First of all, I'd like to thank Ed Wiley with
our hotel here, Marriott Downtown Circus. Let's
hear it for Ed and the staff. I see Lindsay and
they do a great job. And this is a special year
for us. It's going to be our seventh edition.
It's just amazing. We want to thank the New York
State Fair. We've been holding it in the Expo
Center that's over 100 ,000 square feet. It is
a great facility. We pack it with rides and entertainment
and food. It's more summer fun into the winter.
Something very unique. We want to attract people
from all over, not only from Central New York,
but New York State and out of state and such.
And we'll give you some details how we're going
to be able to do that. But we're also doing a
theme this year, which will be about look to
the children. All of our daytime activities will
be centered around students ranging from elementary
school up through college. And we'll give you
some details on that. But before I really get
underway, I want to let you know that we're dedicating
our Syracuse Winter Fair 2026 to the Honorable
Van D. Robinson. Let's hear for Van. Van was
very instrumental in helping us get off the ground
with the idea and such. We will have the Van
Robinson Pan -African Village there and I want
to bring up his wife who was right by his side
all through these years, and she is also the
NAACP Western Region Director. I'd like to bring
up Linda Brown Robinson. Let's hear it for her.
Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Okay, let's
hear it for Steve. So when I prepared this, because
I'm old and halfway blind, I should have made
the font bigger, so you're going to have to bear
with me. So as we all know, Steve is an advocate
and an entrepreneur for this community. And Steve
really does all he can for this community. Even
without being asked, he still does it. So when
did I got to know Steve? How many years ago?
Many years ago. Let's put it that way. Probably
too many to count. And so because of our activism,
it was an easy fit to support Winter Fair, which
is an extension of the New York State Fair. So
as most of you know, back when then Governor
Cuomo was our governor, he committed and dedicated
the Pan -African Village to be Van Robinson's
Pan -African Village. And so moving forward,
our current governor... rededicated that to be
Van Robinson's Pan -African Village. Van and
I got here in 68 and we never stopped working
in this community. So it was such an easy fit
when Steve asked me to make a few remarks. I
didn't have to make up anything because Steve
is truly, truly a committed and dedicated community
servant. He does things without ever being asked.
So Steve, I think the whole entire community
is humbled and proud that you do all of this
for your community. So that's what Van and I
wanted to do, always assist Steve in helping
him to realize his dreams for this community.
So we're all in but the queues. Can you go fishing?
Can you eat candy cotton? jump on these little
bouncy things that I would probably kill myself,
but at Winter Fair. So when Steve thought of
this idea, and I don't even know how the brainstorm
came about, it's not important, but it came about,
and so where else can you go to support the community,
which he does in every aspect. I was a former
board member for the Boys and Girls Club, and
so. And so I know all the good Steve did for
the Boys and Girls Club and every other community
organization. Steve gives his whole, his heart.
And so thank you Steve for being our community
advocate. Thank you for honoring Van and myself.
We would do it anyway because that's just who
we are. You know, we were taught to give back.
So Steve, thank you very much. And let's make
this Winter Fair best and more best. Not good
English. My mother's probably going to slap me.
But we're going to make this. And where's Alan?
Is he here? Is your partner here? Yeah. Alan?
Thank you as well. Because you get left out of
this equation. Come on up here. You need to stand
here. This is Steve's partner. So thank you so
much. OK. And so support this. Talk about it
in the community because our youth, and he supports
our youth, you have to talk about it in the community.
Talk it up, talk it loud, talk it proud. Thank
you, Steve. Thank you. Let's hear it for Wendell
Brown Robinson. Thank you. And I'd also like
to acknowledge Mike Atkins. Mike was the chief
of staff with Vam through the years, and he's
been also very supportive of the Syracuse Winter
Fair. Thank you, Mike. Let's hear it for Mike
Atkins. Now we've been getting great support
from the state county and local as well as city
of surges and You've been out there a few times
senator. I think you were a judge on one of the
You know one of the competitions who were doing
and we really appreciate your support. I'd like
to introduce state senator Rachel May How wonderful
to be dedicating this to Anna. That is so appropriate.
I just want to say, Steve does amazing things
for this community, but this winter fair, if
you love Syracuse, you get really tired of people
saying, oh, yeah, Syracuse is nice, but the winters
are awful. And I don't think that. I actually
love winter. But Steve is instrumental in making
more people love winter, making winter be something
people can look forward to. you know, making
sure that there are indoor activities as well
as outdoor activities here in the winter. So
I really appreciate that. I did get to judge
a cheering competition, I think it was a few
years ago. It was really fun. I recommend people
volunteer to do these things because there's
a lot going on there and you get to know all
kinds of things going on in the community that
you might never have known about. I applaud you
for seven years of doing this and can't wait
to see how exciting this one is. And just the
best of luck. Thank you very much. We also like
to thank State Senator Chris Ryan. He's been
very supportive as well. And we have our other
assembly members. I see Matt Jones here representing
Pam Hunter, Bill Magnarelli. We have Dan, Dan,
where are you? There he is in the back and of
course we have Al Sturpey. But I will tell you,
one of the goals that we have for Winter Fair
is to bring people not only to the city of Syracuse,
but to Onondaga County. It is amazing what's
happening here and I have to dedicate a song
to our county executive. When I was on the radio
as stereo Steve, I used to play this song. by
Timbuk3 called, the future is bright. I gotta
wear shades. And I wanna say he does a great
job of obviously being a visionary. I'd like
to introduce our county executive, Ryan McMahon.
Let's hear it for Ryan. Good morning everyone
and certainly it's good to be here. This is such
a beautiful hotel. And if you think about the
comeback of this community and when it really
started it was when this hotel came back online
which allowed us to continue to reinvest in downtown
to continue to grow. So it's really fitting that
these types of announcements are here. So Steve,
thanks for doing that. Linda, it's so good to
see you and we love you and we love Van. And
you know something about Van? You know someone's
really... good guy or a good good girl if everybody
wants to kind of have like a piece of that a
piece of that memory and I'm no different you
know this we served together on the City Council
when I was a young guy and he was such a great
mentor and so this is fitting that we can continue
to remember him daily and so this is so nice
thanks Steve for doing that. for our friend Van
and I saw some great SU former athletes around
here over here in the corner here and I saw Drummond
and Bowie and you know that's that's that's cool
these guys are great and as a kid you looked
up and saw them play but I think what Steve's
doing is important and I think the senator referenced
you know we have four seasons in this community
and you need to embrace that you can't hide or
run from that and I think overall What we also
know is not everybody likes to embrace Four Seasons
outdoors. And so what a great way to celebrate
Four Seasons and get people back together utilizing
the entertainment infrastructure we have in the
community. And Steve, you and your team put on
a great show. I know you'll put on a great show
here. And I think the other thing, too, that
I always like to talk about when we have events
like this is how the money works. You know, in
county government, in city government. The only
growing form of revenue, unless you raise property
taxes, which quite frankly politicians don't
like to do, right, that's us taking more money
out of your pocket, is sales tax, economic activity.
So the more you can capture spending that exists
here in the community, and the more you can bring
people into the community to spend money, that
pays for all of the services and programs. that
people want us to invest in, right? And so this
is another great piece, another great event that
will help drive more economic activity here in
Onondaga County. So congratulations, everybody.
Please participate and Steve, great job. Thank
you. Again, let's hear it for Onondaga County
Executive Ryan McMahon. Thank you so much. And
we also have, like I said, the support of the
members. in the assembly as well. City of Syracuse
has always been great working with Mayor Ben
Walsh and we do know our incoming mayor which
is Sharon Owens and Sharon would have been here
but she is in New York City right now. So I want
to bring up somebody who has been out to Winter
Fair a few times. He is the most active Common
counselor, city counselor for the city of Syracuse,
Marty Navi. Let's hear it for Marty. So this
is one of my pleasures. And it's special because
we're honoring Van. And as you know, Van was
very insistent of taking down 81. So a brief
story. One day I was walking into VisionWorks.
good eyeglasses. And Van is leaving. Van and
I end up having a big discussion in the foyer
of VisionWorks. If people are coming in and out,
him and I were having a discussion right in the
foyer of VisionWorks about I -81. That is the
one thing I remember about Van, his passion.
And it's wonderful that we are honoring him.
And someone is missing here. Someone who should
be here is not here. And I think of Lawrence
Moulton. Lawrence Moulton. It's a terrible shame
that we lost Lawrence this year at such a young
age. He was such, so passionate of our community.
And it made his memory always be a blessing to
all of us for what he did for our community.
He didn't want to just shoot hoops. He was one
of our greatest assets. And he engaged with our
young people. I do want to... comment that I've
enjoyed Winter Fair. This is the only place where
we could go. Maybe the temperatures will go in
the 70s. I hear that last weekend. It's going
to be in the 70s, I hear. We hope. But it brings
people together. And this is one of our greatest
assets. And I hope the reindeer will be out there.
OK, so we got the reindeer. You're going to decorate
them. So we have a lot of post Christmas. But
thank you for inviting me here. This is one of
our greatest assets we have in our community.
And it's an honor for me to represent the city
of Syracuse. Thank you, Steve. Thank you. Thank
you again, Marty. Is Daniel Mahoney here? Hey,
Dan. Well, we have a brand new winter fair state
sponsor. You ever hear of Destiny USA? They are
coming on board and I have to bring up Daniel
Mahoney who's working in marketing and he's going
to say a few words about how this will be a great
partnership between Destiny and Syracuse Winter
Fair 2026. Let's hear it for Daniel. Good morning,
everybody. My name is Dan. I'm from Destiny USA.
I just want to say we're super excited to partner
for the first time with the Winter Fair. I think
that the Winter Fair really showcases what makes
the city so special, because we have so many
great people and members of the community coming
together, especially during the cold winter months,
where everyone's looking for something fun to
do. It shines a really great light on the city
of Syracuse. We're super proud to support the
event that celebrates the family -friendly fun.
not only in Destiny, but anywhere in the city.
We really like to support all that the city has
to offer. So I just want to say thank you so
much for having me. And we're super excited to
support this year. I believe destiny has something
going on tomorrow in the morning. Another press
conference at 9 45. You ever hear of IKEA? They're
going to be opening up. So We'll definitely hope
people will be coming out for that. That is special,
and we want to thank Destiny USA for being a
part of this. Next person I called up is working
with AmeriQ Charity Foundation, and they've been
involved. Their CEO and president, Ron Bell,
has been very supportive. I'd like to bring up
Vanessa Shewipka. Good morning everyone. I just
want to start off by saying on behalf of AmeriQ
Credit Union, thank you to Steve for being the
driving force of the Winter Fair and a lot of
folks have talked about the long relationships
they've had, but I've just gotten to know Steve
recently and it's been a pleasure to chit chat
and talk about, you know, how the Winter Fair
came to be and why it's so incredibly important
to our community. But the Winter Fair is much
more than just an event. and the word fair has
some pretty significant meaning in this community
when you think fair you think top -notch entertainment
you think about delicious local food and of course
being family friendly so thank you for bringing
this important event to our community and the
word connection to americu has very deep meaning
it's part of who we are we love connecting with
our members we love connecting with our communities
and this is our 75th anniversary so we're really
proud to step up and be celebrating this with
the community. The Winter Fair is a true celebration
of connection, of family, of fun, and really
it shows what makes Central New York and Syracuse
such a wonderful place to live, work, and play.
We're proud to once again support this event
and try to make it just a little bit easier for
families visiting. to provide free parking courtesy
of Ameri -Q Credit Union. We look forward to
the community coming together, having fun and
making memories for the 2026 Winter Fair. Thank
you. And we have another new sponsor. We usually
like to do a health care village as well. Very
supportive of getting information into people's
hands. of taking care of our health. And I want
to bring her up right now, Latoya. And she is
the director of Lead Safe CY Coalition with the
United Way. Latoya Jones, come on up. Good morning,
everybody. I just want to say first, thank you
to Steve for his continued partnership. with
Let's Safe CNY Coalition and prior to me coming
into this role. I'm honored to be here today
on behalf of the Coalition as the Healthcare
Village sponsor for this year's New York State
Winter Fair. This partnership represents something
truly special, a shared commitment to the health,
safety, and future of our central New York families.
At Let's Safe CNY Coalition, our strategy is
simple but powerful. to protect children from
lead exposure and create healthier homes and
communities. But we know this mission isn't something
anyone organization can accomplish alone. Protecting
children from lead exposure is a shared mission
that knows no city limits. Lead poisoning doesn't
stop at a border, a zip code, or a neighborhood
line. It affects families across every community,
city, town, and village. That's why awareness
and prevention are so critical. When we bring
partners together from public health, housing
and education and community organizations, we
create real change. We are proud to partner with
Steve Becker and the New York State Winter Fair
and the ongoing advocacy to raise awareness about
lead poisoning prevention. The Winter Fair brings
people from all walks of life together and that's
exactly where the message belongs, right in the
heart of our community. Through the Healthcare
Village, we're connecting families with information,
resources, and tools they need to keep their
homes and children safe. We're empowering parents
to ask questions, check their homes, and take
preventive steps. And we're reminding everyone
that lead poisoning is 100 % preventable, but
only if we do our part. So as we gather here
together to announce Winter Fair, let's also
celebrate the power of coalition, partnerships,
and the ideal that when public health advocates,
community leaders, and neighbors unite around
a common purpose, we can build brighter, safer
futures for every child. Thank you. Thank you,
LaJoya. We introduced something last year that
was very, very special that, believe it or not,
has never been to the fairgrounds before, reindeers.
We had live reindeers, two of them this past
year, and they're coming back again. And we want
to thank Matt Mauser with Growth Mode Technologies
for sponsoring that. But he also kicked off something
very special. He does a special podcast called
Good News York. It's all positive. He's talking
about what a great community we have. And I want
to bring up Matt right now, because we're going
to be doing some more things out at Winter Fair
this year. Let's hear it for Matt. Thanks, Steve.
Good morning. My name's Matt Major. This is my
co -host, the state's biggest Bills fan, Mike
Brindisi. And as Steve mentioned, we have a content
business. And last year at Winter Fair, we kicked
off this podcast called Good News York. Exclusively
good news. No crime, no controversy, no politics.
Just great stories about people all over New
York State. Fun things to do, cool businesses,
new jobs, all kinds of things like that. We kicked
it off at Winterfair and that was only about
10 months ago now. And since that time, the podcast
has reached millions and millions of views across
all the social media channels. We've interviewed
folks from the county executive and the senator
who were just here onto rock stars. And next
week, we're even going to talk to a WWE wrestler.
So it's quite the gamut. But it's been an incredible
thing. And like I said, millions of people have
watched this. And we think we're doing our good
part to spread positivity. The other thing that's
helped us kick off is a major expansion of our
content business. And we announced just a week
or so ago that we are moving to a massive new
spot in downtown Syracuse. We're going to have
a 17 ,000 square foot content creation studio.
It will be one of the most unique resources for
content creation, online video, podcasting you'll
find anywhere in the country. So we're really
excited about that. Winterfair and helping us
kick off these efforts is a big part of it. So
we're really excited to be back. We'll be doing
all kinds of sort of in -person podcasting at
the event and really just having a good time.
It's the most fun. My kids love this event every
year. They've already been asking me about it.
When are we going to Winterfair? So very excited
to be a part of it. Thank you so much, Steve,
for having us there. And anybody who wants to
check out anything that we've got going on, starting
with that first episode at Winter Fair, goodnewsyork
.com is the place to do that. So thank you, Steve.
Thank you. We have one more speaker I want to
pick up on. And we always like to raise funds
at Winter Fair. We have the NAACP. They will
be raising money through our code check. And
I see Gwen here. Hi, Gwen. And of course, Linda.
So there is a main fundraiser that we've been
doing. We've raised over $15 ,000 for them. And
that is the Boys and Girls Clubs of Syracuse.
Now Jenny normally would have been here, but
she had been called away. I want to bring up
James Hasty, who will speak for the Boys and
Girls Clubs of Syracuse. And I also like to bring
up Roosevelt, Bowie, and Rob Drummond to come
up as well. Let's hear it for them. Well, you
say Syracuse, and my heart starts beating fast.
I was an 18 -year -old kid from Kendall, New
York. And this guy's name, Jim Beheim, came out
to my school and gave me to come to Syracuse.
And at that time, I was coming here to go to
university, and I became a huge Syracuse fan
because I played here. Syracuse is my adopted
city. I went to Europe for 20 years and as you
can see after 20 years I came back to Syracuse
and anything I could do to help out the city
of Syracuse, call me. I'm going to lower this
a little bit. I'm a little bit shorter than Rosie.
For me it's a different feeling when I get up
in front of an audience like this because I literally
grew up... I went to the Boys and Girls Club
right down the street here on East Fayette Street.
So, within walking distance here, I mean, just
so much has happened in my life. And a lot of
times, people ask me as I get older, and I used
to always wonder when my grandma would rub her
knees. Now I know, because my knees hurt sometimes.
They ache in the winter, but it's Syracuse to
me. And by that, I mean, one of the best feelings
I've ever had as an athlete. You know, it was
when my last game in the carrier dome, I mean,
I started walking on the field as they introduced
the seniors and I was crying. But the whole audience
packed on, gave me a standing ovation. And it
was just out of the appreciation of being one
of their own. They used to always call me a townie
because I was a homegrown kid. I was born and
raised in Syracuse, grew up in Syracuse. Played
my high school football here, which is JD. I'm
an assistant coach at JD now. I love my JD. I
love my Syracuse. You know, it's just, it's home
to me. And when athletes like Rosie, like Lawrence,
like John Wallace, like Derek Coleman, all those
guys come back who weren't born here, but they
accept and they love this city. They always come
back to the city of Syracuse and I was always
wondering why. And it's not me, it's you guys.
It's the things we have at Syracuse, what we
have to offer. For the kids, I remember just
coaching. We were nine and one, lost in the championship
game. We lost by a touchdown. I remember walking
into the locker room and these kids were just
crying and it broke my heart. Because as a parent
myself, as a mentor, you know, you want to take
kids' pain away. And I didn't know how to do
that. But I just sat there and I told them, it's
like, young men, I mean, the greatest things
I've learned in life is that the beat happens
to everybody. It's not just everyone, but you
learn from that. You see how you feel now? That
means you have to work harder next time so it
doesn't happen again. I've won a lot of championships
in my lifetime. You guys know about the 1987
season when we went 11 -1 and they kicked the
billboard to tie us, crying in the locker room.
But if we had... done better, if we had done
things differently, we could have won that game.
So that just propelled me to be able to go out
there and understand and learn that you have
to do more to become better. It sounds like a
cliche, but it's so true. The more you do, the
better you become. You may not win all the time,
but you get better. Destroyed me when Lawrence
passed away. It truly, truly did. It still affects
me to this day because Lawrence was the type
of person that loved this city. He truly loves
here because I would talk to him all the time
about it. And I was like, Lawrence, I was born
and raised here. I don't understand why I have
the passion for it. I'm trying to figure out
why you have as much passion for it. But Lawrence
loved to see people be successful in things they
did in life. That's how he was as a basketball
player. That's how he carried his life. That's
why he gave so much back. So until the day I
have no more regrets and able to do things. I
always do things for my community. I always do
things to see these young kids successful and
I'll always be a part of anything they allow
me to be in the city of Syracuse. Thank you.
So I have the awesome responsibility on behalf
of 1 ,100 kids growing up in three different
neighborhoods in Syracuse to thank these guys,
to thank Steve. Rob was just at our East Bay
Club. We have three club houses in downtown Syracuse.
Rob, his last visit, the kids stood around him
after his inspirational, motivational speech.
The kids stood around him for probably an hour
and he stayed right until the last one was picked
up by their parents to talk to each one of them.
to deliver the same message he just delivered
to you guys. So on behalf of all the kids coming
to the Boys and Girls Clubs at Syracuse, I want
to thank these guys. I want to thank Steve. I
want to thank anybody who's supporting this event
and coming out to it. A little over a year ago,
Steve was my first phone call when I took this
job to fundraise for these kids. And I get a
lot of nos every day when I'm smiling and dialing.
A lot of nos. Steve's the first guy to say yes,
and he's the only guy that calls me. frequently
to say, how can I help you better the lives of
these kids? So this event means a lot, and just
appreciate it. Again, we're going to be out there.
We do a special winter fair hoops area. That
is sponsored by the way of Market 32 Price Chopper.
We want to thank them. Something interesting,
they're going to be selling tickets. for Winter
Fair in 130 locations in six states. So we anticipate
a lot of people coming to Syracuse Winter Fair
2026. We also have Triple A. They're doing something
special for their central and western New York
members. We're taking a dollar off the ticket
and of course you can save money online at our
website which is listed right on your press release.
I want to thank Some of the media, we do have
cumulus here. We're 93Q, 95X. They're going to
be out there doing what they do best. We also
will have, as we've mentioned already, the Van
Robinson Pan -African Village. We have the Latino
Village. We have the Indian Village. And coming
back this year, we have our New Americans Diversity
Village. We have Sajan James here. Say hello
to Sajan. He'll be overseeing it. And we'll also
have international performers too throughout
the weekend. So we really appreciate that. You
know, we're going to have some of the people
that have been there. We got Karate John in the
back. He'll be doing demonstrations on Saturday.
Our theme this year is look to the children besides,
you know, bringing summer fun into winter. And
we have a lot of different oriented activities
in the sense of entertainment that will be highlighting
these students. We saw Blue's Ignition. We saw
one of their members over here. They'll be playing
out there. We have the Beatles tribute and that
will be members of the Cicero North Syracuse.
high school. We have just a lot going on. Charles
would see Jack run. He will be providing some
entertainment as well. We got something a little
bit different. I grew up as a scout, Cub Scout
and Boy Scout, and we came up with this idea
that one of my memories was going to camp, sitting
around a campfire at night, singing songs. Well,
we're going to recreate that at Winter Fair.
We're going to have a video screen up on stage
with the campfire crackling away. And the scouts,
boys and girl scouts, will be singing and getting
all the attendees to sing along. So that's a
little bit different. And we have Brendan. Brendan,
he is right there. He will be leading the charge.
They'll be out there, and they'll have a booth
as well. So we have a lot of different things
that are going to be happening here. We want
to thank all of our sponsors and such. If you
have any information you need, just give me a
call. It's right on the press release information.
But we want to thank you for coming out today
for Syracuse Winter Fair 2026. We'll see you
out there. Thank you.