Up & Coming Weekly

November 06, 2018

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.

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4 UCW NOVEMBER 7-13, 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 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. Cover photos credited to the following: Soldiers walking in a line in desert, a U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Alejandro Pena; Color photo at bottom credited to VisitFayettevilleNC.com, the rest are con- sidered public domain via wikimedia. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Naming rights? You bet! And Fayetteville's Class A Advanced baseball team President Mark Zarthar and company named it right. e Fayetteville Woodpeckers is a name that can fly with the eagles with its powerful, attractive logo that automati- cally evokes a sense of pride, strength and determination. at pretty much defines the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. On Sunday, Nov. 4, more than 1,000 people and potential Woodpeckers fans showed up at Festival Park to find out what the team name would be. I doubt there was anyone, other than the die-hard skep- tics, who thought the name Fatbacks was even in the running. Again, kudos to the Houston Astros organization. e name is great, the logos are awesome, the uniforms are classy, and the launch event was a huge success. e celebration was ex- ecuted with class and style, encompassing and reflecting many aspects of our commu- nity. It included beer, a great band and baseball. What's not to like? So far, it looks like our $37.8 mil- lion stadium has great economic development potential for downtown Fayetteville. However, a future chal- lenge may lie in managing all this newfound economic potential and good fortune. Harnessing potential to successfully create a vibrant, exciting downtown community is a decades-old objective that seems to remain stub- bornly elusive. One business owner described the situation in downtown Fayetteville as having "too many chiefs and not enough Indians." Another referred to having an overabundance of self-serving, noncom- municating organizations content on building silos rather than a consensus. In other words, downtown Fayetteville seems to conflict with itself to its own detriment. is needs to change. Downtown Fayetteville desperately needs a common bond or thread if it is to realize the full potential of our new stadium and Fayetteville Woodpeckers baseball team. is is not hyperbole. is is serious business. Example: My $5 glass of wine at Huske Hardware House Restaurant and Brew- ery Sunday evening trans- formed into a $130 dinner tab when I was joined by friends attending the Astros' Wood- peckers event in Festival Park. is long-anticipated party brought people and business into Fayetteville. With this being the case, you would have thought the downtown businesses, merchants, restaurants and organiza- tions, including the Greater Fayetteville Chamber, would have readied themselves to take advantage of and partici- pate in this once-in-a-lifetime celebration. Hay Street should have been lit up like a Christ- mas tree, celebrating the Woodpeckers with shops and restaurants opened and ready to do business. It didn't happen. Hay Street was dark, and if you listened closely, you could hear the food trucks leav- ing Festival Park with our money, goodwill and hope for developing a healthy and vibrant downtown. Like I said, we are conflicted in our overall objectives because we fail to communicate. is is a simple problem that can be easily elimi- nated if anyone would step up in a leader- ship role to bring everyone together. We are hopeful this happens soon. Again, a hearty welcome to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers! ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Introducing the Fayetteville Woodpeckers by BILL BOWMAN BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. NOVEMBER 8 Cloudy LOW 51 HIGH 60 NOVEMBER 12 PM Showers LOW 44 HIGH 68 NOVEMBER 11 Sunny HIGH 56 NOVEMBER 9 AM Showers LOW 44 HIGH 67 NOVEMBER 10 AM Clouds/PM Sun HIGH 57 HIGH 61 NOVEMBER 13 Mostly Sunny WOO! WOO! LOW 40 LOW 36 LOW 36 It looks like our $37.8 million stadium has great economic development potential for downtown Fayetteville. However, a future challenge may lie in managing all this newfound economic potential and good fortune.

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