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: https://www.epageflip.net/i/21363
STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Crowe editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Mary Beth Leiby Marybeth@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Deborah Baughn deborah@upandcomingweekly.com –––––––––––––– GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Soni Martin, D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, Bob Cogswell, John Hood, Shanessa Fenner, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Heather Griffi ths, Beth Solzsmon-Carpenter –––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street 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 infor- mation 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 publisher. 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 per- son. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. PUBLISHER’S PEN by BILL BOWMAN Even though the weather did not cooperate last weekend, the Fayetteville Rotary Christmas Parade went off without a hitch. It was fun and full of the Christmas holiday spirit. Of course, it is always great having people visit our historic downtown. There should be more …more often. Matter of fact, my wish for the new year is that the “powers that be” get their ducks in a row and get busy helping our Downtown defi ne itself and survive. Unfortunately, it is just “hanging on.” Historic Downtown Fayetteville is vital to our community and the businesses and organizations who have invested in it need support, encouragement and leadership to keep it from slipping back into the downtown we knew in the 1990s. Currently, no one seems to be in charge and it is running on autopilot. Makes you wonder who is responsible for it’s success or failures. The Christmas holiday tradition of Dickens’ Holiday this year was the perfect example of a missed opportunity. This traditional Fayetteville downtown festivity takes place on Black Friday, the fi rst shopping day after Thanksgiving. It’s called “Black Friday” because it is the one day of the year when retailer’s sales put themselves into profi tability (the black). However, after discussing this year’s event with several downtown merchants it became obvious that little thought and planning went into how this holiday event would benefi t all merchants and businesses downtown. For some, Black Friday almost put them “out of business.” Undoubtably, Dickens’ Holiday is the right venue. The greatest concerns of those I talked with, and the most recurring, were that the Victorian theme was not consistent. Even though there were a few Dickens like characters mingling among the crowds, not all businesses really participated in the theme and commercial vendors had you drifting in and out of the Dickens enchantment. Adding to enchanment defi cit, was the fact that only Hay Street was decorated for the holiday season. The festive holiday sights and sounds could not be seen or heard on any of the side streets like Maxwell, Anderson and Franklin where some of the most interesting and defi ning shops and businesses are located. This was a disappointment since few visitors and shoppers made their way to these businesses. Finally, the most talked about concern was the blocking off of the streets that served as an additional impediment and obstruction for doing business. Person Street in particular was devastated this day. Yes, on the busiest shopping day of the 4 UCW DECEMBER 15-21, 2010 INSIDE Black Friday ... More Bleak Than Black for Some Internet Directory ............................ 12 Calendar ........................................... 18 Concert Connection ........................ 25 TV ..................................................... 27 Movie Review ..................................28 Free Wheelin’ Feelin’ ....................... 30 Classifieds ........................................ 32 News of the Weird ........................... 31 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 31 Games .............................................. 34 season Person Street, for all practical purposes, was deserted. Few cupcakes were sold, Leon Sugar’s Men’s Store was empty and Cira 1800 and Lido’s restaurants had to wait until the evening for business with no chance to recoup the afternoon losses. So who is responsible for this? Who’s in charge of this event? No one really had the answer to that question. The City? Arts Council? Downtown Alliance? Here is my point: Dicken’s Holiday is a Downtown Fayetteville is fun and exciting. Truman and the Kidsville Kids in the Rotary Christmas parade last Saturday. wonderful event and we have supported it for 10 years and will continue. However, the event itself did not serve all of the people and businesses who supported it. Where is the guidance, the leadership, the plan for future development? Everyone admits that a strong, vital, economically-sound downtown is important to our community and plays a huge role in our quality of life and economic development. Yet few are coming forward to support it or assist in its growth. This needs to change and soon. There are way too many Downtown merchants and businesses doing their part, investing their capital, time and human resources to make Downtown Fayetteville successful and relevant to this community. They need help and they need it now! They need the City, Chamber of Commerce, Cumberland County and every other economic development organization taking a serious look at what is going on down there and take corrective action. They need the city inspectors and the Historic Commission off their backs. They need the parking Gastapo to stop daring the customers to cross the white or be sixty seconds overdue. And, if are not going to help at least don’t hinder them by blocking off their streets and livelihood. Many say “Downtown needs to advertise!” We say “advertise what?” Downtown needs a brand. It needs an identity. Once Downtown Fayetteville decides what it wants to be, that message can be conveyed countywide, statewide and nationwide. That’s when they should invest in advertising, marketing and promotion. Until then, the poor merchants are on their own to tell their story. And, for those who do, we intend to help. Until then, I encourage you to vistit Historic Downtown Fayetteville. It is truly one of our greatest treasures. It has dozens of unique and interesting shops, art venues, museums, great restaurants and of course, wonderful, wonderful people. We can only hope our civic, city and county leadership recognize this. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM