Month: March 2017

The 9th Annual Seagrove Celebration of Spring is a self-guided tour of individual pottery galleries, studios and workshops in the pottery capital of the United States. This weekend event features over 55 local potters that will host kiln openings, studio tours and demonstrations. The tour is held at participating shops located from the downtown city center and throughout the country side. Go behind the scenes to experience the process first hand and have the unique opportunity to meet the artists before buying pottery to take home and enjoy.

The 9th Annual Seagrove Celebration of Spring will be held in Seagrove, North Carolina on the weekend of April 22 and 23, 2017, Saturday and Sunday from 9:00am to 5:00pm. The Celebration begins with local potteries opening their kilns and allowing the public to take part in pottery creations seen for the first time. Visitors can tour participating potter’s studios and galleries from the downtown and nestled throughout the countryside. The potters of Seagrove will have demonstrations, hands-on activities, food and music.

Shoppers will have the opportunity to win a gift certificate for $150 that can be used at one of the participating Celebration of Spring shops. Pick up a free card at one of the shops or at www.discoverseagrove.com, get it stamped in six shops and mail it back by May 5, 2016. Cards will be entered in a drawing, which will take place the weekend of May 15. This event is presented by the Seagrove Area Potters Association and is sponsored by Capel Rugs. It is free and open to the public.

A guide for the 9th Annual Seagrove Celebration of Spring, can be downloaded from www.discoverseagrove.com and includes a map, shop hours and listing of the participating shops. You can also go to Facebook to see who is participating at www.Facebook.com/CelebrationofSeagrovePotters and link to the individual artists for more information.

The 2013 and 2016 Best of Show winners of the Pinehurst Concours d’Elegance – two of the rarest vintage automobiles in the world – will return as display vehicles for patrons to enjoy at this year’s collector car showcase Saturday, May 6 at Pinehurst Resort.

The return of the 1938 Steyr 220 Glaser Roadster, the event’s inaugural winner, and the 1928 Isotta Fraschini, last year’s champion, will help celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Pinehurst Concours on the fairways of the iconic golf resort. Both cars are owned by Peter Boyle of Oil City, Pa.

“The Isotta Fraschini is rolling elegance and the Steyr is rolling sport,” Boyle said. “Each car has magnificent items of interest, including the Ostrich interior in the IF and fitted luggage in the Steyr. And both cars are like a book that when you are studying them you will always find new things that interest you.”

“Seeing these cars shown together is a special treat,” said Roger James of D&D Classic Automobile Restoration, who restored both vehicles. “They represent two decades of magnificent styling and design – the 1920’s and the ‘30’s – and the best of European classics.”

Tickets to the fifth annual vintage car showcase can be purchased online at www.pinehurstconcours.com and at four local ticket outlets in the Village of Pinehurst and Southern Pines. Tickets to this year’s Pinehurst Concours, which includes a live performance by award-winning country artist Sara Evans, are $40 in advance and $50 beginning Monday, April 17 through the day of the event.

The uniqueness of these two automobiles is important in automobile history.

The Isotta Fraschini, originally purchased by aviation pioneer Harry Williams and Marguerite Clark, is one of two produced in 1928, being sent to the United States and bodied by the coachbuilder Lebaron. It is believed that the car returning to Pinehurst was the first boattail built by Lebaron and was shown at the New York Auto Show.

Meanwhile, the Steyr was one of six two-seat roadsters bodied by the coachbuilder Glaser in Germany. Three of the six cars were destroyed during World War II, one was lost, one is in a Museum in Europe and the only privately owned surviving example will be displayed at Pinehurst. The streamline styling and four-wheel independent suspension made the car perfect for touring, and it was sent to Berlin in 1938 as a factory demonstrator.

“The Isotta Fraschini is considered to be Italy’s Rolls-Royce equivalent,” said Pinehurst Concours chief judge Nigel Matthews. “It is just beautifully proportioned and the Steyr is just extremely, extremely rare.”

The 2016 Pinehurst Concours and concert drew in excess of 12,000 patrons.

Sara Evans, whose distinctive voice and edgy contemporary sensibility have helped sell more than six million records and produce five No. 1 hits, will perform a live concert following the presentation of the Best of Show. The concert continues a Pinehurst Concours tradition that has included concerts by Three Dog Night (2015) and The Commodores (2016).

Local ticket outlets in the Sandhills area include:
• Village of Pinehurst Town Hall
• The Old Sport Gallery (Village of Pinehurst)
• Pinehurst Resort Members services desk (Members only)
• The Country Book Shop (Southern Pines)

Mid South’s New Greens Are Expected To Be True Rolling, Fast And Better Conditioned Year Round

Last summer, the green complexes at Talamore Golf Resort near the Village of Pinehurst were converted from bent grass to Champion Bermuda and have received rave reviews. Now, Talamore’s partner property across the street at the Arnold Palmer designed Mid South Club is undergoing a similar golf course restoration and greens conversion, along with numerous other club enhancements. In all, these projects are among $6 million in capital improvements at Talamore’s four North Carolina and Pennsylvania facilities.

A quarter century after this renowned Sandhills resort first opened, the Talamore green complexes were restored last year to their original 1991 Rees Jones design by recapturing the greens surrounds, which had been heavily encroached by native Bermuda grasses. In addition to true rolling and lightening fast greens, the new strains of Bermuda are providing significantly better playing conditions year round.

Following up on the successful remastering at Talamore, the greens at Mid South Club are now being converted to Champion Bermuda. To ensure the design continuity of the putting contours, Mid South and Talamore employ the “no till” method pioneered by Champion Turf Farms out of Texas. More than 700 courses nationwide have Champion Turf including Pinehurst No. 2.

As with the Talamore project last summer, Mid South will be working with Jeffrey Stein, Carlos Perez and the entire team at Shapemasters. Based in Southport, N.C., Shapemasters is one of just a handful of certified golf course builders. Shapemasters has worked with every modern era architect including Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Rees Jones, Pete Dye, PB Dye, Greg Norman, Tom Fazio and more.

“We are excited to be working for the Talamore organization again this summer,” said Jeffrey Stein, Shapemasters President and Founder. “The Mid South course is one of Arnie’s best ever and will be greatly enhanced with new Champion greens. Green sizes will increase by 20 percent to as much as 40 percent and will change the way the course feels and plays — all for the better.”

While the Mid South greens remodeling project is being conducted, the club will also add a new set of forward tees to many holes. These new tees promise to be a welcome addition to the golf course and are expected to provide a more player friendly approach for those just learning the game — as well as those looking to move forward for a more enjoyable playing experience. Mid South is also busy improving the club’s cart path system, with most areas are being removed and restored with a natural packed sand base. The paths will be re-concreted where necessary due to grade or traffic patterns.

Also in store for 2017 at Mid South are member facility upgrades to include the addition of basketball and pickle ball on one of the tennis courts, as well as a new barbecue and hospitality area at the Mid South pool. Matt Hausser, the Resort’s General Manager and Brian Anderson the Mid South Head Golf Professional are also rolling out a plethora of new Member events for 2017 — both on and off the course. “Many new events and services were added in 2016,” said Hausser. “All the events and camaraderie were well received. We want to keep the momentum going and for 2017 will be enhancing the Member calendar with new themes and activities.”