General Motors entourage drives into town

By Jonathan Barbagallo

“What are all of those Cadillacs doing on Station Place?” “Why are there a lot of executives walking around town?” These questions were heard during the last week of July throughout Norfolk as a fleet of brand new 2015 Cadillac ATS Coupes descended on Station Place for four days.

The occasion was a public relations event sponsored by the Michigan car company, General Motors (GM). More than 60 writers from major automotive magazines and websites from across the country were involved, so that they could see first-hand the type of car the ATS Coupe would be.

Local Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Jonathan Barbagallo was selected to provide EMT accompaniment in case of emergency, a job to which he had no objection. “In addition to being driven around in a $90,000 Cadillac Escalade, I was able to meet a full complement of Cadillac and GM officials and mechanics.”

Each day, approximately 15 writers were invited to test drive the new 2015 Cadillac ATS Coupe over a 150 mile loop taking the drivers through Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.

While being a GM publicity affair, the Cadillac entourage was good for local businesses in the towns they touched. Starting and ending each day at the Winvian Resort in Morris, the drivers were expected to follow specific directions to locations where they switched vehicles and took a quick snack break. The first stop after leaving Morris was at the Station Place CafΘ in Norfolk.

After leaving Norfolk, the drivers took a route into Salisbury and then into Massachusetts before turning south and stopping for lunch at the No. 9 Restaurant & Inn in Millerton.

Leaving Millerton, the drivers then took a circuitous route through rural New York before returning to Conn. through Sharon and returning to Morris via Route 4 and Route 63.

The trip each day started at 8:30 a.m. and finished up at 1 p.m. allowing the reviewers to drive the car, not yet available to the public, through a variety of roads and speeds. And, perhaps best of all, it allowed everyone involved to spend some time in Norfolk and see what the village has to offer.

Photo by Jonathan Barbagallo.