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/1445713
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 26, 2022 - FEBRUARY 1, 2022 UCW 15 Edward Jones is celebrating their 100th anniversary, and Fi- nancial Advisor Deb- bie Best has scheduled the opening of her downtown Fayetteville storefront to coincide with this momentous occasion Friday. "I am excited to be opening an Edward Jones office in down- town Fayetteville be- cause we see a need for the type of service we provide," Best said. "is firm concerns itself with the needs of individual investors and small-business owners, and I'm happy to be bringing that kind of personalized service to this community." Finding just the right location was a chal- lenge compounded by supply chain issues, but Best feels, in the end, they have gotten it just right. "I am very excited about our of- fice," Best said. "It has been a long time com- ing due to the difficulty finding a location that would suit our needs, as well as the lag time of the buildout with Covid. "It has all turned out amazing, and Tiffany, my business office associate, and I love coming in! It is a beautiful place to work." Best is no stranger to Fayetteville. It is her home. "Fayetteville has been my home for 28 years. I have raised my children and built my career here, as well as developed many close friendships and business relationships over that time," said Best. "Fayetteville is a community that has many non-profits and or- ganizations committed to making our city and downtown a better place to live. I believe deeply in giving back and being a part of this transformation in a personal way. is has made Fayetteville a natural fit for me to open my new branch office." Best offers a wide variety of financial services to her clients. "I help clients with portfolio and wealth management solu- tions strategies, look at tax-effi- cient investing, retirement and estate strategies, business retire- ment strategies, insurance, long- term care and 529 plans to name a few," explained Best. Best aims to help serious, long- term individual and business investors achieve their financial goals by understanding their needs and implementing tailored solutions. "My clients include successful business owners and profession- als," Best said, "as well as retirees focused on income and wealth transfer strategies." Best hopes that folks will come out and see all that she and her new location have to offer. Various activities are planned, including a Ribbon Cutting and Edward Jones 100 Year Anniver- sary Celebration. Guests will have an opportunity to tour the new office. e event will take place on Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. at her office at 228 Winslow St., Fayetteville. e focus on the Black experience as a source of light and inspiration is fueling the 2022 Middleground Arts Series (MAS) festival. MAS launched in November 2020 to create new, electric experiences in the middle ground between divergent communities. MAS began in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic with collaborative festivals, including the communal painting of a large triptych led by Kellie Perkins in November 2020. Additional events followed that included a jazz concert by Skip Walker & Friends, classical duets such as Duo-Cellists Paul and Diana Kirkpatrick and Darrin iriot with Scott Marosek, Kirtan Bliss Band, meditation events, a speaking presentation from Buddhist speaker Heiwa No Bushi, collaborative writing workshops led by UNCP Professor Laura Hakala, an Americana blues concert with Aaron Alderman, a piano and electronic music concert with Yaroslav Borisov and more. MAS plans to focus on celebrating and space-making in the arts in 2022. ey are working on "creating moments of integration, connection and community through the arts," according to their website. MAS describes themselves as being "located in a shared space -- the high ground of the Sandhills and Fayetteville's Historic Haymount district, the low country of Eastern North Carolina, the overlapping territories of the sacred, secular and natural worlds -- MAS sits at the intersection of diverse artistic forms, political ideologies and interests." On Jan. 27 to 28, MAS is holding their latest festival, "e Idea of Freedom (TIF)." "We try to hold a major event each fall or Spring and then smaller events throughout the year. is is scheduled to be our main event for 2022," Nan Cekuta, Rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, said. MAS is creating a new experience to bring artists together to express themselves. TIF is a mix of performance, audience interaction and experiential installation. What is fresh about this event is that artists will be paired up to create new art inspired by the artists and the attendees. ere will be three groups of two artists coming together. During the two-day event, the groups will create two projects. At the end of the festival, the six works will be combined with an attendees' piece, so there will be seven artworks total. e plan is to experience a journey along with three different spaces. e artists and attendees will have truly up-close experiences with light, sound and most importantly, art. e event will occur at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 1601 Raeford Road. e event will also be streamable at www.holytrinityfay.org/ middlegroundartsseries. Folks interested in attending can find the schedule for the festival on the Holy Trinity website. MAS will be held from Jan. 27 to 28, from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. each day. Registration for the events is available at holytrinityfay. org/middlegroundartsseries. Donations of $10 per person are recommended, and organizers ask larger groups contribute $3 per person. EVENTS ELAINA J. MARTIN, Staff Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Edward Jones grand opening in downtown Fayetteville by ELAINA J. MARTIN Black experience: source of light and inspiration by ELAINA J. MARTIN One of the three completed canvases from the November 2020 Community painting project. This event is sponsored by a Mini-Grant from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland. (Photo courtesy of Middle Ground Art Series.) ELAINA J. MARTIN, Staff Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Edward Jones Financial Advisor, Debbie Best