Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 11, 1995 TAG: 9507110051
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
He left Monday for his other home in Hilton Head, S.C., leaving behind his job as interim director of the Pulaski's new Board of Economic Development. But he maintains a residence in Pulaski and will come back for visits.
Cox, 72, and his wife, Vivian, retired to Pulaski the first time from a business in Aiken, S.C., in 1991. He had worked here at Jefferson Mills, served as Chamber of Commerce president, helped start a Community Chest and was a local spark plug for business between 1957 and 1964.
But he dwarfed those years of civic activities when he agreed at the start of 1992 to become part-time director of the town's Main Street program. It had been without a director for a year after Pulaski Town Council, after supporting it for three years, cut its funding.
Cox began seeking antique, arts and specialty stores to fill the empty buildings in downtown Pulaski. He had a vision of Pulaski as the antiques capital of Virginia, and a personal goal of filling every empty building on Main Street before he went back to being retired.
He pushed an aggressive advertising program, including signs along interstate highways, but had to raise money to fund them. A fund-raising music festival in July 1993 drew a disappointing crowd of less than 400. By fall, the Main Street program was $1,700 in debt and its board was putting reins on spending.
This prompted one of Cox's several resignations as Main Street director. Each time, he was persuaded to stay on "a little longer." When he finally did resign early last year, he did so quietly - simply telling the Main Street board that he had done so - with no public announcement.
It was hard to tell, though, because Cox continued recruiting businesses while officially working for the town to promote its first Depot Day celebration in the summer of 1994. The second Depot Day Festival was held June 24 and it has become an annual event.
Some downtown merchants and officials, including Pulaski Mayor Andy Graham and Pulaski County Administrator Joe Morgan, bid farewell to Cox at a reception Sunday in the Renaissance Restaurant, one of Main Street's businesses. He was given a plaque from the business community thanking him for his contributions to the success of downtown Pulaski, Depot Day, Count Pulaski Day and "countless acts of assistance to members of the community."
An early advocate of tapping the tourism industry, Cox had become even more enthusiastic about its potential after attending a Southwest Virginia tourism seminar organized by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, in Marion in 1993 and learning about the half-million vehicles per day going though Pulaski County on Interstate 81.
He was still enthusiastic about it Sunday, the day before he and his wife left for Hilton Head. Sure, he said, people take vacation trips to Europe and far-off places, but Pulaski is ideal for weekend visits and is within a few hours of Charlotte, N.C., and other places from which tourists can be drawn.
"Pulaski, Christiansburg and Floyd and these places have got a lot to offer and they've got to recognize that," he said.
People who live in places like Pulaski tend to take for granted the good things such communities have, he said.
The completion of the New River Trail State Park into Pulaski, when it will stop at the renovated train station that is the focus for Depot Day, will bring in more visitors, he said.
"When the New River Trail gets here, then you have to have things for people to do," he said. Efforts to restore the Pulaski Theatre building as an arts and community center are just one part of what needs to be done, he said. "No community is ever stronger than its downtown area."
Not all of Cox's early successes endured. Some of the businesses he recruited, often with the help of the town's Urban Development Action Grant fund as a source of start-up loans, proved temporary. Most of those that left have been replaced.
Problems remain. Employees of businesses downtown still crowd out potential customers by taking parking space near the stores instead of off the major streets. Visitors lured by advertising to spend a Sunday shopping for antiques arrive to find only a few stores open.
The town has formed a Board of Economic Development to spread Cox's Main Street miracle townwide, so it was no surprise when it named Cox as its initial executive director. Council will soon name a permanent director to take up where Cox left off.
"I've enjoyed doing what I've done for this community," Cox said. When there is a success, he said. "It re-establishes your faith in everything so you keep on going. But I'm going to take some time out now."
by CNB