To Fuel a Rebirth, Rural Va. County Looked Inward; Focus on Retaining Firms Pays
Joe Ellis first realized that hard times were coming to his native Blue Ridge community a decade ago when a local pajama factory packed up after 50 years and moved overseas, taking 1,100 jobs.</br></br>In 2001, the Natalie Knitting factory, which had been around as long as anyone could remember, pulled up stakes, taking its 350 jobs. Not far behind was the Buster Brown plant and 300 jobs.</br></br>"It was a constant downward spiral for the entire community," said Ellis, who grew up outside this mountain town of 6,300, about 330 miles southwest of Washington.</br></br>The towns of Smyth County -- Marion, Chilhowie and Saltville - - were being "dealt away," in local parlance. In the new global economy, the textile and manufacturing plants that had helped Smyth County thrive 30 years ago were headed where labor was cheaper.</br></br>Now he and a group of local officials and economic leaders are determined to give Smyth County an economic transfusion. Along with keeping his company and its 40 workers humming, Ellis has invested in increasing the region's tourist trade while county leaders have concentrated on keeping the county's remaining businesses and luring more. They've done so with tax incentives and efforts to improve education for the labor force. So far the tactics have worked so well that state leaders call Smyth County a model.