Issue link: http://businessnc.epubxp.com/i/611454
75 North Carolina Economic Development Guide Facts of life THE EAST Enjoy the bounty T he East stretches from Wilmington, whose waterfront includes a conference center, restaurants and retail, to Currituck County, where you can watch wild horses roam Corolla's beaches. In between you'll fi nd 300 miles of sandy beaches and the Outer Banks, home to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Wright Brothers National Memorial and the East Coast's largest sand dune, Jockey's Ridge. You'll fi nd the freshest seafood, which is celebrated each October at the North Carolina Seafood Festival in Morehead City, a fundraiser for local nonprofi ts. Inland, fi elds of sweet potatoes, soybeans and other staples stretch to the horizon. Sample that bounty at Chef and The Farmer, a Kinston farm-to-table restaurant whose story and award- winning chef, Vivian Howard, are the subjects of the PBS series A Chef's Life. Counties Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Camden Carteret Chowan Columbus Craven Cumberland Currituck Dare Duplin Gates Greene Halifax Hertford Hoke Hyde Jones Lenoir Martin Montgomery New Hanover Northampton Onslow Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Pitt Richmond Robeson Sampson Scotland Tyrrell Washington Wayne Recent economic announcements: (Company, jobs, investment, industry sector, county) • Iberdrola Renewables Inc. 10, $600 million, green energy, Pasquotank • Sanderson Farms Inc. 1,100, $139 million, food processing, Robeson and Lenoir • Butterball LLC 367, $66.7 million, food processing, Hoke • Vertex Rail Technologies LLC 1,352, $50.8 million, New Hanover • Kansas City Sausage Co. 177, $44.8 million, food processing, Sampson Annual events • North Carolina Azalea Festival, Wilmington • North Carolina Jazz Festival, Wilmington • Fayetteville Dogwood Festival, Fayetteville • Mustang Music Festival, Currituck County • Hang Gliding Spectacular, Nags Head • 301 Endless Yard Sale, Halifax, Nash, Wilson, Johnston and Harnett counties • Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington Transportation assets • Interstates 40 and 95 • Amtrak passenger rail service • Port of Wilmington • Port of Morehead City • Coastal Carolina Regional Airport • Currituck County Regional Airport • Dare County Regional Airport • Elizabeth City Regional Airport • Fayetteville Regional Airport • First Flight Airport • Halifax-Northampton Reg. Airport • Kinston Regional Jetport • Laurinburg-Maxton Airport • Northeastern Regional Airport • Ocracoke Island Airport • Pitt-Greenville Airport • Tarboro-Edgecombe Airport • Tri-County Airport • Wayne Executive Jetport • Wilmington International Airport