PANGAEA Internet Launches Wi-Fi Trial in Downtown Tryon

 Paneaea, the leading commercial provider of high-speed fiber optic internet service for Polk and Rutherford Counties, has launched a trial Wi-Fi service in downtown Tryon. The trial period will extend through the end of 2014 and is intended to evaluate Wi-Fi technology, determine coverage areas, and gauge consumer demand.

Dual band wireless access points in storefronts and on rooftops provide the Wi-Fi service, which is aimed at visitors to downtown Tryon, area residents and small downtown-based businesses with basic internet needs. Mobile devices, such as phones and tablets, as well as personal computers with Wi-Fi capability can access the service.

Wi-Fi coverage is offered between Tryon Town Hall/Rogers Park and the PANGAEA office near Side Street Pizza. The Wi-Fi connections are:

• PANGAEA FREE Mesh
• PANGAEA PAID Mesh

The FREE offering is a low bandwidth, no-cost service, providing the ability to check emails and browse the Internet.

 The Town of Tryon’s Ransom Morris Project has won top honors in the category of Promotion, receiving NC Commerce’s Small Town Main Street Award of Merit. The N.C. Small Town Main Street Awards competition recognizes the outstanding achievements of participating communities in organization, design, economic restructuring and promotion, the four key areas of the downtown revitalization program’s emphasis. Entries were judged by a panel that included N.C. Main Street Center staff and Main Street managers. Following the judging, Office of Urban Development Director Liz Parham remarked, “North Carolina Main Street and Small Town Main Street Awards represent some of the very best revitalization work taking place in our state. Whether it’s a streetscape project that makes the central business district more walkable and attractive, a building rehabilitation that provides space for exciting new businesses, a special event that builds on the heritage of the community or one of many other exemplary projects that contributes to the vitality of Main Street downtowns, these award-winners are outstanding examples of partnerships, innovation, quality, and sustainability and serve as models for other small towns and cities throughout North Carolina.” Parham and Assistant Secretary of Commerce Dr. Pat Mitchell will present the Small Town Main Street Awards during the North Carolina Main Street Annual Conference in New Bern on Tuesday, April 1st. Crys Armbrust will accept the award on behalf of the Town of Tryon, the Ransom Morris Project and the many citizens who generously participated in the project.

The Polk County Film Initiative, formed by Lavin Cuddihee, Beau Menetre, Kirk Gollwitzer with the assistance of Crys Armbrust, is a newly formed organization seeking economic sustainability specifically aimed at bringing film production entities to Polk County. Working with Advantage West and the Western North Carolina Film Commission, the goal is to create a “camera ready” environment in Polk County. Not only will production companies be able to easily coordinate their efforts to film here, but the workings of the PCFI is designed to seek out and solicit film productions to take part in an active and receptive cinematic environment. In part this will constitute a cooperative of commerce, residential participation, target location development and an interactive populace that will benefit both from incoming dollars and the eventual coordination of presenting a developed internal workforce consisting of film / videographers, actors and production assistants to name a few.

 Columbus builder Katherine Pfaff brings eco-sustainable homes to the foothills. The company, TekkHaus, boasts a better way to build with quality components and engineering resulting in buildings that are healthy, green, energy efficient and strong. TekkHaus specializes in custom, “stick built in a factory” framing, to meet and exceed many world standards. In the panelization process, the envelope of the house is prebuilt in flat panels and shipped to the building site. Any plan for a new wood framed house can be panelized by TekkHaus engineers. The company builds houses to any specification, including all levels of LEED houses. TekkHaus recycles most excess construction materials into additional building products. Because the company has economies of scale in purchasing and almost no waste, TekkHaus homes are higher quality and competitive in price. TekkHaus warranties their work and the factory boasts a 100% on-time, on-budget delivery record with 22,000 delivered structures. 

 

Photo credit: Shelley Dayton