Feb 28 Community Voices » Community

February COMMUNITYVOICES

Woody Crenshaw

President of SustainFloyd
will speak on “Leading and Lighting Social Change: Ag, Arts and Advocacy”

Tuesday, February 28, 7:00pm
The Lyric Theatre – free admission

On Tuesday, February 28th at 7:00pm at the Lyric Theatre, social entrepreneur and businessman Woody Crenshaw will speak on sustainable development in Floyd County and the Blue Ridge Plateau, particularly the revitalization of agriculture and farming. Crenshaw is a founding member and President of rapidly growing SustainFloyd, a social benefit organization operating projects that include the Floyd Farmers Market, the Farm to School Program, the Floyd Artisan Tour, the SustainFloyd Film Series, the first Floyd Energy Inventory and new development projects for produce and dairy processing facilities.

SustainFloyd operates organic certified Shooting Creek Farm, developing it to be a farm education center. Now undertaking curriculum development for the farm with a grant from Virginia Tech, SustainFloyd has responded to growing local interest and support for revitalizing Floyd’s agricultural assets.

Woody and his wife Jackie are owners of Crenshaw Lighting, a high-end lighting studio, employing forty local craftsmen and designers. The Crenshaws own the Floyd Country Store, home of the famous Friday Night Jamboree. The restored historic site features a snack bar, book, CD, and clothing sections; and, has become a hub of local community activity. The Crenshaws are beginning the second growing season at their Riverstone farm on the Little River. A certified organic farm, Riverstone represents for the Crenshaws a major sustainable development initiative building on local strengths and environmental resources.

Woody Crenshaw’s program for Community Voices will combine stories and living cases from an emerging and vital expression of local innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainable development. For more than a decade, Woody has been an advocate for the creative economy of Southwest Virginia and specifically Floyd County. His interests have basically been to try to use craft, and music and alternative agriculture as a vehicle for community development.