Great Minds Get Back to Work

Durham is home to one of the country's fastest growing creative class workforces, and this community is determined to keep them coming.  

As the country looks for opportunities to stimulate job growth, all eyes are on Durham after President Obama's recent visit. Jeff Immelt, the head of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and CEO of GE, said Durham was selected because "it's got a lot of interesting businesses, and it's pretty much a cross-section of America in many ways." The President spoke at Cree and the rest of the Council went on to tour American Underground and McKinney. In Durham, President Obama pledged to focus on job creation and encouraged businesses to have the confidence in the investment environment and to put money to work by hiring more people.

Well, great minds think alike. The month of May saw non-traditional recruitment events from two of Durham's start-up heavy hitters. Bull City Forward presented their Social Venture and Start-Up Job Fair while Chris Heivley of LaunchBox Digital organized Tech Jobs Under the Big Top. The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham also put on a job fair geared toward connecting recent grads with creative jobs. Fox 50 and the Durham JobLink also recently partnered to host the 2011 Career Expo, a free event designed to boost professional development and recruitment.

Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau has also launched a tool to support the growing hiring needs of the hospitality industry. Durhamhospitalityjobs.com not only serves lodging and food service, but all businesses related to hospitality, visitation and tourism.

These Durham-wide efforts to boost hiring are just the latest sign of a recovering economy, and further proof that Durham is creative, entrepreneurial, and where great things happen.

2nd Annual Beaver Queen Pageant Kickoff Party

For seven years running, an event called the Beaver Queen Pagent has been held in Durham.  It's not what you think.  Really, it's not. 

 

It is a very big and fun event that is enjoying its 2nd Annual Kickoff Party on Saturday, April 30 at the Casbah.  There will be live music square and swing dancing, an opportunity to meet this year's Beaver Queen Pageant contestants, and food trucks including Pie Pushers. The event is a benefit concert and dance party for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association. Tickets are $15 in advance, or at the Casbah door.

Musicians featured at the event are: 

• Alice Gerrard, legendary old-time and bluegrass singer/songwriter & Beverly Smith, a fine old-time guitar, fiddle, and mandolin player.  The duo will play traditional and original songs.
• The Carolina Catbirds, with Shay Garriock on fiddle, Brett Riggs on banjo, Pan Riggs on guitar, Dwight Rogers on bass, and Gail Gillespie on mandolin, are inspired by the traditional string band music of North Carolina and Virginia. They frequently play square dances and have won numerous awards at festivals and fiddlers conventions. Beverly Smith will call some squares while the Carolina Catbirds play.
• The Bulltown Strutters are a community parade band, inspired by street band traditions from New Orleans. They build camaraderie with fun music and dance, inspiring people to join the revelry with a rowdy take on jazz standards. 

ECWA encourages community involvement through workdays, nature walks, and outreach into neighborhoods within the Ellerbe Creek watershed. They also are working toward completion of an urban trail system linking all parts of the watershed, preservation of Ellerbe Creek’s headwaters, and restoration of the creek’s channel and floodplain as well as bringing back the rich native flora of the Ellerbe Creek valley, much of which survives only in remnants along roadways, in ditches, or sporadically along the creek.