One Year After Chelsea Clinton Wedding, Rhinebeck Still Seeing Boom In Business
RHINEBECK, NY (WCBS 880) -- What's in a name? For one town in the Hudson Valley, the answer is all a matter of economics.
You can forget about finding a parking spot in the historic village of Rhinebeck on a weekend and good luck getting a 7 p.m. dinner reservation.
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It was one year ago that Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky got married at the historic Astor Courts Estate on the banks of the Hudson in Rhinebeck.
Collen Cruikshank, executive director of the Rhinebeck Area Chamber of Commerce, says she gets calls from as far away as Texas on a near daily basis.
"People saying we're coming to the area, we saw it on TV last year for the wedding, where should we go, what should we do, can we see where they were married," said Cruikshank.
That might explain the 20-percent boost in business at Pat Strong's Chestnut Suite Bed and Breakfast.
"Everybody that comes will say Chelsea Clinton was here, we were here for a wedding. We've had more people come this year for a wedding than any other year," said Strong.
At Samuel's coffee bar, owner Ira Gutman says it's helped his sales. "I feel it at the end of the day, the numbers add up at the end of the day bigger than they did last year," said Gutman.
Lila Pague at Winter Sun says the Clinton wedding has helped bring in tourists. "I think people maybe knew about Rhinebeck, they heard about the wedding and now they're coming," she said.
The only place that hasn't been touched by the magic is the wedding venue itself. Astor Courts was put on the market the day after the wedding for $13.5 million. It was reduced this summer to $8.4 million.
