Virginia’s Appalachian Trail Communities

The Appalachian Trail Community™ designation program is a new program of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, designed to recognize communities that promote and protect the Appalachian Trail (A.T.). The program serves to assist communities with sustainable economic development through tourism and outdoor recreation while preserving and protecting the A.T.

Completed in 1937, the 2,180-mile-long Appalachian National Scenic Trail is one of the longest, continuously-marked footpaths in the world. It spans through 14 states, ranging from Georgia to Maine. Virginia is home to 544 miles of the Appalachian Trial, more miles than any other state! There are 20 Appalachian Trail communities, 10 of them are in Virginia. From north to south, these are: Front Royal, Harrisonburg, Waynesboro, Buena Vista, Glasgow, Troutville, Pearisburg, Bland, Abingdon and Damascus. This year, Abingdon, a VMS community, was designated an Appalachian Trail Community™.

“Our town has long offered a respite for the weary hiker,” Abingdon Mayor Ed Morgan said in a written statement announcing the designation. “The Virginia Creeper Trail, which begins in Abingdon, is a natural connector to the A.T.” The designation ceremonywas held on Sept. 11, 2012.  Abingdon now joins the cities of Harrisonburg and Waynesboro, both designated Virginia Main Street communities that have embraced their proximity to the trail in their economic restructuring efforts, creating programs that attract hikers to their downtowns, as well as providing amenities and activities that are tied to the A.T.

Front Royal, Buena Vista and Pearisburg are VMS Commercial Affiliates.

Nestled 18 miles west of the A.T in the Shenandoah Valley, Harrisonburg is filled with locally-owned restaurants, museums, art galleries and shops.  Harrisonburg offers special packages for A.T. Hikers to make their stay an easier and more pleasant one. During their annual Valley 4th celebration, hikers are invited to participate in the parade.

The City of Waynesboro is located three miles from the junction of Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. “The Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s community designation for Waynesboro strengthens the city’s effort in becoming a premier outdoor recreation destination,” stated Katie McElroy, Waynesboro’s tourism director. “The opening of the first phase of the South River Greenway is key to Waynesboro’s commitment to the outdoors,” explains C. Dwayne Jones, director of Waynesboro Parks and Recreation. 

Plan your Appalachian Trail adventure and stay, shop and dine in any of these great Virginia communities.

2012 Downtown Improvement Grants Awarded

This past February, Virginia Main Street awarded seven Downtown Improvement Grants ranging from $6,000 to $25,000. The grants are intended to help local Main Street organizations implement economic restructuring strategies that will have measureable local and regional economic benefits, establish and strengthen partnerships in the community and increase the capacity and involvement of local Main Street committees and volunteers. The funded organizations included:

• Advance Abingdon, which will improve a public park to help anchor the western end of the Main Street district and encourage private investment in this part of the district.
• Altavista on Track, which will renovate the upper stories of the building currently housing the Altavista Arts and Antiques incubator to allow for additional vendors.
• Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance, which will complete façade improvements on the former McCory’s Department Store as part of a larger restoration project that will establish a Main Street “mini-mall” for small retail, food and professional tenants.
• Luray Downtown Initiative, Inc., which will complete permanent gateway improvements at the Main Street district’s most heavily-trafficked entrance.   
• Marion Downtown Revitalization Association, which will launch the Virginia Main Street community’s first pop-up program by providing three new small businesses in the Main Street district with business training and grant funding to help defray start-up costs.
• Staunton Downtown Development Association, which will upgrade outdoor lighting fixtures to help better connect the thriving downtown commercial district to the “Wharf District.”
• Waynesboro Downtown Development, Inc., which will construct the Center for Coldwater Restoration demonstration hatchery and information center in the Main Street district to help develop the community’s potential as an outdoor recreation and tourism destination.

Downtown Improvement Grants are just one of the many forms of support that Virginia Main Street offers the state’s 25 designated Main Street communities.

Tourism Marketing Grants Announced

Governor McDonnell recently announced that the Virginia Tourism Commission (VTC) will award $635,000 in matching grants to 35 local tourism initiatives.  The grants, which require a 3-to-1 match, will help local and regional entities attract visitors by leveraging local tourism marketing dollars.

Several designated Virginia Main Street (VMS) communities and their partners will receive grant funds. Some communities will use the funds to promote local festivals (Waynesboro – Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival and Winchester – 85th annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival). Others will promote driving trails (Harrisonburg & Luray – Shenandoah Music Trail), the Civil War (Farmville – Best Part of the Civil War – The End) and outdoor recreation (Harrisonburg, Staunton & Waynesboro – SVTA Outdoor Recreation and Family Traveling Marketing Campaign and Waynesboro & Abingdon – Virginia Appalachian Trail Smart Phone Application). Still others will use the funds for branding (Luray – Luray and Page County: So Much to Love) and comprehensive destination marketing, research and strategic planning (Abingdon). For a complete list of the funded projects, see the Governor’s announcement.  

Tourism is an important source of revenue and jobs in Virginia. In 2010, tourism generated $18.9 billion in revenue, provided $1.3 billion in state and local taxes and supported more than 204,000 jobs. 

“The VTC Marketing Leverage Grant program is an excellent resource … to boost tourism,” Alisa Bailey, president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation.  

The next round of Marketing Leverage Program grants will open Spring 2012. Localities interested in applying should visit www.vatc.org for more information.

Be a Culpeper Local

Culpeper, Virginia just received some good press after it unleashed its new shop local campaign, Be a Culpeper Local.  The campaign combines educating the nearly 50,000 Culpeper County residents on the value of buying locally with a website, beaculpeperlocal.com that directs visitors to local shopping and dining options, specials, and a way to track how much of your state sales tax is being returned to local Culpeper general funds and school coffers.

This fiscal year, 2010–11, the County general fund expects to receive $4.5 million (part of which is allocated to the Town), and the school expects to receive $6.4 million. All these millions are from us spending our dollars in Culpeper County!

It may not need saying, but this same math works for every community in Virginia, from Abingdon to Winchester and everyone in between.  This is but one of many ways to  jumpstart a shop local campaign.  If you need more reasons to value shopping local, you can visit this page.

For more information on shop local campaigns and the value of shopping local, peruse our training archives page, visit the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies website or get in contact with the Virginia Main Street staff.

Downtown leaders cover Main Street Essentials at Abingdon training

On Sep. 22 and 23, Advance Abingdon hosted 70 downtown revitalization professionals and volunteers from across Virginia for a training and knowledge share of best practices in the organization and promotion of downtown revitalization efforts.

National Trust Main Street Center Senior Program Officer Kathy LaPlante, a nationally recognized expert on community based downtown revitalization, presented specific strategies for organizing local efforts and promoting local businesses in downtown districts. “Communities across the country are working toward creating vibrant, one-of-a-kind downtown districts,” said LaPlante. “We develop and share best practices, such as how to effectively recruit and use volunteers, and how to fund revitalization efforts.”

Other more specific strategies discussed at the session promote the assets unique to each place. For instance a festival that draws people to a downtown in Virginia will be different from one in Wisconsin. “The overall guide to promoting your district,” said LaPlante, “is to be true in character to who you are as a community. No one size fits all.”

In addition to hearing from LaPlante, representatives of local governments, nonprofit organizations, and businesses shared the latest efforts of their home communities with others from around the commonwealth.

Sponsors for the event helped provide a warm welcome and included Michael’s Pharmacy, Mac’s Medical Equipment, Home Nursing Service of Southwest Virginia, Highlands Union Bank, The Office Place, and the Town of Abingdon. Participants took trolley tours, ate a dinner at the Farmer’s Market, attended a reception at A Tailor’s Lodging, and enjoyed lunch on the town.

Virginia Main Street trainings are open to anyone interested in downtown revitalization, and all PowerPoint presentations and notes from the group discussions are available at the Virginia Main Street training archive.

Essential trip planning: Abingdon, Virginia

A Sunday travel piece in the Knoxville News Sentinel this weekend presented readers with all they need to know for a weekend trip to Abingdon, Virginia’s historic district. The article included an itenerary of things to see on a self-guided tour (brochure available at the visitor’s center), including a run-down of retail, restaurant, and lodging busineesses in this Virginia Main Street (VMS) Community. 

The article offers a neighboring-state destination for its Tennessee readers just prior to the Labor Day holiday. This year the American Automobile Association (AAA) predicts that the holiday travel will increase 10% over last year, and that the travelers are staying closer to home.  Virginia Main Street communities are well positioned to take advantage of the short get-away trend because of proximity to the large urban population base of Mid-Atlantic cities.

The weekend after Labor Day, Abingdon will host a Red, White & Bluegrass Celebration on September 11 at 5:30 at the Abingdon Market Pavilion. And soon after–on September 22 and 23– the Virginia Main Street Essentials training will bring the VMS network to Abingdon for look at organizing and promoting downtown revitalization in Virginia’s traditional commercial districts.  For more information or to register, visit: www.dhcd.virginia.gov, and start planning your trip today.

Growing a success narrative

Is Abingdon on the brink of a new renaissance? That was the title question of a front page Bristol Herald Courier story this week connecting new businesses in the Washington County town to a strategic investment in Southwest Virginia’s cultural heritage.

This little town might be the next Asheville, at least according to the buzz downtown,” opens staff writer Debra McCown.

“It’s been a sudden, subtle change, but seemingly overnight, the same sort of art galleries and crafty, eclectic shops that define that North Carolina tourist center are popping up in Abingdon, Va. – another artsy mountain town that some say is on the verge of discovering its creative economy.”

While people behind the scenes in any community revitalization effort know the development process is far from overnight, the article is a good sign for the systematic investments  in a job-creating, quality-of-life enhancing, tourism-attracting infrastructure made over the past decade. And it’s just the beginning.

Ground’s due to break on  Heartwood: Southwest Virginia’s Artisan Gateway early next month. While the cultural center is to be located in Abingdon, its mission is to send travelers, well-armed with tour itineraries and a piqued curiosities, out into the region to discover the authenic Southwest Virginia for themselves.

The Herald Courier article makes the connection.  And just by asking the question, “Is Abingdon on the brink of a new renaissance?” the paper establishes the narrative (and it’s more than that of an Asheville wannabe).  

Visible improvements downtown will now reinforce that storyline for local residents and answer the question with a resounding, heartfelt and fully engaged, “Yes.” It’s an opening, an invitation for further investment, and it’s a call to action.  There’s an opportunity at hand.

While Heartwood can help build a regional narrative for all of Southwestern Virginia, it’s up to individual communities to use it to construct their own success story, building on very local and unique assets.  And there are other opportunities out there in other regions.  The Blue Ridge Parkway celebrates its 75th anniversary next year. The civil war sesquicentennial represents a major marketing opportunity. And regional toursim trails add possibility throughout the Commonwealth.

But first your community has to know where its been and where its headed.  It’s part of every good tale of a hard-working community making good.  It’s the heart of our work.  What’s your revitalization story? And who’s telling it?

Getting Main Street communities in the news

As champions of Virginia’s traditional commercial districts, Main Street leaders can be effective marketers for their communities.  Working to earn coverage in local, regional, and national media outlets can help drive visitors and residents downtown.

You might have a weekend travel package that a newspaper from a more urban area would be interested in covering. For instance, The Washington Post gave the travel treatment to Fine, Funky Lynchburg, covering the offerings of the Hill City’s downtown. 

Don’t know where to start?  Assistance is available to help you get your community’s story into major markets.

The Virginia Toursim Corporation (VTC) works on a daily basis with travel writers and reporters from across the country. They maintain online resources for the press in the online press room, and if VTC staff know your community’s story, it makes it easier for them to work for you. Give them access to high-quality photographs, keep them up-to-date on your travel resources, and keep your events posted on: www.virginia.org.

Or you might have an event  more appropriate for local consumption.  Regional and state magazines such as Virginia Living and Blue Ridge Country have become glossier in recent years and now rival national publications. Meanwhile, local publications such as Richmond Magazine and The Piedmont Virginian can do double duty of raising awareness of local assets with visitors and locals alike.

The kickoff of an Advance Abingdon promotional effort incorporating outdoor scupture attracted attention from a regional A! Mazazine for the Arts as well as the Washington County News (Wolves back in Wof Hills). The effort raised awareness of the organization and its mission while calling attention to a legendary asset of the community.

What are you doing to keep your commercial district in the news?  Keep Virginia Main Street up-to-date on your news coverage, and we’ll share it on the blog.

Virginia’s Main Street in the news

The Sunday, April 5 edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch had several articles of note about Virginia Main Street communities.  First was an article about Abingdon’s latest downtown promotion, then an article about Page County’s (including Luray) attempt to be designated as the “Cabin Capital of Virginia.” Then yet another article, this one talking about the Lynchburg Museum’s new exhibits.

Lynchburg, Altavista and Manassas all were noted for their recent milestone acheivements.

An editorial in the Star Exponent of Culpeper extolls the signs of a strengthening economy as evidenced by the entrepreneurial spirit in Culpeper’s Historic Downtown.  The Martinsville Bulletin ran a story on another entrepreneur who is doing his part to revive a local economy hit hard by factory closings.

Lastly, at least for now, the Franklin News Post has an article on Rocky Mount’s uptown facade inprovement program.