QUIMANS
EEKLY
"News from Next Door
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25,2023
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Ji) SCAN ME
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Parks & Rec
announces
volleyball champs
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4 PQ Explorers
earn six badges
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Chuck Hartman:
Choose
Thanksgiving,
even when it
feels impossible
Downtown Hertford's Grand Illumination set for Friday
JULIAN EURE
Managing Editor
HERTFORD — Hertford
is gearing up for its annual
“Christmas Weekend”
which features the Grand
Illumination and Hertford
Christmas Parade on suc
cessive days Friday and Sat
urday, Dec. 1-2.
Susan Cox, event
co-chair for the Grand Illu
mination, said between 300
and 400 residents and vis
itors attended last year’s
event. She’s expecting
that many and more if the
weather cooperates.
While a full slate of activ
ities is planned Friday eve
ning, the Grand Illumina
tion’s main attraction is the
6 p.m. turning on of the
downtown Christmas lights,
which is known as the Per
quimans Festival ofLights.
As she has since taking
office four years ago, Hert
ford Mayor Earnell Brown
will have the honor ofturn-
ing on the downtown
Christmas lights. It may be
one of her last public acts
as mayor: Brown chose not
to seek re-election in the
town’s recent election ear
lier this month.
Cox said Downtown Hert
ford, the new name of Hert
ford’s Main Street program,
added more Christmas
lights to this year’s display.
She wasn’t sure about the
exact number but said it will
be enough to again illumi
nate the Perquimans County
Courthouse, string three
strands across Church Street
and then decorate several
businesses on the other side
of the street. Last year’s Per
quimans Festival ofLights
only covered the courthouse.
Grand Illumination activ
ities get underway with a
full slate of children’s activ
ities from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Kids will get a chance not
only to write a letter to Santa
Claus but get an answer
from him, Cox said. They’ll
also have a chance to “fix
reindeer food” for Santa’s
helpers and make suet packs
for birds that will be hung
on trees. Finally, they’ll get
a chance to showcase their
talent singing Christmas
carols at an open mic.
More ILLUMINATION | A2
THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
The Perquimans County Courthouse is lit up by 6,000
Christmas lights duringlast year's Grand Illumination event
in Hertford.The lights remain illuminated at night throughout
the Christmas season.
Turkey Drop
PHOTOS BY CHRIS DAY/THE DAILY ADVANCE
Buzz Hartman (left) and Stephanie Fuller, both volunteers for The Open Door Food Pantry of Perquimans County, accept
a turkey and other Thanksgiving meal fixins'from a donor during The Open Door's 10th annual Turkey Drop at Hertford
United Methodist Church in downtown Hertford, Friday. The event collected 264 frozen turkeys and more than 1,500
pounds of food for distribution to less-fortunate area residents who are regular clients of The Open Door.
Hertford tables
rezoning for
housing project
Drive provides Thanksgiving for less-fortunate
CHRIS DAY
Multimedia Editor
Hertford officials are
taking more time to con
sider a request to rezone
property off Don Juan
Road from commer
cial use to residential sin
gle-familyhousing.
Town Council’s deci
sion to table a develop
er’s request to rezone
the property followed
a lengthy discussion
between council mem
bers and civil engineer Joe
Anlauf, who was attend
ing on the developer’s
behalf.
Council tabled the issue
after deciding not to vote
Monday, Nov. 13, whether
to rezone the land from
C2 commercial to R6 sin
gle-family residential
development. The motion
stipulated that coun
cil take no longer than 90
days to reach a decision.
Anlauf presented a con
ceptual sketch plan ofa
subdivision proposed at
the intersection ofDon
Juan Road and Brian Cen
ter Drive. According to
the plan, the subdivision
would include 119 sin
gle-familyhomes.
Mayor Earnell Brown
opened the discussion
by asking if R6 would be
too dense, or have too
many lots on the pro
posed site. She was con
cerned because a zoning
designation of R6 means
each home would be built
on a 6,000-square-foot lot
and would leave about 75
feet of space between each
home.
Buzz Hartman, a
volunteer with
The Open Door
Food Pantry of
Perquimans County,
accepts a box of
Thanksgiving meal
items from a donor
during The Open
Door's 10th annual
Turkey Drop at
Hertford United
Methodist Church in
downtown Hertford,
Friday.
VERONICA DOWNING
Correspondent
Area residents dropped
off264 turkeys and more
than 1,500 pounds of food
at this past weekend’s Tur
key Drop to help their
less-fortunate neighbors
have a more enjoyable
Thanksgiving.
The Turkey Drop was the
10th annual food-collec
tion event organized by The
Open Door Food Pantry of
Perquimans County. Over
two days, Friday and Sat
urday, residents pulled into
the parking lot at Hertford
United Methodist Church
on Dobbs Street in Hert
ford and dropped off either
frozen turkeys and Thanks
giving meal fixins’ or mon
etary donations. In some
cases, they dropped off
both.
More TURKEY | A6
More HERTFORD | A2
JOHN FOLEY/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
The Hertford Grammar School PTA's Candyland float rolls
during Hertford's annual Christmas Parade in December
2022.This year's parade will be Saturday, Dec. 2, at 2 p.m.
PAL exhibit honors artist, benefactor Pardue
VERONICA DOWNING
Correspondent
The Perquimans Arts
League recently held a
reception to pay tribute
to the life and work of
the late Jack Lavern Par
due, a major benefactor
ofthe arts group and the
namesake for its youth
gallery.
Pardue died on Aug. 18 at
age 77.
PAL welcomed friends of
Pardue and admirers ofhis
work to its gallery in Hert
ford on Thursday, Nov.
9, to view both his paint
ings and those ofhis long-
time friend and fellow art-
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ist, Annie Cummins.
The joint exhibit,
which remains on
display through the
end ofthe month, is
titled “Seashores &
Seashells.”
VERONICA DOWNING PHOTO
Annie Cummins, a pastel artist known for her paintings of
seashells, talks with (l-r) Shirley Pardue, widow of artist Jack
Pardue; and Hertford residents Fred Mattison and Lorraine
Moss during a reception to mark the opening of a joint exhibit
of paintings by Cummins and Jack Pardue called "Seashores
and Seashells" at the Perquimans Arts League in Hertford,
Thursday, Nov. 9.
More PARDUE | A6
Christmas Parade
rolls next
JULIAN EURE
Managing Editor
Hertford’s annual
Christmas parade set for
next Saturday will feature
at least 10 floats, a group
of antique cars, the Per
quimans County High
School Marching Pirates,
members ofthe ECU
Pirates baseball team, and
a representative ofthe
lieutenant governor ofthe
state ofNorth Carolina.
The theme for this
Saturday
year’s Hertford Christmas
Parade, which gets under
way at 2 p.m. on Satur
day, Dec. 2, is “‘Twas the
Night Before Christmas.” It
was chosen for the theme
by students at Perquim
ans County High School,
Perquimans Chamber of
Commerce Director Diane
Cangemi said, because this
year marks the 200th anni
versary ofthe poem first
being published.
More PARADE | A7