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Countdown to college: Revisiting admissions decisions

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Local News

Wildflour Bakery plans to break ground this summer on a new building in Garden City

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Numbers Show Tourism on the Rise

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RALEIGH – Governor Pat McCrory announced today that North Carolina tourism generated record visitor spending in 2014 with a total of $21.3 billion, a 5.4 percent increase over 2013. Additionally, tourism industry supported employment topped 200,000 jobs for the first time.

“Nearly 50 million people from across the United States visited North Carolina last year, and the money they spent supported more than 204,000 jobs and more than 40,000 businesses,” Governor McCrory said. “North Carolina is the sixth most visited state in the nation thanks to the quality travel experiences provided by our natural scenery and the warm welcome visitors receive from citizens all across the state.”

Governor McCrory, who proclaimed May 2-10, 2015 as Tourism Week in North Carolina, applauded the growth in direct tourism employment. In addition to topping the 200,000 mark for the first time, the 3.3 percent growth in tourism jobs was the largest increase in 14 years.

In other North Carolina findings by the U.S. Travel Association, state tax receipts as a result of visitor spending rose 3.9 percent to more than $1 billion. Visitors spent more than $58 million per day in North Carolina last year and contributed more than $4.6 million per day in state and local tax revenues as a result of that spending.

“The tourism industry’s success is shared across North Carolina,” said John E. Skvarla III, North Carolina Commerce Secretary. “Tourism means jobs in all of the state’s 100 counties. In addition, each North Carolina household saves $455 annually in state and local taxes as a result of taxes generated by visitor expenditures.”

Tourism Week in North Carolina is part of National Travel Tourism Week, which also runs May 2-10. The state’s nine Welcome Centers will host activities throughout the week.

Tagged with: North Carolina

Apple orchard along Blue Ridge Parkway protected

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As temperatures heat up, more and more people in the Upstate are seeing snakes slithering into their backyards.

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Memorial Day events being held across the Triangle

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RALEIGH, N.C. –

This Memorial Day Weekend has been full of events honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and more will continue Monday on the Memorial Day holiday.

Hope Baptist Church is celebrating Memorial Day with free North Carolina barbecue, military vehicle rides, live music, a children’s obstacle course, parades and more. The event, at 3721 Quarry Road just outside Wake Forest, runs until 4:15 p.m.

The annual service in Cary, sponsored by American Legion Post 67, began at 10 a.m. at Hillcrest Cemetery, 600 Page St.

The annual wreath-laying ceremony at the War Memorial on the north lawn of the State Capitol was held at 10:45 a.m. in downtown Raleigh.

A ceremony was scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Johnston County Courthouse at Market and Second streets in downtown Smithfield.

The Raleigh Concert Band performed at the Raleigh Memorial Cemetery, the final resting place for many Union Civil War soldiers, at 501 Rock Quarry Road at 1:30 p.m. Prior to the concert, the Heartland Hospice Memorial Fund will sponsor a Community Memorial Day Service, featuring a balloon release, at the cemetery starting at noon.

The Town of Garner will hold its annual Memorial Day observance at Lake Benson Park beginning at 1:30 p.m. near the Garner Veterans Memorial. Miss North Carolina 2012 will sing the national anthem and the Garner Magnet High School’s Junior ROTC will present and retire the colors.

Veterans Freedom Park in Cary will be home to a ceremony and celebration honoring veterans. That event began at 2:30 p.m. at the park on N. Harrison Avenue. The Cary Town Band will perform and guest speakers, including the vice president of the USO of North Carolina, will speak.

Historic Oakwood Cemetery near downtown Raleigh will honor veterans at a 4 p.m. ceremony. The U.S. Army Ground Forces Band Brass Quintet will play and the annual laying of the wreath at the Veterans Memorial will be placed by Betsy Hutchison, a World War II nurse.

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Harriette Thompson, 92, sets marathon record

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Local News

Pets for Vets program rolled out by Manatee Animal Services

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Lowe’s Holds Annual Meeting Of Shareholders

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — At its annual meeting of shareholders today, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Chairman, President and CEO Robert A. Niblock informed shareholders that strategic investments focused on finding new ways to connect and serve customers began to take hold in 2014, enabling the company to deliver strong financial performance for the year.

Niblock highlighted the company’s continued focus on developing its omni-channel retail capabilities, ensuring Lowe’s meets customer needs whenever and wherever they choose to engage with the company – in store, in home and on the job, online and through contact centers. The company is also focused on further building customer experience design capabilities that differentiate Lowe’s from other home improvement providers, improving its offering for Pro customers and continuing to improve productivity and profitability.

“In 2014, our strategic decisions and investments gained momentum and resonated with customers,” Niblock said. “Building on our success, we are finding new ways to serve and connect with both Pro and DIY customers as an omni-channel home improvement company. We continue to look ahead to ways Lowe’s will meet the needs of customers in the future so we can remain their trusted project authority for many years to come.”

In addition, the company announced that the board of directors has declared a 21.7 percent increase in its quarterly cash dividend to twenty-eight cents ($0.28) per share, payable August 5, 2015, to shareholders of record as of July 22, 2015. Lowe’s has declared a cash dividend every quarter since going public in 1961.

During the meeting, shareholders re-elected board members Raul Alvarez, David W. Bernauer, Angela F. Braly, Richard W. Dreiling, Robert L. Johnson, Marshall O. Larsen, Richard K. Lochridge, James H. Morgan, Robert A. Niblock and Eric C. Wiseman to one-year terms. Additionally, Laurie Z. Douglas, senior vice president, chief information officer and chief security officer of Publix Super Markets, Inc., was elected to the board of directors.

Shareholders ratified Deloitte Touche LLP as the company’s independent public accountant and approved, on an advisory basis, the compensation of the company’s named executive officers.

Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”), which the words “believe”, “expect”, “project”, “will”, “should”, “could”, and similar expressions are intended to imply. Statements of the company’s expectations for sales growth, comparable sales, earnings and performance, shareholder value, capital expenditures, cash flows, the housing market, the home improvement industry, demand for services, share repurchases, the Company’s strategic initiatives and any statement of an assumption underlying any of the foregoing, constitute “forward-looking statements” under the Act. Although we believe that the expectations, opinions, projections, and comments reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such statements will prove to be correct. A wide variety of potential risks, uncertainties, and other factors could materially affect our ability to achieve the results either expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, changes in general economic conditions, such as the rate of unemployment, interest rate and currency fluctuations, fuel and other energy costs, slower growth in personal income, changes in consumer spending, changes in the rate of housing turnover, the availability of consumer credit and of mortgage financing, inflation or deflation of commodity prices, and other factors which can negatively affect our customers, as well as our ability to: (i) respond to adverse trends in the housing industry, such as a demographic shift from single family to multi-family housing, a reduced rate of growth in household formation, and slower rates of growth in housing renovation and repair activity, as well as uneven recovery in commercial building activity; (ii) secure, develop, and otherwise implement new technologies and processes necessary to realize the benefits of our strategic initiatives and enhance our efficiency; (iii) attract, train, and retain highly-qualified associates; (iv) manage our business effectively as we adapt our traditional operating model to meet the changing expectations of our customers; (v) maintain, improve, upgrade and protect our critical information systems from data security breaches and other cyber threats; (vi) respond to fluctuations in the prices and availability of services, supplies, and products; (vii) respond to the growth and impact of competition; (viii) address changes in existing or new laws or regulations that affect consumer credit, employment/labor, trade, product safety, transportation/logistics, energy costs, health care, tax or environmental issues; and (ix) respond to unanticipated weather conditions that could adversely affect sales. In addition, we could experience additional impairment losses if the actual results of our operating stores are not consistent with the assumptions and judgments we have made in estimating future cash flows and determining asset fair values. For more information about these and other risks and uncertainties that we are exposed to, you should read the “Risk Factors” and “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the description of material changes therein or updated version thereof, if any, included in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon data available as of the date of this release or other specified date and speak only as of such date. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf about any of the matters covered in this release are qualified by these cautionary statements and the “Risk Factors” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K to the SEC and the description of material changes, if any, therein included in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, change in circumstances, future events, or otherwise.

About Lowe’s
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE® 100 home improvement company serving approximately 16 million customers a week in the United States, Canada and Mexico through its stores and online at Lowes.com, Lowes.ca and Lowes.com.mx. With fiscal year 2014 sales of $56.2 billion, Lowe’s has more than 1,840 home improvement and hardware stores and 265,000 employees. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe’s supports the communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12 public education and community improvement projects. For more information, visit Lowes.com.

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Delegation talks business, tourism with state legislators

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LAURINBURG — A local delegation from the Laurinburg-Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce travelled to Raleigh this week to meet with Scotland County’s legislators as well as education and economic development officials.

A dozen local officials and business owners attended the Chamber’s annual legislative day on Wednesday, including Laurinburg City Council member Dee Hammond, County Manager Kevin Patterson, and the city of Laurinburg’s community development director, Teddy Warner.

“It was a diverse crowd of people, business-wise and some retired but all very active and committed to the welfare of Scotland County,” said Chamber Director Janet Smith.

With Christopher Chung, the new Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina CEO, the group discussed opportunities and strategies for attraction of industry to Scotland County.

“He talked to us about what businesses look at, the importance of incentives, intangibles like civic pride, having a happy and engaged community,” Smith said.

A nonprofit corporation, the Economic Development Partnership oversees the development of business recruitment and tourism statewide and encourages collaboration between public and private stakeholders.

“It’s a tool of commerce, to see what they have to do to go out and recruit industry to come to North Carolina,” said Chamber chair Lee Howell. “We wanted to get in front of him, meet him and let him know that whatever we can do to help them get some industry located here we’re open to doing.”

The Chamber delegation also heard from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s community affairs director about the grades assigned by the department earlier this year to every public school in the state.

Also on Wednesday, in a meeting with state representatives Garland Pierce and Ken Goodman and state Sen. Tom McInnis, the delegation discussed the state’s budget and incentives for business.

Mary Katherine Murphy can be reached at 910-506-3169.

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Belk, Discovery Education And ISTE Announce Grand Prize Winners Of The Belk …

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Belk, Discovery Education and ISTE announce grand prize winners of the Belk Service Learning Challenge, recognizing students’ impact on creating positive changes in their communities.
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Belk, Discovery Education and ISTE announce grand prize winners of the Belk Service Learning Challenge, recognizing students’ impact on creating positive changes in their communities.
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SILVER SPRING, Md., May 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Belk, Discovery Education and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) announced today the winners of the third annual Belk Service Learning Challenge. Designed to support educators, and based on research that students who participate in service learning initiatives demonstrate improved problem-solving skills and increased interest in academics, the challenge encouraged middle school students to help improve their communities through undertaking a service-learning project of their choice.

The Belk Service Learning Challenge invited students to work in teams of up to four classmates with the support and guidance of a teacher/mentor to identify an issue in their local community and design an action plan to implement a solution. The three grand prize winning teams will each receive $2,000 per student team member and a $2,000 teacher award. The grand prize winners include:

Team: “Prosthetic Kids” from District 5 of Lexington Richland Counties’ CrossRoads Middle School
Location: Columbia, SC
Project Description: Students used 3D printers to create prosthetic hands for children in need, and hosted a school-wide Hand-A-Thon event to assemble more than 20 additional prosthetic hands.

Team: “Dead Run Stream Cleanup” from Baltimore County Public Schools’ Southwest Academy Magnet School
Location: Baltimore, MD
Project Description: Students researched pollution levels of Baltimore’s Dead Run stream, and created an action plan to revitalize the stream by removing all trash and pollutants, preventing runoff, and balancing the water’s pH and oxygen levels.

Team: “Saving Sidewalks” from Buncombe County Schools’ A.C. Reynolds Middle School
Location: Asheville, NC
Project Description: Students designed an action plan to gain approval from the City of Asheville to build new sidewalks in downtown neighborhoods with busy roads to help protect pedestrians, and keep their community members safe.

“The Belk Service Learning Challenge empowers students to take hands-on, interactive approaches to solve important issues that not only affect them, but the entire school community,” said Lexington / Richland School District Five Superintendent Dr. Stephen Hefner. “The Challenge builds students’ everyday critical thinking, communication and problem-solving skills through an exciting opportunity outside of their normal routine, and allows them to understand that they can make a remarkable difference in this world.”

Created solely to support these students through every step of the Challenge, the dynamic online destination BelkServiceLearningChallenge.com equips 6^th-8^th grade educators with free, standards-based service-learning curriculum, including lesson plans and multimedia tools that reinforce the importance of social responsibility and volunteerism to societies and economics. This year’s Challenge was open to students in grades 6-8 who reside in one of the 16 states where Belk has a presence – including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

“Community involvement is one of our core values at Belk, and we are honored to see young students participate in the Challenge by taking actions to strengthen their communities,” said Jessica Graham, Belk’s vice president of communications and community relations. “We hope that these students will continue to give back, and maintain a sense of commitment to service and their communities.”

“ISTE is proud to honor these amazing middle school students for their creative and impactful service-learning projects that will make tremendous changes in their communities,” said Craig Thibaudeau, Chief External Relations Officer of ISTE. “Through the Challenge, students become more engaged in their learning, and build valuable critical thinking and collaboration skills, which will ultimately make the world a better place for all of us.”

“Discovery Education is proud to partner with Belk and ISTE to provide students with this powerful service learning initiative,” said Lori McFarling, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, Discovery Education. “Education is much more than what is taught within the walls of a classroom. Some of the best learning opportunities for students are those that encourage them to connect classroom concepts to aspects of their everyday lives.”

For more information on the Belk Service Learning Challenge or to view the free classroom resources, please visit www.BelkServiceLearningChallenge.com.

About Belk, Inc.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Belk, Inc. (www.belk.com) is the nation’s largest family owned and operated department store company with 297 Belk stores located in 16 Southern states and a growing digital presence. Its belk.com website offers a wide assortment of national brands and private label fashion apparel, shoes and accessories for the entire family along with top name cosmetics, a wedding registry and a large selection of quality merchandise for the home. Founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, N.C., the company is in the third generation of Belk family leadership and has been committed to community involvement since its inception. In the fiscal year ended January 31, 2015, the company and its associates, customers and vendors donated more than $21.5 million to communities within Belk market areas.

Belk offers many ways to connect via digital and social media, including Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google Plus, and provides exclusive offers, fashion updates, sales notifications and coupons via email or mobile phone text messages. Customers can also download the latest Belk mobile apps for the iPad, iPhone or Android.

About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-based digital content and professional development for K-12, transforming teaching and learning with award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia content that supports the implementation of Common Core, professional development, assessment tools, and the largest professional learning community of its kind. Serving 3 million educators and over 30 million students, Discovery Education’s services are in half of U.S. classrooms, over 40 percent of all primary schools the UK, and more than 50 countries. Discovery Education partners with districts, states and like-minded organizations to captivate students, empower teachers, and transform classrooms with customized solutions that increase academic achievement. Discovery Education is powered by Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the number one nonfiction media company in the world. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

About ISTE
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE^®) is the premier nonprofit organization serving educators and education leaders committed to empowering connected learners in a connected world. ISTE serves more than 100,000 education stakeholders throughout the world.

ISTE’s innovative offerings include the ISTE Conference Expo — one of the biggest, most comprehensive ed tech events — as well as the widely adopted ISTE Standards for learning, teaching and leading in the digital age and a robust suite of professional learning resources, including webinars, online courses, consulting services for schools and districts, books, and peer-reviewed journals and publications. For more information, visit iste.org. Connect with ISTE via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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Documentary "The Last Barn Dance" follows Alamance farmer

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At first glance, “The Last Barn Dance” seems like a straightforward documentary of a vanishing way of life. The film follows Randy Lewis, a fifth-generation dairy farmer in Alamance County, as he battles a tidal wave of negative economic trends to keep his farm going. The communal square dances that Lewis holds in his barn seem like just another signifier of old ways that are about to disappear.

But the story isn’t that simple, because Lewis isn’t hemmed in by old ways. In fact, as shown in “The Last Barn Dance” – a beautifully shot 32-minute documentary that two former News Observer photojournalists, Ted Richardson and Jason Arthurs, made on a self-financed $50,000 budget – Lewis embraces change. Over the course of “The Last Barn Dance,” Lewis tries everything from starting a milk-bottling operation to renting a cow to an Indian couple for a Hindu housewarming.

Anything to make ends meet.

“Randy’s consciousness goes well beyond the farm,” Richardson said of Lewis. “When we first started talking about doing this, he told me, ‘I’m the oldest 50-year-old you’ll ever meet,’ because he lives in the past. But that’s not true. He really thinks outside the box.”

“He’s a great spokesman for a way of life because he bridges this gap between living relic and progressive forward thinker,” added Arthurs. “Most dairy farmers would not be able to do that.”

Sunday night, the barn-dance scene of Lewis’ farm will move to Saxapahaw’s Haw River Ballroom for a screening of “The Last Barn Dance.” Doc Branch band, the old-time group in the film, will also perform.

This is the North Carolina public premiere of “The Last Barn Dance,” but the film has already won awards at festivals as far away as California. Lewis accompanied the filmmakers to the American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs, Calif. (which was his first time in a plane since the 1980s), and he was as big a hit as the film about him.

Asked his reaction to seeing himself onscreen, Lewis laughed.

“When I think about movie screens, it’s people like Humphrey Bogart or Samuel L. Jackson, not me,” Lewis said. “I might be the red-headed stepchild of the movie industry. But I’ve been kind of shocked at the reception because I can’t imagine my life would be of interest to anybody, since it’s the same thing day in and day out. But evidently it is. Maybe people have gotten so far from their cultural roots, if they ever had any, that wanting to work on a farm instead of getting off it to go someplace else is a novel idea.”

‘A slow, steady bleeding’

Now 54 years old, Lewis looks as if he could have stepped right out of a sepia-toned Civil War photo. He’s spent his whole life in Alamance County, working on a family farm that goes back to his great-great-grandfather.

Lewis owns 110 acres, rents another 100 and keeps about 150 cows on the Ran-Lew Dairy Farm in the town of Eli Whitney. The barn, site of the square dances, was built in 1943. And as much as Lewis loves the music and the dancing, he loves being around his beloved cattle even more.

“I love cows,” he says at one point in the film. “I think like a cow.”

“The Last Barn Dance” began taking shape in 2004, when Richardson was a photographer at the Winston-Salem Journal. On assignment to shoot pictures of the Doc Branch Band for a feature, he photographed them playing one of Lewis’ barn dances and enjoyed the scene enough to keep coming back.

Eventually, Lewis asked if Richardson would shoot some photos and video of the dances, which he did. In the process, Richardson got interested in more of the story than just the night-time scene in the barn.

“The themes beyond the dances were more interesting to me as a journalist,” Richardson said. “The wider story was about the farm and the industry and threats to the farm’s existence.”

The biggest obstacle for farmers at Lewis’ level is scale. It’s almost impossible for smaller operations to compete with corporate agribusiness, which is why independent farms have been disappearing. At one time there were 80 dairy farms in Alamance County, and that figure was down to 11 when Richardson and Arthurs began filming “The Last Barn Dance” in 2012.

“A lot of things have conspired to make it very hard for small dairies,” said Jean Willoughby, a project director at Pittsboro-based Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI). “The biggest is cost-production difficulties. High grain prices can make it cost more to produce a gallon of milk than they can sell it for.”

Another whammy was the big recession that began in 2008. Lewis lost an estimated $150,000 in the two years following the recession, and “The Last Barn Dance” shows him still trying to pick up the pieces.

“We’ve at least stopped the hemorrhaging,” Lewis said. “But it’s still a slow, steady bleeding. I think it’s picking up. But we’ve seen some really dark days where we fell so far behind, it will take a while to catch back up. The potential’s there; we’ve just got to survive long enough to get it done.”

‘It’s my life’

To that end, “The Last Barn Dance” shows Lewis’ attempts to begin bottling and selling milk under his own brand, rather than to other producers. Funded by a RAFI grant, Lewis bought the equipment – and endured endless headaches trying to assemble it and get the whole thing off the ground.

But it finally came together. Today, you can find non-homogenized, old-fashioned cream-top milk with the Ran-Lew Dairy label at area outlets including the Saxapahaw General Store and various Weaver Street Market locations. Lewis sells direct to restaurants for cooking, too, and just added buttermilk to the product line. He’s also planning to expand into yogurt.

“The Last Barn Dance” follows Lewis’ struggles and triumphs, with lots about the gritty side of farming. One particularly difficult scene involves the fate of a cow with a broken leg (spoiler alert: You’ll probably want to cover the eyes of any children watching).

Through it all, the gregarious Lewis has emerged as a star both on and off the screen. At the American Documentary Festival in California, people were tweeting pictures of themselves with him.

Then there was a recent dinner at a restaurant in Raleigh, after Richardson and Arthurs screened the film for some donors. Lewis told their table’s waitress about the film, and soon had an audience of every other server in the place. They watched the movie trailer on a computer in the kitchen and came back to pepper Lewis with questions.

“Randy became very interested in the process of filmmaking, which he really came to love,” said Arthurs. “He’s almost as much of a producer of ‘The Last Barn Dance’ as we were. He also owns a portion of the film. We thought that was important, having him still own his story.”

Hollywood or no, the barn dances will go on for at least the foreseeable future. As a title, “The Last Barn Dance” isn’t literal so much as symbolic of the idea that nothing is certain and the end may be in sight.

Meanwhile, almost every day you can still find Lewis tending to his livestock. As Richardson points out, there are a lot of “tourism farms” with pumpkin patches, strawberry picking, hayrides and so forth around here. But Lewis’ operation is an actual working farm, with all its real-life ups and downs.

“It’s a hard time,” Lewis said. “Every small business is fighting the same battle, especially in agriculture. Whether you’re blowing up balloons or whatever, economies of scale are set up to where the small guy’s behind the eight ball. It’s my life, though, just every day for me. It ain’t always been this hard, but it sure has the last few years.”

Menconi: 919-829-4759

or nando.com/onthebeat

Twitter: @NCDavidMenconi

To see the film

What: “The Last Barn Dance” premiere, featuring Doc Brand Band

When: 7 p.m. Sunday

Where: Haw River Ballroom, 1711 Saxapahaw Bethlehem Church Road, Saxapahaw

Cost: $18-$20

Details: 336-525-2314 or hawriverballroom.com

A portion of the proceeds from Sunday’s screening will go to the Megan Mann Riggans and Will Riggans Memorial Scholarship Endowment in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The endowment will provide scholarships for undergraduate students from North Carolina enrolled in agricultural programs at N. C. State, N.C. AT or Virginia Polytechnic Institute. “The Last Barn Dance” is dedicated to Megan, who was Lewis’ niece. She and Will, her son, both died from injuries sustained in a 2012 car accident during the film’s production.

Tagged with: Raleigh

Glencairn Garden speaker to address plant diseases

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Dave Powell, certified arborist with Bartlett Tree Experts, will discuss “Managing Common Plant Diseases” at the First Friday in the Garden, 11 a.m. Friday at the Glencairn Learning Center, 825 Edgemont Ave., Rock Hill. Free and open to the public.

Special events

▪ The “Friday Lunch Stop!,” sponsored by Rock Hill Parks, Recreation and Tourism, will be 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. each Friday through June 19 at the Black Street parking lot. Arsena Schroeder will perform Friday. The 4 Chordsmen share their barbershop music June 12. Greg Lilley closes the series on June 19 with originals and covers of The Eagles, Paul Simon, Maroon 5 and more. Chairs and blankets are welcome. Some seating available.

▪ The Reading Roundup Book Campaign will host “Roc The Block Concert” at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Friedheim Park in Rock Hill to celebrate the importance of reading through music. The book drive, created by the Rev. C.T. Kirk, Latoya McDonald, Carlondo Brown, Myesha Watson, Monique Kirk, Porsche Smith, Jarrell Bowman, Leroy Jackson and Deidre Sanders, is designed to provide books to children ages 3-12 in York, Chester, and Lancaster counties. Its purpose is to encourage reading especially among African-American students. For information or to donate books, contact Kirk at thesolocenter@aol.com or call 803-524-5935.

▪ Masters Car Club’s 13th annual car show will be Saturday at Burns Chevrolet Cadillac, 2515 Cherry Road, Rock Hill. Gates open at 9 a.m. with registration until noon. Awards given at 3 p.m. Free hot dogs and drinks. Door prizes. Live entertainment by Fitzgerald McGill, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. For information, contact Eddie Craig at 803-366-4683 or Jerry Deas at 803-493-0232.

▪ A used clothing drive, sponsored by the High Five Club and Grace Community United Methodist Church in Fort Mill, will support the Fort Mill backpack program. Gently used clothing, belts, purses, shoes, household items and bed and bath linens can be donated. Drop-off times are 2-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2-6 p.m. June 10 and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. June 20 at Grace UMC, 1190 Gold Hill Road. For information, email LyRae Davis at lyraedavis@gmail.com.

▪ Open horse show and vendor fair, 11 a.m. June 13 at Gaston Farm Road Equestrian Center, 2717 Gaston Farm Road, Chester. Gates open at 9:30 a.m. Concessions available. Free admission. For information, go to GastonFarmEquestrianCenter.com or call 803-374-6255.

▪ Lancaster County Parks and Recreation will host the grand opening and ribbon cutting 6 p.m. June 9 for the Carolina Thread Trail, 10521 Walnut Creek Parkway. Open to the public. For information, call 803-285-5545.

Fundraisers

▪ York County Woman’s Club will host a Flapjack Fundraiser, 8-10 a.m. Saturday at Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill. Tickets are $7 with the club’s portion of the proceeds go to the veterans’ scholarship fund. Last year the club was able to award two $1,500 scholarships to children of York County veterans. Breakfast will include flapjacks, bacon and a beverage. Tickets available at the door or from GFWC-YC members.

▪ An Autism Awareness Benefit Concert, sponsored by the 408 of the American Legion, will feature Rick Alviti and his Show Band in “That’s the Way it Was,” 7:15 p.m. June 20 at the American Legion post, 524 Heckle Blvd., Rock Hill. Alviti is America’s most respected Elvis tribute artist, appearing with Diane Bailey as Patsy Cline. Tickets are $35 and include a reception 5-7 p.m., with hors d’oeuvres, beverages and prizes. For tickets, call Steve or Pat Blankenship at 803-328-3599 in the evening. Limited seating. Cash or charge is available. Proceeds go to the Chrysalis Autism Center.

▪ Boyd Hill Baptist Church will host an indoor yard sale 8-11 a.m. Saturday in the Richard E. Sandifer Life Center, 315 Glenn St., Rock Hill. Tables are $20. Table proceeds go to Family and Friends Day and the life center. For information, call Stephanie Johnson at 803-367-1069.

▪ The 14th annual Brett Ringer Scholarship Golf Tournament will be June 18 at Pinetuck Golf Course, Rock Hill. The format will be captain’s choice with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. Cost is $50 for individuals; $200 per team and includes lunch. For information, contact Walt Gainey at 803-981-1326 or wgainey@rhmail.org.

▪ The inaugural Les Conner Memorial Wormburner Classic Golf Tournament will be June 12 at the Tega Cay Golf Club. Registration opens at 12:30 p.m. All proceeds from the tournament benefit the Melanoma Research Foundation. There will be contests, raffles, giveaways. Recognition awards will be announced at the dinner after the tournament. For information on sponsorship and registration go to wormburnerclassic.com.

Entertainment

▪ Pinetucket returns to the Allison Creek Bluegrass stage, 7-9 p.m. Thursday at the Allison Creek Presbyterian Church on the corner of S.C. 274 and Allison Creek Road. The family friendly and no cover charge. Doors open at 6 p.m. Concessions are available at 6:30 p.m.

▪ Lancaster Performing Arts will host the 34th annual Country Showdown country music talent search, 6-9 p.m. Friday at USC Lancaster’s Bundy Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. Past winners have included Julie Roberts of Lancaster in 1998 and Karla Davis of Monroe, N.C. in 2009. This the sixth year Lancaster Performing Arts has hosted the event.

▪ The Summer Concert in the Park series, sponsored by Rock Hill Parks, Recreation and Tourism, will feature Amy Coccia, 6:30 p.m. June 9 at Fewell Park. The concert is free. Bring a picnic and blanket or lawn chair.

Hunger relief

▪ The Second Harvest Partners, sponsored by Providence Presbytery, will have a hunger relief site, 9 a.m. Wednesday at Green Pond United Methodist Church, 983 Bethel St., Clover. Volunteers will be distribute food to participants who meet USDA eligibility income guidelines. For information, contact Catawba Area Agency on Aging at 803-329-9670.

Meetings

▪ Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 2008 will meet June 15 at VFW Hall, 732 W. Main St., Rock Hill. All Purple Heart recipients welcome. For information, contact Chapter Adjutant Rich Roszelle at 803-367-8328

Clubs

▪ The Rock Hill Civitan Club will meet 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mary’s Cafe, Firetower Road. Social begins at 6:30 p.m. Jay Rinehart of Rinehart Realty will speak. For more information contact ellabm@comporium.net.

▪ The York Shag Club June party will be 7-11 p.m. Saturday at Springlake Country Club, 1375 Springlake Rd. York. Summie Davidson will dee jay. For information, contact Jeanne Neely at 803-366-6280.

Recreation

▪ Registration for a new Rock Hill Parks, Recreation and Tourism Youth Flag Football summer program will end June 9. The game format will be 5 v 5 with three age groups: rising second- and third-graders, rising fourth- and fifth-graders, and rising sixth- through eighth-graders. Practices will begin on June 15. Games begin June 23 at Cherry Park. Cost is $35 with a $7 insurance fee. The insurance fee will be waived if the child participated in a city of Rock Hill youth sports program in the spring. More information, and online registration, is available at cityofrockhill.com/prt. Registration will also be taken at Cherry Park and Manchester Meadows during business hours weekdays. For information, call Cherry Park at 803-329-5672.

Classes

▪ The Arts Council of Chester County will offer guitar lessons for students age 8 and older at the Arts Council Building located at 123 Main St. Rob Swisher will teach the classes at 11 a.m. Wednesdays in June. Each class is $15. Registration deadline is June 2. To register, call Lauren at the Arts Council at 581-2030 or email artschester@truvista.net. The class is sponsored in part by the OMNOVA Foundation.

▪ Arts Council of Chester County hosts an Adult Art Class: BYOB Acrylic Painting Party with Christy Buchanan, 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 9 at the Arts Council Building located at 123 Main St. Participants will create a whimsical summery watermelon on a 12 x 16 canvas.

Bring a favorite wine and appetizers. Cost is $35, members and $38, non-members. All art supplies are provided. Cash or check only. Registration deadline is June 5. To register, call Lauren at the arts council at 803-581-2030 or email artschester@truvista.net.

▪ Fewell Park Recreation Center will offer yoga, 9-10 a.m. Wednesdays beginning Wednesday at the center, 1204 Alexander Road. Cost is $12 per class. Rita Hines will teach the class. Pre-registration is not required. For information, call 803-329-5645.

Camps

▪ Fort Mill Community Playhouse will offer drama camps for first- through 12th-graders in June. Costs vary. All camps will include stage acting and some will include improv and stage fighting. Space available in all camps. For information, go to fortmillplayhouse.org or call 803-548-8102.

▪ Boyd Hill Baptist Church, Glenn Street, Rock Hill: Camp High Hopes summer camp, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. June 15-18 and June 22-25 for ages 8-15. The free camp offers spiritual and academic activities, field trips, physical fitness and lunch. For information, contact Dorothy H. Seale at 803-324-1502 or Felicia Minter at 803-899-9938.

Recreation

▪ Celebrate National Great Outdoors Month with activities planned by Rock Hill Parks, Recreation and Tourism’s A.L.L. Outdoors group. Details at CityofRockHill.com/alloutdoors or call 803-329-5620.

Events include:

Indoor Rock Climbing Wall, 6-8 p.m. June 8 at Northside Recreation Center. The climbing wall is open on the second Monday of each month.

National Get Outdoors Day and River Park Open House, 9 a.m.-noon June 13 at River Park. There will be geocaching, free kayak demos, nature displays, and other hands-on fun at this free event.

Nature Navigators, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesdays. The weekly half-day summer adventures are designed to get children outdoors, learning about nature, and having fun. Pre-registration is required; details on the website.

Kayak Adventures offers a variety of kayak trips and classes in June and throughout the summer and early fall. Programs include: Family Kayak Trips, Moonlight Kayak Trips, Catawba River Kayak Tours, Leisure Kayaking classes and River Moves Kayak Clinics. Find out more on the website.

4-H

▪ 4-H Youth Development, a part of Clemson Extension Service in York County, is compiling a directory of 4-H alumni in hopes of building up the alumni community in York County. Contact Faith Isreal at fisreal@clemson.edu, Ashley McCarter at asmccar@clemson.edu or call 803-684-9919.

Blood drive

▪ Kappa Alpha Chapter annual Dr. Charles R. Drew Blood Drive will be 11 a.m.-2 p.m. June 20 at the Rock Hill Galleria, Dave Lyle Boulevard. All donors will get a T-shirt. For information, 803-487-7098 or email at info@omegasofrockhill.org

Health

▪ The Adult Enrichment Centers of Rock Hill offers a caregiver support group at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at 359 Park Ave. Open to the community. For information, call Dee Curran at 803-327-7448.

▪ Early Learning Partnership’s free children’s clinic hours are 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Fridays in the Rock Hill Family Resource Center, 410 E. Black St. Children from birth to age 18 who do not have health insurance can see a doctor or nurse practitioner. Services include sick visits, immunizations, and sports and school physicals. For appointments, call 803-322-6636. Other clinics are held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in York, Fort Mill and Clover. York County children may attend any of the four clinics.

Volunteers

▪ Agapé Senior will have volunteer training, 10 a.m.-noon Saturday at Agape Senior Assisted Living, 1785 Lexington Commons Drive, Rock Hill. For information, contact Kay G. Lee at 803-517-2021 or Kaylee@agapesenior.com

▪ The nonprofit Friends of the York County Animal Shelter needs volunteers to help bathe, groom, exercise, socialize, train and provide adoption information for the animals, as well as assist in follow-ups, publicity, marketing and fulfilling other jobs at the shelter. Time and mileage may be tax deductible. Volunteers must be 18 or older; orientation and training are required. For information, call 803-818-6485 or go to the shelter at 713 Justice Blvd., York.

Reunions

▪ The Rock Hill High School class of 1955 will have its 60th reunion Saturday at the York County Shrine Club. For information, call Page Connelly at 803-366-7408.

▪ Northwestern High School class of 1975 40th reunion will be June 20 at the Elks Club, East Main Street, Rock Hill. Sign up at www.classcreator.com/Rock-Hill-South-Carolina-Northwestern-1975.

Support groups

▪ NAMI monthly support groups and education sessions will meet June 9 at Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church, 421 Oakland Ave., Rock Hill. Support group meetings are at 6:15 p.m. connection support group in room 202 and family support group in room 203. For information, call 803-610-8174 or go to nami.org/sites/NAMIPiedmontTri-County.

▪ The Piedmont Medical Center surgical weight loss program support group will meet 6 p.m. Tuesdayin the Women’s Center Auditorium.

▪ Alateen meets 8-9 p.m. Thursdays at Zoar Road Club, 14701 Thomas Road, Charlotte. Meetings are for two age groups: 6-12 and 13 and older. For information, call 803-547-2124 or 704-904-7834.

▪ Al-Anon meets at 8 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays at Serenity Club, 209 Grayson Road, Rock Hill; at noon Tuesdays upstairs at Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church, 421 Oakland Ave., Rock Hill; at 8 p.m. Mondays at Grace Presbyterian Church, 2955 S.C. 160, Fort Mill; and at 8 p.m. Tuesdays in the house beside First Baptist Church, 121 Monroe White St., Fort Mill.

Send Community News items to communitynews@heraldonline.com or to 132 W. Main St., Rock Hill, SC 29730. Deadline for the Thursday column is 5 p.m. Monday. Deadline for the Sunday column is 5 p.m. Wednesday.

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