WESTERLO — Owners of shops, inns, and restaurants gathered to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the formation of the South Westerlo Business Association on a bright Thursday morning at the Van Winkle Inn.

The inn, off of Route 405 in South Westerlo, is surrounded by several other businesses, including two antique shops and a yoga studio.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy visited the inn and tarried at the antique shop Chipped Tarnished and Torn next door on Aug. 30, delaying his speech. He delivered a proclamation honoring the association on its one-year anniversary, calling small businesses “the backbone of the community.”

McCoy was accompanied by Westerlo Supervisor Richard Rapp and county Legislator Chris Smith, who owns a restaurant in East Berne and said it was good to see small businesses working together.

“We started something good out of something bad,” said Jim Eufemia at the lectern placed before the inn.

Eufemia, vice president of the association, said that the businesses had gotten together last winter when a sign naming local businesses was vandalized. The group was able to replace the damaged sign with two new ones on either end of Route 32, which borders the South Westerlo hamlet and cuts through the small area where the businesses are located.

“The problem is, we’re off the main road, Route 32,” he said.

Eufemia runs Vince Anna’s Restaurant, which had been opened by his parents in 1945, when the area was a booming tourist attraction, he said.

Three resorts, including Shepard Farms and the Colonial Manor, attracted vacationers, and a bus line ran in the summer months to bring other visitors, he said. Starting in the 1960s, he said, the tourism from people living in and around New York City began to taper off as air travel became more popular.

Eufemia’s sister, Virginia Mangold, who owns a real-estate firm just south of the hamlet and the county border in Greenville and also chairs Westerlo’s zoning board, said that there are still plenty of businesses in the small area.

“This area is loaded with businesses,” she remarked. Mangold, secretary and treasurer of the association, said the association intends to spread awareness of its businesses and what they offer.

Other businesses that are part of the association include Witt’s End Flea Market, located just north of the border with Greene County; Gristmill Fencing and Yoga, located down the road from the inn and the antique shop; and Big Eye Gallery, where Virginia Cantarelli, a local artist, displays some of her work.

McCoy remarked on the association members coming together to help one of their own after the owner of a home business called Ladybug Soap and her family were injured and lost their home in a devastating fire. Eufemia said that a fundraiser was held for the family at Vince Anna’s Restaurant.

On Thursday, with the sun shining on the group, onlookers stopped to chat or peruse the antiques at Chipped Tarnished and Torn. The store’s owner, Ray Corrochi, excitedly went back and forth between customers and the celebration outside.

Bert Tobin, president of the association and co-owner of the inn with his wife, Holly, thanked everyone gathered around the lectern for their support in the association.

“Here’s to a bright future for all of us,” he said.