Merry Christmas Downtown Statesville

This Small Business Saturday, keep your holiday shopping close to home by supporting Statesville’s local shops and restaurants. From unique gifts and handmade goods to cozy cafés and hometown favorites, every dollar you spend downtown helps our neighbors, strengthens our community, and keeps Main Street glowing all season long. Not sure where to start? Check out our Holiday Gift Guide (link here) for ideas from right here in Statesville.

Two years ago, a friend of mine ran for county office in Pender County. Night of the election, I wanted to check returns. I knew he lived in Hampstead. I knew Burgaw was the County seat. For the life of me I couldn’t remember the county name too look up the returns. (Did I learn this in seventh grade? Yes. Was seventh grade a long time ago? Also Yes.) Somehow trying to figure out the county name got me curious about county seats. I’ve spent many a weekend in the past two years walking around the downtowns of North Carolina’s county seats. I’m up to 85 or so now. Each of the towns has at least one remarkable feature. Lenoir has a really neat layout with some very cool older buildings. Graham and Pittsboro have traffic circles around their old courthouses. Clinton’s downtown encircles the old courthouse like a defensive perimeter. Accustomed to the way our towns in the western Piedmont look (most of them very 1870-1930), Edenton’s buildings from the colonial period stand in such clear contrast. Old, abandoned mills at the edge of downtown are not uncommon. Sometimes these get “adaptively reused” for new purposes (Asheboro). Sometimes they still sit empty await a next step (also Asheboro). I’ve driven away from a few—and forgive me, I won’t name them here—that just left me wanting to cry. Marshall is a neat place, with its downtown nestled between the French Broad and a cliff, more or less. It’s still recovering from the French Broad rising so high that the river literally ran through it. I enjoy exploring downtowns, getting ideas to bring back here (well-lit, active alleys, anyone?). But this week, thinking back on all these towns makes me thankful. Thankful to work with a downtown with such amazing historic buildings. Thankful to work in a community that has invested in creating a beautiful, walkable downtown. Thankful to the score of volunteers and City staff whose time makes a beautiful downtown and its event possible. Thank you all, and Happy Thanksgiving!