Three Highland Businesses Awarded Economic Development Authority Incentive Grants

Highland economic development officials are backing three local entrepreneurs by awarding $5,000 incentive grants for investment in their business ventures.

On July 2^nd, The Highland Economic Development Authority announced the recipients, who will financially benefit from the EDA’s Highland Economic Authority Grant Incentive Program.

Funded through the EDA and the Town of Monterey, the program offers the assistance to encourage the growth and success of small business in the county. The goals of the EDA are to support entrepreneurship and create new job opportunities for local residents, all while growing the local tax base.

EDA Treasurer Betty Mitchell says this is the first time that the EDA has offered grants in the spring, when applicants initially applied. Grants usually are offered in the fall, but EDA officials decided to hold a spring offering because so few people applied last year.

Since 2017, the EDA has been awarding grants for business start-ups and expansions, totaling about $90,000, Mitchell says. Grants are funded by the EDA using $20,000 received from the county government. The Town of Monterey provided an additional $5,000 for the program.

 

 

Those awarded the EDA incentive grants include the owners of  Virginia Back Country Cabins, a new cabin rental business that could be open by summer’s end. The other grants went to the owners of Back Creek Farm maple sugar house, as well as the proprietors of the newly purchased Mountain Oasis store and gas station in McDowell.

For husband-and – wife team Jeff Newton and Holly Hughes, Highland County is the new home they love and they want share it with those seeking a country getaway.

With the help of relatives, friends and neighbors, Newton says 10 small cabins, ranging in size from 200 to 230 square feet, have been built in  32 days. Four bath houses, located steps from the cabins, also have been constructed.

Hiking and biking paths already have been cleared on their 135-acre property, located off Route 84 on Lower Back Creek Rd. about three miles from the West Virginia line. But, Newton says, there’s much more to do, including electric hook ups for the cabins and the installation of a septic system.

Newton says the $5,000 grant money will be used to fund the first-year cost of an on-line reservation booking service that will connect with other booking services, such as Airbnb and Expedia.

“We’re happy to get the grant. It will help us get open,” Newton explains.

Pat and Valerie Lowery, owners of Back Creek Farm, opened up their maple syrup sugar house to the public in 2021 after the Highland Maple Festival was canceled for two years due to the Covid 19 outbreak.

Valerie says her husband, Pat, has been involved with maple syrup production since age 8. The family business , located on Upper Back Creek Road, opened in 2002. They sold their goods on the Highland Courthouse lawn during each Maple festival until Covid hit.

But during those years of operation, wind frequently became their enemy, loosing several 10-by-20-foot tents to high wind gusts. The tents, Valerie says, are used to provide customers cover in inclement weather as they sample the many flavored syrups and other goods they offer.

“We’ve lost enough tents at this point,” Valerie jokes.

So now, the Lowerys will use their $5,000 grant to construct a three-sided gazebo, anchored on wooden platform, to protect the crowds they attract.

At the newly purchased Mountain Oasis store and gas station in McDowell, Rachel Hiner and her husband, Andrew Clark, are busy doing interior improvements while selling gas, freshly made deli sandwiches and other grocery goods at the business, located on Route 250.

Hiner says they plan to use the $5,000 grant to replace an aging tile floor, which has cracks and  broken tiles that are beyond repair.

Hiner and Clark, who also operate the Highland Roots Market at Main Street and Route 220 in Monterey, benefitted by their first EDA grant two years ago. At that time, the grant was used to purchase the market’s computerized point-of -sale cash register system.

Hiner is appreciative of the EDA and its business incentive grant program.

“It’s helpful,” she says, adding, “It’s nice to be supported by the EDA.”