New hotel opens on shores of Chautauqua Lake

CELORON, N.Y. – A new, 135-room lakeside hotel has opened in actress Lucille Ball’s western New York hometown.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Thursday to officially open the Chautauqua (shuh-TAW’-kwuh) Harbor Hotel in the village of Celoron, on the eastern end of Chautauqua Lake.

The complex was built on the site of an amusement park that closed in 1962 and features indoor and outdoor pools, bars and restaurants, a fitness centre and a ballroom and conference centre.

The project received a nearly $2 million economic development grant from the state. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the new hotel will support local tourism along with the newly opened National Comedy Center in the neighbouring city of Jamestown.

Ball was born in Celeron in 1911.

The hotel’s owners also have properties in Watkins Glen and Clayton on the St. Lawrence River.