Year: 2010

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We are gearing up for Christmas!

Choose and Cut day is this Saturday the 4th. The Sparta Store is having a sale, in conjunction with many other events in the County.

We’ll be giving 15% off all of our selection of things to celebrate with, like Christmas Cards and Ornaments, and for gifts, our ceramic tiles. Our prints, which also make great gifts, are 25% off.

In addition to our sale, our new neighbor, the Alleghany Historical Museum, is celebrating its grand opening, Saturday. They will be open from 10am till 5pm with a ribbon cutting at 2pm. There will be a reception at the Alleghany Jubilee afterward.

While you’re in town for the museum and our sale, be sure to stop by all the other shops on Main Street to see what goodies everyone else has, too. And don’t forget to come back to the Jubilee that night!

Also on this action packed Saturday, there will be a craft fair at the Emerson Black Building at the Justice Carlisle Higgins Fairgrounds from 9am-4:30pm, and in addition to the show at the Jubilee, The Vision Band will be playing at Silver Dollar Music Park at 8pm.

Then you can go home and relax. It’ll be a busy day.

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Searching for Opti-Copy info?

Opti-Copy's trademark for many years.
Opti-Copy Trademark for many years.

If you’re looking for information on Opti-Copy, Ron Halsey, or Jeff Halsey,  contact us.

We both worked at Opti-Copy for years in the 1970’s and 80’s. Dad was the sixth person hired and I was the sixteenth. We started out in North Kansas City, Missouri and later moved the plant to Lenexa, Kansas. It was a great place for a young (or older) kid to learn. Everything from film, chemistry, physics, photography, lens theory, mechanics- you name it!- was available from some darn fine model-makers and engineers. There were also one or two good camera technicians around.

Joe Wally, Sam Wilson, Jack Wally, Paul Brown, Louie Friedly, BB Young and George Martin were only some of the folks around there to learn from. We built what was then state-of-the-art prepress equipment, with reps from Kodak, Du Pont, Agfa, Fuji stopping by every few days to “test something out.”

We shipped and installed our step-and-repeat projection systems all over the US and Canada and later Europe, Australia and South Africa. Before long, Opti had even sold more than a few systems to Japanese companies.

So… if you have a comment or a question about our days at Opti, give us a call. We might even remember the answer!

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Newsletter Award from North Carolina Society of Historians

October 23, 2010 members of the Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society traveled to Mooresville to receive a Joe M. McLaurin Newsletter Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians at their annual awards banquet.

This marks the second consecutive year AHGS has won the award. This year NCSH received over 700 nominations and awarded 95 winners.

Third consecutive Joe M. McLaurin Newsletter Award for AHGS.
Third consecutive Joe M. McLaurin Newsletter Award for AHGS and Imaging Specialists.

Members representing Alleghany included President Roy Hunt, Board Member Pauline Jolly, and Jeff and Claire Halsey of Imaging Specialists, who produce the quarterly newsletter.

NCSH Judges’ Collective Comments of the newsletter:

“This newsletter was interesting from cover to cover. It contains eye-catching vintage and current photographs that draw the reader toward the text; has a fantastic layout and design; is nicely published; and serves its membership well. We could find no fault with this publication which is slated to receive recognition via the unanimous decision of this panel. We found it to be both professional and informative. Editor Halsey is doing a tremendous job in every avenue of the craft and should be highly commended for his work.”

For information about how Imaging Specialists can help make your award winning newsletter, call Jeff or Claire at 1-336-372-3002 or go to imagingspecialists.net/marketing

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Memorial Cookbooks Available

New Cookbook from High Country Hospice of Alleghany County
New Cookbook from High Country Hospice of Alleghany County

We’re proud to be one of the locations selling the High Country Hospice‘s new cookbook, Meals and Memories. They’re priced at $20 apiece or (2) for $35. You can pick one up at The Sparta Store, online or in town.

We let them use one of our photographs on the cover and we think the end result looks great. Thank you for letting us help with your project!

Recipes That Raised Us - Volume One

Also, we’re selling the Historical Society’s cookbook, Recipes That Raised Us. They’re working on a second volume, so the next time you visit the Museum, bring your recipes and memories for Volume 2.

It doesn’t cost anything and its a great way to remember someone special and their recipe. We need a photo (if it was made by a professional photographer, we will need their permission to copy it- No exceptions, sorry) a recipe and any information you’d like to include.

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2010 Hillbilly Show

The 2010 Hillbilly Show is this weekend. It’ll be Saturday night, at 7:00pm at the Sparta School Auditorium. Agnes Joines from the Alleghany Jubilee directs it and we’re sure it’ll be a show to remember. The Hillbilly Show is put on by BROC‘s Alleghany Planning Committee and the proceeds of the show go to help the needy in our county.

Our friend Hillbilly Wes is always involved with the show. This year he wanted to have a few promotional items for it. We’ve done mugs and buttons in the past. This year, we made him a couple of T-shirts.

Promotional shirt and mug for Hillbilly Wes

We’ve done vinyl graphics for interior walls, outdoor signs, and glass window decals. Now we’ve tackled the fabric challenge! We’re cutting Enduratex Hotmark 70 apparel vinyl (available in any color) and applying it to Hanes Beefy Ts. We think these shirts will be great for other events – family reunions, annual club meetings, etc. Also, look for new shirts and hoodies in The Sparta Store, in-store and online, this fall.

If you need custom T-shirts, call 336-372-3002 or email claire@imagingspecialists.net for pricing and availability.