New Appearences

My friend went to the Appearance Committee meeting this week and did a wonderful job of putting forth the merchants assoc. ideas about beautifying the downtown. Everyone was in agreement about getting rid of the fountain and making Frank Creech's statue the primary focus of the corner. They are so positively responsive. I hope that the next merchants meeting will be OK.
Mean while I have been involved with the Johnston County Artists Guild. They are a very motivated group of people that surprisingly have a lot of faith in the community here. I am going to join the Guild and am encouraging others to do so, too. I can be contacted here and I will get application forms to those interested. It would be another way to gain support for an artspace in Smithfield. The poster idea is still a go with them.
I have offered my Yoga Studio during the week of the International Film Festival in Smithfield (September) for an artists gallery opening and for a party. This will be a way to get the idea of having a gallery opening once a month at the studio until there is an official space available. The Guild is really happy about having someone downtown who is interested in promoting art in Smithfield. Maybe this will encourage others to do something, who knows.

Back to the begining

I haven't had much time to write. I am hoping I can get started back with the enameling soon. I use study it when I was at Skidmore College. Been a log time but I feel like its time. I am also looking for studio space in town. Spoke with someone n the town council about some spaces in town to do maybe an artspace where artists that need studios or a place to teach or for people in town to take art lessons and workshops. It would add a good dimension to the town and maybe get some more artists involved. It would be nice to get a big enough place to have some music studios too. How awesome would that be!

Artists in Smithfield

What a great night. I went to a meeting with the Johnston County Artists Guild. What a great group of people. I think I will try to attend their next meeting and see if I can join. Felt right at home. Its been a long time since I have been in a group of strangers and felt immediately OK. I guess its the art. I really believe if we can get the art community going here the town will gain so much. I think the Johnston County Arts Council in Clayton is very important. Its the big guns and money, lots of connected people. But here in Smithfield we could have that funky art community. There are so many artists here and they are so unconnected to the citizens. This artists guild is a very good thing. They were all encouraging. Spoke to them about the Smithfield Poster. All were excited!

and its wednesday

Don't know how this many days slipped by. We went to look at a building for sale on 2nd street. Awfully expensive. Some body must think that this town is going to take off. Saw another one today that is really big and would probably be the better building but again way too much for this little place. Probably 10 people a day go by. I told the real estate agent that the only time there is really any pedestrian traffic is when there is a murder trial at the court house. She says have some faith. There are buildings and subdivisions going up all around and they are only 5 minutes to downtown. Eventually what happened in Clayton will happen here in spite of the old guard citizens and town council. They will either have to join or be run over because its coming.

Thursday, what a day!

Took my brother in-law to radiation therapy today at Chapel Hill. Not a happy place.
Had a merchants association meeting tonight. A couple of people showed up, thank you to those who cared. But the place it was to be held, no one showed up to let us in. Jdc didn't show up either. Some one told me that tonight was the high school graduation. Does the entire town go?
I think that maybe T is right and it will be 5-7 years before anything happens here. The bypass opened 2 days ago and the town had 3 years to make plans. The place should be alive with stores, restaurants but there were no incentives for businesses to come here and so none came. I keep hearing this mantra " if you have staying power you can make it it here". What that means is "if you are already wealthy or your business was established 15 years ago you have a chance of survival but other wise you best get use to being poor".
I understand why the Arts Council moved to Clayton. It was because they had a chance to succeed in Clayton, because there are people progressive enough to support new concepts. Because there is initiative. Bravo Clayton! Come on Smithfield. Get out from underneath.

The new bypass opened yesterday. Several of the old guard in town are upset about the new road that will make the trip to Raleigh 10 minutes shorter. Most of the people I know are so happy about it. But then most of the people I know aren't from here and we love the idea of new people coming to the area.
How can one town have so much potential and be so sad at the same time. It needs to be rescued from its own citizenry.

OK! So this place is full of strange people. May be that's what attracted us to this town in the first place. Not weird in conventional weird. Just the way they think, socialize and react. I was told that its because I'm from the north and don't understand southern ways, but then I meet someone that has moved here say from Mississippi. They think the social order/structure and people are odd too and that its definitely not a southern thing but a Smithfield thing. Like the 1950's in a contemporary Peyton Place kind of way, except southern style with a little Stepford wives thrown in. I would love to open an art gallery here just to see who and what would turn up.

Saturday afternoon

Was in town around 1:00pm this afternoon. Saw some people on the sidewalk looking in windows but all the stores were closed. I asked if they were looking for something in particular and they replied they were from Raleigh and usually just went to the pottery, but they had seen the news Thursday and thought they would stop in town. But they said, nothing is open and there's nothing here. I suggested they go to Sam and Kate's Gift store because she was open. They just said "no thanks" their car was right there and they would just go on.
This is what I mean about poor planning, a good idea at the incredibly wrong time. If this whole promotion had waited until we had merchants agreeing to stay open until a certain time on Saturday, and a place for visitors to get a drink of water even once they are here, some decorations, an event, anything. But instead these people came to Smithfield, saw the same old nothing and went home annoyed to have wasted the gas.
What was the point of having the reporter come to Smithfield? What was jdc promoting, or marketing or advertising in the town of Smithfield. What did get advertised was that the town hasn't changed, there is nothing open and nothing to do once you get here.

We were on the news last Thursday, June 5th. "we aren't just rednecks and moonshiners and dogfights" in Smithfield. We need a professional marketing person!!!!! Please!!!!

Friday evening

Went to Raleigh to Moore Square, the acorn park as my kids call it. Full of music, people walking, different nationalities and color. When we first moved to Smithfield we would go to Raleigh in search of food, fun and diversity but it wasn't there. Now 20 years later its alive with all we were looking for. I hope someday that the feeling of life and creativity will find its way to the streets of this old town Smithfield.

HI,

I am a business owner in Downtown Smithfield, NC. Myself and several other businesses are trying to get a neglected but awesome small town out of its presently unkempt rather sad appearance. Close to Raleigh NC, within 2o minutes due to a new bypass, this place should be alive with merchants, restaurants, music and art. Smithfield NC is on the Interstate 95 corridor, intersected by Highway 70 and Highway 301. It was, up until 25 years ago, a vibrant town with an ice-cream shop, hardware stores, clothing store, pharmacy and many other privately owned businesses. We even had a small Belks department store. Walmart moved in, the smaller Carolina Pottery became Factory Stores of America and this charming downtown came to a screeching halt.