Floyd County Embraces Artisan Flair (Roanoke Times)

FLOYD COUNTY VA (excerpt from Roanoke Times) – Floyd County’s tourism and economic development officials have been working for over a year on an initiative designed to boost that local craftsmanship economy, with a focus on agriculture, food and forestry related ventures.

They’re calling the campaign “Floyd Grown.”

“It has been the backbone to our economy. Our arts, our music, our handcrafts, our woodcrafts have all been integral to Floyd County as well as agriculture,” Floyd County Board of Supervisors member Linda DeVito Kuchenbuch said. “All of this will be accentuated in a way that hasn’t ever been done before.”

Lydeana Martin, the county’s community and economic development director, said around 17 percent of the county’s workforce is self-employed. Around 90 percent work for companies with fewer than 20 employees.

She said this isn’t the place employers go to build massive factories with 50 tractor trailers rolling through each day. But it is where companies go if they’re looking for a couple of dozen highly skilled welders for more specialized, artistic work.

She said “Floyd Grown” is…

Read more from Jacob Demmit at The Roanoke Times.

###

Virginia’s New River Valley: For those searching for an inspiring place to live and do business, Virginia’s New River Valley provides both an eclectic small town atmosphere and an innovative, collaborative business community with a loyal, highly skilled, and educated workforce. Offering the best of all worlds – magnificent mountains, cutting-edge research, arts, entertainment, and education – it’s A NATURAL FIT.

Onward NRV: Onward NRV is a public/private, regional economic development organization whose mission is to attract and retain world class jobs, investment and talent in Virginia’s New River Valley. It’s also a movement where leaders from business, government, and higher education work together to promote the economic vitality of the region.