Wayne Week — April 7, 2024

WEEK Wayne Family. Dinner.

For Ben and Adrienne Strickland, downtown Goldsboro’s newest restaurant is a tribute to friends, family, and a love of the city that raised them.

EDITORIAL

EDITOR Ken Fine EDITOR Renee Carey

DESIGN DIRECTOR Shan Stumpf

PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Casey Mozingo

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CONTENTS

5 Union Station event set

The city and county have already committed funds should the "Saving Union Station" group raise $750,000 to help stabilize Goldsboro's historic train station. Those who believe they can — and will — raise the money think an upcoming event will give their neighbors the connection they need to convince them to contribute.

8 Our take

Tent City might have been shuttered by the Goldsboro Police Department, but now that those who lived there are creating new homeless encampments across Wayne County, it is time to talk about real solutions that might actually work.

10 When caring isn't enough

The law enforcement officers and nonprofits who came together to help those living in Tent City secure the resources they need to start a new life discovered that the vast majority of those who had, for the last several years, lived beyond the tree line off Royall Avenue, do not want their help — at least, not yet.

14 Family. Dinner.

For Ben and Adrienne Strickland, downtown Goldsboro's newest restaurant is not just a place they hope to serve quality food to the city that raised them. It is an opportunity to pass on the love of family, fellowship, and their community instilled in them by their parents and grandparents.

20 The Spectator

The Southern Wayne baseball team might have lost to South Lenoir April 2, but those who came to the game still got to enjoy some beautiful weather — and more than a few jaw-dropping moments that unfolded on the diamond.

Event will kick off Union Station fundraising effort

City and county elected officials agreed to come together to pay $750,000 of the $1.5 million it would take to stabilize the Goldsboro landmark.

BY RENEE CAREY

It happened in a frenzy of sorts at the end of 2023 because it had to — the effort to get Goldsboro and Wayne County elected officials on board with a last-ditch attempt to save historic Union Station before it quite literally crumbled to the ground.

But those who spent much of November and December advocating for funds that would help stabilize the train station understood that without a private match of $750,000, the presentations, meetings, and phone calls that helped secure the other half of the $1.5 million it would take to save the structure would have been for naught.

So, while things have seemed relatively quiet on the Union Station front since the dawning of the new year, behind the scenes, work has continued to ensure the Goldsboro landmark has a shot at a new beginning.

And in roughly six weeks’ time, the community that will soon be called on to provide a backbone for an unprecedented fundraising effort will see the fruits of that labor, as the doors of a oncebustling transportation hub will open so the public can connect with what many local leaders consider a critical part of its city’s past.

Former Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Executive Director Julie Metz, who is spearheading the effort to save the station as a swan song of sorts after leaving her post with the city, working for the state for several years, and then retiring to her family farm in Pennsylvania, described what will unfold May 14 as a significant step toward a future for what has, in recent years, become an embarrassingly-neglected landmark.

“The goal of the event is to get people connected with the station,” she said. “You know, both physically and emotionally.”

And she feels strongly that those who turn out for “hosted tours” and performances by local artists will understand, before they leave the site, just why Union Station is so worth saving.

For a member — and former chairman — of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, standing outside the station transported her back in time to days, decades ago, when she skipped school to people-watch and play on the platform.

But Barbara Aycock is not the only one with memories to share or relive.

And Metz hopes that the event will give people that opportunity — and the chance to look into the future and see the possibility for more cherished impressions to be made.

“I can see it right now for sure. I can see having annual dinners and parties and weddings out

Continued on page 6

UNION STATION TIMELINE

1906 Construction of Union Station begins.

1909 Union Station is opened to the public.

1914 Goldsboro wins a U.S. Supreme Court decision that enables the city to enforce its rights in the regulation of trains, shifting the rail line from Center Street.

1968 Passenger rail service ends. Union Station is decommissioned.

1972 Arthur Perry buys Union Station and its property. 1977 Union Station is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1999 N.C. Department of Transportation conducts Eastern Rail Passenger Study (ERPS) to explore options for passenger rail service connecting Raleigh to Wilmington. 2005 ERPS is redone, resulting in support for a Goldsboro route.

2007 NCDOT acquires Union Station. Grant money is utilized to conduct an environmental study, a conditions assessment, and initial stabilization work at the station.

2009 NCDOT conveys Union Station and its property to Goldsboro.

2023

. Eastern Carolina Rail announces renewed interest in developing a passenger rail line that would connect Raleigh to Wilmington.

. NCDOT Passenger Rail employees visit Union Station.

. Federal Rail Division announces $36 billion in funding to study North Carolina’s preferred passenger rail routes.

. Appraisal places current value of Union Station at roughly negative $800,000.

. Saving Union Station, a local advocacy group, forms to support saving the station from being lost.

. Members of the Goldsboro City Council and Wayne County Board of Commissioners agree to pay $750,000 to stabilize the station if the community raises the other $750,000.

. North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis announces funding for rail study.

. Raleigh-to-Wilmington route, which would pass through Wayne County, gets $500,000.

Continued from page 5

here. I can hear the laughter,” she said late last year. “Those things have happened here before. I think we owe it to ourselves to bring that back. This was, I’m not sure I’d go as far as saying it was a sacred spot, but it was a special spot for sure. It’s going to be again. I can just feel it.”

• • •

The effort to save the station has been ongoing for years, but after the city received an appraisal report from Birch-Ogburn & Co. — one that outlined “detrimental conditions found within the property” and valued the structure at negative $800,000 — those who have been leading the charge to see the station receive a second act knew they had to take immediate action.

So, they formed “Saving Union Station,” a group that would ultimately pledge to raise $750,000 for stabilization efforts should the city and county boards agree to split the difference.

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protecting a piece of the past. It was a chance to secure an anchor for the county’s future. Their pitch worked, with both the city and county boards voting to allocate $350,000 toward the effort.

And as chance would have it, less than a week after the Board of Commissioners agreed to pay their share, Sen. Thom Tillis announced that he helped secure $3.5 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to identify “potential new rail routes or improvements across the state” — money that would be used to “develop a scope, schedule, and cost estimate for preparing, completing, or documenting its service development plan.” (Half-a-million dollars, he said, would be awarded to study the Wilmington-toRaleigh Corridor that would pass through the Wayne County seat.)

The goal of the event is to get people connected with the station.

You know, both physically and emotionally.

At subsequent meetings, they told council members and commissioners that since the North Carolina Department of Transportation conveyed the station and its property back to Goldsboro in 2009, millions of dollars have been spent at the site — federal, state, and local funds that were used for everything from an initial stabilization of the structure and the installation of streetscape around it to construction of the Goldsboro Wayne Transportation Authority hub next door.

• • •

The May 14 event will begin at 4 p.m. and officially end at 8, although those who will be at the site to lead tours, provide updates, and share stories will likely stay a bit longer if the need arises.

And members of Saving Union Station are expected, that day, to officially launch a fundraising campaign they hope will show the state and federal governments just how much support Union Station — and the prospect of passenger rail service returning to Wayne County — has across the community.

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Boy Scouts will raise an oversized American flag.

Food trucks will dish out burgers, pizza, and cool treats.

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But the message it would send to those funding agencies should the community allow, after all that, the landmark to crumble and the “embarrassing” neglect over the last few years that had resulted in the need to stabilize it again was not the only information the SUS group provided.

There will even be an auction.

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They also talked about the fact that Eastern North Carolina Rail had announced it had renewed its interest in developing a passenger rail line that would connect Raleigh and Wilmington — and that the Federal Rail Division had announced $36 billion in funding to study the state’s “preferred” rail routes.

For Metz, who has seen diverse crowds converge on the Goldsboro landmark before, the hope is that a walk through the building — and attending what she believes will be a meaningful celebration — will give local residents the chance to close their eyes and picture what once was.

And, more importantly, what could be.

Because she sees it every time she passes the structure’s facade.

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So, for them, it wasn’t simply about

“It’s one of my, I don’t know, one of my God-given talents — to be able to see what isn’t right there in front of me,” Metz said. “I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain it. But I can see it. I can feel it.”n

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The tyranny of unexpected consequences.

It happens when wellintentioned decisions result in not a lasting solution, but a whole new set of problems.

And that is exactly what is happening right now in Goldsboro.

City leaders faced a growing problem in Tent City — crime, mental health concerns, addiction, drug use/sales and, put simply, a disastrous mess of human waste, garbage, and other discards (which is going to cost north of $250,000 to clean up, by the way).

It was out of control — and becoming more so every day.

There were lives lost and the potential for even more tragedies.

And to make matters worse, for years officeholders turned their heads as the problem got bigger and bigger — culminating in more and more homeless campers, disturbances at local businesses, and shopping carts, needles, and trash scattered up and down Royall Avenue.

There did not seem to be an answer. Or perhaps, it was that there were simply no city leaders — or county legal experts — willing to take on the look of evicting homeless people or putting them into court-mandated programs or jail, when appropriate.

In the age of cancel culture, an awful lot of people lost their “courage.” Avoiding the criticism of the mob — or the chance that you might not get elected — seemed better than dealing with what everyone knew was a serious problem.

After all, it wasn’t in their backyards. Well, not yet.

So, word got out.

Come on down to Goldsboro. No one will say anything or do anything. And some people are so nice and so compassionate that they will try to help you — and you can continue to use or sell drugs at will, steal, and destroy private property.

And they did.

It was embarrassing.

It was getting scary.

And it did not look like anyone was willing to do anything about it until finally, tax-paying members of this community sent a message: Enough.

So, the city decided to take action — sending a message to the residents of Tent City that the encampment was being shuttered and it was time to make other arrangements.

But that’s when the other truth kicked in: You can’t wave a magic wand and expect

people to change on a dime. And dealing with the social consequences of mental illness, addiction, and homelessness is not that simple.

So yes, city police gave them plenty of notice of what was coming, and local charitable organizations got to work, offering those who were in Tent City the chance to get their lives back on track — to enter treatment, and to get the documents and other items they need to find jobs and start a new life.

The Salvation Army even agreed to allow homeless locals the chance to use its address as their own — a necessary first step to getting identification.

And guess what? No takers. None.

All that has happened is that the problem that was becoming untenable in Tent City is

now spreading across the county.

As you will read in this week’s edition, one area of particular concern is Rosewood, but there are other reports of “people emerging from the woods” all over the city.

And while the blame game is not necessarily constructive in this situation, it’s worth pointing out that by ignoring the issues for years because elected leaders inside City Hall and the District Attorney’s Office wanted to avoid a “bad look,” it’s no wonder that those recently evicted from Tent City are unwilling to change their habits.

So where does that leave us?

Well, there is something to be said for compassion, thinking about others, and how to be firm but fair when dealing with compromised populations.

The city has tried to do that, and there have been hero organizations — not the least of which is Tommy’s Foundation, run by Kellie Floars, which has given many homeless families and others who needed help the chance to get back on their feet.

Tommy’s has placed Tent City residents in expensive rehabilitation facilities and found homeless mothers and their children housing.

It has been beautiful to witness — and to cover as this community’s newspaper.

But here’s the rub.

Tommy’s is proof that there are resources out there — and people more than willing to guide those who want the help to them.

The United Way, which, as usual, took the lead in this round of help, is another example.

So, we should salute their efforts and

PHOTO BY KEN FINE

acknowledge that there have been lives changed because of their hard work.

And we should absolutely keep offering help whenever possible.

But, as hard as it is to say, we should also acknowledge that there are many who lived beyond the tree line who are not interested in a shot at a new life.

At least not yet.

So, we should always be thinking about second chances and changing lives. And in Wayne County, that philosophy comes natural to most.

But we also need to accept that there is another concern — the safety of the community.

And the troubling thing that has happened since Tent City was shuttered is that there were just too many people who were not interested in help.

Now, those same people have just pulled up their stakes and moved elsewhere — in some cases close to neighborhoods where there are homes with families. And that is a recipe for real problems.

There is such a thing as too much compassion. It leads to good-hearted people who do not understand addiction, mental health concerns, and what happens when those who get addicted to drugs are not held to account.

Yes, there need to be consequences.

And yes, when you establish a precedent of lawlessness, you get criminals who take advantage of that compassion to continue their bad behavior.

We talked to a former Tent City resident Wednesday who told us that “this is what happens when you turn a blind eye to people stealing everything that isn’t nailed down.”

He is 100-percent right.

Forgiving every sin does not prompt revelations of, “Gee, I really need to change my life.” Not for everyone.

And when the real criminals take over, word gets around.

If it is easy to conduct drug business here, to steal without consequence, and to squat on property that does not belong to you, it brings more criminal elements.

We don’t need that here. We really don’t.

And there is another consequence, too.

Those who really do just need a little help to get back on their feet, those who are facing catastrophe but who want to make it, who want help, they can’t find it because there are too many taking advantage of the offerings from organizations like Tommy’s to give them that chance without any intention of getting back on their feet or going straight.

So, those who don’t want to ask, but who need us, they get painted by the same paintbrush as the criminals. And make no mistake, only the very determined of us can

see through the thorns to the budding roses and stick with a program to help people out of addiction and poverty.

So, what is the answer? It is not a one-shot pronouncement.

It is a policy and a lasting message.

Goldsboro and Wayne County are places where you can come to change your life. But if you take advantage of our hospitality, if you turn to crime, you are not welcome here.

And if you are part of a gang and expect to continue your criminal behavior here and to recruit our children, we will find you and send you packing.

But to have that, we need a few law enforcement leaders — and elected officials — who have the credibility and the courage to say it and mean it.

We are beefing up the city police. And that will mean more officers on the road and around the city. That, combined with a great police chief who gets it will make a difference.

We need to support those officers as they start the work of making our city streets safer again.

That’s Step One in how you make it more difficult to be a criminal in Wayne County.

And if our district attorney is also committed to the same tough stance, we just might be able to make it too uncomfortable to do crime here.

Then, those criminal elements will go elsewhere — leaving a population organizations like Tommy’s Foundation can wrap its arms around with a singular mission of assisting those with life-crises, mental health diagnoses, and active addictions that have left them without shelter.

Right now, that is the best scenario possible for this community.

So don’t listen to those who don’t live with the problem who try to tell you what the solutions are. If we want to protect our community, we have to stop letting them tell us what’s best for our families and future.

And don’t buy into the nonsense that Wayne County doesn’t have “resources.”

The United Way, Tommy’s Foundation, the Salvation Army and others are proof positive that we do.

We need to be tougher and braver, to set a standard for our communities and to have the fortitude to stick to it.

We can send the message that southern hospitality and respect are alive and well in Wayne County, but that accountability and lawful behavior are expected.

We can shower compassion on those who really are just going through a rough patch and need a hand-up without enabling the criminals sleeping in the next tent.

Otherwise, we might as well throw open the doors and hand everyone a key and buy better security systems.n

When caring isn't enough

The Tent City beyond the tree line off Royall Avenue might be shuttered, but others are now popping up across Wayne County, as those who were “evicted” turned down services offered by non-profits.

STORY & PHOTOS BY KEN FINE

Jamie Taylor starts down a path that leads to what used to be a fairly wellpopulated homeless encampment located beyond the tree line off Royall Avenue and stops to take a picture with her cell phone.

For nearly 30 minutes, the routine continues.

With every few steps, she felt another scattering of needles, pile of trash, bucket filled with human waste, rusted shopping cart, or collection of tents was worth documenting.

She has been in these particular woods countless times before — searching for those who secured funds to make bail from her company and then missed their court date; offering help to drug addicts and the mentally ill through her work with Tommy’s Foundation — but this time, as a newlyelected member of the Goldsboro City Council, she felt it was important to show her colleagues what has become of Tent City since the Goldsboro Police Department shuttered the encampment March 26 and threatened to arrest anyone who came back in violation of trespass agreements signed by the property owners.

Taylor admitted it was disheartening and, at one point, almost exasperated at the sheer volume of waste, seemed to be at a loss.

“Who is gonna clean this up?” she said. “This is crazy.”

To her left, massive tents were filled with wet, moldy clothing and mattresses.

To her right, everything from pieces of bicycles, dirt bikes, rusted power tools and empty propane tanks were flanked by piles of garbage bags, articles of clothing, Styrofoam takeout boxes, and deteriorating cardboard.

“Two dumpsters is gonna hold all this?” she said. “Yeah. Ok.”

But on the surface, there was a silver lining.

It was just after 11 a.m. and during the time spent in the woods, only three people were seen inside the encampment — a testament, Taylor said, to the hard line taken by the GPD.

One of them, a man who asked not to be identified by name, had been in the hospital for a month and couldn’t believe “everyone is gone.”

And when Taylor explained what had unfolded, he conceded it was probably for the best and walked back up the path before leaving the property.

“If they had just stayed back here and minded their business, people might not have forced them out,” he said. “But they kept stealing and using because they got away with it. All that junk back there … is what happens when you turn a blind eye to people stealing everything that isn’t nailed down. They took it too far and found out.”

But he, Taylor, and GPD Chief Mike West know that the former residents of Tent City, and the criminal activity being conducted by some of them, aren’t really “gone.”

And they know that the vast majority declined services offered by Tommy’s Foundation, the United Way, and Salvation Army in the wake of their eviction.

“Some of them are never gonna want help,” the man said. “They got used to living in the woods with no rules and no consequences. And yeah, it’s not an easy life, but if you could do all that and get high all day and not have to worry about food or clothes or tents because some group is giving that stuff to you, would you go get a job?”

Depending on who you talk to, the “where” changes slightly but the “what” remains the same.

Most of the men and women who were living in Tent City a little more than a week ago are still in the woods.

Some of them went to Rosewood to set up camp beyond the tree line behind Walmart and Larry Bill’s Fun Time Golf.

Some now reside on “FEMA land” located behind the

Bojangles on West Grantham Street and behind the Tractor Supply Co. less than a half-mile away.

Others are in the woods behind the Ross on Berkeley Boulevard.

There have been reports of people “popping out of the woods” in neighborhoods like Pill Hill.

And a few are even still living in what is supposed to be a now-shuttered encampment off Royall Avenue.

West said as a result, the GPD is seeing an increase in calls for service relating to the city’s homeless population in “new” areas.

“We knew that once we displaced them, it was going to increase calls for service because now, you have them throughout the city and not just in one location,” he said. “So, they’re popping up within neighborhoods just randomly, and there is certainly an increase in calls for suspicious people. Last week, we got a lot of calls for service because people were coming out of the woods.”

But the chief is not surprised.

“We knew, at least I did, that, you know, there was going to be a downside to this. Once we went into Tent City and said, ‘OK. We’ve got trespass agreements. You’ve got to go.” we knew there was going to be movement,” West said. “But that was a chance we were willing to take because nothing positive was coming out of Tent City. It was affecting the neighbors around there and the businesses around there. Our hope is that we can have enough resources so we can always be right behind them.”

And he is urging the community to be vigilant if they see illegal activity unfolding — to assist the GPD in what he has acknowledged, for months, would be a long, hard road — so the criminals can be dealt with to allow local non-profits to make progress with those who truly need a hand-up as they battle addiction, mental illness, and catastrophic life circumstances that left them without a home.

“We can do our job and still be compassionate to those who need compassion,” West said. “But I didn’t feel like, and I think the majority of the community didn’t feel like, we could just continue to let this lie. It became too much of a problem. We needed to act and we did, but now, we’ve got to stay focused and keep our foot down.”

Only one Tent City resident has been arrested since the GPD gave those living in the encampment notice to vacate the property — a man who, West said, assaulted an officer who was doing a walkthrough at the site.

And while there are still a few people living beyond the tree line off Royall Avenue, the chief said his officers are extending them some grace because they are “clearly” making an effort to get their belongings together and relocate.

“If it’s obvious to us that they’re making arrangements to leave — they’re putting their stuff together; there is less stuff there today than there was yesterday — then we’re giving them, unofficially, a little extra time. But we’ve got to be careful of allowing people to backfill,” West said. “Once we get (the existing Tent City residents) out, we don’t want a new group of people coming in. At some point in time, we’ve got to seal off that area.”

But while Taylor said the eviction was necessary, she also knows that the work at the Royall Avenue site won’t be complete until it is cleaned and that new Tent City locations will be — and already have been — established.

“One thing I know is that the people living in Tent City, you know, they have been there way too long. The problem was just

Continued on page 12

Continued from page 11

getting worse. I understand that homeless people need to have somewhere to go and need to have the opportunity, but we gave them an opportunity to get the things they always say they need,” she said. “So, it’s a good thing that this one Tent City is more under control now, but am I concerned that we’re just going to have another Tent City pop up in another place? Yes. And that means we haven’t fixed the problem. And I know people have put hours and hours of time trying to figure out this stuff and then, nobody is accepting the help. So, what do you do when nobody is accepting the help?”

One of the people who spent “hours and hours” trying to work toward a solution was United Way Executive Director Sherry Archibald.

Over the last month-plus, she coordinated with everyone from Tommy’s Foundation and the Salvation Army to the Department of Motor Vehicles in an attempt to provide as many services as possible to those she knew would soon be told to leave Tent City.

But when the Salvation Army agreed to open an emergency shelter and the United Way spent $400 to ensure security was in place, nobody from the encampment showed up.

“We tried to share that message of it being available for, I think, maybe the last five weeks or so,” Archibald said. “And when no one came, we still had security we needed to pay for.”

The next night? Same result.

“So, I talked to (Tommy’s Foundation Director Kellie Floars) and she said, ‘Nobody is using this, and I don’t think we should keep going because we could use the money somewhere else,’” Archibald said. “So, we have to be compassionate, but we have to be smart, too. We can’t throw away money, but we need to make sure we have the resources

available when they are ready to accept them and come and ask for them.”

A similar scene unfolded inside the DMV after she figured out a way to get several Tent City residents ID cards they said they desperately needed.

Three people were supposed to meet Archibald, who had gotten them bus tickets and blocked out time to assist them with the paperwork. Several hours of waiting later, it was clear they were not going to show.

“All I can do is just continue to offer … but they have to meet me somewhere. So far, they haven’t. I don’t know if it’s because they’re not ready or if something blocked them and they’ll try again, but I just feel like I have to keep trying,” she said. “And that day, I went ahead and coordinated, and I found out that I was going to be able to get those three people IDs that day. So, when I see them again, and hopefully I will, I’m going to tell them, ‘I missed seeing you, but I could have gotten you an ID. We can try this again.’ And I’ll try it again.”

do. That was to have some empathy and try to offer services,” Archibald said. “You know, that’s our mission — to connect people with resources. So, I can’t beg them, and I can’t make them, but I can absolutely keep offering those services. Maybe we’ll get one of the 25. Then, six months from now, maybe we’ll get another one.”

Some of them are never gonna want help.

They got used to living in the woods with no rules and no consequences.

But the immediate non-results, while disappointing, were not a shock.

So, instead of looking on the downside, she is choosing to celebrate the victories — like the fact that non-profits, law enforcement, and elected officials were able to come together to try.

“All of us, each of us, are recognizing that we can only do what we can do,” Archibald said. “So, we can’t do but so much and we shouldn’t do but so much because they have to meet us along the way, but I think it’s part of our job to provide the resources when they’re ready and we just showed, I think, that we are more than capable of doing that if and when the time comes.”

And often times, as her work with Tommy’s Foundation showed her, individuals will need to hit rock bottom before they ask for help.

But that doesn’t make it any less frustrating that after more than a month of preparation, very few victories have been celebrated within the city’s homeless population since word got out that trespass agreements would be enforced in the woods.

“We want them to take the help, but it just seems like a lot of people are just happy living out there in the woods,” she said. “So, like I said, what do you do when nobody is accepting the help? Even when you arrest them and put them in jail, that costs taxpayers’ money to keep them in jail. So, it’s really frustrating. Sometimes, it feels like there is no right answer.”

Floars agrees.

But in her view, the fact that the community expected the nearly 30 Tent City residents to welcome rehabilitation or other services after years spent living beyond the tree line shows how inexperienced many of them are with people struggling with addiction.

“You’re dealing with people who are in active addiction,” she said. “They’re next thought is, ‘When is my next high? How can I, you know, get my next (fix).’ Some of them don’t even know what time it is most of the time.”

So, like Taylor, she sees the “solution” as one person at a time being “ready” to change their life and willing to ask for the help she says will be waiting when they do.

Much like West, she has accepted the fact that solving the issues facing Goldsboro’s homeless population is going to take a combination of patience, focus, and resolve.

“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t love that they’re not taking advantage of this opportunity. But I feel like we did what we were hopeful we could

For Taylor, her many years serving — in one capacity or another — the population that lived inside the Royall Avenue Tent City, have taught her that solving Goldsboro’s dual homelessness and addiction crises will only happen on a person-by-person basis.

But it starts, not with job applications, but with treatment.

“You’re going to do your application and call treatment because you’re not going to get a job,” she said. “Because you’re an addict. Until that’s under control, none of those other things are reality.”n

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COMMUNITY + ARTS FAMILY. DINNER.

For Ben and Adrienne Strickland, downtown Goldsboro’s newest restaurant is a tribute to friends, family, and a love of the city that raised them.

BY KEN FINE PHOTOS BY CASEY MOZINGO

Quinn Strickland had been waiting patiently.

Well, as patiently as a 6-year-old can when she is forced to watch as plate after plate is delivered from the kitchen to the bar for food photoshoots and not for eating.

But when her favorite item on The Borough’s menu made its way into the dining room, she could no longer bite her tongue.

“Finally,” she sighed (as only an exasperated 6-year-old can), a look of excited anticipation spreading across her face. “Cheese fries!”

Her father, Ben, let out a laugh before walking back into the kitchen.

“Quinn just yelled, ‘Finally. Cheese fries,’” he said to the members of his team who were putting the finishing touches on a few other dishes.

In that moment, it became clear that downtown Goldsboro’s newest restaurant is not about the food or the atmosphere. At least, not entirely.

For Ben, the man who took a leap of faith and decided to follow his passion for cooking and entertaining, The Borough is about bringing people together.

So, it’s not about the crispy pulled pork and collard green egg rolls or how the fried creations are kissed with a sweet tea chili sauce.

It’s the fact that his children’s signatures adorn the undercarriage of a bar his brotherin-law built from scratch.

It’s not about the colorful salad — a medley of fresh fruit, greens, goat cheese, bacon, and pecans dressed with a bright citrus vinaigrette.

It’s listening to 13-year-old Parker talk about how he’s going to work there with his dad one day.

And it’s not even about how the generously packed crab cake is balanced out with a homemade slaw and remoulade.

It’s watching 11-year-old Cooper dive into the bacon mac and cheese after proclaiming the bubbling dish looked “crazy.”

But when you get Ben talking about where his love of food and family came from, what has been unfolding in his new “happy place” on Walnut Street makes perfect sense.

Adrienne Strickland knew that if she ever needed a good meal, her boyfriend’s house was the place to be.

“Food was always a huge part of Ben’s family,” she said. “Everything always kind of revolved around these big meals.”

His mother, Diane, made “exquisite” cakes and desserts — confections that were so revered by friends, she had “her own little side business” selling them for birthdays and special occasions.

And when she cooked a meal, there was always far more food than her family of four could finish on its own.

“You knew you could go to Ben’s house and eat because there was going to be enough for an army,” Adrienne said. “Whether there was two people there or 20.”

Diane was not the only member of the Continued on page 16

Left: The buffalo chicken wrap and a side of pasta salad. Top right: Baked macaroni and cheese. Bottom right: The Borough Signature Salad.

Continued from page 15

family with a penchant for feeding a crowd.

Ben’s grandfather, Donnie, was seemingly always in front of a grill.

“Not like a couple times a year. It was every weekend,” he said. “My grandad would have 10 or 12 people sitting around a grill every weekend. He was a brick mason and when he got home, he was either fishing or standing around a grill.”

And his signature dish — barbecue chicken — became legend, despite the fact that he used the opposite of fancy equipment, a “cheap grill from Sears that had a plastic lid.”

“Everybody knew that Pa’s chicken was special,” Adrienne said. “It was, ‘What do you want for your birthday dinner?’ The answer

was always, ‘Pa’s chicken.’”

Ben’s career was a forgone conclusion long before he graduated from high school.

While Adrienne went off to college, her boyfriend was headed to mortuary school to learn the family business.

When he came back to Goldsboro, he began working at Seymour Funeral Home.

But when he decided funeral directing wasn’t for him, after an in-between job, he landed at 3HC.

And thanks to a global pandemic, it was there that he was able to connect with another family tradition.

“The nurses, they were literally packing bag lunches, going to see their seven or eight

patients, and going home,” Ben said. “There was no interaction with human beings at all.”

So, he asked if he could do “pop-up lunches” for the staff.

“Me and one other guy traveled to each 3HC office and literally cooked hamburgers, hotdogs, taco bars,” he said. “We did drivethru lunches for all the nurses. It was just fun.

It was something different.”

And when, a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization started renting out parks and other outdoor spaces for openair gatherings, he was able to “feed a crowd” and see how people reacted to his food.

“That’s why we started talking about food trucks,” he said, looking at Adrienne. “I

wasn’t happy. I had been, for my entire adult life, watching end of life constantly. I wanted something different.”

His wife wasn’t surprised.

“Since we’ve been dating, I always knew that at some point in his life, he would have a restaurant,” she said. “It was just a matter of when.”

It might have started at 3HC, but Ben’s professional cooking for other people quickly turned into catering opportunities at one of Goldsboro’s most sought after wedding venues, The Firehouse.

And from “biscuit bars” and quiches at a “full breakfast” wedding reception to whole hog at

Continued on page 19

Left: The loaded nachos. Right: The fried green tomato stack.

Continued from page 16

Jericho Farms on July 4th and gourmet chicken wings at a pre-election candidate meet-and-greet, his culinary creations were getting rave reviews.

But Ben found that making meals that brought smiles to faces was only part of what made catering so fulfilling.

The best part? He was always doing it with family — and friends who might as well be.

“We had to rely on our friends. It’s what we have done and it’s what we still do,” he said. “That’s it. In here, there’s no job postings. It’s friends, family, and people we have met along the way.”

Just then, he looked at Adrienne and smiled. “And that — all of this — is what makes him happy,” she said. “When he said he wanted to have a place where he could entertain everybody, it made sense. So, here we are.”

Memories of Diane and Donnie might come flooding back when Ben takes to the kitchen, but for the Stricklands, food — and the experience of sharing a meal with loved ones — is not the only thing their families taught them to hold close.

Both were also raised with a sense of duty to give back to their community — to truly cherish Goldsboro, Wayne County, and the small-town Southern lifestyle it afforded them.

“I think both of our families taught us from a very early age that you take care of your neighbors,” Adrienne said. “And we were both taught that we loved this community — that we loved Goldsboro.”

So, when it came time to take the leap and open the business, the location and the name

knew we were going to live here and raise our kids here. This is home.”

And when the wall next to the bar — a “cool version of a curated museum wall” dedicated to their hometown is complete — their restaurant will reflect that ideal.

That is why Ben has a wheel from the

We plan to live here forever. We love Goldsboro. We always have. We always knew we were going to live here and raise our kids here.

seemed like no-brainers.

First, it had to be in the city that raised them.

“This is why you live in your hometown. You go back and you help build it,” Ben said. “And those people who built it before you, they are going to be there to support you as you face the challenges.”

Adrienne agreed.

“We plan to be here forever,” she said. “We love Goldsboro. We always have. We always

original Kiwanis train inside The Borough.

“My dad kept this in his office every single day,” he said.

That is why they will not blink when the stress of running a downtown restaurant undoubtedly takes hold.

“It’s worth it to be a part of all this,” Ben said after reflecting on how far the city’s core has come over the last two decades. “To be downtown, it means everything.”

Her fingers covered in cheese, Quinn walks back into the dining room holding a squeeze bottle in between her hands.

“I found the ketchup,” she said. “I knew it was back there somewhere.”

A conversation about condiments ensues — a debate of sorts about whether the tomatoey dipping sauce is better than ranch.

Everybody weighs in and a few laughs are shared.

More than once, Adrienne and Ben look over at their children with pride.

“The kids, they are going to be here,” Ben said. “Our family is going to be around.”

They — and the many friends he knows will soon walk through The Borough’s doors — will motivate him to strive for perfection every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 5 p.m. until “last call.”

And he hopes that witnessing their father chase his dream and pour love into every plate that leaves the kitchen and every cocktail he sets on the bar will instill, in them, the same values that got him to this moment in the first place.

“Family is everything,” Ben said.

Adrienne, one last time, looks into her husband’s eyes and smiles.

“And being happy,” she said. “This really is his happy place.”n

Saints fall short

The Southern Wayne baseball team lost to South Lenoir Tuesday evening in Dudley, but the home crowd still got to enjoy some beautiful weather — and more than a few jaw-dropping moments.

the SPECTATOR

Photos by Ken Fine

Kids Zone

• Food Trucks

Live Entertainment Street Fair Vendors

Car & Bike Show

• Static Displays

Beer Garden

• And More!

Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024

AN SCAPE DESIGN OF GOLDSBORO, INC.