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Smithfield will host the Governor’s Summit on Rural Prosperity in October.

The Virginia Rural Center, a joint venture of the General Assembly’s nonprofit Center for Rural Virginia and 18-member Rural Prosperity Commission, hosts the event annually.

Online registration is open for the two-day event, which will take place Oct. 12-13.

According to Del. Emily Brewer, R-Isle of Wight, this is the first time the event will be held in Smithfield.

“We are always looking for new rural areas to highlight for this event,” said Kristie Proctor, executive director of the Virginia Rural Center.

The summit’s purpose, Proctor said, is to highlight various areas of rural Virginia and bring together stakeholders who can discuss innovative solutions to challenges faced by the state’s less-densely-populated regions.

Last year’s summit was held in Farmville at Longwood University, where Surry County Administrator Melissa Rollins served as a panelist for a discussion of regional broadband initiatives, highlighting her county’s partnership with Prince George Electric Cooperative subsidiary Ruralband and Dominion Energy to achieve universal fiber-to-the-home availability – the industry gold standard in high-speed internet.

An agenda and list of keynote speakers has not yet been released for this year’s summit, Proctor said.

To register online, visit https://www.cfrv.org/2022-rural-summit.