CityView Magazine

ketchup. A man had pulled up with a trailer load of watermelons to sell along Dunn Road – something you're not likely to see outside a restaurant that serves lunch in numbered combos pic- tured on overhead menus. I regretfully resisted the temptation to thump the side of one and carry it home. We rode on up U.S. 301 to Eastover Artworks and Furniture Sales, a busi- ness Mayor McLaurin and his brother have owned for four decades. He's quite the artist, as my son delightfully no- ticed. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Silas in- terrupted as we grown-ups exchanged small talk. He was excited to find a picture of Nemo – that is, a clown fish like the one in the animated children's movie "Finding Nemo." McLaurin has a gallery of his own watercolor paintings, most of them with fish and birds and other wildlife as his subjects. He also makes wood carvings of the wild things – a gar fish with its long, fearsome snout caught my atten- tion. Wonderful as his art is, he can't make a living selling it alone, so he sells custom pictures frames and furniture to avoid the starving artist syndrome. And for five years, he has been Mr. Mayor. Like a good many of his constit- uents, he doesn't care for big boxes to set down in his small town though there is talk of a Wal-Mart Express coming to Eastover, which is smaller scale than the trademark Supercenters. "So it won't be the great big box store," he said. "I think we want more of a quaint, village- type atmosphere, doing it in an orderly fashion." A sign along Dunn Road announces Committed to Eye Care Excellence! Valley Eye Wear Optical Shop On Site! "Eastover Town Center Coming Soon." It bears an artist's rendering of smallish brick storefronts lined up in a row. This is what the mayor means by a village-type atmosphere. Growth is sure to trickle its way east and over the river. Eastover now has its own sanitary district, pro- viding water to residents without relying on the Fayetteville faucet. And the town is framed by two interstates – 95 to the east and 295 to the north. But even with the fast lane making inroads here, Eas- tover still respects and revels in its rural roots. Fleas and all. CV Offering Budget & Designer Frames, Digital Lenses, State of the Art Lens Treatments George L. Cooper, MD • Mary B. Kansora, MD Cheryl Laughner, NC Licensed Optician • Eye exams for adults & children • No-stitch/no-needle cataract surgery • Laser surgery for diabetic eye disease & other retinal diseases • Laser surgery for glaucoma, treatment of lazy eye, & crossed eyes • Plastic surgery of the eyelids 910-323-2002 • One Village Plaza 2139 Valleygate Drive • www.valleyeyesight.com Fellows of the American College of Surgeons VALLEY EYE CLINIC Ophthalmology Certified Board of CityViewNC.com | 69 • Expertise in fitting multiple styles of contact lenses

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