So, the city allocated around $20,000 for a consulting company out of Kentucky to tell us how to operate the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival going forward, including suggestion of moving it from Festival Park, when all we have to do is ask John Malzone, the downtown businessman who was there for the festival’s beginning in 1982. “I met with Jackie Tuckey (longtime festival board member) and the mayor about four months ago and told the mayor we need to create a Department of Public Events,” says Malzone, who was at the forefront of the festival along with late Mayor Bill Hurley and the late Jimmy Little with the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce. The festival, scheduled for April 26-28, is financially strapped and a nonprofit without an executive director. “You need strong leadership,” Malzone says. Keep it simple, Malzone says, by building the board of directors with “movers and shakers.” And keep the festival, if possible, downtown. “It’s the lynchpin of the community’s identity,” Malzone says. “It is as much a part of Fayetteville as the Azalea Festival is to Wilmington.” Just keep it simple and listen to John Malzone. And, if you will allow, perhaps we should keep these consulting companies out of it.
***
Skip Marley, maternal grandson of Bob Marley, is the marquee headliner of the third annual Juneteeth Jubilee scheduled from 1 to 9 p.m. on June 15 at Festival Park, according to a news release from the Cool Spring Downtown District on behalf of the City of Fayetteville. “Juneteenth event is about commemorating a pivotal moment in history and affirming our commitment to diversity, equality and community,” Mayor Mitch Colvin says in the release. “It’s an opportunity for us to reflect on our past, celebrate progress and unite in our ongoing journey towards a more inclusive and equitable future. Two-time Grammy-nominated Pierce Freelon is the opening headliner. The city is supporting the national Black holiday with $115,000, according to a city spokesman. Interesting, how the city gave $15,000 in 2022 for the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival, and then Executive Director Saragrace Snipes Mitchell had to beg for the $15,000 to help with the city’s signature event.
***
“Bill, I just wanted to say thanks for the column you wrote on Irwin,” Helen Ross writes in an email about our March 16 column on the late Irwin Smallwood, the retired Greensboro Daily News deputy executive after serving as executive sports editor. “It was posted in a News & Record group Facebook account, and I know other people enjoyed reading it as much as I did. You really captured the essence of the man. I think we all thought Irwin would live forever. I talked with him on his 98th birthday. He was a force of nature, for sure, and I am really going to miss him. Thanks again.” Helen Ross spent 18 years with the News & Record and now works with PGATour.com. W. Irwin Smallwood, who was at the Greensboro newspapers from 1953 to 1993, was 98 when he died March 9.
“Bill, Irwin Smallwood was managing editor and later sports editor during my nearly 10 years in Greensboro, initially at the Daily News and then the News & Record,” Jim Jenkins, once a reporter for the Fayetteville Observer, writes in an email. “You ‘got’ Irwin perfectly. Absolutely, positively perfect. You captured how he was a devout gentleman, how he was ‘connected’ to the great and small, how every ounce of him was utterly sincere. Great stuff, Bill. Really, really great.”
***
Whenever you came upon Janet Gardner, you always were greeted with her warm and genuine smile. She grew up in Salemburg and came to call Hope Mills home, where she was the media coordinator at South View High School and served as a former president of the Friends of the Hope Mills Library. She loved to travel with her husband, Charles, and she enjoyed the simple pleasures of life with an appreciation for all of her days. Janet Kohlhage Gardner was 74 when she died March 9, and Janet Gardner was just one of those pleasant people who passed our way.
***
“We will forever hold her in our memory as an exceptional leader and educator,” Cumberland County Schools Superintendent Marvin Connelly Jr. says in a news release about the death of Ella Mae McRae, the retired principal at J.W. Coon Elementary School. “During this difficult time, we extend our heartfelt condolences to her family and loved ones, recognizing the lasting legacy Mrs. McRae has left in our community and the profound impact she made in Cumberland County Schools.” Mrs. McRae worked for 45 years in the school system. Mrs. McRae, died at age 80 on March 13, 2024. A service is scheduled for noon Saturday at John Wesley United Methodist Church.
***
Fifteen artists will be celebrated for their work in the annual Cumberland County High School Juried Art Show at the Arts Council of Fayetteville-Cumberland County. “We are thrilled to once again celebrate the incredible talent of our local high school art students,” Bob Pinson, president and chief executive officer for the Art Council, says in a news release. “This exhibition not only provides a platform for young artists to showcase their work, but also highlights the importance of arts education in our schools and community.” A reception for the artists is scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight (March 22) at The Art Center, 301 Hay St. The exhibit runs through April 6.
***
A Korean War Commemorative Ceremony in honor of Korean War veterans and partisans is scheduled at the grave of Corp. (Ret). Rodolfo P. Hernandez at 10:30 a.m. on April 22 at the Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake. The ceremony is hosted by Outpost International, Society of the 3rd Infantry Division and the Republic of Korea ROK Defense Attaché, according to Capt. (Ret.) Monika Stoy, who is Outpost president. Hernández, a Medal of Honor recipient for his valor on May 31, 1951, in Korea, died at age 82 at Womack Army Medical Center on Dec. 21, 2013.
***
Next: “Well on our way,” Dr. Hershey Bell says about the Methodist School of Medicine
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
We're in our third year of CityView Today, and so many of you have been with us from day one in our efforts to bring the news of the city, county, community and Cape Fear region each day. We’re here with a purpose — to deliver the news that matters to you. To sustain CityView Today’s reporting, we cannot do it without you, and hope you will become members of our team by giving your support. Click here to join.
