Rave reviews: Honors for local events illustrate what community spirit can do

Congratulations are in order for the many hands that contributed to the pulling off of last spring's 2017 Wings Over Wayne air show.

The event won top honors with the folks over at the N.C. Association of Festivals & Events.

Wayne County in sum took home four awards from the 2018 ShowFest Conference last month in Charlotte, further demonstrating that our star is on the rise.

And, with downtown Goldsboro set to see another phase of Streetscape revitalization and the county eyeing natural gas expansion for the northern portion of the county -- fingers crossed -- it would seem the future has potential to be very bright.

While the recent poverty study cast a spotlight on some tough issues the area faces, it is good to see that we are facing up to them as a community and not shying away or throwing our hands up in defeat.

And yes, there have and will continue to be some hard conversations on the subjects of race, immigration, health care, you name it, especially with a muddied midterm election cycle bearing down on us.

For all the contentiousness, however, the recent round of awards the county received shows what can happen when we come together as a community to work on things hands-on.

That air show is a heck of an undertaking, not just by the base -- though those folks work some long, hard hours in the weeks leading up to and during that event -- but also by the local government, the chamber, the vendors and businesses, and everyone who supports the base.

And the same can be said for Mount Olive and the pickle festival and for Goldsboro and its Beak Week. A lot goes into these events, just as a lot goes into the day-to-day operations of the cities and towns that comprise this county that we sometimes take for granted, even though we -- you and us -- are a part of it.

Hopefully we are all proud of our home. There is good reason to be.

Published in Editorials on February 4, 2018 11:26 PM