By Alex Larsen

Commerce Chenango

In an episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” Jim Carrey takes Seinfeld on a tour of his Los Angeles art studio. As the camera sweeps across the room, Carrey is seen hovering over a bin of Golden Artist Colors Paint. I was a little surprised to see a local product pop up there, but I shouldn’t have been.

Products from Chenango County can be found around the world – on supermarket shelves, artist’s palettes, factory floors, and maybe even roaring over your head at 30,000 feet as your read this.

Today, Chenango’s diverse roster of manufacturers spans a multitude of industries, from food processing to the aerospace industry and almost everything in between. October 7th is Manufacturing Day, which gives us an opportunity to recognize all these manufacturers contribute to our community.

Chenango’s manufacturing tradition can be traced t a rich history of innovation that stretches back to the blacksmiths who helped settle the region. And it was, in fact, a blacksmith who helped put Chenango County ‘on the map’ when it comes to manufacturing – and to the attention of a man who would be the 20th president of the United States.

In 1879, James Garfield used him as an example when he addressed the Consolidated Business College in Washington, DC.