Grassroots of Tarboro

It has come up on our community board as well as a topic of discussion around town.  There are a number of us who would like a source for GOOD food.  We've talked about a food-buying club or co-op, but are at a bit of a loss as to how to organize enough people in Tarboro to make it happen.

With that in mind plus understanding that there is no need to reinvent the wheel.  The alternative is to attract a GOOD grocery store chain to town, for example: Whole Foods (which is merging with Wild Oats).  The old IGA building on Trade St would be an ideal location and I KNOW that having a Whole Foods in town would draw customers from all over eastern North Carolina.

I visited the Whole Foods website , and the nearest Whole Food Store is on Wade Avenue in Raleigh, more than an hour away.  Yet I remember when I lived in Bath, NC over 2 hours away, I and my neighbors would make the trek once a month or so to shop for the food items unavailable at the local grocers.

The IGA building on Trade Street is 21,900SF on a 2 acre lot.  The list price is $500,000.  The problem with the building has been the existing Nash Finch lease that is in place until 6/30/2008 and is $7,535/month!

Still June isn't far off now, so if we're interested in having some say as to what goes in that spot, we'd better get the show on the road. I've heard from several semi-reliable sources that there are those in town who want to move the Arts council into the library and move the library to the IGA building.  The only problem I have with that is that we're trying to attract new people and more money to Tarboro.  Libraries are wonderful but unless it is an exceptional library, it will not draw new people to town.

The subject may be mute.  Whole Foods would have to be convinced that Tarboro is "worthy" of having one of their stores.  We don't exactly meet their criteria but with the right research and drive I think we could show them why Tarboro could be ideal!

Here are some of the requirements:

If you have a retail location you think would make a good site for Whole Foods Market, Inc., please review the following guidelines carefully for consideration:

• 200,000 people or more in a 20 minute drive time
• 40,000–75,000 Square Feet
• Large number of college-educated residents
• Abundant parking available for our exclusive use
• Stand alone preferred, would consider complementary
• Easy access from roadways, lighted intersection
• Excellent visibility, directly off of the street
• Must be located in a high traffic area (foot and/or vehicle) .

Now we don't have that many people, but we do have Greenville, Wilson, Rocky Mount, Washington, Williamston. 

Anybody interested in working with me to submit a proposal to Whole Foods to consider Tarboro?

Today I'm heading off to a workshop on Crafting a Culture For The Arts:

The workshop will examine the role of arts in local economic development and provide community leaders and citizens with ideas for developing and nurturing a local arts culture. The workshop is designed to answer the following questions:

Why should a town support the arts?

This workshop is provided by the Eastern Carolina Creative Communities Initiative.  A program that at one time was helping SIX small towns in eastern North Carolina and our town officials attended. A year ago Tarboro pulled out of for some reason not clear to me.****(see note below) 

I read in the newspaper that our town officials are talking a lot lately about "brain-storming" new ideas to promote Tarboro, yet they don't seem interested in gathering data from all available sources.

Well, I am interested and I will be attending the workshop to gather whatever useful information is available. I'll bring it home to share with Tarboro.

We're getting things rolling for Tarboro's Second Saturdays with a big 2008 kick-off event for the 2nd Saturday in April.  Start gathering your gilligags, boxing your bobbolingos and stock-piling your stuff from years past because all of your unwanted junk just might be someone else's treasure at Tarboro's Town-wide Tag Sale.

We're asking everyone in Tarboro who has even thought about having a yard sale, garage sale, tag sale to plan your sale for the second Saturday in April and we'll make it one HUGE Town-wide event. Even the businesses in town will get in on the action with sidewalk sales. 

Tell your neighbors. Tell your friends.  Tell everyone you know.  Here's your chance to make some extra cash.  With a little help from the newspapers, radio and television stations we'll bring in bargain hunters from miles away for this rain or shine event. 

Church groups and non-profits,  this will be an excellent time for fund-raising either by having your own tag sale or by offering boxed meals, baked goods or bar-b-que to the hordes of hungry shoppers.

If you like Tag Sale shopping,  mark your calendar, Saturday, April 12, 2008 will be a date you won't want to forget.

For more information, use the contact link on this website to email questions. We'll be adding more details and registration forms in the very near future. 

If you've ever traveled or lived in other places around the country, you may have experienced some things "there" that we don't have "here" in Tarboro.  Some things, of course, like crime and traffic jams and smog and snow, those things we can do without, but sometimes I think .... "wouldn't it be nice....?"

Wouldn't it be nice if we had the most innovative schools in the country?  Schools that provided our children with outstanding educations and instilled in them a love of learning that lasted a lifetime.  Schools that other towns wished to emulate. Schools that our children LOVED to attend.  Wouldn't that be nice?

Wouldn't it be nice if all the storefronts downtown were filled with cool places to shop and eat?  Wouldn't it be nice if tourists visited Tarboro because it was fun to come here?  Wouldn't it be nice if the tourist dollars inspired town growth and created more jobs. 

Wouldn't it be nice if the same incentives that are offered to big businesses to entice them to our town were offered to a large number of small businesses who each had a few new job openings.  What is the difference between giving a $50,000 break to one business providing 30 new jobs, or giving a $5000 break to 10 small business each employing 3 new people?

Wouldn't it be nice if our town followed the lead of Selma, NC and did something truly innovative to promote our town?  The town of Selma offered FREE RENT for 1 year to any antique dealer who would open shop in their downtown.  Four years later it is obvious that their plan was a success.

You can read about their plan here.

Wouldn't it be nice if our town leaders had vision like that?

If not, wouldn't it be nice if we, the people, could do it ourselves?

These are just a few "wouldn't it be nice?" thoughts, just to get your wheels turning and the lightbulb going on over your heads.  We've got a long future ahead of us, what can we make happen?

The upper right hand corner of this website is currently empty.  There is a blank space awaiting the right picture.  I want a picture that truly respresents the people of Tarboro. A picture that shows our racial and cultural diversity along with the harmony that exists within our beautiful hometown. 

The Grassroots of Tarboro is not a formal organization, it is the people of Tarboro.  It is our young people, our old people, our black people, our white people, our hispanic people, our asian people, our rich people, our poor people, all working together to make our home a little bit nicer, a little bit better.  Grassroots of Tarboro is a group of, by and for ALL of the people of Tarboro.

I need a picture, a photograph, a drawing, a painting that respresents ALL of the people of Tarboro, or at least, provides the viewer with the sense of town pride and unity we'd like to convey.