SULLIVAN COUNTY – The Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce is working to create one of the most comprehensive events calendars in the county. The calendar aggregates listings from news outlets, tourism organizations and community groups and is designed to make local events easier for residents and visitors to find in one place.

Chamber President and CEO Matthew Sush said that while the website is still being developed, “It’s usable. It’s good for people to know it’s out there.”

On Tuesday, the Chamber gave community partners a first look at the Sullivan County Community Calendar, demonstrating how the system pulls event listings from participating organizations and places them into a single searchable platform.

The calendar currently draws listings from several existing event calendars maintained by organizations contributing to the project, including Sullivan Catskills Visitors Association, River Reporter, Sullivan County Democrat and Bold Gold Media.

Camden Olivero, owner of Niche & Needle Marketing and the marketing consultant handling the calendar’s technical development, demonstrated how the system brings those different sources together.

“The software looks at their calendar on an hourly basis,” Olivero said. It then automatically adds new events and updates from those participating calendars.

At the time of the demonstration, roughly 190 events were already listed.

Users can look for events by location or type, such as concerts, festivals or fundraisers. Each listing includes a link to the organization’s website for more information or registration.

Olivero said imported events are also automatically sorted into categories based on keywords in their descriptions, making it easier for users to find what they’re looking for.

Sush said the goal is to capture not only major attractions and tourism events, but also smaller community activities that can be difficult to find when they are spread across different websites and social media pages.

“There’s not one place to look,” Sush said. “Now people are going to have one place to look, and I think that’s what’s important.”

Those events could include firehouse breakfasts and barbecues, church suppers, blood drives, nonprofit events, festivals and other local gatherings.

Members of the public can also submit events directly to the calendar. Those submissions will require Chamber review before being posted. A review period of about 24 hours was discussed during the demonstration, although the exact process is still being worked out.

The project was developed with discretionary funding from the Sullivan County government. The Chamber has not yet set an official launch date, with Sush saying the next steps include refining the site, finalizing partnerships and securing sponsors.

Businesses and organizations will be able to advertise on the calendar, including through sponsored and featured event placements.

Sush encouraged people using the current version to share their questions, comments and concerns as the Chamber continues refining the site.

The Sullivan County Community Calendar can be found at communitycalendar.catskills.com.