OBSERVER Photo Village of Fredonia, town of Pomfret and area organizers of Decembers’s event were all smiles following the rally at the Opera House. In the center are the Small Business Revolution representatives.

“All right! Fire it up!” Fredonia Mayor-elect Doug Essek shouted in the Opera House lobby Wednesday, trying to get people excited for the visit of the Small Business Revolution (SBR) representatives.

He got a big, loud response — the first of many, as hundreds of people showed up for a rally to welcome Erica Adams and Julie Gordon to the village.

A BOISTEROUS RALLY

The Opera House has a seating capacity of 410. Every seat was taken — with more people standing in the aisles and out in the lobby.

As the crowd settled in, a slide show called “We Are Fredonia” played on the screen as Todd Tranum, county Chamber of Commerce head, led the crowd in chants of “My Fredonia.” He asked them, “Be really loud when they get there.” Katie Pucci-Schaefer, SUNY Fredonia’s former cheerleading coach, then led some more chants.

As Adams and Gordon walked in about 2 p.m. — they drove in from Xenia, Ohio, a town that’s one of Fredonia’s competitors for a profile on a season of SBR — the Opera House exploded with noise and commotion. People literally jumped up and down with enthusiasm as a surprised Adams and Gordon, who didn’t know the rally would be so large, walked in. The duo spent several minutes just getting down the aisle, shaking hands, slapping high-fives and taking selfies with the audience.

“Our village would like to show the SBR team what we are all about,” Essek told the gathering. He explained some of the history of the village, getting a big cheer when he mentioned its Olympic gold medalist, Jenn Suhr. “We are well known for our grape vineyards and wonderful wineries,” he said to more cheers. His statement that there are “many successful musicians, potters and artists in the village” brought yet more applause.

“We have fantastic small businesses in Fredonia that are diverse in their products and services,” he continued. Talking up the work of community organizations in putting together the SBR effort, he added, “This process has invigorated our community in a way we have not seen in the past.”

Essek added that Fredonia, like many small towns, has seen its share employers and residents move on. “Small businesses are the backbone of our community, as the larger ones have left,” he declared, garnering even louder applause than any of his other statements.

Officials then screened a short video about Fredonia, including several business owners, designed to further help introduce Adams and Gordon to the community.

“We want Fredonia to, win, right?,” Essek shouted, as the crowd chanted “Fredonia, Fredonia” and stomped their feet.

“You can see the tremendous energy that this village has,” Gordon said as the rally crowd began to leave. “It’s just so exciting to see everyone come together That’s what we’re looking for, is the community coming together, not just the businesses, not just the community leaders, but also the residents.”

“The welcome was unexpected,” Adams said. “We don’t ask towns to do anything more than greet us and really help us get to know the town. So that was amazing — I think we’re both still a little bit in shock — that was more than we expected and it was a wonderful welcome to Fredonia.”

They said they would be talking to both business and community leaders Wednesday and today to get a sense of their challenges and how SBR can help them be more successful. Adams said more than 120 businesses expressed interest in an SBR visit. “That’s a big number,” Adams said. “We hope to get to many of them — we probably won’t be able to get to them all — but we’re excited to see the variety and mixture, whether it’s generation-old businesses or someone who just opened their door this year.”

A SNOWY BUS RIDE

As heavy lake-effect snow moved in, Adams and Gordon then piled into a SUNY Fredonia shuttle bus for a tour of the community with local leaders. The leaders included Essek, Pomfret Supervisor-elect Dan Pacos, Pomfret Town Board and Fredonia Chamber of Commerce member Ann Eckman, Fredonia Trustee Roger Britz and Fredonia High School student body president Joe Gullo, among others.

“We wanted you to see the heart of Fredonia,” Eckman said. Adams and Gordon brushed off worries about the snow, stating that they are from the Midwest.

After stopping for cocoa and cookies gifted by a local bakery, the bus went around all of Fredonia, not just downtown, as leaders pointed out business and sites including Barker Common, One Park Place, Canadaway Creek, Russell Joy Park, One Temple Square and SUNY Fredonia. Their statements usually started, “If you can see it through the snow,” as visibility decreased and the windows fogged over. Again, Adams and Gordon seemed totally unfazed by the wall of white.

They were already asking questions — about local recreational fishing and the wine and grape business in the area, for example — and making observations. “The architecture of the houses is amazing,” Gordon commented as the bus drove past Central Avenue’s Victorian-era homes.

She later added, “This bus ride is really helpful, getting a lay of the land.”

Stopping by the White Inn, leaders highlighted the Fredonia institution — currently owned by a bank and shut down — as a business that could use some help. Referring to an earlier statement by Adams that they like to stay in bed-and-breakfasts or small hotels on the road to get more community flavor, Pacos said, “It breaks our heart we couldn’t put you up here.”

Later on, Essek told them again that the SBR process has helped Fredonia greatly. “It’s an attitude change in the way we think, and work together.” Referring to the recent elections in November, he added, “Our village was kind of separated and this seemed like an opportunity to unify.”

After the bus tour, Adams and Gordon began their tour of businesses, which will continue today. They were scheduled to have dinner at the Liberty Restaurant with several local leaders.

The duo posted a note to Fredonia on SBR’s Facebook page that said, “It’s your turn to tell us about all the wonderful small businesses in the community!” Posted about 5 p.m. Wednesday, it had 242 comments by 8:30 p.m.

Eckman asks all community members to share their comments on that page, and/or “like” or mention SBR, and Fredonia’s effort to get a season of it, elsewhere on Facebook and on other social media platforms.

SBR’s top 10 will be whittled down to five contenders by the show’s community visitors, including Adams and Gordon. An Internet vote in January by the public will determine the winner. The winning community’s businesses will get $500,000 from SBR for renovations and other investments and a profile taking up an entire season of the Web-based series.