Ground broken for new stage

Ground was broken Monday morning in Roseboro as the town board, Small Town Main Street Committee and stakeholders put shovels into the dirt near the community garden marking the birthplace of a new stage project.

“Thank you all for being here to celebrate the groundbreaking of our new stage,” Roseboro Mayor Alice Butler said during the ceremony. “This is a wonderful crowd; I realize it was very short notice but sometimes that works best. So again, thank you all for coming; this is a great day for Roseboro.”

Those words expressed Butler’s excitement over the first steps toward the construction of Roseboro’s new outdoor stage. The concept for the stage came in part thanks to the growing success of the town’s downtown events such as aLive in the Boro, Bloomfest and the annual Christmas parade.

The idea for the stage began in October 2023 after Liz Parham, state director of NC Main Street and Rural Planning Center, invited Dan Lambert, director of Landscape Architecture of McAdams Co, to do a walk through of the town to help them with planning of their vision of downtown.

Butler said Lambert spent 12 hours in Roseboro that day and then came forward with some brainstormed ideas; one of those was a stage.

“One idea was a stage for our aLive in the Boro series that could also be used for other events like Bloomfest and our Christmas Tree Lighting,” Butler said. “One nice thing about having the venue right here in this location is we do not have to close down Main Street going through downtown. Plus we can easily include the food trucks on the Mountain-to-Sea trail railroad bed and other vendors.”

With those plans in mind, a search for funding the project began. That led Roseboro’s NC Lead Fellow, Tyler Wise, to participate in a Rural Community Capacity training where she found the possibility for a grant.

“We applied for the grant and in December of 2023 the town was awarded $49,999 for the construction of the stage,” Butler said. “We quickly learned that we needed matching dollars in order to complete the project. Tyler then submitted an application for a local grant with the Sampson County Convention and Visitors Bureau and that board awarded us $50,000, in addition to the $49,999.”

Now that the funding was in place and architectural drawings approved, the bid was put out for the stage build and it was awarded at the town board meeting last Tuesday.

“This past Tuesday night, the town board awarded the bid to the lowest, most responsive contractor for construction, Carr Construction out of Clinton,” Butler said. “They will begin construction within the next two weeks, with an expected completion date of September 2024.”

Butler also noted that other plans tied to the stage included paving a parking lot behind the stage. Part of that is also creating an alleyway which will connect Main Street to the community garden and includes available parking where the stage will be located.

Considering this day was a cause for a ceremony, more than a few key figures that helped to make the stage construction possible were in attendance. A few came to thepodium to share their thought on the monumental moment.

“I recently spoke at our stakeholders meeting, and while I don’t like to repeat myself, some of you weren’t there,” Robby James, James Trading Co., said. “There’s a quote that I use, it simply defines this project, and that quote is by Walt Disney. ‘All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.’ So I emphasize the word courage, because that’s what it takes to pull things like this off.

“Having said that, I’d like to join Alice in saying thank you to the small group of citizens that showed the courage to tirelessly work on this project. Thank you to the town board for believing in the cause and having the courage to make it a reality. And finally, thank you to North Carolina Commerce and Sampson County CVB for having the courage to believe in our dreams here in Roseboro, and helping to fund this project.

“This stage is but one step in our continued efforts to make Roseboro into the best small town in America.”

Randi Kelly, Roseboro Small Town Main Street director, shared sentiments much like James’ were, highlighting a strong belief in the growth of Roseboro.

“We have a strategic plan, and in that strategic plan, we have a vision statement as most people would,” she said. “Our vision is around making Roseboro a destination on your journey and that destination includes social and cultural experiences. This stage project aligns directly with that vision for Roseboro for the future.

“I’ve got to tell you, I’ve watched the journey of how we got here today and it’s an example of how one idea or one concept can morph into something so big. Through lots of hard work, lots of creative thinking, lots of strategic planning, teamwork and partnerships that brings us here today. “We believe that Roseboro is a great place to live, a great place to work, it’s a great place to play and we’re going to play a lot more out here as the stage gets done.

“I’m looking forward to next steps, our committee is looking forward to it and we welcome all of you to join our volunteer group to help us continue to see this vision come to reality.”

Sheila Barefoot, Sampson County Tourism director also expressed her joy over the stage being in Roseboro and the partnership with the town.

“There’s many projects that we’re working on at what I call us, Sampson County Tourism, and of those we know this stage is our newest and greatest and we’re so excited,” she said. “I noticed something about Roseboro a year or so ago and that’s these volunteers and people in this county, this town, they were not stopping. They would try one thing after another to grow Roseboro and your hard work has really, really paid off.

“I was at a meeting with Chris Starling at Cork and Brew and he made a comment that really resonated with me. He said — Roseboro is going somewhere — it’s a little bit on the map now but it is going to get bigger and greater and better, I certainly believe that. So thanks again, we look forward to this and I’m just so excited the stage could be here in Roseboro.”

Then it was time to pick up shovels and break ground but Butler didn’t close out the ceremony before showing her gratitudea a final time.

“All this started several years ago with all the growth that’s going on and all the activities that we’ve got going on through the restaurants and the businesses opening up downtown,” Butler stated during ceremony closing remarks. “I mean, we are very, very blessed in this town, thank you all again for what you do to help the continued growth of Roseboro.”