By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
Meet Darian Wagoner, the silver lining.
There has to be something good about escalating gasoline prices now approaching $4 a gallon, and for Wagoner’s business, Motts Powersports, it’s that interest in his gas-sipping scooters and motorcycles is at a all-time high.
People attending the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Show couldn’t help but stop at the Motts Powersports exhibit Thursday when a sign on one of his scooters said, “100 miles per gallon.”
The two JCL motorcycles next to the scooter consume a gallon of gas every 60 to 80 miles, Wagoner added.
“The whole year has been very good,” Wagoner said, describing how the gloom of rising gas prices seems to be on everybody’s minds these days. “Sales are up, but just the traffic (into his Spencer store) is unreal.”
As always, Motts Powersports and other exhibitors at the chamber’s Business Show were looking for exposure first and getting the word out about their products and services.
The annual one-day show featured 72 businesses whose booths were open to the public from 1-5 p.m., then from 5-7 p.m. for close to 200 chamber members in a “Business After Hours” gathering that included food and beverages throughout the exhibit areas.
Through donations from sponsors, the chamber was able to award thousands of dollars worth of door prizes, which included free classes, gift certificates, gift baskets, tickets, tote bags, plants and more.
Wagoner said he didn’t expect that he would make a lot of sales Thursday, but putting the idea into consumers’ minds that scooters and motorcycles might be a transportation option was a good first step.
The Business Show offers, at a minimum, the chance for participants to network with each other. But it’s also a good place for introducing their businesses to the general public, while giving out free stuff.
Windstream was giving away yellow hardhats as a way to have people stop by its booth and hear about the company’s services and packages. “These things are very popular,” a surprised Windstream salesperson Kay Chitty said as many parents were picking them up for their children.
Paul Flahive’s Wrap Tite Exteriors was a first-time exhibitor Thursday, giving Flahive a chance to wow people with his rundown of what Armorex, the latest advancement in ceramic coatings, could mean for long-term maintenance challenges.
The coatings are offered as an alternative to painting, sealing or the look of vinyl siding.
Flahive said the strong, flexible coatings are 12 to 14 times thicker than paint and have long-term guarantees against cracking, chipping, flaking and blistering. The coatings also are mold and mildew resistant, Flahive said, and come in any color offered in the regular Sherwin-Williams palette.
Wrap Tite, which has its office on Stokes Ferry Road, has had more than 50 jobs since January, covering a region from Charlotte to Kernersville. Flahive said his installation crew of eight women and four men have been keeping busy full-time, and he banked on the Business Show’s exposure for adding to their work this summer.
Karen Setliff, coordinator of recruitment and advising for Catawba College’s School of Evening and Graduate Studies, has been a regular at recent Business Shows.
“You never quite know” Setliff said of how many students the School of Evening and Graduate Studies collects from the the show, “but the thing for me is exposure.” It gets the idea of going back to school in people’s minds, she said.
“And I get to talk to people,” Setliff added. “I love to talk.”
Setliff said the adult students she comes to know through the program are highly motivated. For one, they are usually paying for the classes themselves, but they also are deeply interested in their studies, she said.
Kathy Primavera has used the recent downturn in the real estate market ó she still runs Kathy Boggs Realty ó to launch her Contours Express franchise in the Innes Street Market next to the Hallmark store.
Her women’s fitness location was giving away a free month’s membership and free facial while promoting its yearlong membership and summer package, which Primavera says college students home for the summer have found attractive.
Contours Express offers what Primavera called “butt and gut classes” along with cardio and strength training that uses real weights. The program features a 29-minute workout.
Administrator Lisa Jones and Vocational Manager Ozzie Hill manned the RHA Health Services Inc. booth. RHA Health Services Inc. is a nonprofit organization providing services for people with disabilities and mental health needs.
Hill used the Business Show to link up with possible contract partners and find supported employment for clients of the RHA Vocational Center on Roseman Lane in Cleveland.
Supported employment places places individuals and groups into available jobs in the community.
Companies also have found RHA clients to be a good resource for contract work for tasks such as packaging, collating, sorting and assembly. They have worked for companies such as Food Lion and Granite Knitwear and also volunteer for community organizations such as Meals on Wheels, the county animal shelter and nursing homes.
In addition, clients make a special kind of cake ó the non-eating kind ó that are part of RHA-Unique Gifts.
“Cake” gifts created at the RHA Vocational Center include “baby cakes,” made with diapers and receiving blankets, among other things, and “cakes for her,” comprised of linens, tea towels, washcloths, bath and hand towels.
The “He Man Cake,” for example, was available for sale Thursday. As big as a wedding cake, it really was made out of 72 shop towels, three flannel cloths, assorted travel tools, Super Glue, car sponges and work gloves.
The perfect Father’s Day gift, Hill said.
Ah, another silver lining to the Chamber Business Show.