The West Innes Street Dairy Queen, built in 1950, will celebrate its annual ” ’50s Day” Saturday, May 30.
On that day, Dairy Queen will have curb service with waitresses in poodle skirts and other 1950s attire.
Dairy Queen will offer half-price malts all day and have other special promotions.Members of area car clubs often spend time at the ’50s Day with their older cars and trucks.
Owners Melissa and Robert Utley have been having the ’50s Day for more than 20 years.
“Curb service is the fun part, I think,” Melissa Utley said.
Leadership Rowan adds 24 to ranks
Twenty-four Rowan County residents joined the ranks of Leadership Rowan alumni recently. The program is sponsored by the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce.Members of the 17th graduating class received plaques and other recognition at the May 21 banquet at the Country Club of Salisbury. Salisbury City Councilman William “Bill” Burgin was the featured speaker. Leadership Rowan Steering Committee Chair Deb Young (city of Salisbury) was master of ceremonies for the evening.
Graduates are: Jamey Basinger (Rowan Regional Medical Center), Sonja Basinger (city of Salisbury), Jill DeBose (Rowan-Salisbury School System), Sara Drake (N.C. Cooperative Extension), John Gerstenmier (Smart Start Rowan), Cynthia Hart (Great American Publishing), Walter Hart (Rowan-Salisbury School System), Hugh Hilton (Rowan County government), Crystal Hodges (Community Bank of Rowan), Geremy Hoover (SunTrust Bank), Deborah Howell (Partners in Learning) and Alan Lambert (YMCA of Rowan County),
Jeff Lowrance (Rowan-Cabarrus Community College), Hunter Nash (Square D-IPaCS), William Pless (town of China Grove), Rachel Scogin (Southern Power-Plant Rowan), Bradley Shiver (Food Lion), Shuntale Smith (Downtown Salisbury Inc.), Terry Smith (city of Salisbury Fire Dept.), Debra Volkmer (W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center), Tyler Weant (Elium Exterminator Co.), Terry Whitesell (Community One Bank), John Williams Jr. (Rowan Vocational Opportunities) and Karen Yousey (Kannapolis City Schools).
Members of the Leadership Rowan steering committee are Deb Young (city of Salisbury), Chair; Bob Fallis (F&M Bank); Rita Foil (Rowan-Salisbury School System); Penny Greer-Link (W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center) and Tommy Page (Carolina Beverage Corp.). Randy Welch (Duke Energy) is chairman of the board for the Chamber of Commerce.
RCCC to use grant for firefighter equipment
The Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation Inc. has given Rowan-Cabarrus Community College a $25,000 grant to enhance the college’s continuing education Emergency Services Program.
The grant will provide firefighter personal protective equipment for RCCC instructors. RCCC is the primary agency for fire and rescue training in Rowan and Cabarrus counties.
Typically, the life of protective equipment is four to five years. Due to the extreme conditions in a training environment and the increasing number of students requiring this training, the average lifespan is closer to two to three years. With recent reductions in state funding, RCCC’s Emergency Services staff members are working to be resourceful in meeting the increasing training needs required by state and federal regulations.
“We thank the Robertson Family Foundation for its generous support,” said Roger McDaniel, director of emergency services at RCCC. “Training in live-burn situations is critical for rookie firefighters and veterans. The new protective equipment this grant will provide benefits the instructors and students at RCCC enormously. Proper training will help our firefighters save lives and property.”Based in Salisbury, the Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation Inc., was incorporated in 1997. It supports non-profit organizations and governmental agencies dedicated to improving their communities through arts and cultural; children, youth and family; community development; education; historic preservation; and public health and safety programs.
New chairman at BNC Bancorp.
BNC Bancorp., parent company of Bank of North Carolina, has elected Thomas R. Sloan as its new chairman.
He replaces W. Groome Fulton Jr., who has been board chairman since the bank’s founding in 1991.
“We have been blessed with great people since we founded the bank in 1991,” said W. Swope Montgomery Jr., president and chief executive officer, “but our leader has been Groome Fulton.
“His even-handed guidance as an independent director has been instrumental to our success.”
Fulton reached the mandatory retirement age.
Sloan has served on the board since BNC Bancorp acquired Greensboro-based SterlingSouth Bank & Trust Company in 2006.
Sloan was an original incorporator of SterlingSouth and was board chairman at the time of the acquisition. Sloan spent most of his business career in ophthalmic manufacturing with Southern Optical Company and its successor, Essilor Laboratories of America, a division of Essilor International based in Paris, France.
Sloan is now retired from his business and serves on five private company boards and numerous non-profit boards. Bank of North Carolina has a branch office in Salisbury.
Cheerwine wants to see our art
Salisbury-based Cheerwine is encouraging fans of the soft drink to submit their artistic interpretations on its new Web site, Itsasoftdrink.com.
The “Art of Cheerwine” section on the site displays and welcomes Cheerwine-inspired art in a variety of mediums including graffiti-style, paintings, silk-screening, sculpture and more.
For submission, artists should click on the Cheerwine bottle sand sculpture featured on Itsasoftdrink.com’s home page. This will activate a slideshow of various artists’ work and a link to instructions on how to submit an original masterpiece.
Cheerwine’s only rules for submissions are that the artwork be original and representative of the soft drink.
“Fans have either grown up knowing, or have come to learn, that Cheerwine is an iconic brand that symbolizes relaxed pleasure,” said Tom Barbitta, vice president of marketing for Cheerwine. “We are looking forward to seeing their interpretations of the brand through creative and artistic expression.”
Cheerwine’s new Web site was created to be an interactive destination for teens and college-age adults, providing them with the types of entertainment that they enjoy most online: games, videos, music and more.
The “Art of Cheerwine” is a new addition to this site.
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