Mohawk Valley Tradition Part I

     There is a national trend that is sweeping the nation in the past several years to move away from the big box store, chain restaurant, internationally manufactured products mentality and return to a time and place when mom and pop stores and local artisans and growers are honored and committed to by our emotional and financial support.

     The Mohawk Valley is the perfect place for such a trend to grow beyond that which other more urban areas because it has been typically been known as a place where everyone either knows or is related to everyone else.  While our demographics have been changing over the past several years, this feeling of familiarity that we have with one another has not changed.  

     And despite recent polling that reports Utica-Rome as the "11th most miserable" metro area (businessinsider.com) and the recent headlines that involve unthinkable acts of crime, the Mohawk Valley remains a place where we support one another in times of trouble and share in each other's victories.

I believe this to be true by looking at all of the ways we do that:

• For 39 years, people in our community have supported the American Heart Association in droves to hold "one of the largest run/walks of it's kind in the country (utica.edu)."  This year, over 9,000 people from all over the Mohawk Valley banded together to raise over 1 million dollars for the Heart Association (heartwalk.kintera.org).  Perhaps this is why ours isn't just great but, the "Greatest"!

• The Boilermaker Road Race is a local phenomenon.  Where else can someone from the Mohawk Valley run the same race as Olympic competitors and everyone feels the same positive energy?   Bob Anderson of bestroadraces.com, someone who doesn't live here, observes about the annual community/national/international event:                                                                         "The Boilermaker is one of a kind. You will never run bolstered on by so many supporters. The energy could light a city, but instead pushes the runners on to produce faster and faster finishes. The entire community is in on the fun and as runners pass through three different neighborhoods, each competing to be the biggest motivators, there is no shortage of cheers, signs, music and water! "

          It's no wonder that every July, you would be hard pressed to find someone who isn't involved in the Boilermaker in some capacity: runner, walker, volunteer, cheerer, spectator, etc.!

• Just recently, one lone man went on a rampage in the small villages of Herkimer and Mohawk.  You all know the story, as it is fresh in our minds and hearts and is still quite painful.  Yet this is not the end of the story.  In a very short period of time a benefit for the victims of this tragedy was organized.  As I watched the planning stages develop of the benefit, I saw that it began small, then it grew so that one part of the benefit had to be moved to another location, only to realize that location was not going to be large enough either.  The result was that so many community members, leaders and business owners had responded that the benefit had to be held in two large places and over $60,000 had been raised in one afternoon!  

These are just three examples of how the Mohawk Valley supports one another in times of need, in times of trouble and in times of celebration.  Can you think of others?  Feel free to share them with us!

The basis for this blog will build upon the national trend to support local artisans and the longstanding Mohawk Valley tradition to support our friends, family and neighbors. 

                  Come back tomorrow for Mohawk Valley Traditions Part II!