Washington the Magazine November/December 2021

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Craig Woolard MUSIC

MAN HOLIDAY COCKTAILS SWEET TREATS TO CELEBRATE THE SEASON

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 1

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 3

In this issue

FEATURES & DEPARTMENTS LOCAL LEGEND 12

ON THE COVER

MUSIC MAN

Craig Woolard has spent his life entertaining fans everywhere

12 WHAT'S TO DRINK 28

HOLIDAY COCKTAILS

Cold weather, hot toddies, winter cocktails, and holiday spirits in Washington

IN EVERY ISSUE 50

28 WHAT'S TO EAT 40

HOLIDAY BAKING

Indulge Santa’s sweet tooth with these seven scrumptious recipes

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50

Cast a Line

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Publisher Ashley Vansant Editorial Steve Barnes Brandon Tester Contributors Richard Andrews Mary Mehlich Vail Stewart Rumley Advertising Director David Singleton Marketing & Sales Kristen Smith Michelle Brewer Distribution Kim Riggs Art Direction Ryan Webb

Contact information Washington the Magazine P.O. Box 1788 Washington, NC 27889 Advertising inquiries 252-946-2144 Ext. 221 Subscriptions & change of address 252-946-2144

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 11

LOCAL ICON

He s Beach Music Performing classics and loving every minute of if NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 13

MUSIC MAN

Washington native Craig Woolard has spent his life entertaining fans everywhere STORY BY STEVE BARNES

The Woolard family: Carly, Craig and Debbie with rescue dogs Winnie and Lulu.

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Craig Woolard entertained the home town crowd in an outdoor show at Mac Hodges Festival park in October, two blocks aways from his boyhood home.

A

16-year old Craig Woolard had a choice to make and he had to decide immediately.

Woolard had an after school job bagging groceries at the Colonial Store on the corner of Market and 3rd Street in downtown Washington while his music career was still very much in the formative stage.

On several recent occasions he had asked his boss, Mr. Coggin, if he could leave his shift at 6 p.m. instead of 9 so he could play a gig, or to be excused entirely in some cases. The boss usually cut his young worker some slack and relented.

That was the plan again as Woolard reported for work one fall day.

“Craig,” Mr. Coggin said, holding up his had in the middle of the request. “Let’s go to my office. We need to talk.”

In the late 1960’s, grocery store offices were up front, on the side closest to the checkout lanes and above the registers,

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Scenes from the early days: Top: Woolard kneels with the saxaphone as part of Muic, Inc.. Bottom left: standing on the car with The Shawdows. Bottom right: Front and center with the sax as a member of the Matadors.

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Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band opened my eyes to what could be. It amazed me how many new and different things the Beatles tried on that record. It was a big influence on how I thought about music."

—CRAIG WOOLARD

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Top left: Woolard with the Embers performing at the N.C. State Fair. Bottom left: The Embers perform thier Christmas show all around the state. Woolard said the idea came from watching the Andy Wiliams Christmas show as a kid. Right: Woolard on state wearing wrestler Ric Flair's robe.

so the store manager could observe the employees interacting with the customers.

“Son, I can’t have you asking off early every Friday so you can go play music. You have to choose, right here, right now.

Which is it going to be?”

Moments later Woolard was off to his gig and has never looked back. Hindsight has proven he made the right call.

“I thanked Mr. Coggin very kindly for giving me a job and he wished me luck,” Woolard said 50-odd years later. “We didn’t know the term “no-brainer” then, but that’s what it was in my mind.”

Woolard was born in Durham, while his father, Frazier

Thomas Woolard, was going to Duke University’s Law School.

After graduation, the elder Woolard joined the U.S. Department of Justice as an undercover agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

He gave up the cloak and dagger lifestyle when his mother became ill and moved the family to a house on E. Main St. in Washington to take care of her when Craig was five. The house was a block from the old Moss Planing Mill lumber yard and the current sight for Moss Landing II, a neighborhood of upscale homes under construction.

“It amazes me to think that we played in piles of sawdust there and ran around all over that lumber yard and it’s going NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 19

Top: Clifton Curry (L), Woolard (M) and Archie Bell (R). Woolard backed up the R&B greats many times. Bottom left: with Danny Woods of the Chairmen of Board. Bottom right: Three of the many awards on display in Woolard's trophy case.

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to turn into a fancy neighborhood,” Woolard said. “My mother grew up at Core Point and we visited my grandmother all the time when I was a kid. The (Pamlico) River gave me some great memories.”

Woolard started first grade at John Small Elementary. He stayed there until 8th grade at Washington High School, graduating as part of the Class of 1970.

He learned to love the sound of the saxophone at an early age, but started out on the clarinet. His dad found an old saxophone that was held together with rubber bands in a New Bern pawnshop and brought it home.

The gift changed his 8th grade sons life.

“That was my magic moment,” Woolard said. “Music became a major part of my life after that.”

He learned the soprano, tenor and baritone sax, the flute and keyboards, none of which were part of the Marching Pam Pack high school band.

“So, I learned to play drums,” Woolard said. “I quit the band after our director, Mr. Jimmy Larkin, left in 11th grade. He was a major influence, but I was ready to play more current music at that time.”

Woolard was in several groups during high school, from The Shades, Burwell Clark & the Barons, The Matadors to The Shadows his senior year, but always felt comfortable on stage because of a favorite teacher.

“I was always the youngest one in whatever band I was in, but always felt at home” Woolard said. “My drama coach at Washington High School, Mrs. Becky Rogers was a big reason for that. I travelled for the first time with the Shadows and stage fright wasn’t an issue thanks to her. We played Officer’s Clubs and

the NCO Clubs on military bases from Virginia to South Carolina. I was late to my Monday classes over half the time my senior year, because I needed to sleep. My parents didn’t mind, because they knew I was going to graduate and at least I wasn’t out drinking all weekend.”

Like most teenagers of that era, Woolard grew up listening to Motown groups, the Tams and the other famous groups of the day.

He remembered one album that grabbed his attention.

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band opened my eyes to what could be,” Woolard said. The Beatles seminal release rocketed the music industry toward a more artistic, sweeping sound that ruled the first part of the 1970’s.

“It amazed me how many new, different things the Beatles tried on that record,” he said. “It was one of the first concept albums and was a big influence on how I thought about music.”

A trip to Greenville for his first concert was also an eye-opener.

“Ray Charles played at ECU and Billy Preston opened for him,” Woolard remembered. “Both were dynamic performers and introduced me to how big shows were done.

Ray Charles is my favorite to this day.”

Woolard met his idol for the first time in an elevator while at a gig early in his career.

Instead of hitting the road with the band full-time out of high school, Woolard enrolled at Duke University in Durham. It turned out to be a short stay.

“My girlfriend was at Carolina (UNC-Chapel Hill) so I ended up spending most of my time in Chapel Hill,” Woolard said. “Summer school was beckoning and I couldn’t deal with it, so I left.”

Top: Craig and Debbie at a band members wedding in the mid '90's. Bottom: with first-born Craig Michael in 1983.

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Craig Woolard entertained the home town crowd in an outdoor show at Mac Hodges Festival park in October.

Fate sometimes intervenes in life-changing ways and a chance meeting from his high school days turned out to shape the rest of his life.

A beach music group from Greenwood, S.C. called The Swingin’ Medallions had a Top-20 hit with Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love) in 1966.

By the early 70’s, Irven Hicks, the band’s former drummer, had moved to Washington to manage the family tire store.

“We happened to meet one day and struck up a conversation,” Woolard said. “We were kindred spirits musically and he ended up jamming with me in my parent’s living room on Main St.” Hicks moved to Raleigh to re-start his career while Woolard was at Duke.

When life as a student didn’t work out, Woolard called his buddy to see what was

shaking with the Raleigh music scene.

“His band, The Other Eye, was ready to hit the road, but their singer quit,” Woolard recounted. “My timing was perfect and off I went. That band led to The Embers.”

1976 was the year Woolard joined the iconic group and the rest is history.

Extensive travel followed; to Canada and Mexico, up and down the east coast from New York to Florida, midwestern tours of Illinois and Kentucky, then out west to California and Hawaii.

The awards and trophies are enough to fill multiple cases in his Cary home and range from Entertainer of the Year (four times, most recently in November) to Male Vocalist of the Year (19 times). The Carolina Beach Music Hall of Fame inducted him in 2011.

He’s appeared on stage with The Four Tops and The Temptations and also backed

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up Alabama, The Blues Brothers, Archie Bell, Percy Sledge and James Brown.

1979 was another life-changing year for Woolard, as he met Debbie, his wife of 38 years.

“We were playing at the Raleigh Civic Center and she was the catering director,” Woolard recalls. “She was from Rocky Mount, which was the big city to me growing up and she was, and still is, absolutely gorgeous. We went out after the show and I knew she was the one. She is a great person and I am very lucky to have her. Out of all the awards and acknowledgments I have been honored with, being a husband and a father is by far the greatest accolade I could ever receive.”

Son Craig Michael (36) and daughter Carly (26) complete the Woolard family.

Woolard and The Embers are back on the road after a COVID-19 induced hiatus when

Two of the many industry magazines to recognize The Embers as one of the most popular groups in beach music history.

time stood still.

“We went from playing 250 gigs a year to being home just like that,” Woolard said. “It was the first extended time since 1972 that I had not been on stage. I was used to playing five or six nights a week and when we weren’t, the Embers practiced five or six hours a day. I learned to work at an early age and it was really strange not doing it.

I enjoyed the break; it was nice to be home and it also helped me see what retirement looks like. I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

Woolard performed at Mac Hodges Festival Park as part of a trio with Durwood Martin on keyboards and Wayne Free on drums in October and will return Dec. 17 with the Embers for their holiday concert.

“Growing up, I remember downtown Washington being really cool at Christmas time,” Woolard said. “We used to take our Christmas Club money that we saved to buy presents and the stores stayed open until nine on Friday’s and Saturday’s. The Salvation Army bell ringers

were out and the lights on Main St. were beautiful. I watched Andy Williams, the Carpenters and Burl Ives do their holiday shows on TV and thought it would be really cool to do one someday. I want our show to evoke those same memories of sitting in the den with family, the old songs and all the things that made it Christmas in my hometown.”

Since COVID-19 has abated, Woolard has gone back on the road with the Embers and his trio, with no plans to slow down.

“If you do what you love, you never work a day in your life,” Woolard said. “At any show east of Raleigh, the crowd goes crazy when I tell them I’m from Washington. There’s nothing better than a Cat Head Biscuit from King Chick or a Bill’s hot dog. I think I’m better now because of learning through experience. I’ll know it’s time to quit when there is nobody left who wants to hear Under the Boardwalk, I Love Beach Music or Georgia (On My Mind). Besides, I have no other marketable skills.”

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 27

WHAT'S TO DRINK

Holiday cocktails in Washington

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You can enjoy your winter cocktails on Mulberry House’s recently-opened rooftop deck, which includes a bar, dining and lounging areas as NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | WASHINGTON THE—MAGAZINE • 29 well as a breathtaking view of the Pamlico River.

With the season of cold weather now in full swing, local businesses have rolled out their selections of winter cocktails. From cold drinks with festive presentations to hot drinks that keep you warm on chilly nights, these drinks will get you in the holiday spirit.

Some of them are known classics, like hot toddies. Others are original creations, crafted to perfection by local bartenders.

Here’s just a sampling of the holiday beverages you can find in Washington.

With the season of cold weather now in full swing, local businesses have rolled out their selections of winter cocktails. From cold drinks with festive presentations to hot drinks that keep you warm on chilly nights, these drinks will get you in the holiday spirit.

Some of them are known classics, like hot toddies. Others are original creations, crafted to perfection by local bartenders.

Here’s just a sampling of the holiday beverages you can find in Washington.

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Stuart and Mandy Lannon show off their fire tricks during a night show in Washington.

cheers.

Mulberry House offers a variety of other holiday cocktails ranging from boozy eggnog to Aztec hot chocolate.

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The Hackney’s “Fall Occurrence” cocktail includes Mount Gay Rum, Irish cream, spice and honey.

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The Hackney’s “Admiral’s Retreat” cocktail includes green tea, apple cider, lemon, 1000 Piers Gin, triple sec and honey.

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The Hackney Distillery in Washington crafts 1000 Piers Gin. 1000 Piers appears in several of the cocktails served at the Hackney’s restaurant and bar, including these two; on the left is The Hackney’s Tis the Season cocktail, and on the right is the Jack Frost Cocktail.

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The Mulberry House’s Tiki Christmas Cocktail features spiced rum, Batavia arrack, pomegranate reduction, yuzu and Campari.

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The Hackney’s “Hearth and Harvest” cocktail features 1000 Piers gin, Baileys Irish Cream and Frangelico.

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The Mulberry House’s Spiced Cider Mule features applejack, VSOP brandy, spiced cider, allspice dram and fresh ginger.

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WHAT'S TO EAT

SWEET TREATS

Seasonal favorites

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‘TIS THE SEASON Sweeten up the holidays with the gift of baking FOOD PREP, PHOTOGRAPHS AND STORY BY VAIL STEWART RUMLEY

‘

Tis the season — of evergreens and roaring fires; of family gatherings and the giving of gifts.

And what sweeter gift is there than the gift of time in the kitchen spent creating homemade, mouthwatering desserts shared by some of the finest cooks in Beaufort County?

Ask any cook, and they’ll likely tell you about a favorite recipe that makes a special appearance only once a year. Whether it’s on the dessert table capping off Christmas dinner or in bowtopped tins of delicacies delivered to friends and neighbors, baking makes for some sweet traditions.

Bring festivity to the table with Corry Harris’ Christmas Red Velvet Cake and Leah Pyburn’s Egg Nog Pie; fill those decorative tins with Cindy Mason’s Pecan Turtles or Mary Ross’ Peanut Butter Fudge. Mary Squibbs’ Frosty Date Balls and Sue Graves’ Sweet Potato Pie supply just the right amount of sweet and savory to any holiday get-together.

But if you really want to make some tastebuds jolly, clear an afternoon for Grace Lekson’s Raspberry-filled Shortbread Cookies — they’re not only delicious, but beautifully festive.

Make your kitchen merry this season with these seven recipes, guaranteed to bring joy to you and yours!

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FROSTY DATE BALLS RECIPE BY MARY SQUIBBS “HEAVENLY TREASURES,” HODGES CHAPEL PH CHURCH, CHOCOWINITY 1/2 cup butter, softened; 1/3 cup powdered sugar; 1 tablespoon water; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted; dash of salt; 2/3 cup chopped pitted dates; 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.

Cream butter and sugar. Stir in water and vanilla. Add flour and salt and mix well. Stir in dates and walnuts. Roll in 1-inch balls, and place 2 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a slow oven (300 degrees) for about 20 minutes or until cookies are set but not brown. While warm, roll in powdered sugar. Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

PECAN TURTLES

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

RECIPE BY CINDY MASON “SECOND HEAVENLY HELPINGS,” SWAN QUARTER BAPTIST CHURCH, SWAN QUARTER 1 pound Kraft caramel candies; 2 tablespoons evaporated milk; 1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips; 1/2 stick butter; 1 quart pecans, chopped; 1/2 block paraffin wax.

Melt caramel candies, butter and milk over low heat. Add pecans and use a teaspoon to drop small clusters on wax paper.

(Tip: spray Pam on wax paper) Let cool. In top of double boiler, melt chocolate chips and paraffin wax together. Dip clusters in chocolate. Drop onto wax paper. Cool. Store in tins.

RECIPE BY MARY ROSS “FAVORITE RECIPES,” ST. CLAIR’S CHURCH OF CHRIST, BATH 3 cups sugar; 1 cup milk; 2/3 cups cocoa; 1/2 stick butter; 1 tablespoon vanilla; 1/2 cup peanut butter, more if needed.

Mix sugar, milk and cocoa together. Bring to a boil. Cut it down and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from burner. With a spoon, beat in butter, vanilla and peanut butter. Whip fudge until it begins to harden. Pour into a buttered plate. Let cool.

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RASPBERRY-FILLED SHORTBREAD COOKIES RECIPE BY GRACE LEKSON, WASHINGTON 3 stick unsalted butter; 1 cup granulated sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam; confectioner’s sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line two to three baking sheets with parchment paper.

Blend butter and sugar at medium speed until just combined (don’t whip). Add vanilla and mix.

Sift flour and salt together into sugar/butter mixture. Mix at low speed until dough comes together. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a flat disk (or two—easier to handle). Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.

Roll chilled dough out on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a floured cookie cutter (2-to-2 1/2-inch, fluted) and cut as many rounds as you can. You may have to rechill dough if it gets too soft to roll.

Cut window into half of the cookies. Place all on baking sheets and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Transfer to oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until edges are a light golden brown. Rotate sheets halfway through baking for even browning.

Allow to cool on baking sheet for five to 10 minutes, the transfer to rack to cool completely.

You can store unfilled for a day or so in an air-tight container.

Assemble the cookies: spread about 1 teaspoon of jam onto the flat side of the solid cookies.

Dust the cookies with cut-outs with confectioner’s sugar. Place the cut-out cookies on top of jam and press lightly together.

Store at room temperature in tight containers in a single layer. Serve within one to two days.

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CHRISTMAS VELVET CAKE RECIPE BY CORRY T. HARRIS “WELKOM, TERRA CEIA COOKBOOK III,” TERRA CEIA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, PANTEGO 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour; 1 cup buttermilk; 1 cup Crisco oil; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1-ounce bottle red food coloring; 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar; 2 tablespoons cocoa; 1 teaspoon vinegar; 2 large eggs; 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional). Icing: 4 tablespoons cornstarch; 1 1/3 cups water; 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar; 1 1/3 cups butter; 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Mix together oil, eggs and sugar with electric mixer; add color and vanilla. Alternating, add dry ingredients (flour, soda and cocoa) and milk. Mix well; stir in vinegar and pecans.

Bake in three 8- or 9-inch cake pans at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Frost with icing. Store frosted cake in refrigerator.

Icing: Cook cornstarch and water until thick, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool well. Cream sugar, butter and vanilla until fluffy—takes a while to get perfectly fluffy. Add cooled cornstarch mixture and beat well until smooth and consistency of whipped cream.

EGG NOG PIE RECIPE BY LEAH PYBURN “PLATE & PALETTE, ” \ARTS OF THE PAMLICO, WASHINGTON 1 1/3 cups crushed graham crackers (seven double); 1/4 cup sugar; 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg; 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/4 cup butter, melted; 2 eggs; 1/8 teaspoon salt; 1 1/3 cups of sugar, divided; 1 package unflavored gelatin; 1/3 cup dark rum; 2 cups heavy whipping cream; dash of nutmeg.

Mix graham crackers, 1/4 cup sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and butter and pat into either a 9-inch or 10-inch pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees for eight minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Combine eggs, salt and 2/3 cup sugar in small bowl and beat until well-mixed. Set bowl in pan of hot water and continue beating for five minutes. Soften gelatin in rum. Let sit for five minutes.

Beat gelatin into egg mixture and remove bowl from hot water.

In a large bowl, beat whipping cream, 2/3 cup sugar and nutmeg. When stiff, gently fold egg mixture into cream. Pour into pie shell. Sprinkle with nutmeg and freeze.

This does get really hard, so remove from freezer when ready to serve.

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SWEET POTATO PIE RECIPE BY SUE GRAVES “KEYS TO THE KITCHEN, GRACEFULLY REKEYED,” ST. PETER’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, WASHINGTON 4-5 medium-to-large cooked sweet potatoes, peeled (about 2 1/2 cups); 1 cup milk (canned, whole or half-and-half); 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 1/2 cup brown sugar; juice of 1/2 a lemon; 3 eggs; 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; pinch of salt; 2 tablespoons melted butter; 2 pie shells.

Mix all in blender, food processor or mixer. Taste for sweetness due to variance in potatoes. Pour into two prepared pie shells. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

(Cook’s note: this pie is ideal with a homemade whipped cream topping!)

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 47

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ADVERTISER INDEX Adams & Associates

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 49

CAST A LINE

My Favorite Time to Fish

M

THE INNER BANKS

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY CAPT. RICHARD ANDREWS

y favorite time to fish is really anytime; however, autumn on the Pamlico is a special time. It’s a time we long for all year, a time for clear, crisp, sunny days and great fishing.

Some of the best fishing of the year is in the fall. Speckled trout, redfish, and striped bass are feeding up for the winter on bait concentrations in the upper reaches of the rivers and the creeks.

It’s a transitional time moving from our late summer fishing to an early winter pattern. The fish and bait are on the move and their behavior changes with the season. Knowing these behavior changes can drastically improve you success as an angler in the fall.

This fall should be some of the best speckled trout fishing we’ve ever seen. We haven’t had a significant winter trout kill in many years, so the stock is abundant with a diversity of age classes. North Carolina is near the northern end of the speckled trout’s geographic range, and our winters can bring near freezing and freezing water temps, which cause natural mortality in speckled trout. The best sign of a healthy stock is the presence of many different ages and sizes of fish within the overall stock, and we have that right now.

As water temperatures cool into the late fall, much of the bait concentrations continue to migrate up the rivers and into some of the creeks, and that’s where many of the fish spend the winter months. Studies have shown that they are far more transient than previously believed; however, as an angler, if you stay close to the food sources, you’ll be close to the fish.

Striped bass are also very abundant and can be easily targeted in the late fall. They are better adapted to cold water, as they are a northern fish. While they range from

The author with a 42” redfish caught in the fall on a topwater lure. (Contributed photo)

Canada to the Gulf Coast, they are most abundant in the mid-Atlantic states. North Carolina extensive brackish estuaries provide the perfect habitat and nursery grounds for juvenile stripers. In the Pamlico River, anglers typically encounter fish ranging from 15-30 inches in length or about 1-10 pounds.

A 25-30 inch striper on light tackle is a great catch anywhere you go to striper fish.

November and December are a time when many families are distracted by the holiday season; however, it’s one of the most

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underrated times to fish the Pamlico. While the colder temps can bring a certain degree of inconsistency to the fishing, when it’s good, it’s some of the best fishing of the year.

If you are searching for gift ideas during the holiday season, then how about giving the gift of fishing to a loved one, so that that they can go fishing later in the year. We have gift certificates available and they make a great gift for the fishermen in your family. Those can be purchased on our website at www. tarpamguide.com. Happy Holidays!

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