Downtown Clayton NC

CNS Article: Millstock Festival coming June 1

bruce — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:34 +0000

A crowd of tents line the walkway at Horne Square during last year’s Millstock celebration.
COURTESY OF FRANK DZIEPAK

By Amanda James — ajames@newsobserver.com

CLAYTON — Now in its 13th year, the Millstock Arts Festival will once again bring out local artists for a chance to showcase their work in front of the public.

According to organizer John McFadden, of the Jewelry Design Studio on Main Street, last year’s event brought out nearly 2,000 people.

This year’s event includes the debut of several of the butterfly art pieces painted by Clayton High students that will be used to decorate Sam’s Branch Greenway.

The butterflies will be suspended in Horne Square on the day of the festival, June 1, and will then be moved to their permanent home on the greenway later in the week for a dedication ceremony.

Each year, Millstock is sponsored by Clayton Visual Arts.

“We’re trying to bring art to Clayton,” said June Lioret, of the CVA. All the proceeds from the art sales go directly toward the artists.

There will be tents with artists of all styles, from potters to painters. Nearby, there will be live music, with performances by acoustic players, as well as a couple of rock bands that will play at the Flipside restaurant.

Adults and children can participate in the sidewalk chalk art contest. And, there will be a bouncy house for the youngsters.

Betty Mashburn is one of the artists who will be showing her work this year. She will be selling her handmade pottery, including raku pottery, which is made from horse’s hair. The horse hair is burned onto the pottery at 1,000 degrees. It makes decorative black lines on the pottery.

“I also use bear hair, and llama’s hair,” said Mashburn. She said she only got into pottery making three years ago, and last year was her first year at the festival. Her pieces range from $15 to about $80. One of her most unique works, she said, is a 16-inch-tall vase that is painted like a golf bag.

Another local artist, Janie Prete, will be selling her paintings at the festival.

“The fun part for me is interacting with the public, meeting old friends, new friends, and talking about my work,” said Prete. She has been at the festival for the past four years.

“I usually bring a number of watercolors, as well as mixed media, and ink pieces,” said Prete. “I use a lot of color in my work so it stands out really nicely.” She said her pieces range from about $35 to a couple hundred dollars.

Both artists say they have been busy creating pieces the past couple of months to prepare for the festival.

Millstock will run 10 a.m.-4 p.m. June 1 in Horne Square at the corner of Main Street and Lombard Street. Part of Lombard Street will also be closed for the festival.

CNS Article: Saturday’s HeartChase 2013 Honors Hogan Teem

bruce — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:40:10 +0000

This year’s HeartChase honors a local high school baseball player who died unexpectedly last fall.
AMANDA JAMES — ajames@newsobserver.com

By Amanda James — ajames@newsobserver.com

CLAYTON — This year’s Heart Chase event, modeled after the Amazing Race, will honor Hogan Teem, a Clayton High student who died during offseason baseball workouts in December.

Heart Chase, now in its second year in Clayton, is sponsored by the American Heart Association. Teams of two to five people gather clues along a route that spans downtown, and stop at stations along the way where they answer trivia questions, competing to finish all of the stations first, or to be the team to get the most trivia questions correct.

“We appreciate them doing it in his honor and hopefully increasing heart awareness so people know adults aren’t the only ones with heart conditions,” said Hogan’s father, David Teem. “It could happen to seemingly young, healthy people as well.”

Teem, a senior on the Clayton High baseball team, died during an off-season practice, after he was walking and suddenly collapsed. It was later discovered that Teem had a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The condition, more prevalent in athletes than in the general population, does not cause symptoms that could be warning signs, but can result in cardiac arrest and death.

At the Heart Chase event this year, scheduled to take place May 18 in Town Square, there will be free heart screenings by members of the Woman’s Club of Clayton.

Barbie Tew, a fitness instructor at Woodall’s Fitness, is the director of Heart Chase in Clayton. She said students at Clayton High first came to her about having the event in Teem’s memory.

“People knew Hogan and love him,” said Tew. Several of the teams that will be participating in the race are peers of Hogan’s, though the race is open to anyone who signs up. Hogan’s baseball team will be one of the teams.

Tanner Durham, a junior at Clayton High, grew up with Hogan, and has led the student effort at Clayton High to support Heart Chase this year.

“I’m trying to get more people my age involved,” said Durham. So far he has gotten about five teams to sign up, with four or five people on each team. “Not a lot of people knew that this could happen to them until it happened to Hogan.”

Durham has chosen the Heart Chase event to be his senior project because of his connection with Hogan. This year, he will be writing a paper on the project. Next year, as a senior, he’ll be helping lead the event.

All about heart health

Heart Chase is a way to promote overall heart health in the community by hosting an athletic event, and by putting a face with the cause of heart health, so people can see how close to home the issue really is.

“Heart health effects every living human being,” said Tew. “We want to show families that you can have fun and do heart healthy activities without having to put on spandex and go to the gym.”

Tew said when people see exercise as something you have to go to a certain place for, or do a certain activity for, it can keep people from getting involved.

“You can just walk your dog, or play frisbee with your kids,” said Tew. “With childhood obesity on the rise, we need to start shifting the tides now.”

Last year’s event was the inaugural Heart Chase in Clayton. This year’s event has some upgrades.

Whereas last year, each team had a map with locations marked where they were supposed to find each station, this year each team is only getting clues that will lead them to a station. To heighten the competition, teams are allowed to buy green or red flags. The green flags can be used to bypass a station. Red flags can be used to make another team do a station twice, similar to some of the tricks involved in the board game “Life.”

The event will begin and end at Town Square. Registration begins at 9 a.m. The event is from 10 a.m. to noon.

Heart Chase is sponsored locally by Wake Heart and Vascular and Southeast Women’s Med Spa.

CNS ARTICLE: Historic Mill May Be Restored

bruce — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:50:03 +0000

The Clayton Spinning Mill closed in 1976 and now the men who own the building hope to transform the vacant space into an area that families can enjoy.
AMANDA JAMES — ajames@newsobserver.com

By Amanda James — ajames@newsobserver.com

CLAYTON — The historic Clayton Spinning Mill located near the Post Office downtown may soon be renovated.

With 16 to 20 foot ceilings, and windows now covered by bricks, that stretch almost from the floor to the ceiling, the building has been a symbol of potential since ever since it closed in 1976.

Owners Steve Yauch and Michael Hubbard are planning to transform the building into a sports complex that would house different spaces to be rented out for different sports, and also possibly an apparel store and even a restaurant.

Their main goal, though, is to bring something to town that people want. They have been surveying people on the Mill Village Facebook page this month asking what people would like to see the space become.

“There’s not a place where you can go in Clayton that has a cafe and also a gym, and a restaurant,” said Hubbard. The idea would be so that families could benefit from the multiple services. If one child was in gymnastics, and another taking dance lessons, the parent could exercise at the same time at the fitness center.

High hopes for the building

The two men bought the building seven years ago with high hopes that they could transform the 55,000 square foot space into something “cool.”

“We thought we would maybe turn it into a place where I could have an office, or where there would be apartments,” said Hubbard.

They want to maintain the history of the building, too.

Neither Yauch or Hubbard is a developer, but their backgrounds combine to make them a duo with both entrepreneurship and management experience.

Yauch is the president of a manufacturing company in Smithfield, and Hubbard owns an advertising agency in downtown Raleigh.

Due to the downturn in the economy, they put their dream on pause until a couple more pieces fell into place. They waited until it became a part of the historic registry so that it would qualify for a historic tax credit, and until construction began on the East Village apartments near the building, a signal for growth in the area.

They are still waiting for construction on the Front Street extension to begin, which would connect Front Street to N.C. 42, driving more traffic in front of their building. That project is scheduled to begin soon.

This month, they have been surveying the community through a Facebook questionnaire, asking residents what they think is the biggest need for a sports center in the county, and also, what kind of service would keep people in Clayton, instead of traveling somewhere else. So far, the most popular responses have been a sports bar/restaurant/juice bar, followed by an indoor soccer facility.

Though the men are still open to ideas, they are thinking of putting a restaurant with a patio area at the front of the building. The restaurant would face Front Street, making that side the entrance of the building. Then there would be different kinds of fitness centers throughout.

Several people have also suggested an indoor roller skating rink and a swimming pool.

A community for new businesses

So far they have been contacted by a couple fitness clubs, including a Cross Fit center, and a yoga studio who expressed interest in operating in the building.

Yauch said there would ideally be a community environment among the businesses, and they could even offer deals to collaborate. So, perhaps the yoga studio could offer a deal for someone who buys a yoga class package to get a smoothie from a juice shop also in the complex.

The first step, rezoning, is scheduled to be complete by August 1. And the plans could move forward after that.

“I’d like to see the project started in the next six to nine months,” said Yauch.

He said it would take at least 18 to 24 months to complete, and it would be developed in phases.

Eventually, they would like to make use of the property surrounding the mill, which they also own. They are thinking of making walking trails, a paintball course, or an outdoor amphitheater.

The mill building was constructed in 1898.

2013 Clayton Town Square Concert Series Opens Thursday With “Hip Pocket Band”

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:00:01 +0000

Hip Pocket Band will open the 2013 Clayton Town Square Concert Series this Thursday (May 16) at 7:00 pm. All concert dates, except September 12, are the third Thursday of the month from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm at the Town Square at 110 W Main Street in downtown Clayton.

May 16              Hip Pocket Band
June 20            Central Park Band
July 18           Craig Woolard Band
August 15         Johnny Orr Band
Sept 12              MikeMickXer

This is the eighth year of the popular concert series, which is organized by the Clayton Downtown Development Association, Inc. (CDDA, Inc). The free concerts are very popular, with an average attendance of 1,200 Clayton residents for each show.

“The line-up this year features bands that have a great regional following and have proven to attract great audiences in downtown Clayton,” said Debbie Romano, Concert Committee Chair. “We’re also going to feature our downtown restaurants at each concert and add Deep River Brewing draft beers to our beverage concessions.” Deep River Brewing is Johnston County’s first micro-brewery that has opened in downtown Clayton. “We’re very excited about that,” added Ms. Romano.

Click here For background and description of each band.

The focus of the concert series remains quality entertainment and bringing people to downtown Clayton, but the CDDA, Inc board of directors has recognized the concert series is an opportunity to help the greater Clayton community. CDDA, Inc. President Richard Rairigh said the downtown organization wants to help the “Back-Pack Buddies” program this year, in partnership with the Woman’s Club of Clayton. The Backpack Buddies program is an Inter-Faith Food Shuttle program providing food-insecure children with weekend meals.“With each Concert Series drink koozie that is given out, we will ask for a donation and at the end of the series in September, we will present the Woman’s Club with a check for “The Back Pack Buddies” program at Cooper Elementary School, which serves the downtown area.”

Residents of Clayton and others are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets for this free public concert. There are several local vendors who provide additional light refreshments and food. The Clayton Downtown Development Association, Inc. will offer beer and wine, including Deep River Brewing draft. Concert Series updates and other downtown news can be found by visiting www.downtownclayton.org

Several downtown restaurants offer pre-concert dinner specials, including Mulberry on Main Italian Restaurant, 217 E Main Street, Primo Pizza, 226 E Main Street, Clayton Steakhouse, 307 E Main Street, Lucky Chicken Peruvian Restaurant, 312 E Main Street, The Flipside at 408 E Second Street, and Festejos Mexican Grill, 905 E Main Street.

Sponsors of the Concert Series are the Town of Clayton, Zaxby’s, Clayton Steakhouse, Hometowne Realty, and Joe Mama’s Mobile Stages.

The Clayton Downtown Development Association, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed to coordinate revitalization work in the historic downtown district. The Clayton DDA advocates and provides business improvement services in the downtown district, administers incentives for downtown improvements, and organizes several special events, including the Town Square Concert Series, and the Christmas Village & Tree Lighting.

30th Anniversary Clayton Road Race Saturday!

bruce — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:14:50 +0000

Be part of one of the oldest road races in the Triangle! The Annual Clayton Road Race is celebrating THREE DECADES of running, walking, jumping, skipping, trotting and sweating through the streets of downtown Clayton. Come celebrate and feel good with us as we keep this fun and wildly popular tradition going on Saturday, May 11, 2013.

Get the whole family out and choose between the 5K Race, the 5k Health Walk or the .1 mile Tot Trot for the little tikes 6 and under. Just so you know, 5 kilometers is about 3.1 miles – we all can handle that, right!?

The Clayton Parks Recreation Department, Access Physical Therapy & Wellness, Girl School Troop #464 and our Clayton Youth Council all work hard to make this a memorable event that keeps people coming back year after year. It’s a certified, sanctioned cource by USA Track & Field and part of the East Carolina Corporate Road Race series.

Last year, more than 260 runners and walkers registered for the 5K. They were led by Julien Brisebard with a time of 17:47 minutes. Susan Brosnan led the women across the finish line in 22:08 minutes. Wow, think you can top those times!? Runners will be electronically timed and of course, we’ll have water midway through the race and at the finish! Believe us, this is not the easiest of races!

The 5K Run and the 5K Health Walk both begin at 9 am, and the 1/10-mile Tot Trot starts around 9:45 am. The 5K starts on 111 East 2^nd Street at the Clayton Center and finishes on Horne Street behind the Clayton Center/Town Hall. The Tot Trot starts and finishes on Horne Street and will start as soon as the 5K is finished.

Click here to download a course map.

The entry fee for the 5K Run and the 5K Health Walk is $20, if postmarked no later than May 4. After that date, you can register the day of the event for $25. The Tot Trot fee is just $5. T-shirts are guaranteed to all those entered in the 5K by April 19. For the first year, the shirts will be special wicking performance shirts – cool!

In the 5K Race, trophies will be awarded to the top three male runners, to the top three female runners and to the top three finishers in each of the following age groups (both sexes): 11-under,12-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-over. In the Health Walk the first three finishers will receive awards. In the Tot Trot, EVERYONE gets a ribbon!

You can pick up an enter form at the Clayton Community Center at 715 Amelia Church Road or click HERE for registration information.

There should parking at the lot on the corner of Horne and Barbour Streets and Second and Fayetteville Streets. Come early around 8 so you can pick up your registration packet.

Need more info: Call Matt Lorion at 919-553-1550.

Young CHS Artists Showcased at The Clayton Center Gallery in May

bruce — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:00:28 +0000

A winter tree that Allen Montague, Johnston County artist in the schools, helped Clayton High School art students learn how to paint.

ClaytonHigh School art students will get a taste of one part of the artist’s life in May as their work goes on display at The Clayton Center.

Their 30-40 pieces will range through a variety of media, including acrylic, ink, Sharpies, pencil, charcoal, pastel, oil pastel, chalk pastel, colored pencil, multimedia-abstract, paper mosaic and clay.

Subject matter will vary from landscapes, florals, abstracts, portraits and radial designs to clay sunfaces and more. The young artists are students of Jane Roberts and Crystal Seagroves.

The show will have several special aspects.

Allen Montague, one of JohnstonCounty’s Artists in the Schools, spent time with students, introducing them to a “drip and run” technique and working with them on winter trees, florals and the senior flag. He worked with CHS art students last year.

Sue Mitchiner of ZoomIn Photography also made a repeat visit, taking photos of students for use in portrait practice.

Clayton artist Dorothy Demboski, who had an exhibition at the Clayton Center in October, gave students a private guided tour of her show. She talked about techniques and subject matter, how she achieved certain effects and art philosophy.

Finally, the event marks a turning point for teacher Seagroves—she is retiring at the end of the school year. She has spent her whole career, 30 years, at Clayton High. It was her first position out of college.

A free, meet-the-young-artists reception will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 9, in the lobby of The Clayton Center, 111 E. Second St. Light refreshments will be served—cookies, fruit, cheese and punch.

Everyone is invited—adults, teens, children, all.

The exhibit will run May 1-June 3. It is free and open to the public. The center is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Both the reception and exhibition are sponsored by Clayton Visual Arts, Inc.

PROSHRED and the Town of Clayton team up for 2013 Shred-A-Thon.

bruce — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:45:20 +0000

If you’re a Town of Clayton resident, please join us and ProShred on Thursday, June 6, 2013, from 2:30pm until 4:30pm to dispose of your important documents! The free event is slated for Town of Clayton residents ONLY. There will be a TWO BAG or TWO BOX LIMIT. Some documents that may be confidential and might require shredding, include:

Bank Account Statements	Correspondence	Job Applications	Profit/Loss Statements
Brokerage Reports	Credit Card Statements	Legal Documents	Signatures
Cancelled Checks	Financial Reports	Medical Records	Social Security Numbers
Confidential Letters	Insurance Policies	Pay-stubs	Tax Records
Contracts	Invoices and Receipts	Photographs	Telephone Numbers

Two mobile shred trucks will be at Town Square (corner of Fayetteville Street and Main Street) for you to drop off your bags. You will not even have to get out of your car! Simply drive through the parking lot and we will assist with unloading your bags and immediately shred the contents. If you have confidential and sensitive information that you would like completely destroyed you can come to our event and watch it get shredded! Again, this is a first come, first serve event, so once the trucks fill up, we’ll unfortunately have to turn some away.

Zaxby’s Movie Night in Downtown This Saturday – “Up”

bruce — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:45:45 +0000

Bring the family to downtown Clayton this Saturday night for Zaxby’s Movie Night, presented by the Clayton Downtown Development Association, Inc. featuring the movie “Up.”

Face painting, bounce house, refreshments and more activities begin at 7:00 pm, with the movie starting at 8:00 pm. Zaxby’s Movie Night takes place at Clayton Town Square, 110 W Main Street and there is no charge.

The next movies will be in the fall:
September 14 – “Toy Story”
October 12 – People’s Choice

“We want the public to be involved in selecting the last movie of the season,” said Derrick Thompson, spokesman for Zaxby’s of Clayton and Smithfield. The October 12 movie will be determined by a season long public survey during each movie, during the Town Square Concert Series and on-line at www.zaxbys360.com

Sponsored by Zaxby’s, Clayton Steakhouse and Clayton Downtown Development Association, Inc. Bring your own food, drinks and blankets! For more information, call (919) 553-1545 or visit www.zaxbys360.com/movie for more information.

For more information, please contact the CDDA at info@downtownclayton.org or call Mr. Naegelen at (919) 553-1545.

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The Clayton Downtown Development Association, Inc. is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization formed to coordinate revitalization work in the historic downtown district. The Clayton DDA is the lead advocate for downtown Clayton and provides business improvement services in the downtown district, administers incentives for downtown improvements, and organizes several special events, including the Town Square Concert Series, and the Christmas Village & Tree Lighting. For more information, please contact the CDDA at info@downtownclayton.org or call Mr. Naegelen at (919) 553-1545.

U.S. 70 Business Neuse River Bridge into Downtown Smithfield to Open Tomorrow (4/24/13)

bruce — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:43:01 +0000

Folks from Clayton having to do business at the courthouse and other Johnston County offices in downtown Smithfield will not have to take a circuitous route any longer!

The Downtown Smithfiled Development Corpration has announced that beginning around 11 a.m. tomorrow, April 24, drivers will be able to use the new bridge on U.S. 70 Business/West Market Street over the Neuse River. The Downtown Smithfield Development Corporation will hold a brief ceremony at 10 a.m. to celebrate the opening of the bridge. Following the ceremony, crews will begin opening the westbound lanes of the bridge, and then the eastbound lanes. There are still several items that need to be done before the entire bridge replacement project is finished and some lane closures will be in place as this work is completed; however, the bridge will not close at any time for this work.

Clayton HeartChase Seeking Teams for May 18

bruce — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:30:05 +0000

Join the American Heart Association For the 2^nd Annual Clayton HeartChase 2013 to Honor HOGAN TEEM

The late Hogan Teem (center) is flanked by his parents, Allyson and David Teem.

HeartChase is a community event modeled after ‘The Amazing Race” and provides a fun exciting way to support Cardiac Research.

Teams will consist of 2-5 people of all ages that will compete for the victory by completing Heart Healthy tasks to gain points. The team with the most points at the end of the game is crowned HeartChase Champion!

Join The Chase by going to http://honor.americanheart.org/ClaytonHeartChase2013

Date: Saturday, May 18, 2013

Location: Downtown Clayton Town Square

Time: Check-in is at 9:00 am at Town Square; Game time10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Adults $25 (Ask people to sponsor you!)

High School Students $15

For more information, contact Barbie Tew at barbietew@gmail.com

This will be the most fun you have ever had in a race!