VOLUME 8 ISSUE 17 | THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2023
CHATHAMNEWSRECORD.COM
Chatham News & R ecord THE CHATHAM COUNTY EDITION OF THE NORTH STATE JOURNAL
CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD
Mural unveiled A crowd of over 130 people gathered outside George Moses Horton Middle School in Pittsboro for the unveiling of the mural titled ‘Truth, Justice and Reconciliation.’ Read more about the mural unveiling on page A9.
‘This is a community healing moment’: Pittsboro celebrates Juneteenth at CORE’s 6th Annual Juneteenth Black Arts Festival 2023 By Valeria Cloës Chatham News & Record PITTSBORO — Under the sizzling sun on Saturday, June 17, almost 3,000 festivalgoers looked through Black-owned vendors’ booths, admiring artwork, spices, jewelry and even honey to buy. Others sat and enjoyed Liquid Pleasure’s music covers booming across the Chatham County Fairgrounds, while others danced along to the sounds of “Rock with You” originally sung by Michael Jackson. The 6th Annual Juneteenth Black Arts Festival 2023 — this year’s theme “Recognizing Our Roots, Our Family, & Our Black Culture” — organized by Community Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE) took place between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. two days before June 19. “This is a community healing moment right here,” Karinda Roebuck, executive director of CORE, said about the event. Not only does the festival
recognize the last freed people in the United States, but it also aims to build community, Roebuck said. Juneteenth, which is recognized on June 19, is the commemoration of the liberation of the last enslaved people in the United States in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was put in place by Abraham Lincoln in 1983. President Joe Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, and Gov. Roy Cooper officially proclaimed June 19 as Juneteenth during an N.C. Museum of History Juneteenth event, according to a press release from the Governor’s press office. “It [the festival] is building community around our collective liberation and our collective joy,” Roebuck said. “We are here together at this joyful occasion, to celebrate — to celSee JUNETEENTH, page A6
A ROOTIN’ TOOTIN’ GOOD TIME
The Silk Hope Pro Rodeo set to return on June 23 and 24 By Taylor Heeden Chatham News & Record SILER CITY — From cowboys with lassos to bull riders and oversized belt buckles, there will be something for everyone at the second annual Silk Hope Pro Rodeo on June 23 and 24. Last year’s rodeo saw over 5,000 people come through the Silk Hope Ruritan Club, according to Silk Hope Pro Rodeo organizer Dennis “Strawberry” Pruitt. “We had to turn people away that Saturday night because we didn’t have enough seating for everybody,” he said. “We had to bring in more bleachers for this year so that way we hopefully don’t have to turn people away.” The Silk Hope Pro Rodeo will feature seven different events where cowboys and cowgirls alike will compete for best in show. From bull riding to cattle roping, Pruitt said the rodeo highlights a unique kind of athleticism from competitors. “As soon as it’s over, you can start working on the events for next year. It’s kind
“It’s a Western way of life.” Dennis “Strawberry” Pruitt
of a year-long process really,” he said. “A lot of people who compete in the rodeo, they go work out … It is a lot of people make a living doing it. So you have to be mentally and physically able to do it.” Rodeos began after the Civil War in 1882, when William F. Cody — more widely known as Buffalo Bill — hosted his own Wild West show in North Platte, Nebraska. However, prior to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, Spanish conquistadors and Mexican Vaqueros, who were in charge of herding and transporting cattle, contributed many of the skills and much of the equipment and rodeo terminology used by the American cowboy. Riding, roping and branding, along with the rope, saddle, spurs,
chaps, and even the word rodeo (“roundup”) are just a few of the things brought from the vaqueros. “It’s a Western way of life,” Pruitt said. “We start the rodeo with prayer and with the National Anthem. All of this goes back to the roots of America, and if you ain’t never been, you need to come because it’s a sporting event that was started right here. There will be two hours of a lot of action, competition, and it’ll really be good.” Pruitt said the Silk Hope rodeo is one he’s been looking forward to since last year. He said after the success of last year’s event, he hopes to raise rodeo patrons’ expectations with a higher capacity, even more vendors and food options and a local event people of all ages can enjoy. “It’s a small community, but it branches out,” he said. “This also helps the Ruritan Club — they raise money there for all the stuff they do throughout the year. Lots of people in the community there get involved in coming sponsor-wise and just to help out … It’s amazing.”
Drip, drip: a timeline of Pittsboro, Sanford water system merger By Taylor Heeden Chatham News & Record PITTSBORO — The town of Pittsboro’s water infrastructure has been a hot-button issue for commissioners and residents alike. Town staff and elected officials are working to develop a plan to merge Pittsboro’s water and wastewater facilities with Sanford’s, which staff argues would help alleviate limitations in the town’s current system. The News & Record has created an updated timeline of the merger process between Pittsboro and Sanford. Here’s what’s been reported on so far:
August 2021: Board of commissioners votes to declare intent to merge with Sanford During their last meeting of August 2021, Commissioners authorized then Town Manager Chris Kennedy to send a letter of intent to the City of Sanford to merge the two municipalities’ water and sewer capacities. This move followed two decades of conversations and research between Sanford and Pittsboro seeking solutions to Pittsboro’s inadequate water capacity and treatment capabilities. Kennedy’s resolution details the discussions and nego-
tiations leading up to the deci- gionalize the public water and sion, saying it was important wastewater utility systems of to document the 23 years since the Town of Pittsboro,” which the town established a morato- would include water treatment rium related to limited water plants, distribution, wastecapacity. water treatment and public “What I endeavored upon wastewater collection infrawhen I was working on this res- structure. olution was when we first forDuring his nearly two-year mally talked about coordina- tenure as town manager, Kention with the city of Sanford,” nedy said he has prioritized he said. “I felt like it would be finding a solution to Pittsboro’s appropriate and productive to decades-long water capacity ismap that out, going back 23 sues. years until April of 1999, and “I told the board when I got looking at that and saying we here I was going to work very have created opportunities for hard to provide the town and ourselves today to do better to the community generations’ provide water and sewer.” worth of water and sewer caThe proposed Sanford-Pitts- pacity to the best of my ability,” boro partnership would allow the two municipalities to “re- See MERGER, page A12
The board set a public hearing for June 26 to have residents and other members of the public comment on the merger agreement.
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