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Spring Has Finally Sprung

     How do we know it is finally spring?  Is it the warmer air, the forsythias or the daffodils?  No.  It is Second Saturdays at the Halifax Farmer's Market.  May 10th is the first in the Southside Master Gardener's series of Second Saturdays for 2014.  Master Gardeners will be at the Farmer's Market to help children pot up plants for Mother's Day.  Bring your kids, grandkids or the neighbor's kids to introduce them to plants and give them an opportunity to make a gift for their Moms.

     Master Gardeners will also be available to repair your tomato cages that suffered damage last season.  Join us from 8 am to 11 am on Saturday, May 10, for a fun morning with your children and to ask any questions you may have about your yard or garden.  For more information about the Master Gardener program, please call the Halifax Extension Office at 434-476-2147 or visit their website at www.ssmga.org or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..                                                                                                       maggie.jpg - 432.66 Kb

Southside Master Gardeners Carol Nelson and Maggie Westervelt prepare to reweld a broken tomato cage.  Bring your broken cages to the Halifax Farmers Market on May 10th and the Master Gardeners will bring it back to useable condition.

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Shop Local - April 5th

Town of Halifax Next Events for 2014

The second event for the 2014 season will be Friday Night Jams on June 6th starting at 6pm.  Summer is a great time to enjoy music, food, and fun in the Town of Halifax.  This year's lineup includes Tobacco Apache, a roots/rock band out of Roanoke Virginia.  Headlining the event will be Barrelhouse out of Richmond, Virginia whose blues/rock music is sure to get you out of your chair and dance.  Friday Night Jams will also include food trucks, beer and wine.  Tickets to this year's event are only $5.  Last year's Blues, Brews, and BBQ drew a large crowd.  The town hopes to grow the numbers even more, and make it an event affordable for everyone.

Finishing off the season will be the Blue Ways Festival on September 13th.  This event will serve as the official celebration of the new boat ramp allowing public access to the Banister River.  The town is working closely with river groups and coordinators of other river festivals to create a great family fun event.  Events leading up to the Blue Ways Festival will include a volunteer river cleanup, Geo caching competition, and more.  The event itself will also feature music, vendors, kids activities, food, and a beer garden.

More information about the 2014 events can be found on the Town of Halifax events website, www.halifax-events.com.  For more information, or if your are interested in being a volunteer or vendor, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

 

Solar-Powered Wireless Pilot Project Lands in Town of Halifax

Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation (MBC), a wholesale open-access fiber network transport provider, announced Wednesday the launch of a wireless broadband pilot project in the Town of Halifax to test the capability of Vihaan Networks Limited (VNL) solar powered Wi-Fi equipment to provide wireless broadband access throughout the town.

MBC, in conjunction with Wireless ISP Gamewood Technologies Group, launched this pilot project to test the coverage, speed and functionality of a unique wireless rural broadband access equipment and evaluate the technology for wider deployment in rural, unserved communities.

VNL, a hi-tech company headquartered in India, has partnered with MBC for a new approach to delivering low-cost, GSM and high speed broadband to unserved rural areas across the globe.

The Halifax project incorporates VNL's unique WorldGSMTM Rural Site and Village Site solutions, which utilize solar power to run the wireless network.  The wireless system is connected to MBC's open-access fiber optic transport network that provides dedicated connectivity from the solar powered base station to Gamewood's Internet Network.

"We are delighted to partner with MBC and Gamewood to deliver wireless broadband access in the Town of Halifax.  This historic and scenic town is such a contrast to the harsh topography of remote areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America, where VNL has deployed GSM and broadband networks.  That's the beauty of a simple, sustainable solutions like WorldGSM - it fits in fine, anywhere.  Compact and green, it's showing the way to deliver cost-effective access to unserved communities" said Rajiv Mehrotra, founder chairman and CEO of VNL.

Halifax Town Manager Carl Espy said, "Downtown businesses and visitors to the historic county seat were accustomed to free Wi-Fi when Pure Internet/Kinex offered the service until the copany closed its office two years ago.  MBC and Gamewood Technologies have provided their wireless expertise, allowing our community to once again possess an enhanced technology which improves the overall business climate and quality of life we seek as part of the town's ongoing revitalization."

"Gamewood Technology Group, Inc. is pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Town and County of Halifax, MBC and VNL to bring these wireless services to the area.  We look forward to building on this partnership and seeing how this pilot project can be used by the area residents and businesses successfully," said Ed Wilborne, chief information officer of Gamewood.

"Bridging the Digitsal Divide is a critical piece of our mission," said Tad Deriso, president and CEO of MBC.  "We continue to try new things to enable ISP's to expand their last-mile reach.  We believe a solar-powered wireless broadband platform can be a benefit to continue expansion of low-cost wireless broadband services in hard to reach, rural areas of Southern Virginia."

To log on to the service Satterfield invited users "to select Halifax WiFi from their list of available networks, select complimentary access from the drop down box, click the box to agree to the terms, and then enjoy surfing the Internet."  Ed Wilborne, President of Gamewood Technologies, Inc. added "speed and usability of service can be affected by a variety of factors including distance from the access point and therefore your experience may vary."  Chief Lands pointed out that because the free serviceis offered on an open network, users should refrain from accessing password enabled websites and online accounts.