Central Park NC will hold its Annual Meeting on October 30th at the STARworks Center for Creative Enterprise located in Star, NC. Festivities will begin at 5:30 pm including a glassblowing demonstration by Wet Dog glass! We invite you to come and hear more about Central Park NC and STARworks. Enjoy fine food, spirits, and live music!

DATE: Thursday, October 30, 2008
TIME: 5:30-9 pm
LOCATION: STARworks Center for Creative Enterprise 100 Russell Drive Star, NC 27356

RSVP at info@centralparknc.org or by calling (910) 428-9001

The Rowan Blues and Jazz Society will sponsor the 10th Annual Blues and Jazz Festival on Saturday, October 11th in Downtown Historic Salisbury, NC.

Featured artists and performers include:

Ladies auxiliary Blues Band, Greensboro

Big Bill Morganfield, Atlanta

Blazing Bob Paolino, Salisbury

Joe Robinson Jazz Band, Winston Salem

With "Special Attraction" performer Homemade Jamz Blues Band, Tupelo MS.

So bring out your blankets and comfortable chairs to Downtown Historic Salisbury and enjoy a jazz filled day! For more information contact Eleanor Qadirah of the Rowan Blues and Jazz Society at 704-636-2811 or visit the Rowan Blues and Jazz Society website.

The Rankin Museum will hold a BBQ and Fried Chicken plate fundraiser on October 3rd, 2008 from 11AM-7PM.

A visit to The Rankin Museum promises a getaway from the everyday world and the opportunity to explore faraway places and times past. Take a walk in the jungles of Central America, hike through the backwoods of the Carolinas or take an African safari. You may also compare arrowheads you've found with our extensive collection. Whatever your interests, an adventure awaits you at The Rankin Museum.

Country Days will kick-off in Seagrove on Thursday, September 18th. Bring the whole family out and enjoy carnival rides, live music and dancing, arts and crafts, and a parade on Saturday.

D.T. Grass from Burlington will be performing on Friday from 6-10 p.m. Saturday's annual parade will begin at 2pm led by Fox 8 News anchor Julie Luck as the grand marshal.

For more information on County Days including a schedule of events, performers, and vendors check out this article in the Courier Tribune.

As part of the Community Health Assessment Process required by the state of North Carolina, a community health forum sponsored by the Montgomery County Health department will be held on Thursday, September 18th at the Troy/Montgomery Senior Center starting at 6pm. The purpose of the forum is to determine health priorities for Montgomery County for the next four years. Food and door prizes for attendees will be provided.

For more information about the Community Health Assessment Process and the community health forum, including how to RSVP, contact Rhonda Peters, Public Health Educator, Montgomery County Health Department, at (910) 572-1393 x 265.

Agritourism is taking off in Montgomery County with the opening of a corn maze at Lucky Branch Farm located at 72 Chip Road, off Pekin Road about five miles south of Troy.

Michelle Haywood has long been interested in agri-tourism and got the idea for the corn maze this past March after attending a daylong seminar at Morrow Mountain where she met two men from Monroe, NC that happened to operate their own big corn maze. Of the advice those two men offered, Michelle tells the Montgomery Herald that "they said it was really easy, no problem...when I asked if they made more money on the maze or the corn, they said, hands down, the maze."

The Haywoods plan to be open for about 2 months and aside from the corn, they will also offer pumpkins, soft drinks and snacks for sale. For four days near Halloween, they'll add some spooks and frights to make it a haunted maze.

The corn maze at Lucky Branch Farm will be open weekends from Sept. 12 to Oct. 31, Fridays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Cost is $3. Hours for the haunted maze have yet to be determined but it will be open on Oct. 24-26 and Oct. 31 for $4 admission. Group rates are available and they'll open the maze by appointment during the week.

For more information call 910-576-4981 or 910-220-5578. Click to read the article written by Linda Beaulieu in the Montgomery Herald about the Lucky Branch Farm corn maze.

Interested to learn more about how North Carolina can support an economy that provides quality local jobs that are sustainable and also improve communities? Check out the "Growing a Just, Green Economy," conference this Saturday, September 20th at NC Central University in Durham, NC. The conference is being held from 8am-4pm with Majora Carter, founder and former Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx, and Rev. Dr. William J Barber II, President of North Carolina's NAACP branch speaking on the topic. For more information on the conference including how to register, click here.

Interested in knowing more about what is going on here at STARworks Center for Creative Enterprises? Learn more about what we're actually doing here and keep up to date with all the latest news by reading the STARworks blog. Contributors to the blog include employees and staff of our small businesses here at the STARworks Center: ComfortSouth, Wet Dog Glass, NC Wildlife Resources Commission, STARworks Ceramics, STAR garden and CSA and Central Park NC.

So check it out! Just added entry "How did our garden grow?"

Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd., will host a a fundraising auction to benefit the North Carolina Pottery Center in Hillsborough, NC on September 28th at 2 PM.

Items up for bid include the legendary collection of Art Ware pottery of Dr. Everette James, as well as Catawba Valley pottery, Eastern Piedmont salt-glaze, and other Art Ware pots donated by many well-known collectors and potters from across the state.

Fore more information on upcoming events at the N.C. Pottery Center visit their website here. To preview items up for upcoming sales, visit Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales' website.

To view the benefit ad for this event, click the "download" link below for the pdf.