Every Tuesday, a group of around 10 local artists gather together to paint in the basement of the Church of the Apostles in Raleigh.
Following the departure of the church’s former art teacher, artist Sally Preslar started a group called the Midtown Artists in 2010. Preslar recruited two other church members who she knew were interested in continuing painting, and, through various art classes and events around the city, eventually attracted a larger group of painters.
Dennis Redmond, a former registered nurse at UNC, found the group four years ago after retiring on disability due to a tumor he had to have removed from his spinal cord. Redmond says he got bored sitting around the house when he was used to running around all day, so he started painting. He originally painted with acrylics but says he wanted to learn how to use oil paints, so Redmond took a class at a local art gallery. There, he met Midtown Artists member Linda Ayers, who invited him to join the Midtown Artists.
Preslar taught Redmond how to paint with oil paints and he quickly became friends with the other artists. “That group has really become my family, my best friends,” Redmond says. “When you find your tribe, you just know it.”
Last year, the Midtown Artists held a pop-up art show the weekend before Mother’s Day at a group member’s home to sell their artwork to the community. They set up their pieces on easels and tables and put out some cookies and lemonade, then sat out on lawn chairs, chatting with each other and anyone who happened upon the pop-up. Redmond says his favorite part of the pop-up is the camaraderie. “I love meeting people and talking to people—a lot of them want to learn more about the group,” he says.
The Midtown Artists planned to hold another pop-up during the weekend before Mother’s Day this year, but the coronavirus pandemic forced them to reschedule for September 19. The pop-up will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 301 Hudson Street in Raleigh.
Preslar says tables will be spaced 6 feet apart and whoever visits will need to wear a mask. She says she’s excited to see what everyone in the group has been working on recently.
“I love the reaction we get from the public about our pieces,” Preslar says. “It’s a lot of fun.”
WEB EXCLUSIVE James Beard semifinalist chef Ricky Moore’s famous seafood is loved by many around the Triangle. Within his two nondescript Durham Saltbox Seafood Joint locations, Moore whips up some of the best fried fish, hushpuppies and seafood rolls—favorites include the shrimp roll, fried oyster roll and spicy mahi roll—away from the coast.
On August 26, Moore received a $25,000 award from credit card company Discover as part of its #EatItForward social media campaign, which began in July in an effort to celebrate Black-owned businesses and provide them with financial relief following the COVID-19 shutdown. Rather than having restaurants apply for the funds themselves, patrons nominate them through Discover’s social media platforms.
“We are incredibly grateful to Discover for recognizing Black-owned restaurants like ours during this challenging time,” says Moore. “Our community has always supported us passionately, and these last few months, we’ve especially felt the love, but there is no denying the uncertainty that still lies ahead during this pandemic and the impact this financial infusion will have on our short and long-term success.”
Photo by Briana Brough
Moore says it was always a dream of his to own his own business. As a chef, he worked in some of the most prestigious kitchens in the world, including at Equinox in Washington D.C., Daniel in New York City and Apicius in Paris. Moore opened the original Saltbox Seafood Joint in Old Five Points in 2012, with the second location opening in 2017 in Rockwood. Now, Moore plans to invest the $25,000 award directly into his two prized restaurants, which have been open throughout the pandemic for take out, and now, dine in.
“I knew from a young age that owning my own business was the real path to success, and to be rewarded for that now further reaffirms all that hard work; it’s incredibly empowering,” Moore says. “It’s important that we continue this incredible momentum that Discover has begun, spreading the love and support to black-owned restaurateurs everywhere.”
As part of its #EatItForward campaign, Discover’s goal is to award a total of $5 million to 200 Black-owned restaurants across the country over the course of 17 weeks. Visit Discover’s Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to nominate the next winner.
WEB EXCLUSIVE After 30 years maintaining a personalized in-person shopping experience at Main & Taylor in North Hills, owner Diane Chinnis was forced to change the boutique shoe store’s operations due to the coronavirus pandemic. When the state shut businesses down at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, Chinnis developed an online store to sell products in order to continue reaching her customers—before COVID, Main & Taylor’s website didn’t have anything on it available to buy.
Chinnis says she held out on offering an online store for a long time because she believes in the one-on-one interaction her store offers when customers come in. “We have lots of great relationships with our customers,” Chinnis says. “My husband and I thrive on that interaction.” When people come into the store to shop, they’re able to ask about different shoe styles, try on a various sizes and get recommendations from employees.
Dolce Vita Booties from Main & Taylor’s online shop
Chinnis has been able to continue that same personal service online, through emails and phone calls with customers. If she sees a customer has ordered a shoe that runs on the larger side, she’ll let them know they might want to size down. She’ll send additional photos of a shoe if a customer requests it, or talks to shoppers on the phone about what she thinks of a shoe. During the pandemic, Chinnis’s husband even made local deliveries to shoppers’ doorsteps. “You’re not going to get that from a Nordstrom or a Zappos,” Chinnis says.
Main & Taylor is just one of many local businesses that have had to change time-honored operations and philosophies. Jason Jefferies of Quail Ridge Books also chose to focus on online sales, offering free shipping nationally and curbside pickup locally. While Quail Ridge sold books on its website before, during the shutdown the store increased its online sales by 3,000 percent. Now, Quail Ridge is open to eight customers at a time, but Jefferies says he’ll continue to offer free shipping nationally for as long as he believes people should stay at home. “Our number one priority is the safety of our staff and our customers,” he adds. Additionally, instead of running author events in the store, a common pre-COVID ritual for Quail Ridge, the store streams virtual semianrs, readings and conservations with featured authors online through Zoom.
With the future still unknown, Chinnis also plans to keep up with Main & Taylor’s online store. She’s already added shoes for the fall season, which can also be purchased through Facebook. But she says she hopes people will realize that just because her store has a web presence now, it doesn’t mean customers can’t call her or reach out by email, or they can come into the store if they’re comfortable doing so. “[Our customers] still want to support us and look at shoes and [the website] gives them a way to do that,” Chinnis says. “It’s just a different layer to help our customers and keep our business open.”
Vermillion owner Ashley Vermillion Webb styles a new dress on Instagram
Other local businesses that have had to pivot their operations include Vermillion, whose owner, Ashley Vermillion Webb, has been posting daily videos featuring new merchandise on Instagram and Facebook, styled on herself, an employee or a mannequin. Brovelli Oil, Vinegar & Gifts in City Market started a mobile cooking class by which a professional chef teaches attendees how to cook different recipes at home using the store’s olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Additionally, Deco Raleigh is offering shopping by appointment in order to allow customers to come in and peruse the store safely.
It’s a weird time for everyone right now, but local businesses have proven that they’re able to pivot their services in unique ways to continue to accommodate customers while keeping everyone–employees and the public–safe.
WEB EXCLUSIVE The NC State Memorial Belltower is finally getting its bells!
That’s right, the iconic 115-foot-tall landmark you took photos in front of for graduation, lit up red for State wins and served as a beacon for celebrations and events on Hillsborough Street, was really just, well, a tower. Last year, the university began the Memorial Belltower Completion and Restoration Project in order to add real bells to NC State’s signature landmark, which were never installed due to lack of funds when the work on the belltower began in the 1900s.
In June, the first of the belltower’s bells were lifted into the tower using a crane, and on August 14, some of the smallest of the 55 bells arrived, just in time for NC State’s Wolfpack Welcome Week and the return of students to campus. The bells are only about six inches in diameter and are engraved with the school’s spirited wolf hand sign. Another set of bells are expected to arrive later this month.
For this, you can thank 1981 alumnus Bill Henry and his wife Frances, who supplied the university a generous donation for the bells, as well as for much-needed renovations and structural repairs to the tower and upgrades to the surrounding plaza, which will be named Henry Square. The addition of the bells will mark the completion for the belltower, which was erected in 1921 in honor of 34 alumni killed in World War I.
The project also includes restoration of the Shrine Room and its marble and installation of an ascending path to make the bellower site more accessible. “It also restores, upgrades and improves this vital symbol of the university community’s past, present and future,” reads a blog post on NC State’s website concerning the restorations and upgrades. “The project team is striving to maintain historic integrity while mitigating issues such as water infiltration, so that the tower will stand strong for years to come.”
Updated: NC State announced it will move its undergraduate classes to online-only starting Monday, August 24; on-campus residence halls will not be closed. ECU is moving classes online starting Wednesday, August 26.
Within a week of opening for the fall semester, UNC Chapel Hill has moved all of its classes online due to coronavirus clusters reported in student housing all over campus. Could it be just a matter of time before NC State moves its classes online–and its students off campus–too? Or could Gov. Cooper issue an executive order to universities to help control the spread?
Here’s where the state, Raleigh and Wake County are with COVID-19 today.
Schooling During A Pandemic
Yesterday, NC State reported it has identified two new COVID-19 clusters at sorority houses Alpha Delta Pi (seven cases) and Kappa Delta (six cases), following reports of an initial cluster in an off-campus house on Tuesday. (North Carolina officials define a cluster as five or more cases in close proximity). Though it reported 27 new cases among students and one new employee case Wednesday, NC State leaders say, unlike UNC Chapel Hill, it has no plans to stop in-person classes.
UNC converted to all virtual classes after a coronavirus outbreak of 135 cases—130 students and five employees—and four clusters, making it the first university to send students back home after opening for the fall semester less than a week before. The four clusters were found in on-campus residence halls and off-campus fraternity houses; Carolina Athletics temporarily suspended athletic activities for all sports teams this week, but said the the fall season will continue.
Photo courtesy of @UNC on Twitter
Additionally, the Student Health Center at UNC Wilmington has reported seven COVID cases.
Meanwhile, on August 9, Neuse Christian Academy in Raleigh learned that a student had tested positive for COVID-19, and decided to cancel classes until further notice while they follow protocols for quarantining and cleaning laid out by the Wake County Health Department. Many other private schools in Wake County have chose to reopen for in-person instruction, while Wake County Public Schools started the school year on Monday with remote, online learning only with the hope of bringing students back in either October or November.
Funding For Expanded Internet Access
Gov. Roy Cooper announced a $12 million fund to expand internet access for the state’s K-12 public school students who are starting the school year remotely. The money will make broadband high-speed internet available to 8,017 families and 254 businesses, farms and community institutions. “These projects will help bridge the digital divide in 11 rural counties, so these communities can access important services and participate in our increasingly digital society and economy,” Cooper said in a statement.
The COVID-19 Recovery Act awarded an additional $2 million in funding to enable broadband connections in 1,157 households and 11 businesses, agricultural operations and community anchor institutions in Robeson County.
City of Raleigh Cancels All Events Through 2021
First it was Brewgaloo and Dreamville, then it was the State Fair and the Christmas Parade, and now it’s every large-scale event or festival sponsored by Raleigh through the rest of the year. The city originally cancelled all events up until October 31, but extended the cancellations due to coronavirus concerns. This means that First Night Raleigh, the city’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration featuring the Acorn Drop at midnight, the annual tree lighting ceremony, the downtown food truck rodeo and more have all been called off.
