I was at a meeting with a group of concerned citizens in the Fairview community a couple of weeks ago listening to the woman who had organized the effort ten years ago to get Charlotte Highway (the main road running through Fairview) designated as a North Carolina Scenic Byway. This designation basically means the state views the road as scenic and prevents billboards from being placed along side the road. This lady was an ordinary mother and housewife but somehow ended up spearheading this huge community effort to save a highway from being sullied with billboards.
The story was really inspiring as the bureaucratic mountains that had to be overcome were incredible especially when working with the Department of Transportation and county officials. After all their time, work, and effort this group of citizens put in over the course of a year , the decision to get the Scenic Byway Designation came down to having 24 hours to get 350 Fairview citizens to call their local legislators and DOT officials in order to get the measure put in a bill so it could be voted on. It was truly amazing story to listen to.
Asked how she came to get involved in such an effort the woman told us the story of her own childhood growing up in a nearby town. Her family lived in the city and were good friends with a family who lived what was then) out in the country on a dairy farm. Every summer the family would exchange children so the farm kids would get some exposure to living in town and the city kids would get the experience of living on the farm. All the children in both families loved this arrangement. But then one year it all stopped because Interstate 26 was built and ran right through the middle of that dairy farm effectively shutting it down. She had tears in her eyes when she was telling us this part. But she said that she always remembered that Dairy Farm and how good was to be out there, so when she heard about the Charlotte Highway idea something clicked in her that brought her back that old dairy farm and she knew she had to get involved.
I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for this woman both for what she accomplished as well as for sharing her thoughts and feelings about it ten years later. When I ride on I-26 now I always think about and look around for where that dairy farm might have been.
It also got me to thinking about my own childhood memories and how they have influenced by beliefs and actions today, but that's another blog.
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