2024 is nearly in the rearview mirror and 2025 will soon spring upon us. Here at Up & Coming Weekly, we’ve had a busy year, working hard to bring to the community events and news that only a local publication such as ours can provide.
I took over as editor in Sept. of 2023, and it has been a point of pride to be the editor of the only truly community newspaper left in Fayetteville. Local journalism is important, and our community is full of things to do (despite the rumors that there is nothing to do here).
The year started off with a bang, from the very first edition. Air Supply graced our cover on Jan. 3, and Dr. Shanessa Fenner wrote a piece about the band that came to the Crown as part of the Community Concerts series. Now celebrating their 89th year, the all-volunteer, nonprofit Community Concerts works to bring big-name acts to Fayetteville and has been doing so since 1935. They are responsible for bringing in two other big acts who took center stage on our cover this year: Billy Ocean (published Oct. 9), and Kansas (published Nov. 27), with articles written by Erin C. Healy.
Community Concerts weren’t the only ones responsible for our musical covers. On Jan. 17, we celebrated the Carolina Country Music Awards with a piece written by Amber Little. Held at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, this country music celebration brought in the best musical acts the Carolinas offer. Fayetteville’s Christy Andrulonis, also known as “Sweet Tea,” helped create the CCMAs with her husband, Jeffrey. 2025 will be their 9th year holding the event.
Amber Little helped UCW honor another musical icon: CeCe Winans. Published on Feb. 28, “The Goodness Tour comes to the Crown Theatre” detailed Winans’ vast, three-decade career, and talked about her new album. Winans has been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Music City Walk of Fame, and has a space on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As Little wrote in the final paragraph of her article, “There is no sign of Winans slowing down anytime soon ... There is nothing this woman of God can’t do.”
On yet another important musical-themed cover, UCW showcased the Child Advocacy Center’s Ultimate Lip Sync Showdown, published on April 10 and written by Max Atkeson. The Lip Sync Showdown is a fundraiser for the Child Advocacy Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping victims of child abuse. Karen B. Tisdale, CAC’s Lip Sync Committee Chair, said this to Atkeson: “Our job as a community should be to constantly work to make Fayetteville a better place to be. What better way is there to make our community better than to serve and protect children? They really are our future.”
Fundraisers for our local nonprofits always make great stories, and what better way to raise money than to go Over the Edge? United Way of Cumberland County’s unique fundraiser appeared on our April 3 cover, and Dr. Shanessa Fenner wrote the article. This annual event allows participants to rappel down the Medical Arts Building in Downtown Fayetteville. Rappelers earn funds through sponsors and donations, and those who raise the funds get to hop down the 50-foot building. Fayetteville community leaders get quite involved in the event, with participation from Police Chief Kemberle Braden, County Commissioners and Court Judges. Fort Liberty gets in on the action too; Sgt. Maj. Greg Seymour from Garrison Command made the descent. And of course, UCW’s own Linda McAlister has gone Over the Edge as well!
Fayetteville’s fundraisers come in many forms. At Legends Pub, Holly Whitley has what she calls a “party with a purpose.” The annual Legends Spring Fling is over 30 years in the making, and every year, a new cause is celebrated by the Gypsy Women. This year, the Spring Fling raised funds for Wreaths Across America, a group that sponsors wreaths to lay on veterans’ graves every holiday season. Katie Herring wrote the May 22 article.
Our festivals in Fayetteville are impressive, and they are only getting larger. In the April 24 edition, Crissy Neville wrote an article about the Dogwood Festival, Fayetteville’s premier downtown event. This two-day affair showcases acts on the main stage at Festival Park. Hay Street is covered in vendors and food trucks, and the community comes together to celebrate the North Carolina state flower: The Flowering Dogwood.
Newer to the festival circuit in town, Juneteenth has begun to gain traction as a major festival. In our June 5 edition, Amber Little wrote about the various events around Fayetteville. Skip Marley came to Festival Park as part of the Juneteenth Jubilee put on by Cool Spring District and the City of Fayetteville. Book Black Women held a three-day celebration with lectures and a film. Hope Mills and Raeford held their own events as well. 2025 promises to be an even bigger event, with Book Black Women receiving a grant from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County.
A perennial favorite of the Fayetteville community, A Dickens Holiday is held the day after Thanksgiving. In our Nov. 20 edition, Anna White wrote about downtown Fayetteville transforming into a Victorian village. Characters from A Christmas Carol roam the streets while carolers serenade festivalgoers. The candle lighting ceremony at dusk is one of the most special events of the day. This festival is truly something extraordinary for Fayetteville.
Downtown Fayetteville sees a transformation at another yearly festival: The International Folk Festival. During the 46th Annual Folk Festival, the promenade to Festival Park turned into the International Cafe, where festival goers could sample food from all over the world on their way to the main stage. Musical and dance acts took place on the performance stage during the event. Amber Little detailed the Parade of Nations in our Sept. 18 edition, talking about the different countries represented in the march along Hay St. This event is proudly put on by the Arts Council, which had a large milestone to celebrate this year.
In our May 29 edition written by Amber Little, UCW celebrated the Arts Council’s 50th anniversary.
“It’s a year-long celebration. We aren’t just doing a one-event type of thing. We really feel that the Arts Council has taken a black and white world, in its near beginnings in the '50s and '60s, to a very colorful, exciting world that engages all people in our community,” Robert Pinson, President, Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, told Little during their interview.
The Arts Council is responsible for many festivals, concerts, events and our art scene throughout Fayetteville thanks to their grants and newer mini-grant program. The Arts Council also made a push for their public art sculptures that grace downtown Fayetteville (including an installation in front of the UCW corporate offices on Rowan St.).
Editor’s Picks
Three covers this year have stayed with me. A combination of beautiful design work from Courtney Sapp-Scott and Brooke Parker and solid writing from our great team of writers contributed to making these last three cover stories my favorites of all 52 editions of 2024.
In our Feb. 21 edition, Kathleen Ramsey wrote an article about the Grand Kyiv Ballet’s performance of Giselle at the Crown. The story followed Katryna Kukhar and her husband and fellow principal dancer Alexander Stoyanov. In addition to the poignant tale of Giselle, Kukhar and Stoyanov talked about their real-life experiences practicing the performance in Ukraine, with sirens and air alarms going off several times a day.
“We had plans for our children’s lives. We had plans for our life. When it started, all our plans disappeared,” Stoyanov said. “We now live just for the near future. We don’t know what will happen with the world tomorrow.”
For now, the duo plans to remain in the United States with their two children and continue doing ballet. The hope is to share Ukrainian culture, art and with that, ballet.
“We would like to bring some positive emotion for people,” Stoyanov said.
Crissy Neville wrote about Fayetteville Technical Community College’s new state-of-the-art Swift Water Rescue Training Center in our June 26 edition. This incredible training center is the first of its kind on the East Coast. Equipped with a 140,000-gallon indoor water tank that can simulate water flow up to 7 knots, this training facility is going to be a game changer for training first responders in our community.
“Now, we have an indoor facility where we can control all the variables. We control the speed of the water, the height of the water, the temperature of the water, we can make it night, we can make it day, I can make it rain, thunderstorm lightning, everything inside this building. I'm not at the mercy of the water level of the Cape Fear River. This facility has revolutionized our training methods and has inspired us to push the boundaries of our teaching,” said Steve White, FTCC Fire, Technical Rescue & Water Instructor.
Jamie Bishop wrote about the 9th Annual Man22 Suicide Awareness Run, published on Sept. 4. Man22SAR is a 2.22-mile run followed by 22 pushups to raise awareness for the 22 veterans who commit suicide every day in the United States. The local nonprofit Through Tragedy Comes Light puts on the event every year, organized by “Ranger Rick” Murillo.
“I couldn’t just sit back and let this happen to more people... I knew I had to do something to honor my friend’s memory and help others in the same situation,” Ranger Rick shared with Bishop.
This year has been a lively one for UCW, and we are excited to see what is in store for 2025. On behalf of the wonderful staff at Up & Coming Weekly, Happy Holidays!