AUBURN - It isn't unusual for a business to reassess and give itself a facelift from time to time to make an effort to reach new customers.

This year, the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce took this idea to heart and gave the annual business expo a makeover, creating a new type of event with Market Cayuga.

Ginny Kent, of Leadership Cayuga and chamber membership coordinator, said the business expo has been going on for a number of years as a means for chamber members to make themselves better known to the community and to fellow businesses.

After every expo, the chamber has collected input from participating businesses, always looking for ways to improve.

This led to several changes this year.

“Things are a little different this year,” Kent said. “Every year, businesses do evaluations and give us suggestions and we decided this year to make some changes.”

Changes included moving the expo to earlier in the day, making it more convenient for businesses and people in the community to take part.

“One of the big changes is to hold this earlier in the day,” Kent said. “It seems to be easier for people to get here during the day instead of after-work hours.”

This strategy seemed to pay off well as more than 65 area businesses and community-based organizations were on hand all day at the Holiday Inn in Auburn.

This year's participants showcased the diversity of businesses in Cayuga County. Service agencies such as Cayuga Home For Children and Mercy Health and Rehabilitation were alongside other business as diverse as The Jacobs Press, Staples, Reva Rollerdrome and Premiere Financial Solutions.

“We have a good combination,” Kent said. “About half of the businesses here are new this year and the rest have been members for a while. It is a chance for all of them to network and expose the community and other businesses to their business and let people know that they are here and what they have to offer.”

Melanie Quinn, owner of Melanie's Catering, has been running her business for 13 years.

This year marks the first time Quinn has participated in the business expo, having joined the chamber this year.

Quinn said she is also part of Business Networking International, which helped open her eyes to possibilities available in the community.

“It opened me up to see that there is more available to me,” Quinn said, “more opportunities to network.”

Throughout the day, Quinn said she had a steady stream of people stopping by her table to see what she had to offer.

“I've never done anything like this before,” Quinn said. “I'm having so much fun and I've met so many other people and businesses. I think this will be really good for business.”

Others, such as Julia Reich, owner of Julia Reich Design, have participated in the expo for several years and found the experience to be beneficial.

“I joined the chamber when I moved here,” Reich said. “I thought that it would be a good way to network. This is one of the main events the chamber does. One of the things about having your own business is that you always have to market yourself and every little bit helps. Here you get to meet people and let them know more about what you do and let them know what you are all about.”

Another change in this year's program was the inclusion of several seminars with a go-green theme, aimed at inspiring businesses to find ways to be more eco-friendly.

These talks included topics such as sustainably green strategies, protecting our watershed and energy alliance.

Kent said all of the changes this year were well received.

“There has been a steady stream of people all day,” Kent said. “There has been a lot of talk and a lot of buzz going on. We had a great turnout of businesses and the seminars seemed to go really well and had some good information on being an eco-friendly business and good practices.”