The Peru Gazette

From the office of Assemblyman Billy Jones

Assemblyman Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake) joined members of local tourism agencies and business owners to urge New York to renew funding for the Beekmantown Gateway Center, the first rest stop for southbound travelers on Interstate 87 located between Exits 41 and 40. The Adirondack Regional Tourism Council was awarded a contract to manage the Beekmantown Gateway Center until March 2024, but funding for the facility was not included in the 2020 State Budget so the Information Center closed in April 2020. The Beekmantown Welcome Center continues to be vacant.

Opening in 1995, the Information Center welcomes travelers from Canada and provides general information to visitors to the region and provides free Wifi as well. Approximately 103,000 travelers visit the center every year and approximately 198,000 brochures are distributed from the Center from an average of 200 different businesses and organizations. Tourism organizations have learned to depend on the Beekmantown Gateway Center to inform visitors about the North Country’s tourist attractions and to encourage people driving through the region to stop and patronize local businesses. The State Budget previously included $196,000 in funding for the Beekmantown Gateway Center.

“The Beekmantown Gateway Center has welcomed visitors to New York for over 25 years and is the first stop many travelers from Canada make in New York,” said Assemblyman Billy Jones. “It’s unacceptable that the Center remains vacant due to funding cuts. The North Country has a vibrant tourism industry and it’s important that the State provides funding to keep this industry thriving. The first stop for visitors of our state needs to be welcoming and not a vacant building and it’s time that the State restores funding to the Beekmantown Gateway Center in the State Budget.”

“This is one of the state’s key visitor gateways,” said Garry Douglas, President of the North Country Chamber of Commerce. “Thousands of visitors a year, especially from Canada, stop for information on the Lake Champlain and Adirondack regions, maximizing the visitor experience and business in our region. While it was understandable to close the center during the height of the pandemic with border restrictions, it is now time to provide for its reopening by summer. As we hopefully resume major cross-border travel by then, it will be more important than ever to be welcoming and helpful. Indeed, while it’s important to fund reopening in the next budget, this is also the time to start planning for a new center like those built in recent years across the state, including in Queensbury and Clifton Park in support of northbound travel. Onward and upward!”

“The Beekmantown Welcome Center is not only the Gateway to the Adirondacks for our neighbors to the north but also allows the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council to execute and implement important tourism marketing initiatives to keep the region on an equal playing field with other tourism regions throughout the state,” said Kristy Kennedy of the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council.  “The welcome center welcomes a variety of visitors, including leisure travelers and group travelers, but it also is a popular resting area for our truckers and long haulers who are vital during this supply chain crisis.”