By Mary Jane Pitt
The Highlands Chamber of Commerce started off 2025 with a crowd large enough that they had to move to a bigger room. That’s a good sign for the organization, President Dee Moreno told the group as they met at Delizia’s Pizza Kitchen last week.
“We wanted to get together to start planning our year, and to find out how we can help our local businesses and organizations,” she said as she introduced herself and Vice President Sallie Dorsch. Other Chamber officers, Trevor Rhodes, Monique Wolf and Ann Marie Flynn weren’t able to be at the session. “Let us know if you need help at events or advertising those events.”
Moreno had all in the room introduce themselves. There were two Town Board members (Rich Sullivan and Joe DeWitt), one Village Board member (Jim Ramus), several people running for seats on the Village Board (Carol Spisso, Aleena Olivia and Dorsch), and representatives of the West Point-Highland Falls Rotary Club, West Point’s Public Affairs Office, the American Legion, the Winter Market, the town’s Environmental Advisory Committee.
Who wasn’t there were representatives of local businesses. Moreno said that is an issue they are working on, by hosting Chamber meetings in a variety of locations, and at a variety of times. “Many of our members are restaurant owners, and they’re working right now,” she added.
She said that she and Dorsch – and she’d love if others joined them – take time to stop by local businesses to “check in”. In all, she said, there are about 30 members of the Chamber, and they’d love to have more members.
But, Moreno noted, if a business or group isn’t a ‘member’ of the Chamber, she and the executive board of the group are still willing to help where needed.
“Our goal is to raise foot traffic in Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery,” she said, “on weekends when there are West Point activities, and on weekends when there aren’t.”
Moreno said one way to get that foot traffic is by constant marketing of events, using resources like the Orange County Chamber of Commerce and West Point Community Leader Information Forum (CLIF), all types of social media in the community, and signs. To that note, they are hoping to get some kind of tourist kiosk installed on the north end of Main St. listing local businesses, and to redo a map and community information that could be left at the West Point Visitor’s Center.
There’s the possibility the village’s $4.5 million NY Forward grant will have some funds to use toward Main St. signage; Spisso said Vision 2002 has an interest in being part of that project too. Moreno was thrilled to hear that.
“We want West Point to be a part of our community, and we want to be a part of theirs,” Moreno said. She said she’ll be at those upcoming CLIF meetings (February 12, March 12, April 9 and May 14) to tell West Point about local activities – anyone with something she should talk about should reach out to her.
Dorsch also spoke about the ongoing effort to keep an accurate community calendar. “We get a lot of ‘I didn’t know that was happening’,” she said, adding that the Chamber works with groups like The Center of Highland Falls to push out information.
The Chamber’s next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19. The location will be announced soon. Visit The Town of Highlands Chamber of Commerce on Facebook for more information.