Middleburgh, NY Powers Up A Digital Revolution. In An Arts Park.
Connected Communities Power-Up & First Sit! raises a cell phone toast to free village-wide WiFi. Password? (What else?) Breadbasket. Our kind of a Digital Revolution.Exactly how connected is the Village of Middleburgh?
Well, thanks to a collaboration with New York State, very.
It wasn’t glasses of champagne, but cell phones that the crowd raised to celebrate Connected Communities Power-Up & First Sit!, the final piece of Middleburgh’s free public village-wide WiFi.
The venue? The Art Park on Wells Avenue.
Middleburgh Mayor Kim Knight and Crystal Loeffler, NYS Office of Community Renewal/Homes & Community Renewal, check their WiFi connection in Arts Park alongside some younger browsers.
Now, you can browse the Art Park’s (local) art, maybe even bring up the (local) artist’s website on your phone, catch a few rays (or enjoy your lunch), while the kids play a few feet away, all while you’re recharging, seated on a park bench that’s actually a clearly-disguised solar charging station. A quick five-minute walk away? Restaurants, coffee shops, shopping, a book store, and Middleburgh High School.
Talk about bringing all the pieces of Schoharie County’s Digital Revolution together.
Because in this perfect corner of Upstate New York, a scenic, no-stress drive from New York City, Boston, Syracuse, even Buffalo, we’re well on our way to becoming one of the top 3 percent of counties nationwide with high-speed internet access for everyone.
A true economic game-changer, said SEEC CEO Julie Pacatte and Schoharie County Economic Development Coordinator John Crescimanno at Power-Up & First Sit!
Funding for the project–the free WiFi and the Arts Park charging stations–came from State Homes & Community Renewal as a $1.2 million post-COVID CDBG grant geared toward activating outdoor spaces while providing free online resources for learning, keeping in touch, and staying healthy.
The grant also brought free public WiFi to the Village of Schoharie, and, with help from SEEC, awarded nearly 40 small business grants for digital upgrades.
And county-wide, door-to-last-door broadband access? That’s a $33 million project funded by New York State’s ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Program that’s being built now.
“It’s all about to become a reality,” said Jim Becker, president of MIDTEL & INOC Data centers and a SEEC founder, and shows what can be done when we all work together. “Access and connection…it’s all part of strengthening community identity and bringing people into a vibrant, forward-thinking downtown that attracts investors,” added Crescimanno.
The Art Park park bench charging stations were the brainchild of Village Trustee Amanda Fernandez and the final piece in the all-access puzzle; MIDTEL finished up installation in Middleburgh’s business district–Main Street, Railroad Avenue, Chestnut Lane, and Wells Avenue in 2024. It now stretches from Middleburgh High School to the Art Park.
Crystal Loeffler, president of the Office of Community Renewal, NYS Homes & Community Renewal, and Marilyn Ponce, senior project manager, OCR/HCR were on hand to celebrate the access milestone.
Not only is it innovative, Loeffler said, but “We looked it up.” Schoharie County’s successfully secured more than $6 million in CDBG funds over the past few years, pretty big stuff, and again, a nod to what its partners–the Village of Middleburgh, SEEC, MIDTEL, Schoharie County, and New York State–have accomplished through collaboration.
Network for Middleburgh’s free public access: Middleburgh Free WiFi.
Password: breadbasket.
More Middleburgh? Village of Middleburgh
