Hello and welcome to a Tuesday edition of Good
News York. I'm your host Mike Brindisi. Follow
me on all socials at MikeBTV. We did not have
a show yesterday because we were under 10 feet
of snow. I thought about building an igloo, actually,
and Matt and I doing it from there, but that
fell through, literally. Listen, it is Tuesday.
We are sponsored by Ads on the Go. Getadsonthego
.com, and you can follow Good News York anywhere,
podcasts. can be followed at Good News York on
all socials, goodnewsyork .com. Today I am joined
by a special guest. It is, I would say this season
is your Super Bowl. Senior tax and accounting
specialist from Key Advising, excuse me, Frank
Donaldson. Frank Donaldson, welcome to the show,
man. Thank you, thank you very much. You are
very welcome. I appreciate the clap. No, I do
that for each guest, because we don't have a
studio audience, but I feel like you should get
a warm welcome. Thank you. You're here. So much
to talk about. Frank, you bring over 15 years
of tax and accounting experience to Key Advising.
And you're very passionate about building long
-term relationships, helping clients feel confident
and informed. But before we get into the numbers,
how does one just kind of start off and go, you
know what, accounting, that's my thing. Because
I'll tell you what, while some people might think,
I can never do accounting, it's too many numbers,
it's just, it takes a special person to be able
to do it. Not just for the mathematics, but for
having to deal with everything that comes along
with it. So when did you know, like, you know
what, this is what I wanna do? Well, I'm a weirdo
in that I was always good at taxes. Not taxes,
but just numbers in general. So I remember when
you'd go around the kids in school and be like,
what are you going to be? And they'd be like,
firefighter, police officer. I literally said
accountant. Now I had a family member who was
an accountant, so I kind of. knew them and it
seemed like they were cool and everything. So
that might have been what led to it. But yeah,
no, I've always kind of wanted to be an accountant.
I don't think it was really until college when
I was like, oh, this is actually kind of hard.
Yeah, most certainly is. Maybe a special type
of personality. It most certainly is. And you
know, I love that so much because You know, I
always grew up, and as a young kid, I knew I
was like, I want to be creative and be on camera
and be on stage. And it's something I knew, you
know, at an early age. But like the thought of
doing something like what you do is completely
the opposite of what I do. And I'm just thankful
there are people out there that do want to be
accountants because what would we do if you all
just disappear? Right. Exactly. What do you think
one of the biggest misconceptions people have
about accountants? I mean I think there was always
a misconception even when I was in college like
they would have Especially when it came to the
tax end of things You know because you either
kind of went into an audit category or a tax
category and the audits would Meet with clients
and go to lunch and the tax people would just
sit at their desk and do work 24 -7 I mean I
still kind of end up doing that still but I would
say there's more it's more than just Sitting
in a cubicle and doing work like especially with
taxes. It's a lot of interfacing It's a lot of
I mean almost teaching in a way and babysitting
Clients and make sure that they're doing things
that make sense for taxes or at least they know
if you do this it's gonna Uncle Sam's gonna be
calling right, right, right, you know, so yeah,
I mean it's been a lot more of this and interacting
with people that I think that maybe some people
picture accountants sitting in a cubicle just
running reports to. That's awesome. What was
the moment in your career when you were like,
you know what? I'm actually good at this. Was
it something right away or did it take some time?
It was pretty much year one. Like, and I wasn't
sure what. category I'd fall in in accounting
and whether it be like you know bookkeeping and
kind of keeping track of books or on the audit
side or just doing taxes but as soon as I was
introduced to taxes I kind of just clicked a
thing in my brain of just realizing how much
money people can save or how much money people
can owe if they do things incorrectly or if they
just have so much money there's not you know
sure there's no way around it. You know I have
thought about this question Every tax season,
I think about this when I meet with an account.
I've had different accountants over the years.
And this might be a dumb question, but I think
I speak for most of the public that really don't
know the complete ins and outs of this of this
business. Is there really, you know, let's say
I go to Frank Donaldson for my to do my taxes
and I don't know, you stop practicing. So I go
to a new person. Is there a huge difference between
each account? Like, is it pretty? I guess, consistent
across the board on what our return or what we
would owe would be, or does each tax accountant
have their own way of finding more details? And
you should be a little bit choosy with who your
accountant is. I think you should definitely
be choosy because, you know, especially in the
accounting business that there are some people
who are rigid. in the way that they think. So
like if you have a small business and you don't
want to use like a home office expense, some
will be more forward to doing it. Some will be
a little bit conservative when that goes. Also
again with just meeting someone who actually
is interested in your business or your tax situation
because everyone's different and what helps you
might not help another person. So you really
have to dive in as an accountant to kind of be
like, all right, so what's going on here in your
situation? What will actually benefit you? And
some might not be as forthcoming with that and
kind of just stick to their sort of rigid ways.
So there is a possibility you could be leaving
some money on the table if you're not with the
right accountant? Correct, yes. Wow. That's my
biggest fear. Great. Well, it sounds like advising
is a big part of this which makes sense the name
of of the company is key Well, the proper name
is key advising correct. Okay, it's just key
advising. All right, it was key financial and
advising key advising and I wanted to ask Tell
us a little bit about how the company started
and like how did you get? How did you become
a part of that team? Well, I'm new to it. I didn't
start till literally this past summer in August.
But Jeff, who Jeffrey Keeler is where the name
key kind of came from, you know, kind of had
a cushy corporate job and decided that he wanted
to work out on his own. And he had more of a
passion for small businesses and like his. his
sort of niche is into bookkeeping and fractional
CFO services. So basically a business starts
up, their accounting's overwhelming. He'll come
in there and be like, all right, so how do we
get our books accurate? How do we get them accurate?
And in a way to where the owner who might not
be an accountant can spend more time on the owning
stuff and not on the bookkeeping. If you get
certain softwares that integrate with certain
things, eliminating redundancies and then from
there. once you have accurate books and everything
sort of streamlined, how can we be more profitable?
So that was sort of what he brought. And he didn't
have a tax background. So he had always, we had
shared some clients. So we had always wanted
to add something because there's not too many
firms that do the bookkeeping, help you with
being more profitable and can offer you tax advice
and tax preparation as well. So we got together
and worked it out. Would you say that is kind
of, in that world, is that what makes key advising
kind of stand out from the rest? Is that you
offer all of those services? Correct. I'm sure
that there might be some small ones out there
that'll do everything, but there's, yeah, especially
in Syracuse, there's not many that you can, you
know, you usually have to have your bookkeeper
and then you'd have your own tax account and
then you try to get everybody on the same schedule
and it's a little bit harder than, you know.
You just have one and you can send one email
out to everybody and it gets to me or one meeting
that we can sort of work out and really kind
of hammer that all down because taxes can get
kind of steep if you're not prepared for it.
Right. Right. With the advising and everything
that kind of comes along with it, what's the
most common financial mistake that you see smart
people make over and over again? I mean sometimes
it's timing of things and a lot of it will be
like with property especially now because there
are certain rules with the Trump tax plan and
now his you know Trump tax plan 2 .0 that is
beneficial for property owners and some people
will sell a business or sell a property buy a
new property and either not do it properly you
know as far as with the exchange. or just not
really speak with a tax advisor to realize, oh,
you know, I'm still stuck with paying 30 grand
in taxes on this rental property I sold kind
of a thing. So I mean, it's really the timing
with that goes, because I think everybody sort
of thinks, oh, I sell this property. I'm just
going to buy a new property. And you don't have
to pay tax on it. It's not really. Oh, I learned
that lesson. Correct. My wife and I had a house.
We used it as a rental property when we bought
a new house. Yeah. We sold it, and we got hit
with the capital gains. And yeah, it's not fun.
But I'm glad you said that. It was perfect. It
was almost like you knew I was going to ask this
question. A lot of what you do does work alongside
of the federal and state government. I mean,
that's the whole deal, right? That's the taxes.
How do you and other accountants and your company,
how do you stay up to date? Things are changing,
especially with this administration. Things are
changing daily. Can you kind of take us through
that and how you navigate that? Well, yes. Well,
first off, for anyone who's licensed like me,
you have to do... I have to do 72 hours of continuing
ed every three years, 16 minimum. Obviously,
I did a little bit more this year just because
there was a lot of new stuff to kind of get in
there. But I mean, yeah, it's sort of the job.
You have to do the continuing education as licensed
by, you know, the government, but then also,
you know, really trying to keep up on it because
there are a lot of... Changes, most of them aren't
as beneficial as I think people think they are,
but yeah, it's just part of the job. It's partially
mandated and then part of it is kind of your
own. Correct, yeah. Does your company, Key Advising,
do you strictly work with commercial businesses
or do you work with individual clients as well?
I mean, what we sort of, what we go after, or
I say what? Jeff has more of a passion for, me
have more of a passion doing, our clients that
are small businesses. So that's primarily who
our clients are, you know, might just be a single
member LLC that just runs a consulting business
that's just them. It could be an HVAC company
that has 10, 15 employees. Like we don't really
like going after the corporate culture just because
it's not. as fun and rewarding, I guess, as working
with small businesses. But that's primarily,
I mean, there are some personal tax clients that
we do and that we'll add, but as far as for what
I would say our niche is, is more of that small
business. And I love that because, you know,
it goes back to what you said at the beginning
about... You're also advising and you're getting
personal with these people and getting into the
minutia of their everyday lives and business.
So I think that's key. I love that you're dealing
with local small businesses and helping the community.
What are some people, what's something that people
think they need to worry about financially, but
they actually, they don't? That's a good question.
I mean, I would say the the biggest misconception
that I usually get in taxes are people's investment
accounts You know how much money is in my IRA?
How much of my IRA and how much my 401k earn?
All those I mean are good to know financially,
but for taxes you will only have to pay tax when
you either sell that stock in a brokerage account
or if it's an IRA or 401k until you start taking
the money out of it. At that point, you end up
having to pay tax on it. But I think there's
one, because that's usually where people bring
in these and like, oh, the... the market did
really good this year and it's sitting in their
401k and it's like, I mean, it might be a problem
in the future, but for right now, not so much.
Yeah. What do you think separates businesses
that survive from the ones that kind of quietly
disappear? Because I'm sure you unfortunately
see that from time to time. Yep. I mean, a lot
of it is accounting related. Either you're not
prepared for the sales stack that comes out monthly
or the income tax bill that comes out at the
end of the year. Yeah, because you do have to
sort of factor in, oh, I have this business,
but now all of a sudden I have to factor in my
taxes. And then plus, I have this business, and
I'm doing it myself, I'm running the accounting
myself, it's taking 10, 15 hours a week. Is that
really the best thing for you? Or is it better
to do what you're good at? Whatever that is.
And leave the accounting, I guess, to more people
who are a little bit more. specialized in it.
When you're working with these companies, I mean,
is it just you, Frank Donaldson, of Key Advising,
working alone, or is there a team that kind of
helps you? Because I'm sure there's so many details
that go into each client. Yep. I mean, at least
with Key Advising, again, we have Jeff, we have
an assistant controller as well, who will go
out and help more on the bookkeeping end. The
taxes is kind of falling on me at this point
just because of new when I just got started in
August, so kind of a new service that we're adding
and maybe looking to hope to grow that in the
future. But yeah, so you have that, but then
also, you know, if you have a small business
that has 10, 15 employees, you probably already
have a bookkeeping accounting clerk that you
need there 24 -7, you need them all the time.
So, you know, you have that and then us that
kind of comes in more on the advising end of
making sure that the processes that you're doing
aren't taking four hours longer than it should.
You know, oh, you could have just done it in
this software and it would have integrated right
in. You didn't have to spend one minute, you
know, entering everything individually like how
you did then. So yeah, the accounting is, you
know, generally you'll have that person who's
always there to do your bills and your accounts
receivable and all that stuff. And then us to
kind of advise and make sure that it's going
well. And then obviously, you know, the planning
and making sure that you're running as profitable
as you can. You know you you mentioned how you
don't really work with corporations and and you're
kind of your bread and butter is Small businesses
in this area you grew up in Cicero, New York
Is there something unique about advising clients
in in central New York compared to what it would
be like in bigger cities? I mean I would guess
since we have a pretty good mix of people on
the I guess on the spectrum of how they feel
about taxes I'd say the unique thing about Central
New York is, I mean, many people who are here
grew up here and decided to live through these
winters. And at least in my time spending with
the most small business clients around here in
Syracuse, New York that's stuck in Syracuse,
I find that they're more, I guess, I don't want
to say noble, but they treat their employees
well. I mean, it's actually a pretty good community.
There's a lot that... that the small business
community gives to certain charities. Yeah, I
mean, I just feel like the class of people in
Syracuse, New York, and small businesses are
maybe a little bit more family oriented than
a big city where it's profit first and don't
care about anybody else. What do you think is
one financial move you wish more people in Syracuse
would make sooner? I mean, it's always... Creating
the retirement accounts as early as possible.
I mean I fell for it I mean I didn't really start
until I got into my 30s and now thinking like
if I just Started that 401k earlier that extra
10 years of growth and money put into it could
make my retirement account a Couple hundred thousand
more at least At time of retirement, so that
I mean it's something that I usually because
when you're young One, unfortunately, when you're
young, you have a lot more expenses than maybe
15, 20 years ago with house buying and everything
else. So it's a little bit tough for him to start
out. But yeah, if you can start a retirement
account as early as possible, I mean, you'd see
it better in the future again. That's what I
tell my kids. They're like, Dad, shut up. I don't
want to hear about that. I'm like, I'm telling
you. What do you think is one of the most stressful
money conversations people avoid, but they shouldn't?
I mean, I think it is retirement. Just to go
on the same thing, and again, I'm not really
a financial advisor. I'm more on the tax end
of things. So maybe someone that's a little bit
more in finance would have a better answer for
it. But I think there's always a tough discussion
of, here's my retirement account. if I throw
it in this calculator, this is how much it's
going to be at age 65 or whatever age that you
want to retire. Social Security, if it's still
there when it gets to that point, who knows?
Yeah, I mean, I think there really is. There's
like this immediate need and there's immediate
need to go buy that new car. But, you know, you
really see it when you get older of once it gets
to retirement age and you see these people just
living off of Social Security or small retirement
account. It's worth it to kind of go through
it and try to save as much as possible in my
opinion. Absolutely What's a popular I guess
money rule that you completely disagree with
is there one? Or maybe that's like overrated,
you know It's a good question I mean, there's
usually the big thing now, now that it feels
like there's, again, for retirement stuff, there's
pre -tax and post -tax retirement accounts of
what's better. I mean, because most people will
just say, do the max into a regular 401k to put
as much income as possible. And there is some
advantage of maybe doing something more post
-tax. You pay tax on it now, but then... when
you take it out, it's tax -free kind of a thing.
That'd be the only kind of just trying to find
that mix. And again, it's personal to where your
income situation is. If you're in a high tax
bracket, maybe you want to load up on as much
pre -tax stuff now. But if you're not in that
high of a tax bracket, maybe you should start
planning and doing some more stuff into different
accounts. A few more questions because again,
I know this is like your Super Bowl, right? This
is your season, man. You got to get back to work.
No, I'm not going to mention exact names, but
there are chains that do your taxes for you.
And I know, again, you work with small businesses.
This is more of a selfish question. Do you find
that going to a chain like that is okay and it
has its benefits or would you recommend? going
with a private person or firm? I'd say nothing
against some of those firms. Again, they're for
-profit corporations, so the people they have
working on them aren't licensed generally in
any way. At least most of them aren't. They're
just people who kind of went through their program,
and then they go through their software and do
everything. If your taxes are simple, it's just
a W -2, and maybe that would kind of make more
sense, or trying to find an online software that
you can do it yourself. Personally, I find that
some of those firms kind of overcharge a little
bit. That's what I thought. They felt cookie
cutter to me, to be honest with you. That's kind
of the vibe I got. They plug in your W -2, they
ask you a couple questions, and then here's a
$400 tax bill. Yeah. That sounds about right.
Yeah. Couple more questions. What do you think
is like a respectable time period between when
you file your taxes with an accountant, whether
it's a small business or whether it's individual?
You know, I've had years where it comes back
in about a month or maybe a few, even three weeks.
And then I've had years where it took like four
or five months. Do you think there's kind of
a window that accountants should hit? I mean,
when it comes to refunds, it's sort of out of
our control as soon as we hit that send button
and the federal and state government get a hold
of it. Now the IRS will say two to three weeks,
90 % will get refunded. Usually when it's after
three weeks, there's some sort of issue, whether
it got hung up in processing somewhere or just
manually it checks a box and now they have to
have an employee actually review it, which during
certain times, especially around COVID. would
take six, seven months to get your refund. And
the state doesn't really have anything published
for how long they take, but usually they're more
in the three to four week type of a range of
how that refund goes. But as soon as we hit the
send button, it's all on them. The whole thing
is just making sure that you accurately and timely
filed it so that generally there's a better chance
that it's gonna go through as quickly as possible.
Here's the real question. How the hell do you
ever reach an actual person at the IRS? Are you
able to do that as an accountant? So as a practitioner,
there is a line that I can call. You've got the
magic number, Frank. That can get ahold of somebody
generally easier. Though those lines are a little,
they're a little bit better now. I will say this,
but there was a good time period for three, four
years where you'd call, you'd be on hold for
two hours, and then they would just either hang
up on you, or they'd say, we're not gonna get
to it today, and hang up on you. What do you,
tax season ends in April -ish. I remember I managed
a music venue bar, and every year in April, these
accountants locally would come and have a party.
They would bring, we would cater it, the whole
thing. And it really was them blowing off steam.
Do you feel like you need, do you get a couple
days off after the deadline? How does that work?
Do you blow off some steam? Do you crash? Pretty
much. I'll be honest, it's a little bit better.
A lot of the firms now are really pushing the...
work -life balance. So it's not as bad as when
I first started when it was like you'd work 80,
90, 100 hours a week. It would be tough at that
point to stay awake and get alone, keep some
sanity, especially with taxes, especially when
you got that last rush of taxes in April where
you just wanted to strangle everybody who was
taking a long time. Of course. Now before we
go, let's talk about You know, anything you want
to plug about the company, Frank Donaldson, company
is key advising. Anything you want to mention,
any events coming up, any calls to action for
customers, anything you want people to know,
final thoughts? Yeah, I mean, a little bit. So,
I mean, basically, again, I mean, we're a firm
that's with you throughout the entire year. We're
not looking to just be a tax season. Client we
want to be someone that you can talk to to be
if you have an idea of oh Should I do this should
I do that? And again, we also have the business
that's more to business clients of doing bookkeeping
and you know Analyzing your books and making
sure there's a profitability part to that. It's
a little bit late for any kind of 2025 tax season
Savings, I guess at this point. There's not really
much you can do but yeah, if you're looking for
Business that can help you with your accounting
and then also kind of add this tax Side because
I mean the timing of things if you buy something
in December versus January could cost you $20
,000 if you didn't think of the full picture
of all that so Yeah, if you're looking for any
kind of help to reach out look up there was a
key advising comm yeah, please give the plugs
go and Yeah, look into us. Well, we'll do a good
job that gives me that sparked one last question.
Yeah, that is I Think I mean, it's a broad question
But is there any tip you can give for a regular
old Joe like me that maybe you know? Don't, when
you're doing your taxes, people always overlook
this. Make sure you look into this. Anything
like that. Any tips for us? I mean, the big thing
this year is just that we have a few new things
that you can do. So whether it's seeing a tax
advisor, especially this year, to make sure that
you're filing it accurately, because some of
those things, again, depending on your tax bracket,
could help quite a bit. Now, I think when they
pass the whole no tax on tips over time, no tax
on Social Security, which it didn't end up going
through. I think some people are thinking that
they might be saving more money in taxes than
will actually happen, just because there's little
nuances with that. And, you know, it depends
on your income and, you know, the overtime, for
example, you only get the deduction for that
half pay. So if you made 20 ,000 in overtime
wages, you're going to pay tax on the time that
was your 100 % full pay. The deduction is only
for that half pay. Mm -hmm. So that's like one
little thing that I've already kind of seen some
people have been like, why does it only say $500?
I know I did way more and overtime wages on that
That's all that kind of ends up getting deducted
So there's a lot of little nuances that really,
you know Look up as much as you can or see a
tax advisor. Make sure you're filing it accurately.
Perfect. And then the real question Why am I
43 and still have trouble filling out a W -4?
Because when I got hired here or any time I I
stare at that thing like it is in hieroglyphics.
I don't understand how I am at this age and not
able to, do you find there's a lot of adults
that still struggle with that? That's the biggest
tax issue that comes along if someone doesn't
file the W -4 correctly. Now it used to be easier,
like, you know, you're a single, oh, I've got
one kid, I claim myself, bam, and it somehow
worked out to where they took out the right amount
of tax. Now it's single. You have to go through
this chart if you have multiple jobs or if you
have a spouse. And then there's this little tiny
box that everyone sort of skips. Like, do I have
a spouse that makes within one half of my pay?
A lot of people don't check it. And then all
of a sudden they file their taxes and they owe
$4 ,000. And look at the W -2 and it's like...
They just didn't take out as much tax as they
should have. See, I didn't even say the right
one. It's the W -2 you fill out. Well, the W
-2 is what you get from the employer. Oh, yeah,
no, I was right. The W -4 is what you fill out
so that they hopefully take out the right amount
of tax. Yeah, so that happened to me last year.
Maybe, you know, after we get off the air, I
think I'm going to have you teach me how to fill
out the W -2. Anyway, Frank Donaldson, key advising
right here in Syracuse, New York, senior tax
and accounting specialist. Thank you for your
time and for everything you do for us knuckleheads
that have no idea what we're doing. We really
do appreciate you. It's a wonderful company.
Check out Key Advising. And with that, that is
another Tuesday edition. And Frank, thank you
for coming, by the way. Oh, thank you. And with
that, yes, that's another Tuesday edition of
Good News York. Follow us. On all social media
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by Ads on the Go, GetAdsOnTheGo .com. And you
can follow me on all socials at MikeBTV. Hey
everybody, it's Matt from Clickstream Studios.
Welcome to Good News York. I'm very excited because
this is the episode where we get to tell you
about our weekend that's coming up here. And
we are joined, you might remember if you've been
a fan of this show. This gentleman's been on,
we've talked about him a few times, and honestly
helped us get our start last year at his event.
Everybody welcome back to the show. Stereo Steve
Becker is here. How are you, Steve? Thank you,
Matt, thank you. You got a point. You launched
Good News York at our winter fair last year,
Syracuse Winter Fair 2025. And look what you're
doing, my gosh. We've grown by leaps and bounds
in... in just under a year, which is pretty cool
and terrifying all at the same time. But yeah,
Steve mentioned he is the gentleman behind the
incredible event known as the Syracuse Winter
Fair that takes place this coming weekend, the
30th through February 1st at the Great New York
State Fairgrounds in the Expo Center. It's a
fair. It's at the fairgrounds, but it's all indoors.
That's right. This is an incredible kind. Ninety
percent of it is indoors. We're bringing summer
fun into winter. That was the concept. And also
to bring the community together. Yeah. You know,
because, you know, we have the midway rides.
Where do you see midway rides in the middle of
winter? You can go on rides. There's nothing
like this in New York State because we have to
really thank New York State for building that
Expo Center. It's over one hundred thousand square
feet. It's the largest. open space outside of
New York City between Boston and Cleveland. And
it's right here. We're a destination. And that
was my whole concept in the beginning was to
give people something. I mean, you take a look
at the weather that we're having right now. Guess
what? It's going to be nice and warm inside.
You get to get all those things that you usually
experience during the summer. We have so much
food pizza. Freight will be there and we got
limp lizard Even chick -fil -a is coming in really.
Yes Friday and Saturday. They will be there and
then We'll have kiki's with their Greek cuisine.
That's good We have a place coming out of Connecticut
called the taste of Ukraine and they're going
to have stuffed cabbage and beet soup. Oh, wow.
It's something for everybody there. And we also
want to thank Onondaga County. They're going
to do the fireworks. There are some things outside
that we're doing the fireworks. Ryan McMahon
supporting this again. We have our ice sculptures.
We will have ice sculptures out there from Averdi.
And we also have Woodford Brothers. They'll be
there. And of course, we're going to have the
reindeer out there. And that's going to be on
Saturday from 10 to four. They were young last
year and their antlers are even bigger. Oh, wow.
And we want to thank Good News York for being
the sponsor. Absolutely. And 10 to four, you
come, take a selfie with them and then come on
in. and just enjoy the other ones. We want to
thank Destiny USA. They're a destination. We're
a destination. We're working together. When you
go into Destiny, when you look at their directories
or that big screen that they have rotating around,
they're promoting. Yeah. Syracuse Winter Fair
2026. I've seen the Winter Fair ads in the mall.
It's pretty cool. And we've got great entertainment
because we're doing something a little bit different.
We've got some great groups at night. We're going
to have Los Blancos at 5 o 'clock on Friday.
Then at 7 o 'clock, it will be Brass Inc. And
then on Saturday at 5 o 'clock, it will be the
Barn Dogs. And then a group that everybody is
like these 80s music. It's going to be the arcade.
And then on Sunday, we wrap everything up with
the black lights. But during the day, we're going
to be focusing on our kids, students from elementary
school up through college, dancing, singing,
performing, because we want to show what our
community is all about. Yeah. So people will
come out and we're doing something special. We're
dedicating the entire event to Van Robinson.
He passed away last May. And Van was always a
visionary here and a community leader. And he
really did help us in getting this thing off
the ground. And that was in 2019. And so we want
to give thanks to Van. That's great. We're doing
a special presentation at 1 .50 on Saturday afternoon.
Linda Robinson, Linda Brown Robinson, she will
be there. That is the wife of Van. Mayor of the
city of Syracuse Sharon if Owens will be there
nice I made a very special plaque in honor of
then and we expect there will be other, you know
representatives there and such then afterwards
I don't know if you ever heard of Dom Caballari.
I don't know Dom is one of the founders of the
field of dreams They're building in Carrier Park
as he's unbelievable. He's an attorney and He's
a great singer. He has sung at the Dome. He has
sung at the ballpark. Wow. And he's going to
sing the national anthem. And I call him Dom
Dio Cambareri, because he styles himself after
Ronnie James Dio. That's great. So he'll give
a rousing addition. And then right after that,
we're going to have the Scouts doing a campfire
setting. We're going to have a campfire on the
video screen. And they'll be doing sing -alongs
with the attendees. I love that. I love that.
You always change it up. You always have some
different community group That performs whether
it's you know dancers or whatever this year It's
the Scouts which I love as an old boy scout myself
here in some of those campfire songs. That's
gonna be awesome It's it's fun because you have
you have I guess you would call it the traditional
live entertainment, right? We've got a lot of
these well -known musical acts all throughout
but we also get This kind of community entertainment.
I feel like you don't even at the fair I feel
like you don't necessarily see a lot of events
like that and The crowd loves it. I mean, the
people that you pack in for those things. Well,
you know, it's a great idea, Steve. I've said
it. One of my joys is hearing the kids scream
on the rides in the middle of winter. Sure. And
you come out. I mean, we're going to have at
least a dozen rides out there for the youngsters.
that are over 30 inches, we have a good seven,
eight rides, you know, marico round and roller
coaster. But for the older ones that are 48 inches
will will twirl you around a lot. You know, my
kids love it. That's that's the best part there.
And we try to make it reasonable from the standpoint
of expense, especially these days. And so there's
different ways that you can get tickets. that
are inexpensive in a sense. We have our online
ticket, and that's $5 for adults with a small
fee. And then for seniors and teens, it would
be $3. Children, 10 and under are free. I think
that's huge, that part right there. Yeah. But
even more so, one of our sponsors, the hoop area.
Boy, I have to tell you, some of the players
coming out that will be doing autograph signing
and such. But we raised money for the Boys and
Girls Club in the hoop area. And we want to thank
Market 32 Price Chopper for helping with that.
They donate, they promote, but they approached
me and said, Steve, we'd like to sell tickets.
They're in 130 locations in seven states. Wow.
We want people to come from all over and tickets
at Price Chopper. You can go, you know, even
during the event, 450 for adults. and for seniors
and teens, two bucks. Wow. Now at the box office,
it's eight bucks for adults, six bucks for seniors
and teens, always the kids 10 and under are free.
So we encourage people to bring the families.
And of course, there's lots of shopping there,
crafters, and do you need gutters on your roof?
I mean, you know, it really is that flavor that
you get during the summer. Yeah, that's that's
the thing that's so neat is there's there's everything
you love. There's the food There's the you know,
you mentioned all the the kind of meal foods
But they're also the favorite fair snack foods,
right? You got your cotton candy and you're all
of those incredible sweets that I shouldn't eat
But I am definitely gonna dig in you like pickles.
We have all sorts of pickles the all, you know
nuts cheeses I'm thinking that the wine slushy
folks will be back hopefully. Yeah, okay. That's
what she will be there That's my kryptonite,
right? We actually have a place out of Canada.
Oh, wow. And they're called Super Crunch. They
cook up the fruit. Wow. And they put it on like
a stick. Wow. Like, you know, and have all different
fruits on there. And they're a hit. And they'll
be there. You know, baked goods. You know, we
really tried to use variety. We talked about
the hoop area and some of the athletes coming
out on Friday. We're going to have James Mongrel
there from four to five. James played for Syracuse
and he wound up playing for the Indiana Colts.
Oh, wow. And won the Super Bowl ring. We have
another gentleman, even though he didn't go to
SU, he's from this area and his name is Leroy
Collins. Leroy wrote a book. Where he had a really
serious accident. He was in a wheelchair as a
child But he worked his way back and at his high
school. He set records He played for Alford State
for Louisville and he played in the NFL play
for the Redskins That's incredible for the Jaguars
up in Canada. Well, he lives in this area his
wife works here He lives in Fulton, but you're
ready for this. He's the running back coach For
CBA Christian Brothers Academy with our state
champs, so he'll be there and then we got Rob
Drummond on Saturday along with Mookie Jones
remember Mookie and then on Sunday Full tilt
we got Roosevelt Bowie. You've met Rosie. We
know Rosie great guy We got Gene Waldron coming
out and then we have the entire Lemoine basketball
team coming So, you know, it's all for a good
cause. We've raised over $15 ,000 for the Boys
and Girls Club and we want to help. And we're
doing it in the honor of Lawrence Moten. Lawrence
was an amazing person. He was so happy to be
back where he grew up and helping kids. And unfortunately,
he passed away back in September. So we're honoring
Lawrence as well. Wow. Wow, that's incredible.
We keep talking about all those things and that
just goes back to your original comment of the
size of this Expo Center and how neat of a resource
this is that we have here at the State Fairgrounds.
We talk about the food, we talk about the rides,
we talk about the entertainment. We should probably
get a little love to the vendors because that's
a part that I think is pretty neat. Whether you're
at a fair or festival, anything like that, you
know that there's a type of vendor, type of folks,
local small business owners usually, that have
products and neat things that you can't get anywhere
else. And normally you can't find any of those
products until the summer. And we have certain
non -profits. We want to thank LaToya Jones with
Lead Safe Coalition CNY. That's part of the United
Way. They're going to be our sponsor for the
Healthcare Village. Wow. And, you know, right
now we care about our kids. We care about the
lead in the water and such. So they will be there
and they'll be interacting. We have some other,
you know, healthcare organizations and such.
But like you said, You know, the latest thing
is 3D printing. Yeah. What they create and all.
The technology is unbelievable. But it really
is. If you need a new bath or shower, we got
Bathfitter there. They're going to be one of
our ice sculptor sponsors and the free parking
from AmeriQ. Yes. Come on. You know, I mean,
and we have to really let people know. You're
not going to be walking over a bridge. the park
you're not going to be taking a bus all the parking
that's right there it's a five minute walk and
it's absolutely free and so there's really no
excuse not to be there that's that's a great
point see if i didn't think about that because
when you do think about the the state fair in
the summer you think about parking somewhere
off in god's country and hoofing it to the event
this you literally pull up to the door And we
want to thank the state fair, the people that
we're working with and such very supportive.
This is our seventh year. Yeah. And I, you know,
I pinch myself of going, wow, you know, and that's
the smile I get is seeing like what you're doing
for this community and how you just what spaghetti
warehouse you took over for that and create something
cutting edge. but it's not cutting edge anymore.
And that's what it really, you started with IT
and then look what you're doing. Clickstream,
I mean. And you said to me, just like I do some
Facebook advertising, in the last 28 days they
said there has been over 300 ,000 views. And
you told me, what, six and a half, almost seven
million views in one year? Yeah, yeah. GNY, we
hit, and this stat was as of a little over a
month ago, six and a half million views. So in
less than a year, we were able to generate that
kind of buzz. And it's been incredible. And since
we're on that topic, let's talk for just a second
about what we're going to do there, right? Because
we're going to be at Winter Fair. We're not just
a sponsor of the reindeer. as fun as they are.
But we'll be inside. Steve has upgraded us to
an even bigger space. Well, what we would like
to see, sometimes you see the cooking demonstrations
and their seats and everything. Well, why not
have some seats there where people can stop and
watch you interview? And there's going to be
a whole array of people you interview, from the
businesses to some of our representatives. I
know Senator Chris Ryan will be there. Usually
we see a host of people and we're hoping that
County Executive Ryan McMahon will be out there.
You see a vision here. I understand the detractors.
This has been a difficult situation when some
of the manufacturers have left. And this has
always been a manufacturing hub. Now we have
Micron. And yeah, you know, I mean, like anything,
you know, you can't do it in a day. Yeah. But
I'm out there. And I'll tell you what I'm hoping
for next year is to show off Micron, the aquarium.
Yeah. I mean, these are visions that if you want
to attract people, there's a lot to do here.
Can you imagine? Know destiny at one time was
gonna have an aquarium now. It's just across
the street. Yep, and I'm very I think I would
love you know, I'm getting up there, you know
age -wise but There are certain people that are
well in their 80s 90s and the hundreds still
doing stuff I hope I can still be there to see
the fruition of all the efforts and it's very
rare In this political climate to see everybody
come together. Yeah No, it's it's it's a great
thing Steve. I'll tell you the first time I walked
in there and saw that and looked around like
This is this is no joke, you know I've known
Steve for a little while at that point and heard
about the event and like yeah that sounds neat
until you walk in the door and Realize the the
scale of it and all there is to do and everything.
It's just it's truly incredible Steve I still
have figured out how you pull it off what I've
been doing lately on some zoom calls You know
that I'm doing and such for interviews. I have
the background Where they can see all these booths
set up and rise and yes such because You get
the oh wow when you walk in there, you know because
it's so big Yeah number one, but it's filled
to the brim. Yeah, and I'm so glad that you know
There is a slogan sometimes Where people say
it's going to be bigger and better. Yeah, and
to me well, then what are you doing now? Yeah,
I always look to enhance I look for new ideas.
And that's what can happen is, you know, after
last year I said, well, why don't we focus on
the kids? When you do the ice sculptures, you
know, last year we did it a summer theme. And,
you know, you could see somebody swinging a bat
or out on the beach, sunshine. This time you'll
see a baby through the course of graduating.
Oh, cool. And we're going to have, I believe,
like five of these ice sculptures that will signify.
Those are so neat. And it's cool. You take pictures
and things like that. So we try something. I
mean, that term, something for everyone. But
I think that's what you feel. And I added the
sun on our billboards, and we're doing movie
advertising. We've got the word out there. And
usually it's the week leading into it that most
people let's go, you know. No, that's it. It
is the Syracuse Winter Fair. It is the great
at the great New York State Fairgrounds starts
this Friday, the 30th at three o 'clock. Doors
open. Yeah. What happens is officially we say,
but if people are standing in line, we start
letting them in around two thirty. Same thing.
Saturday, it's 11 to nine and Sunday from 11
to five. And we jam pack it. You know, with the
rides, people ask, it's a $25 unlimited ride.
You can do everything. But we also, you know,
you see how many tickets each ride takes and
you pick and choose. But what we do say, you
know, because we look out for safety. If any
of your children are under 30 inches, it's more
liability and such to look out. And so any child
30 inches or more can ride at least about seven
rides. That's incredible. And then the bigger
ones are at least 48 inches because I think you
like Dakota, don't you? That twirls around. I
don't. My daughter does. She did that one a few
times last year, actually, I think. So no. And
we got the Avenger coming back and Giant Slide.
I was just going to say you got the Giant Slide.
That's the thing that always stands out. And
I think this one may be lighting up. Oh, wow.
Oh, yeah. No. I have to thank Kevin and Steven
Genkowitz. They run Main Event Amusements, and
they're out of Solvay. And they're out during
the summer and all over. And one of the point
people. You must make them interrupt their winter
vacation here to come do this event or something,
don't you? Well, they were just down in Pennsylvania.
There was a big conference down there. Oh, wow.
They won an award. for 2025 of being one of the
top, you know, event people. And I've known Kevin
a long time, but my person who works with them
is Alan Leventure. And I thank Alan because he's
taken different roles over the years. And he
works with them. for these spring, summer, fall
events. And it's just, it's great to have a good
staff, as you know, people working with you that
get it, that, you know, that, you know, and again,
I'm appreciative of the fair, recognizing, you
know, what we're doing. I want to thank Julie
LeFay. I know they're already working on the
fair for the summer. Of course. Announcing...
You know, different groups. And, you know, I
came here in 1979 and did radio, as you said,
my nickname Stereo Steve. And I started working
with all the fare directors. It was Tom Young,
Wayne Gallagher, who came from Texas, their Big
Fair, then Pete Cappicelli, then Dan O 'Hara.
then Troy Waffner, then Sean Hennessey, and now
Julie LaFave. And I thank Julie for the support.
Because I know I did see her come out with her
son last year to enjoy. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was
great. Julie's the best. We interviewed her at
the beginning of the summer fair this year for
her first fair. She was wonderful to us. So I'm
glad to have her on board. Steve, the website
is nyswinterfair .com, which is a great place
to go get your tickets in advance, like we talked
about. One other thing I will toss out, if you
follow us on Facebook, and if you don't follow
us on Facebook, what are you doing with your
life? Get it together. But if you go to our Facebook
for good news York, you will see the top pin
post is a post about winter fair and we are giving
away some tickets and We're probably gonna choose
the winner of that tomorrow. So today's the last
chance but just share that post and tag us a
hundred people have already make sure You put
down our Facebook, you know, it's it's all there
winter fair and We got some great responses because
you know, we've done tickets like with family
ties. I think they had like a thousand people
reacting, you know. But yeah, if you go to the
Good New York page and share that particular
post and help spread the word about Winterfair,
we will choose a couple of folks to get some
free tickets for. Oh, and there's one thing.
You know, we talk about the fair in agriculture.
And we have something very special. I don't know
if you've met Mike Atkins, I think when you were
at the press conference. Mike has been doing
this project at the King's School, Martin Luther
King's School. And he is showing students how
to grow vegetables, hydroponics. And he's going
to be out there with the students, showing seedlings
growing with You know, hydroponics, they're going
to take a piece of parcel across the street,
create this whole because that's for, you know,
no offense to when you go into a supermarket
and if you are looking for collard greens, they're
like about this size. Yeah. His are like this.
Wow. And he's teaching the kids. That's awesome.
I love to hear that. And that's going to be like
right in the front as you come in. Cool. So many
cool things at Winterfair. We, the entire Good
New York team, will be there. We'll have a mini
set set up where we'll be doing this very show
right there at the fair interviewing all kinds
of people. We got people lined up. Steve's got
people lined up. We'll grab randoms from the
crowd and have great conversations with them
as we always do, especially after we're a couple
of months. And you're going to be right by the
stage. We're going to have a special set up for
you where you can interview and... We have a
great duo that I was able to put together. A
lot of people are talking about Sydney Irving.
She just got a record contract with Warners.
Wow. And she's going to play in New York, Philly,
Washington. I love it. Actually, she played Winterfair
four years ago when she was 18. She's 22. And
she's going to play with Just Joe. Oh, nice.
An acoustic songwriter set. And that's going
to be at 3 o 'clock. I mean, right now, I'm going
to do a very bad interpretation. Right here on
off stage, it's the Ed Sullivan variety show,
you know? I love it. I love it. Winterfair, that's
it. The name of the game is Family and Value.
Free parking, thanks to AmeriQ. Free admission
for kids under 10. I mean, that's half the crowd.
10 and under. 10 and under. All kinds of incredible
value. Food, fireworks. Which honestly are some
of the favorite part which which evening is the
fire Friday and Saturday at 845 and if it's cold
to sit in your car Watch the fireworks. They'll
be out there. That's what I did last year as
I was Getting ready to head out. I sat comfortably
in my car and I saw the whole show It was so
cool two years ago. It was minus 20. Yeah, I
still went off I Honestly, there's something
about, I don't know, the way they look in the
sky and maybe it has something to do with the
temperature. It's brighter because of the chill
in the air. It's a neat thing. You don't usually
see fireworks in the winter. Oh, it's great.
And it's a 15 -minute demonstration. Yeah, it's
a legit show. You get everything. You get a great,
you know, everything popping up for the finale
and such. And we try to schedule it so everybody,
because we wrap up our music around 8 .30. Perfect.
And then at 8 .45, you just... Go out to the
car. And two nights of it is great because what'll
happen on Friday nights is the fireworks will
go off and half the people on Facebook will go,
did you hear fireworks? Where did those come
from? And you can tell all your friends they
came from Winterfair and if you go tomorrow on
Saturday, you can actually catch the whole show
from start to finish. And not only that, on Saturday,
if you can't make it to the dome, we're going
to run the SU Notre Dame game on the monitors.
There you go. There you go. What more could you
possibly ask for? in a weekend of entertainment
in central New York. I'll tell you what, Steve,
thank you for joining us on the show. And for
everything you do with all these projects. So
we really appreciate it. And catch Steve and
I tomorrow on Bridge Street. We will be talking
even more about fares and reindeers. Oh, it's
gonna be, and you can talk about. You know click
stream and what you're doing there and I got
a hard time not talking about it Steve Guys this
has been a great episode of good news York Please
like follow share all of that stuff and don't
forget our sponsor ads on the go get ads on the
go .com That's our man Zach with the billboard
truck Steve knows Zach. Yeah, and they'll be
advertising it'll be there on there. He'll be
there. So Yeah Peace out