Grassroots of Tarboro

What is going on in Tarboro?  I'm asking you because I've been so wrapped up in taking care of the T2S event that I haven't had time to chew the fat and hear what everybody's talking about.

I often wonder what is going on in other parts of town.  I know my neighborhood is quiet and peaceful, but is it that way for everyone in Tarboro?  I don't know, and I want to know.  We need to know.  It will be difficult to make Tarboro a better place for everyone who lives here if we don't know how everybody here is living now.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a really good communication network in town.  I've said it many times, if we had some way to reach all of the people, to allow them to share information with each other, so much more positive growth would be possible here.

Perhaps the new town website, instead of just being a marketing tool to attract people TO town, what if it was the hub of the community. The place where everybody could go online, to share important information and stay informed.  That's only good if everybody in Tarboro had a computer and internet access and I doubt if they do.

I want a newspaper.  I want a weekly free community newspaper that is delivered on every Wednesday with the mail to every one of the 9500 delivery addresses in 27886 zipcode area.  I don't yet know exactly how it's going to happen, because I personally do not want to publish a newspaper and I haven't asked Mike Blanton, the publisher of the Daily Southerner,  if he wants to do it.

In the mean time, tell me what's going on in Tarboro. I sincerely want to know. You can comment here, start a discussion on  Tarboro Is Talking  or email me.

I'm proud to call Tarboro my home.  

Yesterday, we had our third monthly Tarboro's 2nd Saturday event and it just reinforced my feelings that when it comes to folks who understand community, we've got the best of the best right here in our little town.

Despite high heat, high gasoline prices and a code purple air quality index due to smoke from Hyde County forest fires, crowds of happy people visited downtown Tarboro to enjoy our street fair and share in the community spirit.  WE are revitalizing our town.  Every person who bakes cookies for the bake sale, who sings a song to entertain, who sets up a display of their art, who hangs a poster in the window, who puts a sticker on their car, who smiles at someone on the street, we are all working together to revitalize our town.

What makes Tarboro, the best place to live in North Carolina?  We do. The people of Tarboro. 

With ten days to go before Tarboro's 2nd Saturday for June, I'm feeling that little pinch of anxiety that occurs when one in charge of planning is not quite certain HOW everything will fall into place in such a short period of time.

The orderly, organized, stress-producing side of my personality is very uncomfortable with "not knowing" exactly where all the pieces are and how they fit together, while the other, more peaceful, "trust the Universe" side is content to work on what can be worked on and just allow everything to come together as it will.  Luckily side two takes charge most of the time. 

We may only have 10 days before the event, but, look at it this way, we started out with only 30 days to begin with, so we still have 1/3 of our organizing time left and we've already accomplished a lot.

The first one was not so easy, we were truly starting from scratch.  The second event was a little easier, but then we couldn't have live music so a whole dimension of planning was omitted.  This time, we've added more space to fill, more time to fill and live music to contend with, so the dynamics have changed quite a bit.  It will be interesting to see what works and what doesn't work. 

I'm learning to plan ahead a little bit, so that we can get a jump on the future months' events.  Even just a vaque idea can get wheels turning and brains storming.  I have rough plans to take us right through December, but I really need to learn either 1) how to get more people actually involved in the creation of the events or 2) how to raise more money so we can hire people to do some of the work.  I can see why and how volunteers get burned out.

How many of you readers have attended street fairs or festivals in other towns?  I'd be willing to guess that most of you have. Now, how many of you have ever given any thought as to who created the street fair or festival and what was required to make it happen? I have to say, until VERY recently, I never gave it much thought either.  Now I know that there are many pieces that all have to fit together. We need entertainment. We need the downtown businesses to participate and to draw attention to the sidewalk space up and down the blocks to keep the crowd flowing from one area to the next.  We need to schedule a variety of well-placed food vendors to satisfy the appetites of everyone young and old. We need to promote the event, and advertise. We need to design promotional materials. We need to ask for and collect donations to pay for the promotional costs. We need it to be festive. We need it to be fun. We need artists and craftspersons; things to look at and things to do.  Things for grown-ups and things for kids.  We need all the little pieces to fall together nicely.  For Tarboro's 2nd Saturdays, we not only need it to happen within the next 10 days and we need it to happen EVERY month. 

We've got a meeting tonight for planning the next Tarboro's 2nd Saturday and although the event is still over 2 weeks away,  I have mini-deadlines drawing near.

I received some quotes from various local agencies for the liability insurance we need to use the court house square for T2S and I was shocked.  It seems that we may only need the insurance for one day, but we must take out a year's policy.  

The good news is that a year's policy, at a cost of approximately $1500 is actually less for one month than the $500 we had been told.

The bad news is, we either need the town council to co-sponsor the event so we can be included under their insurance or we need to come up with more money. FAST!   We must have our insurance in hand, the $500 clean up deposit and our completed application to hold an "event" submitted to Troy Lewis, town planner, by this Friday.  This does not include advertising costs, and rental expenses for a canopy tent to protect our musicians from the hot sun and some necessary sound equipment.

I'm sorry that I have to ask for money from you.  I personally just earned another Google adsense check for $255 and added it to the pot but I need your help in comng up with the rest of the insurance cost in 2 days.

I'm not worried. Just getting the word out.  You can come to tonight's meeting at the library, or find me at work on Pitt Street, or use the safe and secure Paypal donation link I've added to this site.  Frank Mehm tried it out and donated $50.  Thanks Frank and thanks to the rest of you who have already donated or will be donating shortly. 

I mean that literally. I've purchased 72 brand new kazoos and I will get more if they are needed.

On (or before) June 14th, the day of our next Tarboro's 2nd Saturday,  I will be distributing kazoos to those of you who wish to join in the fun as part of the Tarboro Community Kazoo Band.  Absolutely no talent is necessary, just a good sense of humor and enough breath to toot into a kazoo.

Yes, it is a silly idea, but sometimes silly is good.  Silly makes people smile and when you smile you feel good, and that's what it's all about. 

After the kazoos are distributed, we'll get together for a brief practice and then gather on the court house square for our first LIVE Community Performance.  I know I have a vivid and somewhat outrageous imagination but I can see the TCKB as an ongoing project, returning for a brief performance at every T2S event.  

With a little practice we may even play Handel's Messiah (see video below):