Ithaca eagerly prepares for Ithaca Loves Teachers

This Friday marks the start of the 17th annual Ithaca Loves Teachers celebration, which runs through Feb. 28 this year. The annual event, which has been going on for nearly two decades, celebrates the hard work of educators everywhere with local perks like discounts to lodging services, restaurants and entertainment experiences.

This year’s celebration is presented by Visions Federal Credit Union and is a joint effort from Visit Ithaca, the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Ithaca Alliance (DIA).

Jodi LaPierre, director of visitor experience for Visit Ithaca, explained that Ithaca Loves Teachers was created 17 years ago for several reasons, including the fact that February — when most teachers across the country have their winter breaks — is typically a slower period for local businesses.

“In addition, we are in a community that’s surrounded by education,” she said. “We felt this could be a great niche event to help celebrate public educators that aren’t often celebrated and are undervalued and often underpaid. So, this was a really great way to celebrate them while also bringing business to our local stores and the lodging properties and restaurants at a time that’s historically been pretty slow for us.”

Since its beginning, Ithaca Loves Teachers has “grown tremendously,” LaPierre said, with the number of available offers this year being over triple the amount featured the first year. The length of the celebration has also gotten longer to give educators plenty of time to enjoy everything that Ithaca has to offer.

Ithaca Loves Teachers was lucky that its 2020 celebration fell just a few weeks shy of the massive shutdowns caused by the pandemic, so that year was pretty much business as usual. But in 2021, it was finally Ithaca Loves Teachers’ turn to adapt to pandemic challenges, with changes like opting not to hold a large, in-person opening reception — a change that’s still in place this year.

Another change that went into effect last year due to the pandemic was the switch from a paper program and redemption system to a digital pass format using the platform Bandwango.

“The primary reason was in the middle of a pandemic, we didn’t want people to have to have a lot of touch points,” LaPierre said. “As far as the teachers, many had been asking for a number of years for something that was more modernized and a bit more high tech than the print program. So, overwhelmingly, there was a good response transitioning to that digital pass.”

In 2021, there were just over 1,400 digital pass downloads, with deal redemptions at 140 local businesses, according to a recent press release. Since it was such a success, the digital pass has come back this year.

While the pandemic created some hurdles for Ithaca Loves Teachers, event organizers know that teachers have struggled far more.

“That’s a hard job to begin with, and then, throw in the global pandemic and trying to keep children motivated and keep them safe and following all the protocols and then, quite frankly, dealing with all the politicization of keeping the kids safe,” said Peggy Coleman, vice president of tourism and director of Visit Ithaca. “It’s important for us to recognize that hard work that they do.”

Throughout the past 17 years, educators have expressed their immense gratitude to the Ithaca community for this annual celebration.

“They’re coming in strong numbers,” said Gary Ferguson, executive director of the DIA. “This is the education city; we’re all about education. And so, I think that whole idea of reaching out to teachers is really powerful. And we have something for them. Not only do we have shops, and we have good dining and all that, but we have an ethos here that’s very education-centered. And so, people should feel comfortable, and they should feel very, very welcome here.”

And business leaders have expressed similar appreciation, as the celebration helps to boost business during an otherwise slow period.

“Whether visiting gift shops or spas, area restaurants or wineries, enjoying our cultural assets and museums, the economic impact of such an event during the slow winter months is tangible,” said Tompkins Chamber President Jennifer Tavares in a recent press release. “Further, our community is grateful for the opportunity to do something nice in return for educators and school staff members, particularly after the very difficult few years they’ve had during the pandemic.”

Jason Sidle, director of operations at Coltivare, said his staff look forward to it every year because, since the restaurant doubles as an education center, Coltivare staff are teachers, too.

“We kind of look at it like we’re all on the same team, ultimately,” he said. “And anything that we can do to help other teachers, whether they’re secondary education or not, to us, we just feel like we want to extend a welcome hand and really make a nice opportunity for them to get a really great deal to come in and enjoy another teaching facility while they’re away from their 9-to-5, 40-50 hour [per] week job. But they can still come in, enjoy and relax and still be arm’s distance away from teaching stuff.”

While Ithaca Loves Teachers has been a local tradition for a long time, not far away, Visions Federal Credit Union has long had a similar program that celebrates educators. And with the credit union opening a location in Ithaca, it made perfect sense to join the celebration. As a result, Visions has been the title sponsor for Ithaca Loves Teachers for the past three years.

“We have a program called Visions Loves Educators, so when we saw Ithaca Loves Teachers, we’re like, ‘Wait a minute, that sounds the same,’” said Mandy DeHate, assistant vice president of marketing for Visions. “So, we knew it was just the perfect fit. And then, with our branch opening in Ithaca, it was really good alignment. And in talking with Jodi, knowing that they get people from surrounding Tompkins County as well, again, that aligns with where our membership is. So, it was just everything falling into place.”

All sources interviewed for this story are eagerly awaiting the start of Ithaca Loves Teachers and hope to see even more attendance than last year.

“I really think people want it this year more than ever,” DeHate said. “Overall, for the event, I think they’re going to see phenomenal participation, definitely more than last year, a stronger amount of people taking advantage. And personally, if we could have 50 to 100 teachers visit our branch and check in and get their goodie bag and enter to win our drawing, that would be phenomenal.”

As far as the long-term future of the celebration, sources see it evolving even more as organizers get more feedback from participants, and everyone is looking forward to when Ithaca Loves Teachers doesn’t have to worry about COVID-19 precautions.

Registration for this year’s celebration is open and free. Over 130 offers are available through the digital pass, and once two are redeemed, participants can pick up a special gift at one of two locations. The celebration is open to all public school teachers, school district employees and staff, teachers union retirees, homeschool teachers and childcare workers.

Educators may also share their pass with one member of their household.

For more information and to register, visit ithacalovesteachers.com or facebook.com/IthacaWinterRecess.

Jessica Wickham is the managing editor of Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to them at editorial@vizellamedia.com.