Greensboro Daily Photo

Folk Dances at Van Dyke Performance Space

Folk dances were a big part of the Day of the Dead event at the Cultural Arts Center this past Friday. Folk dancers performed in front of a full house at the Van Dyke Performance Space. If we remembered correctly, the above photo features the dance where indigenous dancers wore costumes that poked fun of their European colonizers. 

The audience really loved all of the dances and, at the end, spectators were invited to the stage to have photos taken with performers. Many people in the audience dressed or wore makeup to celebrate Day of the Dead and they looked right at home with the performers. The Van Dyke Performance Space is a nice, small venue to see special events and was perfect for the event that was made possible through Casa Azul and many sponsors.. 

Day of the Dead

Last night, at the Cultural Arts Center on Davie Street in downtown Greensboro, it was as if the community were transported to Mexico to the Day of the Dead celebration. The above photo shows the gallery where Casa Azul set up the altars and offerings to remember people who were no longer with us. It is the belief a person stays alive as long as someone on earth remembers them. At the cultural arts center, there is a creative altar featuring the characters in the movie "Coco." There are more personal altars where people remember their parents and siblings. The UNCG Languages, Literatures, and Cultures department has an altar for Spanish professor Dr. Amy Williamsen who died this past year. 

The exhibit is still open and is a great opportunity to see first-hand the products of the Day of the Dead and to gain an appreciation of the practices and perspectives centered around the Day of the Dead. As children entered the exhibit last night, you heard exclamations of "oooh, aaah." It is not a time to be afraid, but a time to celebrate lives well lived and people who have been well loved.

Day of the Dead

The above advertisement is for the Day of the Dead display hosted by Casa Azul, downtown, in the Cultural Arts Center on Davie Street. While this display is for the event a couple of years ago, the same event opens tonight at 6:00 p.m. You won't want to miss it. Case is a non-profit committed to show all of the wonderful traditions the Hispanic and Latinx community bring to Greensboro.

Elaborate altars commemorating people who are no longer living will be displayed. Usually, there is a blend of altars for famous people, like Frida Kahlo, and for local people, relatives of people in the Greensboro community. The event is so special and emphasizes the lives of loved ones. Stop by tonight, from 6-9pm, it is free and open to the public.

300 Block South Elm Street

Today's photo was taken in the 300 block of South Elm Street at twilight. This is the magical hour when the light intensifies the color before night sets in. The lavender-gray cast to the clouds and the sky was especially beautiful during First Friday in October. The spiked branches of the tree overhead hint that it won't be long before winter sets in. 

Downtown is so beautiful and the fronts of these buildings and the streetlight make it hard to date the scene to the 21st century. Only the cars give it away. We didn't realize how much these storefronts look alike before we took this photo. Enjoy your week and take time to seek out the beauty in our city. Try taking a photo (no selfie, no friends and family) and seeing what it says about Greensboro. what story does it tell? 

Participatory Budgeting

Participatory budgeting happens every two years in Greensboro. This democratic process allows residents in each of the five city council districts to vote on how to spend $100,000 in their district. A half a million dollars has been set aside to fund projects that residents want to make enhance their district. Some projects are city wide- as an example, a weekend trolley that would run in downtown Greensboro to help alleviate traffic as people try to venture from point A to point B. The program was approved in 2014 and the process began, with funding, for the 2015-2016 cycle (reference and more information, here).

Friday, October 4th a Participatory Budget pop up event was held at Scuppernong Books on South Elm Street during the First Friday Event. Above is a photo of Jon Decker of the Budget and Evaluation Committee of the City. Jon and a volunteer were recruiting people to take a few minutes and vote on which projects should be funded in each resident's given district. There will be more pop up events throughout the month and the last opportunity to vote will be October 31st. Voting is super simple, and you can vote online. You can also start thinking of ideas to recommend for the next cycle.

GTA Electric Busses

Greensboro's electric busses are beautiful inside and, when you are on them, they are pretty quiet. Gone are the chugging, loud sounds of diesel busses. Yesterday, the Greensboro transportation department had an electric bus parked in the lot at the corner of MLK Drive and South Elm Street during First Friday. Greensboro transportation employees, Kevin Elwood and Cari Hopson, were on hand to answer all questions about Greensboro's latest mode of public transportation. They were so nice and knowledgeable and really make you feel as if the transportation department is in good hands.

Currently, Greensboro has 13 electric busses and are scheduled to be getting more. The routes are about 30 minutes and all start and end at J. Douglas Galyon Station. Rides are $1.50 and there are many options for paying and many discounts available (to students, veterans, senior citizens). The busses can accommodate two bikes on the front bumper in case you want that ride/bike option. If you haven't ridden a Greensboro bus in a while, we suggest trying them again. Maybe even today!

Tattoos of Greensboro

Over the last century, tattoos have gone from homemade markings on the bodies of sailors and prisoners to beautiful works of art done by artists. The above photo is of the arm lizard tattoos on Anne (Benbow) Timberlake. We met Anne while shopping at Just Be, downtown on Elm Street. With all of her body art, it looks as if Anne is is part of the store display. Anne's bracelets are from Just Be and match her tattoos perfectly. Anne, who wanted us to focus on her tattoos, as opposed to her face, had several tattoos done in R.C. Gorman's art studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Anne is a lifelong resident of Greensboro who attended Lindley Elementary and Junior High and Grimsley High School. She coats her tattoos with sunscreen daily so that the color will remain vibrant. There are so many great tattoos and tattoo artists in Greensboro. Perhaps we'll have to start sharing more of them. Also, next time we see Anne, we'll convince her to let us feature her smiling face!

Construction Progress at McGee & Greene Streets

General Nathanel Greene stands stoically in the middle of the round-about at South Greene and West McGee Streets.The 22-ft tall statue of Greene on a 10-foot pedestal used to tower over cars and pedestrians at this intersection. The sculpture, by James Barnhill and in place since 2008 is about to share the block with a Hampton Inn. It is as if he is monitoring progress on the construction of the Hampton Inn and Suites being built.

Yesterday, workers were getting a lot done, taking advantage of the warm, dry weather. The 6-story hotel will add 120 more rooms for lodging downtown. On this corner, the 18th and 21st centuries will live together peacefully. Fortunately, fabulous sunsets will still be visible to the west of General Greene.

 

Hinnant's Sculpture to Harriet Tubman in LeBauer Park

In May 2019, Durham-based artist Vandorn Hinnant installed a sculpture in downtown Greensboro at LeBauer Park. The words remind the community of the African -American, political activist and abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Tubman, who was born in 1822, lived to the age of 90, in spite of her brutal treatment and hard life as a slave. Tubman dedicated her life to equal rights and to helping others to freedom, especially through the Underground Railroad. 

The sculptor of the above piece, Vandorn Hinnant, is originally from Greensboro and is known to return for art events. In January, he attended the installation of the MLK bust in Ole Asheboro. Hinnant grew up in Ole Asheboro and studied at NC A&T and UNC Greensboro. He is also a founding member of the African-American Atelier in Greensboro. As hinted in the above sculpture, his art connections to social justice and geometry.*

*Read more about Mr. Hinnant, here.

Pride of the Pride

The 14th annual Greensboro Pride Festival was held this past weekend, downtown. It is an important event to support and celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer + community of Greensboro. The event also helps foster self-acceptance of the diverse ways of being in our community. 

From small children supporting their parents to corporations supporting employees, most who attended the festival would agree there were many important resources, fun activities, and great opportunities to waive the rainbow flag and be an integral part of a caring community. If you work with teenagers today, you will notice that one of the first things they ask as they are getting to know each other is, "How do you identify." Events like Sunday's Pride Festival create a safe space for celebrating how they identify.

Fall is a time when most organizations host events and it is almost impossible to attend everything. Today's photo was taken last year during the Pride Festival and features "Pride of the Pride" which is Greensboro College's LGBTQ+/Straight Alliance.

Bail Bonding

Bail bonding is a difficult business. Securing money to get out of jail until it is time to appear for trial is easier for some than others. The bail bondsman steps in to guarantee payment to the court and charging a fee to the accused. The above photo of a bail bonding business in downtown Greensboro is very close to the city jail and the courts.

Something about the photo is haunting and more reminiscent of a lonely town out west than Greensboro. The moon above and the red neon reflecting off of a single car make the scene even lonelier.  The neon stays on all night with a phone number to call 24/7. The bail bondsman is a person nobody thinks about unless a time comes when you need his service. It must be a challenging, bittersweet job. On the one hand, you are helping people; on the other, the clients are in a very situation. Have you ever noticed this business off Eugene Street? 

First Friday Sept 2019

 

First Friday is always a special time in downtown Greensboro, when you can stroll, shop, and visit art galleries. This past Friday was extra special in that the North Carolina Folk Festival was in town. People from all walks of life were out enjoying the evening. The above photo features the scene from the front door of Meraki Handmade in the 200 block of South Elm Street. The green and orange of the Meraki facade and the pedestrians in orange really stand out against the backdrop of purple flowers and the purple light at Schiffman's Jewelers across the street. 

Once, a reader implied we make Greensboro look even prettier and more colorful than it is. We beg to differ. Sometimes color and the energy collide and the camera pops to the eye with the picture practically taking itself. In the above photo, we only had an old cell phone in hand. But the beauty of secondary colors on Elm Street was nothing short of magical. Have a great Tuesday!

The Great Folk Festival of 2019

The great North Carolina Folk Festival of 2019 has come and gone. The above photo shows the audience at the Lawn Stage tent for the fiddle workshop on Saturday. At the workshop, fiddlers from Cajun, Old-Time, Irish, and Bluegrass bands gathered to showcase and explain their genre. They played some tunes individually and then as an ensemble. At you can see, the session was well attended, as were so most of the performances and workshops on Saturday. The festival has come to a close and so begins the planning for the next NC Folk Festival, to be held in Greensboro, September 2020.

Instead of turning the camera on the stage, we opted for showcasing the audience; because nothing pleases performers more than playing for a full house. And, indeed, the house was full. We dedicate today's post to one audience member, Betsy, a loyal reader of Greensboro Daily Photo. She came up to us during the event to thank us for continuing to publish GDP. In that regard, we are rather like musicians. We love knowing there is an audience out there. Having readers thank us and let us know how much they enjoy the posts goes a long way in inspiring us to maintaining this labor of love. Thank you Betsy, for continuing to follow Greensboro Daily Photo. We hope you can find yourself in this photo. We see you!

Street Preaching 2.0

The above preacher seems to make an annual appearance to the folk festivals in Greensboro. We featured him, here, last yearl, where he was wearing the same hat and pants. Again,  he was on Davie Street, between Center City Park and LeBauer Park at the North Carolina Folk Festival. Whereas last year, he was preaching without much of an audience, this year, a group of teenagers were engaging him in a dialog, covering just about all the "hot button" topics. A couple of men, who were riding by on their bikes, stopped to watch the teens . They commented on how respectful the students were. Some were even raising their hands to ask questions. They were challenging some of the beliefs of the preacher, but the conversation remained civil. Impressed with the arguments that the teens were constructing and their civility, the men commented, "I think the future will be in very good hands with these kids."

Above and beyond all of the fabulous music being performed at the Folk Festival, it is heartwarming to see crowds of people gathering, interacting with people of other demographics, and everyone getting along. If you are a prayerful person, pray that the North Carolina Folk Festival will continue to attract people from all walks of life who know how to interact with each other. Happy Sunday!

North Carolina Folk Festival 2019

These two dancers were part of the North Carolina Brazilian Arts Project at the North Carolina Folk Festival. They danced last night in front of the City Stage. Their costumes were stunning and the audience loved their dancing. After their performance, many people rushed up to get their pictures with them, especially families and young girls who were learning to dance. The two women were gracious with posing for photos. We weren't able to get to the front of the line to interview them, but they were able to pose for a brief moment together.

From about noon until 10:00 p.m. tonight, music and dance will be heard throughout the town. While the festival is free, it costs about a million and a half dollars to put on; so, if the blue bucket brigade come by asking for a donation, please do so if you can. If ever there were a time to head to town, this is the weekend. Every single act will be worth seeing! The Brazilian Arts Project will be performing again today at 5:15 pm at LeBauer Park. Greensboro is so lucky!

North Carolina Folk Festival

The North Carolina Folk Festival kicks off today with a concert by Anya Hinkle and Laurelyn Dossett, Songs of Hope and Justice. This event will be in the Van Dyke Performance Space downtown at 7pm. Then, from Friday to Sunday, the streets of Greensboro will be filled with stages of free performances. This year, smaller, indoor spaces downtown will also be hosting performances.*

We cheated a little on today's photo and found one from a few years ago during the National Folk Festival when it was held in Greensboro. The national festival rotates to a new city every fourth year in the hopes that the given town will have built an infrastructure to continue to host a state festival. Greensboro was able to do so and is into hosting North Carolina Folk Festival #2. While the Eastern European family in the above photo will  not be performing this year, there will be plenty of folk music of many styles for your enjoyment. As we type, the town is filling with stages, crafts, food trucks, musicians, and volunteers to bring another fabulous music festival to town. If you are local, you must go enjoy some live music and support these hardworking musicians!

 

*schedule, here.

Valerie Nieman

Last night, local author and NC A&T Professor Valerie Nieman spoke at Scuppernong Books downtown about her latest novel, "To the Bones."  Set in West Virginia with action taking place in a coal mining community, the book is described as genre-bending with great storytelling and a strong sense of place. Nieman majored in journalism at West Virginia University. After graduating in 1978, she went on to write for newspapers, first in West Virginia and then in Greensboro. When asked how she made the transition from journalist to teaching at the university level, she explained that serving as an editor actually has a big teaching component as you are helping writers prepare their stories to go to print. 

The event was well-attended and quite a bit of fun. As a nod to a scene in her book, Nieman made peach cobbler for the audience from an old-timey recipe which she shared. In the above photo, Nieman (on the right) is seen with Deonna Kelli Sayed who is membership coordinator for the North Carolina Writers' Network. Sayed added so much to the evening by asking great questions, given her thorough knowledge of the book.

Last MUSEP Concert of the Season

The final MUSEP concert was held at Blandwood Mansion this past Sunday in downtown Greensboro. Holding it there was such a great grand finale, especially with the Food Truck Festival just around the corner. Some people visited the food trucks before the concert and some after the event. You know summer is coming to a screeching halt when the Sunday evening MUSEP music concerts come to an end. The Italian Villa architectural style, built in the late 18th early 19th century, home of Governor Motley (of the same era) would make a great painting! Here are a couple of examples of paintings of Blandwood. (#1 and #2). 

MUSEP just celebrated their 40th anniversary. Let's hope MUSEP remains strong for years to come and that they continue to feature concerts throughout the parks in Greensboro!

Food Truck Festival Street Scene

Today, another #DGSO scene of the August Food Truck Festival, held this past Sunday. Yesterday, we featured founder/organizer Shari Kumiega. Today, we show the Market Street side of the festival, as it was winding down, but when the sky was such a spectacular shade of blue. The yellow truck on the right served soft-serve ice cream. The red truck was 454 Grill, based out of Raleigh. Formerly a SnapOn tool truck, the 454 Grill serves up great food and gets high ratings.

To the left, out of sight, is a row of event tables where people of all walks of life gathered. If you are following the findings about the surprising benefits of talking to strangers (BBC article here), you can imagine how easy it was to strike up conversations with people during this event. People struck up conversations with others waiting in the same line, with others sitting at the same table, and with those who had the same breed of dog. Super popular at Sunday's festival was the Japanese hunting dog, the shiba inu. The next downtown event that will bring together food trucks and people from all walks of life is the North Carolina Folk Festival, September 6-8.

Downtown Greensboro Food Truck Festival

On Sunday, the Food Truck Festival was held in downtown Greensboro. The weather was perfect for spending time going from truck to truck sampling foods to fit all palates; from vegan to gluten free to meat-lover specials and everything in between. The community owes the festival to Shari Kumiega, photographed on the left above.

Shari organized the first festival in 2012. It was held on Spring Garden Street with fifteen food trucks participating. The festival has grown to a twice-yearly event (April and August) with 60 trucks participating. Shari, who moved to the Greensboro area from Massachusetts 9 1/2 years ago, came to Polo Farms to ride and train horses, and to judge horse shows. The Food Truck Festival began as a community building effort that she did almost on a whim. Today, Shari has moved from the farm and has built a business out of organizing food truck festivals throughout the region. Next up are events in Winston-Salem, Danville, and Burlington. Before you know it, it will be time for the April event in downtown Greensboro. If you get a chance, stop at the booth at the corner of Greene and Market Streets, meet Shari, and thank her for starting this wonderful community event. #waytogoShari, #DGSO!

Book Club Book Sets Available from GSO Public Library

Did you know that the Greensboro Public Library System maintains sets of books that local book clubs can borrow? Usually each title has 10-15 books available. One person from the book club checks out the entire set, is responsible for distributing the books to members and getting them returned.* I learned about this program while at the Central Library interviewing Beth Sheffield about the "One City, One Book" kick-off event to be held this Saturday (August 24) at 6:30 p.m. in the Greensboro History Museum. By the way, the library has several sets of Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime" available to loan to local book clubs! 

Beth (photographed on the right) oversees book clubs and programming for adults for the Greensboro Public Library. If there is a literary event happening in the downtown parks, a public library, or the community in general, chances are, you will see Beth there, either facilitating the event or in the audience. Come to the "One City, One Book" kick-off event to hear Osha Gray Davidson talk about his book "Best of Enemies" and race relations in North Carolina. Davidson's session is a way to discuss racism, a theme from Noah's book, within a local context.

*read more about the Book Club program and search titles, here.

(photo credit: Karen Garraputa- who happened to walk by and, serendipitously, is in my bookclub)!

Monday's Storm: View from South Elm Street

 

Monday afternoon brought quite a rain, wind, and hail storm through downtown Greensboro. The above photo features  the 200 block of South Elm street after the storm swept through. A tree branch broke off in front of Crafted. The ginkgo biloba leaves created a carpet of green up and down the block. The female tree dropped her seed pods that smell like stinky fruit. Many of the businesses closed early. Some appeared to be without power. For the 5-6pm time slot, the roads were eerily empty. 

We took this photo after most of the storm had passed. We had sheltered in place in the public library with the car parked safely in the covered parking deck on Church Street. People from all walks of life banded together to wait out the storm. Hopefully nobody was hurt. Storms can be dangerous, but sometimes it is nice to take pause and realize that we humans don't have absolute control over everything in our lives. Something about this street scene is beautiful.

 

One City, One Book

The first of more than eighty events for the One City, One Book initiative is happening this Saturday, August 24th, at 6:30 pm at the Greensboro Historical Museum. The above photo features Beth Sheffield holding a copy of the selection for this year, Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime." Beth is the coordinator of adult programming and book clubs for the Greensboro City Library. As Beth explained, events related to One City, One Book incorporate themes of the book that will be of interest and relevant to people of Greensboro.

The Saturday event, features a visit by Osha Gray Davidson who wrote "Best of Enemies." This book from the 1970's is about the relationship between Ann Atwater, a Civil Rights Activist, and C.P. Ellis, Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan. The book tells of how the diametrically opposed pair work together to find some common ground and to understand the other's perspective on race. So much of what Davidson writes in his book is relevant today with the binary political divide we are experience in the United States. The Saturday event will also allow time for dialog and questions. Greensboro is so lucky Davidson will be here for the event; and, this is only the first of many events to come- from Zulu dancing to a visit from Carla Hall, soul food cookbook author. Beth says her hope is to get Trevor Noah himself to come discuss "Born a Crime." If you have insight into helping this happen, contact Beth at Beth.Sheffield@greensboro-nc.gov. Follow the Greensboro Public Library on Facebook for events related to the book! See you Saturday!

Hanging Flower Baskets Downtown

Summer is quickly winding down in Greensboro. There are two MUSEP concerts remaining, and traditional public schools start on Monday, August 26th. Downtown still looks beautiful with the hanging baskets of purple flowers on the streetlights. The arms of the lights look as if they were made for the baskets. A 2013 article from the News & Record indicates that the flower basket program been a downtown tradition for over 15 years.

The baskets are environmentally friendly with the selection of drought resistant plants and the use of gray water for watering. There are 245 baskets and they were installed by Downtown Greensboro Incorporated. They are installed in the heart of the business district around Elm Street, McGee Street, S. Greene Street, February One Place, MLK Drive. Barring any unforeseen weather events, they hang from May to October. While the article we've referenced if older, we haven't seen any updated information to say that anything has changed. Regardless, they are super beautiful and well cared for. Have you noticed them?

Reference and read more about the baskets, here.

Joel Crafton, Singer/songwriter

This past First Friday, international recording artist, Joel Crafton, played at the gallery opening in the Greensboro Cultural Arts Center. Joel,  also known as Black Pinoy, plays quite a repertoire of sounds and songs. He combines R&B, soul, and pop. This singer/songwriter is originally from New York, but fell in love with North Carolina and calls Greensboro home. What a gain for Greensboro!

Black Pinoy takes his sound worldwide. He sings in English, Spanish, and Tagalog and  identifies as American Ilocano, (The Ilocano inhabit Luzon, in the Philippines). He is a nice person and gifted at conversing with people from all walks of life. In the above photo, he is seen on the left with a keyboard against a backdrop of art. His saxophonist to the left is putting away his instrument as it was the end of the set. What a wonderful addition they were to the August First-Friday events.

 

Happy 50th Anniversary, Charles Aris

Charles Aris is an international executive recruiting firm, located at the intersection of North Greene Street and Battleground Avenue. Last night, they were celebrating their 50th anniversary. Founded by Charles "Mitch" Oakley in 1969, the organization has grown not only in number of team members but also in the size of the building. The corporate headquarters is 24,000 square feet.  Last night, they celebrated fifty years of the firm's success.

As seen in the above photo, the the 50th anniversary event was beautiful. The ground floor of the corporate office and the tent directly outside were filled with fine food, catered by UNCG. There was beautiful lighting and fabulous live music that could be heard throughout the block. Everyone was dressed in their finest and the mood was festive and celebratory. It is so nice to see businesses reach the fifty-year milestone, knowing that they are Greensboro-based with a global presence.

Tanger Center, Elm Street Side

 

Blink and the Tanger Center for the Performing Arts is up, at least great progress has been made. The above photo features the Elm Street side of the building, which has this magical feature where the reflection off of the building across the street almost looks like an ancient script. They could project some interesting projects, movies, sayings, etc. onto the side of the building.

This 85 million dollar 3,000 seat facility is scheduled to open in the spring. Do you have your tickets? Season ticket sales have been brisk. This will be a wonderful facility for Greensboro. Somebody appears to be interested as their Facebook page already has over 6,000 "likes" and the building isn't even complete. Stop by 300 North Elm Street and check out the progress, or check back here and we'll post more photos as progress is made.

Smith Street Diner

The Smith Street Diner boasts serving breakfast all day long, eight days a week. The locally-owned diner opened in 2005,  serving fabulous, homemade food. It is getting harder and harder to find a good, fresh breakfast, but not on Smith Street. They are known for their giant biscuits and fresh orange juice. It takes six whole oranges to make one glass of juice; it takes someone with a mighty appetite to finish one of those plate-sized biscuits..

As you can see from the above photo, the counter is a very popular place, especially on weekends. Seating capacity is sixty five, and they don't take reservations. The restaurant actually modeled its business after Robinson's Restaurant, giving the current residents of Greensboro a chance to enjoy the great food, service, and location that Mr. Robinson kept hopping for over two decades. 

International Civil Rights Museum

The International Civil Rights Museum, located at 134 South Elm Street, was founded in 2010.   The first Woolworth opened in 1879, and the Greensboro Woolworth in 1929. The Greensboro sit-ins took place there in 1960, when four NCA&T college students weren't going to take no for an answer with respect to their being able to order from the lunch counter. 

In the above photo, the museum looks quiet and empty. However, during special events, the building is packed. It gets over 70,000 visitors annually. Greensboro played an important role in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's. It is important that this history be remembered. If you have never visited the museum, you owe it to yourself to do so.  Happy Monday!

Christman-Cascade Building

What was once the Cascade Saloon at 408 South Elm Street is now owned by and has been redeveloped by the Christman Company. They have completely renovated the interior and left the exterior in its original form. The building dates to around 1895, around the same time the Christman Company was established. 

If you like history and preservation stories, follow this link to Christman's website and read all of the details. There is even a 16 minute documentary (here). This preservation of Greensboro's heritage is an example of what happens when the City, Preservation Greensboro, and private enterprise collaborate.

The above photo was taken on July 4th, hence the red, white, and blue balloons. The police on bicycles just happened to be patrolling the beat.

Weddings on Elm Street

In the above photo, Rev. Liz Grimes is officiating a wedding on Elm Street on the Fourth of July. Mike and Gina are exchanging their vows as their witnesses look on. Nine couples had the opportunity to get married. Altar Ego, a division of Sharpe Pursuits, put on the event in conjunction with other sponsors.

Rev. Jac Grimes, Liz' husband, also performed ceremonies that day. Liz and Jac were the perfect couple to officiate the ceremonies. They have been happily married for years, and are firm believers in the inherent worth and dignity of all. In 2011, they formed a company, All Faiths Wedding Officiants of the Triad  and have performed over 600 beautiful, custom ceremonies over the last eight years. To add to the specialness of the weddings on the Fourth, the very spot where the marriages were performed is precisely where Greensboro splits from north/south to east/west. Everything about the day was special.

 

Greensboro Roller Derby

The above photo features Greensboro Roller Derby members promoting their organization during the Fun Fourth Festival. When you see women skating up and down Elm Street on skates with four wheels, chances are very likely that they are affiliated with Roller Derby. This non-profit organization is committed to promoting fun and fitness on skates.

The Greensboro chapter of this organization was founded in 2010. Join now and you can be part of the 10-year celebration. You may want to watch a match or two before joining. If you love to skate and are interested in learning more, consider joining their boot camp and information session on Wednesday, July 17th. The event will be held at 208 West Fairfield Road, High Point.There are over 1,200 leagues worldwide. So, if you join, you will be part of a large network of women who like match-ups on a track! 

Fun Fourth, Greensboro 2019

Fun Fourth in downtown Greensboro was, indeed, fun! The above photo, taken in the 200 block of South Elm Street shows people walking past the cool-water mister in front of Jimmy John's. Fun Fourth has been a Greensboro tradition for forty-five years. Yesterday, streets were lined with activities for young and old alike. Many of the brick and mortar businesses were closed since there were so many food and shopping options in the streets. Happy 243rd birthday, America. Happy 211th birthday, Greensboro.

If you peek to the right, beyond the group walking towards the camera, you can see the building of the old Ellis-Stone Department Store- long gone, but not forgotten. Greensboro and Elm Street have changed a lot over the last two centuries. However, one thing hasn't changed, the great spirit of the people living here. The Fourth may be over, but hopefully friends and families will be able to carry the celebration into the weekend.

Happy Fourth of July 2019

The Fun Fourth Festival has been going strong in Greensboro for forty-five years. Last night the town kicked off the celebration with a free block party, and with fireworks at the baseball stadium. The above photo was taken on the Eugene Street side of the stadium, one of many fabulous vantage points for viewing the fireworks. With all of the new construction in the area, the fireworks were very close to apartments, as well as the new Hyatt. As you can see from the photo, Eugene street was blocked off and several people gathered right at the street.

Today will be equally fun with the Freedom Run that starts at 7:30 am and the Fun Fourth Festival downtown,  billed as the largest July 4th event in North Carolina. This year, activities are divided into "pods" with pods for play, history, music, food, and more. At the pod on the corner of Elm and Market Streets, wedding ceremonies are being held. The downtown parks and history museum have events throughout the day (check the above link). From 1pm-8pm, Greensboro will seem like a giant playground, all to celebrate the USA. Let's spend the day enjoying each other and imparting random as well as not-so-random acts of kindness, and the holiday truly will be fun!

Barefoot Modern Indie Band

Barefoot Modern is a young, energetic, four-piece band from Greensboro. In the above photo, they are featured playing live and singing, on Tuesday, during the taping of NPR's "The State of Things" at Triad Stage. They played between segments and closed the show.

Lead singer, Tegan Dean, attends Lees-Mcrae College. The other three members are at Appalachian State in Boone. They classify themselves as a indie, with pop and rock mixed in. To be sure, when drummer, Caleb LeJeune and Dean sing, their sound is polished and powerful. LeJeune writes most of the lyrics on the topic of what is happening around them.

Barefoot Modern is getting quite a lot of publicity as well as opportunities to play. If you want to hear them while they are still in the Greensboro area, Barefoot Modern will be playing tonight at the Oak Ridge Town Park Amphitheater at 6:30 pm.

The State of Things

Frank Stasio hosts his National Public Radio show, "The State of Things" for WUNC once a month from Greensboro. The live show is on air on Tuesdays, broadcasted from the 3rd floor space at Triad Stage. Attendance is free, as long as you send in your ticket request and space permitting. The venue is intimate and the cafe seating adds to the charm.

One of the topics addressed on yesterday's show was housing insecurity in Greensboro. In the above photo, Stasio (left) is photographed with Richard Barron, a city reporter for the Greensboro newspaper, The News and Record. They discussed the situation that over 26 thousand people in Greensboro pay more than 30% of their income on rent. When this much of the household income goes to rent, tenants are considered to be rent burdened. Also, there are over ten thousand people in Greensboro waiting for low cost housing. Greensboro has a mere 3-4% housing vacancy, with much of that availability on higher-end properties. 

Attending "The State of Things"  is yet another great way to stay informed about issues, meet people in Greensboro,  and do something fun, for FREE, in Greensboro! Frank is taking some time off this summer, so the next time he broadcasts from Greensboro is Tuesday, August 20th. Bookmark this link, if you are interested in attending later this summer.

 

St Benedict's Catholic Church

 

St. Benedict's Catholic Church is located on North Elm Street in downtown Greensboro. Built at the end of the 19th century, it is the oldest Catholic church in Greensboro. The sanctuary is small, but oh so beautiful. Recently, it underwent extensive renovation and is absolutely breeathtaking inside. See, here, where we featured the interior last year.

However, this past week, we were driving by and noticed some exterior work being done. Possibly the brick was getting pressure washed. Since St. Benedict's  is just down the street from the Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, it is nice that it looks beautiful inside and out. It is a good sign when a community maintains its buildings and builds spaces open to the public. Greensboro is doing just that.

Have a relaxing Sunday!

Old Train Depot

Today's view is from Hamburger Square downtown, looking over at the building at 400 South Elm Street. This building is the Old Southern Railway Passenger Depot. It dates to the late 1800's when it was filled with people and goods coming and going, back when Greensboro was known as the Gate City.

The depot used to have a pointed, chateauesque roof on it.*  The building has not been a passenger depot since 1927, but has been used by Norfolk Southern Railroad as office space. It is a glorious, historic structure that will hopefully get some new windows and be restored to its original glory. Greensboro can be proud with the extent to which original building exteriors have been retained.

*see photo and more information from Preservation Greensboro, here.

Tanger Center

Here you see crew working on the Tanger Center for the Performing Arts. The photo was taking last week and, as you can see, they are making great progress. Tickets are now on sale for the general public and they are selling well. This venue will do to the performing arts and indoor performance what nearby LeBauer Park has done for outdoor performing and gatherings. For the Broadway series, the packages are really reasonable considering you get passes for free parking and you get to see such great productions. Locals will no longer need to drive to Durham or Charlotte to see the Broadway performances. 

If you are traveling to an appointment downtown, please allow a little extra time. There is so much construction, you can expect delays. However, be patient. Greensboro just keeps growing and getting more resources.

Happy Wednesday, the day before Thursday- which is the new Friday!

Downtown DGSO Road Repair

The McGee Street bridge is getting repainted and will be closed until June 17th. This is located at Hamburger Square, with Natty Greene's to the left. It is hard to believe that this is one of the main areas of downtown. Without any traffic, it almost looks like a country road. Unless you are a cyclist, you probably haven't noticed that the bike lane goes right down the middle of the road.

The railroad tracks are above the blue tarp and the part being painted. The main inconvenience is when a train crosses South Elm Street; McGee is a main cut through to avoid waiting. Pedestrians and drivers alike often choose the loop under this bridge. Some trains passing through can be very long, so if you drive a lot on South Elm Street, plan accordingly .

 Let's hope all is in good order by the Fun Fourth events.