Spare change: Shirts Not Stuffed, but Cabbage May BeIn Upstate N.Y.

The vegetables literally took over the supermarket aisles to tout an upstate New York community bank's newest branch.

Employees of Poughkeepsie Savings Bank-dressed as carrot, onion, potato, and corn-performed a skit, sang, and danced a little soft-shoe.

"We were out to demonstrate we are not stuffed shirts," said Joseph B. Tockarshewsky, chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Poughkeepsie Savings. "We can cut up when we have to."

The $850 million-asset thrift's branch in a ShopRite store was its ninth supermarket branch opened in the past 18 months.

"It certainly caused everyone to stop what they were doing in the supermarket and watch," he said.

Carson National Bank may not be gullible, but the $35 million-asset community bank just bought a bridge.

It's not exactly the Brooklyn Bridge, however.

The Auburn, Neb., bank bought an old bridge that will be moved to help complete a nature trail along the Missouri River in Nebraska.

The bridge, which cost $1,000, is 90 feet long and will span a gap once crossed by railroad tracks. By the end of 1998, the "rails to trails" project is scheduled to be completed for bikers, hikers, and other trail trekkers.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER