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"Music for the
Lunch Bunch" is a
25-year summertime treat

This series of summer concerts is held every Wednesday, at 12:15 pm, featuring local artists performing a variety of music, with particular emphasis on classical music. It is sponsored by the Johnston County Arts Council and the North Carolina Arts Council. There is no admission charge but donations are accepted.

All remaining performances will be held at the First Presbyterian Church at the corner of South Third and Church streets in Downtown Smithfield. Here's the schedule:

July 8 – Carrie Wright, violin; Robert Goodwin, trumpet

July 15 – Anne Leyland, violin; Nate Leyland, cello; Joan Beck, violin; Molly Olah, viola; Aaron Harman, bassoon

July 22 – Ella Anne Holding, piano

July 29 – Brandon Allen, flute

August 5 – Julie Stewart and students, vocal

August 12 – Nate Leyland, cello; Howard Kim, piano

 
Depression-Era projects that endure: Smithfield's American Legion Hut (above), in use today as the home of the Neuse Little Theatre, and the rock wall that graces Riverside Cemetery (below).


Great Depression didn't stop
progress in Smithfield

The Heritage Center has a new exhibit about the 1930s entitled "A Few Good Things from a Great Depression," featuring examples of Johnston County progress in public works and business in spite of hard times.

For instance, important Smithfield important landmarks that took shape as Depression-Era projects include the Howell Theatre (a product of private enterprise) and the American Legion Hut, or "Log Cabin" (a federal public-works project). Also, government-paid laborers built the handsome rock walls that still grace public cemeteries in Smithfield, Selma, Clayton, Benson, Four Oaks, and elsewhere.

Other examples of community progress from the 1930s: the Town of Princeton's "first garbage wagon and collectors," Smithfield High School's first organized band, and "Opportunity Hall," a new building at Smithfield's African-American high school devoted to vocational training.

Meanwhile, the Heritage Center offers several books written as personal memoirs about the 1930s for sale in our main hall and also through our Web site at www.johnstonnc.com/heritage.