 U.S. Route 11 in the town of Watertown. The contract is for $6.27 million.

 

Sackets Harbor–based Lawman Heating & Cooling, Inc. was awarded nearly $2.9 million total in contracts — $1,229,000 for mechanical work, 

$976,000 for electrical, and $668,000 for plumbing and fire protection.

 

The City of Watertown received 19 bids in each of the four areas where contracts were granted, according to the minutes of the city council’s March 30 meeting. All contracts were awarded to the lowest bidder that met the city’s specifications.

 

The arena has been in need of structural work for some time, says Erin Gardner, superintendent of the Watertown Parks & Recreation Department, which manages the facility. “The arena was originally built to be an outdoor recreations arena,” she says. In 1978, three years after the arena was completed, walls were added to enclose it, according to a study paid for by the city and completed in 2009 by Watertown–based BCA Architects & Engineers.

 

It was never meant to accommodate the level of use it sees now, she says, with student hockey and figure-skating teams, and one minor-league professional hockey team — the Watertown Wolves of the Federal Hockey League — making it their home. Currently, hockey players have to go through the lobby and the concession area to travel between the locker rooms (which are too small) and the ice rink, Gardner says, which has led to interactions between players and fans.

 

Apart from the design flaws, the structure itself is deteriorating, Gardner says. Tiles are crumbling, restroom and locker room fixtures are in poor shape, and the roof needs work. “The roof leaks on every event when it rains,” Gardner says.

 

The reconstruction and expansion project will fix the leaky roof, and add locker rooms and restrooms, she says. New bleachers will be back-fed by a new second-story aisle way to prevent player–audience interactions. Another addition will be built to the front of the building for a new lobby, offices, and concessions area, she says.

 

Thomas Maurer, civil engineer 1 in Watertown’s engineering department, told CNYBJ that additional improvements include a two-story addition on a back corner of the building containing new locker, team, and laundry rooms, as well as office space. A new fire sprinkler system will be installed, as well as a new ice-rink floor and press box.

 

Because the arena uses bleachers, the exact seating capacity isn’t known, but Gardner estimates it can hold between 1,150 and 1,200 people for hockey games. That number should go up after the renovations, she says.

 

The project has been in development for several years. In fiscal year 2013-14, the city budgeted $3.6 million for the arena project, reflecting what the city then expected it would cost. In July 2013, the city council approved the hiring of the Albany office of Stantec Consulting Services, Inc., to design the reconstruction and expansion. A year later, the city budgeted $6.3 million for the project after receiving cost estimates from Stantec Consulting, nearly double what was previously expected. That number leapt again this past January to $8.2 million, revealed during a city council meeting.

 

The city accepted bids for the project from Jan. 29 to Feb. 20. Once the bids were opened, the final cost of the project clocked in at its current $10.3 million amount, which includes the nearly $700,000 that was paid to Stantec Consulting for its design work. How the city will fund the remainder of the cost of the project has not yet been decided.                       

 

 

 

SYRACUSE — The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Boots to Business program has trained 25,000 transitioning service members. 

 

Maria Contreras-Sweet, SBA administrator, made the announcement on April 21 at Syracuse University’s (SU) Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF).

 

Boots to Business is the entrepreneurship track of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP). 

 

It has provided entrepreneurship and business-planning training to members of the U.S. armed forces who are transitioning to civilian life, “giving them the tools to start their own successful companies,” according to an SBA news release announcing the number of those trained.

 

The SBA wants to “make certain” that the nation’s men and women in uniform “get the support that they need” to transition out into American-civilian life, Contreras-

Sweet said in her remarks at the IVMF.

 

“Syracuse [University] stood up [with a] really important program that we noted and seized and so they’ve become very important partners for the SBA,” she added.

 

Contreras-Sweet said she’s “really proud” that SU helped the SBA launch the Boots to Business initiative.

 

Boots to Business helps veterans “in that transition from their uniformed life into a civilian life,” said Contreras-Sweet.

 

In the SBA news release, Contreras-Sweet described the program’s purpose.

 

“Boots to Business helps our service members and their spouses explore careers in entrepreneurship by showing them how to apply their military skills to start and grow their business. Our veterans deserve every chance at success, and our economic future requires that we help them acquire the skills necessary to start the next generation of great American businesses,” the SBA administrator said. 

 

Boots to Business is now available on more than 165 military installations worldwide, the SBA said in the release. 

 

The training program provides military service members and their spouses the opportunity to explore business ownership and self-employment; helps them evaluate the feasibility of their business concepts; and connects the aspiring business owners to SBA’s network of resource partners, the agency said.

 

Initiated as a pilot program in 2012 and expanded nationally in 2013, Boots to Business utilizes SBA resource partners — including the Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOC), Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), Women’s Business Centers (WBC), SCORE, and SU’s IVMF — to deliver entrepreneurship education and training to transitioning service members and their dependents who are exploring or pursuing small-business ownership and self-employment.

 

Boots to Business is available at no charge on military installations worldwide to service members and military spouses transitioning or retiring from service, the SBA said.

 

WISE message

Prior to her remarks at the IVMF, Contreras-Sweet also spoke at the 13th annual WISE Symposium at the nearby Carrier Dome.

 

“The fact that you call the conference, WISE, is a wise move, I must say … this whole notion of women inspiring the spirit of entrepreneurship I think is just that,” Contreras-Sweet said about WISE as she opened her talk at the IVMF.

 

The event targets young entrepreneurs and anyone active in the business community interested in networking with “smart, savvy” women in business, according to the WISE website.

 

WISE is short for Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship.

 

“More and more women find themselves not only wanting to create their own business but in many instances, having to create their own business to provide for their families,” Contreras-Sweet added.

 

Her message at the WISE Symposium noted that women should also be thinking about “growing companies to scale.”

 

She noted the recent launch of the SBA program called InnovateHER “because we wanted women to know that they too can create the next Google, the next Microsoft … the next Uber,” said Contreras-Sweet in response to a CNYBJ inquiry at the IVMF news conference.

 

The SBA started “InnovateHER: 2015 Innovating for Women Business Challenge” in March. It’s a nationwide competition for entrepreneurs focusing on products and services that will benefit women and their families (See story above).

 

“We want women to get in the game,” she added.

 

The WISE Symposium featured between 125 and 130 exhibitors, speakers, and breakout session on various business topics, says Lindsay Wickham, event manager for the WISE Symposium.

 

Wickham also serves as events and communications manager at the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at SU’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

 

The conference, which had been held at the Oncenter, moved to the Carrier Dome as part of SU’s One University initiative, says Wickham.

 

“We want to bring together community with campus, so we decided what better way than to [hold] it up here at the Carrier Dome where we can invite students, faculty, and staff and show the community what amazing entrepreneurial things are happening,” says Wickham. 

 

The school has been hosting One University events that seek to “bring together small groups of faculty and staff from across a range of academic and administrative units to meet, talk and get to know each other a little better,” according to a Nov. 21, 2014, news release on the SU website.        

 

 

SYRACUSE — Businesses change hands for numerous reasons — including illness, death, and retirement — and the best piece of advice from those who have been through the process is to have a plan.

 

Setting a plan made for a relatively smooth transition at N.K. Bhandari, Architecture & Engineering, P.C. (www.nkbpc.com), even with unexpected bumps along the way, says the firm’s new president and owner Christopher Resig.

 

When he rejoined the firm in 2010, the business carefully planned for Resig to step into the role previously filled by his brother James. Christopher Resig previously worked for the firm for just more than 12 years until the mid-1990s.

 

James Resig worked for the company since its founding in 1980, eventually becoming president and owner. When it came to his attention that Christopher, who spent 15 years working elsewhere, wasn’t really happy with his job, he approached his brother and offered him a job with the opportunity to eventually become the owner.

 

“It took me less than probably two weeks to think about that,” Christopher says. “It just looked like a marvelous opportunity for Jim and I to work together again.”

 

So Resig, an architect, rejoined N.K. Bhandari, and he and his brother got to work mapping out a succession plan. While they worked hard over the past five years creating that plan with a team of advisers and gradually transitioning responsibilities to Christopher Resig, the process hit an unexpected twist just over two years ago when James learned he had cancer.

 

“There was nothing unplanned and unorganized regarding the transition, except his health,” Christopher Resig says. While his brother underwent treatment, Resig assumed more responsibilities at the business and allowed his brother to focus on his health. The transition to president took place on Jan. 1 of this year. James Resig, 60, passed away on Feb. 1.

 

Christopher Resig says he is so grateful he had been able to spend the past five years working side by side with his brother and to be there to support both his brother and the business during the past two years. “The way he and I looked at this situation was that the good Lord put us together,” he says.

 

Other changes at N.K. Bhandari include the addition of Daniel Heukrath as practice leader, where he will oversee business development and client relationships, and Carl Nordberg as senior project engineer, where he will work with clients, staff, and project managers in the development and delivery of large, complex projects.

 

Resig credits the firm’s transition team for helping the process go as smoothly as it did. That team included attorney Elizabeth Hartnett of Mackenzie Hughes, LLP; CPA William Killory of Dermody, Burke & Brown CPAs, LLC; and strategic-planning consultant Jan Thirlby of Thirlby Consulting, LLC. “They advised us every step of the way,” Resig says. 

 

Another benefit to him during the transition process was participating in the Small Business Administration’s 2014 Emerging Leaders Program. The seven-month program covered a range of topics from setting goals to human resources. “Going through the Emerging Leaders Program prepared me for ownership of the firm,” Resig says.

 

Now at the helm, Resig says he’s continuing to build the legacy started by his brother and firm founder Narindar K. Bhandari. To help accomplish that, the firm has been working for several years on a strategic plan for growth and diversification.

 

In 2010, about 95 percent of N.K. Bhandari’s revenue came from a single client with a single contract, Resig says. Today, its revenue comes equally from about four or five different sectors and clients. While the firm previously focused on federal-government work before, it now serves several different markets — federal, state, corporate, industrial, higher education, K-12 education, health care, municipal, and facilities.

 

“We have retooled who we are,” Resig says.

 

Going forward, N.K. Bhandari will also begin work in the K-12 education field and hopes to soon land a five-year federal contract that would generate “significant” revenue for the firm, he says. Resig declined to disclose revenue totals or projections.

 

N.K. Bhandari is also looking into a technology initiative that would help design buildings that perform better for clients, he adds.

 

“We are on the precipice of marvelous things going forward,” Resig says.

 

Headquartered in just over 5,000 square feet at 1005 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse, N.K. Bhandari provides architectural and engineering services to a variety of markets. The firm has 12 full-time employees, plus it calls in five employees as needed.        

 

 

 

SYRACUSE — Fraud is a human being stealing from a business, defrauding the organization in some way. Fraud is not a computer program or an accounting function.

 

That’s the view of David E. (Daven) Morrison, III, M.D., an organizational psychiatrist who has spent his career working with senior executives. [Daven is a combination of David and his middle name, Evan, and rhymes with “raven,” Morrison says, explaining the name he goes by.]

 

Morrison’s company is Chicago–area-based Morrison Associates, Ltd., described on its website as a “business-consulting firm helping organizations to become more effective by turning resistance into motivation into performance.” 

 

Morrison spoke on the topic “Fraud and the Family-Owned Business: Trust But Verify” in an event held April 7 at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. The Family Business Center at Le Moyne’s Madden School of Business organized it.

 

In an April 17 phone interview with CNYBJ, Morrison discussed his assertion that fraud “is not an invention of computers; fraud is a human act.”

 

He noted that “it’s basically a point of view, a starting point for why a person ought to be listening to a psychiatrist talk about fraud versus an accountant.” 

 

Morrison is a co-author of the book, “A.B.C.s of Behavioral Forensics,” described as “an introductory text on the psychology of white-collar crime,” according to the Family Business Center web page announcing the event.

 

The book’s cover includes “applying psychology to financial fraud prevention and detection,” according to an Amazon web page that’s selling the book.

 

Lecture title

Morrison said that in his Le Moyne lecture he was trying to highlight the challenge for a family business.

 

Employees in high-level jobs reach those positions either through hard work, or simply because they are a member of the family that owns the business, says Morrison.

 

And sometimes the individuals in those jobs “can take advantage of that,” either due to human nature or the way they feel about the business.

 

The phrase, “Trust but verify” has been credited to the late President Ronald Reagan who used it while negotiating Cold War-era nuclear deals, but it’s also a “central premise” of accounting, says Morrison.

 

“Just because you’re family or you’ve worked here a long time doesn’t mean I can trust you. I trust the processes, and as I trust the processes, then we can all trust each other,” he adds, explaining the rationale behind the lecture title and his philosophy.

 

Studying fraud

The people who study fraud are called forensic accountants. As Morrison describes their profession, forensic accountants are the professionals who “come in and check out what happened, how did it work, who did it.”

 

In studying those committing fraud, they find there’s no particular profile, no particular race or ethnicity, and it’s both genders in the U.S. and Canada equally, he notes. 

 

“But it is at a certain point in life, which is mid-life, and it’s often long-standing employees with no criminal record,” says Morrison.

 

Those with expertise in behavioral conditions would call them “psychopaths or sociopaths,” he adds.

 

But Morrison communicates regularly with investigators in the FBI and other agencies who say fraudsters are “just every day Joes.” 

 

Then, the question becomes why?, and it’s an issue Morrison’s book examines.

 

Someone committing fraud might be an “accidental fraudster,” or a person who “finds a hole in the system and, for whatever reason, takes advantage of it,” he says.

 

A fraudster may be greedy — an explanation that Morrison says is “probably five or six-thousand years old.”

 

In his book, Morrison theorizes that perhaps people commit fraud for reasons that stretch beyond just simple greed.

 

“They may be angry at the organization and be seeking revenge. They may have a personal financial need and they tell themselves, ‘I’ll pay it back,’ ” he says.

 

The motivation isn’t always greed, but it eventually progresses, Morrison notes. The person committing fraud might not remember it and won’t pay it back. The fraudster’s problem might be a gambling or substance-abuse addiction.

 

In the interview with CNYBJ, Morrison also talked about subclinical psychopathy, noting it was something that he didn’t discuss during the lecture at Le Moyne College.

 

In describing subclinical psychopathy, Morrison said Joseph Koletar, one of the book’s co-authors, noted the public “can’t be too judgmental” about fraudsters because “we all break the law.”

 

Koletar is a retired senior executive with the FBI who supervised the white-collar crime division in New York City, according to Morrison. 

 

He uses speed limits as an example, says Morrison.

 

“The minute you go one mile over the speed limit, you’re breaking the law … We’re all kind of guilty in that way,” says Morrison, referencing the idea behind subclinical psychopathy. 

 

So, why are these “every day Joes” or fraudsters breaking the law? In their book, Morrison and Koletar break it down into eight different possible motivations.

 

“Am I playing a game, or is this a task? Do I follow the rules, or do I break the rules? Do I do it for myself, do I do it for other people?” says Morrison, noting a few of the possible motivations at play.

 

In offering advice to family businesses, Morrison suggests that business owners shouldn’t get too dependent on any one person and they need to make sure their employees take vacations.

 

He also shared a piece of advice from Koletar, the retired FBI executive.

 

“Make sure you have your bank records sent home. You can double check [them] at home,” says Morrison.         

 

 

AUBURN — Communication just might be the most crucial factor in the success of a family business in transition, says an Auburn florist who helps run a business started by her grandparents.

 

Communication was vital to the process of turning Cosentino’s Florist into Cosentino’s Florist, LLC, says Jessica Cosentino, who co-owns the business with her father Carmen. Not only was it important that she and her father communicate, but it was also vital that they both communicate with her two brothers, Guy and Russell, who did not wish to join the family business. Keeping everyone in the loop helped make sure no one was left out and no one’s feelings were hurt, she says.

 

Nine years ago, Jessica Cosentino was working in Syracuse, but wasn’t especially happy with her job. “I worked for an insurance company, and I was getting a little burnt out,” she recalls. After growing up in the family florist business, Cosentino initially had been eager to get away from it. But after spending time working elsewhere, she realized that what she actually wanted was to be a part of it.

 

Cosentino says her parents asked her to consider coming back to Cosentino’s Florist and told her to give it two years. If she was still happy, she could turn her eye toward ownership. 

 

This is where communication once again comes into play, Cosentino says. She began working at Cosentino’s Florist, located at 141 Dunning Ave. in Auburn, with the thought that she was going to own the business in two years and her parents would retire. Things haven’t exactly worked out that way.

 

Her father isn’t ready to retire yet and, in July 2011, Cosentino’s mother Anne Marie unexpectedly died from leukemia. “Everything changes,” Jessica Cosentino says. Suddenly, she and her father needed to handle paperwork associated with Anne Marie’s passing, such as removing her from business bank accounts. “We had to change things for the business,” Cosentino says. “She’s no longer an owner.”

 

It was through that process that Cosentino and her father decided to form an LLC so that she and her father could share ownership of the business and make the ownership transition an easier process. The daughter currently owns 49 percent of the business while her father owns 51 percent and her two brothers are officers of the LLC. “It was the best option so we all have a say,” Jessica Cosentino notes.

 

Through the process, the business had guidance from Paul Goodman a CPA who operates Floral Finance Business Services in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and writes a monthly financial newsletter for Teleflora. Cosentino says Goodman was the best person to help her family with their business because he knows the industry. “Every industry is different,” she says. “We’re way different than a restaurant.” 

 

After working out the industry specifics, she says, the Cosentinos were then able to work with their accountant and lawyer to complete and file the appropriate paperwork.

 

In the years since her mother’s passing, Cosentino says the business has remained strong through its direct mail program, quality customer service, and involvement in the community. “That’s how you build a business and how you keep business,” she says.

 

Cosentino has been spending time learning the wedding flower business, taking over a role once filled by her mother. “I’m learning to be a wedding master,” she quips, adding that a portion of the shop is now a dedicated wedding consulting room. In addition to the shop’s main website at www.cosentinosflorist.com, the business has an additional website, www.auburnweddingflowersbycosentinosflorist.com, to showcase its wedding work and services. The heading at the top of the site says, “Weddings By Jessica.”

 

Wedding flowers has been a growing area of business for Cosentino’s Florist as the Finger Lakes region has increased in popularity for destination weddings at venues such as wineries, Cosentino says. That increased popularity combined with the quality of their work has tripled the number of bridal customers for 

Cosentino’s Florist over the past four years, she says.

 

Cosentino’s Florist has seven employees and adds five additional employees during holidays such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and prom season. Carmine and Phyllis Cosentino started the business in 1934, and their son Carmen and his wife Anne Marie took over the business in 1962.

 

 

SYRACUSE — Succession planning in a family business could take several years with plenty of factors to consider on the emotion and economics of the leadership change.

 

That’s according to Anthony (Tony) Marshall, an attorney in the Syracuse office of law firm Harris Beach, PLLC. Harris Beach is headquartered in Rochester. 

Marshall spoke with CNYBJ on April 17.

 

His practice focuses on corporate tax and trust and estate areas. Most of his clients are closely held, family businesses in upstate New York. Marshall is also licensed as a certified public accountant, he says.

 

A family business can’t wait until the owners provide an eight-month notice of their intention to retire to determine the next-generation leadership and direction the company will pursue, says Marshall.

 

The business owners need to think “through the succession-plan process, who’s going to take over what role [in company leadership],” he adds.

 

If the company doesn’t have family members who are in line to take over the leadership role, the owner will either target other “key employees” or work to sell the business.

 

“That’s going to be your exit strategy … but the bottom line is we need an exit strategy,” says Marshall.

 

Develop a plan

A family business needs to develop a plan that allows the shareholders who want to retire to leave the company. The plan should also enable the family members or key employees with the “core competencies” to assume the leadership role.

 

Any succession plan should also align the needs of both the outgoing owners and the incoming leaders, says Marshall.

 

The departing shareholders will want to realize the value of their stock for retirement income and preserve the business so it can remain profitable and grow, he adds.

 

The new company leaders will have to determine if they’ll need additional compensation for a more leadership-specific role, while also understanding that the business may need to continue providing payments to the retiring shareholders for a while. 

 

“So is there enough cash flow that’s going to align everybody’s needs and wants, and make sure that the company doesn’t go bankrupt in the process,” says Marshall.

 

The process doesn’t happen “overnight,” he notes.

 

Start talking

A typical family business should have a strategy to “just start talking about it” when the primary business owner reaches the age of about 50, says Marshall. 

 

Sometimes a family’s children won’t want to assume control of the business, and sometimes they want be the next generation of ownership. For those interested in leading the business, the parents have to determine if the children have the necessary “core competencies.”

 

“What skill set do they need,” Marshall says, referring to a company’s need for operations, administration, and back-office functions.

 

The decisions become even more important if a family has multiple children in line for leadership roles, he says.

 

“Ultimately, part of that strategy would be … having whom you feel is going to run the organization have the controlling vote,” says Marshall.

 

The owners also have to determine how to handle the company’s shares, including whether to gift them or to sell them and whether to structure the stock into voting and non-voting shares, he adds.

 

If a family has three siblings in line for consideration, who will get the controlling shares and when do the parents or owners provide the shares?

 

“What do Mom and Dad want? What kids want to be involved? You start early enough, the economics can be worked out. The skill sets can be addressed,” says Marshall. 

 

The thought process on succession planning can last as long as 15 years, Marshall notes.

 

A family business will want the benefit of hind sight “as much as possible,” which means it should start early and allow the process to evolve. 

 

If they don’t start early enough and express to children or key employees that an ownership opportunity is available, then the family owners could start feeling pressure. 

 

At that point, the effort for a succession plan “tends to fail,” Marshall says, leading to the eventual sale of the business.

 

 

Wanted: 500 Hop Pickers wanted at my yard, Monday, September 5th… Positively no children allowed in the yard. — John Greenway

During most of the 1800s, these advertisements ran annually in August and September as Central New York was one of the top growers of hops in the country. 

Local trains filled with newly hired men and women of all ages, nationalities, and from all walks of life, who traveled to the many area hop yards to help bring in the harvest. In some cases, the hop yards were located far from the nearest train stations. This would necessitate further long, crowded wagon rides to the hop yards. Preparations for the pickers’ arrival and subsequent month-long stays were very involved as they all boarded with their employers.

 

The farmer’s wife thoroughly cleaned the farmhouse and barns in anticipation of the hop workers’ arrival. She took up her best furniture and rugs, put them under temporary lock and key, and replaced them with cots and bedding while also supplying linens and toiletries. Food preparations were massive and extra supplies of tea, coffee, sugar, and baked goods were purchased and produced. It was understood that good food helped to insure that pickers returned year after year.

 

Central New York was a prime hops growing area due to its location (between 35 and 55 degrees latitude) and the length of the growing day. These vigorous, pleasantly fragrant vines grew as much as 6 inches in one day and required sturdy trellises in order to grow properly. The tiny barbs on the vine, that could grow up to 25 feet in length, adhered themselves to the wires strung between the trellises. Farmers could only use ‘female’ hop vines and subsequently dedicated their energy during the growing season to evicting any ‘male’ plants from the growing field. A mature female hop vine yields cones (a grouping of flowers) containing yellow glands that secrete lupulin. This substance is necessary to make beer foamy, give it its distinctive flavor and help to extend shelf life. The vines usually came to maturation at the end of August or beginning of September. Hops are sensitive and therefore susceptible to grubs, mildew, and pests — making them a difficult crop to manage.

 

At the onset of the harvest, pickers were arranged in groups of four around a large wooden box divided into quarters. This box was covered by an awning to help protect the workers from the sun. Each box was located in a “set” that is eight rows of hops in each direction. Men known as “box tenders” brought the vines to the pickers and carried away the discarded vines. Workers were required to remove only the cones of flowers from the vines. Both men and women wore gloves as the bristles on the cones caused painful welts. Women covered their forearms with cut-off stockings as added protection. When each worker’s box was full, he/she shouted “hop sack” and the yard boss would empty the hops into a sack that was then taken to the kiln for drying. The pickers received a ticket every time they filled their section of the box. The completed tickets would then be submitted at the end of the season for compensation. Workers’ picking speeds varied, causing numerous rivalries. An average worker filled two boxes per day with others filling up to eight. Wages were based on the season’s yield. 

 

Once the sacks of hops reached the grower’s kiln, they were spread out on the slatted floor that was covered by a large burlap tarp. The farmer then went below, where a large woodstove had been installed. The stovepipe was divided into two pipes that split to frame the room spreading heat below the hops. Brimstone (chunks of unrefined sulphur) was placed on the top of the stove and the resulting fumes bleached the hops. The process generally took from 12 to 16 hours to complete. Once thoroughly dried, the hops were slid into another room where they were baled and then transported to the buyers. These bales were highly flammable and frequent warehouse fires occurred. Today, the dried hops are pressed into pellet shapes and stored in vacuum packages to avoid this hazard.

Although the pickers worked extremely long days from pre-dawn to dusk, evenings were reserved for dancing. The dances were usually held in the employer’s barn. This allowed the farmer to better control where and when the pickers socialized while still making sure everyone was rested properly for the next day’s work. Occasionally, a more formal affair was arranged at the local hotel or dancehall, providing the ladies with a more dressed-up occasion. Sundays were reserved for clothes washing and church going.

 

At the end of the approximately month-long season, workers were transported back to the train stations to return home. Hop picking was unique in that it served to bring people from all walks of life together to work and socialize in a close-knit community for a short period of time. It was viewed as a mostly pleasant change of pace, resulting in many workers returning annually. 

 

Unfortunately, the hops-growing industry in this area disappeared in the early 20th Century due presumably to a mold epidemic and a drop in profits. Major North American hops growers now mostly reside on the West Coast. There has, however, been a recent upsurge in the number of hops growers in Central New York with the interest in micro brews and improvements in growing practices.           

 

Karen Y. Cooney is support services administrator at the Onondaga Historical Association, or OHA, in Syracuse.