Kinston, North Carolina’s twenty-eight square-block downtown historic commercial district has been experiencing a great deal of interest lately. Practically overnight, it has become one of the best discoveries for investing in as well as destinations in eastern North Carolina with its restaurants, tap rooms, distilleries, live music scene, public art displays and experiential activities, all within walking distance of each other. This has become the entertainment district downtown and the hot spot for visitors digging a change of pace, walkability and small town hospitality.
Downtown is experiencing investment by young developers and techy entrepreneurs attracted to a small town lifestyle, Kinston’s cool vibe, hip spirit with a renewed energy and sense of purpose, the super friendly and welcoming residents, its affordability, and proximity to the beach in one direction or the State Capital in the other. Downtown buildings rehabbed into market rate apartments are quickly leased and the community eagerly awaits the new ones currently in various stages of development. Kinston is much more business-friendly than many other places. Here one can avoid the usual ridiculous costs and other impediments found elsewhere.
Kinston has many bragging rights. It has the largest public art collection in the state, is the birthplace of Funk music and the birthplace of many stars from music, to science, to law, to sports, to movies and writers. It is also the trailhead for the African-American Heritage Music Trail, and part of the 1175 miles-long Mountain to Sea Trail. Further, it is home to Chef Vivian Howard of the former Chef and Farmer Restaurant made famous with the hit PBS Television show, A Chef’s Life. The widely collected painter Ben Knight lives and works downtown as do other great artists known throughout the region for their works. Many belong to the smART Kinston group and reside in the downtown Arts and Cultural District consisting of a collection of historic cottages colorfully painted in pastel colors and set behind white picket fences; a neighborhood transformation project spearheaded by Stephen Hill. Kinston is also home to many manufacturing facilities that impacts the global economy from healthcare, to home design, to aerospace; something many people do not think about.
Locals and visitors intermingle everywhere downtown because downtown is just a neighborhood in the greater neighborhood of Kinston. Kinston is just one big, diverse neighborhood where everyone knows everyone, and you will know them quickly, too, if you are not from here. This welcoming familiarity is one of the reasons people return for more and more doses of Kinston love.
Kinston, NC, is enjoying a great new vibe.
One of the many revitalization projects conducted by the 501c3 non-profit Downtown Kinston Revitalization (DK) is underway now. It is a gateway project that has been three years in the making.
A gateway is an entrance, usually distinctive. Downtown revitalization efforts sometimes employ gateways to define an entrance into, for instance, a park or district. In this case, it is a district, the epi-center of what are currently Kinston’s most vibrant downtown commercial blocks in its unusually large historic commercial district.
The North and Mitchell intersection is not only several entry points into the center of our downtown, it is also the location of Pearson Park where many outdoor events are held and is the location of the very popular Dragon Playground. Directly across the street from the playground is a small lot that is being transformed into the Shirley Herring Memorial Garden in memory of a lovely lady who for years oversaw the flower baskets downtown.
A mural by Sully McRae will serve as a backdrop to the proposed English Style garden. Oversized flowers, bunnies and butterfly provide a playful and colorful visual connection to the playground while also creating a sense of diminutiveness to the viewer as though they are tiny creatures in a garden. Local Boy Scouts constructe a couple of pergolas and benches and a gravel pathway with flowers and low boxwood hedges. The formal English style garden design will contrast with the whimsy of the mural and make it all the more welcoming.
Fundraising continues for its completion. Donations by check can be sent to Kinston Enterprise Center, 327 N Queen, Kinston, 28501 (note on check it is for SHMG) or at www.downtownkinston.com .
The intersection of streets has been converted to a 4-way stop as a safety measure for the increasing pedestrian activity in the area being that Mitchell Street is a popular street for neighborhood connectivity. Plans also call for a sensory path on the sidewalk to slow children down before they cross the street, and for playful crosswalks to be painted onto the street. The intersection itself will feature creatively painted crosswalks for direct connection to the fun park and downtown.
