It’s great to see longtime Elmira business owners – and longtime champions for downtown – work together to promote a great business and help a local agency that serves people with disabilities. It’s an inspiring story that resulted in the production of a terrific video (above) promoting the Twin Tiers’ premier bicycle shop — and a downtown with new energy.

Rich LaVere, the owner of Nutmeg Upcycling on West Gray Street, recently helped promote Kingsbury’s Cyclery, the great bicycle sales and service shop owned by Paul Kingsbury on West Water Street, by overseeing the production of a six-minute video that does a professional job of profiling Paul and his shop. Rich worked with Kyle, an Arc of Chemung client, to make the video.

Paul has been in business at various locations in the Elmira area since 1981, when he was 20 years old, and has been downtown for about 30 years.

“I appreciate the hard work by Kyle and Rich,” Paul said. “The video is very professional. It’s so good that some of my customers have asked when it’ll be on TV. It’s been a really nice boost for the shop.”

Rich, a talented photographer and videographer, is the owner of LaVere Media, which was in the Midtown building on North Main Street for years. He closed that storefront a few years ago, but cameras are still Rich’s first love. Now he’s channeling some of his creativity into “upcycling” used items that he transforms into one-of-a-kind originals in his cozy shop under the Mark Twain Apartments, and using his creativity to give back to the community he loves.

Rich was approached by the Arc of Chemung to serve as a mentor for Kyle, who has an interest in animation and filmmaking. Kyle filmed and edited the video with Rich’s guidance.

“Kyle was (and is) very enthusiastic about this area of creative expression, and is very eager to learn all aspects of the business,” Rich said. “I found him to be delightful and very professional. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with him, and can’t wait to see what he does going forward.”

Rich suggested that Kyle create a “mini-documentary” about Paul’s shop to highlight a longtime downtown business. Rich helped Kyle with some basic video skills and guided him in expressing his ideas visually.

“This is a project I’m pretty passionate about for a lot of reasons,” Rich said. “It touches on many things that matter to me: Community, local business, and working with underserved communities.”

Rich said Kyle did the principal videography, choosing his own shots and style, and they worked together during the editing process, with Kyle making most of the editorial decisions.

“It was a true team process, and Kyle’s input was not only welcome, but essential to making this work,” Rich said. “I also want to thank Paul Kingsbury for graciously giving his time and expertise. If you are looking to purchase a bike, a bicycle accessory or just want to talk about bikes, you should definitely visit Paul.”

Thank you for reading!

Jim