The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and RaysWeather.Com Partner on 2012 Calendar

RaysWeather.Com has sponsored a photo contest and calendar featuring photography from northwest North Carolina for the past nine years. For the 2012 calendar, the photo contest will solicit entries spanning the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Waynesboro, Virginia, to Cherokee, North Carolina. Depending on the number of calendars sold, 44% to 70% of net calendar proceeds will be donated to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. According to Dr. Ray Russell, President of RaysWeather.com, “We are excited about our new partnership with The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. The 2012 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Calendar will not only be full of beautiful Parkway scenery and weather data, but it will also help support the Foundation’s efforts in providing funding for critical projects along The Blue Ridge Parkway. RaysWeather.com is very proud to be part of this vision and mission.”

The 2012 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Calendar photo contest is open for online entries through June 15, 2011. According to Ray, “We’re looking for the best, most unique photos capturing the beauty, activities, and essence of the Blue Ridge Parkway in all seasons of the year.” Twenty-five photos from each of the four seasons will be selected as finalists and will be voted on by RaysWeather.Com readers. . “We are so happy to be partnering with RaysWeather.Com to offer what is sure to be a must-have calendar for 2012. The photos that are already pouring in are so wonderful, we can’t wait to see the winners,” said Carolyn Ward, CEO of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. For more details and to submit an entry, visit raysweather.com/Photo+Contest.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, under a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, is the primary private fundraising organization for the Blue Ridge Parkway. As the primary fundraiser and trusted steward of the Blue Ridge Parkway, The Foundation is committed to preserving the past, enhancing the present, and safeguarding the future of America’s Favorite Journey®. See brpfoundation.org for details.

RaysWeather.Com is one of the most widely read media outlets in northwest North Carolina, with between three and six million web pages delivered monthly and 250,000 readers. Ray’s Weather Center provides forecasts for the North Carolina Mountains from the North Carolina/Virginia border down to Waynesville including the Foothills and all the micro-climates in between. RaysWeather.Com (with over 20 webcams and over 50 weather stations) is in its eleventh year of operation providing custom weather forecasts, weather conditions, climate data, and other information from the Southern Appalachians.