See for yourself: Resurgent downtown exudes an energy you'd find hard to resist

Downtown Goldsboro is developing a pulse.

If you're not one who frequents any of the eateries or watering holes along South Center or North John streets, perhaps you aren't aware.

The Arts Council of Wayne County and the many boutiques are also emerging as a draw, not only to locals with a few dollars burning holes in their pockets, but to out-of-towners, as well.

And so the news this week that the U.S. Department of Transportation has greenlit the remaining phase of the multimillion-dollar streetscape project that helped spark the revitalization of downtown is to be celebrated.

Bite your tongue, nay-sayers. There is crime everywhere, to be sure, but numbers don't bear out what many on social media offer as reasons not to head in to town for a quick bite, a drink, a leisurely stroll to window shop and perhaps come away with some new fashions or accent pieces for the home, porch or yard.

The Goldsboro Police Department and Wayne County Sheriff's Office are working quite hard, and quite well together, to protect all pockets of the city and county, and downtown is in no way immune to the intermittent intrusion of the social ills that plague every town and city in America.  

We refuse to let that truth overshadow the other, that life is to be lived and Goldsboro has been working hard to invite people and business to want to make their living right here.

There truly is something for everyone downtown, and we would be remiss not to mention the art scene, Goldsboro's perhaps hidden secret.

The arts council, the individual artists and musicians, the dance studios and, yes, the hotly-debated art installations that change from one year to the next are each also doing their part to beautify and enhance the ambiance of simply being downtown.

If you haven't been recently, take a stroll one of these cool afternoons or evenings and take it all in.

But be warned, Goldsboro's entrepreneurial spirit is apparently contagious, and many more of our business-minded neighbors are finding their niche, either in the available spaces downtown or by catching a vibe while visiting and taking that creative energy home with them and pouring it into their own endeavors.

You could be next.

Published in Editorials on January 14, 2018 9:50 PM