Kapstone recently released their rockfish painted by one of their own employees Mike Haislip. The fish is painted with an aerial view of the mill property on one side and an American flag on the other, letting all who see the fish know that Kapstone paper is proudly "Made in America." The fish is located on the main road leading into the mill, surrounded by a beautifully landscaped flowerbed.

In 1907, when the Kapstone mill was known as the Roanoke Rapids Paper Manufacturing Company, the mill was the first in the nation to manufacture Kraft pulp, using a new pulping process imported from Europe. By using local Southern Pine as raw material, the mill was able to make paper of superior quality and strength. After the mill was acquired in 1977 by Champion International, millions of dollars were invested in advanced manufacturing and environmental technologies to produce quality paper products while minimizing the impact of the paper-making process on the environment. In June of 2000, the Roanoke Rapids Mill became part of International Paper’s Containerboard and Kraft Papers business.

The Roanoke Rapids Mill was acquired by KapStone Paper and Packaging Corporation in January 2007 and operates as Kapstone Kraft Paper Corporation. The mill currently employs 489 people with an annual payroll of $49 million and comprises approximately 1,900 acres. Kapstone produces approximately 156,000 tons of kraft liner and 273,000 tons of kraft paper. Kapstone truly gives back to the community; in fact, the mill and its employees gave $110,000 to various local community charities in 2010. For those reasons and many more, Kapstone really Rocks the Roanoke Valley!

Les Atkins Photography/Atkins Ad Group ROCKS the Roanoke Valley.

The les atkins Photography/Atkins Ad Group rockfish, "Fisheye," is a unique look at Roanoke Rapids' past. One side of the rockfish features a 1920s couple being photographed on the banks of the Roanoke River. Artist Tina Gregory captures every detail of this couple's photo session. The 1920s was a pivotal time for photography. Photographs actually started to replace drawings in advertising as people thought the camera wouldn't lie.

les atkins Photography opened for business in 1995 and has expanded over the years to offer a wide variety of photographic services including wedding, event, and corporate photography. The studio is located on Roanoke Avenue across from the post office.

The Atkins Ad Ad Group is a full service advertising agency that opened in 2006. The company expanded in 2009 to serve eastern North Carolina and southern Virginia in the areas of public relations, logo development, branding, media placement, video production, event marketing, graphic design, and website development.

OSAIL ROCKS the Roanoke Valley!

Recently OSAIL decided to participate in the Halifax County CVB Rockfish art project.  OSAIL selected Lake Gaston artists Gail Smith, Gail O'Neil, and Maggie Chalifoux to design and paint the fish.  

The fish started as a five foot fiberglass moulded rockfish; a blank slate for the artists.  The artist team collaborated on a number of designs for the fish, and finally decided on one using sun symbols and bright lake colors.  The artists named him "Sunny" for the sun symbols.  Layers of paint and glazes were applied using various artist techniques and materials, and using the sun patterns.  The artists achieved a beautiful, shimmery, glistening effect for "Sunny".  From there he was coated for weather protection and mounted on a pole and installed. 

The result is a bright, cheerful work of art reflective of the Lake Gaston community.  "Sunny" is located at the OSAIL kiosk at the Food Lion in Littleton.  Stop by and see him up close.

Pictured left to right:  Maggie Chalifoux, Gail Smith, Gail O'Neil, and Kathy Dikeman.

The Halifax County Visitors Center opened in its current location at 260 Premier Blvd. in April 2006. The building houses three entities: the Halifax County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Halifax County Economic Development Commission and the Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce. Together these organizations offer one-stop shopping for anyone who comes through the door from providing travel information to relocation packets, from recruiting industries to assisting new businesses. Whatever the need, the staff of the Halifax County Visitors Center is ready to warmly welcome people to our area and to help ROCK the Roanoke Valley, making it THE place to visit, to live and to do business.

Our rockfish was designed and painted by artist Tina Gregory. The scene of sunflowers and tobacco barns expresses the agricultural history and beautiful landscapes of our area. According to Tina, the scene is a combination of two of her favorite views – sunflowers from Joyce & Dean Kight’s farm and outbuildings from The Gregory family farm The Pines.