Greensboro Daily Photo

Let the Show Begin

Laurencio Carlos Ruiz, visiting artist/puppeteer at Elsewhere Artists Collaborative, unleashed these paper balloons on the lawn at Center City Park in front of the Davie Street Cultural Arts Center. If you look above the rightmost balloon, you can see the roof of the Cultural Arts Center peeking out. Part of July's First Friday activities, the balloons were located on the very spot where many of the Fun Fourth festivities will take place over the next three days. One person commented that they looked like something out of a Roald Dahl novel. A Kindergarten teacher said they reminded her of colored pencils. At any rate, children and adults alike enjoyed running between the balloons, peeking inside them, letting their imaginations run wild around them, and having their photo taken with the festive display. Let this be another example of why one should never sit home alone on First Friday with so much happening in downtown Greensboro.

Same goes for Fun Fourth, this community celebration that has been taking place in Greensboro since 1975, is another opportunity to get out and enjoy downtown. The event schedule can be found at the previous link here.

Green is for ACTION GREENSBORO

It is the first of July which means that City Daily Photo blogs worldwide are celebrating the theme "green." Well, how could GREENsboro resist participating in the "green" theme? For our contribution, we've selected the window of Action Greensboro, a non-profit organization established in 2001 to enhance Greensboro's economy and to break new ground in addressing community needs (reference). Action Greensboro endeavors to address the following six community needs: 1) Attraction and retention of young professionals; 2) development of  the center city; 3) recruitment and retention  of business and industry; 4) enhancing Greensboro's image; 5) enhancing small business development and entrepreneurism; and 6) supporting the public schools. 

Action Greensboro is located in an historic building at 317 South Elm Street. Their funding is provided by: the CEMALA Foundation; Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro; Cone Health Foundation; Ellison Family Foundation; Bryan Foundation; Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation; and the Weaver Foundation. This list is evidence of how much Greensboro's local families give back to the community. 

The Center City effort has been especially visible.If you want something to do, head down to Elm Street or Center City Park and celebrate First Friday this evening. You will think you are on a vacation without leaving town. Finally, if you want to see more green, visit Greensboro's famous GREEN drink featured on GDP last Saturday or head on over to City Daily Photo to see green from Paris to Mumbai!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Little House by the BIG HOUSE

Here we see a little house at 220 South Eugene Street with the BIG HOUSE in its back yard. Six months ago, we featured the jail under construction (here) and the Zenke family properties that had to be moved to make room for the new facility (here). The little yellow house is actually part of the administrative complex of the Guilford County New Detention Center-- the official name for the BIG HOUSE. The yellowish building with the rounded dormers is the Office of the Sheriff. Between it and the little house is the Personnel and Training Office. If you are local you might enjoy walking around the block to view the new facility and all of the ancillary buildings. If you have children, it would be a great opportunity to explain the judicial process and the difference between a jail and a prison. If you want you can walk across the street to the court house and sit in on a court case.

For Greensboro, getting a new $85+ million dollar, new 1,032-bed detention center is bittersweet. On the one hand we need the space; on the other, it is unfortunate that we have so many crimes committed. As the News & Record points out, current budget cuts will impact this new facility. Sheriff Barnes gives a compelling argument for needing adequate staffing.

X is for Ten Miles

Today is ABC Wednesday and, as you may know, for this series, we've been featuring streets. Well, what to do? There is not even one street in Greensboro that begins with the letter "X." Many of you were kind enough to suggest that we feature a major crossroad of two Greensboro streets. That was our intent, when, serendipitously, we stumbled upon this street-related  X at the Greensboro Historical Museum. In the above photo, you see a stone marker with an X carved in it. The brass plaque below the X reads, "Last stagecoach marker in Guilford County. Formerly located at Sedalia, the "X" indicated that Greensboro was 10 miles away. Such markers were common on the main roads prior to 1860."

So, for ABC Wednesday, X, Roman numeral 10, marks the spot. This stagecoach marker and X in the road was located very near this diner in the eastern end of the county, 80 miles west of yesterday's post.

View our previous, ABC Wednesday ( A-W) posts here. Two more weeks until we think of a new theme for Round 9 of ABC Wednesday.

The North Carolina Museum of Art

While the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is located in Raleigh (not in Greensboro), it is a public, state museum which means that, from Manteo to Murphy, ALL North Carolinians have a vested interested in it. In 1947, when the state first earmarked funds for an art collection, it was the first state in the U.S.A. to do so. NCMA's history dates back to 1924; however, the first permanent venue opened in 1956 in downtown Raleigh and the current Blue Ridge Road location opened in 1983. In 2010, a second building opened on the 164-acre Blue Ridge Road property. If you want something fun, educational, and recreational to do this summer, grab your family, friends, walking shoes and bicycle and head to NCMA. Unless you dine in the wonderful restaurant or go to one of the exhibitions on loan, the museum is FREE. Read more about all that NCMA has to offer HERE.

The visual art in the photo above, by Devorah Sperber, is called Mona Lisa 2. It is made from 5,184 spools of thread-- fitting for a textile state. If you look through the crystal viewing ball in front of the piece of art, not only is it right side up, you can also move the sphere around to see if Mona Lisa's smile follows you. See more of Sperber's thread spool works HERE. They range from a few hundred to 60,000 spools of thread. We are so lucky to have not only one of Sperber's installations but also this wonderful museum with exhibits ranging from Ancient Egypt to the digital age.

We decided to feature Raleigh today, ninety miles to the east, because tomorrow's post will be ten miles east of Greensboro, where, years ago, stage coaches stopped en route to town. Stop back by to view this little piece of history.

 

High above Elm Street

High above Elm Street is a whole world teeming with activity. Here we see a rooftop area for rest and relaxation. When weather permits, people with rooftop access are up here enjoying the sun. The triangular tarp to the left keeps the sun at bay on extra warm days. Many of the buildings downtown have fabulous outdoor spaces either terraces above or alleys behind. The building in the photo is in the 200 block of Elm Street, near Triad Stage and across the street from Shiffman's Jewery Store. Probably the most famous terrace in downtown Greensboro is the one at the nearby Kress building.

If you are looking for something to do this summer, find a new vantage point from which you can enjoy your city. We were at the Greene Street parking garage when shooting this photo (as well as this one). Here's to a great week. Happy "fresh start" Monday!

 

Judaism 101

If you want to learn about Judaism in general, Judaism in Greensboro & North Carolina, and contributions to the local community by Jewish residents, visit the Greensboro Historical Museum and view this free exhibit. It starts with the above display of items important to a religious service, along with an 8 minute overview of the names and significance of the parts of a sabbath service. You can also see how a kosher kitchen is maintained. You can watch a video of a family seated to begin the sabbath meal and hear of its significance in linking the family members to each other as well as helping them connect to the the Jewish community at large. The Greensboro Historical Museum is open on Sundays from 2-5 in case you are looking for something to do today. Go see a yad, tefillin, tallit, Havdalah spice box and more!

Although for Jews, Sunday is not the sabbath, it is the day on GDP when we share something spiritual and significant to the Greensboro community. In 2 1/2 years of Sundays, we are nowhere near short of running out of things to feature. See previous posts here.