Campaign season in Virginia is a time when candidates crisscross the Commonwealth, shaking hands at festivals, visiting small businesses and walking the main streets of towns they may be seeing for the first time. Dwayne Yancey’s recent article highlighting 25 places that readers believe statewide candidates should visit is a timely reminder of the importance of showing up and listening to what matters most in every corner of the state.
In reading through the list, one theme stood out. Many of the communities mentioned, from the New River Valley to the Northern Neck, rely on Virginia’s great outdoors to drive local economies, attract visitors and improve quality of life. If candidates are looking for places that reflect the challenges and opportunities facing rural Virginia, they do not need to look any further. The answers are often found in our trail towns, river corridors, forests and farms.
Outdoor recreation is not just something these communities enjoy, but something they count on. In places like Floyd, Abingdon and Galax, trails are scenic backdrops and economic engines. In Patrick County and the Alleghany Highlands, public lands and waterways offer opportunities for small business development, conservation jobs and tourism-based revenue. Across the Rappahannock region and along the Chesapeake Bay, working farms and fishing operations rely on healthy lands and waters.
Walk through Damascus, known as “Trail Town USA,” and you will see what well-connected outdoor infrastructure can do for a local economy. Spend a day on the New River Trail in Pulaski or Galax, and it is clear how trails invite tourism, support small businesses and bring new energy into town. Visit the Piedmont region and you will hear directly from brewery and vineyard owners about how proximity to sweeping vistas and accessible outdoor spaces supports their livelihoods. Outdoor recreation is becoming an increasingly central force for growth and resilience.
These are not isolated examples. The outdoors is quietly powering a transformation rooted in rural resilience and economic reinvention. In communities that have long struggled with the loss of industry, population or investment, outdoor recreation is offering a path forward. States nearby are already putting this insight into action. In Tennessee, for example, Gov. Bill Lee is spearheading the creation of a record‑setting 14 new state parks by the end of his term, aiming to make Tennessee’s park system the most accessible in the nation. In North Carolina, towns like Old Fort, where a growing trail network has fueled local revitalization, community leaders are rebuilding with a long-term vision for resilience after Hurricane Helene. These two states are part of the 24 states across the country that have made investments by developing offices of outdoor recreation to bring state agencies, businesses, and nonprofit partners together to leverage connections between tourism, conservation, economic development and public health.
Virginia has the same opportunity. And while the economic impact is substantial, the value of outdoor recreation goes even further. It creates connection to place, to health, to history. As more Virginians seek to live, work and play in communities with easy access to green space, water bodies and trails, the places Yancey’s opinion highlighted are becoming not only destinations, but models for how outdoor investment can shape a stronger future.
As the campaign season unfolds, we hope more candidates will take seriously what these communities already know. Outdoor recreation is not only worth visiting. It is worth investing in.
Maribel Castañeda is manager of Our Virginia Outdoors.
