Boys Soccer Player of the Year:
Editor’s Note: Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly will be delivered on Thursdays instead of Wednesdays starting next issue, on Jan. 8, 2015.
CHAD Hunkler
page 20
Locally Owned & Operated www.matthewsminthillweekly.com
Volume 8, Number 1 • Dec. 30, 2014 to Jan. 7, 2015
Matthews says farewell to Linda’s Childrens Shoppe by Courtney Schultz courtney@matthewsminthillweekly.com
Henderson Properties employees used their teambuilding seminar to assemble bikes for nine area children. Read the story highlights on page 10. MMHW file photo
A year in Features Take a look back at some feature story highlights from 2014
by Josh Whitener josh@matthewsminthillweekly.com
Community features are a huge part of the Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly. As a hyper-local newspaper, Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly and its staff strives to bring our readers quality features on relevant community news, such as fundraisers, 5Ks, nonprofits, arts and entertainment events, school news and people who are simply making a difference. As 2014 draws to a close and residents welcome the New Year, take a look back through a handful of diverse community feature stories included in Matthews-
Mint Hill Weekly over the past year. Read the full stories by visiting www.matthewsminthillweekly.com and typing a story’s headline in the search bar at the top of the homepage. And, remember – if you have an idea for a community feature, we want to know about it. Email story ideas to news@matthewsminthillweekly.com.
Scouts unite against local hunger
Featured in the Jan. 21 to 27 issue Thousands of Boy Scouts across Mecklenburg County united to feed people in need in the Charlotte region through the Mecklenburg County Council of the Boy Scouts of America’s annual Scouting for Food Drive on Feb. 1. (see Year in Features on page 10)
MATTHEWS – Matthews residents will soon have to say goodbye to a cornucopia of traditional children’s fashion that has remained nestled in downtown Matthews for almost 30 years. Linda’s Childrens Shoppe, located at 163 S. Trade St., will close its doors in Matthews by the end of the year and will downsize to a section in Homestyles Gallery in Mint Hill. Owner Jill Cannon has owned the store for about 20 years after her neighbor, Linda Troutman, owned the store for about six years. Troutman worked in wholesale for the children’s apparel industry. She was a Matthews resident and, with some encouragement from her boss, opened her own store in the town. “Her children grew up in the store,” Cannon said. “They would work the cash register and (use the) sale gun.” Cannon’s grandchildren also grew up in the shop after she took on ownership, with her oldest being 16 years old and her youngest 2 years old. Cannon decided to downsize to a space in Mint Hill to spend more time with her family and take care of her parents. Cannon, a life-long area resident, prides herself in providing “traditional clothing with a little bit of trendy” to Matthews and feels people appreciate being able to find traditional children’s clothing they can’t find elsewhere, such as john-johns for boys. “I’m more of a traditionalist and the southern market is traditional,” she said. “Traditional is harder to find.” She also felt that she provided quality clothes that would last parents longer. “I’d rather have two nice outfits that are nice and that you have to wash than five that fall apart,” Cannon said. Cannon purchased apparel from companies in New (see Linda’s closing on page 4)
INDEX: News Briefs, 6; Crime Blotter, 7; Scores, 8; Education, 12; Honor Roll, 14; Rev. Tony, 16; Calendar, 18; Sports, 20; Classifieds, 23