George Wythe's Skylar McBride, on the far right, races in a recent event.
George Wythe's Skylar McBride, on the far right, races in a recent event.
Signs of the times
Olivia Crigger holds a road sign she spearheaded in getting placed.
Rural Retreat High School junior Olivia Crigger helps install a road sign on Thursday.
Olivia Crigger bolts a sign to a pole at the VDOT residency in Wytheville.
Olivia Crigger poses next to one of the signs that she was instrumental in bringing to Wythe County roads.
Olivia Crigger stands with her parents in front of a road sign.
Bundled against a late cold snap, Olivia Crigger planted the results of more than a year of work.
At the Virginia Department of Transportation residency office in Wytheville, the Rural Retreat junior, surrounded by family, supporters and VDOT officials, put up the first of several new signs focused on farm roadway safety, specifically in making the roads shared by farmers and drivers safer.
Crigger lamented that people today don’t always know how to drive around slow-moving farm equipment. She said that tragedy can – and has – strike when fast-moving traffic approaches farm equipment on hills and around blind curves. Multiple farmers, Crigger related, relayed their own close call on public roads.
Crigger’s mission actually began as a part of her Girl Scouts Gold Award project – the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn. She said she wanted to do something that was personally meaningful and could help make real change.
She first created educational material urging drivers to slow down and stay alert for farming equipment, setting up an informational booth at Rural Retreat’s Heritage Days gathering. Through conversations there, Crigger, who lives on a farm on Black Lick Road, learned that raising awareness wasn’t enough.
From there grew the second part of her project: Placing road signs on Wythe County roads to alert drivers, helping them switch from interstate mode to back road mode.
The idea, driven by Crigger, caught on. It expanded through the Farm Bureau and 4-H, even being recognized in the national FFA newsletter.
In March, Crigger got the Wythe County Board of Supervisors on board. That same month, Crigger made a request with VDOT to add new signs at 19 spots along Wythe County roads.
VDOT, according to spokeswoman Michelle Earl, evaluated each request, taking into account sight distance, speed limits, crash data, traffic count, road usage and whether farm equipment was traveling the road at least twice per day seven days a week, and ultimately approved 14 of the farm machinery signs.
Those 14 signs will be installed on six Wythe roads, Earl said, adding that VDOT carefully weights all sign installations since overuse can reduce the effectiveness of the signs.
Signs will be installed on two spots along Peppers Ferry Road, two spots on Old Stage Road, one spot on Black Lick Road, two spots on Crockett’s Cove Road and one spot on Queens Knob Road.
Earl said the cost for each sign, including labor and installation, is around $350.
After high school, Crigger said she plans to finish her associate’s degree at Wytheville Community College before heading to Virginia Tech, where she hopes to major in veterinary medicine.
Wytheville nabs tourism grant
Visit Wytheville, a department of the Town of Wytheville, received a $30,000.00 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC)’s Marketing Leverage Program for its new marketing initiative, Mountain Masterpieces: Meeting the Wytheville Makers.
As part of Southwest Virginia's rich history in Appalachian craftsmanship, Wytheville has a strong group of artisans or "makers" who are carrying the creative skills into the next generation. Visit Wytheville will showcase this aspect of the creative economy through a unique video presentation and robust digital marketing campaign to encourage travel to Wytheville for getaways and immersive escapes. An itinerary focused on the "Maker Experience" will focus on retail locations in Downtown Wytheville that showcase the creations of artisans as well as other local attractions and entertainment venues that create an authentic getaway experience. Travelers will be encouraged to stay in one of Wytheville’s many lodging businesses and sample the area’s varied restaurants.
In celebration of National Travel & Tourism Week, Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) awarded more than $2.2 million in matching grant and sponsorship funds to 143 tourism programs across the Commonwealth. These awards are funded through VTC’s Marketing Leverage and Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) Marketing Programs.
These programs pair local marketing investments with matching state funds to increase visitation, extend overnight stays, and grow traveler spending across the Commonwealth. This funding cycle, local partners will commit more than $4.3 million to match the VTC grant funds, generating more than $6.5 million in new marketing and event production initiatives focused on increasing overnight visitation to Virginia across all nine GO Virginia regions. In total, the awards will support 143 marketing programs and impact 858 tourism partners statewide.
“Tourism continues to be an important part of our local economy generating strong business and tax revenues. In 2024, visitor spending in Wytheville and Wythe County reached $153.1 million with $7.2 million in local taxes,” said Rosa Lee Jude, Director of Visit Wytheville. “Our ongoing marketing program allows us to showcase the area’s vast outdoor recreation, rich history, authentic attractions and vibrant downtown and fuels visitation each year. We are fortunate for almost three decades to have applied for and received essential grant funding from the Virginia Tourism Corporation to extend our local marketing efforts.”
Wythe schools receive funding
Wythe County schools recently received $37,500 to buy new equipment and make improvements to enhance student learning.
The award, along with others in the state totaling $600,000, was announced by Superintendent of Public Instruction Jenna Conway. Funds from the competitive grants were awarded to Wythe and 15 other school divisions with the aim of upgrading equipment for career and technical education (CTE) programs in schools and technical centers.
"A student in a Virginia CTE program deserves better than training on yesterday's tools for tomorrow's jobs,” said Conway. “These investments in modern equipment close that gap by putting real, industry-grade technology in the hands of every learner and turning our schools into the front line of Virginia's workforce future."
Wythe County Technology Center received the money for agricultural mechanics and precision manufacturing.
The General Assembly established the CTE equipment grant program in 2016, and the Virginia Department of Education awarded the first grants to school divisions in 2017. Since then, the program has provided $6 million to help school divisions purchase innovative equipment to enhance learning experiences for career and technical education students.
