James J. Joseph Holden, Sr.

About Back Creek Rocking Horse Co.
In a little Blacksburg workshop, wooden rocking horses are born. They're made by a tall, burly man whose hands have been weathered by three decades of construction work. He makes them for children, because he likes to see them happy.

IN THE NEWS
Roanoke Times Roanoke Times, The (VA) December 26, 2002 HIS HORSES MAKE CHILDREN SMILE AS BUSINESS GROWS, ED KANE KEEPS SIGHT OF HIS FAVORITE PART Author: KATHY LU THE ROANOKE TIMES Edition: METRO Section: VIRGINIA Page: B1 Estimated printed pages: 3 Article Text: In a little Blacksburg workshop, wooden rocking horses are born. They're made by a tall, burly man whose hands have been weathered by three decades of construction work. He makes them for children, because he likes to see them happy. "This is rewarding," said Ed Kane, 49. He owns Blacksburg-based Kane Contracting Co., but the horse shop is called Back Creek Rocking Horse Co. It's located off U.S. 221, just a stone's throw from his house. For the past few weeks, Kane has been covered in sawdust as he furiously completes orders for the horses. More than once, he's started work at 5 a.m. He's sold about 150 horses through eBay this year - twice the total he sold last year. But even as business grows, Kane hasn't lost sight of his favorite part of the work: giving away wooden horses to children in need. "Isn't this great?" Kane says as he flips through a thin binder of digital photograph printouts that show children rocking away on his horses. He's not showing off his handiwork as much as he's showing off the smiling children - none of whom he knows. They're all from Mullens, W.Va., a small town devastated by a flood last year. After reading about their plight, Kane sent 12 rocking horses to the community as gifts to the children. "If you can put a smile on some kid's face, even for an afternoon, you're doing something," Kane said. So far this year, he has already contributed a horse to the annual NBC TV's "Today" show's holiday toy drive, two to U.S. Army families where the fathers were serving in Afghanistan, and one to a boy whose mother died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. He's planning to give eight more horses to area shelters and churches that have programs for children, and one to Austin Burrell, a 2-year-old boy who saved his family from a fire that destroyed his McCoy home Dec. 18. "My goal is to give away about 10 percent of what we make," Kane said. That means if he has orders for 150 horses, he'd like to make at least another 15 to give away. The horses are about 2 1 / 2 feet tall and 3 feet long. Customers can choose what stain of horse they'd like, and what eye and mane color. The brown leather halter can even be polished black. Kane's horses are also a feat in efficiency. Almost everything is recycled scrap - the wood is left over from Kane's construction projects; the thread for the mane is from the floor of a South Carolina knitting mill; and the leather pieces for the ears are from a shop in Texas. About the only things that aren't recycled are the eyes, which are large glass marbles, and the two Sacagawea $1 coins that Kane nails in the head as bits. But that's not all. Kane uses the leftover wood from the horses to make doll beds, which he also sells. Then he gives any wood left from the beds to people who heat with wood and the sawdust to a farmer. Kane sells his horses to walk-in customers and through eBay. They start at about $69, but a horse has fetched as much as $120 on eBay, Kane said. If he could sell about 500 horses a year, he said he would retire and make this his full-time venture. This is only his third year of selling on the Internet. Kane said his horses are modeled after the ones he saw in 1988, when he was working in Corolla Light, N.C., on the Outer Banks. "While I was waiting for Food Lion to open at 5 a.m., to my surprise I was surrounded by eight wild ponies," he recalled. "They surrounded my truck and would not leave. I was fascinated by them." After a while, Kane honked his horn and the horses left. About four years later, he started making the horses. Now, Kane said each horse takes about two hours to make. He also has a part-time apprentice, Justin Dowdy, who does a lot of the sanding. Dowdy, 23, delivered the horses to Mullens. "It's just a good job to have and it's fun to do," Dowdy said. Kane's horses have been sent all over the world, including five to Alaska last year and others to France, New Zealand and Barbados. And most likely that means there's a child rocking away somewhere on a Back Creek horse, smiling. Kathy Lu can be reached at 981-3430 or kathy.lu@roanoke.com. Date: December 9, 2003 Section: VIRGINIA Page: B2 Column: AND NOW THIS By Kathy Lu and Neil Harvey Sending solace via rocking horse Ed Kane, owner of Back Creek Rocking Horse Co. in Roanoke County, has sent eight wooden rocking horses to families of soldiers who have been killed in Iraq - and he hopes it is just the beginning. Kane has been making the horses as a side business for about a decade and probably gives away as many as he sells. Children across the country who have lost homes in floods or parents in the Sept. 11 attacks have received his horses. Now, he's trying to provide a horse to any family who has lost a soldier in Iraq. Suzan Curtis, who lives Washington state and has a son serving in Tikrit, Iraq, requested a horse from Kane for the family of one of her son's best friends, who was killed in September during an ambush. "[The] rocking horses are the perfect keepsake," Curtis wrote in an e-mail. "The horses are adorable and the craftsmanship is of the highest quality. These horses are worthy of being passed down from generation to generation." Anyone wishing to help Kane in the effort can e-mail him at kanebuilt@aol.com.

Dad's Rocking Horse arrived today, made by a wonderful

and  caring Craftsman from Virginia, Ed Kane. This horse

will be passed down from Generation to Generation, as a

lasting tribute to Dad. The Horse was branded with Dad's

Photo taken in 2002, while building my barn. It was one of

his last project's before leaving this world. The Horse and

the Barn will remain long after I too am gone.

Dad, I Miss and Love You, Always....

Your Daughter, Lisa Ann