Tag Archive for: #towntalk

TownTalk: McGregor Hall’s Summer Lineup Sizzles With Wide Range Of Performances, Concerts

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Country Music’s Shenandoah Coming to Henderson, NC and McGregor Hall

Activity at McGregor Hall is brisk these days, with recent and upcoming commencement exercises, not to mention dance competitions – both of which bring in plenty of folks from near and far to the 1,000-seat performing arts venue.

And McGregor Hall’s executive director and artistic director, Mark Hopper, is no stranger to the hard work that goes along with making sure patrons and performers alike have a positive experience when they’re here.

“We’re going non-stop right now,” Hopper said. But he’s confident that it’s going to pay off – the upcoming lineup features a couple of big-name musical groups, following on the heels of the annual theatrical productions.

Hopper told WIZS Monday he’s thrilled to welcome two musical groups to perform later this summer: the hit country band Shenandoah will perform on Saturday, Aug. 15 beginning at 7:30 p.m. And then, on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 3 p.m., Henderson welcomes back one of its own, Gerald Alston and his group The Manhattans.

Hopper was fairly giddy at the prospect of having both groups booked.

“Gerald Henderson – and I’m not being hyperbolic,” Hopper said on Monday’s TownTalk “is one of the finest men I have ever met in my life.” He called Alston “a proud ambassador” for Henderson who “desperately wants his hometown to succeed.”

The Manhattans concert is presented in partnership with the Henderson Institute Alumni Association’s 50th anniversary reunion and is just one of numerous events that will take place in the area over that weekend.

And he’d been in negotiations for about a year to get Shenandoah booked. As luck would have it, the group’s agent lives in Raleigh. This is the group’s only appearance in North Carolina, Hopper said. And tickets are selling fast.

“This is the biggest act we’ve had in our 10 years,” Hopper said, adding that “it’s a band that anybody who cares anything about country music will know well.”

By the time Shenandoah takes the stage, however, two of the three scheduled theatrical shows will have taken place, and Hopper and the more than 300 volunteers that support McGregor Hall are already busy preparing.

Coming up on June 26 is “Anastasia – The Musical,” which is the culmination of the children’s theatre camp. Under the direction of Jo Ellen Nowell, a group of about 50 young people – rising 3rd graders through rising 11 graders – will tell the story about the fall of Russia’s czar.

“It’s going to be a great performance,” Hopper said, noting that the audience will be dazzled by the beautiful sets, music, costumes and the actors themselves. “We have some remarkably talented young people,” he said.

Rehearsals begin June 1 for “Hello, Dolly!” one of Broadway’s most popular productions that featured Carol Channing as Dolly Levi.

“Hello, Dolly!” runs for two weekends in July – July 18-19 and July 25-26.

With a cast of 76 and a full orchestra, this classic musical brings together relative newcomers and actors with professional experience for four performances.

Novices are on stage with people “who literally have been on Broadway and have been professional touring actors,” Hopper said. It’s important to foster interest in the arts in the community, especially with young people, he said. They try to find roles for everyone who comes out to audition.

“It’s our way of giving access to the stage,” he said. “It’s hard to know that you’re passionate about something or that you have talent for if you don’t know it exists. So we work hard to give access to the stage.”

The choreographer has worked for years with the Miss North Carolina pageant and Ira David Wood’s perennial favorite “A Christmas Carol” in Raleigh.

“This is going to be first rate,” Hopper said.

The Henderson Rec Players are mixing it up a bit with the August performance of “the Complete History of America (Abridged).

“This one is a scream,” Hopper said, noting that it’s a tongue-in-cheek satirical look “that crams about 500 years of history into an hour and forty-five minutes.”

It’s also going to be presented as theater-in-the-round, which will have the audience in raised seating on the stage with the cast.  There are three performances planned Aug. 28-30 and is in partnership with the Vance County American 250 committee, he said.

Visit www.mcgregorhall.org to find a complete listing of dates and times for the upcoming performances. Purchase tickets online or visit the box office Monday-Friday between 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville – 250th Anniversary of the USA in Old Granville County Part 2

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With the nation’s approaching 250th birthday as a backdrop, WIZS’s Bill Harris and local historian Mark Pace continue their conversation about people, places and events from right here in the four-county area, “Old Granville County.”

Franklin County’s Regiment of Militia was officially formed in January 1779, in the middle of the Revolutionary War. This group of men, along with the Granville County militia, fought the British troops in battles across the Carolinas in the early 1780’s, including the Siege of Charleston, Camden and Charlotte before giving the Brits a fit at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

Gen. Charles Cornwallis led his troops to major victories, but they met their match at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

Local historian Mark Pace said the British technically won the battle, but suffered such heavy casualties at the hands of the Patriots – led by Gen. Nathaniel Greene – that it was a hollow victory.

Just a year earlier, Cornwallis had spent 16 days in Charlotte trying to suppress the Patriots in that area, Pace said. Most likely members of the local militia were there as well and contributed to Cornwallis’s description of the then-small town as a “hornet’s nest.”

(A couple of hundred years later, the NBA team that called Charlotte home took note of the description and now the Charlotte Hornets play in an arena called The Hive.)

The Granville County militia performed well at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Pace said on Thursday’s Part 2 of Around Old Granville on TownTalk.

The Continental Line, akin to a national Army, of sorts, Pace explained, got much-needed assistance from states’ militias. North Carolina furnished about 4,000 or so men to the militia, each county calling up recruits or volunteers to join the effort.

Why did the states feel the need to call up militias in the first place?

Well, it’s probably not the only reason, but back in the mid-1750’s, the Colonists were being required to pay all kinds of taxes to the British Crown. But they didn’t have anyone in England to speak on their behalf, which was how the phrase “no taxation without representation” came about.

Two big taxes “that irritated Americans to no end,” Pace said, were the Stamp Act and the Sugar Tax. The Stamp Act taxed printed materials, from wills and deeds to newspapers and playing cards. The Sugar Act is self-explanatory, but it became a thorn in the side of Americans because of what was the most popular drink at the time – rum, which is derived from molasses. And molasses is made from sugarcane juice.

The Granville militia, in the mid-1770’s was under the leadership of Micajah Bullock, who is buried near Bullock’s Church located along U.S. Hwy 15 South near Creedmoor and Col. John Taylor of the Williamsboro vicinity.  Another prominent Granville County resident was Thomas Person, who was a general in the militia. At the time, he was the wealthiest person in the county and he opened up his estate for training purposes during the Revolution.

Pace called Person “the heart and soul of the Revolution in this area.”

During previous “Around Old Granville” segments, Pace and Harris have talked about the significance of Williamsboro, once a prospering center of commerce that today is merely a crossroads that people pass through as they travel N.C. Hwy 39.

The community was named for John Williams, Pace said, whose name can be found among a list of Founding Fathers for this nation.

Williams, along with Robert Burton, John Penn and Benjamin Hawkins, all hailed from the Williamsboro area and were elected to the Continental Congress. Penn signed the Declaration of Independence, but Williams signed the Articles of Confederation. He also became speaker of the N.C. House, and was one of the first N.C. Supreme Court judges.

Sadly, Williams’s home, Montpelier, no longer stands. But it was a hub of activity back then, Pace said.

Montpelier was where N.C. Gov. Burke went when it became  clear he needed to evacuate Hillsborough (then the capital) in advance of Cornwallis’s arrival.

Montpelier is also where Leonard Henderson, for whom Henderson is named, is buried.

In fact, Williamsboro had been considered as the state’s capital, but leaders ultimately chose the more centrally located Raleigh.

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TownTalk: Fund Balance Props Up “Flat” Proposed $51.7M City Budget

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Just one day after presenting the recommended $51.7 FY 2027 budget, the Henderson City Council scheduled a work session Tuesday at 5 p.m. to begin the process of adopting a final version by the end of June.

Finance Director Joey Fuqua told Council members Monday that this was a “very difficult budget, very sobering.”

The budget represents a 1.6 percent increase over last year’s budget, but Fuqua said he had to go fund balance again this year to create a balanced budget – not for the first time, but for the past several years in a row. The city’s fund balance is its “savings account,” and it is on a downward trend.

“It is imperative that the city secure revenue to offset expenditure and revenue. We cannot continue down this path – there’s got to be a lifesaver,” he said.

The city needs an infusion of cash – and Fuqua looked to promises of development – housing developments like Dabney Village, the prospect of a data center and even sale of three communication towers as ways to help.

Fuqua said although the public opinion varies around the issue of a data center, the potential revenue could be a game-changer.

“From a numbers standpoint, the data center couldn’t get here quicker,” he said, adding that it would create a “revenue stream that is greatly needed by the city.”

In the proposed budget, expenditures exceed revenues by close to $3 million.

Revenues – primarily from property and sales taxes – are estimated at $18,606,400.

Total expenditures are $21,020,728 and close to two-thirds of that amount – $14,649,310 – are for public safety. An additional $6,371,418 are for cultural and public services that include sanitation, streets and recreation programs.

The budget is getting propped up by a $5.5 million earmark from the fund balance – as Fuqua explained it to Council members on Monday, the final amount needed to balance the current budget won’t be known until the final FY 26 audit is released. Fuqua said.

He doesn’t expect all the FY 26 earmarked funds will be used, but until he sees the numbers, he can’t speculate.

The city will be in save mode for the rest of this year and all through FY 27, he said, as one cost-saving measure that will go along with what he called a “flat” budget.

As far as city projects go, Fuqua said “We don’t have the funding available…it’s just too tight right now for FY 27. There’s just not enough funding to do anything major at this point.”

Until the area can attract additional development that will add to the revenue side of things, the city’s financial future appears shaky.

After several years of increasing salaries to attract and retain workers, the city continues to lag behind neighboring communities who can afford to keep raising the salary bar.

Don’t expect to find a lot of frills in this budget’s general fund, either. And by frills, think travel and capital outlay. The city will have to look in other places where there may be more of a “cushion,” he said.

There is some capital outlay in some departments, he said, for purchase of “very much needed items,” like squad cars for the police department.

Fuqua did say that Dabney Village appears to be moving forward, which would bring “a tremendous influx of revenue” to the city. The first phase of construction is set to bring 350 single-family homes starting at $350,000. Developers are marketing in the North Raleigh area to attract homebuyers.

“We have a great deal to look forward to with Dabney Village,” Fuqua said.

But recent announcements that Mars and Carolina Country Snacks are both closing has driven down further the area’s average salary income.

“Closings like these don’t help – the local population depends on industry,” he said.

There’s an offer to purchase the city’s three communication towers for $1 million, which would provide a nice infusion of cash to the general fund, but it’s not an ideal situation.

The towers provide a revenue stream for the city, and normally neither Fuqua nor City Manager Paylor Spruill said they’d think selling the asset would be a good idea, when Council Member Catherine “Kitty” Gill asked for more explanation.

Fuqua said the city has an “absolute need for some liquidity,” and Spruill said he would choose to put out an RFP to see if the city could get a better price.

In a follow-up conversation Monday night with WIZS News, Fuqua said of the possible sale of city assets, “You come to that kind of decision at very distressed times, and we’re there. It’s something that is a quick fix, stop-gap effort and unfortunately, we’re at the point to where something like that is actually on the table for consideration.”

Fuqua said if the trends hold true, the current $5.5 million in fund balance will be more like $3.8 million available for the next year’s budget.

“If we’re going to need another $5 million – and it looks like we probably will, if the trend continues, then we’re not going to be able to balance the budget using fund balance,” he said.

“It’s going to have to be done through further deep cuts.”

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North Henderson Baptist Church Hosts “Hot Wheels” Stock Car Races May 16th; 10 a.m. For All Ages

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North Henderson Baptist Church is getting into stock car racing.

It’s called AMAZING gRACE, and it’s all about who’s got the fastest Hot Wheels! and Matchbox cars.

It’s also about getting young people to church, said Pastor Eddie Nutt.

Young people – and adults – will race these miniature cars on Saturday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

There will be a free hotdog lunch, too, Nutt said on Monday’s TownTalk.

The children will compete by age category, Nutt said, and there will be one adult category.

The races will be conducted on a 14-foot long track that’s complete with stock car racing’s signature “countdown” lights. There’s a remote-controlled gate to ensure clean, easy starts.

The drop gate has lights just like a drag strip, Nutt said. And the clock can measure to the hundredth of a second for those “too-close-to-call” races.

Children who don’t have their own stash of collectible miniatures needn’t fret – come anyway and choose from among a variety that will be available at the church.

The cars can’t be altered in any way, Nutt said, but they can have a little graphite for lubrication purposes.

The plan is to have races each quarter, he said, and the church has plans for additional race events upcoming in July, November and February.

North Henderson Baptist Church is located at 1211 North Garnett Street in Henderson.

 

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TownTalk: 62nd Annual Henderson Shrine Club Fish Fry Wednesday, May 13

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The 62nd annual Henderson Shrine Club Fish Fry is coming up – make plans to eat in or take out on Wednesday, May 13 at Tony’s Auto on Raleigh Road.

This is the second year at this location, and long-time Henderson Shriner Donald Seifert said the club is grateful for the partnership.

Seifert said, “Tony and his wife Tammy have been really good to us making their space available. As long as we can go there, that certainly would be our location of choice,” he said on Thursday’s segment of TownTalk.

Plates are $12 and will be served from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. But Henderson Shrine Club President Billy Currin shared some friendly advice: “I wouldn’t wait until seven o’clock” to pull up to the drive-thru lane or pull in to eat in at Tony’s 50’s diner-style establishment.

“I’m looking forward to May 13,” Currin said. “The community has always been gracious in supporting us and coming out.”

Last year’s fish fry was a good one – it netted about $10,000 for the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Greenville, S.C. Organizers are hopeful this year’s event will be just as good or even better.

Currin said nothing’s ever perfect, but last year’s fundraiser came pretty close.

“Last year was just about perfect, Currin said, who’s got 25 or so fish fry fundraisers under his belt. “Plates were on time – everything went well. We sold the last plate right at 7. It just worked out great.”

Jennifer Ellis has helped coordinate volunteers for at least 16 years and she said a key component is the assembly line, making sure the filled plates – 2 pieces of freshly cooked fish, slaw, potato salad and hush puppies – get to where they’re needed, whether that’s to keep the drive-thru flowing or inside Tony’s for those who want to dine in.

Ellis said, “It takes a lot of people to make this a success – for the children.”

It’s all for the children – children who get care at the Shriner’s Hospital – that volunteers, Shriners and the community come together each year to raise money.

“It warms my heart that everyone can come together for a good cause…our children hold a special place in our hearts,” Ellis said.

Contact Ellis at 252. 213.3685 if you’d like to volunteer to help. She’ll find a spot for you.

Over the years, Shriners, their friends and families have racked up countless volunteer hours to put on more than 60 fish fry fundraisers, which have contributed a cumulative $570,000 to the hospital, Currin said.

Families of Shriner’s Hospital’s patients don’t get a bill for the care their child receives. Neither do they have to pay for transportation, lodging or meals while they are there.

“I think that’s a great thing, especially this day and time,” Currin said. “The families are in a time of need – you’re worried about your child…lost wages. But you have a hospital to provide a service.

“To me, it does my heart well to take off a day from work to volunteer and give to the Shriner’s hospital. I just think it’s a great thing.”

The group also is bringing the calliope out of storage to provide its unique musical sounds to the event.

And there’s one more added bonus this year, thanks to Sanford – ice cream!

Eat-in patrons can purchase a cup of Tony’s famous soft-serve for $1.

WIZS Radio is sponsoring the ice cream extra by purchasing the ingredients, which allows each $1 donation to go directly to the Shriner’s Hospital.

Seifert said Durham Coca-Cola and Hager Rand with Rand Beverages is sponsoring beverages – Coke products, of course – that are available for purchase for eat-in customers, which adds to the net proceeds, too.

There are 20 Shriner’s Hospitals across the U.S. that provide world-class pediatric care regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Seifert said that’s what makes it such a worthwhile cause. “That’s one of the reasons our fish frys have been successful,” he noted. “Because people in our town and in our communities recognize it as a very worthy cause. And we thank them.”

Call Currin at 252.432.7286 if you need 10 or more plates delivered and he will make sure that happens.

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TownTalk: Chamber’s “State Of” Event Features The Case Made For Data Centers

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Economic Development Director Ferdinand Rouse was the guest speaker at the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce’s “State of” luncheon on Tuesday to talk about the current state of local economic development.

Most of Rouse’s presentation dealt with plans, goals, strategies that need to be in place to attract business and industry before he touched on what many in the audience, no doubt, were waiting to hear: data centers and data center development.

Using Richmond County as an example, he described what a scenario may look like for Vance County, providing several pros and cons for having a similar project locate in the area.

(In the embedded audio below you can hear what Rouse said.)

Richmond County, bordering South Carolina in the southern Piedmont region, landed an Amazon data center last year – a $10 billion project for a 20-building campus on about 800 acres.

Rouse listed one “pro” in the current climate is that data center developers aren’t calling the shots like they once did, asking for incentives, tax breaks and more from the places they want to locate.

“The landscape has drastically changed,” he noted, in large part because of pushback from communities and people who ask questions about possible negative impacts.

Data center developers are paying their way with regard to infrastructure and basically becoming a lot more intentional about being good community partners, he said.

When utility upgrades are needed, “they’ll foot the bill for that,” he said, so those costs aren’t passed on to rate payers.

“Cons” include the amount of water they require – 2.5 million gallons a day isn’t unusual. By comparison, the city of Henderson and Vance County combined use about 4 million gallons a day.

If energy suppliers have to make infrastructure upgrades to accommodate increased demand, those extra costs are passed to all rate payers.

Rouse said the question is not if customers will pay more, but whether they will benefit from having a project in their county that would add millions and millions to the tax rolls.

“Are you going to pay for another community’s success?” he asked.

It’s important to distinguish, Rouse continued, between what he called “good” actors and “bad” actors. “Knowing who you’re working with is a big part of this,” he said.

Another important aspect of economic development is being able to have ongoing, thoughtful conversations with community members to determine which projects are the best fits for the area.

He said the city and county need to continue to work together when opportunities present themselves.

“Our fates are tied together,” he said.

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TownTalk: Vance County Manager Presents FY 26-27 Budget

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County Manager Renee Perry presented the 26-27 budget to commissioners on Monday. The proposed general fund budget is $72.47 million, which represents an 8.97 percent over last year’s budget.

The budget maintains the current property tax rate and there would be no change in the fire tax, Perry said. About $7.5 million would be appropriated from the fund balance to support operations and capital needs and maintain a balanced budget.

This budget is driven largely by the planned capital investment that the county is anticipating, including construction of a new jail and other critical projects, like a new EMS fire station and EMS substation.

(You can hear clips of the commissioners and manager in the embedded audio below.)

County employees would get a 3 percent cost of living increase, partial implementation of the compensation study and a one-time performance-based pay program.

Perry cited rising costs in insurance, detention operations, social services and retirement contributions as factors to consider when creating a budget for the county.

All county-funded agencies will be level-funded in the proposed budget, and Perry invited all stakeholders to the table to discuss their needs during the budget work sessions.

Perry’s budget includes creation of a $5 million capital reserve fund to address future debt obligations.

The county remains on the Local Government Commission’s Unit Assistance list, and Perry said while she acknowledges the audit findings that persist within the county’s financial accounting procedures, she said staff has made good progress in addressing those findings and clearing them up.

Earlier in the meeting, when Perry was reviewing the audit report, Commissioner Dan Brummitt took issue about the findings and said the board needed to keep an eye on what’s going on as the effort to reduce budget violations continues.

Chair Carolyn Faines, however, thanked Perry and said she and staff are doing a good job.

Perry said a paper copy of the budget would be available Tuesday at the county office for the public to review and a copy is available on the county’s webpage at vancecounty.org/departments/board-of-commissioners

Perry asked commissioners to take some time to compile a list of questions and comments they have and send them via email to Perry in advance of the scheduled work sessions so she and staff will have adequate time to provide answers.

Budget work sessions were scheduled for 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12 and Monday, May 18.  Citizens will get a chance to weigh in on the budget at a public comment hearing on Monday, June 1 beginning at 6 p.m.

Thirteen people signed up for public hearing – Chair Carolyn Faines opened the public comment by reading a prepared statement calling for the audience and speakers to conduct themselves in a proper manner or they’d be escorted out of the meeting. Each person had 2 min and 20 seconds to speak.

  • 6 spoke in opposition to the idea of a data center in the county.
  • 4 spoke about funding for schools and school employees.
  • Kelley Wade Perdue zeroed in on audit findings, citing a lack of internal controls, resulting in incorrect tax billing
  • Angie Ryan asked for a public forum to give the community a chance to ask questions and gets answers. There’s a lot of discussion but few facts, she said, adding that clear communication prevents misinformation.

As part of the county manager’s report, Perry said the N.C. Association of County Commissioners N.C. Association of County Commissioners is recommending that all 100 counties adopt a resolution that opposes modifications to the county property tax authority being discussed in the General Assembly by the Property Tax and Reform Committee.

The resolution would support maintaining local authority over property tax decisions because of the critical role property tax plays to ensure fiscal stability and responsiveness to community needs.

There is discussion about placing a cap or creating structural changes to the property tax legislation.

This would significantly reduce local flexibility and negatively impact the county’s ability to meet service demands and long-term obligations, Perry stated. The resolution would support preservation of local control.

Commissioner Brummitt said he would not support the resolution. “I think at this point we need some oversight from the state to do that. I cannot support this resolution,” citing the steep rise in county budgets over the past four years.

As part of Perry’s response, she said the talk is focused on increasing budgets, but there is little talk about “kicking the can down the road” that the county has done for years. basically,

She said she didn’t want people to think that “this administration just spends money because we want to. That is not what we do.”

She said county salaries have been below standard for years. In the past 3 years, the county budget has provided a 7 percent COLA in her first year, and 3 percent increases last year and this year.

“It costs to run county government,” she said.

The commissioners voted 6-1 to approve the resolution. Brummitt cast the lone “no” vote.

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TownTalk: CultureFest Coming to Downtown Oxford May 9

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CultureFest returns to downtown Oxford on Saturday, May 9 for its sixth year celebrating cultural diversity through music, dance, food, language and the arts.

Hosted by the John Chavis Historical Society, CultureFest also is a nod to the legacy of Dr. Helen Chavis Othow, the society’s founder and the person who spearheaded the very first CultureFest.

Othow’s daughter, Ajulo Othow, who also serves as the society’s treasurer, said it’s extra special to have CultureFest on Mother’s Day weekend, calling it “a celebration of my mom’s legacy and all that she taught me.”

Join the fun along Main Street and Williamsboro Street Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. – admission is free – and experience sights, sounds, tastes and craftsmanship from all over the globe.

“It’s a way of celebrating the contributions of all people to our community,” Othow said on Monday’s TownTalk. “What it really is intended to do is create a space where – unfortunately we don’t have enough spaces like this – where we can all come together and appreciate each other in a way that’s really meaningful and that’s coming from a place of love. It really is about love at the end of the day.”

A few years ago, Othow said she sought the help of an event planner to help with the growing festival. This is the third year that The Cathy Anna Collective has joined forces with the John Chavis Historical Society to produce the festival.

As the event planner explained it, CultureFest grew from a parking lot event with a crowd of about 800 to a street festival with a crowd of 3,500 two years ago to 5,500 in attendance last year.

“We are really expecting more crowd this year,” Anna said. “The word is out. People have seen what we do at CultureFest, which is totally different.

The event offers a unique experience for everyone.

Among those experiences are 13 different performances throughout the day, from the 10 a.m. opening ceremony to the 5 p.m. Latin Trois band. In between, there will be Irish dancing, a karate and weapons demonstration by a former Olympian, dancing by the Haliwa Saponi tribe, reggae and steel drums, West Africa Kuumba dancers, the British Invaders and so much more.

Those in attendance last year will surely remember the Chinese dancers and their Dragon Dance.

Anna said the dragon won’t be back, but the dance group will be. And they’re bringing something “super spectacular” that you’ll surely want to see.

“There will be a ton of different performers who are going to come in and share their culture with us, which is so beautiful,” she said.

About 100 vendors will bring an array of foods representing different parts of the world, as well as artisans who will have unique handcrafted items. And since it’s Mother’s Day weekend, you can find that special something for Mom while you’re visiting CultureFest and enjoying all it has to offer.

The organizers said it’s important to try to provide something new each year to incorporate into the performances and activities that are crowd favorites.

“We want to grow it every year,” Anna said.

For her, seeing the array of different cultures represented at CultureFest brought her to a new level of understanding.

And what began as a job a few years ago quickly became her “heart project,” Anna said. She said, “Loving on people who don’t look like me – I absolutely love that. When you’re in that space and you see people learning, and enthralled at what’s happening before them, you know they’re taking it away in their hearts. That’s a special, special project.”

Othow said although CultureFest is just one day, “it is an opportunity to step away from the daily – sometimes sad, sometimes negative news – to be able to think about, learn about things that are enduring beyond the day-to-day. The language, dance, art, music – those things are universal,” she said. “They remind us of what’s really important – our humanity, the togetherness that we share, the commonalities that we share.”

Visit culturefestnc.com to see a full schedule of events for CultureFest.

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TownTalk: Business Spotlight – Ninja Realty

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For James Hutson, it all started with a 1994 green Thunderbird. And a personal desire to keep moving forward.

That T-bird was Hutson’s first car, and he bought it with money he earned from having yard sales.

Even then, as a teenager, Hutson was a salesman. He said he sold whatever he could get his hands on and put out on the yard on Carey Chapel Road. He had a goal: He had to buy a car.

He held yard sales all summer long back in 2004, and he figured out a way to extend his reach and get the word out about his yard sales. He called Tradio on WIZS.

Yep, Tradio.

“I sold so much on Tradio,” Hutson said.

“Without Tradio, I wouldn’t have gotten that first car as fast as I did,” he said.

When October rolled around, with his car – paid in full – in the front yard, the young man was on his way. Hutson celebrated his 16th birthday at his first job – Taco Bell.

Those yard sales – along with his positive, forward-thinking outlook – combined to propel Hutson into a career in real estate, which he landed on in a somewhat haphazard manner.

Now, as the owner of Henderson-based Ninja Realty and Boom Management, Hutson works with a team of highly skilled agents and real estate specialists to provide a full complement of services for their clients.

But when he was a student at Southern Vance High School, Hutson had plans of becoming a carpenter, a homebuilder.

That is, until he took carpentry class and learned that, as he put it, he wasn’t very good.

About that same time, his computer teacher gave the class an assignment to write about where they’d be after graduation, and, almost on a whim, Hutson said he decided he’d choose realtor.

He’d remembered a local realtor who’d helped a family member a few years earlier, Hutson said. So that’s the career he wrote about.

He and another student were in the running for a Teaching Fellows scholarship, but “I turned it down for real estate,” Hutson recalled. In hindsight, a good decision.

Fast-forward to Day 1 at real estate school. Hutson learned something in the first five minutes that had him all set to head for the door: Real estate, the instructor said, is commission-based.

What?

But there were no refunds, Hutson explained, somewhat philosophically adding, “we just keep moving forward, no refunds. Keep it moving.”

A single point kept him from passing the real estate exam on the first try. He needed an 80 and got a 79. It was close to a year before he could take the exam again, mostly because of the $500 fee he didn’t have.

But he used that time to lobby Vance-Granville Community College to add a real estate class, which it did. Hutson took the class, taught by former real estate appraiser Fern Boyd, and when he sat for the exam a second time, he “passed it with flying colors.”

Fast-forward again to 2015 when Ninja Realty began. Within a couple of years, he had taken the company independent and now, their bright orange signs are on homes for sale and for rent, as well as commercial properties.

Recently, a commercial property owner worked with Hutson’s consulting team for about 10 months to get the property ready for the market, and it’s currently under contract – for between $300,000 and $400,000 more than before the Ninja team got involved.

“I like seeing people reach their goals,” Hutson said. One of Ninja Realty’s core values is building generational wealth.

“I believe the best way to help a community is to help get it out of poverty,” he said. “Poverty is the enemy of everyone…if you create generational wealth and you change that system that people have been in for who knows how long – some people’s family has been in poverty for hundreds of years – you can really set a new course for people.”

There’s another core value, Hutson calls it Ninja’s “secret sauce” that he’s happy to share.

“We truly do try to treat everyone the way we want to be treated,” he said.

Landlords who work with Hutson’s team to manage their rental properties can rest assured that the Ninja team is going to treat their property as if it were their own. He employs the same negotiating style for clients as he would if he were buying a property for himself. “Everything I’m doing for me is what I do for the consumer,” he said.

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TownTalk: Local Teen Creates ‘Henderson NewsLine’ To Report On Community Issues

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Jackson Taylor is a home-schooled student who spends several hours each morning on his four classes.

That frees up his afternoons, evenings – and weekends – for online endeavors, but it has nothing to do with video games, online chats or TikTok videos. Taylor spends a lot of his time away from his studies focused on Henderson Newsline, an online local journalism project that is gaining momentum – and followers.

When he spoke with WIZS recently, he said he expected his 2.5K followers to tick up to 2.6K by day’s end. Taylor is thinking about expanding his reach beyond his current Facebook platform. He’s analyzing the demographics of the people who are following his stories, and said he’d like his work to springboard one day beyond the current social media outlet.

But Taylor isn’t some college Journalism student with aspirations of catapulting to the New York Times or Washington Post.

Taylor’s 14. He’s in middle school.

The teenager said it was toward the end of 5th grade when the idea popped into his head to start a student-led community outlet focused on delivering news.

He knew the “what,” but he didn’t know the “how,” so he did what a lot of people do – he turned to the Internet for help. He found instructional videos to help him work through some of the logistics of starting an online social media-based news outlet.

Henderson Newsline started in December 2025 and in the ensuing months, the site has gained followers.

“I didn’t expect it to go anywhere,” he said. “I was just kinda doing my own thing…

and it has gone through the roof. It’s grown faster than I expected.”

His “strong passion” for public safety – think law enforcement and the fire service – fuel his desire to share information on his social media feed.

He said Henderson Newsline is focused on public safety, providing a reliable source of information on a free platform.

Taylor is out and about in the community and attends local events just like other traditional journalists.

“I talk to people, gather information and try to put stories out,” he said. It’s the mix of “on-the-ground” reporting and digital engagement that help him to carve his own niche.

“I saw a gap and that gap is not enough news,” Taylor said. “Not enough positive news, not enough accurate news…someone needed to step in.”

He said he enjoys the work he’s doing but admits that it does get tiring at times. Listening to the police scanner half the night – even on weekends – can get old.

“It gets tiring, but I also think it pays off,” he said.

Taylor doesn’t know what the future holds, but he said he envisions himself in a role that brings together his interests in public safety and journalism – perhaps a public information role in a police department, sheriff’s office or the State Highway Patrol.

In the meantime, he said he hopes Henderson Newsline grows into “a trusted well-known news source in the region.”

He plans to continue to serve the community and provide accurate and fact-checked information.

And one day, maybe one day, expand into broadcasting either on the radio or on television.

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