PREGNANCY CENTER TO HOST BUSINESS AFTER HOURS: Join friends after work to learn about the many services the Pregnancy Center, 226 South Main Street, offers young families on Thursday, November 10, 5-7p. Enjoy hors d'oeuvres and network with friends. If you have an infant or are expecting, you'll want to come and register for a new Kolcraft Bassinet to be given away. (Please note that the bassinet may not resemble to illustration at the right). 336-372-7844 or 336-372-5473
MEALS & MEMORIES SECOND PRINTING: This popular cookbook, lauded by Our State Magazine in their August 2011 issue, is once again available. "For the variety of recipes alone, Meals & Memories would have been a good seller," said the Magazine. "But knowing the cookbook also supports High Country Hospice of Alleghany County (makes) it a must-have for many. Through stories and photographs, (it) preserves memories of people whom Hospice has served as well as volunteers who share their time and talents with the organization." The books are $20 each or 2 for $35 and make wonderful Christmas gifts. Please call 336-372-8018 if you have any questions. Purchases may be made at the Sparta Hospice office, River Rock Grill, Seasons, Twin Oaks Grocery, Medi-Home Care and Freeborn’s in Laurel Springs.
Please RSVP via a email to pete@CountryComfortHomes.com by Wednesday, November 16, so that the prepartion of adequate food can be made. Click for directions.
CHAMBER AWARDS BANQUET PHOTOS posted on Facebook.
QUICK EDITORIAL: I just finished War by Sebastian Junger. He writes about his time in Afghanistan as a reporter at a forward base that fought almost daily with the Taliban. This is a thoughtful book – not the blood, guts and glory you might expect from the title.
We tend to think of courage as something you have or don’t have, but Junger makes a strong case that courage is created and strengthened as soldiers develop a bond as they depend on each other to survive a life and death struggle. “You could be anything at home,” Junger writes, “shy, ugly, rich, poor, unpopular – and it won’t matter because . . , in a firefight . . . the only thing that matters is your level of dedication to the rest of the group. It’s that dedication that creates a band of brothers.
I’m not trying to make a point about war, but draw a point from Junger’s experience. When lives are intertwined in mutual dependence and cooperation it creates a spirit that is not easily duplicated. It is the spirit that newcomers love about Alleghany County when they talk about our sense of community. And local commerce plays an important part in that.
When I go to the grocery store and know the clerk behind the counter and know her young son is in hospital because her husband and I are in Rotary together, I ask about his condition and we have a small, but important conversation that I would never have if I drove 30 miles to buy groceries at Wal-Mart.
If I drop into the coffee shop for a cappuccino and start a conversation with a friend about a problem I’m having with my laptop, and the friend says bring it with you tomorrow and I’ll take a look at it, that kind offer builds a sense of community that ordering an espresso maker on Ebay will never do.
Yes, commerce provides jobs and is key to a good economy. But if you can have a group of people with good incomes living in the same area, and they drive north to another state to shop, east to another county to worship, and spend all their free time online, there is no community, no web binding those people together, no heart and soul that arises out of that group.
Last Friday the Chamber’s annual awards banquet was held at Olde Beau. We recognized people and groups who in different ways make a contribution to our sense of community -- to our collective soul.
That sense of community is strong but it is under threat today because we are pulled in so many directions away from those many small daily contacts that create the web of concern that is community. Better roads make it easy to find cheaper goods sold by strangers in another town. I can get anything over the Internet – watch sports, play games, find specials on Ebay or Amazon, and music on iTunes, get the news from Google – and never say a word to another human being. And people wonder why their lives feel empty.
We can so easily lose that web of community: If we lose (or fail to patronize) the local hardware store that will help you find one exact replacement nut while you catch up on bits of news with the clerk, if the coffee shop closes its doors, if we have no cafe where we go for good food but linger for conversation, if the civic clubs dry up for lack of members, if churches let division drive members apart.
Sometimes it requires small sacrifices to keep that web alive. It may require that an individual leave a safe job working for someone else and taking the entrepreneurial risk to establish a new, local business. It may mean time away from the Internet volunteering with a civic club. It may mean paying a few cents more to buy local while saving on gas.
Why do we have a Chamber Awards Ceremony? Because it’s a good night of fun? Yes. Because the Chamber makes a little money on the auction? Yes (Chamber staff like to eat too.) But also because I believe in a small way it contributes to that web of community.
Why do we have a Chamber? Because together we make good things happen.
Apart, we are just alone. (Show less)
NEW MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: STUDIO REDWOOD: Chris Davis is back in Sparta at 4 South Main Street, in Ike Forrester's former location and hers before that. When she saw the spotlight of her next-door neighbor Murphy's Mercantile that featured me in a Lambchops cap, she called, "Bob, I have something I want you to try on." I did. It's cute, and it may make the short list of gifts for Ruth, my wife, but it's not me. But it is one of many unique items in the shop. In addition to Chris' original art, framing, and faux finishes, she many delightful items: Jillie Willie Aprons (I said no to a photo -- I have my pride), children's books, furniture and a lot more that she's managed to engagingly arrange is just half of the old Northwestern Bank building.FARMERS' MARKET ONLINE SURVEY: You are asked to take a few minutes to complete an online survey about the local farmers' market at www.surveymonkey.com/s/AlleghanyMarketSurvey. It only takes a few minutes and it's easy (I did it) and you help secure the future of local produce production and sales.
COUPON SPECIAL AT NIKOLAS: Click to download and print this coupon for a dinner for two at Nikolas (Good through November). And check below for details on live music this Friday and Saturday nights.
Open House at Old River Club and Country Comfort Homes. Hors d’oeuvres and drawing!
>> Crouse House Pickers: Local blue grass and old time musicians jam each Monday, 2 blocks north of the Courthouse at the Crouse House in Crouse Park, beginning at 6p. Come and play or just listen. No charge, but a donation is appreciated. 336-372-5473
GREAT ACTIVITIES TO DO ANYTIME
>> Alleghany Historical Museum is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stop by to experience local history and to see the new displays, 7 North Main Street, Sparta.
Check for upcoming events: On our website are listings for our Calendar. Check them often and let us know if your activity is not listed.
Bob Bamberg
Executive Director
Alleghany Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 1237 Sparta, NC 28675
336-372-5473
Director@Sparta-NC.com
Sparta-NC.com
This email is a weekly update of news and information from your Chamber of Commerce. If you do not receive a fully formatted copy, it can be viewed on the Web at http://www.blogger.com/www.sparta-nc.blogspot.com.
