Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 11, 1993 TAG: 9305110149
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The store's owner plans to string a banner across the building's roof that screams out to the world: "Big Island, Va." Another banner will stretch across the town's main thoroughfare - U.S. 501.
In the shop windows, there will be homemade welcome signs colored by the children at Big Island Elementary School. The children themselves will be on hand at the firehouse waving little American flags.
Already, there was a town clean-up day.
The garden club even has planted extra flowers.
And all of this for just 10 minutes, when television viewers watching the Tour DuPont bicycle race on Thursday may get a brief glimpse of this town of about 1,500 people along the James River in northern Bedford County.
There would have been a marching band, too, if the band at Liberty High School had not been booked for something else. "This is going to be a big-time for us," said Glenna Putney, who works at the bank in town and helped organize the welcome.
"We hope we'll leave a lasting impression."
Big Island is not alone.
Two small crossroads up the road, Antioch and Coleman Falls, also will display welcome banners for the bikers - and for the media broadcasting the race around the world.
The towns of Buchanan and Eagle Rock in Botetourt County are preparing as well.
Television coverage of the Tour DuPont is expected to reach an estimated 76 million people in 93 countries. The race began last week in Wilmington, Del., and concludes Sunday in Greensboro, N.C.
On Thursday, the route goes from Lynchburg to Hot Springs, passing through Bedford and Botetourt counties. This is the first time the 5-year-old race has come through either county.
"It gives us a little chance to show some pride in the community," explained Stuart Knight, Big Island's fire chief who also helped organize the town's efforts.
Indeed, Knight said that the clean-up, planting flowers and the banners were just as much for the town as for the racers. "After they're gone, everything will still be here for us to appreciate."
The racers - and the world - will see Big Island for about 10 minutes.
In Buchanan and Eagle Rock, similar welcomes are planned.
Downtown Buchanan already has a banner up to advertise the race. A Boy Scout troop cleaned up along the roadside over the weekend. A civic group planted flowers at the end of the U.S. 11 bridge crossing the James River.
Students from Buchanan Elementary School will cheer the cyclists from the Buchanan sewer treatment plant on U.S. 43 - at the end of a steep decline from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Another large assembly of spectators is expected at James River High School, the site of the day's sprint finish line.
In Eagle Rock, a clean-up on Saturday along the race route netted 24 bags of trash, said Grace Mundy, a member of the Eagle Rock Ruritan Club. Flowers, posters and school children also will be a part of the town's welcome.
Mundy said people in Eagle Rock are excited. "This is something that is not just local, not even state or national. It's international."
by CNB