Features

This story was written by Penelope Moseley and was submitted for the Hale-Wilkinson-Carter Home Foundation.

HILLSVILLE — The Hale-Wilkinson-Carter Home Foundation is reopening Mayetta’s Market on April 3 after a winter break.
The market features quality handmade original art and crafts in many forms, as well as publications by local talents.
Laura Cassell, who turned age 94 in January, has worked tirelessly this brutal winter to replenish her inventory at the market.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 15.2 million visitors to the Blue Ridge Parkway in 2012 spent $902 million in communities nearby.
That spending supported 12,168 jobs in the areas adjacent to the parkway, including the City of Galax and Carroll and Grayson counties. It’s hard to know how many of those jobs are local, as the federal report did not break down the spending or employment by locality.

HILLSVILLE — When the best biscuit maker contest heated up among Hardee’s employees in four states, Mary Marshall of Hillsville kept her cool and baked away.
Boddie-Noell, the largest Hardee’s franchise in the United States, named Marshall on Feb. 23 as the champion after months of competition among 700 biscuit makers from 335 restaurants from Virginia, the Carolinas and Kentucky.

HILLSVILLE — Willa the therapy dog attracted attention with her offer of helping children learn how to read at Carroll County Public Library last Thursday.
Willa, a dainty and quiet doberman, attended by humans Rebecca Gatchel and Sarah Largen, is a very important participant in the Paws to Read program.

ABINGDON — Elvin Jennings of Hillsville knows a thing or two about winning big in the Virginia Lottery, according to gaming officials.

HILLSVILLE — Those recognizing Sallie Hall for her 38 years with a nutrition program through the Virginia Extension Service served up a heaping helping of fun on Jan. 4.
Organizers lured Hall to the Carroll Senior Citizens Center for a “roast,” as well as a spaghetti dinner dished out of a row of crockpots.
Hall took time to greet each of the approximately 50 people in attendance, before opening gifts presented by storyteller Vickie Town and hearing memories by Matthew Miller, an Extension agent who worked with her for about six years.

HILLSVILLE — When it comes to staying fit, active and healthy in the New Year, the Carroll Wellness Center’s Zumba instructor prefers talking about a “lifestyle change” than a well-meaning, one-time “resolution.”
When Gretchen Lawson attended her first Zumba class, as a mother-daughter activity through her church, she weighed 220 pounds.

When Freedom Motorsports founder and CEO Chris Kelley of Galax reached out to help a fellow veteran in need, he had no idea how far his outreach would expand.
Kelley, who operates the online business, launched the Veteran Assistance Fund in an effort to assist service-connected disabled veterans during the holiday season. A veteran himself, he hopes that this effort will reach others who struggle with the psychological aftermath of serving active duty in wars overseas.

WHITETOP – For Rodney Richardson, owner of Mt. Rogers Tree Farm in Whitetop, Christmas is on his mind all year round.
Richardson has made a career out of working on and managing his tree farm and selling Fraser fir Christmas trees. Every year, he grows the Christmas trees and sells them during the holiday season, but Christmas just seems to be getting more special and memorable for Richardson and his family each time the calendar rolls around to November and December.