ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603110011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: New River Journal
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG
Blacksburg's not exactly known nationwide as a tourism spot.
Sure we have scenic mountains, good hiking and decent weather (outside of the rainy season).
But when people are planning a trip, they think of other locales that begin with "B." Bermuda, for instance. The Bahamas.
But on the Internet, you can't get much more popular than Blacksburg.
Our cyber-tourist population grows every time another national magazine does a story about the Blacksburg Electronic Village.
The most recent publication to feature BEV was USA Weekend, a tabloid that's inserted into newspapers across the country.
So it was probably no surprise to the staff of the village when they received 125,000 visits - or hits - on Feb. 25, the day the article came out.
"I'd say it has an impact," said Cortney Martin, BEV's information manager.
To go along with that story, some 50 people, all members of the village, humored a USA Weekend photographer by braving freezing temperatures to stand next to a new sign, welcoming the world to their community.
The sign was a visual reflection of the changing times: Blacksburg, VA Population 35,000 http://www.bev.net/
(For you luddites out there, the letters at the end are an address for the electronic village's home page on the Internet's World Wide Web.)
Martin's were not the only ears that froze as she waited for the photographer to snap the picture.
"It was unbelievably cold that day ... I remember," she said. There were patches of ice dotting the way to the Clay Street shooting location. But the villagers remained in good spirits and forced smiles through chattering teeth.
After all of that, though, USA Weekend chose to use a picture of the sign alone.
The snapshot with the villagers is published on the Internet, linked to BEV's homepage.
And the sign? Martin heard the USA Weekend people took it with them when they left.
"I've been trying to call the town folks to see if we can have a permanent one made up," she said.
Driving home from work last week I saw a sign flashing at the top of a Blacksburg Transit bus. "Think Snow!" it said in bright lights.
Believing that we've all thought about and waded through our share of the white stuff already this year, I called the manager's office to see when the signs would change.
Karen Surface, Blacksburg Transit's customer advocate, was a step ahead of me.
"We changed them today," she said Wednesday. "We're tired of the snow."
The new messages flash: "Think Spring!"
Overheard at Virginia Tech's last home game against Xavier as the tempo slowed to a snail's pace: "Stop fouling us already. Some of us have homework!"
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