Hey all, bringing you another edition of Southwest Field Notes — a weekly column that brings you some news bites around the Southwest to take you right into your weekend.
Keep reading to learn more about a new third space in Dickenson County and another nuclear survey Wise County residents can participate in. And get excited for Rhythm & Roots!
Please keep in touch with me at anna@cardinalnews.org. There are so many stories I’m excited to share with you.
New community center opens in Haysi
Last week, the town of Haysi in Dickenson County officially opened a new community center, a years-long effort to turn a former theater into a space for community events and visitor information.
Haysi’s Russell Fork Trail Center will be open Monday through Thursday as a welcome center, with community enrichment programs to be scheduled each month. On the weekends, it’s available for rent for private events.
So far, the center has hosted a poetry reading, karaoke night and private events, including anniversary and birthday parties.
“The possibilities are endless,” said Town Clerk Amanda Perrigan, who also serves as the coordinator for the center. “We can use the building for a lot of things … just for the good of the community.”
Converting the building has taken more than a decade, between struggling to afford a construction firm and a requirement that the new center include greater floodproofing measures. The town pushed for additional funding to create design revisions and secure a construction contract to make the project happen, Perrigan said.
The new center is part of a downtown revitalization effort to attract visitors to Haysi and help residents who live there want to stay. Like many main streets in Southwest Virginia, the town wants to capitalize on its mountains, artists and history, and its unique proximity to Breaks Interstate Park.
“We hope to spur economic development by getting new businesses in town, and allowing our citizens to see there is a future here,” Perrigan said.
Some of the grant objectives for the project include attracting three new businesses, creating three jobs and bringing 500 visitors into the center over the course of three years. Perrigan said they are almost halfway to their visitor goal already.
She added to keep an eye out for events this October, including a dog show and a Halloween costume party. All events at 256 Main St. can be found on the town’s Facebook page.
Second microreactor survey is open for Wise County residents
Wise County residents can now weigh in, for the second time, on the potential of nuclear energy coming to their county.
The second community survey for a microreactor feasibility study is open to the public and will close Sept. 18. Residents are able to offer input about energy projects, topics they would like to receive greater information about and the confidence they have in different bodies involved.
There are currently no plans for nuclear energy to come to Wise County, though it has been in the conversation for several years. Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin promised he would bring the nation’s first small modular nuclear reactor to the coalfields in 2022, which never came to fruition, and two studies on the reactor’s feasibility in the region were conducted.
This study is a Wise County-specific initiative, with the LENOWISCO Planning District helping with project management. Wise County was the first county in the district to ask for a study of its own, said Thomas Lawson, regional planner at LENOWISCO.
Microreactors are compact nuclear reactors, with most producing up to 20 megawatts of thermal energy that could be used directly as heat or converted to electric power. Currently, there are none operating in the U.S., but designs are being developed.
Lawson said the study is not about determining a specific site for the would-be reactors, but rather to consider different items in future decision-making, including power demand needs, siting considerations and community impacts. These will be compiled into a final report by the Virginia Innovative Nuclear, or VIN, Hub for Wise County, and the county might take the feedback into consideration as they make decisions.
“The result of the final report is not going to dictate one way or another if Wise County is going to go after it or not,” Lawson said, adding that the purpose of the study is “data and information gathering.”
Brian Falin, Wise County’s industrial development supervisor and the director of the county’s industrial development authority, said the study is still on target to be delivered by December. He said there will be a final public meeting in November for the VIN Hub to preview the findings and what will be included in the report.
Falin reiterated there are no specific sites or plans for projects at this point.
“It’s all about giving us better information and better tools to make decisions in the future, should these types of projects ever come up,” he said. “I think we’re doing the right thing by preparing ourselves ahead of time.”
Updates for two Southwest Virginia events
Wise County’s “Let Freedom Ring” celebration, for America’s 250th, has been rescheduled for Oct. 16 and 17 due to rainy weather expected this weekend.
The event at the Lonesome Pine Airport was scheduled to feature several aircraft flying into town, including the “Spirit of Freedom,” a flying exhibit commemorating the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49, and the Capital Wing Japanese Fuji, a “rare warbird.”
You can stay up to date with new details of the event on the town of Wise Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Rhythm and Roots is coming back to Bristol this weekend, and our very own Tad Dickens will be there to cover it! Follow along with Tad’s work, and hear more about the festival in his new podcast.
