Welcome to Martinsville Field Notes, where you can find quick updates on what’s happening in Martinsville and Henry County every Friday. In this week’s column, you’ll hear about new book vending machines, a recap on Dino Fest and the financial incentives bringing Rural King to the area. Here is last week’s edition.
If there’s something you’d like to see in next week’s column, you can reach me at julianna@cardinalnews.org. There’s always something happening in Martinsville and Henry County, and I’d love to hear from you!
Vending machines have a new snack: books
Henry County Public Schools now has 10 book vending machines to encourage “reading just for the fun of reading.”
“We wanted to continue to champion literacy in Henry County,” said Tammy Easley, the school system’s communications and compliance coordinator. “My part of that is to make sure that we always have a free book for any child that wants one.”
The initiative is funded through All In Literacy Funds, which the state gave to local school divisions in 2023. Henry County Public Schools received more than $4 million. The school system used these funds to purchase an initial supply of books and the vending machines for $7,000 each. New books will be funded by a partnership with the Virginia Education Foundation.
There will be one machine in each elementary school and one at the county administration office. Easley designed them to each match the school colors. The vending machines will be stocked with books from a variety of reading levels starting at the preschool level, and students will be able to give feedback on what books they’d like to read.
“If you choose it, then it means more to you instead of someone just handing you something,” Easley said.
The vending machines will use tokens. At the elementary schools, the tokens will be handed out as part of incentives. At the county administration office, tokens are free and available anytime the administration building is open — on the third floor and in the registrar’s office.
The school system has given away thousands of books over the past three years, Easley said. The administration building has a bookshelf with free books.
“I can’t keep enough books on the shelf,” Easley said. “I will stock it on Monday. By Friday, it’ll look like we haven’t had any books.”
The bookshelf will stay in addition to the vending machine, so kids can access books when there’s no one to give them a token.
The idea to add book vending machines started with an attendance initiative. Easley made flyers and worked to incentivize students to attend school every day. Easley got feedback to do the same initiative for reading, so she created flyers and tried to incentivize students to read.
“I was getting feedback from the kids that said, ‘I can’t read 15 minutes every day … I don’t have a book at home,’” Easley said.
Easley said the preschool coordinator had books lying around, so she placed 25 books on a table in the lobby at the county administration building. By the end of the day, the books were gone.
“Obviously there’s a need because those did not last any time,” Easley said. “This was at the school board office … so they had to actually make a special trip to come and get it.”
Rural King gets incentives worth $1.5 million
Local and state incentives will give Rural King $1.55 million for the distribution center coming to Henry County if the company brings its promised $40 million investment and 150 jobs.
The Henry County Industrial Development Authority and board of supervisors approved two performance agreements during its Monday and Tuesday meetings to give Rural King the incentives.
Henry County and The Harvest Foundation each gave $400,000 to secure a deal for the farm and home goods retailer to open at the Patriot Centre Industrial Park. The state gave $750,000 through the Commonwealth’s Development Opportunity Fund.
[Disclosure: The Harvest Foundation is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
The three are part of an incentives package that the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation compiles for companies that they are recruiting to come to the area.
The Harvest Foundation gave from The Harvest Opportunity Fund (HOF) that was created in 2018 to help bring jobs and business investment to the area, said Kate Keller, the president of the foundation. Henry County requested the funds, and the request was reviewed by the foundation’s board of directors.
The Harvest Foundation only gives funding to companies that meet standards of job quality and wage requirements. Rural King says it will offer jobs with an average annual salary of $59,000, which is above Henry County’s median household income of $48,445.
“Jobs with life-sustaining wages are one of the most durable ways to strengthen a community,” Keller said. “When people earn more, that money circulates locally, expands the tax base that supports schools and services, and gives families more stability and opportunity.”
Dino Fest visitor decrease, high in revenue
Dino Fest at the Virginia Museum of Natural History brought in $46,626 on July 24 and 25, which was an all-time high for the festival.
The festival welcomed 3,896 visitors, just shy of its expected 4,000 visitors. The museum probably didn’t reach the 4,000 mark because of on-and-off rain last Friday and early Saturday, said Zach Ryder, the marketing manager.
Attendance has been between 4,100 and 4,300 over the past three Dino Festivals, Ryder said.
Souvenir items, like t-shirts and hats, sold particularly well this year, Ryder said, which is part of the increased revenue.
Over 1,000 of the visitors were through the Museums for All initiative — a national program of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. It allows EBT cardholders to come for reduced or free admission year-round, including at science festivals.
Dino Fest this year had 12 regional food trucks, face painting, balloon animals and a photo booth. It also debuted new casts of dinosaur footprints, crocodile fossils and a life-size, 40-foot animatronic T. rex.
