News Coverage
Halifax County Tourism is Alive, Well & Growing
by Todd Wetherington of The Daily Herald
ROWLAND — Halifax County tourism is not only alive and well, but also continuing to grow as new businesses open their doors and established attractions add to their drawing power.
That was the message being broadcast loud and clear yesterday by representatives from area businesses and the Halifax County Convention and Visitors Bureau during the National Tourism Day celebration at the North Carolina Welcome Center.
As motorists from Interstate-95 wandered through the display tables set under a large tent, Steve Swan, vice-president of development with Riverside Mill in Weldon, talked with visitors about the success of the recently opened antique mall and artisan’s gallery. “We’re doing great,” said Swan. “The local people are starting to find us and we’re getting a lot of business off Interstate-95 as well. We’re signing up two to three new dealers a week and the rooms downstairs are completely leased. Our goal right now is to make sure people are aware of where we are and what we have to offer.”
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Riverside Mill Gets Noticed
by Lance Martin of The Daily Herald
WELDON — Tim Blackburn has commitments, an early sign of the interest in the antiques mall phase of the Riverside Mill project in Weldon.
And the old cotton mill overlooking the Roanoke River will be ready for those vendors to stock up on their goods in about a month, Blackburn said, with an official opening planned for the first of March.
Cotton mill transformed into marketplace
by Lance Martin of The Daily Herald
WELDON — The community’s plans for developing its riverfront are becoming reality.
The historic cotton mill overlooking the Roanoke River is being renovated and will become an antique mall and artisans gallery called Riverside Mill.
“In community after community we can see entrepreneurial retail and restaurants redeveloping the area,” Steve Swan, vice president of development for Riverside Mill told the Daily Herald this morning. “I think this can be a real catalyst for growth. One of the most exciting things will be an opportunity to create a fun, festival marketplace where people can rediscover a lot of the historical significance of Weldon.”
According to the developers of the future marketplace, they are hoping to open in early 2009 and they plan to market the business as a tourist destination.
Riverside Mill will have space for more than 100 antique dealers in a 10,000 square foot raised gallery with its original plank floor, massive timbers and wide open views of the river, housing pottery, blown glass, jewelry, metal, wood and leather crafts from local, regional and national artisans.
Two-dimensional art from area artists will also be featured.
There will be 40,000 square feet of sales area opened to the public once renovations are completed. “We’re opening up huge windows that haven’t seen the light of day in 50 years,” said Keith Cuthrell, the majority owner of Rockfish Capital LLC, which bought the ...
Blackburn, who runs Roanoke Valley Auction and will manage the antiques mall, also got a good idea Thursday of the crowds he can anticipate for his auctions, which will be held at Riverside Mill.
His New Year’s Day auction brought in a standing room only crowd. “Obviously, with it being a new place there are a few things to tweak,” he said. “There was a little problem with the heat and we were overwhelmed with the volume of people.”
Blackburn said there were close to 200 people at the auction and he had seating for 125.
Overall, he said, “People liked it. It was fresh, clean and new. Everything was good.”
Blackburn already has an estate sale planned in about a month and he continues to look for vendors at the mall. As far as how many vendors there will be come March, he said he didn’t know. “Obviously we want as many as we can get.”
A day before the auction, Riverside Mill developer Keith Cuthrell held an open house at the building to show possible future vendors the building and the potential it has for artisans and antiques vendors. “This is the first big effort to get prospective dealers to sign up.”
Cuthrell said when he discovered the building via a Web site he was attracted to it. “It looked like a lot of building for the price,” he said.
He saw the structure as a place for artisans and antiques dealers. He already has commitments from between 40 to 50 artisans, many of whom are guild quality artists. “They’re willing to give it a try,” he said. “It’s right off I-95. They like that. They like it’s an old cotton mill.”
Thus far the public has been receptive to the plans, Cuthrell said. “A lot of people were asking when they could see the place.”
Meanwhile, Cuthrell will also be working on getting a gourmet foods store to join the complex and is looking at other upscale retail.
An office building on the grounds would be perfect for a framing business or an eBay store, Cuthrell said.
Photo courtesy The Daily Herald.
Photo courtesy The Daily Herald.
It’s going, going, here and open on Jan. 1
by Lance Martin of The Daily Herald
On the first day of the new year, the first business in Weldon’s Riverside Mill project will open.
“I’m absolutely on top of my head,” said Tim Blackburn, owner of Roanoke Valley Auction Company, who will hold a New Year’s Day auction and be the first business in the old cotton mill being renovated for artisan and antique shops. “This is the greatest thing to happen in a long time.”
Blackburn was busy last week moving items into the mill off Walnut Street in Weldon and still has much work to do to prepare for the New Year’s Day opening.
In the auction business, New Year’s Day is one of the best times to hold an auction, Blackburn explained. “People are bored with TV, they’re tired of the holidays. They want to do something different. It’s one of the best sales days.”
Roanoke Valley Auction has been in the area since 1993. Blackburn has been in the area since 1978 and became an antiques dealer in 1985.
Blackburn entertained buying the mill himself. “It was beyond my reach and I let the idea die.”
Photo courtesy The Daily Herald.
Old mill gets new life as mall and auction facility.
Going, Going, . . . Bang!. . . SOLD!
Some of the best Antiques Malls are connected with auction centers that specialize in antiques, collectibles and estate liquidations. At Riverside Mill, Dealers can acquire inventory, meet other dealers, and sell unwanted inventory through an auction house that is under the same roof.
Tim Blackburn has been a North Carolina auctioneer since 1994, specializing in antiques, collectibles and estate liquidations through his Roanoke Valley Auction Company. Tim is moving his auction house to Riverside Mill into space that adjoins the Antiques Mall. Dealers will be able to buy at an auction, attach a price tag and display their purchase in their booth without even leaving the building.
Tim's lively auctions will add to the festive atmosphere of Riverside Mill and introduce more consumers to the fun and value of antiques and collectibles.
WELDON, N.C. – Soon the historic Weldon Cotton Mill will become the home to antiques and artisans. Renovations are under way to convert the mill into a combined antique mall and artisans gallery called Riverside Mill. The initial phase of renovations will open 40,000 square feet of sales area to the public. An auction house will also make the mill its new home.
Steve Swan, Vice President of Development for Riverside Mill, and Tim Blackburn, owner of Roanoke Valley Auction Co., announced Blackburn’s auction operations will move from Second Street in Weldon to a space in the new Riverside Mill. The first auction at the new location will be held Jan. 1. The antique mall portion of the business will open in early 2009.
“This is one more example of how Weldon’s historic waterfront is gathering momentum,” said Swan. “People will be coming to Riverside Mill to see a live auction three or four times a month. Roanoke Valley Auction will add a lot of excitement to Riverside Mill.”
Labor of love is Weldon
By Lance Martin of The Daily Herald
Riverside Mill in Weldon presents East of Santa Fe American Indian Art Gallery
Opened August 1, 2009
East of Santa Fe, American Indian owned and operated, will feature local Haliwa-Saponi American Indian artists and craftsmen plus works from other tribes across the country.
The idea for the gallery was conceived to promote and showcase the work of American Indian people. Up until now, Indian artists and craftsmen had to travel great distances to accomplish this. Economic times have greatly affected the ability to travel. The opening of Riverside Mill has provided the perfect venue for a gallery such as this, which will meld together the history of the mill and the history of the American Indian people that traveled the Roanoke River, hunted, and farmed the land.
Artist’s works will include stone carving, gourd carving, silversmith, pottery, stone pipes, cedar boxes, quilts, beadwork, original paintings and prints and one of a kind collectibles. Also presented will be flute music from a nationally known local recording artist Arnold Richardson, who records under his Indian name “Tsa’ne Do’se”. Other items available will be rugs, wall hangings, leather jackets and vests, copper jewelry and new items arriving periodically.
Re-enactors and those interested in owning reproductions of American Indian clothing, such as dresses, shirts and coats, should be sure to visit. A fabric artist specializing in traditional Southeast clothing will be available throughout the week.
To experience East of Santa Fe and Riverside Mill, travel East on Route158 for approximately 1 ½ miles and follow the signs to Riverside Mill.
Hours of operation will be seven days a week from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. For more information, contact Charlotte Richardson at (252) 586-3339.
AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURE IN THE VALLEY
By Jacqueline Hough of The Daily Herald
WELDON — For Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe member Arnold Richardson, Saturday was about educating people at Riverside Mill during the American Indian Festival.
“It is knowledge they don’t get in their history books,” Richardson said. For example, he said, Indians never lived in teepees or hunted buffaloes.
“There are 567 American Indian tribes,” he said. “The purpose of today is to educate non-Indians on what Indians are about.”
It was an afternoon of traditional dancing, drumming, demonstrations and arts and crafts vendors.
President Barack Obama proclaimed November as National Native American Heritage Month.
Jacqueline Hough | The Daily Herald Bernadine Richardson demonstrated how to make Native American fry bread Saturday during the American Indian Festival at Riverside Mill.
Haliwa-Saponi are located in Halifax and Warren counties with about 3,500 members. “We live in the area in case you didn’t know,” Richardson said.
Haliwa-Saponi is the third largest tribe in the state.
“We’ve been in the same place prior to 1790,” he said. “We were here before the first census.”
Dancers in their regalia demonstrated several dance styles such as the Grass Dance, the Jingle Dress Dance and the Ladies Fancy Shawl Dance.
Richardson also introduced the 2009-10 Miss Haliwa Saponi Tribal Princess Morgan Copeland. “I travel all over the world representing the tribe,” she said.
She is the daughter of Charles and Deborah Copeland and a senior at the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School.
Copeland will reign until the 45th annual Pow-Wow April 16-18.
Richardson said normally they are about 10,000 in attendance with 400 dancers. “We just brought you a sampling of it,” he said.
Bernadine Richardson was at the event making Native American Fry Bread. The bread is made out of flour, salt, baking powder and water. She talked about the many ways it could be eaten while she patted and fried it. “We usually make tacos out of it,” Bernadine said.
On Saturday she was frying and serving it with powdered sugar on top. She was happy about the event. “We get to show and share a little bit of our culture,” she said.
Nancy Eckert, who runs the Kindred Souls at Riverside Mill, thought the event was wonderful and was sampling the fry bread. “It’s delicious,” she said. “It is so good to be exposed to new things. You learn so much.”
Other vendors included David Lynch, Henry Lynch and Jim Connor.
Keith Cuthrell, owner of Riverside Mill, said he was pleased with the turnout even though he would have liked to have seen more people there. He said, “We’re glad enough people came out to learn about the traditions.”
Antiques ~ Jewelry ~ Crafts