True love can be hard to find. Some people are hopeless romantics who want the fairytale while others end up living a nightmare. But the key is to not let a bad relationship stop you from giving someone else a chance because there is someone who will eventually realize that you are a pot of gold. 

The Gilbert Theater presents Women of Manhattan from April 1-17. The play is a comedy by John Patrick Shanley. Jeremy Fiebig is the director of the play. 

“We are kind of doing it as a Sex in the City tale,” said Robyne Parrish, artistic director of the Gilbert Theater. “It is all about women and there are a couple of guys in the show, but it is mainly about women and their relationships with men and the struggles they go through living in the big city of Manhattan.” 

Parrish added that they are three girlfriends who have been friends since college and work together through the trials and tribulations of life with each other and the men they are in relationships with. 

Billie is the only married woman in the play. She is in a marriage that is going south. There are two single women, Rhonda Louise and Judy, in the play. Rhonda Louise has trouble letting go of her former relationship. She is having trouble getting out and back into the dating world. Judy has her own set of problems. She cannot seem to meet the right kind of man. The characters are played by Nicki Hart, Loston Riser and Vera Varlamov. Jamale Johnson is playing the character Duke and Grant Harris will play Billie’s husband.   

“Every female on the planet will identify with the struggles of these women,” said Parrish. “They are a good group of women in different places in their lives and have had several relationships dealing with different issues.” 

Parrish added that a lot of the festivities are around drinking so the women go out on the town and meet at the House of Margaritas. 

“We encourage everyone to come and see this play,” said Parrish. “It is funny and it is an opportunity for people to see themselves in these women.” 

For more information or to purchase tickets call 678-7186. 

For the past eight years, young girls throughout Cumberland County and the surrounding area have put their passion for dolls to work to help children who are less fortunate through the annual American Girl Fashion Show.

“It’s like labor,” said Julia Adkins, who has been a co-chair of the event for the past eight years. This year, Adkins is joined again by her fellow co-chairs, Cindy Williams and Carol Wheeler. New to the team this year are Robbie Strickland and Melissa Johnson.

“When you are in the middle of it, it’s a little rough, but then when it’s done you look back and say, ‘It wasn’t that bad.’ Let’s do it again next year. It’s really a labor of love for everyone involved,” said Adkins.

Putting the show together is a 10-month process and includes casting calls for the 140 models who will perform during the four shows at the Crown Ballroom. Many of the girls return year after year, although the show is hard work. Not only do they have to spend several days in rehearsals, they also have to raise money for the Child Advocacy Center. The goal is for each girl to raise a minimum of $100, but over the course of the year, the girls raise close to $25,000 through ticket sales and sponsorships. For the past several years, the show has netted more than $60,000, with more than $700,000 raised during its history. 

It is important to Atkins and the staff at the Child Advocacy Center that the girls who participate understand the mission of the Child Advocacy Center. The center is a place of healing and hope that brings together 19 community agencies to offer a safe and child-friendly location to interview, investigate and provide support for abused children. In fiscal year 2015, the CAC served 661 child victims of abuse. The CAC also provides prevention education for parents, professionals and agencies in the community.

With the mission of the center in mind, the American Girl Fashion Show is a unique and fitting fundraiser. The American Girl line of dolls, books and fashion provides positive historic role models for young girls. Each doll has a unique story that resonates with today’s young girls. Each year, the show adds a new Doll of the Year. This year’s doll, Liza Clarke is a proponent of wildlife conservation and protecting the rain forest. That theme carries over to the decor of the show, which will have a definite tropical rain forest feel.

Also new this year is a change in the format of the show. In the past, girls and their adult companions were treated to light refreshments. This year, attendees will have a full meal. Those who have attended in the past need not worry. Their favorites like the doll beauty salon and the hair and nail salon for girls will still be available, as will the opportunity to take portraits with their dolls. 

While many girls may have visited the American Girl Store in places like Charlotte or New York, they will be able to purchase unique items that can only be found at the fashion shows. 

If you want to delight a young girl in your life, you don’t want to wait too long to get tickets. The shows have sold out every year, and organizers do not expect this year to be any different. Shows are planned for Saturday, April 9 at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and on Sunday, April 10 at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets are $41, with VIP tickets selling for $66.

For more information, visit www.CACFayNC.org or call 910.486.9700. 

Last year Alton Brown, the popular Food Network personality brought his culinary skill, scientific knowledge and sense of humor live to people across the country with his tour Edible Inevitable.The tour was both successful and fun for the audiences and the host. With that experience under his belt, Brown is bringing an even bigger and more challenging tour called Alton Brown Live: Eat Your Scienceto fans across the nation. The show makes a stop in Fayetteville on April 7.

Brown is well known for his work as a host on many Food Network programs like Iron Chef Americaand Cutthroat Kitchen. He is also an acclaimed author winning a James Beard Award for I’m Just Here for the Food. He may be most strongly associated with his 13 years spent on the show Good Eats,however. 

“My live shows are not Good Eats Live. However, the DNA is there. If you are a fan of Good Eats, then you will probably enjoy this, but I do things that I would never be able to do on TV. I write food songs and play and sing. I do demonstrations that are so much larger and theatrical on Good Eats — at the end of the day I did things you could do at home. In my live shows I do demonstrations that you could never do at home unless you have experience welding, a large workshop space and several advanced degrees in electrical engineering. Some people have described it as Good Eats on steroids. I don’t know that I see it quiet that way, but the DNA is there. They are related,” he explains. 

 For those that enjoyed Edible Inevitable this new performance is a must see; it’s going to be even bigger and better. “With the Edible Inevitabletour we learned the model and structure works. It is like a recipe, this much potato this much butter, this much milk. We are using the same structure but with all new songs and all new stuff. The guts are new,” Brown, explained, “This new show we required even more people to help with building and planning. We have brand new demonstrations … we are using technologies that no one has ever used on food before. It is exciting and a little bit terrifying because if things don’t work out the way I think they will, I will be in a little bit of trouble. “

Eat Your Scienceis full of grand demonstrations, jokes, live music and much more. Brown himself plays both the guitar and keyboard. Though not known as a musician now, he says that in his youth he often wrote and performed songs. For him relearning those skills was one of the most rewarding parts of preparing for these tours. “Everyone who grew up like me in ‘70s wanted to be a rock star. This has some of the same vibes so it’s a bit like a fantasy come true,” he says. 

Much of this tour is focused on fun and enjoyment for the audience naturally, but also for Brown. The best performances are ones that are as fresh and exciting for the performers as for the audience. “This is new and exciting and a wonderful antidote because it is the opposite of TV, in a good way,” Brown says “ When you spend a lot of time every day on a sound stage like a do for Cut Throat Kitchen making TV this sort of gives you the other side of life.”

Alton Brown Live: Eat Your Sciencewill be at the Crown Theatre on April 7 at 8 p.m. Tickets star at $39.75. For more information or to purchase tickets visit http://www.crowncomplexnc.com/events/detail/alton-brown or call 910.438.4100. The Crown Theatre is located at 1960 Coliseum Drive.

The City of Fayetteville and the North Carolina State Department of Transportation have agreed to construct nearly two miles of sidewalks along Owen Drive. Sidewalks will be built from Eastern Boulevard (US301) to the
All American Expressway at Old Owen Drive. 

The $549,000.00 project won’t get underway until the summer of 2017, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation, but it has been funded. Eighty percent of the funds are provided by the federal government. The city will pay the other 20 percent or $112,000.00. 

“This will be a great project to improve pedestrian connectivity along one of the highest travelled corridors in the city,” said Fayetteville Traffic Engineer Lee Jernigan. 

Construction is estimated to take from six to eight months.

The 1.8 miles of sidewalks will be constructed along the east side of Owen Drive. That’s the side the ABC Store and Briarwood Apartments are located on. Fayetteville Area System of Transit patrons will also benefit. 

Eight bus stop pads will be built along the route. Some of them will be mini-projects in and of themselves. Narrow berms along some portions of the shoulder of the highway in the vicinity of Briarwood have served as bus stops. They are extremely dangerous because the berms are adjacent to steep drainage ditches. Those areas will require a major buildup for the walkway. Some of the bus stops may have to be relocated in order to better accommodate patrons, Jernigan said. 

“This is part of the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s safety improvement project,” Jernigan noted.

In nearly 50 years, Fayetteville voters have never approved a parks and recreation bond referendum — until now. Similar bond proposals have failed on at least four other occasions, as far back as 1969 and most recently in 2012. Three and a half years ago, a $45 million bond proposal never got off the ground. City Council deadlocked 5-5 in efforts to put a vote to the people. Twice in the 1980s and in 1969, voters rejected parks and recreation referenda by 4-1 margins. This year, 60 percent of the electorate turned out in favor of a $35 million referendum.

The reason for success this time, many observers believe, is two-fold,. Primarily, opposition was impotent; and there were lessons learned from the most recent failure. 

As for the opposition, one school of thought is that the naysayers, notably former City Council members Juanita Gonzalez and Val Applewhite, actually gave supporters a boost in the final two weeks of the campaign. Gonzalez has had a long-time political reputation for naysaying, which backfired as fence sitters hopped off on the side of supporting the bond referendum.

Most importantly though, City Council reflected on the reasons why a proposed $45 million referendum failed to win majority council support three-and-a-half years ago. The centerpiece of the 2012 proposal was a multipurpose indoor pool, field house and senior center that carried a $45 million price tag. Ted Mohn, who had returned to City Council after a hiatus, along with several freshmen members, said that the cost and proposed location of the multipurpose facility were major obstacles then and should not be considered now. Last spring, Mohn broached the idea of another bond issue.

The council eliminated the costly joint-use building and reduced the referendum to no more than $35 million. That number, as it turns out, made the difference with voters. If passed, it would increase the property tax rate by only $.0135, or roughly less than $20 a year for the average home owner. 

Council did its due diligence over several months, decided on specific projects and locations for individual facilities and put together a well-thought out plan. Civic groups for and against the issue advertised their points of view. The city, by law, could not take a position. But it did launch a campaign urging people to vote. Local civic organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce, endorsed the issue the last few weeks before the March 15 primary date. The ballot also included a statewide capital projects bond issue. Both passed. 

Some local officials believe, and even fear, that Fort Bragg is growing too big, too fast from a business perspective. While officials welcome the military growth, there is some concern about the self-sufficiency Fort Bragg is building, from a new convention center to a huge entertainment complex. Add to that growth the 12,000 seat stadium being built by Major League Baseball on the post while Fayetteville is debating the construction of a minor league ballpark. 

Local government, some merchants and others are privately worried that the massive commercial development on post could eventually damage the civilian economy. 

“They’re building their own economy,” said Bill Crisp, a long-time member of Fayetteville’s City Council. 

Crisp recalls efforts five years ago to lure Embassy Suites to Fayetteville. The attraction for the hotel was its proximity to Fort Bragg. Five Points Hospitality, Inc., manages the property, which is owned by MBM Hospitality, LLC, of Fayetteville. The City of Fayetteville pulled out all the stops to make sure the owners chose a location off Yadkin Road, offering tax incentives, spending half a million dollars improving drainage issues, waiving building permit fees and providing a low-interest loan. Adequate conference space was an important element in order to meet the demand created by the relocation to Fort Bragg of the Army’s four-star Forces Command from Atlanta. 

The Army decided to build a convention center of its own on the site of the old Noncommissioned Officers Club. Military leaders called it their “crown jewel.” A new hotel is planned next door, all of which will duplicate Fayetteville’s Embassy Suites. The post also recently renovated the three-story Landmark Inn and military guest houses. Meanwhile, hotels in the civilian community are seeing a downturn in business. 

“It’s going to hurt Spring Lake and hotel occupancy overall,” said John Meroski, president and CEO of the Fayetteville Convention and Visitors Bureau. 

Meroski told Up & Coming Weeklythere has been a large growth spurt in hotels locally. According to Meroksi, two hotels are under construction and four more are planned. 

“In the last six months, for the first time in seven years, occupancy is trending stable,” added Meroski. Sixty-five to 70 percent occupancy is considered full, he explained. The market occupancy rate now is 60 percent. 

At Fort Bragg, a $20 million-plus entertainment center with a multiscreen movie theater, restaurants and specialty retailers is planned. Known as Freedom Crossing, it is under development by the Army & Air Force Exchange System. 

“Nothing like it quite exists in Fayetteville,” said AAFES Spokeswoman Julie Mitchell. Fort Bragg Spokeswoman Christina Douglas said the facility will open in 2018 on a site off Woodruff Street near the North Post Exchange. 

When the complex was announced, Mitchell said six to nine national restaurant chains will be part of it. Douglas indicated the exchange system has not made public the franchises likely to locate on post. But a similar development at Fort Bliss, Texas, has a Texas Roadhouse, Smashburger, Buffalo Wild Wings and other restaurants and retailers. The complex will fill gaps in entertainment and dining options for families at Fort Bragg, Mitchell said. 

The saving grace, Meroski notes, is that soldiers still enjoy leaving post when off duty for entertainment and shopping options and there are a number of military families that live off post and are integrated into the community. 

Where's Sheriff Butler?

Sheriff Earl “Moose” Butler is rarely seen in public these days and, except for a recent radio interview, hasn’t been heard from. For his more than 20 years in office, Butler has maintained a high profile presence, until recently. Sheriff’s Office Attorney Ronnie Mitchell has become his surrogate, leading many to wonder why Butler is no longer speaking for himself. When asked if Butler was ill, Sgt. Sean Swain, the office spokesman, said, “The Sheriff is just fine. He has been delegating a lot of events and engagements to others so he can focus on other more pressing issues.” Butler has indicated he’s serving his last four-year term. He was elected to a sixth term in 2014 which puts him about two years out from retirement. If he follows tradition, Butler may decide to step down early and ask county commissioners to appoint a successor. As a lifelong Democrat, he would likely recommend the person he would like to see succeed him.

Revised Congressional Districts

“There’s a lot of cynicism in the country because of the way we draw maps, where people feel their vote doesn’t count, and that the results are predetermined,” says Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s democracy program and a voting-rights expert. The North Carolina situation, in particular, “is a mess,” he added. As the result of a recent appellate court decision, North Carolina Congressional elections were postponed until June 7 because new maps had to be drawn to straighten out unlawful gerrymandering.

It has been alleged that the Republican legislature packed more black voters into districts where they already had a plurality, thus boosting Republican odds by “bleaching” surrounding districts. Eleven of the state’s 13 Congressional districts had to be redrawn. Fayetteville, Fort Bragg and Cumberland County are now in the new 8th and 9th districts. The new  Congressmen are Richard Hudson, Republican of Concord and Robert Pittenger, Republican of Charlotte. The districts are adjacent to one another. They stretch horizontally along south-central North Carolina from Rowan County in the west to Cumberland County in the east. Members of Congress David Price, Renee Ellmers and David Rouser no longer represent the Fayetteville area. 

Medal of Honor Recipient Honored

Fayetteville’s Airborne & Special Operations Museum will host a Medal of Honor Day Ceremony March 25 at 10 a.m.  The late Staff Sgt. Felix M. Conde-Falcon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division is the highlighted recipient. Staff Sgt. Conde is the only the 82nd Airborne Division Medal of Honor recipient during the Vietnam War. The 3rd Brigade deployed to Vietnam in 1968 answering the nation’s call in response to the Tet Offensive. President Lyndon Johnson came to Pope Field to see the paratroopers off. Guest speakers for the upcoming event are Col. (Retired) Stan Dodson and Lesley Hayes. Dodson was Conde’s platoon leader and Hayes was the radio operator the day of the action. Some of the platoon members present that day will attend. Immediately after the ceremony, all Vietnam veterans present will be honored and presented with lapel pins thanking them for their service during the war.    

Red Cross Dedication

American Red Cross workers are on the ground, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, helping those who need it most. Whether they’re providing essentials to a family impacted by a home fire in the middle of the night, or supporting affected communities after a severe storm, they’re there nearly every 8 minutes across the country. The Red Cross provides impacted families with essentials like warm meals, a place to stay, and clean-up kits , as well as guidance on how to take the next steps to recover from tragedy. Here in Fayetteville, it’s not unusual for volunteers with the Highlands Chapter of the American Red Cross to get phone calls day and night from the fire department. Families who are burned out of their homes are given temporary lodging in local motels and other necessities as they struggle to get back on their feet.  Right now, the Red Cross is hard at work delivering hope and help for people impacted by flooding along the Gulf Coast.  Record flooding is occurring along a stretch of the Sabine River, and will result in long-lasting after effects along the Texas and Louisiana border. One night more than 380 people found safe places to stay in 31 Red Cross and community shelters outside flooded communities in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. It’s the fifth major disaster this year alone. Families face a long road to recovery as they wait for the water to recede.