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8. With Town-n-Country grocery closing, Oriental will soon have an empty storefront right at the entrance to town on Hwy 55. What business would you want to see there? Can and/or should the Town take a role in that?

Gwendolyn Gibbs: I would love to see the town get involved with this building and cause this to be something that would bring inner city and outer city community together. Perfect location. This would be a great project for planning board.

Charlie Overcash: A business that would benefit the town. At this point, I don’t know what that might be, but I would actively help a search for one. The town
should take an advisory role.

Allen Price: Public library branch in Oriental. Today’s library is not just checking out books. Libraries offer:
Internet – Not everybody can afford computer and internet service. Librarians helping people do research.
Families saving money by borrowing books and DVD’s.
Teen after school programs.
Kids summer reading programs.

Larry Summers: The town itself can do very little except to insure that our zoning allows a business to be able to operate and make money. Our current zoning would not allow the same size building to be built. A major rehab of the building could come into conflict with our current restrictions. We may wish to re-examine those restrictions.

Barbara Venturi: I wish the effort we made seven years ago to get Exterritorial Jurisdiction from the town to the Straight Rd/Hwy 55 corner had come out better. But it wasn’t supported by our state officials, Representative Alice Underhill or Senator Jeanne Preston and was defeated. At least then, the Wal-mart would have had to follow the town’s development rules which may have provided a more level playing field for Town ‘n Country.

There are few things the town can do regarding businesses. Town ‘n Country is a large space and may attract a very creative new enterprise.

The most important thing the town can do for businesses is to increase the traffic in town. The Tourism Board, for which I am the Commissioner Liason, has been working hard on this and is now advertising state-wide on-line with Our State, as well as participating locally in festivals, such as the Mum Fest, to promote Oriental. Anyone with ideas about building Oriental’s economic base is invited to attend Tourism Board meetings, the third Tuesday of each month at 5:30PM, Oriental Town Hall. All input is appreciated and volunteers for Booths, writing articles about the town and local events, or just brainstorming are welcome.

We’re called the sailing capital of North Carolina. But, what percent of the world finds that a draw? We must find more ways to appeal to the general public by featuring things to do (other than sailing alone), things to see, and the lovely features our small town offers. One of the biggest economic boosts locally are weddings. They bring many who have never been here before and are happy to shop in places new to them. And, look at what’s happening to Kinston since the destination restaurant “The Chef and The Farmer” set up shop, their downtown is booming.

David White: It is a shame to see Town and Country closing, as they will be greatly missed. One solution to the vacant building is the possibility of an existing business in Town moving into the space. I am not aware of any active plans for this at the present time. There has also been discussions around Town of a food co-op operating in the vacant space, but these discussions are in the very early stages of development. It will be difficult to fill this vacant space, and as a Board member, I will work to make sure the Town does all it can to remedy this vacancy.

Sandy Winfrey: I don’t have thoughts on what type of business should go there. I would be willing to consult with potential venturers, but not on a town board level….I don’t feel the board should be involved in that.

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9. Should Oriental do anything differently to encourage more tourists to visit? If so, what?

Charlie Overcash: The tourism board is doing a great job. We should help that board in any way we can that benefits the town.

Allen Price: When I asked the local merchants what the Town of Oriental could do for them, they all said “bring me people”. I would make sure we have all the camp schedules, distribute the schedule to the merchants, and try to get more campers and their families to come to Oriental when being dropped off, picked up, or during parents’ weekend. I would schedule an event on parent’s weekend. The events would be designed to bring people into town to eat, shop, boat, fish or any other activity that the town can offer. An example would be a shrimp festival on Hodges Street.

I would also like to consider hosting Music in the Park at Lou Mac Park a few weekends in the spring and fall. These “concerts” could be held on Sunday afternoons – 2 to 4. These times do not compete with local businesses but may very well attract visitors who will shop and dine while in town. Bring your own chair! A Gospel group like the New Sensational Messengers or the Mt. Zion M.B. Church Choir have both performed at the Ol’ Front Porch Music Festival and are terrific. The Pamlico County High School band could perform. The students’ parents, grandparents, and neighbors would come – again bringing in people to shop and eat. We need more and different advertising of events going on in Oriental.

We have a great town for festivals. The Croaker Festival is one of the best run, managed, and fun festivals anywhere, as are the Ol Front Porch Music Festival, Chili Cook Off, Chowder Cook Off, Town Wide Yard Sale, Art on the Neuse, the Spirit of Christmas, the Dragon Run, and others. For a small town, we have much to offer. We need to get the word out! What about getting on the list for some bus tours? They could come during the week and not just on the weekend.

Larry Summers: In the last few years the Tourisim Board has done a great job in advertising the town. There is a lot of competition along the coast and we must constantly work at keeping Oriental in eyes of the public. If there is one problem it is a lack of sufficient housing for major events. Additional housing is certainly a possibility but to attract it we must keep the week to week occupancy of our current housing units running at or near capacity. That must be done by attracting visitors here for regular fishing, paddling, sailing and bicycling visits and then supplementing that with art, music, wedding, dragon boating, sailing, etc. events that bring even more guests to Oriental. We must also remember that we have only one “highway” where people just passing through the area might be encouraged to stop and visit Oriental. That “highway” is the Intracoastal Waterway(ICW). We must do a better job of advertising the town as a great place to stop and visit. We are well thought of by regulars on the route. We must continue to communicate our value to new travelers.

Barbara Venturi: The town needs “Traffic” to insure sustainability. Another way to spell traffic is “tourism”. We need a constant stream of people, new people, to come here, look here, enjoy what we have to offer and possibly, a small percentage of them will consider relocating, enough to keep property values up.

The Tourism Board receives monies from the town’s Occupancy Tax each year. The Occupancy Tax, which is levied on hotel rooms and cottage rentals within the town, is a mere 3%. (Wrightsville Beach is 14%). Even so, that 3% tax brings in about $20,000 per year. Half goes to the Tourism Board to promote the town out there in the world (sustainability). The other half goes to the Harbor Waterfronts Fund, to provide the town with the means to maintain and sustain existing public waterfront facilities (town docks, dinghy docks, water views, new harbor restrooms, etc.).

Many of the current residents came to Oriental because of boating. Many, including myself, first found Oriental while cruising. And, the town is well known and well liked by many cruising boaters. The reality is that other towns have invested far more in attracting cruising boaters than has Oriental. We’ve got a new Town Dock that gave us up to four additional slips, free to boaters for a two night stay. The majority of boats currently in slips at Sea Harbor Marina originally came to Oriental and tied up at our town dock. Free dockage is a draw to boaters. Many of whom come back, and even buy slips locally.

But, cruising is dwindling. Fewer and fewer boaters are following that lifestyle, so, however attractive we are to that population, it is declining. We need to be scanning other horizons.

David White: Improving our existing assets and adding additional assets help draw more visitors to Oriental. We should also expand our focus to include activities in addition to sailing. As we have seen recently, many boaters have been using the Town’s and businesses’ facilities for fishing tournaments, drawing greater numbers to our community. Additionally, improving our existing water access areas for the public provides nicer places for families and visitors to have picnics or enjoy the water. Also, what the Town needs to continue doing is supporting activities that bring people to Oriental, and last weekend is a perfect example. The Ol’ Front Porch Music Festival and the Rotary Car Show provided great venues for drawing people to Oriental and numbers didn’t disappoint. The Town needs to do all it can to support the various requests by organizers of these types of events.

Sandy Winfrey: I like fishing tournaments…..they can draw big crowds and publicity if they’re done right

Gwendolyn Gibbs: More public advertising outside of Pamlico County.

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Posted Monday October 26, 2015 by Melinda Penkava