CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 5 EDITOR'S CORNER Downtown delivers in a good way BY LORRY WILLIAMS Contact Lorry Williams at lwilliams@cityviewnc.com or at 910-423-6500. Lorry The 20th reunion of Pine Forest High School Class of '82 was held at the Radisson Prince Charles on Hay Street. I remember when our high school reunion committee decided to hold our 20th reunion at the Radisson Prince Charles on Hay Street. I was one of the organizers and a main point of contact. To say I got a few questions would be an understatement. I attended Pine Forest High School, and many of my classmates moved away aer graduation and had not been back to Fayetteville — much less the Hay Street area — in those 20 years. When we gathered on the top floor of the Prince Charles in October 2002, we realized a lot of us had changed in those two decades. And so had downtown Fayetteville. Our reunion venue was part of that change. Our class photo outside on the balcony with the lights from downtown Fayetteville in the background is still among my favorites. e Prince Charles that the Class of '82 saw in 2002 was very different from the one we saw in the 1980s. When we were growing up, downtown had stores like Sears and JCPenney before Cross Creek Mall opened. But it also had semi-topless bars and prostitutes strolling the streets. at image is what many of them conjured up when they learned where our reunion would be held. ose of us who planned the event felt like once our classmates returned and saw the changes, they would be impressed. I think they were. It's reunion time again, and plans are still in the works. But I hope when my classmates return once again, they will take time to venture downtown and see how it has changed even more. Cafes and restaurants, a movie theater, shops and brew pubs. Public art. Downtown apartments and condos. Segra Stadium. In this issue, we recognize two people who had a vision for what downtown could be: Menno Pennink and the late Harry Shaw. In this issue, we recognize two people who had a vision for what downtown could be: Menno Pennink and the late Harry Shaw. Pennink, a Fayetteville businessman, was a supporter of downtown long before others shared his vision. "It's getting there,'' he told reporter Bill Kirby Jr. for a story on his contributions to downtown. His projects have included the Prince Charles Hotel, the 300 Block and Point News, among others. Shaw was a civic leader who was a driving force behind Cross Creek Linear Park. He spent more than a decade working to see the downtown park come to fruition. But it wasn't his park, he told Kirby in an interview in 2016. "It may be my project," Shaw said. "But it's not my park." ese two men — as well as others over the years — each had a vision they never lost sight of. And the community is better for it.

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