Sponsors Hope To Strike Gold, Silver At Expo ’99
Why would a business that is not generally thought of as “local” spend the extra money to become a Gold Sponsor for Expo ’99?
At least one – Wake Electric Membership Corp. – is looking to the future and thinks association with the event on May 20 at Vance-Granville Community College will help position it to gain customers when deregulation of electrical service comes.
Wake EMC, headquartered in Wake Forest, is one of four gold sponsors for Expo ’99. The others are WIZS Radio of Henderson, WHNC/WCBQ Radio of Oxford and the Butner-Creedmoor News newspaper.
Silver Sponsors are Gerber Photographic of Henderson and United States Cellular. The Gold and Silver sponsors, who purchased or are providing services for “Premiere” sponsorships, are set to join about 80 exhibitors who will display their products and services at VGCC’s Civic Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 20. More than half those exhibit spaces had been filled on Monday, March 22.
Expo ’99 is an annual event for organizations located in, or that do business in, Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties, and it is co-sponsored by the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce, the Granville County Chamber of Commerce and the VGCC Small Business Center. Other business people and the general public are invited to attend Expo.
Members of sponsoring chambers of commerce can reserve an exhibit space inside or outside the VGCC Civic Center for $200. Non-chamber members will pay $360. Interested businesses that have not received a registration application may call either of the sponsoring chambers or the VGCC Small Business Center at 492-2061.
Matt Vernon of Wake EMC said his company has a lot of customers in Granville, Vance and Franklin counties. “We expect that area to grow a great deal in the near future, and we want to get our name out there and become more familiar to the counties’ residents,” he said.
This will help the electric company be positioned to get more customers from the area on the arrival of deregulation, which Vernon said is coming. “People then can choose which company they want to provide their electrical service, and we want that to be us,” Vernon said.
Wake EMC is also an Internet service provider and offers special rates to educators, according to Vernon. The company will provide information on this service at its Expo ’99 exhibit.
People working at the Expo exhibits and members of the general public who visit Expo ’99 will be able to register for two vacation getaways being offered by Henderson travel agencies. A-1 Travel will provide a trip to High Meadows Bed & Breakfast at Scottsville in the Virginia mountains, and Henderson Travel is donating a trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Participants in past Expos have consistently said the events are great for getting a great deal of exposure for a business’s products or services.
