Parkway Foundation contract designers have made selection from sample run by the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
Today is Tuesday, February 26. For the last two weeks, any time the phone has rung, I have winced … for we have been flooded by calls … where’s our tag? Read more »
Jonathan Burton, Parkway photographer, wins competition with "Revenge of the Baysitter."
It is not the Blue Ridge Parkway, but Jonathan Burton of Jonathan Burton Photography in Boone, was honored for an exceptional photographic image, titled “Revenge of the Babysitter”, entered in the Miller’s Professional Imaging Baby & Child Contest. The portrait placed first in the humorous category out of over 10,000 entries coming from professional photographers located throughout the United States.
Jonathan has been photographing children, families, and weddings for 17 years, winning numerous awards for his creative talent and exceptional photographic quality. Jonathan sponsors every year “Children at Moses Cone”, his portrait program which benefits the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. The program usually occurs in May. When the event is posted, it can be found at found on the Foundation’s events page.
James Coman, III, (L) the founding executive director of the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust; and Dr. Bill Herring (R), chairman of the conservancy's board of trustees. Photo courtesy of Miles Tager.
The first time that my wife and I met James Coman was at his personal request for us to meet him on a mountain top. It was a blustery day in January of 1998. He was working then to acquire Bullhead Mountain in Alleghaney County for a bird sanctuary and to protect one of the grand views from the Blue Ridge Parkway. The project took him two years and a half millions dollars (we made our gift; his personal request was too compelling); it is now in the hands of the State of North Carolina and managed by the North Carolina office of the National Audubon Society. Two words are on the back of James’s name tag – persistent determination. Read more »
All it took was 300 applications to get noticed.
Typing that number just now it sort of feels like such a miniscule number, and doesn’t even come close to reflecting the major efforts put forth by individuals, businesses, and good old fashioned “word of mouth” news that there was major interest from motorcyclists to display their support of the Blue Ridge Parkway with motorcycle tags.
“It is all in their hands now,” said Bob Henard, one of the tag’s volunteer champions, with a sigh of relief. Foundation executive director Houck Medford and Bob Henard presented a full three-ring binder and a check for more than $11,000 to Kay Hatcher, head of the specialty license tag unit at the North Carolina DMV office in Raleigh last week.
So now we wait . . . let’s just hope we can get the tags in time for some spring rides!
Parker the Bear, the Bear That Shares - trademarked
My earliest memory of giving for a cause was as a sixth grader when I collected nickels, dimes, and pennies to save the USS North Carolina battleship from the scrap yard. The Save Our Ship campaign was conceived by Governor Terry Sanford and led by campaign chair, Hugh Morton. Over 700,000 children participated, demonstrating one of the most marvelous aspects of this campaign — the many small, heartfelt contributions of thousands school children adding up to save something so large. Read more »
