{"id":55,"date":"2019-04-07T18:42:26","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T18:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/?page_id=55"},"modified":"2019-04-21T19:17:57","modified_gmt":"2019-04-21T19:17:57","slug":"the-next-chapter-a-new-stadium-and-a-citys-hopes-for-revival","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/index.php\/the-next-chapter-a-new-stadium-and-a-citys-hopes-for-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"THE NEXT CHAPTER: A NEW STADIUM AND A CITY’S HOPES FOR REVIVAL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Baseball has been part of High Point\u2019s social fabric for decades. From industrial league teams during the Great Depression, to minor league ball in the city\u2019s outskirts, the new downtown chapter reveals how the sport \u2013 and its purpose \u2013 have changed. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HIGHWAY 109 SEEMED LIKE A FEW HOURS AWAY FROM DOWNTOWN HIGH POINT<\/strong>, not a few miles. The topography along the two-lane thoroughfare was painted with rural charm. Main Street\u2019s sidewalks and furniture showrooms were replaced by the rolling hills and the cornfields of nearby Davidson County. In front of homes\u2019 mailboxes were signs saying \u201cMember: Voluntary Agricultural District.\u201d One man made rounds with his lawnmower, making sure to avoid his Trump-Pence \u201cMake America Great Again!\u201d sign. High Point is the only North Carolina city<\/a> stretching across four counties \u2013 two that voted for Donald Trump and two for Hillary Clinton. The 2016 election<\/a> was 18 months in the rear-view mirror but lifestyle differences were clear. This wasn\u2019t a zone for bars, high-rise rental apartments, restaurants or boutique hotels. It was a zone for peace, quiet and baseball. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memorial Day weekend is the official start of summer, and for the locals around Ball Park Road, it means the first pitch for the legendary High Point-Thomasville HiToms. As I pulled up to Finch Field<\/a>, it felt like Wrigley Field with a suburban twist \u2013 a rickety vintage grandstand and a manual wooden scoreboard, minus the El Train and Lake Michigan. There were no parking spaces, just grassy knolls and 85 years of up-and-down existence. The baseball diamond\u2019s address is in Thomasville, about a mile away from the High Point border. But both cities have shared interests and struggles over the years, led by an economy rooted in furniture. Back in 1935, workers\u2019 spirits hit rock bottom as the Great Depression gripped the region. Industrial league baseball provided a morale boost, with up to three dozen teams competing after work and on weekends. The Finch family, owners of Thomasville Industries, deployed its staff to build this 3,500-seat centerpiece. Over the next four decades, affiliates for the Indians, Dodgers, Braves, Red Sox, Reds, Phillies, Twins and Royals all rounded the bases. But in the 1960s, Finch Field lost a consistent tenant in its home dugout. A century of manufacturing progress was peaking and the stadium\u2019s legacy was on life support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Greg Suire bought the HiToms in 1999<\/a>, the outlook was still bleak. \u201cThe place was just empty, man,\u201d he tells me by phone on a recent Sunday afternoon. A team captain at Loyola University in New Orleans, Suire\u2019s vision for revival was lofty but attainable \u2013 restore Finch Field and its funnel for pro talent. Just a few years earlier, the Triad\u2019s three major cities banded together<\/a> for a $700 million effort to lure a Major League Baseball team to the region. Business leaders were on board but voters said no. Suire is confident a $100 million payroll would not make sense in today\u2019s North Carolina. He still sees High Point as a launchpad for top-flight prospects, the names gracing the banners along the HiToms\u2019 main concourse, like Eddie Mathews and Curt Flood. \u201cI’ve got to make us more mainstream in High Point, which we\u2019re not,\u201d Suire told the <\/a>News & Record <\/a><\/em>in 2002<\/a>. \u201cThis is their team.\u201d His words still resonated in 2019, with one caveat. Another team, a fancy stadium and a new vision of baseball were coming to town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The concourse and concessions area at Finch Field in Thomasville, NC. HiToms legends like Eddie Mathews are honored with banners along the walkway. (Photo by Chris Gentilviso)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mathews and Flood were too talented to stay very long in the minors. At age 18, they were just teenagers, but were also everything a small-town team could hope for. Their bats were loaded with pop. In 1949, almost 100,000 fans<\/a> came to games to see Mathews, a top Boston Braves prospect, in a HiToms uniform. He captivated the crowd<\/a> with 17 home runs in 63 games. By 1954, Mathews starred on the cover<\/a> of the first issue of Sports Illustrated, and by 1978, he had a bust at the Hall of Fame<\/a> in Cooperstown. Flood\u2019s experience in the South was far less idyllic but equally memorable. In 1956, he sped past his HiToms teammates<\/a> in batting average (.363), home runs (29) and hits (190). But as one of two African-Americans on the roster, Flood had to use a separate restroom and struggled to find meals in town. He lived with a teacher on Underhill Street near High Point College, who provided him with refuge from the realities of Jim Crow laws. \u201cLook at what Curt Flood did for the LeBron James\u2019 of the world,\u201d Suire says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flood\u2019s southern chapter was a precursor to the national changes that were coming. In 1960, black voices in Greensboro and High Point set the tone for desegregation, with sit-ins at their downtown Woolworth drug stores. Four years later, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, and by 1970, Flood was the force who forever reshaped professional sports.<\/a> At age 31, the 3-time MLB All-Star, seven-time gold glove winner and two-time World Series champion was traded from the Cardinals to the Phillies. He didn\u2019t want to play for Philadelphia, and sued the league over its reserve clause. The rule prohibited players from joining other teams unless traded \u2013 red tape Flood said violated antitrust laws and 13th<\/sup> Amendment protections against slavery. \u201cAfter 12 years in the major leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes,\u201d Flood\u2019s letter read \u2013 words synonymous with his experience in North Carolina. While he lost the case, MLB tossed out its reserve clause a year later, paving the way for modern free agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suire doesn\u2019t sugar coat it. He has yet to replicate the rush stars like Mathews and Flood brought to the ballpark. The rules on the field haven\u2019t changed much, but expectations around stadiums have. By the early 2000s, the HiToms lost their minor league affiliation, but kept up with their nearby rivals. The Greensboro Bats and Winston-Salem Warthogs had aging facilities. War Memorial Stadium<\/a>, one of the parks featured in \u201cBull Durham,\u201d still opens its iconic triple-arched entrance for North Carolina A&T<\/a> college games. Ernie Shore Field<\/a> has also stayed alive, hosting home tilts for Wake Forest University under a new name, David F. Couch Ballpark<\/a>. If you went to a Bats or Warthogs game, the focus was on the tickets, the seats and the action on the field. \u201cWe held our own with those guys,\u201d Suire says. \u201cIf you would have gone to a midweek game in Winston and then come to our park, there would not have been a huge difference.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bar is higher now. The frills of a 21st<\/sup>-century trip to the ballpark deviate from the statistics found in a box score. As free agency inflated salaries across the sports world, cities faced increased pressure to keep their stadiums up to date, even at the minor league level. Over the past 15 years, the Bats and Warthogs morphed into the Grasshoppers and the Dash. Their home fields are named not after wars or former players, but banks. Naming rights deals with First National and BB&T help fund these state-of-the-art facilities shaping the small yet recognizable skylines of the Triad\u2019s mid-sized cities. There are now luxury suites and birthday party decks, with private buffets and craft beers on tap \u2013 amenities far above the popcorn and playground at Finch Field. I couldn\u2019t find beer on the menu at the HiToms game. \u201cThey did not have all of the bells and whistles modern minor league baseball has,\u201d Suire says of his rivals in Greensboro and Winston-Salem. \u201cOnce they built their new ballparks, they skyrocketed past us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2015, it was Suire \u2013 not Qubein \u2013 who pushed to play catch up. As kids took swings at a Finch Field summer camp, so did Suire, pitching the idea of a multi-purpose stadium<\/a> in downtown High Point. It would seat 2,500 to 3,500 fans, at $18 million in taxpayer funding. Finch Field didn\u2019t have the best hot dogs or IPAs, but Suire thought this would keep the amenities as fresh as the on-field talent. The new Rockers downtown stadium has double the number of seats (5,000<\/a>) and taxpayer responsibility ($36 million<\/a>), and Suire says he was effectively nudged out. In late January, he challenged the new Atlantic League Rockers to a rivalry game<\/a>. The local baseball map is crowded, so much so that Suire sees room for only one team in High Point. \u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re splitting the market, which has already struggled with attendance,\u201d he says. \u201cNow, you tell me<\/em> how this is going to work?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT\u2019S HARD TO ARGUE WITH SUIRE\u2019S EYE FOR TALENT<\/strong>, especially after seeing one of the HiToms giants on his roster over Memorial Day. While the team no longer carries a minor league affiliation, the semi-pro Coastal Plain League still draws top prospects to Thomasville. Josh Nifong is one of them. As the fourth inning got underway against the North Wake Fungo<\/a>, the towering reliever and No. 5 pitcher in North Carolina glided out of the bullpen. I\u2019m 6-foot-3, but from the back row behind home plate, he made me feel small. As Nifong took the rubber, he stretched out his long arms like a human windmill. The ball left his fingers as if it were fired out of a slingshot, hitting the catcher\u2019s glove with extra gusto. \u201cI told you, it was ea-sy<\/em> to pick him out as he was warming up down there in the bullpen,\u201d said the baritone voice of HiToms play-by-play man John Thomas. \u201cYou can imagine why.\u201d Nifong is a \u201chometown HiTom,\u201d a native and a graduate<\/a> of High Point Christian Academy High School, about a mile away from the new Rockers ballpark. If he was convinced of the stadium\u2019s potential, maybe Generation Z would be too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a runner on first, Bobby Dixon, a stalwart for the Fungo, stepped into the batter\u2019s box. Nifong reared back and delivered a huge fastball \u2013 a called first strike. On the 0-1 count, the hit-and-run was on but Nifong was overpowering Dixon, who fouled off the pitch. In a blink of an eye, I heard the grunt from the home plate umpire. Punched out. Called strike three. \u201cI wonder what you have to have in your gene pool to make you 6-foot-7,\u201d remarked Thomas on the broadcast. Nifong recorded one more strike out before hitting the showers, but something was missing. Off to the left, a line of kids in bathing suits were waiting to use a Slip ‘N Slide. Three girls from the marketing team meandered their way through half-empty rows with big smiles, pumping up fans with coupons for 99-cent hot dogs and ice cream sundaes at Sonic Drive-In. The talent on the field was still there. But where was that same energy in the crowd from 70 years ago? Is the magic of baseball gone? It\u2019s a slow complicated game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost a year later, I stood at the foot of Jack Coombs Field<\/a> on Duke University\u2019s west campus. Renovated in the early 2000s, the grandstand\u2019s signature stonework looked good as new. The towering pine trees along the outfield fence gave off the feel of a private backyard. Like Finch Field, there was a 1930s-era charm that was irreplaceable. But like the HiToms, the Blue Devils knew what was missing \u2013 concessions, souvenirs, and a field inspiring fans to pay premium ticket prices. This wasn\u2019t Cameron Indoor Stadium, where President Barack Obama sat among a sellout Duke-UNC basketball crowd<\/a> the night before, with some tickets going for $3,000. Back in 2016, Duke organized a deal<\/a> with the Triple-A Durham Bulls to play a majority of their home games at DBAP (Durham Bulls Athletic Park, pronounced Dee-BAP<\/em>). The 10,000-seat stadium transformed the city\u2019s Main Street landscape in the mid-1990s. After 100 years of tobacco serving as Durham\u2019s primary employer, baseball anchored a new generation of commercial growth. An old cigarette factory is now a historic district<\/a>, with bars, restaurants, concerts and more. For a 19-year-old like Nifong, the chance to pitch here gets his heart going. His hometown is now trying out the same recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forecasted rain kept Nifong and his teammates\nfrom practicing at DBAP today. But he\u2019s one of the first out here, taking laps\nand stretching along the third base line. He pops out from under protective\nnetting around home plate, in limbo-like fashion to support his monstrous\nframe. He pounds dirt off his black Nike cleats and fixes his royal blue\nwindbreaker, as the chance of storms lingers overhead. We grabbed seats in the\nfirst row under the grandstand, as the clank of aluminum bats picked up inside\nthe batting cages. \u201cYou\u2019re walking into downtown,\u201d I say. \u201cThere\u2019s this\nstadium\u2026\u201d Before I could finish, his smile blooms. \u201cYeah, it looks pretty\nsweet,\u201d he says. \u201cThere were multiple times where I drove by this summer,\nwanted to go look at it and see what\u2019s going on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Duke pitcher Josh Nifong gears up for practice at Jack Coombs Field in Durham. The 19-year-old High Point native has high hopes for a better downtown scene. (Photo by Chris Gentilviso).<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nifong may never set foot on the mound of\nBB&T Point field, but he\u2019s confident the stadium is a step in the right\ndirection for High Point. After games at DBAP, Nifong relishes gathering with\nfamily and friends in Durham, at Mellow Mushroom pizza or Tobacco Road Sports\nCaf\u00e9. I kept forgetting that just because he\u2019s 6-foot-7 doesn\u2019t mean the legal drinking\nage shrinks to 19, too. After HiToms games, it was different story \u2013 family and\nfriends sometimes deciding to go toward Greensboro. If HPU President and\ndowntown revival mastermind Nido Qubein could see Nifong\u2019s youthful face when\nhe ponders the aspirational Main Street, the one he\u2019ll visit at age 29 or 39,\nhe\u2019d smile. \u201cPeople walk downtown, you have dinner, maybe there\u2019s an arena or\nsomething where people have concerts,\u201d Nifong says. \u201cIt just brings out people\nfrom their homes and creates popular places for people to be, to hang out and\nhave conversation.\u201d I wondered if the two of them secretly met beforehand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For players, those conversations are still driven by the game and the atmosphere around it. Nifong sees excitement about the Rockers starting to pick up on online. When he clears out his Facebook notifications, he\u2019ll find friends talking about buying T-shirts. That\u2019s the vibe after Bulls or Blue Devils games \u2013 an identity for the masses. And for Qubein, could HPU join the ranks of a top-25 Duke team, attracting top prospects with home games at a downtown stadium? It\u2019s half as large as the DBAP, but the intended purpose for players, fans, and the city is the same. \u201cIt\u2019s the ultimate stage,\u201d I say. \u201cFor sure,\u201d Nifong agrees. \u201cWhat happens to your adrenaline right there?\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s \u2026 yeah.\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference?\u201d \u201cWhen you have a ballpark like that, it\u2019s definitely the best of the best,\u201d he says. \u201cYou want to play there. It breeds competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE DURHAM BULLS EXPERIENCE IS UNPARALLELED IN NORTH CAROLINA<\/strong>. But Seth Maness knows an even bigger stage. Flash back to October 26, 2013. Thousands of flash bulbs are flickering across the sellout crowd of 47,432 at Busch Stadium. It\u2019s game three of the World Series<\/a> and the Boston Red Sox are closing in on the beloved hometown St. Louis Cardinals. \u201cRight hander, Maness, still up in the Cardinal bullpen,\u201d says longtime FOX announcer Joe Buck<\/a> on the national broadcast. The camera pans to the pen, where Maness, the Pinehurst, North Carolina, native and East Carolina University grad looks cool as a cucumber. He lightly tosses the ball up and down in his right hand, wondering if he\u2019ll be called to duty. Red Sox slugger David Ortiz flexes his massive forearms, fixes the Velcro on his batting gloves and pounds his bat on home plate. In a two-strike hole against left-hander Randy Choate, with the Cardinals clinging to a 2-1 lead, Ortiz smacks a single into right field. Manager Mike Matheny pops out of the dugout and signals for Maness, the \u201cground-ball-inducing specialist,\u201d credits Buck. Maness gets Nifong\u2019s burst of speed times 1,000, sprinting across the fresh-cut postseason grass. Even some Hall of Famers haven\u2019t made it this far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maness blew the save. The Cardinals lost the series. But the story isn\u2019t that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to Valentine\u2019s Day 2019. The lockers at BB&T Point field are stocked with shirts and caps, rotating between the High Point Rockers\u2019 signature blue, red and yellow colors. Maness didn\u2019t plan to be center stage, but here he is<\/a>, a few months shy of his 31st<\/sup> birthday, with plenty left in the tank. Few pitchers exit Major League Baseball with a 1.46 earned-run-average in 17 postseason appearances. In 2016, Maness\u2019 elbow was giving him fits. He had ligament damage, and instead of opting for the well-known Tommy John surgery, he tried an experimental procedure<\/a>. The normal rehabilitation time of 12-18 months was cut in half. But after a brief stint with the Kansas City Royals, Maness was released in May 2018<\/a>, a few weeks after the Rockers stadium broke ground<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first time any team faces have really been able to set foot in the clubhouse. The scene is so raw that construction workers in vests and hard hats are lingering behind the press conference table. Maness sits calmly in the center, flanked by Team President Ken Lehner and Director Coy Willard on one side, and Manager Jamie Keefe and Pitching Coach Frank Viola on the other. Lehner is the only one wearing a baseball cap. Maness is the only one without any Rockers garb, which may be a sign. With less than 90 days until opening day, he is their guy \u2013 the first player ever on the roster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for how long? Less than one minute into the press conference, Keefe adds an asterisk to the Maness signing. The plan is to get in a few good innings and help him back up to the majors. Keefe grabs a stack of paper. \u201cAll 18 pages,\u201d he jokes, penning his name on Maness\u2019 contract. \u201cIt says in there you\u2019re going to win 20 games,\u201d Willard quips, further loosening the room. Maness signs the dotted line, and sits up tall, with soldier-like pride. \u201cI\u2019m very excited to be here,\u201d he says, with hints of his North Carolina roots in a faint southern accent. \u201cAfter touring, the stadium is beautiful. I think there are a lot of guys that are going to want to play here.\u201d If nothing else, Maness\u2019 family will get to him more often than in St. Louis. His parents are schoolteachers and he hasn\u2019t tossed an inning in North Carolina since playing down the road in Greenville at ECU. \u201cMy grandma\u2019s getting up there in age and she won\u2019t fly at all,\u201d he says. \u201cShe\u2019ll be able to get in the car now and get up here and catch a game. I\u2019m very fortunate to play in a wonderful stadium as it is.\u201d Stadium, stadium, stadium \u2013 that\u2019s the draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Crews were hard at work in January 2019 to complete the Rockers baseball diamond at BB&T Point stadium. The 5,000-seat facility is one block off Main Street, anchoring High Point’s 21st-century hopes.
(Photo by Chris Gentilviso)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Atlantic League baseball is different. Its nicknamed \u201cindependent baseball\u201d for a reason. There are no intense analytics boards, or major league call-ups, or rehab stints by stars like Bryce Harper that send fans flocking for autographs. The Rockers are in their first season. But scan the rosters of league rivals like the Lancaster Barnstormers, and every team is under construction. \u201cWell, I\u2019ll go ahead and spill the beans,\u201d Keefe says sneakily. Maness is going to throw out the first pitch at the Rockers\u2019 home opener on May 2, with a second asterisk. He might be signed by another team before then. Over 900 players have seen their dreams realized over the Atlantic League\u2019s 21 years of existence. They\u2019re all ages, including Hall-of-Famer Rickey Henderson, who at 44<\/a>, was named All-Star MVP with the now defunct Newark Bears. Strong play for Newark helped him land a final pro contract<\/a> with the Los Angeles Dodgers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So household names are possible in High Point. But is the stadium the right catalyst? The city is pouring millions into making the Rockers the strongest baseball (and downtown) chapter yet. The experiment failed in Bridgeport, Connecticut<\/a>, which hosted an Atlantic League team for 20 years. But it\u2019s succeeding in Durham, with minor league and college teams sharing the benefits of the happening scene. While proudly wearing his president\u2019s cap, Lehner may have said it best. \u201cIt\u2019s about the Rockers brand, and that brand is going to be the team that\u2019s on the field and that brand is going to be this beautiful ballpark.\u201d Ticket packages go on sale in late March, with everything Greensboro and Winston-Salem have to offer. The Home Plate Perch<\/a><\/em>, just nine rows from the action. The \u201ccomfortable mesh seats\u201d and easy access to the \u201ccraft beer room.\u201d The \u201cpulled pork sliders, wings, soda, water, and more\u201d \u2013 all for $29 per person. The events center, the children\u2019s museum, the rental apartments and anything else sprouting around it you can think of. Like Qubein said all along, it\u2019s not about baseball. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JANEE JARRELL HOPES SOMETHING EVEN SWEETER WILL BE ADDED TO THE STADIUM MENU<\/strong>. It\u2019s a balmy 75-degree Saturday in late March, and a warm breeze shakes up a big, feather banner of a two-scoop cone. The sun is quite bright, bouncing off the \u201cnow open\u201d sign over the front entrance at 144 N. Main Street. So are the smiles of the children who skip their way happily inside. \u201cI want vanilla!\u201d yells a young boy who was no older than six. He beats the chest of his Old Navy T-shirt, tasting victory. His two older brothers follow, making a beeline for the toppings case. There are tubs of Oreo cookies and M&Ms and KitKat shavings, but gummy bears and sprinkles emerge as clear favorites. Their parents finally make it inside, with mom wrapping up a video call on her smartphone. \u201cI promised the boys ice cream, so we\u2019ll call back in a little bit,\u201d she says as she hangs up, with a sigh of relief. This is the Scoop Zone<\/a>, the newest business keeping High Point kids (and adults) happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jarrell\u2019s ready for the workout behind the counter. She\u2019s in rainbow stretch pants, tennis shoes, a casual black tee and a visor \u2013 two months into training as co-owner of the parlor. She puts on a fresh set of sanitary gloves, letting the kids know there are 12 Blue Bell flavors to sample in the cold case. \u201cDo you want it in a cone or a bowl?\u201d she asks with a big wide smile, knowing her youthful audience could turn on a dime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Janee Jarrell (right) readies the cash register at the Scoop Zone, her new ice cream shop in downtown High Point. The arrival of the Rockers was a big factor for Jarrell and her husband, Robert, in deciding to open their space. (Photo by Chris Gentilviso)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that just a few months ago, Jarrell was on her knees, ripping up the black and white checkered floor of the barber shop that formerly filled this space. She knew nothing about flooring, but with a little help from Miro, the German owner of the popular Penny Path Caf\u00e9 & Cr\u00e9p\u00e9 Shop<\/a> down the street, Jarrell, 28, and her husband, Robert, 33, took a big leap of faith. Their connection to North Carolina was strong. She\u2019s a Wilmington native and a UNC-Greensboro graduate and was working as a sign language specialist in Guilford County Schools. He\u2019s still teaching in the system, but High Point was new territory for both of them. The African-American couple and their entrepreneurial spirit saw the potential. \u201cStadium,\u201d says the traffic sign out their front window, with an arrow pointing left. It\u2019s a 2-minute walk to home plate, putting Scoop Zone ahead of the curve. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what a year of ice cream looks like yet,\u201d Jarrell admits. But they\u2019re ready for more lines starting with spring furniture market next week and the Rockers home opener on May 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a train horn blows from the nearby railroad tracks, I took a moment to think back to High Point\u2019s beginnings. Two historical markers<\/a> sit footsteps from the Scoop Zone storefront. The first remembers Camp Fisher, a training ground for the Confederate infantry during the Civil War. The second points out a Confederate Arms Factory, where rifles were made for southern troops. Nearly 160 years later, Jarrell flips through pages and pages of a family photo album she leaves out for customers to peruse too. She remembers every compromise with her husband, every moment with her family, from the color of the walls (she wanted red), to the artsy portraits of rainbow ice cream cone hanging on them (his concession). She also keeps out the ribbon cutting certificate from the Chamber of Commerce<\/a>, and a copy of the February 7, 2019 issue of the High Point Enterprise. \u201cCouple opens a new downtown ice cream parlor,\u201d reads the big news on the front page, with a smile from 33-year-old Robert and 28-year-old Janee. Their faces are the hope within the gamble of High Point\u2019s new Main Street, the vision of a new generation working to change the community beyond the new baseball diamond. \u201c[Folks] come in and say, \u2018I want to speak to the owners,\u2019\u201d Janee recalls. \u201cI go, \u2018It\u2019s me.\u2019 They\u2019re like \u2018Really? You look 20, 21.\u2019\u201d She stays calm and thanks them, before getting down to new business opportunities. \u201cI can talk to you at that level and I can be my millennial self.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baseball has been part of High Point\u2019s social fabric for decades. From industrial league teams during the Great Depression, to minor league ball in the city\u2019s outskirts, the new downtown chapter reveals how the sport \u2013 and its purpose \u2013 have changed. *** HIGHWAY 109 … Continue readingTHE NEXT CHAPTER: A NEW STADIUM AND A CITY’S HOPES FOR REVIVAL<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-55","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chrisgent.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}