Some thoughts, observations and news on a gorgeous Eastern North Carolina weekend:
“A CHEF’S LIFE” HITS A HOME RUN: Like many of you, I was on the edge of my couch in nervous anticipation for Thursday’s debut of the national PBS series, “A Chef’s Life,” which is based on the life and times of Vivian Howard and Ben Knight of Chef and The Farmer restaurant in downtown Kinston.
The premiere episode was impressive from beginning to end. The cinematography was breathtaking, the scenes from all over Lenoir County were impressive and the food looked absolutely delicious.
Howard is a natural in front of the camera. Her beauty, charm, intelligence and inner drive combined flawlessly and flowed effortlessly throughout the episode.
I’ll express what many in the county are saying today: We are proud to have Vivian Howard be the face of Lenoir County, North Carolina to the nation.
The first show ended with the devastating fire that took place at CATF in early 2012. The show airs every Thursday at 9:30 p.m. on PBS (locally, UNC-TV); if you can’t watch it live, be sure to set your DVR.
FAIR BEGINS TUESDAY: I won’t steal too much from Junious Smith III’s excellent advance on the Lenoir County Fair, which appears in another part of today’s paper, but I have to admit I’m more excited for this year’s fair than I have been in my 11 years in Kinston.
There are several reasons for my excitement, but chief among them is the hard work folks like Waylon Adams, Lloyd Moody, Brian Hussey and others have done to turn a fair that was almost a running joke a decade ago into one of the best in North Carolina.
The fairgrounds are pristine and the weathermen are promising a beautiful week to go check out all the attractions, rides and food that this year’s Lenoir County Fair has to offer.
If you haven’t been to the Lenoir County Fair in a few years because of how far it had declined, I promise you this: you’re going to be impressed with how hard folks like Adams, Moody and Hussey have improved the experience.
This is our fair, not Craven County’s, not Wayne County’s and not Pitt County’s. The goal is for 20,000 folks to go through the turnstiles — let’s support it this week.
IT’S ALMOST ELECTION SEASON: While it’s finally starting to cool down outside, the 2013 election season is beginning to heat up. We have some exciting races that are taking shape in Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties.
At the moment, The Free Press is looking into providing at least one and possibly two voters forums/debates for candidates and voters for the Kinston mayor and city council races. We’re also going to do the same thing in Jones County for the Maysville races and — if there is significant interest — we’d love to do the same thing in Snow Hill.
We’ll have that information to you, dear reader, very soon.
As we have the past few years, we are also going to be taping podcasts with candidates in contested races throughout our readership area.
Finally, if you’d like to write a letter to the editor in support of a candidate in any race, the last time we will print them in The Free Press will be in the Sunday, Oct. 27 edition.
“MAMA HEN” RETIRING FROM FREE PRESS: I’ll wrap up this week’s column with some bittersweet news — Nancy S. Saunders, who has been my right-hand person since I came over to the news side of The Free Press from sports in June 2008, is retiring soon. Her final day with The Free Press is Monday, Sept. 30.
After another much-beloved Free Press icon, Mary Ellison Turner, retired a few years ago, Nancy has been in charge of our lifestyles desk — in addition to about 128 other duties she performs daily, including being our newsroom’s “Mama Hen.”
I can’t even begin to tell you what she means to me, although I’ll attempt to do so in a column in a couple of weeks.
My main reason for sharing this news is to give you the opportunity to show your appreciation for one of the sweetest, hardest working people I know. Too many times, folks retire and you don’t have the chance to tell them what they mean to you before they’re gone. Here’s your chance; her email is Nancy.Saunders@Kinston.com and her phone number is 252-559-1079.
Additionally, if you are one of the dozens of folks who send her information, please start carbon-copying your stuff immediately to me at the email address listed below. We want to make sure we get everything in the paper that you send!
Bryan C. Hanks is the editor of The Free Press; his column appears in this space every Sunday. You can reach him at 252-559-1074 or at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCHanks.