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HR Partnership | July 14, 2010
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Hampton Roads News- Shoppers stock up on Hurricane Earl supplies - Daily Press September 2, 2010
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- Fleet awaits arrival of Hurricane Earl - NavyTimes.com September 2, 2010
- 2nd District: Nye, Rigell and Golden debate - Daily Press September 2, 2010
- Peninsula residents prepare, or not, for Hurricane Earl - Daily Press September 2, 2010
Photo Archive
America’s First Region
Cheroenhaka Indian Pow Wow
HR Partnership | July 13, 2010
The Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe, with a rich heritage and much historical significance, invites Hampton Roads’ citizens to the Southampton County Fairgrounds on July 24th and 25th for the Ninth Annual Powwow and Gathering, i.e. the “Green Corn Dance Celebration.”The Cheroenhaka (pronounced CHAIR-IN-HOCK-AH), or “People at the Fork of the Stream,” will celebrate the Commonwealth of Virginia’s formal recognition as a tribe and 430 years of documented ethno-history with traditional dancing, foods, artifacts, arts and crafts and more in a family-friendly atmosphere. Master of ceremonies will be Jerome “Good Eagle” Kays.
The Fairgrounds are located 1.5 miles South on New Market Road off Highway 58 in Courtland, Virginia. For more information, contact Powwow Chairman, Vice Chief Ellis “Soaring Eagle” Wright at (434) 658-4796 or Chief Walt “Red Hawk” Brown at (757) 562-7760 or wdbrowniii@aol.com.
The Cheroenhaka Tribal Website: http://www.cheroenhaka-nottoway.org
Members of the Cheroenhaka, recognized tribe of Virginia, with Regional Crier
at Vision Hampton Roads Regional Day.
Photo courtesy of Bob Harper.Hampton Celebrates 400 Years
HR Partnership | July 9, 2010
Hampton, Virginia Hosts Huge 400th Anniversary Weekend Celebration July 9-11, 2010
–Highlights include the Blackbeard Pirate Festival, live music, fireworks–
Hampton, VA- This July 9-11, Hampton, Virginia will celebrate its 400th anniversary in grandiose style, complete with a festival, fireworks, live music, cake, and more. The event, which spans the entire weekend, will take place during one of Hampton’s most popular festivals, the 11th annual Blackbeard Pirate Festival. Unless noted, all events are free and open to the public.
The 400th anniversary celebration festivities “unofficially” kicked off Thursday night with the 11th annual Grand Pirates Ball (business casual, creative black tie or period attire) at the Crowne Plaza Hampton Marina Hotel, located at 700 Settlers Landing Road in downtown Hampton. The ball, a recreation of Blackbeard’s Party at Okracoke, will feature sea chanties, food, libations, and more.
That evening, The American Theatre hosted a very special viewing of the film “Hampton: From the Sea to the Stars”, a documentary featuring local historian John Quarstein. U.S. Senator Mark Warner was in attendance along with other local dignitaries. The premiere of the film, which provides an overview of the qualities and resources that make Hampton a special place, is sponsored by the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce Leadership Institute. The film will air on WHRO and other PBS affiliates on Monday, July 12….
Meet Hampton Roads from the air
HR Partnership | June 30, 2010
“Meet Hampton Roads,” appearing in the September 2010 issue of Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine, will offer a unique perspective on life in the Hampton Roads region, profiling the people, places, industries, and attractions that make it one of this nation’s most vibrant places to visit, live, work, and play. The Southeast Virginia Tourism Alliance (SEVTA), Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce (HRCC), Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance (HREDA), and Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce (VPCC) have announced that Southwest Airlines will feature Hampton Roads in the September 2010 issue of its award‐winning in-flight magazine, Spirit.
Consisting of 20+ pages, “Meet Hampton Roads” – as an in-depth feature – will take a comprehensive look at the economic drivers and industry sectors that shape the lifestyles and business landscape of the region and highlight local economic development initiatives with specific focus on the tourism industry, education and healthcare resources, real estate and technology. Unique characteristics of Hampton Roads that heighten the quality of life here will also be featured, such as award-winning attractions, numerous dining and shopping options, festivals and special events.
This is an ideal opportunity to showcase the unique combination of culture, business and lifestyle that make America’s First Region, in the Heart of the Mid‐Atlantic, one of the nation’s most viable and vibrant places to visit, live, work, and prosper.
It is phenomenal editorial coverage for our area. Support for this effort may be made through the submission of story ideas or through the purchase of advertising space in the publication. By taking advantage of the promotional potential of this feature, we can differentiate the region and its unique competitive advantages and help answer the question: “Where (and What) is Hampton Roads?”
According to materials provided by Southwest Airlines, they are the number one domestic airline with over 11 million monthly passengers and the market leader in and out of Norfolk International Airport. Spirit Magazine has a measured monthly readership of 3.2 million, making this a powerful venue for promoting our area’s businesses, schools, and organizations. Southwest Airlines Spirit readers are sophisticated, upscale consumers and business leaders who fly regularly. This feature will put Hampton Roads front and center, reaching higher-tier business leaders and corporate decision-makers who are directly responsible for their companies’ purchasing, expansion and relocation to new areas. Spirit readers are nearly five times more likely to be C-Level leadership than the average U.S. consumer. Plus, airline customers are the most active leisure travelers who will bring tourism dollars to our market.
In addition to being featured in the September issue, which will be available in the seat-back pockets on all aircraft in the Southwest fleet, “Meet Hampton Roads” will also be available for one year on Spirit Magazine’s website, spiritmag.com.
This is a strong opportunity to present Hampton Roads to a broad national and international audience. Editorial questions or suggestions may be submitted to destinationpubs@paceco.com. For questions about advertising with the feature, please contact Chris Denby with Spirit Magazine and the Destination Publishing Group at chris.denby@paceco.com. Magazine staff is teaming with local writers for this effort.
VA Maritime Association celebrates 90 Years
HR Partnership | May 20, 2010
The Virginia Maritime Association (VMA) recently celebrated its 90th year as the “Voice of the Port.” VMA presented its “Distinguished Service Award” to Rick Knapp, who retired in 2009 as Chief Operating Officer of Virginia International Terminals following a 38-year career in Virginia’s maritime industry. The VMA also presented its “Port Champion” award to the Honorable Bob Purkey, Virginia House of Delegates, 82nd District.
Governor Bob McDonnell participated in the celebration as the keynote speaker and witnessed Captain J. William Cofer, President of VMA, make the awards presentations in front of an audience of 950 at the Association’s 90th Annual Maritime Banquet the evening of May 13 at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott. Mr. Knapp and Delegate Purkey were presented with Resolutions of Appreciation for their respective and unique contributions promoting, protecting and encouraging the Port of Hampton Roads.
The Virginia Maritime Association (VMA) was organized in 1920 to promote, protect and encourage international and domestic commerce through the Port of Virginia.
With a membership of over 400 companies, employing over 70,000 Virginians, the VMA continues to be the “Voice of the Port” for progressive development of our waterfront and Virginia’s maritime industry. The VMA seeks and advocates the continued growth of the Port and related commercial activity and plays a significant leadership role to ensure that Virginia remains competitive as it relates to waterborne commerce.
Hampton Roads celebrates first Regional Day with Declaration of INTER-dependence
HR Partnership | May 17, 2010
The 2010 Regional Day, held on Thursday May 6th, was the inaugural community roll-out of Vision Hampton Roads. Subsequent annual events will provide Vision‘s performance report to the diverse community of interdependent communities that is Hampton Roads.Regional Day was a time to share information, provoke ideas and collaborate in shaping the future of Hampton Roads. The 2010 festivities included a “Regional Crier” taking a roll-call vote from each local government’s chief elected official (or their designee) to support the “Declaration of Interdependence,” a regional compact for our municipalities addressing such issues as legislative unity, education, public safety, transportation, and public communication.
Downloads available:
- Photos from the event;
- “Declaration of Interdependence”;
- What is Vision Hampton Roads? one-page flyer;
- Vision Hampton Roads Dashboard; and
- Remarks from the event organizer by Dana Dickens, President & CEO of Hampton Roads Partnership, and text from the Declaration of Interdependence signing ceremony.
Panoramic view of the crowd.
Photo courtesy of Chris Bonney.From opening remarks by Dana Dickens:
Hampton Roads is a region of interdependent communities; each benefiting from the others’ success, suffering from their losses. It is: Beaches and boats. Forts and families. Roller coasters and rivers. Planes and performers. Agriculture and arts. History and innovation. The power of interdependence with a strong sense of community and diversity, now powered by a vision. A Vision that is a clear concept, a foresight, an ideal to strive for, a common direction.
Albert Einstein said: “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.”…
Hampton Citizens Restore Historic Gravestones
HR Partnership | May 1, 2010
A group of Hampton citizens recently embarked on an ambitious project to restore gravestones in a historic cemetery on King Street located next to the Armory building, which is home to several prominent local black leaders such as Mary Peake. On the day before Easter, as a gift to those buried in the cemetery, Bob Martin, Tony Sykes, W.L. Patrick, and father and son team Marvin and Tyrell Gilliam cleaned away decades of grime that had accumulated on gravestones, revealing the names written underneath.
The volunteer team partnered with Hampton Parks and Recreation to accomplish the cleaning effort, with volunteers providing cleaning supplies, materials and manpower, and Parks and Recreation providing the use of a city truck with a pressure washing system, operated that day by Senior Parks Technician Donald White. The team worked for seven hours to clean the gravestones, soaking them in a mold treating solution, hand scrubbing the stones, and finally using a pressure washer to rinse them.
Mary Smith Peake
Photo credit: Hampton University Museum ArchivesThe idea for the project arose one day while Martin walked through the cemetery, noticing that it was impossible to read the names on many of the headstones.
“There’s so much history in that cemetery — Hampton history and African American history,” he said. “We wanted people to be able to identify the names on the stones so that they could learn about these people who played such a large part in building our city.”
The King Street cemetery is a predominantly African American cemetery and is the resting place of local leaders such as Mary Peake, who founded the first school for blacks in Hampton, and John Phillips, Hampton’s first African-American City Council member and vice mayor.
Patchwork Nation visits Patchwork Hampton Roads
HR Partnership | April 30, 2010
Dante Chinni, Director for the Christian Science Monitor’s Patchwork Nation project, and his PBS NewsHour project counterpart, Anna Shoup, toured “Military Bastion” Hampton Roads recently.Patchwork Nation is a collaborative project which classifies each of America’s 3,142 counties into 12 community types using demographic, political and socioeconomic data. The project tracks 24 representative communities to see how economic trends play out at the local level and analyzes national data by community type to give the big picture more context. Hampton Roads, as a whole, represents one of those community type: “Military Bastion.”
The communities of Hampton, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg represent “Military Bastions” on their own.
James City County and Newport News represent fast-growing Boom Towns. The city of Chesapeake has been identified as a religious Evangelical Epicenter.
Minority Central is home to large pockets of African Americans and represented in the region by the city of Franklin and Southampton, Surry and York Counties. While wealthier Monied Burbs are found in Suffolk, Gloucester and Isle of Wight Counties.
Chinni and Shoup’s Patchwork Nation tour, facilitated by the Hampton Roads Partnership and local public broadcaster WHRO, consisted of:
- A birds’ eye view of Hampton Roads from the Norfolk International Terminals’ tower, the tallest point on the harbor. The tour of the Port of Virginia continued dockside to see the full scope of the massive Suez-class cranes. NIT is home to fourteen of these, the biggest, most efficient cranes in the world. An interview was conducted with Jeff Keever, Senior Deputy Executive Director of the Virginia Port Authority, including a discussion of the port’s Craney Island expansion.
- A visit to at the world’s largest naval base in Norfolk and the destroyer USS Bainbridge, most famous for its recent involvement in the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips of the commercial vessel Maersk Alabama who was kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Somalia. Interviews were conducted with the boat’s sailor of the year and several of his shipmates, highlighting the wide diversity among military personnel. Access for videotaping of the docked Nimitz-class Nuclear Aircraft Carriers (CVN) was also made available.
… and more…
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell Speaks at Vision Hampton Roads Regional Day
HR Partnership | April 12, 2010
Date & Time: May 6, 2010 – 8:00am – 10:30amPlace: Chesapeake Conference Center, 900 Greenbrier Circle, Chesapeake, Virginia
RSVP by: Friday, April 30, 2010 at VisionHamptonRoads.com
Make valuable connections at Regional Day. This inaugural event brings business and civic leaders, government and citizens together to learn more about the region, build relationships, share ideas and celebrate “living regionally” and the comprehensive “Vision” for our region’s economic future.
Regional Day is a time to share information, provoke ideas and collaborate among the region’s citizens, elected officials, municipal and public agency representatives and anyone else who has an interest in the future of Hampton Roads and wants to be involved in shaping that future.
During the event, mayors and other elected officials will sign an official “Declaration of Interdependence,” a regional compact for our municipalities addressing such issues as legislative unity, education, transportation, public safety and public communication. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell will deliver the keynote address. Breakfast will be served.
This event is open to the public. To register, visit: VisionHamptonRoads.com and click on “Register for Regional Day” or call the Hampton Roads Chamber’s Reservation Hotline at (757) 664-2558, dial extension 5.
This event is brought to you by the Hampton Roads Partnership in collaboration with:
- Franklin/Southampton Area County Chamber of Commerce
- Future of Hampton Roads
- Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance
- Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement
- Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce
- Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance
- Hampton Roads Planning District Commission/ Transportation Planning Organization
- Isle of Wight/Smithfield/Windsor Chamber of Commerce
- Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce
- WHRO’s Center for Regional Citizenship
Thank you to our Regional Champions: CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Corporation.
What is Vision Hampton Roads? Against a backdrop of challenging economic conditions, community leaders and organizations throughout the Hampton Roads region collaborated to create Vision Hampton Roads, a five-year plan, developed with input from the public, for expanding and diversifying the local economy and positioning Hampton Roads as a strong, competitive and internationally recognized presence and global thought leader. It is the goal of Vision Hampton Roads that Hampton Roads will be recognized as a region fueled by innovation, intellectual and human capital, viable infrastructure and a strong sense of place. Achieving this vision will call for careful and continuous planning, diligent governance, dynamic regional cooperation and engaged citizens. To learn more and download a one-page flyer, visit VisionHamptonRoads.com.
Landing Day 1610-2010, Sea How It All Began
HR Partnership | April 9, 2010
Hampton Celebrates Landing Day on Sunday, April 25 –2010Signature Event at Strawberry Banks includes re-enactment of the first landing
Hampton, Virginia- On April 30, 1607, the Virginia Company was greeted by a group of Kecoughtan Indians and welcomed ashore at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula and the mouth of the Hampton Roads harbor. This April 25, Hampton, Virginia will celebrate the 403rd anniversary of the arrival at Point Comfort with Landing Day, a 2010 Signature Event taking place at Strawberry Banks (located near the VA Medical Center, adjacent to I-64 exit 268). Highlights include opening remarks by Hampton Mayor Molly Joseph Ward and Hampton City Manager Mary Bunting, a musical performance by Stephen Cristoff , historic re-enactors, guest speakers, light refreshments and more.
The ceremony begins at 3:00 p.m. with welcoming remarks by Hampton Mayor Molly Joseph Ward and Hampton City Manager Mary Bunting. Afterwards, Captain Christopher Newport and his men (played by historic re-enactors) will row ashore Strawberry Banks where they will be welcomed by a group of Native Americans (represented by a number of tribes, including the Rappahanock, Chickahominy, and Mattaponi). As the settlers depart their shallop and set foot on land, attendees will have a unique opportunity to witness what the first landing may have looked like in 1607.
Landing Day
April 25, 2010
(On the Hampton University campus)
30 Strawberry Banks Boulevard Hampton, VA 23663
3:00 p.m.For more information on Landing Day, contact Brianna Venner at 757/727-6815 or bvenner@hampton.gov.
Hampton, Virginia, the oldest continuous English speaking settlement in North America, celebrates four centuries of history in 2010. We invite you to “Explore Old Worlds, New Worlds, Our World.” The Explore Hampton 2010 committee consists of Hampton citizens and representatives of businesses, churches, neighborhoods, Hampton University and the City of Hampton. For information on upcoming Explore Hampton initiatives, visit www.Hampton400.com.
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