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/1168827
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2019 UCW 13 CAROLINE SCHAFER, Con- tributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. 910-484-6200. e Vision Resource Center, Cape Fear Eye Associates and Systel present the Seventh Annual "Out of Sight" Night at the Park, Saturday, Sept. 21, from 6-10 p.m. at Segra Stadium on the VIP deck. "e purpose of the event this year is to help us reach our birth-to-13-years-of-age population of kids," said Terri omas, executive director of e Vision Resource Center. "e state does not take on kids until they are 14 years of age, so this money will be going toward building that program." omas added they want to be able to work more with the families and equip them with the tools they need so that, as their kid gets older, they will be able to handle life's stresses and be there for them with- out the fears and lack of knowledge that many of the parents have. e event will have heavy hors d'oeuvres. e dress code is cocktail attire. Kelvin "e Greek" Cul- breth will be the master of ceremonies for the event. e Guy Unger Band will provide entertainment. Quince Lanford, known as DJ "Q," will be the DJ for the evening. "We are going to have a few vendors on-site," said omas. "We will have Quin- tex Low Vision and Visual Eyez Future Technology. ey will be there showing different low vision aids for people to try on to see what it is like to have visual impair- ments. "Hollywood Java will be there for coffee tasting. We are going to have people put on blindfolds and taste dif- ferent coffees," said omas. "We will have them pick their favorite coffees based on taste and smell." She added that there will be a variety of experiences at the event. "We will have blindfolds out there, but we will have simula- tion glasses, too. So guests can experience different simulations of what it is like to have diabetic reti- nopathy and other types of eye diseases. ey will simulate different vision-related disease in the glasses. "You won't be completely blind," said omas. "It will show and educate people that just because you say you have a visual impairment does not mean that you are black blind, or completely blind." Participants will have an opportunity to play the "Game of Chance" at the event. Some of the prizes include N.C. State/Carolina game tickets, spa packages, a trip to Vegas, family fun nights, cruises and more. "With the Game of Chance Raffle, you will pur- chase tickets that are $10 apiece," said omas. "We are going to start with the lowest valued prize, and all during the night, we will pull raffle tickets. As that raffle item is called, we will go to the next one, and you will have a few minutes to purchase your $10 ticket for the next item that is up for grabs." e goal is to raise $30,000 for the whole event and $10,000 the night of the event. "My main goal is to teach individuals what visual impairment is not and that it doesn't mean you are completely blind," said omas. "We want people to walk away with a better awareness of what it is like to be visually impaired." "Systel is going to allow us to use their back park- ing lot for the event," said omas. "We will provide a courtesy shuttle service from the parking lot to the event. e event this year is not going to be a formal sit-down affair like before. It will be low-key. ere will be a lot of mingling and people learning more about the Vision Resource Center." Tickets cost $75. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 910-483-2719 or visit www. visionresourcecentercc.org. Vision Resource Center hosts 'Out of Sight' night at the park by DR. SHANESSA FENNER EVENT e "Out of Sight" experience will include glasses that simulate different vision-related diseases. Music and food trucks? Yes, please. Especially after a long week of adulting. Get your planners out now and mark Sept. 20 as a night out — either with friends and family or just by yourself. e Dogwood Festival's Fayetteville After Five is the perfect place to spend a Friday night, being entertained while eating some great-tasting food truck fare. Gates open at 5 p.m., and food trucks will begin serving food at 5:30 p.m. e opening band, rowback Collaboration Band, begins playing at 6 p.m. Local favorite, Rivermist, is the headliner for the show. Up & Coming Weekly had the opportunity to chat with Greg Adair, drum- mer and back-up vocals for the band, and he shared what being a part of the Dog- wood Festival Fayetteville After Five event means to the band. UCW: Is this your first time being the headliner for Fayetteville After Five? GA: Yes. No local band has ever headlined. Ac- cording to Dogwood's Curtis Jordan, it was due to our success fronting bands there the last couple of years and a large following of 3,700 people. UCW: What's your favorite thing about performing in Fayetteville? GA: e Festival Park Stage is a huge platform. All of our friends, and even families, can see us locally — and on the greatest stage Fayetteville offers. UCW: What's the schedule of the performance for the evening? GA: e band playing ahead of us, rowback Collaboration Band, is an R&B band from Fort Bragg. ey played at the Dogwood Festival in the spring. ey will start the evening off at 6 p.m. and play until 7:30 p.m. We will take the stage around 7:45 p.m. and play until around 10:15 p.m. UCW: What is it about Fayetteville that keeps you and the band here? GA: All of us, but one, are from the Fayetteville area. Cliff Bender, the guitar player, was from Ohio but has been here more than 20 years. Allen Pier, the singer-keyboard player, and I graduated from Cape Fear High School. Doug Bass, also a singer-keyboard player, graduated from South View. Bassist Tony Har- rison graduated from Pine Forest and then University of North Carolina at Pembroke with a music major and owns Cape Fear Music down- town. Plus, we are all family men. Our wives and families are friends. ey go with us on as many trips as possible. We are huge advocates of our military and first respond- ers and tend to sing the National Anthem in many of our shows, acapella. We love to sing harmonies as a hobby. We are in partnership with Healy Whole- sale, 96.5BobFM and with Boose Law Offic- es. We will have almost 70 shows — mostly festivals and After 5-type events — across three states by the time 2019 ends. I do the booking and contracts and am a full-time musician. We are booked through three agencies as well. We are always thankful for what we're blessed with and are very receptive to fans everywhere. As far as genre, we play everything from Eagles and Journey to Earth Wind & Fire and Bruno Mars. Check our updated schedule at "http://www. rivermistband.com/tour-dates" www.rivermistband. com/tour-dates. Call 910-323-1934 to find out more about Fayetteville After 5. Rivermist rocks Fayetteville After Five by CAROLINE SCHAFER Local favorite, Rivermist is the headliner at the Sept. 20 Fayetteville After Five. DR. SHANESSA FENNER, Prin- cipal, WT Brown Elementary School. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200.