Southport visitors
get warm welcome
If you really, really want to find
out about Southport, if you want
the absolute inside scoop, you just
have to stop by the new Southport
Visitors Center on West Moore
Street, a block up from the Cape
Fear River and Waterfront Park and
right next door to that famous
Indian Trail Tree.
The newly renovated, and now
exceedingly comfortable, Southport
Visitors Center is manned by
knowledgeable people of the city.
Folks who can explain why the city
has streets named Lord, Howe, Dry
(and) I Am. Folks who can tell you
who lives in the basement of the
Old Brunswick Inn.
Over 35 volunteers — many of
them members of the Southport
Historical Society -- man the
Southport Visitors Center. The visi
tors center will be open Sundays, or
- seven days a week, March-29
through November 15 this year.
The visitors center is the work of
Southport 2000, a public-private
partnership formed in 1992 to pro
mote the city's downtown and to
engage in economic development
activities.
In ten months of last year, 24,199
visitors to Southport passed through
the center, including nearly 2,500
during the N. C. Fourth of July -
Festival alone.
Of course, the center features all
kinds of printed material to help
visitors to Southport feel right at
home. But there is much more than
printed material to be had at the
Southport Visitors Center.
If you're lucky, you'll barely make
it to the top of the center's new spa
cious front porch before one of the
center's volunteers greets you arid
engages you in talk of old
Southport. Sit for a while on one of
the rocking chairs and soak up the
flavor of the city.
Inside the center, one wall features
a historic timeline, beginning with
the city's founding in 1792 and cul
minating in Southport's 1992 year
long bicentennial celebration.
Another wall features the
Southport Quilt, with 30 panels
Frisbee event
Youngsters ages six through nine
can test their Frisbee-throwing skills
in the Junior World Class Frisbee
Contest June 23 at Town Creek
Township District Park.
Participants will.compete in the
categories of distance, accuracy and
trick catches.
For further information, persons
may call the Brunswick County
Parks and Recreation Department
toll-free at 800-222-4790.
depicting scenes of significance in
Southport and its history. Included
on the quilt are the old Dosher hos
pital building, die Frying Pan
Lightship and even The State Port
Pilot.
Encased on the same wall of the
building is a collection of tools,
weapons and artifacts recovered by
archeologists who have scoured
Southport, including a rifle dating
to 1862 and a number of plates,
pipes, cannonballs and personal
effects of days gone by.
Before leaving, check out the
extensive video collection on
Southport history.
You'll be wiser for the effort.
Fourth
Continued from page 45
looking the Cape Fear River.
July 3 will begin with the early
morning running of the N. C.
Freedom Rim and conclude with a
streqf dance at the Waterfront Park
stage.
Throughout the festival celebra
tion over 150 exhibitors will display
their wares at the craft show in
Southport's Franklin Square Park.
Musical groups, dancers, magicians
and other entertainers will perform
continuously from a stage on the
Cape Fear riverfront at die foot of
Howe Street.
Of course, the crowning jewels of
the N. C. Fourth of July Festival are
to be put on display Saturday, July
4, with the festival's 11 a.m. parade
and 9 p.m. fireworks display.
The N. C. Fourth of July Festival
Parade is expected to attract over
135 units this year, including more
than 20 of your favorite Shriners'
units. Military units and our local
organizations and services will be
well-represented also. Of course, the
festival parade will feature a bevy of
beautiful queens, princesses and lit
tle misses, including the newly
crowned Miss North Carolina.
As the Embers concert concludes
and as night falls on the Southport
waterfront July 4, all attention will
turn to the sky for the festival's
gigantic fireworks display. In past
years over 30,000 people have lined
the waterfront to view this majestic
and highly patriotic event. Come
early, and bring a lawn chair.
The N. C. Fourth of July Festival is
a precious tradition in Southport. It
is the time of the year when
Southport citizens open their home
town to one of the best parties to be
enjoyed in the state.
Rise to the challenges set by legendary golf course architect William Byrd at Lion's
Paw and Tim Cate at Panther's Run. Varied elevations, spectacular water features and
manicured bentgrass greens make golf at these two courses, the game at its best
Call tor tec times (800)255-1801, locally (910)287-1717
Highway 17, seven miles north of NC state line at Ocean Ridge Plantation
7- .