- The cost is $ 30 on top of the usual license plate fee.
- The organizers need 300 employees by February 12th for the application to be prepared and submitted.
A stylized image of North Carolina’s Pilot Mountain, Surry County’s landmark that draws visitors from across the state, could soon adorn the license plates of cars and trucks of fans of the mountain nationwide, raising money for Pilot Mountain State Park.
But first, fans of the legendary summit must commit to buying at least 300 special license plates from the state motor vehicle division. And they have a limited time – only about two weeks left this year to sign up. As of last week, about 160 people had either signed up or had their applications in the mail, said the nonprofit that was looking for the sign.
The proposed license plate would include a drawing of the Pilot Mountain summit in a circular logo that reads “Pilot Mountain National Monument”.
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“When we get the 300 records, we will make $ 6,000 in sales for Pilot Mountain State Park,” said Debbie Vaden, president of Friends of the Sauratown Mountains. Your organization is a nonprofit that raises money for Pilot Mountain State Park and Hanging Rock State Park.
The two state parks are located in the Sauratown Mountains, a small area in Counties of Stokes and Surry north of Winston-Salem. Pilot Mountain anchors the western end of the range in Surry County and is visible for miles.
Weekend trips:Pilot Mountain, Blowing Rock, Hatteras and more NC destinations
Non-profit organizations that would like the state to issue special license plates for them have until February 15 each year to submit their applications to the state motor vehicle division. Vaden asks the supporters of Pilot Mountain to make their commitments by February 12th at the latest so that they can prepare the submission to the DMV. Backers must fill out a form, submit, and pay $ 30.
To submit a Pilot Mountain license plate request, vehicle owners can visit the Friends of the Sauratown Mountains website. sauratownfriends.organd click on “Pilot Mountain License Plate Application” Link to see the instructions. For more information, contact Ann Anderson at 336-978-2049 or Vaden at 619-987-6257.
Other organizations may also collect license plate applications to make their own inquiries. DMV spokesman John DMwell said the agency will not know who these organizations are until they submit their inquiries.
For the Pilot Mountain State Park license plate, a premium of $ 30 is added to the annual renewal price for the North Carolina license plate of $ 38.75. Of the $ 30, $ 20 of the additional cost per disk would be passed on to the Friends of the Sauratown Mountains, and $ 10 is held by the DMV.
The Friends of the Sauratown Mountains would pass all revenue from the license plate to Pilot Mountain State Park, Vaden said, for anything the park needs.
For example, the park has a utility vehicle for trail work and rescue operations, she said, and it needs accessories. “So we’re going to buy a windshield protector and a winch,” she said.
Park supporter Ann Anderson of the town of Pilot Mountain brought up the idea of a license plate to raise money last fall. She said she saw memorial marks for other places and purposes and was surprised there weren’t any for the mountain.
Anderson often visits Pilot Mountain at sunrise, she said.
“There are birds, there are beautiful changing landscapes every day,” she said. “The clouds are on the button and you can see the valley below.”
If the Friends of the Sauratown Mountains organization doesn’t receive 300 license plate requests by February 15 of this year, the next chance is next year.
Photos:Click here to see some of the special license plates you can get in NC
North Carolina offers about 170 or more specialty license plates, Brockwell said. Their prices vary depending on the DMV website.
Another 135 that lawmakers approved have been retired because they didn’t get enough interest to keep them in production, according to a list on the DMV website.
Some signs still in circulation support a college or university, such as the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, UNC Pembroke, Fayetteville State University, and Methodist University.
Indians are proud of their heritage. There are plates for fans of the Charlotte Hornets, NASCAR races and the Carolina Panthers. Some of the signs that military veterans use to mark their service are free.
Many plates are for civic and non-profit groups as well as for fraternities and sororities. They use them to raise money for their own ends. When creating a new license plate, you’ll need either 300 or 500 requests – 300 requests for license plates with one of the standard North Carolina license plate backgrounds and 500 for license plates with a custom background.
If the organizations submit their applications by February 15, the DMV will forward the applications to the legislature by March 15. Then they wait to see whether the legislator approves the license plate.
Once the license plates are approved, the organizations will work with the DMV to get the new vehicles into production.
North Carolina Senior Reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@gannett.com.
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