By ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON – With planning for Winterfest just around the corner and the Dairy Princess Festival just behind, the new director of the Canton Chamber of Commerce is settling into the job.

Tammy Mackin, recently an account executive with the now defunct Plaindealer, took over the reins of the agency this past spring. After seven years at the Plaindealer working with local business owners on their advertising and marketing needs, a segue to the chamber directorship seemed like a good fit.

“I just found it to be a really good opportunity to still keep contact with my clients that I had from the newspaper,” Mackin said, “and also becoming a small business owner myself to still stay connected to the community and other small business owners.”

Mackin takes over the position from former director Allison Bauer, who had served following the retirement of longtime director Sally Hill at the end of 2017. Bauer left the position earlier this year to pursue an opportunity with the new Fairfield Hotel.

Mackin has been working with Hill to get up to speed at the job.

“She’s my landline. She is great anytime I need her,” Mackin said. “She is always right there to give me help and advice.”

The new director’s local connection could also serve her well in the position. Mackin has life-long ties to the area, graduating high school at Edwards-Knox in 1988 and from SUNY Canton in 1998. Her husband Steve Mackin runs a local logging and firewood business. Mackin herself recently opened Shindigs on the River, an outdoor events venue hosting weddings, anniversaries, reunions and other gatherings on the Grasse River south of Canton near Russell. They have two adult children, Steven Mackin II and Mercedes Mackin.

One major roll for the Canton chamber director is not only to assist its member businesses with things like marketing opportunities, gift certificates, training programs and networking, but to plan and run the various community events the organization stages every year.

Winterfest in February, Peter Rabbit in the Park in April, Big Wheel Races and the Dairy Princess Parade and Festival at the end of May and beginning of June, the Chamber golf tournament in June, town-wide sales in August and the Halloween-themed Phantoms in the Park in the fall are all part of the annual lineup.

But, organizing these large events is exactly how Mackin stepped into the position. “When I started, I started right in the midst of the Dairy Princess Festival planning. I got my feet completely wet,” Mackin said.

Being a local resident, the new director is very familiar with the Canton events, attending Easter egg hunts at the chamber’s Peter Rabbit in the Park festival with her own children and herself marching with the Edwards-Knox school band during the Dairy Princess parade when she was in school.

Mackin is already working on planning for Winterfest, the chamber’s largest event of the year, but said the next event the organization will host will be Phantoms in the Park on Oct. 26. The event is a long standing tradition in Canton, but wasn’t held last year.

“I’m excited to take on this opportunity and hopefully be able to continue with the traditions we’ve had and bring in some new ideas,” Mackin said.