This is a presentaiton

1. Where Creative
Traditions
and
New Technologies
Meet
Lydeana Martin,
Floyd County, Virginia
1

2. Our “Weaknesses”
 No four-lane
 No railroad
 No natural gas
 No airport
 No “Product” (readily available building space)
 Limited water capacity (less than 150,000gpd
currently)
 No hospital
 No university

3. Our Strengths
 No four lane, no natural gas, etc. ;-)
 Strong, fun downtown
 Vibrant, welcoming community with local arts, foods,
music, wineries etc.
 Entrepreneurship and Independence
 Robust fiber optics, increasingly recognized
 Good schools
 People good with their hands
 Floyd Regional Commerce Center
 Proximity to Virginia Tech

4. Floyd’s Recognition
 Sustainable Communities . . . Six Great
Places Maybe You’’ve never Heard of
Mother Earth News, Feb 2011
 Southern Dream Towns
Music is just one of this Town’s High
Notes Garden & Gun April 2010
 Top 10 Southern American Cities
Salon City, April 2007
 Top 15 Travel Destinations: The Crooked
Road USA Today 2007
 Virginia Town on Slow [Food] City Pace
 USA Today Nov 2006

5. But many challenges . . .
 High out-commuting rates (60%)
 Among the lowest wages in Virginia (factors include so
many low-end service jobs)
 Limited tax base (residential growth)
 Diversification is desperately needed as traditional
manufacturing is gone; farms are struggling
 Even our small business often are not stable or growing
good-paying jobs

6. People Want to Be In Floyd
Floyd County
Floyd County

7. Communication Services
• 200Gbps backbone on a open access network
with redundant and diverse routing with other
network providers like: Mid-Atlantic Broadband
Cooperative and Bristol Virginia Utilities.
– Upgradable to 800Gbps
– Co-location building located at the Floyd Regional
Commerce Center with 200amps DC power system,
battery backups, and 25kW on-site emergency
generator
– Over 95% of all network facilities are buried

8. Education:
Excellence In K-12 Education
Floyd County Schools
~ All Meeting SOL’s, NCLB
Wired for the Future –For more
than a decade, students at every
level in Floyd County have been
trained to use the Internet
Floyd County Schools became
one of the first schools
systems in U.S. to place
Internet access in each
classroom (by 1995)
•6th Graders do morning news show
through digital video & school
computer network have for 6 years+
Smart Board technology used
in each school
Powerpoint in lst grade!

9. Vibrant Downtown
 Growth in Tourism
 Vibrant downtown

10. Music:
Live 5 days/week
“ IT'S NO MYSTERY why a city as buttoned-up as
Washington connects with music as down-home as Floydfest
bluegrass -- it gets us back to ourselves. Anyone
interested in tracking the sound a little closer to its
source need only travel to the southwestern
Virginia town of Floyd. Every Friday night, players,
listeners and dancers come from all around to
gather at the general store for the Friday Night
Jamboree. ”
Friday Night Jamboree
Blues and Roots music Black Dog Jazz and Our
Live music in Floyd Wed-Sun Dog Blue Concerts

11. The Arts
art
t he b e st
O n e o f ca
F loyd: Ameri hn Villani, ns
in ~J o
t o wns Sm all A
rts T
ow
est Arts
Original Art Work by Local Artist Charlotte Atkins 100 B
The Jacksonville Center for the Arts
The Jacksonville Center's mission is to stimulate
economic development through tourism by
showcasing those artistic, creative, educational,
and entertainment aspects of rural life which are
unique to this region.
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12. Natural & Historic
Areas
Buffalo Mountain
(3,977 ft)
Floyd County B lu e R id g e
P a r k w a y:
Mabry Mill
Rock Castle National
Recreation Area

13. Business Clusters in Floyd County
 Foods:
 Blue Mountain Organics
 Chateau Morrisette Winery
 Good Food Good People
 Natural Products:
 Green Label Organics
 GreenDeva’s
 Faith Mountain Farm

14. Business Clusters in Floyd County
 Polymers/Advanced Materials:
 Hollingsworth & Vose
 BG Genesis, LLC
 Automotive:
 Dex (Volvo subsidiary)
 Technology:
 Citizens (communications)
 Electronic Prototypes
 Entryway (software)
 Newland Group (GIS/GPS)

15. Business Clusters in Floyd County
 Home-Building/Furnishings:
 Streamline Timberworks
 Crenshaw Lighting
 Builderscrete,
 Blue Ridge Yurts, and
 MANY Cabinetmakers, Woodworkers
 Artists and Artisans
 Hundreds . . .

16. Green-buildings in Floyd
One of largest salvaged
timber-frame building
in US
Eco-Village (Net zero homes)
Office Building with solar,
Hotel Floyd—energy geothermal energy, plus grey
efficient, local sourced water system