REGIONAL
               REPORT           

Gannon Technologies' new operation in Warsaw was good news for residents like Deborah Stith.

photo by Mark Rhodes "This work is more of a challenge," says Stith, who left a retail job to work as a data processor for Gannon. "Being in my mid-40s, this is a perfect opportunity. It makes me feel like I'm not old and ready to set on the shelf. The more I learn, the more I want to learn." For the first time in her working career, she feels like a professional. Stith's personal story drives home a point that economic developers in Virginia's River Country try to convey: There is a large pool of underemployed and unemployed people in this 10-county region of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula.

However, development here is not without challenges. There are no major interstates in the region and only a spur railroad line to West Point. The region has no natural gas provider, and some properties need upgrading just to meet an employer's water and sewer requirements. Workers are plentiful and willing to learn, but they don't have technology training. It's going to take some work.

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Efforts are under way to expand the skill levels of the local work force, in part through two campuses of Rappahannock Community College, one in Warsaw and one in Glenns.

A labor market assessment of River Country shows significant potential. About one in three residents commutes out of the region to work. Most head to the Richmond area. Others commute to Hampton Roads, Fredericksburg and Northern Virginia. A whopping 85 percent of commuters surveyed said they would prefer local jobs, and more than half said they'd work closer to home even if it meant taking a pay cut. In addition to reluctant commuters, there are other pools of potential employees. Thirty-four percent of the workers in the region are in retail or wholesale jobs. "Pay levels in these sectors are low, and employment is often seasonal," states the December 1998 report prepared by the Wadley-Donovan Group.

What's more, the region's labor pool is relatively inexpensive. Compared with Richmond, according to the labor report, River Country "offers savings of more than 10 percent for office positions and over 20 percent for manufacturing jobs." The gap widens when comparing entry-level positions.

In the next five years, the region's population of 18- to 34-year-olds is expected to rise 4.4 percent, even though nationwide the number of people in this age group will decline. And much of the nearly 11 percent population growth the region has seen since 1990 is due to retirees, many from nearby metro areas. Economic developers are quick to point out that military retirees, in particular, are typically younger and skilled -- and may be lured back into the work force.

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In an area where people are often known as "come-heres" or "from-heres," Sue O'Meara is a "drug-here," she says, laughing.

She and her husband were looking for retirement property on Maryland's Eastern Shore. But friends who had retired to the Kilmarnock area encouraged them to look farther south. Her husband liked it because there were more boating opportunities. She liked it because she found a kindred spirit in Sandra Hargett, the real estate agent who helped them find their house. The two women and another partner now own River Towne Properties in Kilmarnock.

It's a big change, both in lifestyle and in business. "I used to be a subdivision girl," says O'Meara, a former Northern Virginia real estate agent. Now she knows the depths of the area's waterways. That is, of course, River Country's big draw. "We get quite a few sailboat people. ... They'll sail the Chesapeake Bay and stop in some of our creeks. Then when they decide to retire, they look here. The climate is moderate. It's serene. It's peaceful," she says. And if you want to, she adds, "you could volunteer yourself to death here."

With its huge number of creeks, Virginia's River Country has hundreds of miles of waterfront property. Even so, James M. Evans, principal broker and part owner of Stuart Realty in Tappahannock, sees waterfront property in his area becoming "extremely scarce. The attraction is the water, but we have to take most of our customers to the Northern Neck." Tappahannock sits along the west bank of the Rappahannock, fully a mile wide at that point. A bridge connects it with Richmond County.

Evans has been working in the area for 33 years, and he says the pattern is predictable. "People are five or 10 years out from retirement and looking for a second home." They spend summers or weekends on the peninsula, find property, then build on it as they get close to retirement.

Not everyone fits that mold, however. Carol Rice jumped at the chance to relocate when Gannon was looking for a manager. She and her husband were building their retirement home in Ophelia, about 30 miles from Warsaw in Northumberland County. "That's nothing, compared to a 10-mile commute in Northern Virginia," says the former Annandale resident. "This was an ideal opportunity to get down here sooner." Her husband is retired, and the couple has been coming to the area for years to sail and camp. Rice and one other manager are the only two people hired from outside the region.

Tourists visit River Country year-round, but nothing compares to the first weekend in November, when thousands of people swarm through the old fishing village of Urbanna. During the annual Urbanna Oyster Festival, this little Middlesex County town of about 700 puts on one heck of a party.

Laura Rudisill and Robert Harwell are owners of The Inn in Urbanna, and they have had a waiting list for rooms for the 1999 Oyster Festival since last year's event. In September, Rudisill will call those with reservations to make sure they're still planning to come. If they're not, she'll have no trouble filling the 13 rooms. The inn also has a restaurant and raw bar with seating for 200. In one Oyster Festival weekend, they pull in three normal weeks' worth of revenue.

The festival's effect is felt beyond Urbanna. Nearby at Hewick Plantation, Helen and Ed Battleson spend most of the day parking cars. The historic bed and breakfast sits on a 66-acre farm. And in a good year, the $5 per car parking fee, minus the donation to the Oyster Festival Foundation, pays their property taxes for the year.

Almost reluctantly, they'll rent out one of their two guest rooms, but only to someone willing to stay for three days. "We have family come to help, so it's more of a chance to get together, park the cars, enjoy the festival and have fun."

Other towns in Virginia's River Country host oyster festivals of their own, and White Stone puts on a waterfowl festival. In Reedville, there's the annual Blessing of the Fleet, and Mathews has its Market Days.

The region also offers plenty of year-round attractions, including the birthplaces of George Washington and Robert E. Lee in Westmoreland County. Tourists also visit the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Indian reservations in King William County and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Aquarium at Gloucester Point.

And, of course, there's the water. Peter R. Hall, president of the Tidewater Marine Trades Association of Virginia, says the recreational fishing and boating industry has done well in the past three years. "We're seeing lots of returns and repeat customers." While the threat of some restrictive legislation has Hall concerned, other actions, such as the extension of rockfish season last year, benefited the industry. "There seem to be more and more fishing tournaments every year," he notes. Hall's Ginney Point Marina is on Cobbs Creek, off the Piankatank River, noted to be the cleanest tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. He's not too far from Deltaville, the region's boating center. "In the summer," he says, "the increase in the Deltaville population is amazing."

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The things that make River Country a great getaway also make it unlikely to pull in major industry. But that's not the goal anyway, Barber says. River Country leaders hope to attract businesses such as call centers and back-office operations that employ up to 200 people. That type of economic development would give residents like Deborah Stith the ability to work closer to home without damaging the environment.

The region seems committed to preserving its water quality and its overall quality of life. Garrie Rouse, of Mattaponi Canoe and Kayak in Aylett, hopes economic development won't change things too much. He and his wife rent canoes and kayaks and guide trips, primarily on the Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers. His customers are mostly from the Richmond area. "What we offer," he says, "is a peaceful setting, a place to get away." Rouse, a botanist, raves about the river's ecology: "Some of the finest examples of freshwater tidal marshes on the East Coast are just below Aylett."

Rouse also heralds the history of the region -- beginning with American Indians and extending through Colonial days and the Civil War. Aylett was once a thriving port town in this tobacco-producing region. "There's not much left of the original character of the Colonial town," Rouse admits, "but when you're floating on a kayak or canoe, away from the roads, people can re-create in their minds some of what it was like."

That's what he hopes won't change. "People can drive out of Richmond and in one hour be in a wilderness that's unique," he says. Rivers in the western part of the state are more developed because the river is the low spot among the mountains. That's where the rail lines and other development went in. But in low-lying River Country, you can leave that behind when you push off from shore.

Rice, who moved to River Country in June, sums it up this way: "It's a total lifestyle difference, from manicured front lawns to having a river for a front lawn. My husband and I are both very happy."

© April 1999, Media General Business Publications Inc.,
publisher of Virginia Business Magazine