A Busy Week for the Business Community

Culpeper Star Exponent

Business Monday

August 18, 2014

Jim Charapich

The Culpeper Chamber of Commerce has had a busy week. We have hosted the LEAD Culpeper Session on Economic Development as a part of our leadership development program. We participated in an Amtrak update from the Amtrak Director of Government Affairs for our region. We also collaborated with Culpeper County Public Schools for the 44th Annual (BIE) Business, Industry, & Education Day. These milestone events were included in our normal course of operations serving the daily needs of our members and the business community in Culpeper. Finally, the Chamber has worked to finalize plans to move from the Depot to the new location on Sperryville Pike later this week and weather permitting.

LEAD Culpeper contributes significantly to the mission of the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce, “To be the voice of the business community working to promote, build, and support the most effective climate for economic development.” The program is developed and deployed by members and staff that have participated in the program. The Economic Development session was led by Chris Pearson, CPA and Principal at Yount, Hyde, & Barbour, P.C. and Lori Loy from the Culpeper County Department of Economic Development. The sessions included presentations from Patrick Mulhern, Director, Town of Culpeper Planning Department and Carl Sachs, Director, Culpeper County Economic Development. In addition, We were very fortunate to have Sara Dunnigan, of SJ Dunnigan Consulting from Richmond to provide special data analytics about the Culpeper workforce. MS. Dunnigan's mastery of the data and clarity of application to Culpeper and the region were exceptional. We also took a slightly different approach to Economic Development and asked Pam Fitzgerald, Managing Partner, The Ivy Group to discuss libraries as engines of economic development. This was another world class presentation given that the Ivy Group works with large library clients globally. We are also appreciative of the open doors from Hardwood Artisans and Semper Green for the tours of their facilities.

In the update from Amtrak, it is clear that the impact of the Depot Amtrak Station contributes to our local economy in many ways. Amtrak is very proactive in promoting Amtrak stations and thus destinations like Culpeper via social media. We can support the effort as Amtrak travelers by posting our photos and positive comments about the Culpeper rail experience to Facebook.com/Amtrak, Twitter.com/Amtrak, YouTube (send video to social@amtrak.com), and Instagram #Amtrak.

Finally, The 44th Annual BIE Day was another big success. The collaboration with business and our school system is unique. Our business community is interested in ways to support our educators in a time when their resources are stretched. Our educators are a major influence on the future of our workforce. As business, we are thankful to have the opportunity to provide an annual thank you to our educators and school administrators. In turn, having our teachers and administrators interested in supporting local business strengthens the close community network.

 

Thank you to the Culpeper County educators and administration for your great work and dedication. We wish you the best in the 2014 - 2015 school year. Thank you to our many BIE Day business sponsors and contributors, making the event possible.

Potomac Flight, “An Historic Flight Over Washington D.C. Honoring Our Nation’s Veterans”

Culpeper Star Exponent

BUSINESS MONDAY

AUGUST 11, 2014

Jim Charapich

 

The 15^th Annual Culpeper Air Fest is only two months away!  Kicking off this year’s “Best Little Airshow in the East” on the day prior to the airshow is the ground-breaking Potomac Flight-“ An Historic Flight Over Washington D.C. Honoring Our Nation’s Veterans” on Friday-October 10^th.  

 

This once-in-a-lifetime flight will feature the North American T-6 Texans - a 2 seat aircraft used as the advanced trainer for World War II pilots. Designed by North American Aviation, Inc., and first flown in 1938, the “Texan” quickly became the most popular trainer aircraft for the U.S. Military in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

 

In its day, the Texan represented the cutting edge of aviation technology, a mere 35 years after the Wright brothers' first flight on a North Carolina beach. Over 15,000 “Texans” were built between 1938 and 1947, and approximately 400 are still flying today.  On October 10 close to twenty-five of these “Texans” will launch from Culpeper Regional Airport and will soar in formation down the Potomac River.

 

The flyover in the skies over the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery will be in honor of Disabled American Veterans as a visible and fitting tribute to the services and sacrifices veterans have made for our freedom.  This ceremonial formation flight will soar at around 1,500 feet and will be visible from Alexandria, Arlington and Rosslyn, VA at approximately 12:30PM.

 

An extremely limited number of opportunities to fly in the formation as a backseat passenger for a unique view of Washington DC and be part of living history in a World War II formation that will provide you with lifetime memories of a great experience are still available to event sponsors.  B-25 “Panchito” and a T-28 will serve as photo and videoships in order to capture footage from this special event.

 

The idea for the flight started during a brainstorming session of a way for T-6 owners to commemorate the 75^th Anniversary for the T-6 Texan in 2013.  Doctor Tom Malone (T-6 owner) suggested the monumental idea of flying over the Pentagon.  Potomac Flight Lead and organizer, Mike Ginter and his team worked diligently for three months with the FAA and TSA who he states have been extremely supportive and eager to assist.

 

Skilled T-6 Texan formation pilots will be coming together from across North America to support the Potomac Flight which will culminate with the 15^th annual Culpeper AirFest free airshow on Saturday, Oct 11, 2014.  This is sure to be one for the books!

 

The Culpeper Air Fest is funded by the Culpeper Air Fest Foundation - a 501c(3) non-profit charitable organization chartered to promote aviation education, awareness and support in Culpeper. It is our goal to help you celebrate with us a great aviation heritage and experience. The show is locally produced, free to the public and draws top performers from around the nation.

 

The 1.3 million-member Disabled American Veterans, a non-profit organization founded in 1920 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1932, represents this nation’s disabled veterans. It is dedicated to a single purpose: building better lives for our nation’s disabled veterans and their families. More information about DAV can be found atwww.DAV.org.

 

 

For more information about the Culpeper Air Fest and the Potomac Flight please visit www.CulpeperAirFest.com.  If your organization would like to gain strategic prominence at the event, the Culpeper Air Fest Foundation is accepting sponsorship commitments. For the latest updates and news be sure to follow Culpeper Air Fest 2014 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with hashtag  

#CulpeperAirFest and #PotomacFlight. (Contributed on behalf of the Culpeper Air Fest Foundation).

Marketing Your Community

Culpeper Star Exponent

Business Monday

August 4, 2015

Jim Charapich

When the Town Council initiates discussions about an economic development strategy for Culpeper, there are many areas to consider. A friend recently took a week-long course at a major university school of government where the following topics were part of the curriculum: Trends in Economic Development, Ethical Dilemmas in Economic Development, Strategic Planning for Economic Development, Business Attraction: Marketing Your Community, the Site Selection Process, Business Retention and Expansion, Financing Economic Development Projects, Real Estate Development and Reuse, Community Development, Workforce Development, Entrepreneurship and Business Creation, and Managing Economic Development Organizations.

The term Economic Development can take on many meanings. There has been discussion recently about laying the groundwork for Culpeper to be a Certified Retirement Community. The initiative led by the Town Manager has seemingly been supported in every discussion that I have heard and for good reason. It makes a lot of sense given our proximity to the major metro areas of NOVA, Washington DC, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, and even Richmond. Our rural environment and economic vitality are attractive, while delivering access to the high quality health care of the Culpeper Regional Hospital (University of Virginia Health System). We also have world class entertainment at the State Theatre of Culpeper and the Library of Congress Packard Theater,  These are but a few of the many outstanding attributes of Culpeper that line up with attracting retirees.

One area of promotional effort that I do not hear much about has potential additional opportunity for Culpeper. As is stated in the list above, one of the areas of economic development is “Marketing Your Community,” This is generally considered in two ways. One is to attract new business and the other is to attract visitors. The latter is typically confined to the hospitality industry such as hotels, restaurants, and retail venues. However, in speaking with many of our professional service businesses, there is an opportunity to attract a complimentary visitor to those traditionally driven by hospitality visits.

When a hair salon has developed a reputation for quality, booking services from Georgetown to Charlottesville, this is as powerful a draw as a restaurant or a retail shop. In fact, the clients often shop and eat while in Culpeper as part of the spa-like experience here. In addition, our CPAs, Attorneys, Wealth Management Professionals, and many other professional services provide similar draws from the affluent major metro areas proximate to Culpeper. Thus, promoting these services can and should be equally considered as we develop our economic development strategies. They pay the same unfair BPOL taxes and should see similar investment in promoting their business growth.