Tag Archives: winston-salem

A Tale of Two Cities

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I live in Lewisville and I work in Greensboro for a trade association that works with companies throughout the 12 counties of the Piedmont Triad so you could say I live the whole "regionalism" thing.  Because I'm paid to stay on top of what's going on throughout the Triad I track the news in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point, Burlington, Mebane, etc. and every once in a while I'll notice an interesting contrast between the various municipalities.  Today after checking my news feed I came to the startling realization that if you went by the local blogs alone you'd have to believe that Greensboro is a graveyard for restaurants while Winston-Salem is experiencing a veritable renaissance of eateries.

From the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership blog in the last day or two:

Via Ed Cone's blog I found this post on 99 Blocks titled Vanishing Eateries – Can you help us out? about the restaurant closings in Greensboro.

As commenters at Ed's place pointed out the restaurant business is notoriously risky and in any given downtown you're going to see any number of restaurants come and go on a regular basis.  My point is that if you were to base your assessment of the health of these two cities' restaurant sectors on what you read online you'd think that the folks in Greensboro are going to all be burning up the travel lanes on westbound I-40 to get a decent meal. I know some folks in Winston-Salem who'd claim that's always been the case, but I'm here to tell you that there are some great places to eat in both cities.  If you feel like picking up the tab I'll be happy to take you on a tour.

What Do Sarajevo, Quito and Winston-Salem Have in Common?

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Winston-Salem made the Mercer's list of "World's Cheapest Cities for Expensive Living 2011" along with cities like Quito, Sarajevo and number one on the list Karachi, Pakistan. Here's the description of Winston-Salem:

This city of 230,000 people is the least-expensive U.S. city in Mercer's survey. Winston-Salem, home to Reynolds American (RAI)—the holding company of cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds Tobacco—as well as Wake Forest University, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center,Novant Health, and Hanesbrands (HBI), has a median household income of $41,979 and a poverty rate of 13.5 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

The description also says this:

Monthly rent, unfurnished 2-br luxury apartment: $500

So I guess you'll have to take the list with a grain of salt.

YardDawg’s Grilling

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YardDawg, aka Doug Grimes, is featured in a Winston-Salem Journal story about grilling:

Grimes, 61, grew up around Kinston. He remembers his grandfather and other male relatives barbecuing whole hogs. "I'd hang out with those guys and watch them — I was probably 4 or 5 years old the first time I saw that."

Later, he watched his father grill on the weekends. "Every Friday or Saturday night he was cooking something outside," Grimes said.

His father is now 88 and no longer grilling himself, but Grimes will cook for him on visits to Kinston on the grill that Grimes gave him as a present in 1971.

Grimes even grilled on the many days spent away from home as a tobacco buyer. "Even little towns inKentucky would have a motel, and we'd set up a little grill on the balcony," Grimes said. "It might be just hot dogs or hamburgers, but it was still better than McDonald's."

A beef lover, Grimes took two grills with him when he moved to Zimbabwe for three years to work as a tobacco export manager.

He's eaten grilled food in Mexico, Thailand, Argentina and other countries. "I've always been a fan of street food," he said. "When I was in Bangkok or wherever, I'd find the stall that had a line with like 20 people."

He has found that a love of grilled meat is universal.

"I've done it (grilling) just about everywhere I've ever been," he said. "We even had a pig pickin' in China, inYunnan province."

 

Aha!

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I'm still kind of bummed that I had to beg out of taping my "Aha Moment" when they were in town (work and life in general got in the way), but I'm glad to see that Winston-Salem's uber-Tweeter, Kristen Daukus, had a great time recording hers:

and showing the Aha Moment folks what Ribfest was all about:

There are some great stories from other Winston-Salem folks if you browse through all the clips recorded by the Aha Moment team. Just search on "Winston-Salem + aha" on YouTube and you should find most of them.

Here are the people I've met in real life (my apologies if I missed anyone):

Paul

SueMo

Cheryl

Kim

Danielle

Here's someone many people in Winston-Salem have probably seen in real life even if they haven't met him – Robert Moody of the Winston-Salem Symphony.  BTW, I consider it one of my great failings that I haven't gotten over to see the Symphony in the seven years I've lived here.  I'm gonna have to do something about that.

After viewing most of the videos I had a BIG Aha Moment – there are a ton of really interesting people in Winston-Salem I haven't met yet and hopefully I can rectify the situation in the near future.

Hey You, 4 Hubby…

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You know you've pulled a jerk move when two different people post pictures of your parking job online and ask for comments.  Here's a tip: if you're that worried about your paint job then take up two spaces on the far end of the lot (a minimally jerky move) rather than two spaces that are right outside the entrance (a maximally aholey move).

Mission for Mason

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MissionforMason I received an email about an event, Mission for Mason, being held on May 14 at the Ten O One Sports Club in Winston-Salem to help a local boy fighting an aggressive brain cancer.  From the event website:

Our mission is to keep the magic of childhood alive and create an unforgettable day for a young boy named Mason with big dreams, unfaltering determination and rare, aggressive brain cancer. His bravery and strong spirit during his 2 1/2 year battle has inspired us.
While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

The goal of the event is to donate 100% of profits from admission, food sales, raffle ticket sales and also a portion of the bar sales to Mason’s family of eight to offset medical costs and to provide support through the duration of his treatments. More importantly, we want to celebrate and lift up Mason, showing him that hundreds of individuals who have been touched by his firm resolve and bravery will be compelled to to rally behind him at a gigantic children's event and music festival for all ages on a sweet spring day in May ! 

No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.
~Aesop


Pro Basketball Coming to Camel City

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The American Basketball Association has three expansion teams slotted for North Carolina and one of them, the Triad Tre4 Cheetahs, will call Winston-Salem home.

One item of potential interest to a few guys down at the Y: tryouts for the three teams will be held May 21 in Durham. Registration is $125, but hey, dreams don't come cheap these days.

I don't know if they play with the red, white and blue ball of Dr. J's ABA, but they do have some wacky rules like the old ABA did.  My faves:

  • Four points for any shot taken from the backcourt.
  • Players can stay on after picking up a sixth foul, but each subsequent foul they commit leads to a free throw and ball possession for the other team. Basically it's unlimited technicals for "sixth foul" players.
  • 3-D Rule – I've read it once and I can honestly say it makes the NFL's QB rules seem straightforward.

Could be fun to watch.

Winston-Salem’s Legacy 100,000 People Video

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Just got a nice email from Kelly Bennett, Planner with the City-County Planning Board, about the work they're going to do to update the Legacy Plan.  Info can be found here, but I thought you'd like the video they've come up with to promote their work.  Fun note, at least for me: the last scene of the video was shot by the rooftop pool at the Nissen Building which is where I got my head shaved last summer for my office's food drive for Second Harvest.