Saturday June 20th Grand Opening & Solar Day Celebration

Davis Riverwalk will be co-sponsoring the grand opening of its Blackwater Overlook building and two new tenants on Saturday, June 20th. Highland Prospects and Friends of the Blackwater will have displays, specials and demonstrations. Highland Prospects is an outdoors clothing and gear provisioner previously located in the old bank building. Friends of the Blackwater is an environmental advocacy group primarily focused on protecting the WV highlands, Blackwater River watershed and the Blackwater Canyon. There will be music, snacks and good community fun for all. Terra Alta farmer James Stemple plans to have his first greens of the season available for purchase. And - since the following day happens to be the first national Solar Day (and the first day of Summer), we will be introducing the first photovoltaic array in Davis -- it's right on the roof of the building! PowerInMyBackYard will be on hand to discuss solar and other alternative energy sources. Join us for the opening of new and expanded locations for these exciting enterprises in Davis; enjoy gossip and a coffee at Hypno; explore the expanded outdoor selections from Highland Prospects; learn what Riverwalk and you could do with solar energy; learn what Friends of Blackwater is doing to protect our natural treasures. Hang with your neighbors and celebrate a new day in Davis. And, oh yeah, hope for sun!

Davis Apt Available

Dr. Knotts will move out of our Thomas St carriage house apartment this month for an opportunity to be the dentist for her home town. In summer 08 we renovated and remodeled this upstairs 2BR 1BA to have a private stairwell entrance with mud room, new kitchen cabinets, W/D, new ceramic tile and carpet and more. The bonus is the huge storage area on the garage level. Rent is $510/month with 1-year lease, plus gas/elec/water. Call Mack at 304-642-4212 to view, though here are a couple of shots taken before the carpet went in.

WVU article on Davis movers-shakers

WVU Uncovered Article Here

When it comes to area small businesses, there is distinctly an old style and a new style. There's an evolution in the business models of small public-facing businesses in Canaan and Davis. Boiled down, I'd say that the new guard makes sense to both locals and urban transplants or weekenders.

WVU and the Parson's Advocate both have published articles noting this trend, with I think more analysis of this phenomenal transition to come in the future. We are not just talking about older proprietors being replaced by younger entrepreneurs. The change here is a move past offerings that entail less quality or choice than one might find back in town, toward more unique offerings that celebrate the natural surroundings and considerable gifts or skills of the people who live here.

When I started my own information technology services company, I chose a space that seemed to be dominated by players who were not trying very hard and who were very low tech in their delivery systems, and who offered mediocre quality. That spelled 'opportunity' and indeed it was a huge opportunity.

A tour of the Canaan-Davis-Thomas area has historically been quick to yield complaints from business owners blaming the seasons or weekly cycle, or the population for their struggles. Similarly, a survey of visitors over the years would quickly reveal stories of poor service, closed business doors, lack of beer selection or similar letdowns when engaging the local marketplace. If you think I am generalizing, it is because I am, since if one is not willing to generalize, one cannot understand underlying trends.

Better food, better service and better products are not necessarily code for "less affordable." Better means niche products -- not ones available at Walmart. Better means hand crafted foods rather than just mass produced ones. Better means chatting with the customer rather than listless order taking. Is it really necessary to behave like a zombie when ringing up groceries? Better means busting out the superhot hot sauce. Better means offering locally made and baked pastries that are out-of-this-world delicious. Better means being inspired to put some style into what you offer and how you offer it to the marketplace.

I'm not saying that every business that is slogging along without getting articles written about its innovation is a loser. What I am saying is that the visitors and residents are here and will do much more with local businesses than they do today. There is no cart or horse here. Great businesses attract more consumers and more consumers allow more businesses to start and grow. Fortunately for the Canaan-Davis-Thomas business community, there is plenty of opportunity to design a business for success. Add to that structural opportunity the fact that Corridor H and national trends will continue to interest more people in this little jewel named Davis, and I think we will see many more business success stories.

Tuscan Ridge auction

Besides numerous auctions and short sales of individual lots bought primarily by out of state flippers, there is now going to be an auction of the balance of at least one of the larger tracts of Tuscan. Apparently Melbourne Properties has defaulted on the loan associated with some large portion of Tuscan Ridge. The Parsons Advocate and Charleston Gazette both have articles on the subject and www.wvlegal.com has the notice. Auction is April 27th 11am and the contact person is ellen Cappellanti, 304-340-1277. Why people bought as many lots as they did at twice their highest conceivable comp values I do not know.

Tuscan will sort itself out, perhaps with fewer lots than originally planned, perhaps not completely within the town limits of Davis, perhaps not completely on Davis water and sewer. But Tuscan will sort out at much lower prices per lot/per acre. It should have happened right up front as part of the marketing decision. Instead, Melbourne subdivided the place into micro lots smaller than my lot in very dense Bethesda, Maryland. Fine, if you've got high land values or an urban format. Greedy if you're in the woods of WV. Greed is apparent in most every step of the Tuscan concept, lot sizes, pricing, marketing and financing offers. They deserve everything they get and hopefully it won't inconvenience the Town of Davis too much.

Wilderness expansion a done deal

Sierra Club notified me with the message pasted below. Some of you will want to call in with expletives rather than thanks, but I think that on the whole this is a win for the CV/Davis/Thomas community. Seems there is often a lot of belly aching about federal designations as they are passed, but quite often the belly achers themselves are the long term beneficiaries. More tourism, more people deciding this is the area to live, more revenues to businesses, more ways to make a living in the mountains, higher land values since all can be assured that the shared lands will be protected, and so the cycle goes....There is always some way to bitch about things not decided locally. I definitely don't like being excluded from mountain biking the northern section of Dolly Sods and I don't understand the rigidity of not permitting bike trails at all. But nonetheless I wouldn't deny the designation.

What does this mean for Davis? Larger protected area means more visitors in the long term, displacement of several recreation categories to areas with lower protections, higher land values. Bottom line: Davis businesses and real estate will benefit.

Anyhow, here is the news flash:

Last week Congress passed a wonderful wilderness bill, expanding protected Wilderness in the Monongahela National Forest by 37,000 acres. All 5 of our folks in Congress were on board to make this Wilderness expansion possible.

Please take a moment to put in a quick call to your Representative and Senators, thanking them for their leadership and support for the Wild Monongahela Act. Tell them which places in Wild Mon you especially care about, and why Wilderness designation for these areas is important to you!


Rahall 3rd-Big Draft, Spice Run, Cranberry Expansion

Capito 2nd - Roaring Plains West

Mollohan 1st - Otter Creek Expansion, Dolly Sods Expansion

The Honorable Robert C. Byrd: (202)-224-3954 The Honorable John D. Rockefeller IV: (202) 224-6472 The Honorable Nick J. Rahall II: (202) 225-3452 The Honorable Alan Mollohan: (202) 225-4172 The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito: (202) 225-2711


To adjust your Sierra Club email preferences, please reply to this email with a description of your wishes. Thank you.

Sierra Club 85 Second St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105

Solar for Riverwalk building

Looks like we're going with a 2.4KW system, which will appear as 14 panels on the south facing (river side) roof. Each panel is roughly 60" x 30".

The Department of Energy provides a good basic overview of these systems.

Help Wanted (overalls provided)

Position: Market Master
Pay: what?
Mission: Cultivate and supervise an open air market on some or all Saturdays of the warm season. Responsibilities: identify and work with farmers, food crafters, artisans to create an open air market in downtown Davis. Find publicity opportunities around Tucker County and online to ensure both residents and visitors know about the market days. Report to the board of directors on revenues, feedback, member status.
Support: Incorporation, insurance, board of directors, prime parking lot location near Hypno Coffee.

Well, that's a start, huh? Really, this looks promising...imagine: 9am on a summer Saturday morning. Folks are grabbing coffee or kicking it on the Hypno deck. Highland Prospects garage is flung open and the summer sale is on. A tent or two in the parking lot...fresh green beans, potatoes, lettuce, strawberries, carrots, turnips -- all grown within 50 miles of Davis, and some right here in town! Maybe you'd see some locally made soaps, jewelry or other crafts as well. Residents who must survive on Shopnsave produce or find their own channels would be elated, and second homers could cook with fresh naturally grown produce. Local produce and crafted foods are a unique and important resource in this community but unless you'll do the research and the driving, it's not happening.

There is a Women, Infants and Children program and Senior's programs that provide for food from farmer's markets. Once the market is certified, then the certified farmers in the market can accept program coupons for produce.

The WVU Extension Office for Tucker County provides extensive informational and advisory support for getting our community market up and running.

Much has yet to be learned and done to make this happen but the way forward looks pretty clear so far. Other than our farmers, cooks and artisans, the players in this story will be the town, the health department, the Extension Office for certification in their aid programs.