PEOP LE & P LACES
Welcome Center Grand Opening
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The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau opened the new Welcome Center on May 19 in the heart of downtown Chapel Hill at 308 W. Franklin St. The building, which was the former location of the Trail Shop and CholaNad, was completely transformed by architect Josh Gurlitz, owner of Gurlitz Architectural Group. Leah Pavao Linke, daughter of former Chapel Hill Town Council member Lee Pavao, spoke at the grand opening as the conference room of the welcome center is named after Lee, who died in May 2019. Executive Director Laurie Paolicelli and her team from the bureau welcomed attendees to the center, which provides inperson visitor services and tourist information and features a 10-foot-wide LED screen showcasing a welcome message from notables such as Gov. Roy Cooper and singer-songwriter James Taylor, who spent much of his childhood living in Chapel Hill. Photography by Melissa Crane CHM
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1 Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau staff Patty Griffin, Laurie Paolicelli, Susan Rice, Marlene Barbera and Tina Fuller.
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2 Mark Zimmerman and Steven Ray Miller with the Rainbow Ram. 3 Leah Pavao Linke, former Mayor Rosemary Waldorf and Mayor Pam Hemminger. 4 Spring Council, Colleen Minton and Keith Minton. 5 Town Council member Adam Searing, Josh Gurlitz, Council member Paris Miller-Foushee, Council member Michael Parker, Hillsborough Commissioner Mark Bell, Laurie Paolicelli, Steven Ray Miller, Alexandra Kandah and former Orange County Commissioners Alice Gordon and Moses Carey.
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chapelhillmagazine.com July/August 2022