ROANOKE RAPIDS — The annual Roanoke Valley Business Expo Wednesday at Becker Village Mall, offered newly-established and veteran businesses from across the Valley a chance to showcase their products and services to potential customers from the area.

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Though the Valley’s more established businesses, such as Embarq, Rightmyer Machine Rentals and The UPS Store, were well represented, many of the booths were occupied by smaller businesses just gaining a foothold in the area.

Danielle Baker, owner of Bakers’ Southern Traditions Peanuts, was on hand this year and last. She said the benefits were obvious. “We’ve gained a lot of customers from this area. It really gave us some good exposure.”

Located just outside of Rich Square, the company offers a variety of peanut candies, from chocolate and caramel covered treats to a unique blend of Cajun seasoned snacks. All the peanuts used in their products come from Baker’s family-owned farm and will soon be available locally with the opening of Riverside Mill in Weldon.

Also on hand for the event was Carson Sutton Jr., owner of Exterior Experts Inc. out of Rocky Mount. Sutton said his company, which specializes in exterior and interior power washing and painting for commercial and residential clients, has had to lay off staff due to the recent economic crunch. “We had to cut back from eight employees to three, so it has slowed me down some. We’ll just have to see what happens.” Sutton said some of the company’s recent clients include the new CVS store in Roanoke Rapids, Becker Manor and Windchase Apartments.

Tucked away in a side corner of the expo, Eula Cutler from Simplicity Beads in Roanoke Rapids was busy arranging her display of stone jewelry, including an eye-catching necklace made of jasper. “Everybody loves jasper,” she said with a grin.

Cutler said she got her love of stone from her father, an avid rock collector. Said Cutler, “I just grew up watching him and just always loved collecting rocks. The stones we use come from all over North Carolina, including some from the Roanoke River.”

Raleigh native Dan Jeffreys, who was in the area visiting family, walked through the expo Wednesday taking in the sights and talking with business owners. “ I just recently opened an antique store, so it’s interesting to talk with some of these new business owners, just to see how they’re getting along. It’s risky, me and my wife talked about it for years, but we finally decided to take the jump. The economy is scary right now, but we weren’t getting any younger. Sometimes you’ve just got to do it and hope for the best.”

In a side room adjacent to the expo, Halifax County Economic Director Cathy Scott, Van Rogerson, of the Northeast Commission and Steve Howell of the Northampton County Economic Development Commission held court at an economic development seminar, where the trio discussed recent developments on the business front.

“The main thing is we’re all in this together,” said Howell, “It’s a regional and state effort now, you can’t just focus on one town or one county, you have to work together.”

Howell said phase 1 of NCCAR is proceeding “tremendously” with 60 percent of the on-sight construction completed, including the 2-mile road-handling course and operations center. Howell said the site looks to be operational by October. “Everybody’s looking for more mileage out of their car and better tires,” said Howell.  “The first phase will make us a very usable facility; the second part of phase 1 will make us a world-class facility.”

Howell noted that upon completion there would be only 200 facilities in the world that would be comparable to the NCCAR site. “This goes all the way back to N.C. State and the research that’s being done there and then bringing it out to the test track and the vehicle dynamics area. This could have impact as far as Virginia,” said Howell.

In other Northampton County news, Howell discussed the upcoming expansion of the Northampton County Peanut Company and Fine Line Boats in Woodland and a planned 500-acre commerce park adjacent to the NCCAR site.

Following Howell’s presentation, Scott discussed a number of upcoming projects in Halifax County, most prominently the announcement of a new company, Foam and Steel Technology Associates, which will be located in Littleton. The company will build steel and foam construction panels for commercial residential and institutional use. “It’s a great new company,” said Scott, “ They’re a start up but they’ve been in business a number of years doing research and development and we’re really excited about having them in Halifax County.”

Scott said the county recently purchased 700-acres on NC Highway 561 just west of Reser’s, which is in the process of being certified as a NC site. She went on to discuss the opening on May 1 of the Halifax-Northampton County Regional Airport. “We feel like that is going to be a tremendous investment made with a partnership between Halifax County, Northampton County and the city of Roanoke Rapids.”  Scott said the airports grand opening will be May13.

Scott added that the county is looking for ways to partner with NCCAR, with one possibility being reopening the old Halifax airport for use as an alternative fuel or motor sports development sight. Another project on the drawing board is the establishment of a “green corridor” linking Halifax County with other counties in the north-east region of North Carolina with the help of local utility and other companies to promote environmentally friendly industry.

The final speaker, Van Rogerson, spoke about tourism in the region, including the Hub and Spoke initiative, which looked at the retail hubs around the region, including Roanoke Rapids, Elizabeth City and little Washington. “The idea is to have day trips from these hubs out into the rural parts of the region, like Sylvan Heights,” said Rogerson.

On the economic development front, Rogerson mentioned NCCAR as one the areas success stories. “The idea is that those are new jobs bringing in new wealth and then we’ll have all the spin out into other businesses that will support new commercialization opportunities,” he said.

Rogerson went on to note that other ideas for the region may include a partnership with local farmers and companies looking to test newly developed bio crops, which could lead to a number of ancillary business opportunities such as packaging and processing facilities, bringing in new jobs and wealth to the region.

“Business is hurting right now,” said Rogerson in closing. “We need a longer term vision. These new projects will impact everyone.  It’s truly exciting times up here.”