Who wants to do business with a man in a grass skirt

This was a question posted in response to a photo of me taken at our 2nd Annual Business Extravaganza last evening. Now I will admit that you don't see a lot of men, especially 50 year old economic developers wearing grass skirts and trying to help build local economies, but maybe you should.

Stokes County is a very rural county located in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina, just north of Winston Salem. It faces the challenges that most rural areas in the state and the US do, loss of our manufacturing base, loss of many of our young people to more urban areas, tight budgets and more. Most days I show up for work with my coat and tie, tackle the challenges before me and do my job.

But the job in front of us as Americans and for my friends in Stokes County is not business as usual. We need to try different methods, we need to develop our local assets and play to our strengths. If it takes me wearing a grass skirt and a cheap lei to get peoples attention, I will do it. I guarantee you that the 200+ people that turned out for our event last evening will remember it longer than most of the boring rubber chicken dinners that these events normally turn in to. I also believe they heard my message loud and clear and will remember it as well.

Stokes County is moving. We have several exciting programs being developed. We have new businesses in the works and we have some of the best people I have ever had the pleasure to work with. We will continue to push the envelope, look for new innovative ideas and work to build a cohesive economy. If you missed last evenings event, you missed a good time. You missed business getting done and you missed being with friends and potential friends. Start planning now for next years event, tentatively scheduled for Jan 19, 2012. I started planning it when I woke up this morning and you never know what next year might bring.

Oh and by the way, I have the legs to pull off the look!