Group to end season with this weekend’s CAP-PY Duck Race; Main Street Grant Program possibly entering new phase

Last week Nick Rose was guest of honor at a “welcome party” hosted by Fred and Carolyn Trim-bach, as he capped off his first four months as CAP-21’s most recent executive director—having taken over for the retiring Deb Carhart on May 1.

And this week, he will oversee this weekend’s CAPPY Duck Derby fundraiser and get ready to hopefully enter a new phase of Old Forge’s Main Street Grant project.

An application has been submitted for a second round of funds that could expand the eligible zone and allow others to participate, Rose said.

“We have six or seven other businesses that didn’t get into the first round who are still interested in applying,” he said.

The Main Street Grant program was initiated under Carhart who phased Rose into it when he started as CAP’s Grant Program Manager.

“Deb is a great resource, and a great talent,” Rose said.

As CAP-21’s executive director, Rose is responsible for and administering grants from state, federal and private sources, the Main Street Grants.

Local businesses that have already benefited from the Main Street include ACE Hardware, Old Forge Hardware Dave Etsen’s building that currently houses Adirondack Cafe, Gallery 3040, the Historical Association, Five Corners Café, Ozzie’s Coffee Bar, Sister’s Bistro, and Wilderness Interiors.

All have received funds to help with improvements.

“A lot of business owners said these are things they have wanted to do for a long time and didn’t have the resources. But the grants made it possible,” he said.

The funds come from the New York State Housing Trust Fund.

“Anytime there’s a real estate transaction, money goes into the New York State Housing Trust Fund and the state uses that money for grants,” Rose said. “It’s some of your tax dollars doing good things.”

Grant funds pay for about half the improvement costs, sometimes more, he said.

Remaining monies helped buy Bear Proof Containers in the recycling spots along Main Street.

Other eligible uses for Main Street funds included signage, plantings, and benches, according to Rose.

“Anything that helps with the beautification,” he said.

The current designated zone runs from the Webb Visitor Center to the Historical Association’s Goodsell Musuem.

Before coming to CAP, Rose spent 35 years as a grants manager for the Developmental Disabilities Planning Council and the New York State Department of Education.

The Utica native is a life-long summer resident of Inlet, whose parents once owned Rose’s Sunset Beach on Fourth Lake.

“I spent every summer there and worked there when I was growing up,” he said.

He and his wife Cynthia (Cindy) previously lived in Malta, near Saratoga Springs, and they are now living full time in Inlet.

They have two daughters; Rebecca of Clifton Park, and Kimberly, who lives in Goose Creek, SC, and they have three grandsons.

Rose’s wife is the daughter of Letty Haynes, the Inlet Town Historian and a former teacher at Inlet Common School, and her twin brother, Jeff Haynes, is also a resident of Inlet.