Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 11, 1990 TAG: 9004110463
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
Barry Evans, outgoing president, outlined the chamber's plans, including opening a visitors center, at a recent budget hearing before the Giles County Board of Supervisors.
The chamber is asking the county for $9,000 to get the center going. The money would make chamber Executive Director Faye Nicholson's job full time so she could also serve as information center director.
The chamber moved its headquarters April 3 from a small space in the county administration building to Magic Mart Plaza off Main Street. The chamber operates bingo games from a storefront in the plaza, called Rainbow's End, and will use a third of the space as an office and information center.
Plans to develop a visitor center grew from last year's chamber effort to locate a state welcome center at the West Virginia border. The state decided not to build any new centers, but it encouraged establishment of a Giles visitor center.
Tourism hasn't been a significant industry in Southwest Virginia, but chamber officials think it can play a major part in economic development for the county. "With the number of out-of-state travelers on U.S. 460, we believe that a visitor center could have significant benefit to the county," Evans said.
"Although [in Southwest Virginia] we have 11 percent of the state's population and 16 percent of its land area, we derive only 4 percent of the travel expenditures in the commonwealth," he told the board. "I am convinced that we can easily double that figure, at least here in Giles County. But that won't happen unless we start telling visitors about the many attractions. . . ."
Last year the county financed a chamber-produced brochure highlighting such county attractions as the Cascades, Castle Rock Recreational Area and Mountain Lake. The chamber is planning revise the brochure at no cost to the county. Evans also pointed to several promotions the chamber runs at a loss, such as a Road and River Relay and a Mountain Lake bike race. "Although we lose money, we feel that these events are an excellent way of promoting this county."
In making the request for $9,000 to pay a center director, Evans told supervisors they were getting "a pretty good bargain." The chamber plans to work with the county's historical society and the Appalachian Trail Conference to train volunteers for the center.
"Maybe this sounds overly ambitious, but I am convinced that we need to begin now to plan for the future and ensure the continued prosperity of Giles County." Supervisors will decide on the request later in the budget process.
If the center is successful in Pearisburg, Evans said the chamber would like to build a center near the West Virginia border that would serve the New River Valley.
Supervisor Willard Gowdy said he thought a separate office for the chamber would help to establish its identity. But he said he was concerned the chamber had shown no clear direction in the past, though it had now decided to back tourism. Gowdy said successful tourism promotion was a costly venture that would need more than $9,000.
Evans told Gowdy he agreed with his assessment of a past lack of direction, but thought the chamber was turning that around. A goals list he handed out said the chamber would draft a strategy as well as a way to measure performance.
Besides new office space and a new director, the chamber has recently added 20 new members. A membership drive will start in May. Also, the chamber expects Pearisburg Town Manager Ken Vittum to be elected president at the May chamber awards banquet in May.
"The chamber is just really moving," Evans said.
by CNB