RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent
Mike Gaetano, second from left, accepts the Vince Matteo Excellence in Leadership Award from Chamber representatives Cindy Robbins, Gabe Sinicropi, and Mark Stankiewicz. The presentation was made at the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting in Williamsport on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025
The economic vitality of Lycoming County was on display Tuesday at the 139th annual Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce annual meeting and awards banquet.
The meeting at the Holiday Inn Express featured four award winners: Mike Gaetano, recipient of the Vince Matteo Excellence in Leadership Award; The Potting Bench, recipient of the Emerging Business Award; Blaise Alexander Family Dealerships received the Staiman Family Large Business Award; and Natural Waterscapes was recipient of the 28th Phillips/Plankenhorn Small Business Award.
Gaetano, described as a man with passion who strives for excellence in business and in his personal life, was honored by the award the chamber board has named after the former chamber president and chief executive officer.
“He was a great person. He was a great friend,” said Gaetano, humbly accepting the award.
“Attributes that are core to Mike include hard work, knowledge and integrity,” said Gabriel A. Sinicropi Jr., chair of the chamber board, meeting master of ceremonies and vice president of marketing for the Williamsport Crosscutters. He acknowledged him being a fellow former chamber board chairman.
“Those are attributes he possesses and uses in mentoring those around him,” Sinicropi said of Gaetano. His ‘can do,’ ‘don’t give up’ attitude towards life is infectious. He understands and embodies the belief that if your objective is to be better at anything in life, whether it be for his work at The Hartman Group and their clients … their employees … his community … that one must make perpetuation a keystone priority.”
“Heading into South Williamsport, you will find The Potting Bench Greenhouse and Market at 324 Matthews Blvd.,” said Tim Keohane, director for the Penn State Small Business Development Center.
“This local community gem offers an array of products, catering to everyone from beginner gardeners to the established planting enthusiast,” Keohane said.
Since its founding in 2020, The Potting Bench has quickly become a staple to the local community. Beyond being a greenhouse, the stop has become widely known for their ice cream creations.
Partnering with local businesses such as Alabaster Coffee, they have established a loyal following in a short number of years when the hint of warmer weather arrives in the area.
Moreover, The Potting Bench team has developed several ways for nonprofits to partner with them on fundraising efforts. They have created unique ways for community organizations to generate funds through supporting The Potting Bench to help dozens of organizations over the past few years raise thousands of dollars for their respective causes.
Dustin Solomon joined his mother, Lori Solomon, on stage as they discussed their plant/ice cream shop’s evolution.
“From the beginning, The Potting Bench was really about more than just selling plants,” Dustin said. “It is a place where families can come together and enjoy warm summer nights in our backyard. We wanted to make sure that there is an area where there are lots of plants, and people can enjoy themselves and maybe even envision some of those plants at their own home and enjoy their own gardening.”
For the past two years, the business has grown in a lot of ways by expanding their offerings, lots of community involvement and have had the opportunity to work alongside over 30 part-time employees that, Dustin acknowledged, “We would not have been able to do this without.”
“We have a lot of trust in our employees,” said Aubrey Alexander, representing the Blaise Alexander Family Dealerships. “About 975 to 1,000 — it fluctuates,” he said of the number of Alexander employees. “Needless to say that is why we are here getting this award,” he said.
“Blaise and the dealerships are all involved in the communities where they live,” said Merrill Smith, assistant vice president with M&T Bank.
“Their support is done by making targeted contributions especially to organizations that have an outreach effect for all citizens of the community, especially children,” he said.
Recent contributions include the St. Joseph Center of Special Learning of Pottsville and the Susquehanna Health Foundation’s “Continuing The Innovation Capital Campaign” — an expansion and renovation project for the Muncy Valley Hospital Emergency Department.
Blaise and his team have partnered for the past several years with Raise the Region, through the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania.
One of the beneficiaries of (Blaise’s and his family and team) support was the donation of a building and land to the Bucktail Medical Center in Renovo.
He was a lead contributor to the James V. Brown Library Children’s Wing campaign. Other beneficiaries of his and the dealerships’ contributions include Montoursville’s Indian Park, the Eastern Lycoming YMCA, Hope Enterprises, Williamsport Symphony, numerous youth sports teams, fire and police departments, and families in need.
Education is a key area of focus and the dealerships support area high schools, Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Scholarship Fund and their automotive programs.
Blaise also contributes to the Indiana Institute of Technology Study Abroad Scholarship, Zollner Engineering Center expansion and renovation project and the Theta XI Fraternity Kappa Delta Chapter Scholarship Fund.
He and his children established the Anne and Blaise Robert “BR” Alexander Memorial Scholarship Fund, in memory of his late wife, Anne, and his son, Blaise Robert. This fund awards scholarships to graduating seniors of Montoursville and Mount Carmel area high schools (BR and Anne’s alma maters) along with other high schools.
Now providing over 1,000 family sustaining jobs and having contributed millions of dollars over these many years, the dealerships humbly accepted the award presented to Aubrey by Richard Staiman.
Natural Waterscapes, founded in 2007, was highlighted on a video produced by Impact Advertising as it was recipient of the 28th Phillips/Plankenhorn Small Business of the Year Award.
The award is supported annually through the cooperation of area banks that have joined together in support of the chamber’s effort in recognizing the award recipient through the short video presentation. In addition to supporting the recognition financially, they also help in reviewing the applications to select the award recipient each year.
What started out as a home base business added a mail order business in 2010. The design team created projects in at least 10 U.S. states. This necessitated a move to a 1,200-square-foot building near Pennsdale, with a retail supply store for local pond owners.
Growth and demand from their online and catalog businesses saw a need for them to convert their retail space and showroom to additional offices and a photo and video studio. Since that time, they have added an inhouse water quality lab and soil permeability lab.
They also expanded to the Dallas/Fort Worth market to better serve clients in the southwest.
Natural Waterscapes now ships products to all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces.
The business is the only for profit organization in the nation that routinely screens water samples for toxic algae and cyanobacteria at no charge to help keep humans and pets safe from harmful algae blooms.
In 2020, the company forged an agreement with North Central Sight Services to provide production, warehousing and fulfillment services for a number of their products. As a result of the agreement, there are North Central Sight Services whose visually impaired employees fulfill Natural Waterscapes’ product orders.
After the video, which featured some heart touching moments, with employees and the community thanking owner Jonathan Klotz, company president, Sincropi remarked: “Great video. You can appreciate why small businesses are so vital to our community and its economy.”
New members to the chamber board of directors for 2025 included: Michael Alexander, First Community Bank; Jerry Clark, The Liberty Group; Merrill Smith, M&T Bank; and Justin Howard, Horizon Federal Credit Union.
The chamber staff working to achieve goals in 2025 was recognized including: Bo Hornberger, Cindy Robbins, Gina Edwards, Jason Fink, president and CEO of the chamber; Jesse Osborne, Mark Stankiewicz, Taryn Hartle and Trisha Dauenbaugh.
“Looking back at 2024, we had a great year here in the community,” Sinicropi said. “But more work is yet to be done and I look forward to working with all the volunteers, community leaders and the staff to accomplish more in 2025.”