SLOATSBURG, NY.- Art and design world veteran, 1stdibs founder, and owner of Valley Rock Inn , Michael Bruno recently launched a new online platform, Tastemakers Guide, which is aimed at supporting small businesses in Upstate New York. The site features a curated selection of more than 300 businesses including shops, art galleries, inns, restaurants, historic sites, and parklands, that now more than ever are dependent on support from their local communities. As the world begins to carefully reopen, the guide will make it easy for residents and visitors to keep up-to-date on the status of their favorite businesses, and begin to wander and dream once again.




Tastemakers receives a constant stream of business updates from the field, and is now expanding to new areas of New York, including the capital region and the Adirondacks. As the reopening process has begun unevenly across the state, t his service, which is being offered to businesses free of charge, has become increasingly important for New York residents looking for local food, drinks, culture, and products, bringing together a wealth of information from a broad range of businesses onto a single platform.

Tastemakers Guide lets you start searching, dreaming, saving your favorite places and inquiring about the businesses on your wishlist. In addition, each week a different business owner will be featured in a Q & A with Ana Hito, formerly of Goop, to bring awareness to their current struggles, successes, and efforts in the local community.

"I strongly believe that in the months to come there will be a spike in travel to this area, being that it is only a short drive away from New York City and it offers an ideal escape in nature," says founder Michael Bruno. These businesses have offered safer alternatives to the local residents through this pandemic, and Bruno wants to pay it forward, directing vital traffic to the businesses and keeping the local economy strong.