Veering Off-Topic And Loving It

My tour for Ocean of Storms continued yesterday at Hampton B. Allen Library's Brown Bag Lunch. As with my previous tour events, I talked a little about the book and read some passages from it and my previous book, Ben and the Art of Lawnmower Maintenance. The Wadesboro audience, however, was equally interested in talking about my other role, as economic development director for the county.

A lot of very exciting things are happening in Wadesboro economically and the group wanted to talk about the new REV Uptown development, economic mobility, uptown parking, and the "Turn Back the Clock" event in September. That's great! When I arrived here three years ago in October, people were far less engaged with issues of the economy and the ongoing efforts to improve the lives of Ansonians. As we have moved out front and made some visible progress, folks have become far more interested in what's happening and how they can be involved. As I told the audience yesterday, the most important thing they can do on an individual basis is to stay engaged and promote the positives about the community.

At the end of the program, I was delighted to receive a piece of James Price custom pottery as a speaking gift. Very thoughtful.

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John B. Marek

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