Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1040072
4 UCW OCTOBER 17-23, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM PUBLISHER'S PEN STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly. com ASSISTANT EDITOR Leslie Pyo leslie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. EarlUCWSports@gmail.com REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Long art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Jason Brady, Lauren Vanderveen, Matthew Skipper, Shane Wilson SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the pub- lisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. ©2018 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. e city of Fayetteville needs and wants a vibrant downtown. e new Astros baseball stadium and tens of millions of dollars in new construction and economic development on our door- step bring us nearly endless opportunities. Now is the time for city officials and downtown organizations like the Greater Fayetteville Chamber, the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, the Downtown Alliance and Cool Spring Downtown District to come together to define and solidify a joint mission and to brand downtown as a destination. It's time to find common ground that nurtures cooperation, in- stills confidence and exudes enthusiasm and hospitality. Spending $38 million on a baseball stadium will not be enough to accomplish this. Case in point: the unfortu- nate closing of the Walmart store in the Murchison Road community. I'm not a Walmart shopper, nor am I a fan of its overall national corporate strategy. However, this was a national corporate entity that stepped up to solve a Fayetteville community problem after a study identified that neighborhood as a food desert. Walmart Inc. is savvy when it comes to corporate planning and development. Walmart built that store on the premise that not only was it needed, but it would be supported by the people of the com- munity and serve as the economic cata- lyst for Fayetteville's future development of the Murchison Road corridor. But in less than four years, those warm and fuzzy sound bites and politically mo- tivated assumptions failed to materialize. Why? ree reasons. e study was based on political bias and faulty information. ere was a lack of sufficient planning. And there was no advertising, marketing or promotion. Lesson learned? We'll see. Back to downtown Fayetteville and its future possibilities. Cool Spring Down- town District, a nonprofit organization under the interim direction of former Fayetteville mayor Tony Chavonne, seems to be emerging as the catalyst for promoting the history, charm and attributes of downtown Fayetteville. Most impressive is the recent hiring of a marketing profes- sional who understands how media works and acknowl- edges that if we want people to come downtown, they must first be invited and have a reason for coming. I say this because for the first time that I can remem- ber, downtown Fayetteville – via the CSDD – is actively marketing and promoting Fayetteville to more than 10,000 visitors who will attend the annual Comic Con at the Crown Coliseum the week- end of Oct. 20-21. Like I said, the first step is to invite them. Comic Con visitors, vendors and ce- lebrity guests have all been invited downtown, and we are giving them a welcoming party on Saturday night at Huske Hardware House Oct. 20 from 8-10 p.m. And guess what? You are also invited! We tip our hats to CSDD and the folks at Huske Hard- ware. is is a wonderful example of how to success- fully market, promote and advertise our community. We want to invite people to visit downtown to experi- ence our history, view our art, eat in our restaurants and shop in our stores. And this is a great start. Congratulations to CSDD. is is the start of something good, and we are proud to be a part of it. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Kudos to Cool Spring Downtown District by BILL BOWMAN BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. e Cool Spring Downtown District is having a party for Comic Con visitors, vendors and celebrity guests – and you are invited, too. OCTOBER 18 Rain/Wind LOW 43 HIGH 62 OCTOBER 22 Mostly Sunny LOW 42 HIGH 64 OCTOBER 21 Mostly Sunny HIGH 62 OCTOBER 19 Showers LOW 55 HIGH 69 OCTOBER 20 Mostly Sunny LOW 45 HIGH 73 HIGH 66 OCTOBER 23 AM Showers LOW 45 WOO! LOW 39