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Smyth County

Mar 13, 2025

Speyside Bourbon Cooperage in Smyth lays off 75 workers

Speyside Bourbon Cooperage in Atkins will lay off 75 employees at the end of April due to slowdowns in the bourbon industry, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter dated Feb. 28. Speyside plans to end second-shift production and third-shift maintenance at the Smyth County facility. Laid-off workers may be recalled “as […]

A hay bale half-buried in mud in a wooded area
Oct 23, 2024

Va. agricultural damage from Helene totals $159.3M

Hurricane Helene’s agricultural damage in Virginia totals more than $159.3 million, according to Virginia Cooperative Extension agents’ research. Hurricane Helene made landfall on the Gulf Coast in Florida as a Category 4 storm late on Sept. 26 and tore through the Southeast into Sept. 27, causing catastrophic flooding in parts of Georgia, North and South […]

Jul 22, 2024

Speyside Bourbon Cooperage to create 40 jobs in Pittsylvania

Speyside Bourbon Cooperage will invest $16.85 million to build a new stave mill in Pittsylvania County‘s Brosville Industrial Park, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced last week.  A U.S. subsidiary of a French company, Speyside Bourbon Cooperage produces staves, or strips of wood, from American White Oak, which are used to make the company’s bourbon barrels. Pittsylvania […]

Feb 27, 2023

Filling in

Industrial real estate is a hot commodity in Southwest Virginia. “It’s hard to find available space of anything that’s above 15,000 to 20,000 square feet,” says Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA), which represents Lee, Wise, Scott, Buchanan, Russell, Tazewell and Dickenson counties and the city of Norton. Leaders [&[...]

Jun 1, 2022

Packaging manufacturer to create 75 jobs in Smyth County

Northlake, Illinois-based Scholle IPN, a flexible packaging supplier, will invest $31.1 million to expand in Smyth County, a project expected to create 75 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday. Scholle IPN will expand its Smyth County facility by 73,000 square feet to allow new manufacturing lines for film extrusion and packaging. The company will also […]

Smyth County Administrator Shawn Utt is working with Bland and Washington counties to develop an industrial park. Photo by Earl Neikirk
Apr 28, 2022

Counties collaborating on industrial park

In the coming months, the rubble of a demolished furniture factory on a roughly 70-acre property in Chilhowie will be hauled away to make room for an industrial park. Smyth County is teaming up with Bland and Washington counties, forming the Pathway Regional Industrial Facilities Authority to create Pathway Park, which will feature rail service […]

Aug 20, 2021

Woodgrain Inc. to invest $17M in SW Va., creating 100 jobs

Woodgrain Inc. will invest $9 million to expand its operations in Smyth County and invest $8 million more to purchase and expand the former Independence Lumber sawmill in Grayson County, producing 100 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday. The family-owned business based in Idaho is one of the largest millwork companies in the world, manufacturing […]

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