Angelou says design is target industry

Economic consultants stressed design as a target industry for Alleghany and seven other northwestern North Carolina counties during a presentation last week.

That will necessitate communities being willing to accept "creative types" with unorthodox appearance and mores, they said.

The spokesmen from AngelouEconomics also voiced their support for the effort to bring a teapot museum to downtown Sparta.

Last year the Northwest N.C. Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) committee, a group of leaders from Alleghany, Ashe, Davie, Forsyth, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin counties, hired the Texas-based firm to assess the area and form a five-year economic recovery plan, for each of the eight counties individually as well as for the region as a whole.

Angelou's presentation August 14 at the Blue Ridge Business Development Center (BDC) complex represented the second of three major sets of reports from the firm during its 10-month project in the eight-county region. The first, rendered in late April and early May, involved assessments of each county and the region. Last week's round of presentations were on target industry analysis and benchmarks. About 25 people attended.

Angelou Project Manager Sean Garretson said the company is about three-fourths of the way through the economic development plan. The project will be complete in early November; the final set of reports will be the five-year strategies and marketing plans.

Materials

For the region overall, Angelou is recommending eight industries. Four of those are recommended for Alleghany: materials, hospitality/tourism, design and value-added agriculture.

Martin Marietta Composites, which opened a plant in Sparta this year to build truck trailers and bridge decks, is an example of the materials industry.

"You (Alleghany County) have a good competitive edge in that business," said Garretson.

Tourism/Hospitality

"Some of the things I've heard are, tourism doesn't sustain an economy, and you want to balance that with non-tourism industries."

He said the tourism industry has started to pick up since last year, rebounding from the decline which followed the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Garretson remarked, "You need something that's a wow, something that attracts people to come here. We would wholeheartedly support the teapot/restaurant concept."

A group of community leaders are pursuing the possibility of establishing a 7,000-piece teapot museum in Sparta.

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