Plenty claim to be Mayor of Todd, but the community has been without an official officeholder for nearly 40 years. An upcoming election will change all of that.
The Todd Community Preservation Organization's Save the Music Art, Antique and Yard sale on Saturday will kick off a mayoral election with an unusual twist.
Two candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring.
Petunia the Pig who holds forth at Rivergirl Fishing Company hopes to rally the porker contingency while Luke the Labrador is standing on his "Dog Gone Good" platform. Additional candidates are expected once the TCPO receives their $25.00 filing fee.
“The only qualification other than paying the entry fee is that the candidate be living and breathing and hopefully non human,” said Helen Barnes-Rielly who is organizing the election, err, fundraiser.
In keeping with political tradition, all votes can be bought . Each vote costs $1 and you can vote as many times as you'd like between Saturday and September 17th. The ballots will be counted and the new mayor will take the oath of office at the Todd Timbertown celebration on September 24th. Bribing is legal and the money raised goes to the Todd Summer Music Series.
So vote for your favorite or put forth your candidate and may the best critter win.
The primary season is open until the Fourth of July at 5 p.m. Candidates must fill out the candidate filing form which can be downloaded here. Return the form to info@toddnc.org or bring it by the TCPO offices in the Todd Mercantile building. You can also mail the form, and the filing fee to: TCPO, PO Box 234, Todd, NC 28684. After the filing season closes, the voting begins in earnest!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Castle Ford Bridge decking going up
Dane employees have been working daylight to dark six and seven days a week this spring to get the nearly $2 million project done ahead of the deadline set for the end of this year.
In the photo at right, the middle column, or third bent, has been marked Watauga-Ashe, denoting the county line.
Once the new bridge is completed, the old bridge will be removed and the parking area for Todd Island Park will be refurbished.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Elkland gearing up for 2011 Liberty Parade
Volunteers, funding sought for "Earth," biggest puppet yet
On the Fourth of July, Elkland Art Center in Todd hosts an annual arts parade called The Liberty Parade. Participants become the parade by wearing costumes and carrying large puppets that represent our local environment, environmental concerns and current creative impulses.
Each year community members add a segment or theme in workshops with local artists, environmental advocates, environmental specialists and anyone else who wants to come. This year Elkland Art Center is creating "Earth", their biggest puppet yet (requiring 8-10 people) for this one puppet alone.
The community has begun working on this project. What is left to build is an armature and plant and animal objects that will appear on The Earth. Artists also intend to costume the carriers in similar batik outfits that compliment The Earth and create additional puppets and costumes to complete the theme. This involves the work of several professional artists, as well as dedicated members of the community. Elkland Art Center intends to use the money by paying the artists that have made this happen through the months of January through June and continue to make it happen by having regular Saturday community workshops through June. The money will help Elkland cover the costs of workshop organization, outreach, printing, costume repair and upkeep, supplies, storage, rent, and more. You can help Elkland Art Center reach their goal by donating here.
Elkland Art Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the art experience to our community. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by the law.
Each year community members add a segment or theme in workshops with local artists, environmental advocates, environmental specialists and anyone else who wants to come. This year Elkland Art Center is creating "Earth", their biggest puppet yet (requiring 8-10 people) for this one puppet alone.
The community has begun working on this project. What is left to build is an armature and plant and animal objects that will appear on The Earth. Artists also intend to costume the carriers in similar batik outfits that compliment The Earth and create additional puppets and costumes to complete the theme. This involves the work of several professional artists, as well as dedicated members of the community. Elkland Art Center intends to use the money by paying the artists that have made this happen through the months of January through June and continue to make it happen by having regular Saturday community workshops through June. The money will help Elkland cover the costs of workshop organization, outreach, printing, costume repair and upkeep, supplies, storage, rent, and more. You can help Elkland Art Center reach their goal by donating here.
Elkland Art Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the art experience to our community. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by the law.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Todd e-Tribune Now Available
Click here to download a .pdf version of the first edition of the Todd e-Tribune and sign up below to get a copy of future editions delivered promptly to your email inbox as they are published.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Art Antiques and Collectibles Auction & Yard Sale
In an effort to raise money to continue the Todd Summer Music Series, the TCPO will host a community yard sale on Saturday, May 28 where you can shop for bargains or participate as a vendor.
The yard sale will be followed by an Auction at 10am ... with a silent auction running throughout ending at 1:30pm.
This will be a great opportunity to showcase your art – or do a bit of spring cleaning.
TCPO is currently seeking donations, especially of art, antiques, and collectibles for the silent auction. Anyone wishing to donate items in the auction can call Helen Barnes Rielly at (859) 380-3802, (336) 877-2565 or email info@toddnc.org
The deadline for donations is Wednesday, May 25th to have information on the item/artist available auctioneer and bidders. Although we will accept any donation up to the 28th.
Items for the auction can be delivered to the TCPO office located in the Todd Mercantile, 3899 Todd Railroad Grade Road during regular business hours, or you can call the number above for a pick-up.
Yard sale and Artist vendor spaces are available for $10. Please call the TCPO office to reserve your space.
The artist and vendors will be grouped in a space in the main area of the park, away from the yard sale spots, which will be behind the stage or in the far area of the park.
The TCPO will have food available for purchase during the day.
TCPO is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and all donations are tax deductible. All proceeds will go to the TCPO Summer Music Series.
Todd, NC 28684 - It's not just a zip code, it's a state of mind.
The yard sale will be followed by an Auction at 10am ... with a silent auction running throughout ending at 1:30pm.
This will be a great opportunity to showcase your art – or do a bit of spring cleaning.
TCPO is currently seeking donations, especially of art, antiques, and collectibles for the silent auction. Anyone wishing to donate items in the auction can call Helen Barnes Rielly at (859) 380-3802, (336) 877-2565 or email info@toddnc.org
The deadline for donations is Wednesday, May 25th to have information on the item/artist available auctioneer and bidders. Although we will accept any donation up to the 28th.
Items for the auction can be delivered to the TCPO office located in the Todd Mercantile, 3899 Todd Railroad Grade Road during regular business hours, or you can call the number above for a pick-up.
Yard sale and Artist vendor spaces are available for $10. Please call the TCPO office to reserve your space.
The artist and vendors will be grouped in a space in the main area of the park, away from the yard sale spots, which will be behind the stage or in the far area of the park.
The TCPO will have food available for purchase during the day.
TCPO is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and all donations are tax deductible. All proceeds will go to the TCPO Summer Music Series.
Todd, NC 28684 - It's not just a zip code, it's a state of mind.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Scholarship Fund Drive on now
The Todd Ruritan Club is now accepting contributions to the Ruby A. Trivette Scholarship Fund through its Light Up a Life annual fundraiser.
The Scholarship program, named in honor of Todd native and career educator, Ruby Trivette, was established in 2003. Each year, the Ruritan Club awards at least one scholarship to a college-bound Todd-area high school student.
Donors to the scholarship endowment fund will be recognized at the community tree lighting at Cook Memorial Park on Friday, Dec. 3, 2010, at 5:30 p.m. You can download a "Light Up a Life" contribution form here. All contributions to the scholarship endowment fund are tax-deductible.
The Scholarship program, named in honor of Todd native and career educator, Ruby Trivette, was established in 2003. Each year, the Ruritan Club awards at least one scholarship to a college-bound Todd-area high school student.
Donors to the scholarship endowment fund will be recognized at the community tree lighting at Cook Memorial Park on Friday, Dec. 3, 2010, at 5:30 p.m. You can download a "Light Up a Life" contribution form here. All contributions to the scholarship endowment fund are tax-deductible.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
TimberTown Coming Saturday
Set your clocks back 90 years on Saturday, Sept. 25 as the village of Todd steps back to a time when the valley was a boomtown piled high with lumber, populated by lumberjacks and filled with the dirty cinders from the coal-fired Virginia-Carolina Railroad.
Billed as Todd TimberTown, Saturday’s event, from noon to 6 p.m., takes place in Todd’s Rural Historic District and will include tours led by guides in period costume from the 1920s as well as authentic, unplugged mountain music from the era.
“We strive to preserve our past and we’re very excited about this new event as a way to keep the special and storied history of the Todd community alive,” said Jim Lewis, president of the Todd Community Preservation Organization, the non-profit organization producing Saturday’s event.
Allen Bryant, an assistant professor at Appalachian State University, has organized the event, and his history students will don period costumes, courtesy ASU’s Drama Department, to lead tours through the historic district. Modeled after the tours at Old Salem, guides will share the history and stories behind some of Todd’s most prominent landmarks while other students will be acting out the role of various prominent community citizen’s from Todd’s past.
Those prominent citizens include Capt. Joseph Warren Todd, the community native and Civil War veteran for whom Todd is named, who is expected to make an appearance. Capt. Todd was credited with restoring order to Ashe and Watauga counties in the lawless days following the Civil War. In 1892, the community’s post office name was changed from Elk Cross Roads to Todd in his honor. Don’t be surprised to see a moonshiner making whiskey or lumberjack or two milling about town, too.
The free guided walking tours will leave the parking lot at Blackburn’s Chapel United Methodist Church on Railroad Grade Road every hour beginning at noon. Musicians will set up at Cook Park, Todd’s music venue in the center of the village. Staying true to the theme of the day, there will be no high-powered sound systems so audience members will have to draw near to enjoy the unplugged mountain music. Hot dogs, hamburgers and cold drinks will also be on sale in the park.
Today, the Todd community, which straddles the Ashe-Watauga County line, is a small unincorporated village with several retail businesses and a post office. In the 1920s, Todd was the end of the line for the Virginia-Carolina Railway and boasted nine stores, three hotels, two doctors, a grist mill, a dentist, a drug store, a bank. Todd even had a short-lived “moving picture” theatre. The village had a mayor, board of alderman and even a town marshal for nearly two decades. At the cusp of the Great Depression, the area’s timber supply was exhausted when the railroad company pulled up tracks, the Bank of Todd’s manager made off with the deposits and the town went from commercial mecca to ghost town almost overnight. Much of the downtown, which wasn’t destroyed by the devastating flood of 1940, has since been preserved. More than a dozen buildings in the town proper were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
Billed as Todd TimberTown, Saturday’s event, from noon to 6 p.m., takes place in Todd’s Rural Historic District and will include tours led by guides in period costume from the 1920s as well as authentic, unplugged mountain music from the era.
“We strive to preserve our past and we’re very excited about this new event as a way to keep the special and storied history of the Todd community alive,” said Jim Lewis, president of the Todd Community Preservation Organization, the non-profit organization producing Saturday’s event.
Allen Bryant, an assistant professor at Appalachian State University, has organized the event, and his history students will don period costumes, courtesy ASU’s Drama Department, to lead tours through the historic district. Modeled after the tours at Old Salem, guides will share the history and stories behind some of Todd’s most prominent landmarks while other students will be acting out the role of various prominent community citizen’s from Todd’s past.
Those prominent citizens include Capt. Joseph Warren Todd, the community native and Civil War veteran for whom Todd is named, who is expected to make an appearance. Capt. Todd was credited with restoring order to Ashe and Watauga counties in the lawless days following the Civil War. In 1892, the community’s post office name was changed from Elk Cross Roads to Todd in his honor. Don’t be surprised to see a moonshiner making whiskey or lumberjack or two milling about town, too.
The free guided walking tours will leave the parking lot at Blackburn’s Chapel United Methodist Church on Railroad Grade Road every hour beginning at noon. Musicians will set up at Cook Park, Todd’s music venue in the center of the village. Staying true to the theme of the day, there will be no high-powered sound systems so audience members will have to draw near to enjoy the unplugged mountain music. Hot dogs, hamburgers and cold drinks will also be on sale in the park.
Today, the Todd community, which straddles the Ashe-Watauga County line, is a small unincorporated village with several retail businesses and a post office. In the 1920s, Todd was the end of the line for the Virginia-Carolina Railway and boasted nine stores, three hotels, two doctors, a grist mill, a dentist, a drug store, a bank. Todd even had a short-lived “moving picture” theatre. The village had a mayor, board of alderman and even a town marshal for nearly two decades. At the cusp of the Great Depression, the area’s timber supply was exhausted when the railroad company pulled up tracks, the Bank of Todd’s manager made off with the deposits and the town went from commercial mecca to ghost town almost overnight. Much of the downtown, which wasn’t destroyed by the devastating flood of 1940, has since been preserved. More than a dozen buildings in the town proper were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
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