Asheboro, North Carolina Hopes to Create Growth with Vote to Allow Alcohol Sales

Asheboro is a small town which had a typical mix of manufacturing, hosiery and retail jobs for a traditional city of its size in North Carolina. And as you might imagine, global competition has made most of these manufacturing and mill jobs disappear. Asheboro city leaders are attempting to revitalize the town and bring in different industries to rebuild the job base. The big success story has been plastics, with dozens of small-to-medium sized companies engaged in the industry, proving the advice given to Benjamin in The Graduate had merit.

But city leaders have a new idea to bring in different industries. There is a local election on July 29th to allow the sale of alcohol in Asheboro. Currently, Asheboro is a dry town and residents have to drive eight miles north to Randleman to purchase alcohol. Many feel the lack of alcohol sales has hurt growth in the city.

There have been numerous initiatives in the past to allow alcohol sales in Asheboro but each has failed miserably. Local residents opposed to alcohol sales (mostly good, solid, church-going people) have partnered with business leaders of Randleman (who don't want to lose the business of people driving from Asheboro to buy alcohol and other products) to form an effective coalition to keep Asheboro dry.

But this time, proponents of alcohol sales have a much more organized campaign. A group of citizens created the Committee for the Future of Asheboro. This group is focusing on the economic benefits of allowing alcohol sales in the town. From the group's Web site:

The July 29 referendum for the controlled sale of alcohol is about our future. It's about attracting restaurants, shops and hotels to support the thousands of visitors who come to Asheboro every week. It's about the jobs and revenues these new businesses would create.

This referendum is about keeping revenue here instead of sending it to Randleman or Greensboro. It is about Asheboro being competitive in a global economy. It's about the future. Now is the time.

The Committee includes four members of the eight-member Asheboro City Council, former Mayor Joe Trogdon, David Renfro, publisher of the local paper The Courier-Tribune and big-wigs from the city's biggest known industries, including North Carolina Zoo Executive Director Russ Williams.

The Web site has links to stories involving the alcohol vote, articles that address complaints opponents raise about the possibility of increased health and public safety issues and voter registration information.

One of the most interesting articles on the site was written by Ross A. Holt, former president of the North Carolina Library Association. Holt details that the NCLA held a biennial statewide conference that drew 1,100 attendees and over 100 vendors. This convention wanted to avoid the costs of the major cities in the state - Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro - and one that would be ideal for a city the size of Asheboro.

Holt writes: "One problem with organizing a conference in North Carolina is the length of the state: go too far west and you lose attendees from the east, and vice versa. Asheboro is ideally located to host conferences such as ours, and has an excellent highway network for easy access. Indeed, this group and others with which I have been involved often express a desire to come to Asheboro, but dismiss the idea due to the lack of adequate conference facilities and hotels.
It's no secret that a conference center near the NC Zoo long has been contemplated. The Business Journal reports that a major national brand has expressed an ongoing interest. The only stumbling block is the absence of legal alcohol sales - the last piece of the puzzle that a big investor needs to make a conference center work."

Asheboro is in the middle of the state (one of the main reasons they built the NC Zoo here). It is 30 minutes from Greensboro and less than 90 minutes from both Charlotte and Raleigh. Asheboro is served by highways 64 (which travels the length of the state from east to west) and 49 (north to south), as well as 42, which travels through 10 counties, and 220 which goes all the way to Waverly, New York.

There is plenty of land available around the Zoo. A convention center has been frequently bandied about, as well as an amusement park, which would make Asheboro even more of a tourist destination than it is already with the Zoo and the nationally-recognized potters in nearby Seagrove.

Currently there are six hotels in Asheboro, including a Courtyard, Holiday Inn and Comfort Suites. It seems like a lot for a town with a population under 25,000 people. The big-name chains seem likely to be here due to expected future growth.

Now the question is - are the residents ready for it?