Smitty's Notes

Greetings, Smittyheads,

This edition will be the only one for April. I usually take the month off from Smitty's Notes World to cool my jets for a bit. As you can see, there is a lot of interesting news and events to keep you thinking and keep you busy. I'll pop out the foxhole for a quick e-mail to help get the word out about the RiverRun International Film Festival later in the month.

For the sake of brevity, there will be just a smattering of events below. However, you can always check out what's going on online 24/7 on the SmittysNotes.com Web site or on EventoRama.org throughout the month.

Hope to see you out and about during the month.

Now to the business at hand . . .

The AFAS Group presents - Blues-A-Palooza, Sidewalk Arts Festival and Arts on Sunday Series kick-off - Sunday, April 6

The AFAS Group (Art for Arts Sake) is presenting a free outdoor concert and Sidewalk Arts Festival, which will begin Sunday, April 6th from 12 p.m.-6 p.m. in the Arts District of Downtown Winston Salem.

Blues-a-Palooz is a traditional outdoor blues concert in keeping with the musical history of Trade Street in Winston-Salem. In the 1920s and '30s, Trade Street was a gathering place for old time musicians who played on the sidewalk after their tobacco harvest was sold. This form of music became what is now known as "Piedmont Blues." The lineup of regional musicians that are featured for this free concert on Trade Street (between 6th & 7th streets) includes Ron Hunter and the Have Mercy Band, Twin City Buskers, Aura 3, Tom Rucker, and Possum Jenkins.

In conjunction with this afternoon concert, the Arts On Sunday Series will get off to a start. This sidewalk art festival will feature an incredible roster of visual artists, artists' demonstrations and a kids' craft corner.

The AFAS Group is a non-profit organization whose sole mission is to build, educate and celebrate community through art. For more information visit http://www.theafasgroup.com/.

Davis Cup Quarter Finals April 11-13 @ the LJVM

Tennis fans. Winston-Salem is the host again of the quarter finals for the Davis Cup tennis tournament. This huge sporting event will take place April 11-13 at the Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum with the 2007 Davis Cup Champions United States playing France to determine who will advance to the semi-finals. This will be the third time in seven years the city has hosted a Davis Cup event and hoping for another sellout again like in 2007 at the LJVM.

There are a lot of events planned for the week and weekend. They include a Block Party on Sunday April 6 at Hanes Park, a public arts display of specially decorated, oversized tennis rackets and family events highlighting the sport during the week. Back again is the "Racquet in the Streets" live music event on Friday, April 11 with The Plaids and Saturday, April 12 with Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band.

The United States Tennis Association continues to choose Winston-Salem, because we can put on a good show. Let's not disappoint them. Tickets are now on sales. Join in all the fun while the eyes of the tennis world will be on the city. To volunteer contact Event Director Tucker Pollard 336-830-5863 or e-mail tpollard@flowauto.com For up to the minute event details and ticket information visit http://www.daviscupwinstonsalem.com

UNC Festival of the Arts - Saturday, April 12th

Experience music, dance, theatre, film and more—all in one weekend! The second annual University of North Carolina Festival of the Arts will be held at the North Carolina School of the Arts on Saturday, April 12, from noon until 6 p.m. and Sunday, April 13, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The festival is family-friendly, free and open to the public, and will feature performances by groups from universities in the UNC system. Food will be available for purchase. Don't miss this unique opportunity! Visit http://www.ncarts.edu/festival for more info. Parking at Bowman Gray Stadium. Shuttle service available.

12th Annual Hospice Hope Run-10K Run & 5K Walk wants you!

Hospice & Palliative CareCenter and the Twin City Track Club are calling all runners. On Saturday, April 12, the two organizations are hosting the 12th Annual Hospice Hope Run-10K Run & 5K Walk at Ernie Shore Field at 8:30 a.m. This cardio event will help support the programs and services of Hospice & Palliative CareCenter. The race is huge—as in, more than 800 folks from the community participating, and more are needed. Runners, power walkers, and leisurely strollers are encouraged to take part in the event.

Twin City Track Club will direct the race along with the Winston-Salem Police Department, medical personnel, civic groups, and Hospice volunteers playing supporting roles. The cost is $18 for those who register early (on or before April 3) and $22 after April 3 and on race day. The entry fee includes a custom-designed T-shirt, goodie bag, post-race refreshments, and awards. There will be random door prizes. Everyone is asked to sign up now. With spring around the corner, chances are good that April 12th will be a lovely day to come out and show your support. All proceeds benefit Hospice & Palliative CareCenter. For more information or to register, please call Amy Williamson at Hospice 768-3972 or Amy.Williamson@hospicecarecenter.org

Baseball Stadium Cam Update. More good news coming.

The future home of the Winston-Salem Warthogs has started to take shape. The outfield retaining walls are nearly complete, creating the "bowl" of the baseball stadium. A lot of the major grading was completed in late winter. You now have a level view of the proposed field while traveling in either directing on Business 40.

The baseball organizers and stadium project team will be making major announcements about the baseball stadium and Warthogs baseball in the next couple of weeks. Should be interesting. To check on the baseball stadium progress visit the TruLook Stadium Cam located at the site. And here's a tip: You can move the cam and also zoom in to any part of the site. All you have to do is create a square with your mouse cursor and BOOM! You are there.

Go to http://primo.truelook.com/index.jsp?flash=yes&name=/ballpark/construction

Winston-Salem Celebrity Serve for Wishes premieres in Winston-Salem

A new event this spring comes from the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central & Western North Carolina: "Winston-Salem Celebrity Serve for Wishes" on Wednesday, April 16. The event will be held at various participating restaurants in the city, in which local celebrities and personalities will shadowing the wait staff to visit and entertain customers, many of whom would be there especially to support the Celebrity servers.

Restaurants will donate at least 10 percent of the daily sales to the Celebrity Serve for Wishes event.

Tips earned by the Celebrities/Personalities will be donated to Make-A-Wish. Proceeds from the event will fund wishes of local children with life-threatening medical conditions. The 2007 Celebrity Serve event raised over $40,000 in Boone last year. The goal for the Winston-Salem event will be $30,000. For more information visit http://www.ncwish.org

"The Changing Face of Media: Transitioning to a Digital Age" Panel Discussion and Dinner - Thursday, April 17 @ The Piedmont Club

You're invited to come and listen to panel of local media experts, including Michael J. Miller, president and publisher of the Winston-Salem Journal; Michael E. Pulitzer, Jr, Station Manager for WXII TV/Digital Media; and Calvin Patterson, Host/Producer of "Empowering You" on WSNC FM 90.5, who will discuss "The Changing Face of Media: Transitioning to a Digital Age" on Thursday, April 17, at the Piedmont Club. A Champagne reception begins at 6:00pm, followed by dinner and presentation at 6:30pm.

The digital age has affected each of us, including the way we receive our news. The panel of media experts will share how their perspective media is responding to this change. The event is hosted by the Professional Women's Forum of the Piedmont Club and is open to all men and women in the community.

The Piedmont Club is located on the 19th floor of the BB&T Financial Center, 200 West Second Street, Winston-Salem. Parking is available under the building. The cost is $25 and includes the wine reception, dinner, tax and gratuity. For reservations, call 336-724-7077.

Crossing 52 presents a collaboration of youth, jazz and spoken word poetry – Sunday, April 20

Crossing 52's community outreach project this year is a fundraising performance that brings together spectacular jazz by Matt Kendrick and his East To West Ensemble, and spoken word poetry, monologues, riffs, raps and shout-outs by teens from The Winston-Salem Youth Arts Institute (WSYAI). The concert takes place at 7:00 p.m. on April 20 at Green Street United Methodist Church, 639 Green Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and free for children under 12. Crossing 52 is sponsoring the event to raise money for WSYAI's Summer Institute. East To West is about breaking down barriers in people's minds with great music.

The Winston-Salem Youth Arts Institute is about teens breaking down barriers in people's minds, hearts, and about our community using the spoken and written word. Crossing 52 is about bringing together East and West Winston. Bringing all three groups together on April 20 is going to be one powerful, exciting experience for our community!

RiverRun International Film Festival 2008 program and events announced

The RiverRun International Film Festival - RIFF, one of the country's fastest-growing regional film festivals, just announced that this year it will screen 31 feature films and 64 short films from 26 countries at its 10th annual festival on April 23-28, 2008. The full lineup includes a broad mix of both emerging and established filmmakers from around the world and will feature two U.S. premières (The Baker and Erik Nietzche: The Early Years, Part 1). In celebration of the festival's 10th anniversary, RiverRun will also present Master of Cinema Awards to actors Pam Grier (a Winston-Salem native) and Bill Pullman.

This year's festival will kick off with the Opening Night screening of Phoebe in Wonderland on April 23 at the Stevens Center (405 West Fourth Street). Director Daniel Barnz and Master of Cinema honoree Bill Pullman will both attend to introduce the film. Following the screening, RiverRun invites the public to the Sawtooth Building (226 North Marshall St.) for the festival's 10th Anniversary Gala, a stylish event that promises to be the hottest ticket in town. Helen Hunt's directorial debut Then She Found Me will screen as the centerpiece première on April 26, and the festival's closing night will feature a screening of Rupert Julian's 1925 classic silent film The Phantom of the Opera, accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra. Another exciting component of the festival is a lineup of public conversations with veteran actors and directors, including Master of Cinema honorees Bill Pullman (April 24), Pam Grier (April 25) and directors Les Blank (April 25) and John Dahl (April 26). For for details about the who RIFF week visit http://www.riverrunfilm.com. A special Smitty's Notes e-mail blast will go out the week of the festival.

Art Unleashed! Pet Parade and Street Festival Kickoff

Art Unleashed! Pet Parade and Street Festival Kickoff for the Forsyth Humane Society's 2008 public art exhibition and fundraiser will be held Saturday, April 26, 2008 11 a.m. - ­3 p.m.

The fun will start with a pet parade and will end with a street festival, which will include live music, food/drinks and lots of fun pet ­related activities. The parade starts at Fourth and Spruce streets ending at Trade and 5th Streets, and the festival is on Trade Street from 5th to 7th Streets.

After the parade, Art Unleashed! Puppy and Cat statues, decorated by local artists and sponsored by local businesses and organizations, will transform the streets of Winston-Salem during the summer. Maps will be available at the visitor's center and at many other locations around town. The figures will be auctioned on August 23, 2008 with proceeds to be used to care for animals housed at our Adoption Center, and to promote Humane Society's message of spay/neuter and responsible pet ownership.

Registration forms for the parade are available online at http://www.fhs-artunleashed.org. There is a $5 registration fee to march in the parade. For more information contact Colleen Weiss, Forsyth Humane Society 721-1303 Ext. 105

Digital Forsyth – Our community history.

An interesting project is underway that is capturing online the visual history of Forsyth County, N.C. through photographs. It's called Digital Forsyth.

Digital Forsyth is a grant-funded multi-year digitization project by Forsyth County Public Library, Winston-Salem State University's C.G. O'Kelly Library, and Wake Forest University's Z. Smith Reynolds Library and Coy C. Carpenter Medical Library. The grant was awarded by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services and is administered by the State Library of North Carolina.

This collaborative project through digitization facilitates access to cultural, historical and scientific heritage photograph collections, thereby increasing interest in and knowledge of the past and informing future generations. Many photographs date to the mid- 19th to early 20th centuries. You can see what early downtown and other parts of the city looked like decades ago. The goal is to make Digital Forsyth as the definitive online repository of cultural heritage resources held by Forsyth County institutions. Buried in the archive is a picture of my great-grandfather John Henry Smith. As a native of the city, I'm pretty glad they are doing it. Check it out and learn our history at http://www.digitalforsyth.org

Salute! The North Carolina Wine Celebration returns Saturday, May 10th. Bigger and Better

Just announced by The Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership is the return for another hoped-for successful round in 2008 of Salute! The North Carolina Wine Celebration, to be held in downtown Winston-Salem, on Saturday, May 10, 2008. The 2007 event was selected as one of the "Top 20 Events In The Southeast" by the Southeast Tourism Society, and this year's festival was selected as a "Featured Event For 2008" by Southern Living Magazine.

Salute! will be held from 12 noon until 6 p.m. on Fourth Street, in the heart of downtown. Winemakers will be on hand with samples and of their harvest—and bottles available for purchase—for more than 6,000 attendees. This year, a host of wineries throughout the state will be offering wine for tasting and purchase.

In addition to the main festival on May 10th, festival organizers announced that Winemaker Dinners will be held on Friday, May 9th, at several fine restaurants throughout the city. These reservation-only dinners will be creative collaborations between chefs and the vintners to produce unique food and wine pairings for their guests.

Prior to the Winemaker Dinners on May 9th, a special reception to be hosted by Southern Living Magazine will be held at the historic Henry F. Shaffner House, from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Salute! A Wine Workshop and Reception with Southern Living," will be a ticketed event open to the public and will feature a special appearance and demonstration by Scott Jones, Food Editor of Southern Living Magazine.

Live entertainment will feature an early set by beach music favorite, Doubletake, and a later, a performance by Carnivalito, with their popular high-energy Latin sound. Festival organizers also announced the Salute After Party!, beginning at 6:00 p.m. following the festival. The free After Party will be jumping with music by The Sleeping Booty Band, and a cash bar with a wide selection of beers and wines.

Mark your calendars. For more details visit http://www.salutencwine.com .

Leadership Winston-Salem is accepting application for the 2008-2009 class

For those of you who want to become more engaged in what's happening in your community and learn how to make a difference by being better informed. Leadership Winston-Salem, a local training program that give a cross-section of business, non-profit, grassroots and neighborhood leaders a chance to learn about their community is accepting an all-new application pool for the 2008-2009 class.

The program is seeking candidates who have some demonstrated experience in getting involved in community affairs; who are flexible enough to set aside one day a month for classes; and who are interested in learning about and making Winston-Salem and Forsyth County a better place to live. You often hear people say, "If I had an opportunity to change things in Winston I would." Well, here's your chance. For more information or to apply for a spot, call Jo Ellen Carson at 723-1002, or e-mail her at JECarson@Leadershipws.org or visit http://www.leadershipws.org