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Caroline ready to reopen cannery
Caroline will reopen cannery later this week, add Saturdays to the mixDate published: 11/3/2009 BY PORTSIA SMITH The Lloyd Boxley Cannery in Caroline County will re-open Thursday--and will also be open on Saturdays until the end of the year. County Administrator Percy Ashcraft said Caroline has hired a part-time manager to run the cannery, which closed after the married couple who operated and managed the facility quit in August. The cannery, located off U.S. 301 in Milford, had been open only on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ashcraft said he hopes that adding Saturdays to that schedule will draw more people who can't come during the workweek. The facility will remain open until the end of the year, Ashcraft said. The county has not yet decided whether it will provide funding for the cannery to operate next summer. The cannery offers space and equipment for residents to can their own fruits and vegetables. But fewer than two-dozen residents used it in the few weeks it was open this past summer. Caroline supervisors hope to attract more interest in the cannery from residents in neighboring localities. Supervisor Maxie Rozell said he has been told that some Stafford County residents have been driving to Maryland to can. Quin Rivers, a regional nonprofit, community-action group based in New Kent County, would like to expand the cannery into a regional food pantry. But because of the building's condition, food canned there can be used only for personal consumption, not public distribution. Ashcraft said wall problems, exposed pipes and several other items need to be fixed to bring the building up to code. "We have a lot of planning to do between now and next year to make full use of that building and the best use of that building," Ashcraft said. "But out first priority is to get it up to code." Supervisors expect to get results of a $5,000 study on the building's foundation by the end of the year. The cannery costs about $17,000 a year to operate two days a week. In the last two fiscal years, it produced less than $500 in revenue. That's money the county didn't have in this year's budget until an escrow account being held at Union Bank and Trust with $17,969 became available. That account was created by former cannery operator Lloyd Boxley, and remained there upon his passing in 2005. Portsia Smith: 540/374-5419
Read more stories about Caroline Date published: 11/3/2009
economic incentives
(posted by
billmoney
, Nov. 3, 2009 11:32 am)
The county needs to be in the business of attracting business not operating a cannery!!
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