Local News

New local church directory highlights areas of worship

Details

Tuesday, 31 March 2026

Written by Jamie Bishop

A new online platform is making it easier for Fayetteville residents to explore the city’s wide range of churches, offering a centralized directory designed to simplify a process that has long relied on word-of-mouth and scattered online searches.

Back-A-Round Records re-introduces vinyl to Fayetteville

Details

Tuesday, 31 March 2026

Written by Anna Tart

The door chimes as Joseph Mason opens the door at Back-A-Round Records. The sound of rock music fills his ears as he ascends the narrow staircase lined with graffiti-esque art, glowing under black lights. Mason, a regular at the record store, begins thumbing through the worn sleeves of vinyl that crowd the small shop. All around him are boxes packed with music from records, CDs and cassette tapes, spanning genres and decades.
“You never know what you’re going to find in a place like this,” Mason said, his eyes fixated as he flipped through the records. “It’s like you’re actually surrounded by Spotify.”
During his search, Mason pauses when he pulls out “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” a 1975 album by War, and smiles. He quietly sang the chorus of the R&B song to himself as he began sifting through another crate of records.
Moments like these are why Shawn Adkins, 45, opened Back-A-Round Records in Fayetteville. Coming from a family of musicians, music has always been a major part of Adkins’ life, he said. In 1987, Adkins remembers getting his first cassette tape, Poison’s “Open Up and Say…Ahh.”
He and his brother would “spend hours per day jamming…headbanging and playing air guitar” while listening to the tape on their parent’s Sony boombox. When Adkins opened Back-A-Round in 2017, he wanted to share his love for music with others; however, he wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea with the domination of music streaming, he said.
“I was thinking, if you start a McDonald's, people are going to come to that McDonald's because everybody wants McDonald's,” he laughed. “But a record store, I was like, dude, is there one person in Fayetteville that'd be interested?”
Since the rise of music streaming in the early 2000s, millions of Americans have turned to platforms like Apple Music and Spotify to listen to their favorite artists. In 2025, 82% of music revenue came from streaming services, according to a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
However, vinyl has quietly made a comeback over the last 26 years. In 2000, records brought in less than one percent of total music revenue. In 2025, vinyl sales surpassed $1 billion for the first time since 1983, making up about 12% of the industry’s sales, according to the RIAA. This marks vinyl’s 19th consecutive year of growth.
Vinyl is still just a slice of the market, but people like Mason represent a niche audience gravitating toward the format. For Mason, being in a space like Back-A-Round, or any record store, “gives a story” to the music he finds. Instead of just scrolling through a streaming platform, Mason said he can spend hours sorting through the stacks of vinyl and CDs, making the search for new music feel a lot more personal and intentional.
“It gives me something to show for the music I like,” Mason said. “You can always buy a shirt or something, but telling your friend, ‘Hey, check out this cool album I found, let’s listen to it,’ it’s just more personal.”
To Adkins, having a tangible product of music is why people have been coming back to records. In an age of digital streaming, he said, something gets lost when music exists only as files you can’t hold.
“Once you have that in your hand, you got the artwork, you can smell the new on it, or the old on it,” he said. “It's one of the most magical things in the world.”
It’s not only the ownership of an album that brings a personal connection between musicians and listeners, said Michal Palm, a UNC-Chapel Hill associate professor in the Department of Communication. Physical albums can also create a richer experience through their artwork, he said.
“It can function as a way to kind of publicize your fandom, for a particular artist in the way that a poster or T-shirt can,” Palm said. “You can learn about your favorite artists by reading the liner notes and the information on the jackets.”
Of course, online spaces like Amazon or eBay offer a quick way to buy records or CDs, but convenience can’t replace the satisfaction of discovering music in person, Palm said. Stumbling across something unexpected can make an album feel more meaningful and the environment of a record store adds to the experience in a way a website cannot, he said.
This “thrill of the hunt,” as Adkins describes it, takes a “rare breed of artistic minded people” who are dedicated to sifting through music to find hidden gems. Mason is one of these “rare breeds” of people. Despite being a regular at Back-A-Round for the last five years, he said the excitement of “the hunt” never quite wears off.
The ache in his back from slouching over the crates of records did not sway Mason from his search. Nearly an hour had passed since he first walked in, but Mason continued his hunt with determination.
“Some days you might not find anything you want,” Mason said, tucking War’s album under his arm as he continued sifting through the records. “But sometimes, you’ll feel like you’ve won the jackpot.”
And today, Mason felt like a millionaire.
He stopped his search again and pulled out The Isley Brothers' “The Heat Is On,” an album Mason had recently fallen in love with. He carried both of his treasured finds to the front of the store where Adkins sat, sorting through his latest shipment of records for the shop.
Mason chatted excitedly with Adkins about his finds from the day, before heading back down the colorful stairway.
“I’ll see you again soon, man,” Mason said with a small wave to Adkins.
After Mason disappeared down the stairs, Adkins returned to the stack of new arrivals. Music habits have changed, he said, but the community that fills his shop makes him feel like the culture around record culture is far from over.
“What I'm able to do for people is give them that opportunity to fall in love with music because in the end, I want to give back,” Adkins said. “I want to share music with people because it changed my life. So, I want to give back to music what it gave to me.”

(Photo: Shawn Adkins, owner of Back-A-Round Records, says music has always been a part of his life. Photo by Anna Tart)

Up & Coming Weekly expands distribution!

Details

Tuesday, 31 March 2026

Written by Staff Report

For questions regarding stories or advertising, please call 910-484-6200.

Government Watch: Vision 2030 announced; Cumberland County delegates meet

Details

Tuesday, 31 March 2026

Written by Jami McLaughlin

Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kirk deViere delivered the 2026 State of the County Address on March 17 at the historic Cumberland County courthouse. It also commemorated the 100th anniversary of the courthouse, marking a century since its 1926 opening.
Framed as a military mission brief titled Mission: Forward, the address focused on a Vision 2030 plan to transform the county into a national model for military-connected community development. The plan outlined clean water access, strong education and workforce systems, expanded mental health services and economic growth and innovation.
On another note, deViere is one of the core community leaders also working on a collaborative Vision 2030 initiative hosted by the Greater Fayetteville Chamber. Similar in nature, the plan brings sectors of the community together with strategic focus areas of safety and community well-being, education and workforce alignment, economic development and infrastructure, innovation and entrepreneurship and media/civic pride.
On Mar. 19, the board met with the Cumberland County delegation, including Sens. Val Applewhite and Tom McInnis and Reps. Mike Colvin, Charles Smith and Diane Wheatley presented their 2027 State Legislative Agenda. The primary requests centered on securing $92.5 million in state allocations for critical infrastructure and community services.
A major request was for $65 million to build a new, state-of-the-art school, with E.E. Smith High School identified as the critical priority due to aging facilities and specific enrollment needs. The board also requested a total of $55 million for water infrastructure, including $50 million for county-wide public water and sewer to ensure safe, sustainable water access and $5 million specifically for the Gray’s Creek District. Other requests included $2 million for a Mobile Incident Command Unit and $500,000 for digital dispatch equipment upgrades, $4 million to expand youth mental health and substance use treatment services within both the community and the county school system, and $2 million in preconstruction funding for a regional aquatic center.
Beyond funding, Chairman Kirk deViere emphasized the need for agency-level partnerships to help our Tier 1 community to address long-term growth and infrastructure capacity gaps.

City of Fayetteville
On Mar. 12, the Fayetteville City Council also met with the Cumberland County delegation, including Sen. Tom McInnis and Reps. Charles Smith, Diane Wheatley and Mike Colvin to discuss legislative priorities. Council members discussed local goals with state-level advocacy and funding needs, including a $29.5 million wish list of requests. The council asked for funds for key infrastructure and community projects such as $10 million for pedestrian projects, $5 million for water/sewer expansion, $3 million for a regional public safety training center, $4 million for mental health and violence prevention initiatives, $2 million for affordable housing, $1 million for workforce development and $500,000 for transportation studies.
The total ask between the city council and county commissioners was $126 million.
On Mar. 23, the Fayetteville City Council delayed approval for a $13 million construction contract for a proposed McArthur Road Sports Complex in order to further inspect the qualifications of the contractor. The project is slated to have baseball and softball fields equipped for tournaments, over 500 parking spaces, a concession/restroom building and a large multi-use building with an open-air pavilion. Also proposed were additional amenities such as a splash pad, play areas and walking trails.
In a presentation to the council, Robert Van Geons, president/CEO of the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation, reported that the city has no remaining infrastructure-ready sites capable of supporting major projects similar to the Amazon fulfillment center. This sparked a discussion on the need for new large-scale sites to remain competitive for transformational business projects.
While the City Council focused on infrastructure, a separate public forum was held the same evening by the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. During the special meeting on Mar. 23, more than 25 residents urged the board to implement a one-year moratorium on data center development. Residents cited several critical concerns regarding the potential impact of these facilities on the community, and the massive amount of electricity required to power these centers would lead to infrastructure upgrades, the costs of which would be passed on to residents through higher utility bills.
In other news, the public will have a preview of the long-awaited tennis courts at the new Courts at Glenville Lake on Wednesday, Apr. 1, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 730 Filter Plant Drive.
According to City officials, the 6,594-square-foot tennis center will feature 11 tennis courts, one of which will be used as a championship competition court, four pickleball courts, locker rooms, a lounge, a learning area and a pro shop.

About the Greater Fayetteville Chamber
Advocacy is a cornerstone of the Greater Fayetteville Chamber. Every week, the Chamber dedicates staff to attend City of Fayetteville and Cumberland County meetings as well as monitoring updates on the state and federal levels. We monitor legislation locally, statewide and federally to protect our community’s business interests. With 91% of U.S. adults recognizing a Chamber of Commerce's impact on growth, membership ensures a strong voice shaping policies, driving economic success and building a thriving business community—together. To learn more, visit www.faybiz.com or email jmclaughlin@faybiz.com.

(Photo: Members of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners met with the State Legislative Delegation to discuss policy priorities, strategic partnerships and targeted investments that will help shape the community’s future. Together, they continue working to ensure Cumberland County’s voice is reflected in the decisions impacting the community. Photo courtesy of Cumberland County NC, Gov. Facebook page)