The window of opportunity has closed

At least, for getting a picture of the new Maxwell's Tavern menu (mentioned here). My wife live-in source has informed me a few days ago that the windows are all boarded up and the menu is gone.

This is the first time I've been thwarted by Maxwell's Tavern, but unfortunately for me, probably not the last.

Big Drug Heist - Waxhaw Style

There was a big drug heist in Waxhaw last week.

WAXHAW, NC (WBTV) - Police in Waxhaw are hoping to identify a man and woman wanted for allegedly stealing products from a drug store Friday morning.

Both the man and woman are seen in surveillance photos walking into the Walgreens on Cuthbertson Road and Highway 16.

Waxhaw Police say they entered the store around 9 a.m. and stole about $800 worth of Prilosec, according to Detective Bobby Haulk.

WBTV has the full article and video clip, including pictures of the alleged perps.

New businesses on the way

A couple new businesses are coming to Waxhaw, per information provided by my most reliable live-in source.

* Dairy Barn will be moving into the old Jackson's Emporium place. The sign on the building was advertising it as selling ice cream, coffee, and treats, awful similar to the fare offered by the previous two businesses to occupy this space.

* Also, Waxhaw Yoga & Massage is at the building across the parking lot from Fox's Pizza; the same building housing the Eight Legs Gallery if I'm not mistaken.

Speaking of businesses, the move of Chesterbrook Academy to the old smokestack building seems to have fizzled long ago as it appears to be back on the market. Maybe my dream of a microbrew taking up residence there is once again a possibility.

UPDATE: Updated with link to Waxhaw Yoga website and some minor

Millbridge & Cureton sold

I'm a little late on this, but Millbridge and Cureton were sold by BB&T to a joint venture of developers, says the Charlotte Business Journal.

A snippet:

Millbridge and Cureton, which comprise 1,276 acres of southwestern Union County, have been bought from BB&T Corp. The two communities had been taken back by the bank through foreclosure proceedings.

Atlanta developer Landeavor and Chicago-based private-equity firm Walton Street Capital formed a joint venture to buy the communities.

“We believe it’s a good time to invest in high-quality residential assets that are well positioned for the recovery,” says Adam Lorry, Landeavor co-founder.

Given the state of the economy and the glut of houses on the market, this seems like a strange time to make such an investment, but there's not enough details in the article to cast judgment nor do I consider myself qualified enough to make such a judgment on the viability of this investment for that matter.

Given how long neighbors have had houses on the market, I'm not sure I'd be investing in real estate at this time.

The article does have an somewhat interesting quote from the Mayor though. It is:

Daune Gardner, mayor of Waxhaw, says building activity in the subdivisions is “yet to be seen.” Landeavor officials have been talking to Waxhaw administrators about renewing a conditional-use permit at Millbridge.

This is probably due to the editorial discretion of the author/editor of the piece, but the mayor comes off as rather curt. Mainly due to the fact that if the purchase has just occurred, it seems far too early to expect to see any significant building activity occur.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but the fact that the mayor and others pushing for the Waxhaw Research Park had been eying up Millbridge as a possible location for said park comes to mind. At first glance, it would seem like this investment preliminarily suggests that Millbridge may not a potential location for the research park.

By the way, has anyone finished reading the poorly written (if the early pages are any indication) 200-page report on the research park yet? If so, let me know because if you make it through the whole thing, you deserve to be recognized.

Looking to create an authentic meadow?

Got enough land and free time to do it?

Then stay in town on September 12th and visit the Museum of the Waxhaws to learn the ins and outs of creating an authentic meadow from Trena McNabb of Winston-Salem.

See John Anderson's article in the Charlotte Observer for more details.

Last word on new animal ordinance?

Just one last note on the new animal ordinance that essentially bans pets from town-supported events. I've discussed this here and here previously.

I've corresponded with Town Manager Mike McLaurin and there is a small amount of news about the new ordinance. Per Mike, the town is looking into posting signage announcing the new ordinance (so attendees will be aware of the new law).

He also mentioned that they will be looking into tweaking and clarifying exactly what constitutes a town event. We'll see what comes of it.

Time again for First Friday

Coming up on September 4th is the next First Friday event held by the town.

Gavin of the STMSPPC was kind enough to provide a description of the evening's happenings at my last First Friday post.

Here is the text of the unfinished poster compliments of Gavin, laying out the evening's events. If I can get my hands on the poster, I'll update accordingly.

You’ve had a busy summer but now the kids are finally back in school… take some time to relax before things get crazy again. Join us for Stress-less September on First Friday in downtown Waxhaw and take some stress out of your wallet with fantastic deals, learn a new relaxing hobby or pick up a great book that will help you de-stress anytime you need it, and enjoy some great music, food, and fun!

Escape to another world with a good book from The Waxhaw Reading Room Used Bookstore, where they have a great selection of used books and phenomenal prices! Relax outside the store with a game of corn hole, or sit back and listen to the violinist. Home-baked brownies and coffee also provided!

Slash your stash of unused yarn at Tangles on Main! Bring in your unused yarn and swap it with someone else’s unused yarn… learn how relaxing knitting can be and enjoy some refreshments while you’re there.

Need something relaxing to do, yet also practical? Come to The Quilting Nook for a no-sew make it and take it activity. Bring your glue gun and a pair of scissors and buy a snowflake kit at the store and learn to make your own fabric snowflake! Could be a home decoration or a great gift.

Looking at great art is always a fine way to relax. Even better- enjoying free chocolates and treats while doing it! Stop in at Waxhaw Art & Chocolate and shop for some great artwork, meet an artist, and taste some delicious chocolate samples and other treats!

Fans of local author Carolyn Digh Griffin will want to be sure to come to Southport Gifts. She will be doing a book signing from 7:30-9:00 P.M. Her books will be on hand for sale.

Those of you who like to unwind by rocking out to music will be pleased with your choices on First Friday. We will have musical acts playing throughout downtown.

-We’ve got the band Five-17 playing a blend of Christian and secular rock

-Joe Middleton will be playing his brand of Americana/Rock

-Josh Birch and his band will be rocking and rolling inside his store, Birch Studios, on N. Broome Street

-The ever popular Fiesta band will be entertaining us with their unique mix of music and outrageous characters

All acts scheduled to start at approximately 7:00 P.M. Exact times and places TBD.

Finish off your evening with the heartwarming and family favorite movie UP, brought to you by the town of Waxhaw’s Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee. Movie will be shown on the wall of the Furry Godmother at dusk. So bring your chairs to the Main Street Grill Parking lot (Hwy. 75 and S. Church St.), kick back, and relax with a terrific family film!

If you've never been out and about on a First Friday, I recommend it. A ncie evening for the family without having to travel real far.

Here's a lengthy post of my family's travels during a previous First Friday for those interested.

Gas prices

It amazes me of the discrepancy in gas prices between Waxhaw and South Carolina. I got gas in South Carolina yesterday on my way home from work and paid $2.39/gallon.

Coming home from baseball practice last night, the gas station positioned where Old Providence Road dumps onto Hwy 75 (sorry, but the name eludes me) was selling gas for $2.68/gallon.

That's nearly a $.30/gallon difference! Bear in mind I stopped at a more out of the way gas station than those along 521, whose prices were approximately $.20/gallon cheaper than Waxhaw.

But even $.20/gallon is a pretty big deal when you add in all the desirable places to shop now along 521 in South Carolina (Southern Spirits, Harris Teeter, Aldi, Walmart), I think fewer and fewer people will be apt to fill up their tank in Waxhaw.

Storefront Theatre is starting up

The last we heard from The Storefront Theatre, I was surprised to discover "The Controversial Rescue of Fatty the Pig" was not kid-friendly. With a name like that, who would've thunk it?

John Anderson, who writes an occasional Waxhaw column for the Charlotte Observer, has an article on The Storefront Theatre's new season, which begins September 18th.

The scheduled performances for this season include "Cerulean Blues," "Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol," "Stories My Grandmother Told Me," and "Maw Maw's House of Talent."

For more details on these performances, read John's full article and visit The Storefront Theatre's website.

I've got an email out to Judy Simpson Cook as to the kid-friendliness of these performances. Once I hear back, I'll update you.

Been busy

With school and baseball (and soon Cub Scouts) starting up, life's starting to pick up again. Add in a fantasy football draft or two and it seems like there's no time available.

It's probably a good thing I finished the family mix CD when I did earlier in the month. Despite the convenience of mp3 players and the playlists that can be created on them, I still prefer to make old-fashioned mix CDs. Maybe you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but since I moved seamlessly from tape to CD, this would appear to be ultimately inaccurate.

It took me while to come up with the track list, but here it is:

1) Little Rock - Hayes Carll
2) What You Gonna Do? - Buckwheat Zydeco
3) September - Earth, Wind, & Fire
4) If I Had a Boat - Lyle Lovett
5) Rocket 88 - credited to Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats, although I believe this is the version recorded by Ike Turner & Kings of Rhythm
6) P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) - Michael Jackson
7) I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
8) Joy - Lucinda Williams
9) It's A Shame - Hayes Carll
10) Let's Kill Saturday Night - Robbie Fulks
11) Come On - Freddie King
12) Same Road - Mary Gauthier
13) There's a Moose on the Loose - Roddy Jackson
14) Morning Is My Destination - Tift Merritt
15) Let's Wait Awhile - Janet Jackson
16) That's What I Want To Do - Billy Lee Riley
17) I Can Only Imagine - MercyMe
18) Don't Let Me Fall - Hayes Carll
19) Jeans On - David Dundas
20) Flip Fantasia - Cantaloop
21) Rake - Steve Earle
22) Hallelujah I Love Him So (live) - Ella Fitzgerald

A little eclectic, but not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Just Wing It back in business

Just a quick post since to update everyone that Just Wing It is back in business after a reorganization. I updated the original post for those that stumble across it with a Google search.

The update from the owners Luis & Mary:

Just wing it said...

NO, we are not closed. We just closed for 3 weeks to reorganized our company. We got rid of our partners and now it's owned by me (Luis) and my wife (Mary). We have reopened on the 8/12/2010. And starting 8/26/2010 we will be offering a lunch special. So come on down and try our great wings. They are nice and crispy because we dry rub them first and we offer 15 different sauces.

August 23, 2010 7:05 PM

Perfect timing with football season right around the corner. Wing season will soon be underway.

Traffic checkpoints

On our way to the 521 Lowe's and the new 521 Aldi today, we ran into a checkpoint set up by the Waxhaw police on Hwy 75 near Helms Road.

A neighbor had run into a similar checkpoint recently at Waxhaw-Marvin Road, so the police seem to be out and about.

The police officer took my wife's ID (as I was being chauffeured), checked the license plate, and let us on on our way. But not before explaining that at least part of the reason for the checkpoints was that any citations given out during the checkpoints would result in an additional $100 in grant money (from whom, I can't say) for the police department.

This really doesn't bother me too much, but figured it was worth mentioning...you know, since I have a Waxhaw blog.

On another note, I really like the Aldi's. It was a lot smaller than I expected, but there were some good deals to be had. The $1 pineapple sticks out in my mind. Nothing beats a fresh pineapple.

And with the recent construction of the new 521 Aldi's and the 521 Walmart, it got me thinking. How much might this hurt the Waxhaw Lowe's and benefit the 521 Lowe's? We stopped by the 521 Lowe's today solely because we wanted to go to Aldi's. With the new Aldi's and Walmart popping up, along with the nice alcohol selection at Southern Spirits, this seems likely to draw a lot of shopping traffic out of Waxhaw.

I wonder if the Waxhaw Lowe's will begin to experience a noticeable drop in business because of this. John Tiley of The Waxhaw Gazette touches upon the pros and cons of of the recent 521 construction a little more in his latest issue. It's worth your time to read it.

New Waxhaw Gazette

Another issue of The Waxhaw Gazette has been released like clockwork.

The highlights:

* An article on the new Walmart on 521 with specific reference to Walmart's failed bid to construct a Walmart outside historic downtown Waxhaw. My boys and I stopped by on Friday after a birthday dinner to pick up some plastic dart tips. I was loving it ,but I imagine I'm one of the few wishing Waxhaw got its Walmart. While the 521 Walmart is particularly convenient for commuters taking 521 into Charlotte, it's still approximately the same distance from the other area Walmarts in Indian Trail, Arboretum, Monroe, and so forth. So it's probably

The benefit of this particular Walmart (for commuters like me at least) is that while you still have to travel 10-15 miles to get there, at least you're not traveling out of your way.

* He provides all the links for those interested in the BBQ cook-off during the weekend of Oct 8-9 during the Autumn Treasures festival. My family showed up later in the afternoon to the BBQ cookoff to benefit the late Waxhaw police Officer Richard Belk, so we'll try to arrive earlier at this one as I've grown quite fond of smoked Boston butt since I moved down here.

Read the whole thing.

Still no word from John on the plans for the recently proposed historic district; I for one would like to hear his thoughts on the machinations that are underway. Maybe in the next issue.

What once was Bridge & Rail...

...will soon be Maxwell's Tavern.

I planned to include a picture of the menu, which appears to be posted on the window, but my wife decided she'd rather not step out into the downpour to get the scoop for me.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have it up.

My theme song

There's a song entitled "Broome Street Blues" that inspired the name of this blog; I'd never heard it before, but it seemed like as worthy a namesake as any.

I have since purchased the song and if you're into old country blues, it's not too shabby.

"Broome Street Blues" the song is performed by Skoodle Dum Doo (Seth Richard) and Sheffield. Not much is known about this pair, but a little that is known can be found here.

Because I pride myself on giving you the full story, here are the lyrics I painstakingly transcribed as I couldn't seem to find them floating around other on other websites.

Broome Street Blues
Performed by Skoodle Dum Doo & Sheffield

This morning when I woke up, Broome Street blues round my bed
This morning when I woke up, Broome Street blues round my bed
I was thinking about my baby so hard, it hurt my weary head.

My best gal has left me and she won't be back no more
My best gal has left me and she won't be back no more
She may be back in the winter, but she won't be back before.

(Hey man, I hear ya. Listen.)

I've got the Broome Street blues, I've been sweepin' all over town (I believe you bud)
I've got the Broome Street blues, I've been sweepin' all over town
I done swept up the gal I love now, I believe I'm settled down.

I've got the Broome Street blues, I've been sweepin' all over town
I've got the Broome Street blues, I've been sweepin' all over town
That little bow-legged gal of mine, she don't want no messin' round.

If there's a better representative song of this blog out there, I can't think of it. Costs a buck at Amazon if you're interested.

Decorative concrete stamping at half the price

In a previous post, I pointed to an article by Sherri Phengchard that placed a $32k price tag on the decorative concrete stamping that occurred on the intersection of 16/75.

According to an email from Town Planner Greg Mahar, the town just received the actual bill and it was for approximately half the figure quoted by Sherri - $16368.

He also helped clear up a confusing soft quote in Sherri's piece as well. She had written the following:

The $32,000 is the last investment in the Hwy.16 and 75 project, Mahar said.

To me, this strongly suggests that the town had previous contributions to this project. Greg clarified however that there were no previous contributions to this project other than general maintenance, such as landscaping.

So whatever your thoughts on the necessity of spending money on decorative concrete stamping, it's sure better to have it done at half the price.

Traffic on Broome Street

Not the physical street, but the online one.

I was just looking at the traffic to this blog and over one-third of the traffic to this blog in the last month has come from Matthews and not Waxhaw. And another 20% of my traffic came from Charlotte.

In fact, Waxhaw only accounted for 15% of my hits in the last 30 days.

Since I cannot imagine Waxhaw business being that particularly interesting to denizens of Charlotte and Matthews, I imagine this is Waxhaw commuters checking out the site during the day.

I'm not sure if this bodes well for their productivity or not, but I'm not complaining.

Clarification on traffic light

I emailed the town and Greg Mahar, the town's director of planning and community development, clarified the status of a potential turning light at 16/75 and some of the issues involved in getting one installed. Greg's response is valuable in explaining the situation, so with his permission, I am including it here.

When the planning for the intersection was occurring there was discussion of installing a dedicated left turn lane for traffic turning onto NC-16 with a turning arrow for eastbound traffic on NC-75 heading to Monroe. In order to accomplish that there was going to have to be a removal of parking along the store fronts of NC-75 on both sides of the road for the DOT requirements to be met. The Mayor & some Board of Commissioner members and some in the community did not want to lose the parking along the street and after working up a budget there wasn’t enough money to construct the turn lane without losing the parking spaces.

I then made contact with NCDOT traffic division and asked for them to look at that intersection to put in a light cycle that will allow the eastbound NC-75 traffic to have a green light w/ arrow for a period of time that will allow the eastbound traffic to move while holding the westbound NC-75 traffic in a stop condition. DOT is concerned that situation will cause further delays for the intersection as a whole but have agreed to look at the intersection after construction is complete to consider the request. Once that review is complete they will issue a finding as to the impact of the request on the intersection as a whole. We will continue to work with NC DOT on solutions to help make the traffic move as smoothly as possible.

So at this point, the town is waiting on a DOT review to see how the intersection will be impacted by adding a turning light without a turning lane.

On another note, I don't see how anyone would think a dedicated left-turn lane could have been squeezed in there without removing downtown parking. There's only so much space.

A turning light, on the other hand, requires no additional space to install. As for concerns that it will clog up other parts of that intersection, I'm not sure if DOT is more worried about westbound 75 traffic or southbound 16 traffic. I would suspect the latter.

Ask a question, get an answer

The question came in this post from August 7th where I wrote:

Who pays for decorative concrete stamping and painting anyways? I can't imagine DOT spending the extra money for a purely cosmetic change. Could it be the town?

This answer comes in the form of an article six days later courtesy of Sherri Phengchard of The Enquirer-Journal/Waxhaw Exchange fame. Who can say if this blogger's natural inquisitiveness planted the seed for this article?

From Sherri:

The Waxhaw Board of Commissioners had a special meeting Aug. 4 to approve $32,000 for crosswalk enhancements for the intersection of Highways 16 and 75. The crosswalks were completed this week.

“Aesthetically, it is more pleasing for downtown. It is more decorative than white lines. It is a pattern stamped into the asphalt to look like bricks, and it’s painted red,” Greg Mahar, Waxhaw’s director of planning and community development, said.

Read the whole piece for additional comments from Town Manager Mike McLaurin and commissioner Joyce Blythe.

I'll leave it up to you to decide if it was worth $32000 of town money to stamp and spray paint concrete at the 16/75 intersection.

Things I found on Facebook

Via a Facebook friend: the new Walmart in Indian Land, SC opens on Wednesday morning. It's my new favorite Walmart.

And on a side note, the new Aldi in Indian Land opened up last week too, so times are good for those looking to stretch their dollar in South Carolina.

Got me a growler

Last week, I stopped at Southern Spirits and after throwing caution to the wind, picked up a growler of Olde Mecklenburg Brewery's Copper Amber Ale.

I'd heard about growlers before but never about this particular brewery. For those not familiar with growlers, it's approximately the equivalent of six pints of beer in a big jug. It supposedly has a special cap to keep the beer fresh for longer to avoid the problems that occur to a 2-liter of soda a day or two after it's been opened. At least that's my layman's take on growlers...

For the Copper Amber Ale, I shelled out $20 with $10 to be returned when I return the jug. Not a bad price to pay for six 4.5 pints of quality beer. An employee at Southern Spirits claimed that once cracked, the special cap would keep the remaining beer fresh for 90 days. This seemed dubious, but I wasn't particularly concerned since I'm confident six pints of beer would never last that long in my house.

My final verdict: the beer's real good (that's as detailed a beer review you'll get from me), but the growler will not keep it fresh for anywhere close to 90 days. By day 4, there was noticeably less fizz.

But a growler is definitely a cheap way of enjoying a quality pint of beer without paying bar prices. I plan to pick them up when entertaining out-of-town guests; it's a good way to share a good local brew without leaving the house.

UPDATE 11/4: I had to correct some poor math. A growler is the equivalent of 4.5 pints, not six. It's still a good deal in my opinion, but sorry for the mistake.

More info on new animal ordinance

I finally heard back from town in the form of Town Manager Mike McLaurin regarding the new animal ordinance that passed.

I had sent him a series of questions seeking qualifications on the new animal ordinance and he was kind enough to respond. I've followed up his answers with additional questions, but here's what I've got so far.

* According to Mike, this new animal ordinance was in response to a close call between two dogs during a recent town event. John Tiley at The Waxhaw Gazette says it occurred at the fireworks show on July 4th and mentions a couple of incidents.

There have been a couple of incidents at recent events where owners were not able to control their pets. Mainly, this was at the fireworks show the town had on July 4th. Commissioner Diller was voting against, stating that he was a pet lover and would not want families to miss a chance to spend time with their favorite friend. Unfortunately though, the cause was too late.

* The penalties for violating the new ordinance are as follows: Minimum first offense $10; second $15; third $25; fourth and subsequent $50.

The details I'm still hazy on (that hopefully Mike can clarify) involve the following:

* Boundaried vs. unboundaried events -- Some town events, like the Autumn Treasures festival have clear boundaries, so enforcement should be pretty easy. Other events, like First Friday events have no boundaries so enforcements seems much more subjective.

* What's constitutes a town event? -- The ordinance states that an event is a town event if the town contributes full or partial sponsorship of the event, including in-kind contributions. It is unclear whether the town allowing an event to take place on its streets constitutes an in-kind contribution. If so, that would mean any event within town not completely on private property would be subject to the new ordinance.

When I hear back with clarifications from the town, I'll post them.

Derailment art

The Enquirer-Journal (and The Waxhaw Exchange before it) had an article detailing the preliminary steps in creating some derailment art by none other than the metal sculpture guy, Tom Risser. I imagine he'd be the obvious selection to create something beautiful from the wreckage.

Sherri Phengchard has the story:

It definitely looked like a train wreck, but resident John Cannamela, who lives in Magnolia Ridge, during a conversation with Mayor Daune Gardner, had an idea to creatively mold the train derailment’s destruction into something beautiful.

“I said to the mayor, ‘Why don’t you have the metal sculpture guy, who has metal sculptures all over town, make one from the train wreck?’ She said ‘I’m going to make that happen and ask,’” Cannamela said.

Gardner contacted Tom Risser, a local artist, who said he would be interested in doing the piece. She also contacted CSX who helped them contact the company that collects the scrap.

Tom's now collected enough scraps and is looking for a good idea. If you've got a good one, let him know.

Main Street Grill shifts gears

If you haven't heard, the Main Street Grill stopped serving breakfast last week and has begun serving dinner.

For those of you who work in town, this is a probably a bummer as I hear they had a good breakfast.

For those of us who work in Charlotte, are rarely able to visit for breakfast or lunch, and heard they had excellent cheeseburgers, this is probably a good thing.

I stopped by and picked up dinner last night to try one of the aforementioned cheeseburgers. And it was as good as advertised.

The horror! The horror!

The town stated on their Facebook page that there will be no left turning light at the newly refurbished intersection of 16/75.

After checking with NCDOT we have been advised there will not be a dedicated turn arrow at the intersection.

I can't understand this decision and thus am understandably vexed.

I'll post any interesting details I learn. As of now, I'm not sure if DOT has total say on the installation of a left turning light or if the town has input as well.

Things I found on Facebook

Connor Elisabeth is setting up a new amateur theatre troupe in town, called the Waxhaw Theatre Group.

UPDATE: "Just Wing It" not no more

One of my sources has told me that "Just Wing It", the wing place in the Movie Gallery Just Wing It Domino's plaza has already closed its doors.

I'd never been there, but I'd imagine it'd be difficult to open a wings place when in competition with all the pizza places selling wings as well, especially when opening with relatively little fanfare.

UPDATE 8/23:

Luis provided an update this evening on the status of Just Wing It in the comments below. For your convenience:

Just wing it said...

NO, we are not closed. We just closed for 3 weeks to reorganized our company. We got rid of our partners and now it's owned by me (Luis) and my wife (Mary). We have reopened on the 8/12/2010. And starting 8/26/2010 we will be offering a lunch special. So come on down and try our great wings. They are nice and crispy because we dry rub them first and we offer 15 different sauces.

August 23, 2010 7:05 PM

With football season just around the bend, it's probably be a good time to check out their wings after the reorganization.

New Waxhaw Gazette released

It's that time again; a new issue of The Waxhaw Gazette has been released.

A couple quick comments:

1) He's got an interesting tidbit for all of us drivers who go slightly faster than the state's recommended driving speed -- that state troopers are now issuing tickets to those going a mere 5mph over the speed limit.

2) He's got The Stuffed Olive's grand opening as August 8th and not August 9th as detailed in my recent post and also by a apparent representative of The Stuffed Olive in a rare comment to an earlier post. If you plan to attend the grand opening, take note of the confusion. Maybe John or someone from The Stuffed Olive can clarify.

Well, construction isn't completely over

Just an update on an earlier post in which I declared construction was over at the 16/75 intersection.

But I resolve to be as accurate as I can be, so consider this my mea culpa.

The intersection was open but some work was still underway as of mid-day Saturday. Today, for example, decorative concrete stamping and painting was taking place, limiting traffic turning onto Hwy 75. (Who pays for decorative concrete stamping and painting anyways? I can't imagine DOT spending the extra money for a purely cosmetic change. Could it be the town?)

And while there was no promise it'd be added during this round of work, there is still no left turning light onto Broome Street. I held out hope that common sense would prevail and it would be added.

In other news, ten bags of drainage gravel were not enough for my morning project, so I was able to travel across the new intersection not once, but twice.

Grand opening set for The Stuffed Olive

In case you missed it, a representative from The Stuffed Olive commented on my earlier post on the new bar and grill coming to town.

And it contained the grand opening date of Monday, August 9th, so there will soon be another bar and grill in town to offer a little healthy competition to Southsiders. I hope an unending price war between the two causes beer prices to plunge accordingly, although I suspect the odds of this occurring are slim to none.

If the representative from The Stuffed Olive is still around, inquiring minds want to know what beers will be available and which of those will be on tap? Serving liquor drinks as well? Menu available yet? So many questions...

New beers at Southsiders

Per a Facebook update by Mark, Southsiders has one new Irish beer (O'Hara's Irish Red), which doesn't appear to be on tap.

Another two are set to arrive on tap this weekend -- Shiner Bock & The Cottonwood seasonals.

Rogue Kell's Irish Ale is supposedly on the way.

I may have to stop in and try an Irish Red this evening if I can convince my family to stroll into town for First Friday.

Part two on Research Park

Part II of the Union County Weekly look into the feasibility of the Waxhaw Research Park is available now.

As promised after the first part, a link to the full 200-page report is at the end of the article. My question: has anyone even read the full report yet? Follow the link and maybe you can be the first.

If I ever have the chance to skim through the report, maybe I'll have some more to add.

One question I have: what level of "local support" is required to make this research park work? Both articles mention that it will be needed, but don't really go on to explain exactly what this means. I wonder if that's buried in the report somewhere.

Construction over! Construction over! Construction over!

The headline says it all. Construction at 16/75 is now over and from what my wife tells me, it's now a nice smooth ride over the tracks.

So hopefully things start to pick up for local businesses now that the construction is completed.

Single moms town-wide are probably celebrating. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

July Crime Report

It's that time again, so here's Waxhaw's crime report for July 2010 in all its graphical glory.

Crime is up 30% from a month ago for what it's worth.

Maybe at the end of a year I can make an Excel chart showing the monthly totals for the year. I for one cannot think of a better way to win friends and influence people.

First Friday nearly upon us

Another First Friday is coming up on, uhh, Friday. The town's website never seems to have the latest flyer up, so here it is in all its glory.

According to the town's website, the movie has changed. "Monsters vs. Aliens" has replaced "Up."