Pandemic Proof?
Canoe & Kayak plans expansion
By GREG KLEIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
PORTLANDVILLE – Brent Baysinger looks over the calm waters of Goodyear Lake and the growing business empire he has built on its banks and said it feels humbling.
“I am blessed,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is I am just so thankful for the support, not only from family and friends but also the local community.”
Baysinger, a 2000 Cooperstown Central School graduate, was doing hospitality work in Vail, Colorado, in his 20s, when he said his mother, Lonetta, proposed a business idea.
“I very much grew up a water kid,” Baysinger said. “It was actually my mom who had the idea first. She was the one who was living here and had her finger on the pulse and saw there was a need for this. I was ready for a change and I always liked to be my own boss and do my own thing.
“I basically had the opportunity to start this, and being outdoors and on the water, I didn’t have to think long about it,” he continued.
Canoe & Kayak Rentals and Sales launched in 2009 in the town of Milford, along state Route 28. Although the economy was still reeling from the 2008 recession, the weather gave Baysinger’s business a break.
