Please give me some insight on relocation to these areas. I am anticipating a move next Spring. I am seeking to get away from the heat, traffic, crime and unfriendly nature of the big city in Florida. I have started to do some research into housing availability, weather, churches, employment, small shop space, etc. I prefer to rent vs. buy due to the current economic market.
I am curious to hear about the winter weather in the area. Are there many days of snow and ice and are the roads cleared or does the road department go by the old saying…“the Lord gives, the Lord takes it away”? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

I guess the answer to this would depend on a couple of things you don’t mention.

First, Galax is about 9 miles off of I-77 on Route 58 - it has the typical local Wal-Mart and fast food strip, several very good Mexican restaraunts that are off-shots of the local hispanic population, and the Rex Theatre on Main Street that hosts a weekly blue-grass/gospel live show. Also, Galax is fairly close to the Fancy Gap area of the Blue Ridge Parkway and you can be in Charlotte, NC in less than two hours if you are looking for places to go for more shopping or leisure travel. Galax is also the home of the nation’s largest blue-grass festival, The Fiddler’s Convention, and is near the town of Hillsville which hosts a very large flea-market each Labor Day. The one negative with Galax is the availability of skilled jobs - since the furniture factories closed down over the last 5 years Galax has become (like many small towns everywhere) a difficult place to find a job beyond those in the service sector (ie Wal-Mart, fast food). So I guess when it comes to Galax, it would depend on how important employment prospects are to you, what local ammenities you want, and how much driving you want to do if you want to “get out of town” for the weekend.

Wytheville (and I have to admit my bias here, its my old home town) is located right on the intersection of I-77 and I-81 - as such, it is very easy to get where you want to go in any direction. Over the last 6-7 years the town has experienced a fairly drastic increase (for SW Virginia) in professional/technical and skilled labor jobs due to new factories such as Pepsi Bottling, Gatorade and Amcor opening in the local industrial complex. The north end of the town is the new Wal-Mart anchored strip-mall area, and is located just off an exit from I-81 with more land for growth available… I suspect when the economy turns around this area will continue to grow as the industrial park expands to its full potential. The downtown area is, like many small towns, going through a transition as many older businesses (some haveing been around for 100 years or more) have closed up due to people shopping at Wal-Mart or going out of town. The downtown area has lots of potential for small specialized shops and dining but it seems the support is just not there yet to support those types of businesses year-round. Wytheville does host an annual Chatauqua Festival; this week-long event brings in craftsmen and live entertainment to downtown’s Elizabeth Brown Park area… some years I really enjoy all that is offered, but some years it seems like it misses the mark just a bit - but even then it is well worth the visit. Once again, it depends on what things are important to you and your personal situation.

As far as weather goes, the winters can be quite cold and we have (historically) always gotten snow. Over the last 10-years the local area (this includes Wytheville and Galax) have gotten less snow than our averages would indicate. The local road-crews are very pro-active in getting ahead of the storms and will usually be out in the towns and on the interstates putting down gravel/cinders and “salt” ahead of time. It would be very rare to have to wait more than a few hours to travel on the main roads after a storm comes through - definitely no more than a day depending on what you drive. Ice-storms are fairly rare in the area, although it seems every 4-5 years we get a good one that brings down power lines and trees. If you live outside of town (either one) this can be difficult due to power being out for several days… of course this all just depends on the storm’s severity. The nice thing about the local weather is that we do have a true four-season climate… as I said earlier, it can get very cold in Winter and it does get very hot and humid in Summer. Again it depends on what you are looking for and your personal situation.

Hope some of this helped you out, and welcome to the area if you make the change.

Very nice summary, Strat.  I’ll add a couple things.  Galax is rather isolated, geographically speaking.  It’s a 10-15 minute drive from Galax to I-77, and another 30 minutes from there to any other decent sized community (Wytheville, Mt Airy, Dublin).  I’ve always considered it as a rather dead-end type place, but my opinion is somewhat biased.  However, if isolation is what you are seeking, then Galax might be more appealing to you.  Galax is the southern terminus of the New River Trail, which is a wonderful rails-to-trails hiking / bike riding / horseback riding trail that follows right along the new river.  It is Virginia’s longest linear park at 57 miles, and you can go all the way to Pulaski, which is the northern terminus.  Of course the trail also travels through Wythe County, and is about a 15 minute drive from Wytheville.

Wytheville is and has always been a crossroads town.  As Stat has said, Wytheville is growing, and in a good way.  The town recently finished the multi-million dollar Wytheville Community Center and Convention Center, which includes an indoor water park, indoor rock climbing, gyms, elevated walking track, racquetball, exercise equipment, aerobics, etc.  The prices are really good for residents (we pay less than $30 a month for a family of 6).  The convention center is doing very well, and has been regularly hosting large events.  Several new multimillion dollar hotels have been built in the last year (two within sight of the community center).  The community center is right next to the Wytheville Community College, which is also doing very well and has recently expanded again.  It has an enrollment of 2,500, and I had read that it had the largest enrollment of any community college in Virginia (but I have been unable to find the source of that information since).

Wytheville is the home of the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre, which is also quite popular.  I have seen a number of shows there, and the performances, food and facility has always been top-notch.

The combination of factors - easy interstate access, hotel accommodations, convention center, entertainment, safe and scenic rural location - is making Wytheville a significant destination for large groups.  I know that next month a group of 200 will be attending conventions at the center, followed by a special showing of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at Wohlfahrt Haus. 

Wytheville has a brand new, all-digital, 8 theater cinema located in the Wal-Mart plaza.

Now, as I said, I’m biased because I live in Wytheville, but there really is a lot to be proud of living here.

As to the weather, as Strat said, it can get quite cold in the winter.  In fact, I can’t remember a recent winter where it did not get down at least into single digits (Fahrenheit) at some point during winter.  Snow-wise, we get very little (relatively speaking, from someone who grew up in the “snow belt” of Northeastern Ohio).  Typically, we’ll get a few snowfalls of 2-3 inches each winter, and they often melt away within a couple days.  The roads are taken care of during winter, but of course you can’t expect heavy snowfall to not have any affect on road conditions at all.  Ice storms are typically a bigger concern than snowfall, as they can result in power failure.  Over a decade ago there was a large blizzard (a couple feet of snow) followed by a terrible ice storm that took out power for a week.  However that is certainly a fluke thing (we get far less bad winters than you would hurricanes in Florida).  I believe Galax tends to receive more foul weather than Wytheville, but probably not by much.  Just slightly south of Galax the mountains of the Appalachian chain fail, and open up into the plains of North Carolina.  What happens is that weather systems moving from the west encounter the mountain range, causing lots of fog and precipitation.  Galax receives more of this because it is closer to the edge of the mountain range than Wytheville.  In fact, time and time again, I will watch weather systems moving across Tennessee, and as they strike the mountains just west of here, the weather systems are broken up and dissipated due to the change in altitude.