Gaston Alive Magazine

We’re talking with Jeff & Emily Comer, owners of Riverside Fish House…

GA!: Jeff, you are young to have been in business so long-how long have you owned Riverside?
Jeff: We’ve been here for 22 years-both the building and business has really grown in that time!

GA!: Are you from Gaston County, and did you meet your wife Emily before or after Riverside?
Jeff: We met at 16 at North Gaston, and we’ve been together ever since. Actually we both started in the restaurant business when we were 15.

GA!: Your business had changed a lot since you started…tell us a little of the history.
Jeff: Emily went to Belmont Abbey and I attended UNC Charlotte. After college Emily was working at Carolina Freight in Cherryville and Carolina Country Barbeque nights and weekends. I worked as an engineer in Huntersville, but I didn’t really like it. Every day going to work I would pass this little building that looked like it had potential, so one day I quit my job and went home and told Emily that we were going into the restaurant business. She told me later that she cried for three days, but I think she is pretty happy about it now! As far as the business, in the beginning we could only seat 55, and now we can seat 280. We’ve added lots of equipment, coolers, expanded the parking lot, really too much to mention. We’ve been here 22 years now.

GA!: I know you have folks that come in every week, and have for 10 or 20 years and sit in the same booth…
Jeff: We do, actually Emily still has customers come in every week that were her customers at Carolina Country. Several of the other servers have loyal folks that have come in every week for years and years. They come in the same night of the week, sit in the same booth, and order the same plate of fish-they are like family at this point.

GA!: What makes Riverside special?
Jeff: I think Riverside is special because our customers are like family- we know them by name-plus the food is delicious!

GA!: Some of your servers have been here 16 years or more-that’s unheard of!
Jeff: We love our employees-they are not kin but you would think that they were.

GA!: Everything looks and smells great-what are some of the favorites?
Jeff: Flounder, green (Calabash) shrimp, and believe it or not, chicken tenders. And we recently installed a fire grill, and our grilled items have really taken off. Lots of fire grilled
flavor and healthy too!

GA!: What’s the best part about being the owner of Riverside?
Jeff: I think Emily loves getting out and talking to folks, and I enjoy being a manager and leader, and seeing my ideas come to fruition.

GA!: Jeff, for folks that haven’t been here-why should they give Riverside a try?
Jeff: Delicious food, great service and reputation, owned by local folks that are invested in the community, and the fact that we are not a bland, cookie cutter franchise-we’re hometown!

GA!: What do you and Emily like to do when you are not working?
Jeff: We don’t get to as much as we would like, but we love to travel, especially the Caribbean. I think Emily’s goal is to visit every island in the Caribbean, and we have actually been to quite a few.

GA!: What is the funniest or most unusual thing that has happened at Riverside?
Jeff: We had a pretty famous college basketball team come in
quite a few years ago. They came in the back door and ate in the back dining room so they wouldn’t be mobbed by fans while they ate.

GA!: Who is the most famous person to eat at Riverside?
Jeff: Really quite a few. Jimmy Wayne stops in when he is in town, James Worthy has been in. The country singer Jake Owen actually called a radio station in Charlotte and asked where to get some great fried shrimp, and they told him to go to Riverside in Dallas..so he pulls his bus off of I-85 and came here. One of the servers told him that he looked like Jake Owen, and he said “That’s because I am him!” He said it was the best fried shrimp he had ever had. We also have locals like Bill Melton and Eddie Pigg who eat every week…but we treat all of our customers like celebrities!

Riverside Fish Camp
1341 Dallas Stanley Hwy • Dallas, NC
704-922-8360

The Story Of Ella Mae Wiggins, Mother, Millworker, Social Activist

There is a monument in downtown Gastonia commemorating Gastonia Police Chief Orville Aderholt, part of our history circa 1929. But there is no memorial to Ella May Wiggins, arguably a more significant character in that history. This omission is likely to change.

Born in a log cabin in 1900 in Sevierville Tennessee, Ella Mae Wiggins and her family followed logging camps from hollow to hollow. Like so many others in that place and time, they were dirt poor. Both her parents died when she was 18, and within a year, she was married to John Wiggins. Soon she was expecting what would turnout to be the first of nine children. In 1926 she ended up outside of Bessemer City without John, but with their children. Perhaps John left on his own; maybe Ella Mae kicked him out. She worked as a spinner for American Mill No 2, twelve hours a day, six days a week, making nine dollars a week.

Up to that point, Ella Mae was not much different from other women of her time, although that was soon to change. There was something in Ella Mae– a fire and passion, a willingness to go her own way. Looking at one of her pictures, you see an attractive woman, hand on her hip, staring with a little smile into the camera.You just know she was not somebody to be messed with.

Sometimes there is a price to pay for going your own way. For one thing, Ella did not live in regular company housing, but rather on the edge of Stumptown, just outside of Bessemer City. Although mill owned, the houses were tiny in this section populated by black mill workers, and the rents were less. Probably the black community there helped care for her children.

Then in 1929 the hammer dropped.While the rest of the country was about to fall into the Great Depression, four of Ella May’s children died, struck down by whooping cough. The mill would not let her switch shifts to take care of her children. Having made the wrenching decision to quit her job and take care of her children, Ella Mae was then unable to afford medical care when the sickness came.

The mills were also practicing what was called the “stretch out”’ Half of the mill workers were fired, and the balance were expected to do their work, but wages, instead of being increased, were actually reduced.

As a result, Ella Mae became politically active…she discovered her calling. Using her natural skills and intelligence she became a part of the labor movement. The country girl started moving in elevated circles. She delivered powerful testimony to the US Congress about the plight of mill workers; testimony that helped change existing labor laws. She wrote and performed protest songs – which were picked up by Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. She achieved inclusion of African Americans into her textile union. She was a powerhouse of energy and commitment.

It all came to a head later in 1929. Responding to what today would be third-world working conditions, Ella and the workers rebelled. Organized by the communist-backed National Textile Workers Union (NTWU), with whom Ella was associated as member and local bookkeeper, there was a strike.

In an escalating series of events, 1,800 of Gastonia’s Loray (later Firestone) Mill workers walked off their jobs; management evicted families from mill-owned homes, and Governor O. Max Gardner sent in 250 National Guard troops to restore order. When 100 men destroyed their headquarters, the NTWU erected a tent city outskirts of town.

The first death occurred on June6, 1929, after 150 workers marched to the mill to call out the night shift. They were dispersed by sheriff ’s deputies. Later that night four officers, including Police Chief Aderholt arrived at the tent city and demanded that the union guards hand over their weapons.An altercation ensued and Chief Aderholt was shot and killed. There is some question that Aderholt, who is said to have been beloved by the community, may have been killed accidentally by one of his own people.

Unfortunately, another death was soon to follow, just over a week later on September 14, 1929. After a thwarted attempt to attend a union meeting in Gastonia, Ella Mae and her companions were stopped by a car full of armed men. Shots were fired; Ella Mae, riding in the open in the back of a truck, was struck in the chest and killed.

Ella Mae’s children were sent to orphanages and although five Loray Mill employees were indicted for her murder, no one was ever convicted of her shooting. After 80 years Ella Mae had all but faded into the mists of history.

That is what Kimberley Hallas of Gastonia and other members of the Ella May Wiggins Textile Heritage Council (EMWiTAC) hope to prevent. They want to educate people about the role of textiles in the history of Gaston County; erect a memorial to Ella May, and tell her story – the story of a brave woman who carried the torch for social justice.

facebook.com/ewigginsmemorial • www.lintstory.org

GA!: Taylor, it’s been a year since you were featured in Gaston Alive! The club and grounds look better than ever!
Taylor: It is great to hear from you and thank you for the kind words. It seems our two years of hard work are starting to really pay off. The overall atmosphere and ambiance of the club is really coming together. We’ve worked on a lot, from landscaping, court work, pool upgrades and clubhouse renovations and we’re just about done with most of the major changes. Our goal has always been to become an upscale and boutique style club with an exclusive feel, and we’re well on our way to reaching that. With the majority of
renovations behind us we can now switch gears to fine tuning the programs and offering the best in classes, clinics and events for both the tennis and swim sides of the business.

GA!: What’s new and exciting?
Taylor: That would have to be our recently renovated and redesigned fitness center. With a full array of state of the art equipment, a very mellow and small user base, this private little gym is a nice bonus or perk to members when joining the overall club.

GA!: Tell me about the swim program, and are memberships still available?
Taylor: Absolutely. Just like the gym, its amazing how many people we come across that don’t know we have a pool, let alone a Jr. Olympic size pool with any entire swim program built around it. From Memorial Day to Labor Day the pool area becomes center of attention and hosts a swim team, DJ parties, swim lessons, water aerobics, even scuba lessons and so much more. But it is the social atmosphere that children get when coming to a private club pool that really sets it apart. Let the kids have fun in the sun with all their friends while you sit back with a cold beverage and or book and enjoy the good life. It’s what it is all about here at Southampton and what we spend the rest of the year waiting for.

GA! When does the pool open?
Taylor: We kick off the season Memorial Day Weekend with a big DJ Party! It couldn’t come soon enough…

GA!: I know your tennis program is absolutely rocking…
Taylor: Without a doubt. If you’re a serious tennis player in the area, you already know Southampton is the place to be and our USTA teams are a perfect example. The program is unbelievably strong with several state championship teams, and our 6.5 women’s team went all the way to become Sectional Champs, meaning they are not only the #1 team in the Charlotte Metro area, not only in NC, but in all of the Southeast! An amazing feet, and hats off to an exemplary season. But it’s not just the advanced players that get all the fun. The novice players and junior programs are really kicking into gear. We recently expanded our coaching staff to fill the demand. For those out their looking to join the tennis side of the club we only have a few open memberships remaining so don’t wait until it’s to late.

GA!: What do you guys do when you are not running the club?
Taylor: Ha, not much, the club is all consuming so we don’t really have a life beyond the club. But to tell you the truth, if we weren’t running the club we’d be members and spending all of our time here anyway. When you get the chance to do something you love, its like your not working at all.

GA!: How do most members hear about the club?
Taylor: Well your articles definitely help, and we appreciate them! But word of mouth and referrals from current club members are the most common ways. We really are one of the best kept secrets in the area being off the main roads and beaten path so to speak.

GA!: So how does one go about joining the Southampton Racquet and Swim Club?
Taylor: For those interested the first place to start would be to visit our website at www.southamptonclub.com to gather further information. The next step would be to call and set up and appointment/interview where we provide a private tour of the grounds and show you all that the club has to offer. Application time usually takes no more than a day or two and then you’ll be signed up, that’s it!

Southampton Racquet & Swim Club
www.southamptonclub.com
2813 Kendrick Road Gastonia, NC 28056 Club: 704-867-8081

By David Hamrick

We’re talking today with Curt Butler, celebrated North Carolina artist and owner of Butler Studio in downtown Gastonia.

GA!: Curt- tell us a little about yourself.
Curt: I am a full time artist and have a studio/gallery/master class facility in downtown Gastonia where my wife and I have lived for the last 12 years. I used to work in Charlotte and she worked in Shelby. We literally looked on a map and thought Gastonia seemed like a great midway point for both of us to commute to work. We fell in love with the people and have called this home even though we have both moved on from those original jobs.

GA!: What does it mean to be a full time artist and how does it work?
Curt: I think being a full time artist means that you are committed to producing work on a regular basis for various galleries, commissions and corporate clients. On average I would say I produce between 90 to 120 paintings a year with the above clients in mind. Galleries take a percentage of the total cost of the work which means that they represent you in trying to further your career. That percentage covers storage, PR, mailings, client lists and cost of regular shows at their gallery.

GA!: You have work in galleries all over the Southeast and beyond?
Curt: I currently have six galleries including my own mostly in the Southeast and one in Columbus Ohio. Most recently, the Wells Gallery in Charleston , SC.

GA!: With representation in Charleston how does Gastonia stack up?
Curt: I always tell fellow artists that Gastonia is a great place to work out of because you can produce your work in Gastonia at a low cost studio and drive it to Charlotte, Asheville,
Charleston, Wilmington or Atlanta. All of those locations are within 3 to 4 hours away from Gastonia.

GA!: Tell me about classes and your gallery here in Gastonia. It seems like you have three areas of your business.
Curt: When I started Butler Studio in 2006, I wanted to have a gallery and have big shows at least four times a year as well as paint full time in the gallery. In 2008, I was fortunate enough to rent an additional 400 sq. ft down the hall and start adult oil painting classes. I teach five classes a week.

GA!: How did you find your current location in downtown Gastonia and how has it worked out for you there?
Curt: I think artists typically gravitate towards downtowns and particularly buildings that have character. The Merit building has beautiful original oak beams with plaster and brick walls. When I first walked in I thought, “Wow”, a New York style loft in downtown Gastonia. In terms of development, downtown Gastonia is on the tipping point. I really believe when the recession is over, downtown Gastonia will become another Belmont or Greenville with multiple restaurants and cultural venues.

GA!: We know that ArtSpace is the largest non profit art organization in the country and they are interested in Gastonia. You have been active in bring ArtSpace to fruition…
Curt: Yes, from the start, I have told everyone who will listen that ArtSpace alone could be the tipping point that downtown Gastonia needs to reinvent our downtown. I have served on the ArtSpace Committee as well as both committees that have brought two public sculptures to Main St.

GA!: If ArtSpace were to come to Gastonia, what would that mean to you?
Curt: It would mean that I would have to consider having gallery shows once a month instead of four times a year. ArtSpace would add 50 plus artists to the downtown scene each with their own craft or medium. That alone would bring culture and a regular art crawl to our downtown. With most of the retail on Franklin, I believe that downtown could become an arts district with unique restaurants and speciality shops.

GA!: What is your highest accolade as an artist to date?
Curt: I just had a painting that was sold to the new Duke Cancer Center as part of their permanent collection. As an artist, that feels great to have that recognition, but also to know that your work will outlive you and be represented there for a long, long time.

Want to find out more, commission a piece, or take lessons? art@Butlerstudio.org • www.butlerstudio.org • 704-470-5245

by: David Hamrick

Love To Hike, Bike, Or Run? Check Out These Trailblazing Mountain Bikers

We’re talking today with Josh Taylor, Vice President of PASA, a local group of mountain biking enthusiasts that build trails all over our area for hikers, runners, and mountain bikers.

GA!: Josh, tell us a little about PASA?
Josh: PASA (Piedmont Area Singletrack Alliance) is a cycling advocacy and volunteer mountain bike trail building club. As a club we strive to promote land access and trail preservation, to secure land for new trail development, and to help manage and maintain both new and existing trail systems. Currently we’re on that mission in Gaston, Cleveland, Lincoln, and Mecklenburg County. Public land and trail advocacy is very important to us but so is our play time. We will always also be about having fun, riding our bikes, building camaraderie, and promoting recreation throughout the communities we encompass.

GA!: The trail at Poston Park is one you seem to be especially proud of – how did that trail come about?
Josh: Poston Mountain Bike Trail is our mothership. It’s the place where we first really rallied, got organized, and even surprised ourselves with the outcome. Poston is line one of our resume. Want to see what happens when a small tight group of friends with a common vision and good trail building knowledge dedicate themselves to building something for all the community to enjoy? Go bike or hike Poston. At over 3000 volunteer hours and growing PASA volunteers spend almost every Saturday of the fall/winter expanding the trail at Poston. It was a ground- up initiative; there was nothing there when we started. It was an amazing experience to take a blank canvas and create the vision in your mind across the park landscape. The only thing more rewarding than building that trail (and all our trails) is seeing people enjoying it and of course, getting to enjoy that sweat equity ourselves as well!

GA!: The trails seem like a great benefit for folks that love hiking or mountain biking-what is the cost to taxpayer for what you do?
Josh: We cost the community next to nothing. We are 100% volunteer and proud of it! Short of Gaston County Parks & Recreation spending some nominal funds on things like trail signage (which we hang for them) and lumber for bridges (which we build for them) our trail is built free and clear of the taxpaying public.

GA!: What is a good beginner trail for folks that want to hike or bike locally?
Josh: Sticking with Gaston County I would have to say that the South Fork River Trail is a good launching point for someone who has never ridden a bicycle off-road. It’s flat for the most part and the trail stays about 6-feet wide on average. This out and back two-way trail is only 4 miles total so the distance won’t be too much for a newbie. This is also a perfect place to get your legs and lungs in good working fashion from a hiking standpoint. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Crowders State Park for the hikers (no bikes allowed) as well which we’re very lucky to have so close by.

By David Hamrick

I know what you are thinking…it’s too cold to think about creating an outdoor living space! But, believe it or not, this is the perfect time to get that ball rolling. The reality is that most any home improvement project, even when there’s no construction involved, takes on the average of 8-12 weeks. So, if you want to enjoy a new or updated outdoor area when the flowers are blooming, now is definitely the time!

Here, in North Carolina, we are blessed with weather that allows us to enjoy the outdoors for nine months out of the year. And, for those who often wish for a little more space in their house, creating an outdoor living area could be the perfect and most cost effective answer. For years now, the line between indoors and outdoors has diminished as the manufacturers of home products have developed more and more appliances, furniture, lighting and accessories that can be used outside.

Creating or renovating an outdoor space has many elements. Landscape design, stonework and carpentry, as well as furniture, lighting and accessories, are all critical components of designing your outdoor haven. The best way to get started is by gathering the family together and creating a wish list. As with any room, you need to know who is going to use the space and what activities will take place there.

Your outdoor space should accommodate all your needs throughout the year. Do you entertain outdoors? Make sure there will be enough seating for your larger parties. Do you spend time outdoors in the evenings and at night? Make sure you have adequate lighting and bug control included in your plan. Is the outdoor grill seasonal for you or all year round? How and when you use the grill will determine where you place the grill and whether it is under a protective roof. Do you plan to have your family meals outdoors often? If so, make sure that your dining area comfortably accommodates your family and then some.

Outdoor furniture and fabric have improved greatly over the last several years and are able to hold up nicely against the varying weather. Many pieces look just like indoor furniture but are constructed and designed to stand up to the North Eastern outdoor elements, if necessary. Thanks to the array of outdoor fabrics, the wonderful elements of throw pillows and even draperies can be included in the plan, giving your outdoor space a custom and cozy look.

And, be sure to consider lighting. It can be an important aspect in creating an inviting outdoor space that works at anytime. As more and more people move outside for their relaxation and socializing, companies work even harder to introduce products that make this possible. Lighting companies now offer an array of beautiful outdoor lighting, from lamps to overhead lighting.

Of course, don’t forget the more natural forms of light, such as tiki torches, portable fire pits and fireplaces. Lastly, consider adding an element of water. Even if your space and budget do not allow for a pool or anything substantial, add in some type of water accessory. You can choose from a wall mounted “waterfall” feature or use something as small as a tabletop fountain sculpture. It is the sound of water bubbling and flowing that is what creates an atmosphere of escape and relaxation.

If you remember all of the above elements, all that will be missing is your personal masseuse! This is a place for you to relax and where your family and friends will gather, share life and create memories!

By Anna Hastings