Tamara Small, the Warren County Farmers Market Manager, joins TownTalk to discuss the upcoming events happening at the Warren County Farmers Market.
(Our WIZS written coverage will appear here soon.)
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The next ‘Faith in Mental Health’ forum is scheduled for Monday, April 20 at 6 p.m. to share information with individuals and church representatives interested in learning more about available mental health resources in Vance and Granville counties.
The session is free to attend and will take place in the cafeteria on the campus of the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford, said Frank Sossamon, pastor at Hermon Community Church. The theme for this program is substance misuse and addiction. A barbecue dinner will be provided as well, Sossamon said.
The Faith in Mental Health program is a pilot project that Sossamon hopes will eventually go statewide that will operate under the umbrella of public health departments.
“The numbers continue to grow with every event we have,” Sossamon said on Tuesday’s TownTalk.
So far, more than 40 churches across the two-county area are actively involved in the initiative, which has three different levels of participation, depending on church interest.
Getting appropriate information into the hands of church congregations is helpful for a variety of reasons. An orientation session provides participants with information about resources in the area that can be shared with church members.
“We want you to be able to help your congregation,” he said. Participating in the Faith in Mental Health project is one way for congregations to be informed about what resources are available, where they’re located and how to access them.
The second level of commitment comes when a congregation chooses a mental health topic to highlight and discuss each month.
“Just being able to talk about it is healing for people in the church that are struggling with those things,” Sossamon said. Individuals realize that there is someone to talk to – the pastor or someone else in the congregation. “That in itself, is liberating. That in itself is healing and encouraging. And it’s healthy for the church as well,” he added.
The forums are also a way for people from different congregations to connect and form networks. He said he’s heard positive feedback from participants of earlier sessions about having the information they needed to share with others about particular services they were searching for.
The Faith in Mental Health initiative is for churches of all sizes, Sossamon said. So, whether it’s a 1,000 member congregation or a congregation of 10, there’s a place for you.
The upcoming forum will include area providers who will speak about substance misuse and addiction, as well as representatives from different programs available to provide help, from support groups to residential facilities.
The Masonic Home for Children in Oxford is located at 600 College St.
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The color pink isn’t listed among the seven “official” colors of a rainbow, but you can bet that it will be well represented in this year’s 5th annual Pink With A Passion cancer walk on Saturday, April 18 at the Warren County Recreational Complex.
This year’s theme for the daylong event is “Many Colors, One Cause,” and organizer Amena Wilson wants participants to come out sporting t-shirts in all colors of the rainbow.
Although its origin is with breast cancer, Wilson said the non-profit organization wants to show support for people, no matter the type of cancer they may be dealing with.
“We all walk together and look like a big, beautiful rainbow,” Wilson said on Monday’s TownTalk.
Last year, more than 400 people came out for the event. Wilson said they need everyone to register for the event, whether they plan to walk or just come out to enjoy the activities.
There’s a link to the registration page at www.pinkwithapassion.org.
On-site registration begins at 9:30 a.m. for those who may not be able to complete the online registration. The walk will begin at 10 a.m. and there are plenty of activities to take part in following the walk, she said.
Walkers will be encouraged by the cheerleaders from Warren County High School and Warren County Middle School, adding another festive touch to the morning’s activities.
A Kid Zone will have a bouncy house, inflatables, face painting and more, and there will be numerous food trucks with everything from Mexican food, burgers and ‘dogs, ice cream and more.
Saxophonist Gregory Amos will provide entertainment as well as offer his testimony about his own breast cancer diagnosis.
The Envision Diagnostics mobile mammogram bus will be onsite this year as well to provide as many as 30 mammograms free of charge. Call 877.318.1349 to schedule an appointment.
It’s a day of hope, healing and unity, Wilson said. It’s a celebration of strength, a tribute to survivors and a powerful reminder that no one fights alone.
Wilson, herself a cancer survivor, said there’s something very powerful about hearing a survivor’s testimony that gives hope and inspiration to those who are undergoing treatment.
“It helps calm their nerves when they talk to someone who has already gone through it,” she said. “It helps calm them to know that they went through what I went through. And they’re ok.”
There will be a special survivors’ tent to honor those who have beaten cancer; a memorial table with candles and a special board to post prayers, names and words of encouragement also will be available to remember those who lost their fight.
The event is free and open to the community to join in to show support for all those along their journey to fight cancer.
Donations can be made via Cash App at PWAP1. The name of the organization’s treasurer, Barbara Baker should appear to confirm that the donation goes straight into the PWAP business account. Checks also are accepted and can be mailed to Pink With A Passion, P.O. Box 315 Warrenton, NC 27589.
The Warren County Recreation Complex is located at 840 US-1/158, Warrenton, NC.
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Rebuilding Hope is gearing up for its spring barbecued chicken plate fundraiser, which is scheduled for Friday, Apr. 24.
Come on out to 414 Raleigh Rd. beginning at 11 a.m. to pick up plates in the convenient drive-thru lane or park and head inside the Rebuilding Hope headquarters to dine in. Tickets are $12. Call 252.438.5132 to have a minimum of five plates delivered.
There’s a lot to coordinate, and Rebuilding Hope Co-Director Tom Wille said it’s a great team-building activity.
Just like the variety of carpentry and other construction skills that volunteers bring to jobsites across the county and elsewhere, dozens of volunteers work together to get the place ready for the daylong dine-in and drive-thru event.
There are those folks who get the big pots ready to cook vegetables, others who make the barbecue sauce – from scratch – some who bring in dozens of delicious cakes and still others who slice and bag those cakes so they can be tucked inside the now fairly famous plate heaped with succulent barbecued chicken, potatoes and green beans.
“It takes a lot of people to do this,” Wille said on Monday’s TownTalk. “We build ‘team’ through this event,” he said. “It’s a great time of camaraderie, encouragement to all the volunteers that work here.”
As Rebuilding Hope approaches 20 years of service, Wille said new volunteers are welcome.
“We invite them in on that day or any other day and talk about what we do and how we reach out,” Wille said. “Volunteers are critical – that’s how we operate.”
Last year, teams built 158 ramps and put roofs on 13 homes.
Fundraisers like the twice-a-year chicken plate dinners are one way Rebuilding Hope makes those ramps and roofs a reality.
The teams worked on 250 different homes last year and helped another 50 or so residents find resources for needs that the Rebuilding Hope teams couldn’t handle.
“It’s all done to point people to Jesus,” Wille said of the work that the volunteer teams do. “If we’re not helping them, then who are we?”
Because of the work – provided free of charge – people can live under roofs that don’t leak and are able to get in and out of their homes safely, whether it’s because of a newly installed ramp or repaired porch boards.
“There are many, many people who just need help,” he explained.
Registration for Rebuilding Hope’s youth summer camp is open now until May 1. Servants on Site has close to 100 young people already signed up, but Wille said there’s room for a few more.
The goal for summer 2026 is to repair or replace nine roofs, he said. This year’s S.O.S. takes place June 22-26.
The kids “work hard, play hard, and learn about Jesus in the process,” Wille said.
Learn more about Servants on Site at https://rebuildinghopeinc.org/
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The annual Granville Gardeners Expo takes place Saturday, Apr. 18, and Vendor Coordinator Christi Henthorn said this year’s event features educational workshops, vendors, local handcrafted items as well as the plants, vegetables, herbs and more for gardeners to scoop up and add to their own landscapes.
Come out to the Granville County Convention & Expo Center between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to check out all the locally sourced plants, from herbs and vegetable slips to hardy landscape specimens.
Experienced gardeners may know exactly what they’re looking at and looking for at the expo, but there are many opportunities for less-experienced gardeners to learn more about how to cultivate the coveted “green thumb.”
More than 85 vendors will fill the indoor and outdoor spaces of the expo center that day, but there’s room for just a few more. “We’re spread out all over the grounds,” Henthorn said on Tuesday’s segment of The Local Skinny!
In years past, the education workshops were held inside the convention center, but this year, they’ll be integrated among the vendors and plants, sharing their knowledge about diverse topics ranging from gardening as therapy for anxiety and depression and incorporating native plants into the landscape to bird feeders, bees and pollinators and making herbal teas and breads.
Henthorn said she’d recommend bringing a wagon to make your shopping experience more enjoyable. You can fill that wagon with plants, unique arts and crafts items and more, she said. Most vendors are equipped to take electronic payments, she added, although cash is always welcome.
Members of the Master Gardeners will be on hand to talk about “victory” gardens and there will be Earth Day activities taking place during the day as well. A raffle full of great prizes has been organized to support the Gardeners’ annual scholarship.
Add a fleet of food trucks, stocked with yummy food and treats, and you’ve got a full day of fun for the whole family.
Indeed, Henthorn said the Gardeners’ Expo is a family-friendly event. Last year’s expo had more than 2,200 in attendance and this year’s event is shaping up to top that number.
“Our plants are generally all organic,” Henthorn said. They’re either grown locally at a couple of different nearby nurseries, or they come straight out of the gardens of Granville Gardener members.
Parking in front of the Expo building is reserved for those with mobility issues or handicapped placards. General parking is located next door. Volunteers will be on hand to direct drivers to a parking spot.
If you placed an online order, pickup will take place in a drive-thru line that takes you to the back side of the covered arena behind the Expo Center.
Learn more about the Granville Gardeners Club at https://thegranvillegardeners.org/
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Christy Stanley most likely didn’t realize it at the time, but as a child helping her granddaddy make signs for his farmstand may just have planted a seed that has grown over the years. That seed, like Stanley, is all grown up now and bearing fruit.
And vegetables.
And live music and a coffee bar, to boot.
Stanley is the new market manager for the Vance County Regional Farmers Market, and she’s counting down the days until the market opens for the season on Saturday, May 2. Hours are from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
There’s plenty to do between now and then, and Stanley is rarin’ to go.
With a fresh focus on making the market a destination for more than just fresh seasonal produce and other locally sourced items, the brand-new coffee bar will give customers something else to enjoy when they visit the market.
The plan is to have volunteer baristas from local FFA and gardener groups behind the counter on market days. Proceeds from the sale of coffee and other beverages will go right back into programming, marketing and more. There are plans to even have a special market blend available soon.
“This is one of the nicest farmers markets around,” Stanley said on Thursday’s TownTalk. “We want to elevate the experience,” she said, a place where folks want to come and hang out for a while – a place to bring out-of-town guests.”
Just one week into the official market start, on Saturday, May 9, there will be live music at the market. The plan is to offer a wide variety of music genres, from Southern Rock and jazz to reggae and mariachi, Stanley said.
“You don’t want to miss out on it,” she said.
The role of market manager seems a perfect fit for Stanley, who operates a small farm now along NC 39 near Williamsboro Wayside at Kerr Lake. The Little Red Fox Farm has an AirBNB on the property, too, which Stanley says is quite popular.
And truth be told, it was the lake that first attracted her and her husband to the area. They’re both big fishermen, she said, and they spent a lot of time driving from their home in Youngsville up to the lake to fish.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Stanley found herself watching videos about farming and how to make small-scale farming profitable. It was during that period shutdowns and restrictions that Stanley and her husband turned to farming.
“Nowadays, you’re actually able to produce quite a bit on a small farm,” Stanley said. Her focus now is mainly poultry – chickens and turkeys. But she’s dabbled in beef production and has a few pigs roaming and rooting around the place now. As she puts it, she’s “raising bacon.”
Stanley’s exposure to farms had been limited – just summer visits to Mississippi to her grandparents’ farm when she was a child – but she understands the value of having locally sourced food to eat.
“I think more than ever, we’re moving into a direction where, to get local food, you’re going to see a need for more people entering the industry…(people) that maybe never thought of it before,” she said.
Small-scale farming provides a wider variety of people – especially women – a path to producing foods for consumers who are searching for local sources of fruits, vegetables and more.
She applied for the market manager job because she felt it would be a perfect fit for her. It’s important to be available to her family and grandchildren, but also to serve her community.
“I just think it was meant to be that we ended up here,” Stanley said.
Stay up to date by visiting https://vance.ces.ncsu.edu/vance-county-regional-farmers-market/ or follow along on social media at https://www.facebook.com/vcrfm/
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The Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce is hosting its third Small Business Roundtable on Thursday, April 16 at Flex Desk 360 in downtown Henderson. It’s a time, Chamber President Sandra Wilkerson says, for small business owners to come together to talk about challenges, possible solutions to those challenges and celebrate the successes – large and small – that come with business ownership.
“It’s tough to be a small business owner,” Wilkerson said on Wednesday’s TownTalk. Events like the upcoming Roundtable provide local business owners the chance to gather and strengthen relationships with one another while brainstorming about common issues like workforce, marketing and customer engagement.
The Roundtable will be from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. with a focus on workforce and how small businesses handle workforce challenges.
Lou Grillo and Lisa Holland from NC Works Career Center will be on hand to lead this interactive discussion, Wilkerson said. Vance County Economic Development Director Ferdinand Rouse will also have a role in the program. Grillo is the Workforce Development Director and Holland is the Business Services Manager for the NC Workforce Board.
Small businesses may face particular challenges when it comes to finding employees, Wilkerson said. Sometimes, it’s as basic as getting people to even apply for openings. Small businesses may not be able to offer competitive salary packages or other incentives as larger workplaces can, she said. Employees who go to work for smaller businesses “have to have the heart and soul to do it,” she said.
Resources like NC Works can provide valuable information to business owners when it comes to staffing and identifying potential workers who may fit the bill.
“We need to focus more on the small businesses in our community,” Wilkerson said, reminding that one way to support small businesses in the area is to shop local.
Shopping local is one way to support the area’s economic development, too, and the Chamber’s Tuesday, May 5 “State of” luncheon will address this very timely topic.
Rouse will be the speaker for this event, which will begin at 12 noon at the Henderson Country Club.
Wilkerson said RSVPs are due by April 28 to ensure a spot. Call the Chamber at 252.438.8414 to reserve your spot or email Tanya Wilson at tanya@hendersonvance.org.
“He does his research, he has his facts,” Wilkerson said of Rouse, who’s been the county’s economic development director since July 2024. “It’s going to be an interesting presentation.”
Part of the Chamber’s role is to provide facts about issues that affect the community and Chamber members. “What we try to do is give people an opportunity to understand better…ask questions,” Wilkerson said.
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The Vance County Board of Commissioners on Monday voted to continue a rezoning request for a 40-acre tract along Highway 158.
Although the planning board recommended in February to approve rezoning the property to Light Industrial, about 20 people spoke during the public hearing – most in opposition – prompting Commissioner Tommy Hester to make a motion to continue the agenda item.
“I care about this community, and I want to get the facts,” Hester said. “I don’t want to hurt this community, and I want to make sure everybody in that area gets what they need,” he said.
Attorney Beth Trahos, one of three applicants listed on the rezoning request was present at the Monday meeting. In remarks at the beginning of the public hearing portion of the meeting, Trahos said no development plan has been submitted thus far; the matter before the commissioners is a step in the process to get the tract rezoned from its current Employment and Instiuttional Area to Light Industrial.
Another of the applicants on the rezoning request, Michael Natelli, has been associated with the construction of data centers. The town of Apex in Wake County recently defeated an attempt by Natelli to put in a data center. The third name on the application is that of the landowner, Patricia Galloway.
At the public hearing that took place during the commissioners’ regular monthly meeting, residents filed to the podium to express their concern about having a data center in the area.
They cited concerns that included excessive noise pollution, as well as increased energy and water demands, among others.
Addressing those in attendance, Commissioner Leo Kelly said he was opposed to the idea of a data center. “I think we need to look at the process of data centers…I don’t think they bring what we’re looking for in Vance County.”
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People find all kinds of items when they clean out parents’ and grandparents’ attics that can provide insight into bygone times – diaries, vintage clothing and photographs all provide glimpses into the past.
But what about whole communities? Once-vibrant places where folks could go for mail, fabric for new clothes and other provisions?
Communities literally got “on the map” because of post offices, general stores and churches. But road construction and, more importantly in and around the area known as Old Granville County, railroad construction, are what determined a community’s ultimate rise or decline.
WIZS’s Bill Harris and local historian Mark Pace ran through a list of forgotten and almost-forgotten communities, in Thursday’s Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk. Some of those spots in the road are marked with signs – like Huntsville in Granville County – but places like Monroe in the northeast corner of Warren County live on mostly in historical accounts.
This community, named for President James Monroe, got on the proverbial map when a ferry operator named Robinson offered for sale a hundred or so 1/4 -acre lots in that vicinity. He sold a third of them right quick – for the tidy sum of between $35 and $150, Pace said.
The stagecoach stopped there and numerous notables of their day stopped in for visits. There was U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, for example, and Vice President Aaron Burr, whose name would become forever remembered for killing his political rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
There was only one thing missing from Monroe, however, Pace said.
“The railroad didn’t come through,” Pace said. “And that was the end of Monroe.”
As Monroe, went, so went other small communities that started off in relative prosperity but were doomed because the Raleigh & Gaston didn’t come near.
Take Bunn, for instance, in Franklin County. “Old” Bunn is located a little to the east of present-day Bunn. “When the railroad came through, Bunn moved a mile or so to the east, Pace explained.
And then there’s Lynesville, a precursor to Townsville in Vance County. The railroad moved it a little to the west, drying up Lynesville and giving new life to the unincorporated town that remains today.
And before there was Henderson, there was Chalk Level, which boasted a stagecoach stop, a store and more. It was the mid-1830’s when Lewis Reavis gave land for the right-of-way for the railroad that created a dead end for Chalk Level. The train depot was basically in Reavis’s front yard, Pace said. The advent of the railroad created economic prosperity for what would become Henderson and signal a death knell for Chalk Level.
There are still signs for Tally Ho in Granville County, and there’s a Tally-Ho Road, but when the Stem family gave land for the railroad, Tally Ho died off while the town of Stem gained traction.
Before there was an Oxford, there was a community called Harrisburg, Pace said. Harrisburg played a role during the American Revolution as a gathering point for American supplies.
“As early as 1759 Harrisburg was as large and important as Williamsboro,” Pace said, referring to the once-prominent Vance County community that also fell victim to the placement of the railroad.
In Harrisburg, there was a post office, a dozen or so houses, a community center and the obligatory horse racing track, Pace said. But its exact location wasn’t really clear – until recently. He said thanks to some metal detection work and studied of historical records and deeds, Harrisburg was situated in the general area between the Oxford exits 204 and 206 along I-85.
The community of Letha south of Rocky Ford in Franklin County had a post office from 1890 to 1910. There also was Whitaker’s Mill, as well as a store and perhaps a community cemetery.
“The mill no longer stands,” Harris said, “but you can still see evidence of where the mill was. It’s one of the prettiest areas of Franklin County.”
Most likely it was the mill closing that sent Letha into relative obscurity.
Up in northern Granville County, in the Cornwall community, there was Big Rock. It had a post office from 1885 until the mid-1930’s, Pace said.
When he went off in search of any evidence of the place, Pace said he had to travel several miles through the woods on an ATV.
What did he find? Nothing really was left, he said.
Except, you guessed it – the big rock.
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Can the Kerr Lake Regional Water System grow and continue to be the biggest player for local and regional water needs?
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