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Souther Heritage Harvest Festival 2003 |
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News & Record, September 26, 2003 The Prizery, viewed by many community members as a catalyst for cultural and economic growth, will open its doors to the public tomorrow, not with a display of its high tech features, but with a nod to the building's and county's tobacco heritage. Tomorrow's 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony will celebrate the completion of the first phase of The Prizery project. "The main area will serve as a Welcome Center for the town and county amongst a zillion other things," said Prizery Executive Director Chris Jones. A two-part permanent exhibit detailing the process of tobacco farming and National Tobacco Festivals held here during the 1930s will be the center piece of the visitors center. "One of the most important things that we have done this summer is prepare this tribute to what this building is about and what this county has been about," said Jones. "Most of us have direct links in our heritage to tobacco. The exhibit is a great educational experience," added Jones. "The first part of the exhibit takes you through the process of planting, growing, harvesting, curing, selling, prizing, and transportation," said the exhibit's designer Ralph Wileman. 
The second part will focus on the role the community played in the National Tobacco festivals. "We started with the process of tobacco and then we realized, well, we have to have the festivals," said Wileman. "It was the thing that people remembered most fondly. "Each one of these panels describes a different tobacco festival," he added. "We picked out little items about each festival to highlight. Everybody pitched into these things. They were a big deal. It makes you very proud to live here." "I think most of the young people here have no idea about the festivals and it is kind of fun to see what a great celebration and wonderful time it was," added Jones. The exhibit, originally spearheaded by Flora Osborne, is the cumulation of months of work by many community volunteers. "I was in the museum looking for information and I mentioned that we were going to do this to Ralph and he said, 'Well, I'll design it,"' explained Osborne. "I love a volunteer." "I like doing this sort of thing," said Wileman, who has also designed the Staunton River and Bill Tuck exhibits at the South Boston/Halifax County Museum. "A lot goes into it that is totally unseen," said one of the volunteers, Barbara Royster. "We had to design the exhibit to fit with the building," said Wileman. Just picking the colors of the panels was a big project, according to Wileman. "They change from green to gold, because those are the colors of the tobacco world," he explained. "I spent hours in the paint store trying to pick the right colors. We took the architectural sample of the building materials to the store and laid chips down to make sure they matched." "We are very honored by the wonderful job that Ralph has done out of the goodness of his heart," said Jones, "But this has really been a community project." Visitors to the tobacco heritage exhibit opening at The Prizery tomorrow will also have a chance to learn about many other aspects of Halifax County's heritage. "After the ribbon cutting, Bob Cage will do a mock tobacco auction," said Jones. "Followed by Buddy Guthrie and friends performing blue grass and four different gospel choirs singing. 
"Sprinkled amongst all of that entertainment are quilters, rug hookers, chair makers herbalists, beekeepers and folks who can and make preserves, all giving demonstrations in the back section of the building," added Jones.The HCHS band will also be playing the national anthem at the ribbon cutting ceremony. "I think that is great to have all of those kids performing," said Jones. "We are very exited that they will be a part of this community space." "There has been a group of people for about eight years who have had an idea and a dream of using this space for lots of different things," said Jones. "The most interesting thing that is happening right now is seeing the community take hold of the dream." Longwood University President Patricia Cormier, who has been involved with the project from the beginning, agrees. "The Prizery was an attempt on the part of some very wise thoughtful citizens to say "If we are going to make this community thrive then we need to make sure that we have a cultural base," she said. "I knew that it was going to be a monumental effort, but I don't think anybody knew how successful it would be. "I have been very impressed by the dedication and commitment of the people of South Boston and Halifax County," said Cormier. "The folks there are unlike anybody else in Southside. It is really kind of an oasis. They are moving more energetically and rapidly than any other community. "The Prizery is a wonderful opportunity for the community," added Cormier. "It has the potential to bring to South Boston and Halifax County a range of the arts that will serve people all the way to North Carolina, up to Farmville, west to Lynchburg, and east to Richmond. The Prizery could become a center, a hub for all kinds of activities for the arts." Over the past couple of months The Prizery has already become an important meeting place for many community organizations, according to Jones. "A couple of nights ago the Halifax County Choral met here working on Handel's 'Messiah' for Christmas and in here was a Little Theater board meeting, and I was sitting at my desk working," said Jones. "It was just grand feeling the building with all the life from these people coming in and doing things." Jones said that this is just the beginning of what the building has to offer."After the grand opening the usage s will increase. This space has to carry the load of the rest of the building until it is finished," said Jones.The Welcome Center is going to function as the entire building." There are several programs already planned for the rest of the year. "In September we are planning an after school program that is designed to introduce students to the different artistic disciplines," said Peg Anderson, president of the Community Arts Center Foundation. The pilot program, OpArtEd, offered September through November through a partnership between the Prizery and the Mentor Role Model program, is designed to offer an introduction to the arts for students who are interested but have had little chance of exposure. The program will offer four two-week sessions touching on writing, music, dance and theater, with a final presentation of what the students have learned at the end. Another major event is planned for October when The Prizery again hosts the Parson-Bruce Art Association's biannual art exhibit, "An Affair of the Arts." The exhibit will feature 30 artists from six states, offering a variety of two- and three-dimensional works. "A multitude of gifted people will be here for this event," said organizer Francis Harrell. Work on Phase II of the renovation of The Prizery is set to begin in February with a public fund-raising campaign beginning in December. When the entire project is completed, The Prizery will house a theater with stadium seating designed to also serve as a 300-person lecture hall, a 400-seat banquet room serviced by an in-house catering kitchen, a small, high security, climate controlled gallery, which will be able to display traveling exhibits from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and a number of classrooms designed specifically for fine arts and music. "We want to make sure that not all of our energies are being used to salvage the past, but making sure that we attend to the new, so that this truly becomes a foot forward for education and the kids in this community will actually be getting a leg up," said Jones. "We are working with our architects to ensure that the building is online correctly. The theater space will be networked, you will be able to walk in there with your lap top and go." A lot of the planning has been directed toward the possibility of using the space for distant education, and developing the option of offering courses from Longwood University. "We will be using the facility in many ways, we are not sure about classes," said Cormier. "We are going to do a needs analysis in that area to see what kinds of programs for the arts we can do, but we have to make sure that whatever we do has a good chance of being successful." Cormier said that The Prizery also had a lot to offer in terms of economic development for the community. "Anybody who thinks economic development is about shell buildings needs to rethink it," she said. "There are two reasons why companies come to a community - the quality of the education system and the number of cultural opportunities. That is what economic development is all about." In addition to drawing companies to the area, Cormier thinks that it might also help to revitalize downtown South Boston. "What starts to happen to the down- town once you bring a facility like this on line?" she asked. To date an explosion of energy and community commitment. |