THURSDAY APRIL 20
by MICHAELA RATLIFF
FRIDAY APRIL 21
APRIL 20 - 22
SATURDAY APRIL 22
Hempnotic Fest @ Bar Nola
Bar Nola has teamed up with Mix Tape and Longleaf Provisions Co. for a 4/20 hempnotic fest with music, food and the best CBD smokeables. There’ll also be cannabis-inspired cocktails to indulge in. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.
Bacardi Party Tour @ Hangar 1819 (GSO) 9 p.m.
The Bacardi Party Tour features a performance by Chicago-born rapper Ric Wilson, music by Greensboro DJ Tremon Jamal and the official cocktail of the series, Coco Badass, made with Bacardi coconut rum. Other beverages to enjoy include Bacardi mango chile flavored rum, spiced and ginger beer and Bacardi limon rum. Find more information and purchase tickets at bacardipartytour.com
8th Annual Deaf Awareness Day @ First National Bank Field (GSO) 6 p.m. Enjoy fun, food and fireworks in celebration of Deaf Awareness Day with the Greensbroo Grasshoppers and event sponsors Communication Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (CSDHH), Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing of Davidson County (SDHHDC) and NC Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DSDHH). Purchase tickets at csdhh.org/baseball
Art Crush @ Arts District (W-S) 7 p.m. Arts District of Winston-Salem is closing down the street for an art-filled event with 15 visual artists, live performances, interactive art projects and more. Follow them on trictwsnc for more information.
Earth Day Celebration @ Greensboro Farmers Curb Market (GSO) 7:30 a.m. The farmers market has partnered with the City of Greensboro for an Earth Day celebration where all ages can participate. Listen to live music while taking eco-friendly scooter rides and shop for eco-friendly products from local vendors. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.
Southside Parking Lot Sale @ South
BUSINESS
PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com
PUBLISHER EMERITUS
Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com
OF COUNSEL
Jonathan Jones
EDITORIAL
MANAGING EDITOR
Sayaka Matsuoka sayaka@triad-city-beat.com
CITYBEAT REPORTER
Gale Melcher gale@triad-city-beat.com
hat’s up with Cecil Brockman?
Wof the veto and couldn’t make it to vote.
But Brockman’s sketchy antics don’t stop there. In fact, he’s been absent from more than one crucial vote these last few months.
SALES
KEY ACCOUNTS
Chris Rudd chris@triad-city-beat.com
AD MANAGER
Noah Kirby noah@triad-city-beat.com
CONTRIBUTORS
Carolyn de Berry, John Cole, Owens Daniels, James Douglas, Michelle Everette, Luis H. Garay, Destiniee Jaram, Kaitlynn Havens, Jordan Howse, Matt Jones, Autumn Karen, Michaela Ratliff, Jen Sorensen, Todd Turner
WEBMASTER
Sam LeBlanc
ART
ART DIRECTOR Aiden Siobhan aiden@triad-city-beat.com
COVER:
The Piedmont Aviation Snack Bar has been operating at Smith-Reynolds Airport for decades.
Design by Aiden Siobhan
Photo by Kaitlynn Havens
by Sayaka MatsuokaThat’s the question a lot of voters have been asking lately. And I’m asking it now.
Brockman, a Democrat, has represented the 60th District in North Carolina, which covers part of Guilford County, including all of Jamestown and Pleasant Garden, since first being elected to the NC House back in 2014. He’s on the younger end of the spectrum at 38 years old, is Black and is openly bisexual. All of those things would make it seem like he’s down for the cause, you know?
But in recent weeks, Brockman has been making a concerning turn.
As has been widely reported on now, on March 29, Brockman was noticeably absent during a veto override vote for SB 41 or a bill, now law, titled “Guarantee 2nd Amendment Freedom and Protections.”
The bill has made headlines since Gov. Cooper’s veto of it was overridden, thus becoming law a few weeks ago due to its rolling back of gun control in the midst of an ever-increasing number of mass shootings. In addition to repealing pistol purchase permits, the bill also allows concealed carry on some school grounds outside of school operating hours. This is at a time when gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children in the United States, surpassing car accidents.
At the time of the vote, Brockman and two other Democrats — Rep. Tricia Cotham of District 112 in Mecklenburg County and Rep. Michael Wray of District 27, covering Halifax, Northampton and Warren Counties — were all absent Of course, a few days later, Cotham switched parties, giving Republicans a supermajority in both the House and the Senate, making it possible to override any future vetoes by the governor without having to negotiate with Democrats.
In interviews, Brockman has said that he was at a medical clinic the morning
On Feb. 22, weeks before the ratification of SB 41, Brockman was also absent from a vote on SB 40, “Pistol Purchase Permit Repeal.” Of course, with the passage of its sister bill, this one was left to die in committee. Was he at a medical clinic then too?
What about on March 30 when there was a vote for a bill to allow more nurses to work in public schools? Absent. Or later in the day on March 29 when there was a bill to reduce barriers to state employment to allow more people to get jobs by citing military experience or trade school education? Absent. Any guesses as to which other Democrats were also absent for those votes? That’s right, Cotham and Wray.
Oh but wait! There’s more!
On March 28, when all other Democrats voted against a bill that would require sheriffs to cooperate with ICE, meaning more of our immigrant friends and neighbors would be detained, guess who actually showed up to vote in favor of the bill?
Brockman, Cotham and Wray.
Explanations have been swirling political circles as to Brockman’s behavior of late. The representative himself has told the News & Observer that he doesn’t plan on switching parties like Cotham did. But Brockman was elected by voters, our community, to represent us. In 2022, he handily won reelection by more than 17 percentage points and had Democrats support him by larger margins in the elections prior.
But now, as more and more legislation is filed that directly attacks the most vulnerable among us, like HB 673 sponsored by Republican Rep. Jeff Zenger just yesterday that would criminalize drag shows in public spaces, it’s incumbent upon us to ask: What’s up with Cecil Brockman and is he representing us?
I think we know the answer.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
I grew up in here. My name is on the bottom of every chair in here.
- Kayla Key-Guffey, pg. 12
“ “
In January 2022, a large fire blazed for several days at Weaver Fertilizer Plant in Winston-Salem, causing thousands to evacuate the area under the threat of a potential explosion from ammonium nitrate stored at the facility
A state of emergency was never declared and evacuation remained voluntary.
At a Sept. 13, 2022 public works committee meeting Fire Chief Trey Mayo gave the council an after-action report on the Weaver Fire, during which he mentioned that both he and Emergency Management Director August Vernon agreed that if they “had to do it all over again,” they would have “made it a mandatory evacuation.”
Now, city staff are taking a look at how they communicate with elected officials during disasters. By amending an ordinance in the city code, staff would be required to consult with councilmembers regarding circumstances in their ward that may be a threat to life or property.
This item was heard during an April 10 public safety committee meeting and will return to council for an official decision sometime in May according to City Attorney Angela Carmon, who spoke on the two proposed amendments.
Carmon said that the amendments were being suggested in order to “codify some lessons learned from the Weaver Plant fire.”
During the April 10 meeting North Ward representative and Mayor Pro Tempore Denise D. Adams recalled the frustrating lack of communication during the fire.
“When it happened… I felt like I should’ve had a part in the discussion,” she said.” And I was not.”
Adams went on to say that while she got some updates, during the disaster she wondered: “Where is the state of emergency?”
“I was given all of some reasons as to why, and for me that wasn’t good enough,” she added. “My constituents told me that was not good enough — that they elected me and they expected me to have a voice for them in any discussions of emergency responsiveness to the ward.”
Carmon said that the first proposed amendment is intended to direct staff to engage more fully during a potential state of emergency, encouraging them to have discussions “not only with the mayor, but with the councilmember of the ward about whether or not a state of emergency declaration is needed.”
“I think it was clear from the Weaver plant fire that, in terms of staff, not all lines of communications were directed to the appropriate councilmember of the ward,” Carmon said.
She said that the purpose of the proposed amendments is to “encourage and make sure that we’re inclusive in that discussion about whether or not a state of emergency is needed.”
Carmon added the final decision to declare a state of emergency would still rest with the Mayor.
The second proposed amendment would require the mayor to update city council within 24 hours of a state of emergency proclamation.
Two historic shotgun houses located in Happy Hill, Winston-Salem’s oldest Black neighborhood, have been sold to Triad Cultural Arts after a sale approved by city council on Monday. Both houses were sold for a total of $1 and will be rehabilitated by the nonprofit, community-based, cultural arts organization.
Recommended by the finance committee on April 11, the sale of the houses to TCA is a step toward not only preserving the structures themselves, but their history, according to the organization.
TCA has been pursuing the acquisition of the shotgun houses since 2017 in order to protect and preserve them, but obstacles such as zoning and other prospective buyers stood in the way until recently.
Last fall, the city-owned property was nearly sold to the Arts Based School, a charter school for elementary school-aged children, however the council voted to approve the school’s request to withdraw their offer on Oct. 17. The city would have sold the school nearly nine acres of land, including the two shotgun houses. At the time, the Happy Hill Neighborhood Organization and housing rights activists with Housing Justice Now opposed the proposed sale to the Arts Based School in favor of using that land to build more affordable housing for the community. The school publicly withdrew their interest from the tract of land in a Sept. 23 joint statement with Happy Hill Neighborhood Association that reads, “The Arts Based School stands in unity with the Happy Hill Neighborhood Association’s plans to develop more affordable housing units for families.” An Oct. 13 social media post from Housing Justice Now agreed, “It’s simple: We want land that was promised for housing to be used for housing. And we want the two historic shotgun houses preserved as a cultural heritage site.”
The shotgun house sale to TCA was originally approved during a Nov. 14 city council meeting, however it returned to council for reapproval on Monday because the organization had made revisions to their intended project scope.
After being approved on Dec. 5 by council, the half-acre site that includes the two shotgun houses was rezoned to accommodate public and institutional uses such as a museum and heritage site. The land was previously intended for predominantly single-family residences.
The property is located in the East Ward on the south side of Humphrey Street, west of Free Street.
A video posted to social media on Dec. 5 by Happy Hill Neighborhood Association featured TCA director Cheryl Harry, along with the caption: “It finally happened.”
In the video, Harry expressed her joy at the decision and thanked the project’s supporters saying, “We’re going to make something beautiful happen.”
According to the cultural arts organization’s website about the project, the adaptive reuse of the shotgun houses will serve as a public monument to the legacy of the people who worked to make a life for their families, pre and post emancipation. The website says that they will be revitalized through artifacts, photographs, videos, and interactive programming. Additionally, the grounds will serve as an outside exhibit space with interpretive panels and kiosks.
In an interview with TCB, Harry is dedicated to restoring the legacy of these homes.
“Even though we’re restoring the building, it’s more about restoring the legacy of the men and women who lived there trying to make a better life for them and their families,” Harry said, adding that they’re calling it the “legacy site.”
Facing the site from the street, the house to the right — 716 Humphrey Street — will be rehabilitated into a city-approved facility capable of accommodating programs for the benefit of the public and various community activities and programming. Harry said that the house would be restored to the early 1900s.
The other home — 726 Humphrey Street — will be deconstructed methodically according to Harry. According to city documents, materials will be thoughtfully salvaged and will be reused as part of the new construction of a city-approved multi-use center for office space, various community activities, programming and rentals. The center will also include a welcome area to purchase tickets and souvenirs.
Shotgun houses are narrow and rectangular with living spaces like a kitchen, living room, and bedrooms arranged behind each other. The houses typically did not include indoor plumbing and were built one room wide and 3-4 rooms deep.
Shotgun houses were built in rural and urban areas, and were often the most common type of dwelling in black neighborhoods.
The shotgun houses sold to TCA were built in the early 1900s, homes of black working-class families in Happy Hill, and many shotgun houses built around this time were eventually demolished during urban renewal decades later.
Shotgun houses are also in Charlotte. In 2020, West Side Community Land Trust acquired two houses to preserve and renovate.
During a finance committee meeting on Nov. 7, the structural integrity of the shotgun houses was brought up by councilmember Robert C. Clark. Assistant City Manager Aaron King replied that this matter had been discussed by the city with TCA The cultural arts organization had brought on a structural engineer in order to “understand and get their arms around the full extent of the improvements needed.” King added that TCA knows “full well what’s in front of them as far as upfits of those buildings.”
reliefhc.com
1451 S. Elm-Eugene St., GSO
336.442.9278
The uniform worn by service techs at Relief Heating & Cooling means something: Starched khaki work shirts and pants, pressed and cleaned every day.
The look harkens back to her husband’s time in the military, says Nicola Harris, who runs the business side of Relief Heating & Cooling while her husband, Matthew, tends to the service.
After his time in the Navy, the company was just “a man and a truck,” Nicola laughs. Yet he still dressed as if he could be susceptible to an inspection at any moment, a tradition that carries on to this day. This was back in 2007, when it all began.
“We pride ourselves on our image,” Nicola says, “from the way our guys dress to the distinctive vehicle wraps. Every Tuesday we have a meeting to talk about this.”
The little details matter, especially when dealing with what can be the most expensive equipment in most people’s biggest investment: Their homes. And as a Black-owned, family-led business, Nicola says, Relief needs to set a high bar for customer service.
“In this industry,” she says, “we are a minority also.”
That means going above and beyond customer expectations with exceptional work and follow-through to ensure satisfaction.
Relief Heating & Cooling built their business on trust, says Avion Harris, Nicola and Matthew’s daughter who handles marketing for the family business. She’s one of several family members who have roles at Relief.
“We stand by our work 100 percent,” Avion says. “We don’t leave until the job is finished, whether it’s repairing an HVAC system in an old house that is starting to break down, to routine maintenance to a complete install of a brand new unit. We do a Happy Check within a day or two of a call just to see how we’re doing.
“You can check our reviews online,” she adds.
In addition to all manner of expertise on all heating and cooling systems, Relief Heating & Cooling can also work with air purification, humidifiers and dehumidifiers, and ductless air-conditioning. The Relief Comfort Club offers a service plan that includes priority scheduling, free air filters, waived fees and discounts on parts.
Relief Heating & Cooling operates throughout Guilford and Forsyth Counties, where you’ll see their signature aquamarine service trucks and sharpdressed technicians applying their trade. Call for an estimate, or visit the website to set up an appointment or to learn more. Available every day for both routine maintenance and emergency services.
ou can’t just put a piece of plywood over a raccoon hole and expect to keep the raccoon out,” says Trutech District Manager Hunter Smith. “A raccoon can tear through the shingles on your roof.”
With the onset of spring, raccoons in the Triad are about to get “super busy,” Smith says. Squirrels, too. And chipmunks. And snakes. And bats. Rats and mice, too.
It’s a problem homeowners don’t think about until they have it: a wild animal has gotten into the attic or the basement or even through the front door. They can cause damage, leave droppings, spread disease. It takes a professional to get the animal out and clean the mess.
Trutech can remove the animal humanely and legally, do a full remediation of the contaminated space including cleanup, sanitation and parasite treatment.
Or they can safeguard your home against the intrusion of wildlife with their guaranteed prevention services: If the animal gets back in, it becomes their problem, not yours.
They’ll come back to fix it promptly.
Trutech’s technicians are experts in the field, current on all applicable laws and best practices.
“Bats are tricky,” Smith says. “They can get into your attic and leave droppings, which cause a lot of problems. But bats are very beneficial to North Carolina — they are a protected species because they eat a lot of mosquitos. There is a period, May through July, that we cannot even remove them because they are specifically protected during that time.”
You can’t use traps or poison on bats, he says, so there are very few ways to remove them ethically and legally.
Trutech’s service area runs the entire Triad, from Reidsville to Seagrove, and they can have a technician at your home before wildlife takes over. Reach out through the website or give them a call.
Sen. Thom Tillis came out hard against video-sharing platform TikTok on Monday, signing a letter along with hard-assed Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw and 14 other Republicans in the General Assembly that asks for a ban on the app, owned by a Chinese company, by all members of the US House and Senate.
It comes on the heels of a Congressional hearing where TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew tried to explain what the app does and how it does it to people who don’t understand the very fundamentals of digital technology.
To illustrate: Most of what the members of Congress asked Chew about were true. Yes, TikTok collects data on all of its users, like location and device, but also more intimate details like income, home values, shopping habits and other points that it then analyzes through “psychographic” identifiers like “middle-aged mom caring for elderly parents” or “DIY homeowner due for a new lawnmower” or maybe even “right-wing gun nut who buys ammunition online.”
Just about every other app and website does this. The New York Times captures audience data just as thoroughly as Fox News. Amazon knows more about you than you yourself might. Facebook’s data-collection practices are legendary. Even we do it, through cookies on our website.
Does TikTok have connections with China’s communist govern-
ment? Almost certainly! China is ruled under a one-party dictatorship! The government is involved in everything!
But most of the data collected by TikTok is commercially available. Through device tagging and IP mapping, every digital-marketing company in the world knows your age, where you work and live, how much you owe on your car. The Chinese government doesn’t need TikTok to know if you have an OnlyFans account. The vast, global digital-marketing apparatus already knows.
So what Tillis and his hard-right pals are really worried about are TikTok’s numbers. The app has more than 150 million US users — that’s about as many people as voted in the 2020 presidential election — most of them younger than your average Republican and diverse enough to freak the white folks out.
The people who have no real comprehension of “the internet” and its implications have already banned TikTok on government devices, because they think it is reading their texts. Meanwhile other politicians are harnessing the app to find audiences heretofore unreachable through other means — notably NC Rep. Jeff Jackson, who’s amassed 1.7 million followers on the app and has been using it to explain things like the “abortion pill” mifepristone (5.3 million views) and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (29.1 million views).
That’s what they want to stop.
Courtesy of NC Policy Watch
What Tillis and his hard-right pals are really worried about are TikTok’s numbers.
Q A Q A
by Sayaka Matsuoka
Tina Firesheets has been a writer and editor in the Triad since the late ’90s. She has worked at the News & Record and was the editor for 1808 Magazine. Her first book, 100 Things to Do in Winston-Salem Before You Die, was recently published by Reedy Press. On Sunday, Firesheets will speak about the book at Bookmarks in Winston-Salem at 3 p.m. Follow @100thingswinstonsalem on Instagram for upcoming events for the book.
I’ve lived in the Triad since 1992, but I didn’t want to stay; I didn’t intend to stay; I thought it was a mistake. I grew up in the mountains and it was so hot that first summer. I wasn’t used to this level of humidity all day long, heading into the evening.
I really wanted to be on the west coast; I wanted to be in LA. This was around the time of the LA riots, and I wanted to do community building in the Korean community there. But then my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was in college at UNCG. It’s what brought me here. My mom and my dad lived in Cherokee, and they ran a business there for 20 years so I felt like I could be four driving hours away but not a different time zone away.
I say that I live in Greensboro because that’s where my career is based, but I’ve lived in north High Point and Jamestown the whole time. But I do consider myself a Greensboro person.
I think what happened was an editor that I had freelanced for in Winston-Salem asked me if I might be interested in doing this. The press publishes these kinds of books all over the country. They have a 100 things to do in New Orleans, and they do state ones, and they were looking for someone to do one in Winston-Salem.
It never occurred to me to do that kind of thing or that my first book may be something like that. What made me say yes was I had to submit a pretty extensive marketing plan listing all the media I would contact, all of the bookstores that might carry it, events that would promote the book. I thought that was smart and that made me put a lot of thought on the front end on how to market the book. I thought it would be a good opportunity for me.
A
There was a part of me that wondered if people might think I was a fraud because I didn’t live in Winston-Salem, I didn’t work in Winston-Salem. But I was talking to [former Winston-Salem Monthly editor] Michael Breedlove and he thought that having that fresh approach might be helpful.
But you know, prior to becoming a mom, my husband and I often went to Winston-Salem. If we weren’t in Chapel Hill, we were in Winston-Salem. I was also very familiar with the city through my magazine and newspaper experience. But Winston-Salem has changed so much and it’s been exciting to watch that change. I think I’ve been able to appreciate it from more of a visitor point of view.
Q A
It surprised me that I kind of fell in love with it, I really honestly did. I feel a little bit like a traitor saying this out loud, but I think that Winston-Salem might be a little cooler than Greensboro.
You know, the thing that I love about living in the Triad is that Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point are their own distinct little cities and towns with their own uniqueness and things to offer. And through writing the book, I really came away with a greater appreciation for that and for Winston-Salem.
I really respect the vision that it took to transform this former tobacco, textile manufacturing center into a mecca for arts and innovation. You have a very strong arts community, and in that, I include the restaurant community. It’s all very strong and thriving and supportive. And then with Innovation Quarter through its partnership with Wake Forest you have insanely smart, scienc-y stuff going on; I really respect the hell out of it. It takes quite a bit of vision and collaboration not being afraid of doing something different on the part of city leadership.
The other thing I really appreciate about Winston-Salem is how it embraces the future but also its past, its Moravian history. They’ve managed to include both stories into its identity in the way they are repurposing those old textile mills and turning them into modern-day makerspaces or whatever. I love that. It’s part of Winston-Salem’s uniqueness without it making it seem like an old, fuddy-duddy town.
Q A
When I say cooler, I love what Action Greensboro is doing with the Boomerang series and how it promotes and attracts its young professionals. I think that makes Greensboro unique but what I meant by cooler is that in Winston, 20-, 30-, 40-year-old entrepreneurs are doing things a little bit differently, Anything from pop-up dining events to the way that businesses are run with an emphasis on sustainability and fair wages and fair trade.
manageable wait. It’s just a little bit lower key, but it’s got a lot of the stuff that Asheville has to offer.
What was the process like for writing the book?
A
One of my editors pointed out to me that the food-and-drink section was disproportionate to the rest of the sections of the book, and anyone who knows me wouldn’t be surprised by that. I strategically made sure to write that section towards the end of the process because I wanted to make sure to have something to motivate me to finish.
Winston-Salem is a little bit like Asheville in this. You have pockets of Winston-Salem where there’s just a lot of creativity happening like Industry Hill or the whole area around West Salem Public House, the area around Innovation Quarter. There are pockets where things are happening. You could be out walking around on a Saturday afternoon and come across music and food trucks.
I don’t know if Greensboro is too spread out for that or the downtown hasn’t developed in that way quite yet. We have that South Elm area, but there’s just a more youthful energy that I am feeling currently in Winston-Salem and when I say youthful, I mean fresh thinking. I think it has more to offer a wider demographic.
Quarry Park; it’s so beautiful. They’re going to keep adding to that and I love that you are outside of downtown proper but you see the skyline. I’m a sucker for beautiful views over water.
I also love the Trade Street Arts District. When people ask what’s one thing you have to do and you have one day I’ll say Old Salem and Reynolda, but if you only had a couple of hours, I just love Trade Street. You’re going to get four to five different galleries with their own different vibes and you have two James Beard semi-finalist chefs at restaurants. And you have the Art Park there, and it’s just great for people-watching and just hanging out. And then you’ve got your dive bars like Single Brothers and Silver Moon Saloon. There’s a lot that’s walkable.
I was a guest on a sports culture podcast and one of the cohosts was saying that Winston-Salem was just a pit stop on the way to Asheville, but you can go to Fourth Street, park for free and not have to drive for 30 minutes to find a parking spot. Sweet Potatoes does not take reservations, but it’s a
Q A
Q A Q A
If I was going to do another one of these books I would love to do secret Asheville or something Asheville related. The downside is that the book events do take a chunk of time. For example, for this book, I’m offering curated small group tours that pull a few things from the book. I just like getting out there and that’s where I get my energy from.
I do want to write another book. For a really long time, I’ve been wanting to write my own book about my own personal story. I think I’ve been procrastinating that one, but it’s in there somewhere.
The other thing I came away with is that the vitality and the growth of a place depends so much on the people; it reflects the people. I really got that sense from Winston-Salem in doing this project. I couldn’t have written the book without the warmth and kindness and generosity of the people and I just really want that to come through.
At the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the smell of stale and salty baked pretzels, occasionally topped with pepperoni or covered in a cinnamon-sugar mix that’s sure to cause a preflight high, assaults the nose of every passenger who checks in through the C concourse security line. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport’s cuisine is marked by a cheesy caramel blend that accosts each terminal with the buttery scent of popcorn, leaving travelers wondering if they’re on their way to Paris or rushing through a movie theater to catch a John Hughes film. Boston Logan has its many clam “chowdah” stands, and Austin-Bergstrom International smells like the pit of Salt-Lick’s famous smoked meats. But in Winston-Salem, tucked in an unassuming brick and powdered blue airport hangar across the street from the Smith-Reynolds Airport terminal, the old fashioned smell of hamburgers and deep fried comfort food fills the air. The scent’s origin is a snack bar that has served its community long before the days of trendy travel and foodie culture.
Piedmont Aviation Snack bar is a counter-service restaurant serving Americana breakfast and lunch fast foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, fried tenderloin and bologna sandwiches.
The original food counter opened in 1942, when the Reynold’s family helped finance improvements of the airport facilities, including a terminal with marble walls, windows that overlooked the airfield and a massive chandelier in the lobby. But after running the lunch counter for 37 years, the original owner was ready to retire. Then, in 1988, its new owner, Brian Key, made a handshake deal with the President of Piedmont Airlines. Key’s father was an aircraft salesman, and his uncle’s brother, Ollie Virgil Key, was on the board of the Piedmont Aviation Credit Union.
“We had a long lineage of Piedmont family employees,” Key says. “They knew of my background in food; I went to cooking school for three years and worked in restaurants. He called me one day and said they had a grill up here, wanted to know if I’d be interested in taking over.”
The only stipulation was that Keys had to run the business as the previ-
ous owner had, open Monday through Friday, with prices below their competitors.
“I spoke to the president and vice president of Piedmont Airlines’ we shook hands, and that was our deal,” he says.
At the time, Piedmont Airlines had attracted other larger airlines due to its loyal customer base and willingness to serve smaller, hometown cities. In North Carolina alone, Piedmont flew to cities like Hickory, Rocky Mount and Southern Pines.
Less than a year after Keys reopened the snack bar, Piedmont Airlines and its 22,000 employees were acquired and merged with USAir.
“All we had was a handshake,” Key explains. “Every time the airline and airport changed hands, new owners would come in and say, ‘What are you doing here?’ But no one ever said anything about leaving, so we continued on.”
The restaurant stayed open primarily for the benefit of the employees.
“The hangar was full of workers,” Key explains. “You had the airplane sales where dad was. Down the street was USAir and their reservations and heavy-duty maintenance. The credit union was open at the time. And down below that was the training center for the flight attendants. We had more than enough business to keep us afloat.”
Over the years, both the airline industry and Smith Reynolds Airport continued to change. Piedmont Airlines dissolved in 1989 and after 9/11 and the halt of travel, Key wondered how they would survive. Just as the airport began resuming flights, USAir moved out.
Raising three daughters on his own, Key found it difficult to rely on the ebb and flow of the aviation industry. But he remained steadfast with his menu,
never changing it and always keeping the prices “at or below the prices at Hardee’s,” he says.
The blue-checkered floors and white, laminate tables where aircraft mechanics, salesmen, stewardesses and jet fuelers gathered for a steak and egg biscuit, also served as a playground for Key’s daughters.
His middle daughter, Kayla Key-Guffey and her fiancé Scott Murray, stepped in as owners two years ago this July.
“I grew up in here,” Key-Guffey says. “My name is on the bottom of every chair in here. We’d hang out with the people in the bank next door, or the airplane parts people in the back of the hangar. I was standing on stools at the register before I could reach them.”
Key-Guffey gained much of her industry experience in restaurants throughout Winston-Salem but she attributes her level of perfectionism to her dad.
“My dad has always been picky,” she says. “He prides himself on perfecting anything. Growing up, I ate meatloaf every day for 10 days until he got it right. Cornbread for 10 days or until he got it right.”
Kayla and Scott both laugh recalling a story of when Scott started working at the snack bar.
“When he was training Scott,” Kayla says, “Scott was making a salad. Dad came over and told him ‘That’s not enough,’ picked up barely a pinch of lettuce and told him, ‘Now it’s right.’ He was dead serious.”
That level of attention to detail exists in every order that crosses over the counter. Nacho cheese is drizzled over perfectly crisp tater tots, each one covered in just enough topping to not be mushy by the time patrons sit down at the tables. Lemonade is squeezed from fresh lemons and paired with the optimum measure of sugar to balance their tartness; it’s the only other drink they sell besides sweetened and unsweetened ice tea, and a soda machine that takes cash near the entrance. Each BLT comes with two tomatoes — tomato always on top of the mayonnaise.
“It matters, those little things matter,” Kayla says, her dad nodding in agreement.
Brian Key now admits to Scott’s talent and speed in the kitchen, impressed by his son-in-law’s “spatulas for hands.”
That speed keeps burgers, hot dogs and Philly cheesesteaks as their top sellers.
“It’s the lowest form of restaurant food, but when it comes down to it, when you’ve had a long day, everybody wants a burger,” says Brian Key.
With Key stepping aside, patrons place their order with either Kayla in the afternoons, or her uncle, James Hansen-Guffey in the mornings. Scott works both shifts on the grill and fryer. The familiar faces add to the comfort and reliability of the menu.
Still, the airline industry remains in flux, and Smith Reynolds Airport is not immune. Recently, a bill was filed in the General Assembly that would deannex the airport from Winston-Salem, another change that Kayla and Scott say, either way, “we’ll be here, still loving what we do.”
Recently, with a growing presence on social media and an influx of customers, Kayla and Scott are hoping to extend hours to be more accessible to those who aren’t able to come throughout the week.
“I’m tired, but I’m excited,” Kayla says. “This is for us, for our kids, but it’s also for my dad. I want him to be proud of everything he did, and what we are doing.”
A reminder of the snackbar as a constant hangs over the exit of the restaurant. “Bye-Bye PI, Final Flight- Aug 4, 1989,” is printed on a T-shirt. It’s a reminder that travel and aviation are in constant change, but some things remain steadfast.
Follow Piedmont Aviation Snack Bar on Facebook or Instagram or check them out at 3820 N Liberty St #3911 in Winston-Salem.
BY CAROLYN DE BERRY
Scene from the first ever Glenwood Grind, a celebration of skateboarding and roller skating, at the Glenwood Skate Spot.
by Matt Jones
Across
1. Calculate the total of
6. Nat ___ (cable channel)
9. High flier
14. Doggie
15. Above, in verse
16. Nebraska city near Iowa
17. Fun
19. Tabloid-worthy
20. California city (and county) home to Bubblegum Alley
22. Calligraphy pen point
23. Spinoff group
24. Anti-___ hand soap
27. 2016 World Series champions
30. Gambler’s supposed strategy
34. Prefix with laryngologist
35. Burned-up
37. “Paris, je t’___” (2006 movie)
38. Mercedes S-Class or Audi A5, e.g.
42. 1958 Chevalier Oscar winner
43. “Do ___?”
44. Black currant liqueur cocktail
45. Long-legged wading birds
48. Disco hit that really shows off its title
49. Sneaky
50. “It’s on like Donkey ___”
52. “The buck stops here” presidential monogram
54. Captain of the Enterprise in two TV series
60. Jousting spear
61. Item ripped in half by old-time strongmen
63. Streaming show in the “Star Wars” universe
64. “Jackie Brown” star Grier
65. Everybody’s opposite
66. Winter weather events
67. Kennel noise
68. Suspicious
Down
1. Many a tailless primate
2. Puts on
3. Hip-hop artist ___ Cat
4. 2023 NCAA men’s basketball Final Four team
5. Actress Rashad
6. Mongolian desert
7. Long swimmers
8. Cookies in a sleeve
9. Insurance document
10. Intro to an opinion
11. Perform with fake swords in the park, maybe
12. Miami University’s state
13. Tiny bit
18. Alabama university town
21. Wanna-___ (imitators)
24. Retired slugger Wade
25. Did a face-plant
26. Queen Elizabeth’s preferred dog breed
28. Indonesian island east of Java
29. Prepare for a 36-Down
31. Second hand sounds
32. Interoffice communication
33. Like some Windsor wives
36. Academic assessment
39. Do some dairy chores, maybe
40. Dickensian imp
41. Go up again
46. Copier cartridges
47. Long-running NBC show, for short
51. Aquarium fish
53. Off-limits topic
54. Rolling Stone co-founder Wenner
55. Opposite of ecto-
56. Tea made with cardamom
57. “___ and Circumstance”
58. Medieval crucifix
59. Currency of Vietnam
60. “Viva ___ Vegas”
62. Opening piece?
LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS:
‘Show Some Backbone’ — armed with knowledge.© 2023 Matt Jones © 2022 Jonesin’ Crosswords
