Chamber News

Tom Bishop Reports on Business Progress for 2008-Patrick Co., VA

Tom Bishop, Executive Director, Patrick County Chamber of Commerce gave an update on the status of the Chamber and business conditions in Patrick County, VA for 2008 at the Annual Banquet

Accomplishments 2008– Report By Executive Director At the January 23, 2009 Banquet New Membership Growth End of 2005= 189 End of 2006= 246 End of 2007= 295 End of 2008= 325 Net gain of 30 in the last year. What’s new for our businesses: •New multimillion dollar lodge, restaurant, observatory now continues construction at Primland Resort. Expected completion Spring-Summer 2009-Meadows of Dan •New Surrey Bank and Trust office in Stuart •New Wendy’s Restaurant and Advance Auto •New businesses:Country Road Realty and Five Star Mt. Realty (Meadows of Dan and Stuart) •New business: 1st Choice Mortgage-Stuart •Parkway PC’s and Hatcher’s Taxi-Stuart •Construction project underway for new residential community in Stuart-Laurel Landing- 1st stage complete-Stuart •Construction of new homes by Hazelwood construction-Stuart •Expansion at Aerial Machine and Tool at new Ararat location •Continued Proliferation of DSL, high speed Internet in Patrick County by Embarq Corporation and Citizens Telephone. •New cell phone tower by Verizon in Stuart-Expands coverage. U. S. Cellular as well •Patrick County Schools new construction-$24 million project underway •New Business:Kricket’s Country Salon at Woolwine •New building-Piedmont Community Services-(built by Clark Bros. Construction)-Patrick Springs •Ground breaking for a new building, Step, Inc. on Wayside Road in Stuart •Opening of the new Wellness Center in Stuart-built by Anthony Byrd Construction •New Greenhouse at Blue Ridge Nursing and Landmark-Stuart •Blue Ridge Mt. Builders- new construction business •New auto service garage, near Stuart-Dobyn's Road •Various new housing developments underway by Dee's Country Realty •This is a partial list Virginia State Peach Festival celebration: Changes/Improvements in the Virginia Peach Festival Program: General Johnson and the Chairmen of The Board was our main act for 2008. We thank all of our sponsors who made this possible. •The Chamber Represented Patrick County at the following festivals and events:  Martinsville Trade Show-Martinsville  Strawberry Festival – Stuart  Fourth of July Car Show-Stuart  Kibler Valley River Run – Claudville  Peach Festival and Folk Fair – Stuart, Patrick Springs and Meadows of Dan  Patrick County Fair-Stuart  Civil War Reenactment and Highland Games – Ararat  Seniors Health Fair – Stuart  Reality Store at the Patrick County High School-Stuart We Continued to fulfill Visitor information requests ranging from 10-20 packets mailed per month. Hosted a meeting with former Gov. Mark Warner in Stuart. He was elected as our new U. S. Senator in November. Our Blue Ridge Visitor Center at Meadows of Dan continues to be a critical place to promote our County. We are assisting people from over 40 states and numerous foreign countries. The center is strategically located at the “Gateway to the Blue Ridge� which has tremendous impact on our local economy. We have continued to partner with media to advertise what we do at little or no cost to the Chamber. This includes new advertisements:  The Laurel Lea  Piedmont Magazine  The Big Blue Magazine  WHEE Radio in Martinsville  Mayodan and Madison AM station  Mt. Airy News  Festival News  WHEO  Cooking With Paul TV shows We have continued to advertise in the 2009 Virginia Travel Guide the Virginia State Peach Festival. THANKS TO OUR CORPORATE GOLD CLUB MEMBERS • Angels Above Design • The Reserve at Fairystone • Lambert United Country Realty • SamCo Construction • Brian Jessup, CPA • River Community Bank • Primland Resort • Fun Facts Radio • The Historic Star Theatre • Clark Gas & Oil • Patrick County Dancing Arts • Wanda’s Estate Jewelry • Mountain Valley Hospice Thanks to: • Embarq – Banquet Sponsor • Bennett’s Baskets and Bows – Banquet Sponsor • (Linens, decorations, etc.) • Vicki Bennett- decorations and Speaker • Kelly Ratcliff and Community Funeral Home – Sound • Stuart Rotary and Patrick County Recreation Dept.-Building • (Richard Rogers, Clyde Crissman and Travis Lacks) • Parkway PC’s for technical support • Jim Litten Real Estate and Denise Stirewalt for programs • Lisa Martin and The Reynolds Homestead – Name Tags, Tickets and loan of chairs and tables • Rod Barfield, help transport chairs and tables Media Covering this event tonight: • Fun Facts Radio-Pamela Nowlin • The Laurel Lea-Susan Rudd • WHEO-Richard Rogers and Stephen Walker • The Enterprise- Nancy Lindsey • Piedmont Magazine-Gary Corns and staff Thanks for your coverage