On Friday evening, March 18, 2011 at 8:00 pm, the Smallwander Club will begin its monthly presentation of Inverse Auctions, where the services and goods of participating business members will be offered for sale in an interesting and engaging format.  An Inverse Auction is so named because the starting price is the highest that can be paid for an item, and the price decreases as the auction progresses.  A complete explanation of the workings of these auctions is posted below.

The items and packages that will be offered at auction consist of services and goods provided by locally owned businesses in charming small towns. Primarily, we will offer packages consisting of stays at wonderful B & Bs and inns in small towns in combination with fine dining at excellent local restaurants, tours of local wineries, tickets to dramatic performances at playhouses, rounds of golf, guided fishing outings, and the like.  In other auctions we will offer individual pieces of fine art, jewelry, pottery, and similar unique items built by small-town artisans.

The opening prices for the items at auction will be lower than the usual prices for the same items if they were purchased directly.  And, because the prices at Inverse Auctions go down, not up, as the auctions progress, your savings will also increase.

The financial transaction is conducted through PayPal, whose 128-bit SSL servers insure the highest level of online security and privacy possible.  An auction item may be purchased securely using any credit card or your PayPal account.  Read more about it here.

A message from Walkable Hillsborough Coalition to North Carolina residents (and beyond)…

Please call or email his office today.

In the last Congress, Senator Burr (R-NC) was a lead sponsor of S. 1156, the Safe Routes to School Program Reauthorization Act. Senator Burr is currently considering whether to again take the lead introducing a bill supporting Safe Routes to School in the new Congress.

The federal Safe Routes to School program provides critical funding to help local schools and communities make it safer for more kids to walk and bicycle to and from schools. This funding is helping to reduce safety risks, get more kids active, and cut down on traffic congestion around schools. The Safe Routes to School bill is necessary to help sustain and expand this program.

Please take a few moments to contact Senator Burr’s office to thank him for his past leadership and encourage him to stand up for Safe Routes to School again. You can either call or email Senator Burr’s office—but time is of the essence, so please take five minutes to do this today!

Instructions for calling:

Dial (202) 224-3154 and tell the person that answers the phone you have a comment for the Senator.

• Tell the staff person that you live in North Carolina and that you very much appreciate Senator Burr’s past leadership on the Safe Routes to School bill, S1156, and hope he will again be a lead co-sponsor to help more kids be safe and active on the trip to school.
• Add your own personal touch by explaining in 1 sentence why Safe Routes to School matters to you.
• You may be asked for your name, and you will likely be asked for your zip code to verify you are a North Carolina resident.

Instructions for Emailing:

• Go to http://burr.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
• Fill out your contact information and select “transportation” as the issue
• Write a short message. Include a sentence or two about why Safe Routes to School matters to you.
• Make sure to also include the following ask: I thank Senator Burr for his past leadership on Safe Routes to School by being a lead co-sponsor on S. 1156. I urge you to again step forward and take the lead on re-introducing the Safe Routes to School bill in this Congress.

Please forward this message to other people in North Carolina. Thank you for acting today to support Safe Routes to School!

If you are not a North Carolina resident, please use this post as a general outline to contact your local Senator.

The volunteers who are building the Mountain- to-Sea Trail are having a volunteer workday near the Historic Occaneechi Speedway Trail (HOST) site along the Eno River in Hillsborough on Saturday, January 29^th.  The planned work is to clear brush and begin digging the trail.  If you are interested, please email John Willis at jhw445@hotmail.com.  He is coordinating the workday and needs a head count.  Please share this notice with others who may be interested, lots of hands are needed.

The workday will begin at 9:00am and last until 3 or 4:00pm.  Folks are welcomed to work as long as they are able and leave when necessary.  Please meet up at 8:45 AM at the HOST parking area on Elizabeth Brady Road.  Please bring water and a bag lunch.  Tools will be provided.

A glance at the event calendar for September shows that there are a pile of interesting things to do in Smallwander towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains this weekend.

In North Carolina, Blowing Rock celebrates Railfan Weekend 2010.  Take a journey back in time with Tweetsie’s coal-fired locomotives. One train will re-create the historic era of the narrow-gauge East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, and another will carry visitors on a wild west adventure. A weekend pass, which costs $48 for adult and $33 for children ages 3-12, is required. For more information, visit here.

A little further south, Saluda hosts the 2010 Town BBQ. Built on a tradition started by a local general store owner, the Saluda Town BBQ is held each September. For more, visit here.

In Virginia, Floyd hosts Music at the Pine.  George Penn Sr. and his Cream of the Crop Blues Band will be rocking the Pavilion with a mix of 60’s soul and blues.  Advance tickets  are $6 and are available at the Pine and the Republic of Floyd Emporium. Call the Pine at (540) 745-4482 for more information or visit here .

Marion is holding the 8th Annual Smyth County Patriot’s Day Commemoration, celebrating its Colonial past at Town Hall with live patriotic music, special guest speakers and a tribute to the troops, veterans and emergency service personnel. Admission is free. For more information, call (276) 783-4113 or visit here.

And, don’t forget that Appomattox, VA is the featured town this month.  Get a Smallwander Club card and receive 15% off at the Babcock House B & B.

The Hillsborough Arts Council presents the first annual Hillsborough Jazz Festival. The festival will take place on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at a very special venue…The historic Moorefields estate is an idyllic historic homestead on 84 beautiful acres just a few miles from Hillsborough, NC.  Find directions here.

This years theme is “celebrating Billy Strayhorn” to honor jazz legend, Billy Strayhorn. Strayhorn is best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. What is less well known is that he has family history in Hillsborough… Read more about Billy Strayhorn.

Here is the lineup:

12:00-12:30     Ed Moon Trio

12:35-1:00        Sawyer-Goldberg Jazz

1:10- 1:45         Laura Ridgeway

2:00-2:45          Magic of African Rhythms

3:00-3:45          Equinox

4:00-5:00          Lois Deloatch

5:00-6:00          John Brown Quintet

Jazz and You! workshop announcement!

The Hillsborough Arts Council is very pleased to be able to offer a unique opportunity for the community to take part in a Jazz workshop the morning before the Jazz festival!  Based on the Jazz for Young People Curriculum developed by Jazz at Lincoln Center, the primary goals of this lecture-demonstration are to share, teach, and celebrate jazz music!

Details and registration information are available here.

Admission

Save $5.00 per ticket by ordering in advance! Purchase tickets online here today. General admission is just $10.00 in advance and 15.00 at the door, with lawn seating. Parking is free.  You can also pick up tickets at the Sportsplex or at the Hillsborough Arts Council office in Hillsborough:

Tryon Little Theater director Richard Sharkey announced his cast for their first musical of the 62nd season.  ”MonkY Business” is a “Heavenly musical comedy” by Todd Mueller and Hank Boland, with music and lyrics by Gregg Opelka.

“MonkY Business” is the story of 5 monks desperate to keep their St. Bernard monastery from the hands of a land developer, with plans to convert it to “Bernie’s Casino Royale.”  With songs such as “Celibacy,” “The Mohair Rag,” “Satan’s Place,” and “My Brothers Keeper,” the Men in Brown rent a religious radio station (”WGOD-the Word of God…in Stereo!”) to conduct a radiothon fundraiser.  What unfolds is plenty of mayhem, mirth, and a miracle.

The cast of 5 male singers consists of Guy Winker (Abbott Costello), Mark Monaghan (Brother Brooks), Lavin Cuddihee (Brother Clarence), Jack Carruth (Brother Lee Love) and Pat T Peake (Brother Forte).

“Monky Business” opens Nov. 11 for 8 performances at the Tryon Little Theater Workshop, 516 S. Trade St. Tryon,NC 28782. Performances are 8pm Thursday through Saturday, and 3pm Sunday matinee.  Tickets go on sale at the TLT Workshop box office two weeks prior to opening.  Box office hours are 10am-1pm Monday through Saturday. Call (828) 859-2466 to leave a message or E-mail:  tryonlittletheater@gmail.com. Visit their web site at www.tltinfo.org

Season tickets for Tryon Little Theatre may be purchased for $55, a savings of $10 over individual ticket prices.  Other shows and performance dates are: “Welcome to Mitford” Sept 23-Oct 3, 2010, “Oliver” Feb 11-20,2011 and “Done to Death” April 28 to May 8, 201

Tryon, NC is the town of the month for August. If you decide to visit, stay at the Butterfly Creek Inn, and get 15% off with a Smallwander Club membership. This cool B & B is also nearby Saluda and Landrum.

Noon- 4:00pm

Spend part of your Independence Day at Pittsboro First Sunday! Over 30 local artists and craftspeople will be selling their wares while Johnny Wilson of “The Big Time Party Band” will be the beach music DJ along with some special guests. Enjoy free lessons from the Chatham Area Shag Association and then browse the unique shops, galleries, and local eateries of Historic Downtown Pittsboro, NC. They will even have hot dogs and homemade ice cream! Visit
Pittsboroshops.com for more information.

The Smallwander Club is off to a great start! More than one hundred new folks signed up for complimentary individual memberships last month. We also have more new participating business members, including PITTSBORO TOYS and THE URBAN SAMPLER, located in this month’s featured town, Pittsboro. PITTSBORO TOYS carries a truly unique array of locally-made, organic toys, and THE URBAN SAMPLER features home furnishings, accessories, and whimsical and stylish gifts of all kinds. And both businesses offer unconditional discounts of 15% to all Smallwander Club members. So join the Smallwander Club [here], enjoy a visit to the charming town of Pittsboro, and save some money on unique and elegant merchandise while you’re there!

The Smallwander Club is rapidly becoming the premier resource for travelers who wish to patronize locally-owned and operated businesses while visiting charming small towns. Our website makes it incredibly simple to locate these towns and search among those towns for amenities, attractions, and events in them. You can join the Club here, but even if you don’t elect to take advantage of the free membership, you can still use the website to plan your weekend and weeks-long getaways!

Siler City’s Third Friday Art Walk will be held from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Friday, May 21st in the downtown historic district.

Siler City is a charming small town in central North Carolina, 48 miles west of Raleigh, 20 miles east of Asheboro, 22 miles north of Sanford, and 32 miles south of Greensboro. It is a town of 8,500 people, settled in the 1750s and chartered in 1887. It became a major stop on the Greensboro to Sanford rail line in 1884. The Chatham Rabbit Market, the largest supplier of rabbits to the world, was located here.

Siler City’s Third Friday Art Walks are fascinating and festive events. The town has a thriving art scene, and the pieces shown can be negotiated for sale if you would rather display in your home and office works of your own choosing rather than settling for reproductions of famous pieces.

The North Carolina Arts Incubator is located in five buildings in the historic district. Thirteen artists make their works here, in media ranging from traditional oil and watercolor painting to pottery, glass, wood, fabric and fiber. All will be open for viewing and sales.

The Chatham County Camera Club will feature photographs made by Wilton Brown, and will also display a wide range of photographs of the sites and scenes of the town through its history.

The Raleigh Street Gallery will also be open, showcasing works of painting, pottery, jewelry, and slate. In addition, custom-made works such as bird houses and feeders, canes, clocks, purses, soaps and lotions, baskets, toys, scarves, oil lamps, hats and hair bows, furniture, pens, racks of all kinds, and pillows will be shown. It will host a Memorial Day celebration. World War II veteran Ed Theobold will alternate playing his trumpet and giving demonstrations of the lost art of Morse Code.

The Peggy A. Fullington (PAF) Gallery, located in the Arts Incubator, will display works of local artists. Next door, in The Courtyard, the band “Too Much Fun” will play, and you can dance to your heart’s content.

At Mina Beana’s Cafe, blues rock artist Rob Matthews will be performing, and here you can enjoy a relaxed dinner, snack, or cup of coffee from Mina’s special menu.

You can also shop for locally-grown produce and some baked goods during the Art Walk. A smaller version of the Siler City Farmers Market will be set up outdoors next to the Against His Will building.

Make a special effort to visit Pat Dawson’s Paperbacks Plus, at 208 E. Raleigh Street, right in the middle of the action, where Smallwander Club members enjoy a 15% discount. Pat was the first in Siler City, hopefully of many, to become a participating business member of the Club.

The full range of locally-owned businesses can be seen on the Siler City page of the Smallwander Club website.

See you in Siler City on the 21st.