Eric Huddy, founding partner of AgriAmerica, discusses the plant operation with attendees during a Tuesday open house at AgriAmerica’s new facility on Water Street in Fredonia.

A once shuttered Fredonia processing plant is revitalized as AgriAmerica is set to begin operations at its Water Street facility next week.

Now, local growers will now have a place locally to send their product.

Farmers had a chance Tuesday evening to get a look inside the fruit processing facility that’ll begin operating Oct. 3. The evening also allowed growers to meet grape processing staff, obtain information on grape deliveries and discuss long-term grape purchasing contracts.

Leading the facility’s revitalization are farmers Eric Huddy and Richard Jozwiak, founding partners of AgriAmerica located on Route 20 in the town of Sheridan. Speaking to growers on the project, Huddy said it was like planning for a NASA rocket launch.

“A lot of people said it could never happen,” Huddy said as he concluded a tour with farmers. “It’s really a gratifying feeling. But it’s not about me. It’s about the growers. They work so hard at growing their crop each year. They deserve it.”

With the facility’s revival, Jozwiak said it’s another market for grape growers who don’t have to see their grapes hang on the vine for a year. A Carriage House worker for 27 years, Jozwiak acknowledged that the new venture has also brought a bit of a reunion with some of his former colleagues who are now working at the facility.

“One day I walk in and I look and there’s five guys I knew from Carriage House sitting there at the table who were starting the next day,” he said.

While jobs left with the shuttering of plants in Dunkirk and Fredonia years ago, Huddy said the spirit within the workers never left.

“Watching these guys come together and embrace each other, it was clear they put their heart and soul into operating that Carriage House,” he said.

The new processing facility will offer grape procurement and processing, bulk juice storage and juice sales. The Fredonia plant will also be the only 100 percent “Kosher for Passover” certified grape processing facility within several hundred miles of the Lake Erie grape growing region.

The facility’s plant manager is Dennis Delcamp, who comes with 30 years of fruit processing experience with Cliffstar/Cott/Refresco. Many of those years were spent at the Fredonia facility.

“Coming back to the Fredonia plant is like coming home after being away for 10 years,” Delcamp said. “It’s nice to be home and I’m looking forward to seeing the growers not only this year but many years to come.”

Huddy said the plant will employ a handful of people and quite a few seasonally. Per a third-party study, Huddy said the impact as a result of the plant’s revitalization will bring even more jobs.

“There might be a half dozen full-time jobs here, but the other 105 jobs is the ripple effect,” Huddy said. “The largest benefactor of that is fruit farming. Approximately 55-60 of those jobs are created in food processing.”

Huddy and Jozwiak thanked the community, the various people and agencies for supporting the project. Huddy said the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency, which provided $515,000 in financing, was a “game-changer in getting the project off the ground.”

Eric Huddy, left, founding partner of AgriAmerica, and Dennis Delcamp, right, plant manager, take grape growers through the Water Street facility Tuesday evening.

Eric Huddy, founding partner of AgriAmerica, discusses the plant operation with attendees during a Tuesday open house at AgriAmerica’s new facility on Water Street in Fredonia.