New Gazette released

John Tiley released another new issue of the Waxhaw Gazette on Friday. Among other things, it contains a lot of useful information on upcoming events in town, including the light-up night on November 25th and the Gingersnap 5K on December 3rd.

Read the whole thing.

Dairy Barn closes (temporarily?)

The Dairy Barn had a Facebook post Friday evening saying they were closing up shop due to lease issues. Here's the whole post:

To Our Customers: It is with so much sadness that we announce the closing of our beloved Dairy Barn. We opened a year ago and we have enjoyed serving every one of you this past year. ....and now, at the end of our first year lease, we have encountered some issues that do not seem to have solutions, so we will close for the winter and look for another location to re-open this spring. Thank you for visiting The Dairy Barn, Thank You for believing in our dream, and Thank You for your continued support during this very very difficult time. Jane and Greg Carpenter

The Dairy Barn was one of the businesses in Waxhaw we regularly visited, generally for the ice cream. It was fun to play a game of checkers or Connect 4 while eating our cones.

It's a shame they needed to close up shop, but not really surprising given the revolving door of businesses that have existed in that location since we came to town. For what it's worth, Jackson's Emporium and their overpriced candy was my favorite, followed closely by The Dairy Barn.

Either way, the rent set by the owner does not seem to allow any businesses to occupy this space with serious longevity, at least thus far. But I have no idea what the rent is here or at other downtown locations.

It's times like this where I recall an old County Edge article that detailed the difficulties of starting and maintaining a business in Waxhaw. Of course, it's been so long that this article may just be a figment of my imagination at this point, growing more illustrative of this problem with each telling. For what it's worth, I'm told the Waxhaw library should have an archive of the old County Edges that I should someday take some time to re-peruse.

Either way, keep your eyes peeled for The Dairy Barn in the spring as they plan to investigate alternative locations.

My question: are they still going to have the arcade games? A large handful of tokens is sitting in our cupboard. Hopefully someday they can be put to good use, otherwise I may have to auction these off as arcane tokens of Waxhaw history.

Help support Kate Zidanic

Tonight is "Help Support Kate Zidanic" night at Fox's Pizza in Waxhaw.

Kate is a little 6-year old girl that was diagnosed with lymphona in May of this year. Rick Giarla passed along this statement by Kate's mom to WAA families:

She was diagnosed in May with Lymphoma. She seems to be responding well to the chemo, but still has a rough month ahead of her. Once this chemo is over, she will have 18 months of maintenance. she lost all of her hair last week but that will begin growing back in the maintenance phase (the chemo is not as strong). This money goes directly to a fund at 5/3rd bank designated for her medical bills.

It runs tonight from 4-8pm at Fox’s Pizza Den tonight. Fox’s is donating 15% of your order to help offset their rising medical costs.

Don't forget to mention that you are supporting Kate Zidanic when you place your order!

So if you've got a hankering for some good pizza or just want to help support the Zidanic family's medical costs, get yourself over to Fox's Pizza for some dinner between 4-8pm this evening.

There was also a coupon in the email for a 1-topping medium pizza for a mere $8, $3 of which goes directly to the Zidanic family.

Pass this along.

UPDATE: Thieves afoot

WCNC has the story about 15 cars being broken into at the Woodleaf and Aston Manor subdivisions early Monday morning. A snippet:

WAXHAW, N.C. – Waxhaw police are trying to identify and find two people responsible for breaking in to 15 cars early Monday morning in two nearby neighborhoods.

The Waxhaw Police Department said the cars were broken into between 4-5 a.m. in the Woodleaf and Ashton Manor neighborhoods located right across from each other.

All of the cars were unlocked, and the thieves did not have to break any windows. Various items were stolen, including GPS systems, speakers and cash.

Make sure you lock your cars at night as there's no sense in making it any easier for thieves.

UPDATE 11.55pm: Or not. Per one of my most highly-placed Woodleaf sources, suspects were arrested already. But of course it's a good idea to lock your doors regardless.

Recount is over and Poccia is in

The election is now over, so no one complain about campaign signs for another couple years.

Per a Union County Weekly Facebook update, Sean Poccia survived the recount and joins Mike Stewart as a newly elected board member.

Poccia still wins after recount. four provisional ballots in waxhaw, three not registered so only one counted. That extra vote went to Martin Lane, meaning he lost by three votes

A pretty tight race and an excellent illustration of the importance of getting out there and voting for your candidate. Tough loss for Martin Lane and Phillip Gregory, but I'm sure they'll be involved in town affairs one way or the other.

You know, this blog is always on the lookout for highly motivated former board members to sit in on town board meetings (since they're already in the habit of attending these meetings) and sharing their notes with the town. There are multiple benefits to this: not only will this educate local townsfolk as to what goes on at these meetings, but it also will make it so I won't feel I need to attend these meetings. Not like I attend them now, but I always feel like I should.

Let me end with a hypothetical question for county election junkies out there: what if the other three provisional ballots were all valid and counted for Lane, in which case he would've tied Sean Poccia for the last commissioner spot. Would there be some kind of runoff?

UCW on Gardner victory

The Union County Weekly has an article up on Daune Gardner's re-election. It was not as close as the commissioner race, of course.

A snippet:

With the win, she became just the second challenged incumbent Tuesday night in western Union County, along with Mineral Springs Mayor Rick Becker, to win re-election.

“That was very gratifying and humbling,” Gardner said. “I’m looking forward to the next four years. We’ve done a lot of work, got a lot accomplished.”

...

Gardner received the majority of votes at the Waxhaw Volunteer Fire Department, Waxhaw Bible Church and Kensington Elementary precincts. Underwood won the majority of votes at the Waxhaw Elementary precinct. All total, 17.75 percent of Waxhaw’s 6,158 voters cast ballots.

Read the whole thing.

UCW on recount

The Union County Weekly has a nice piece on the Waxhaw commissioner race, where Sean Poccia currently leads Martin Lane by four votes and Phillip Gregory by seven votes. The latter has requested a recount.

But first, provisional ballots must be checked. A snippet:

Whitley said there are currently 101 provisional votes throughout the county that his department needs to sort through before Tuesday, which could also affect the final tally. Provisional ballots are those that have to be checked, if a person voted in the wrong precinct or filled out information incorrectly.

Please note that this is county wide total; there is no word thus far how many of the provisional ballots apply to the Waxhaw races.

Luckily, we've got a good group on commissioner candidates this time around, so we should be okay with whoever ultimately wins.

Stay tuned to the Union County Weekly for more information on this as it becomes available.