Greensboro Daily Photo

First Friday, Tonight In #DGSO

After a one-year, COVID hiatus, First Friday in downtown Greensboro has returned. The Festival of Lights, a tradition that dates back thirty years, will officially start at 5:30 p.m. The tree lighting will happen in Center City Park at 6:56 p.m. (We're not sure how that precise time was chosen, but, if you arrive at 7:00 p.m., you will be four minutes late).*  Throughout the evening, there will be food trucks, music and other entertainment, and many of the shops and restaurants will stay open late. There is even a market in LeBauer Park. The festival continues along Elm Street, all the way to the South 600 block. 

There will even be live ice sculpting, sponsored by Fidelity Bank and there is ice skating at the west end of Lewis Street. Today's high is predicted to be at 70º and drop to 55º by 8:00 p.m. Let's hope the ice will hold its form on this unseasonably warm day. This above street scene shows the Marshmallow Roasting Station in Hamburger Square from 2019. A good time was had by all in 2019 and should be had by all tonight.

*see here for more details, including a map.

Winter View on Summerfield Road

Winter views and landscapes can be beautiful. This home at 7119 Summerfield Road looks so inviting against the backdrop of evergreens and deciduous trees that have lost their leaves. The green roof is perfect with the green shrubbery leading to the front porch. Even those rocking chairs on the porch are the same color. This four bedroom house looks so contemporary, yet, it was built in 1912, 109 years ago!. The hallmark of the Piedmont area of North Carolina is lots of greenery, and this house is a prime example of how not much landscaping is needed when there are mature trees on the lot. 

This house is located right across from The Jumping Bean Coffee Shop and the Sunnyside Farms Christmas tree lot we featured in the past week. The house is part of that Summerfield corridor that is really taking shape as a destination. We'll have to get back in the spring to see how this house looks in a different season.  In the meantime, we'll just sit back and enjoy this winter view. While we've been featuring Summerfield this week, don't forget that tomorrow is First Friday and the Festival of Lights for downtown Greensboro. That, too, will be a beautiful winter view.

Jerrys Artarama

Happy December 1st! Do you recognize this mural? Anybody in Greensboro who ever needs art supplies probably knows this is Jerry's Art Supply Wholesale Club. For a ¢20 a year membership, your purchases are over 50% off. Prices are so low that if you see it, you better buy it. Sometimes they are purchasing clearance items and when they are gone.. they are gone. Jerry's is located right along I-40 at Farragut Street. When we were there before they opened yesterday morning, the sun was shining and already casting shadows. To take the photo we stood under a crepe myrtle tree and love the texture its berries add to the photo. 

Jerry's opened  is based out of Raleigh, N.C. It opened in Long Island in 1968, so it has been around fro 53 years. What an amazing resource for artists. As an example, the member price for 8x10" flat canvases is less than $1.00 each, That even beats thrift shop prices. We loved the mural on the wall, but forgot to ask who the artist was. As you are planning the rest of the week, don't forget that Friday is First Friday and downtown will be hopping- especially the ice skating. As for now, we'll just sit back and enjoy looking at this photo of Jerry's Artarama.

Sunnyside Farms a Local Option for Christmas Trees

Since we were in Summerfield this past weekend, and featured The Jumping Bean yesterday, we thought we'd share another photo from Summerfield Road. Above, you see a slice of the view at Sunnyside Farms, a Christmas tree farm in Ashe County.  For 19 years, the Woyahn has been driving Fraiser fir trees to Guilford County from their Ashe County farm located in the northwest corner of North Carolina. The entire county has fewer than 30,000 people, so coming to larger communities like Greensboro and Summerfield is a must for keeping their business viable.

Their pop up Christmas tree site at 7200 Summerfield Road opened this past week and they will keep selling trees into late December. They are also set up at Hickory Grove Church on Wendover Avenue in the Greensboro/Jamestown area.  Sunnyside Farms works hard to make the selection of a tree a special event: From selecting to trimming to bagging to helping you get it on your car. And their giant 3-story Santa is always a hit with the kids. Even if you are past the tree decorating years, being out and watching how excited young children are about picking out a tree really helps create the feeling of Christmas. Even though we don't have snow, the colder weather in Greensboro and the surrounding communities, is making it feel a lot like winter. It also helps keep the trees fresher.

Happy Tuesday!

Jumping Bean Coffee

This past weekend, we met up with Kevin Murray, Chief Coffee Guy, at The Jumping Bean coffee drive-through. Kevin and his family moved to Guilford County from the Bronx, NY in 2006 to be closer to family. In 2012, he opened the Jumping Bean in the parking lot on north Highway 220, where Golden Antiques & Treasures is located. This past July (2021), he relocated his business to 7200 Summerfield Road, in a lot that belongs to Greensboro Performing Arts Center. Formerly, the building was a church. Kevin says the move has been a good one. The Performing Arts facility is really taking off and the owners have lots of ideas about how to build community and best utilize their 7-acre property. In the meantime, Kevin is super happy with his little corner spot where his loyal customers have followed him and where he is cultivating a new customer base. Parents bringing their children to the performing arts building love having a place to get something to drink while they wait. On the day we visited, Kevin's  daughter Isabella was helping. As you can see in the above photo, while the business is s drive through, there is some outdoor seating. On Saturday, The Jumping Bean had extended hours given all of the activity around the Sunnyside Farms live Christmas tree station on the north end of the property.

If you're like us, you'll want to start a punch card and work on getting that 11th drink free. It is so nice to support a local, family-owned business and to see the Jumping Bean succeeding. This little corner of Summerfield, with Summerfield Farms just down the road and the nearby Greenway, is becoming quite a destination just north of Greensboro. After all that turkey and a broken sleeping routine, we just may need a double espresso! Happy Monday!

Hope Chapel

Hope Chapel looked so beautiful yesterday, on a sunny fall day and from the vantage point of Grimsley High School. Those oak trees add so much to the landscape. It almost looks like a country road, not a busy link between Battleground Avenue and Gate City Boulevard.

There has been so much change to this 908 address. The church is located at 908 Josephine Boyd Street, formerly Westover Terrace. The church itself has changed, too; the building seemingly something of a spiritual incubator. It was built as Westover Church and also housed Daystar.  Hope Chapel used to be located in Lindley Elementary School, and later on Spring Garden Street, but on February 2019, Hope Chapel relocated in the above building . The location is fabulous, well positioned to attract high school students, nearby students from UNCG, and people from the Lake Daniel neighborhood. Based on what they are saying on their website, Hope plans to stay in this location for a very long time. 

Happy Sunday. It should be a nice fall day.

Golfing As Self-care

What do you do for self care? Golfing is a great way to get outside without having to leave town. The above photo is of the Farm Course of the Greensboro Country Club at Carlson Farms. It is such a lovely course, and it is so easy to photograph as it is visible from the surrounding roads, Francisco Drive, Tory Hill, Hedrick Drive, Carlson Dairy, Jessup Grove, and, Horse Pen Creek. This course, built in 1963, provides members with an opportunity to play gold, year-round. This course gets a five-out-of-five for being in excellent condition. Indeed, it is a pretty course that stretches over 7300 yards through the community, which is over 400 yards a hole.

Even if you don't have a membership to this specific course, there are plenty of options in Greensboro. Consider playing golf at Bur-Mil Park, just down the road from here. If you don't play golf, consider walking or biking along the greenway and trails. It should be sunny all day today, with temperatures ranging from 28º- getting up to 52º at 2:00 pm. It will be a lovely day to do something out of doors! See you on the trail, or somewhere along the way. Self-care matters!

Happy Saturday!

Black Friday 2021

Today is the day all of the retailers have been waiting for, Black Friday. People will be out shopping for special deals. If you subscribe to the Greensboro News & Record, Wednesday's edition was as thick and full of advertisements, just like old times. Let's hope retailers and shoppers have all of their dreams come true. The above photo was taken outside the K&W  Cafeteria, on Northline Drive, at Friendly Center. Stores at Friendly Center will be ready for you today. If you haven't driven along Northline lately, you might not know that the stops are now 4-way, making it easier for all drivers to get a turn getting through the intersections and left turns are now as easy as right turns.

If you are out shopping, let the above photo of Nancy, ringing the bell for the Salvation Army, reminds us to remember others. Whether you donate to the Salvation Army's red kettle or another organization, give to the needy in some other way, or donate to someone in need directly, remember that there are many in need this year and kindness and generosity is especially appreciated. While we were talking to Nancy, who is a bell ringer for the first time this year, the above man got out of his car to drop a donation in the kettle. The people of Greensboro are giving people. We're betting you, dear reader, are already doing your part! Happy Black Friday!