ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1996 TAG: 9610280043
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
Everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words. But how much community spirit are a photograph and poster worth?
That's what Anh-Tuan Bui and John Kline hope to find out with their Poster Day '96, a gathering of residents on the lawn of Virginia Tech's Henderson Hall, across College Avenue from downtown. Using a ladder truck from the town's Fire Department, Kline, owner of Gentry photography studio on Draper Road, will take a picture of all residents who show up at 3 p.m. Sunday, and a poster will be made from the photograph. Bui and Kline are hoping for between 300 and 500 people.
Bui came up with the idea of creating a poster of town residents after viewing Kline's collection of historic Blacksburg photos at his shop. That inspiration, coupled with his desire to do something unique for the community, led Bui to propose a Poster Day, which he hopes will become an annual affair.
"If you create a nice tradition and keep it clean, eventually people will catch on," said Bui, 32, a part-time employee at Kline's shop. Originally from Vietnam, Bui served in the U.S. military and was a community college student before enrolling at Virginia Tech, where he is a student in international studies and political science. He hopes to get into law school.
"Something's got to be done for this town. I want to do something unique, something different," he said.
The poster will be printed in a nostalgic, duo-tone style, featuring lots of brown tints not unlike Kline's historic pictures. Duo-tone posters are cheaper than color posters, and color inks fade eventually, Kline said.
"We want to make something people can show their kids," Kline said.
Proceeds from sales of the poster, which will be available a few weeks after the photograph is taken, will go toward the renovation of the Lyric Theatre. Future Poster Days could benefit the Farmer's Market and other town projects, Bui said.
Bui and Kline hope their Poster Day will become a tradition, and see it as a way to commemorate the town's bicentennial in 1998 and the upcoming turn of the century.
He and Kline talked to Mayor Roger Hedgepeth about their idea and presented it to Town Council in September.
"They loved it," Bui said.
The event is free, but participants must have a Blacksburg address or Virginia Tech identification card to take part. Registration begins at 1 p.m.
The photograph will be taken an hour after the dedication of the newly completed renovations of the Blacksburg branch of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library two blocks away. Information about the Poster Day will be announced at the dedication, Bui said.
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