As summer draws nearer, Uptown Wadesboro, Inc. is preparing for two big events— the weekly Summer Jam concerts and a farmer's market that will be held on Thursday evenings in the courthouse square.

At its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, March 19, the board of directors for Uptown Wadesboro worked out some details for both events.

Board chairwoman Carly Little reported that Summer Jam will have to begin in June, rather than May, because of the number of other events being held during May. Little said she has four bands that are committed to perform at the concerts, which will be held on the first Friday of each month, June through September.

Little said she hopes to have some way to get feedback from the public on the Summer Jam. "If people don't like bluegrass, I don't want to have that every time," she said by way of example. "I would really like to have feedback from the public about what they like and what they don't like."

The board discussed possibly doing surveys, or simply having a board member or representative go around at the concerts to ask attendees' opinions.

Little also updated the board on a planned farmer's market, which will be held Thursday afternoons, "hopefully beginning in May," and will run 4-6 p.m.

"I personally can't wait," said Anson Chamber of Commerce executive director Lynn Edwards. "I think it may prompt some people to even get back into farming."

Little encouraged Anson residents with ideas or feedback for either Summer Jam or the farmer's market to contact her at 704-694-2213.

Solutions sought for downtown parking

During the roundtable discussion portion of the meeting, Anna Baucom, chairwoman of the Anson County Board of Commissioners, asked the board about revisiting the issue of parking in the downtown area.

Baucom said that the county commissioners have recently been discussing the issue and that she was seeking input from the Uptown Wadesboro board.

"We may need to shorten the time," she said. "It's currently two hours but we have a lot of people that work downtown that park at the courthouse square all day." She added that the commissioners are considering shortening the time limit from two hours to 30 minutes.

Edwards pointed out that when she started with the Chamber and was making initial calls to business owners, she often heard complaints about downtown parking. In response, she and her staff have taken to parking in a lot down the street, rather than parking in front of the Chamber offices on Wade Street.

"One of the disadvantages of limiting parking is that we want people to come down[town] to shop," Wadesboro town manager John Witherspoon said.

Baucom responded that the main area that is causing problems is the courthouse square.

"If we reduce the time, we have to enforce it," Witherspoon said. "At $25 a pop, that gets expensive."