Tall rows of corn, cattle grazing along rolling hills, cool mountain streams, and lush forests are all part of the natural allure of Floyd County. But there’s so much more here than meets the eye. Beyond produce and livestock, farmers and many others make their living from the land by growing, harvesting, processing, and selling a remarkable range of items. They produce local beverages, pickled products, and natural items such as herbal remedies and soap. Trees provide the wood for local artisans to craft wood jewelry and specialty furniture. In return for the bounty and the livelihoods the land provides, the farmers and artisans of Floyd care for it, ensuring that farmlands and forests will be there for future generations to do the same.
“Farming is not only a major economic force in Floyd County, it also defines the landscape and helps shape the character of those who live and work on the farm,” says Jon Beegle; Chairman of the Floyd County Economic Development Authority. “Farmers are the ultimate problem-solvers and scientists. There’s a reason that employers like to hire people off the farm! But many farmers are determined to stay on the land; using their creative abilities to develop innovative solutions and products to make a living.”
Last year, in an effort to support the vital work being done in the farm, food, and forestry sectors, Floyd County began the “Floyd Grown” project. The project provides technical assistance, services, and funding to small businesses demonstrating innovative works and a desire to grow. For some, like Adam Fisher, this meant establishing a website for his Burgeoning Farm. Adam focuses on perennial agriculture, wild-foraged foods, and specialty fermented items like ramps (a wild-growing onion). For others, like Thistle Hill Botanticals, it meant upgrading their website to enable e-commerce, as well as advertising on social media to sell their natural soaps and lotions.
“We are really encouraging our growers and makers to have e-commerce websites, so 
that our products are still available to visitors after they’ve returned home from Floyd,” says Pat Sharkey; Floyd County Tourism Director.
Jason Tueller makes hand-crafted wall-mounted easels from local wood. For Jason, the Floyd Grown program provided support in creating a professional logo and marketing material. For others like Buffalo Mountain Kombucha, the funding provided nutritional testing and new labels. Buffalo Mountain Kombucha makes fermented beverages, some of which feature locally grown basil.
Entrepreneurs participating in Floyd Grown appreciate the prizes that can be won, but some of the value taken away from the experience is intangible. Leslie Slusher, co-owner of Fields Edge Farm, LLC, was awarded a mini-grant for expansion. “The grant helped us finish the refrigerated storage areas,” said Leslie, “but more importantly gave us the confidence to hire a full-time manager. This has put us several years ahead of what I was anticipating our schedule on the farm to be. We have been able to increase our cultivated acres and production, which helped us develop more markets.”
For many businesses, elevating a profile through publicity and media outreach has been invaluable. WVTF Public Radio in Roanoke aired a series about three Floyd Grown winners. Greenwood Wizards literally grows wedding rings and other types of 
rings in trees. “It was an honor to have the spirit of our work captured by Robbie Harris with WVTF,” said Dawn Shiner, co-owner of the business. To hear the aired segment, visit http://www.wvtf.org/post/greenwood-wizard-grows-rings-trees.
Floyd Grown also offers a number of resources to help businesses; starting with a map of commercial kitchen spaces available for lease. The map can be can be viewed by visiting https://goo.gl/FbmiGy. They provide an Asset Inventory, an Agri-tourism Business Checklist, a Floyd County Agri-tourism brochure, and a study for a potential Floyd Online Storefront that would provide a central place for Floyd County businesses to sell online. The Floyd Grown project also produced a new Floyd logo that will be used by both the Tourism and Economic Development offices. For more information on any of these, visit yesfloydva.org.
“Ultimately, we are here to support local business growth, from our newest entrepreneurs to our largest employers. We try to be as innovative as our businesses in the kinds of support we provide,” said Lydeana Martin; Floyd County Community and Economic Development Director. “We encourage people to reach out and see if we can help.”
The Floyd County Economic Development Authority offers the Floyd 5 & 10 Small Business Loan program, the Floyd C4 Business Development series for start-ups, the Floyd Growth Wheel program to help established businesses grow, the Floyd Innovation Center with leasable flex space and meeting space, land, and an upcoming shell building to work with larger businesses. The County is also supporting a new workforce training program called Accessing Community College Education, in which most new high school graduates can receive a tuition-free education for up to two years.
Floyd County Economic
Development Authority
Lydeana Martin • 540-745-9300
lmartin@floydcovaorg • yesfloydva.org.
The hospital later became the property of Dr. I.E. Epperly. After that, it changed hands to Dr. Silas T. Yeatts. In 1950, a Floyd school teacher named Marie Williams purchased it as her residence. Today, the Floyd County Historical Preservation Trust owns this historic building and has restored it for use as the Floyd County Museum.
The Floyd County Historical Society’s mission is to preserve Floyd County History, serve as custodian of historical gifts, and provide educational outreach. The Society provides an informative brochure and map for a self-guided walking tour through Floyd. The Floyd Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as the Virginia Landmarks Register, includes most of the town center as it was established in 1831. A Walking Trail Brochure covers 1.7 miles and features forty-five historic places. It is available at the Museum, as well as the Visitor Center/Chamber of Commerce office at 109 East Main Street. The Society provides museum tours for Floyd school classes. It also sponsors a scholarship for high school art students.
The museum has two current exhibits and several that are on-going – such as the moonshine still that was confiscated in 1983 and given to the Historical Society by Court order.
jerkin, as well as gas masks, a rare collection of uniform patches, and an even rarer signal flag. There is a liberty bond, personal letters, uniforms, many pictures, and many other military items. Museum staff are incredibly knowledgeable, and are happy to provide the tragic and moving histories, details, and stories behind this collection.
Floyd native, Janet Slusher Keith, provides a tour of the Laurel Branch/Topeco area during the Crooked Road Mountains of Music Homecoming, each year. Janet’s tour can be found on our on-cell program at 540-585-3070. The Society also hosts five special programs each year, held at the Floyd Center for the Arts. These are open to the public and are offered free of charge.
At 10:00 am, on November 10, 2018 at Floyd Center for The Arts, Floyd native Ricky Cox will present “Water-Powered Mills of Floyd County”. Cox teaches Appalachian Folklore at Radford University. Pictures of some of the 100-plus water-powered mills of the county will be on display, and a driving tour of the mills will be available soon. The January 12, 2019 program will feature Mike Ryan presenting, “Southern Appalachian Chair Making.”
When offered the chance to build new trails at Chantilly, Paul jumped at the chance. He was already familiar with the property, as well as some of the existing trails, and knew the potential the acreage offered for creating a self-contained, multi-use trail system. With the help of trail- building professional and landscape architect, Tony McGee, the Tilly’s Trace & Tilly’s Wynd trail was laid out. Now two years old, this trail goes through a steep, wooded hillside to the Flat Top. The team made sure to keep the slope of the trail to a minimum so it would be fun to ride or walk for all ability levels. They also created switchback turns to gain the elevation gradually.
Last winter’s major project was the layout and construction of the new Cairn Trail. The Cairn Trail ascends to the top of the major wooded ridge on Chantilly Farm property. There were already several nice, flat, easy trails on the top, but there was no existing, bike-friendly route to reach them. Paul did his best with the topography of the hill to create a trail that winds its way up instead of going straight. It took many times hiking through the woods to nail down the best route, but then the trail bed was constructed using a mini excavator machine. A bench cut trail was built that has several major switchbacks to ascend a total of two-hundred vertical feet in about three quarters of a mile. It was also built so that riders never experienced anything steeper than a 10% grade. All that planning and work made for a trail that is both good for riding a mountain bike, or for an easy hike or jog to the ridge top.
Paul says Floyd is blessed with miles of lonely country roads that are great for cycling; both paved and unpaved. There are events every year that both start and finish at Chantilly Farm; The Tour de Floyd in the spring features some of the best paved roads in the county on the classic 100K course. The Tour de Dirt in the fall is an “any road” ride which explores a different route every year; focusing on the best unpaved routes in the county. But these roads are not for kids, and really only for experienced cyclists with proper equipment and skills, and the fitness to take on the many hills found everywhere you go in Floyd County.
The Blue Ridge Strings: a weekly program of Suzuki Violin training for 3rd thru 6th grade students from Floyd County Schools. The program provides instruments, a weekly lesson, an hour of enrichment activity each week, and an opportunity to attend a variety of concerts. Tuition is minimal, with generous scholarship support available. The program is offered in collaboration with the June Bug Center of Floyd.
This year, VBRMF will collaborate with the Floyd Center for the Arts in offering four concerts at the FCA.
Joanne and Bill Bell began making and selling their original creations over thirty-five years ago. To show and sell their work, they traveled to art and crafts shows for many years throughout the eastern United States. In 2001, however, the couple bought an old building in downtown Floyd. A few years later, Joanne and Bill opened the Bell Gallery and Garden.
The Bell Gallery features Bill’s award-winning landscape photography. It also features Joanne’s pressed floral artwork, as well as her handmade jewelry designs. Bill primarily focuses his lens on the ridges and valleys of Virginia and North Carolina. But he also favors the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway. He prints his own images and does all the processes of production in his studio.
Joanne makes assorted floral art, suncatchers, wall hangings, mirrors, and in the last few years has concentrated on pressed floral jewelry. She grows, gathers, and presses flowers, ferns, grasses, weeds, and leaves. She then enhances their colors with inks and paints to keep them from fading. She makes her pendants and suncatchers using traditional stained-glass methods with lead-free solder and recycled glass. She embellishes her pieces with semi-precious stones, and makes beaded necklaces and earrings to match.
FloydJAMs is held every Monday. During this music program, kids in grades three through twelve learn how to play old-time music. Students choose from the Banjo, Fiddle, or Guitar. They are then given two hours of instruction, along with an enrichment activity every week.
Acting Out meets every Thursday. This is for students in grades three through seven. Students learn theatre history, staging, props, makeup, and much more! Each semester ends with a group production.
In addition to these weekly programs, The June Bug Center is home to many other classes in the Movement Arts Studio. Classes such as Gymnastics, Aikido, Gentle Dance for Seniors and Individuals with disabilities, Ballet classes, Yoga for adults, and much more! To learn more, call the JBC staff at 540-745-6550.
Anga Miller first arrived in Floyd after college in 1977 as part of the popular “back-to-the-land” movement taking place in Floyd during that era. In 1982, however, she said goodbye and moved south. Sixteen years later in 1998, while on a journey to Vermont, she decided to stop and visit as she passed through. While catching up with old friends, Anga noticed that the old “Shirt Factory” building in downtown Floyd was for sale.
Dogtown Roadhouse, located in the Wintersun building, began under different ownership, and is now solely owned and operated by Anga and her husband, Ed Erwin. The venue has long been renowned for delicious wood fired pizza and sixteen regional & national craft beers on tap, as well as an extensive menu and full bar service. While eating the world class pizza and drinking cold craft brews, visitors to Dogtown Roadhouse can also enjoy live music each weekend featuring some of the best local and regional acts. And don’t forget to come back around on Sundays to enjoy and take part in Open Mic Night.
Anga and Ed are happy to announce that Dogtown Roadhouse is adding a third floor! To accommodate those folks who prefer the company of friends in a quieter setting, the new third floor will provide a space where guests can chat easily while the crowd downstairs enjoys the music. The room will also be the perfect place to host private catered parties. When 
finished, the room will be a beautiful addition, with large glass windows allowing a clear view of the beautiful evening sunset! Out on the balcony, guests can enjoy looking out over downtown Floyd, as well as the park and Amphitheater. Anga and Ed are very excited about the new addition and are projecting to have it finished very soon. Check out the website for updates on the opening date, along with the weekly specials and full menu options. In the meantime, drop by Dogtown Roadhouse to enjoy the classic wood-fired pizza, the cold draft beer, and amazing music!