Our name says it all,” says Better Badin President, Bill Harwood. “We want to make Badin better.”

And this local organization is doing just that as it distributes funds from its coffers to help the community.

Ten organizations are benefiting or will benefit from money raised by Better Badin through a series of events. The Yadkin Masonic Lodge receives $200 help with its power bill; Badin Volunteer Fire Department receives $500; Badin Library receives up to $500 to renew its out-dated sign; up to $1,500 will go to a sound system for use at the festival and Christmas program; Badin Historic Museum receives $300; up to $1000 will go for a new indestructible basket ball goal if the Badin School approves; a sign planned for the intersection of Valley Drive and Morrow Mountain Road receives $1000; the downtown tree lights and electrical work involved receives $1000. A scholarship to honor Elvin Fisher for a Badin student to attend any college receives $250.

“Better Badin believes in transparency,” says Harwood. “Any one is welcome to see our accounts.”

Decisions on the dispersal of these funds was made by soliciting suggestions from Better Badin members. The long list was pared down and voted on.

“The committees work well together,” says Harwood. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

Funds were raised through-out the year by a golf tournament, the Best of Badin Festival, the Triathlon  and the Poor Man’s Supper

Save these dates!

Sunday, November 27, 2011, at 3 pm Badin will start celebrating Christmas with the Singing Americans “Singing in the Season” at Badin Baptist Church as the sanctuary resounding with the songs of the season.

There will also be a tribute in memory of Don Carrick and Elvin Fisher, both charter members of the Singing Americans.

Organizers hope to fill the church and encourage Badin-ites to bring their friends and relatives for this kick-off to the season.

Katie’s Café and Dough Bro plan specials for that evening, and the Badin Inn Pub will be open for business, so be sure to check them out after the performance.

Monday, November 28, 2011, 6 pm will begin the start of the Old Fashioned Christmas celebration with the Badin Tree Lighting. Revelers are encouraged to wear period clothing from the early teens to the 50’s.

Badin Elementary School kindergarten class will sing as Santa and Mrs. Santa arrive. There’ll be treat bags for all the children as Santa empties his sack.

At 7 pm the 60 member North Stanly Middle School Choir will sing on the steps of the Badin Baptist Church.

Plans are for old cars and trucks from T models to the 50’s to line the street.

There’ll be horse drawn carriages offering rides, carolers on the street, and 5 stores open and offering refreshments.

Katie’s Café, Dough Bro and the Badin Inn Pub will all be open. This will be a festive community event not to be missed.

 

Alcoa recently donated and installed a stainless steel turbine runner (water wheel) as a piece of public art for the Town of Badin. Sitting in a prominent position on the village green across from the Badin Town Hall, the water wheel is a symbol of the Narrows Dam that was instrumental in the creation of the Town of Badin. The Narrows Dam was erected to provide hydro-electric power for the Badin Works, Alcoa’s aluminum smelter, in 1917. The Town of Badin was built to house the smelter’s workers. The wheel is 10 feet in diameter and weighs 28,400 pounds. It powered the 36,000 horse power #1 generator at thet Narrows Dam powerhouse from 1988 to 2009. The function of a turbine runner is to convert the force of falling water delivered through the penstock pipes to rotating energy. Water rushing against the blades causes the runner to rotate like a pinwheel producing energy which is then utilized by the generator in producing electricity.

Early this month you’ll see them all over downtown: the hard-working volunteers of Better Badin and the Badin Museum. There’s the mayor in a bucket truck hanging banners, and other stalwarts buzzing around the museum buildings, the town park and the library. They sweat in the heat, but never stop. The Firehouse Museum and the Badin Museum are power-washed. The sides of the Quadruplex Museum are rinsed with bleach to get rid of mildew. Flowerbeds are weeded, mulch spread and trees trimmed. Inside, the museum displays are spruced up and a new center display is created in the main museum. Named Badin in its Prime, the display features memorabilia from the 1920’s and the 1930’s when the population of the town reached 5,000. There are photographs, old invoices, and ads offering items that include a nice wool suit for $25. Photos of Falls Road show Model-T Fords, horse and buggies and pedestrians strolling along the sidewalk. To add to the town’s historic memorabilia, Alcoa is constructing a water wheel, or turbine runner, to be displayed on the village green across from the Town Hall. It is hoped it will be in place in time for the festival. This piece of public art will show an important element from the inside of the Narrows Dam. To generate hydropower, the Narrows Dam created a ‘head’ of height from which the water flows through a pipe (penstock) from Badin Lake to the turbine. The fast moving water pushes against the blades of the water wheel causing it to rotate. A vertical shaft connects it to the rotating assembly of the generator and transmits that mechanical energy for conversion to electricity. The water wheel on display was used in the Narrows Dam from 1960 to the early 2000’s when it was replaced with a new and improved version.

The seventeenth Best of Badin Festival is on track for September 16 and 17, 2011. Better Badin committees are working hard to put together Badin’s annual showcase of food, drink, arts and crafts and entertainment. From the street dance to the grand finale firework display, the festival in the past has drawn as many as 20,000 visitors over the two-day period of the annual event. Started in 1994 by David Summerlin as a one-day event, the festival got off to an inauspicious start. After weeks of preparation the big day arrived. Rain started in the early morning hours and continued throughout the day. By noon, the few vendors still open packed up and left. “We’ll try again next year,” said Summerlin. And from that day on the weather cooperated. Tied to the festival this year is a new event, the first annual golf tournament scheduled for Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 1:00 pm. Plans are for a shot gun tee off for 20 teams comprised of 4 players each. The opportunity for the tournament was presented to the Festival Committee by the new General Manager of the Badin Inn, Arthur Jeffords. Profits will benefit Better Badin.

It may seem a long way off, but 2013 will be here before we know it, according to Badin Museum chairman, David Summerlin. The recently formed Centennial Committee is already hard at work preparing for a celebration and they need help from the community. “We have a ‘wish list,’ for Hardaway artifacts and we need photos of Badin from the teens and the twenties,” says Mayor Jim Harrison, who is on the Badin Museum board and the Centennial Committee. “We’re planning a 100 page hard cover book to mark the year of Badin’s founding.” The museum will be happy to accept artifacts and photos on loan or as gifts. The Centennial Committee, in need of volunteers, recently joined forces with Better Badin. Meetings are held in the Badin Town Hall at 7 pm on the fourth Monday of each month. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.

Electronic Recyclers International (ERI), the world’s largest recycler of electronic waste, announced that it will open a regional recycling hub in Badin, NC. The facility will be ERI’s first Southeast location and is expected to bring up to 200 green-collar jobs to the community. “We are excited about expanding our business to North Carolina,” said John Shegerian, Chairman and CEO of ERI. “The enormous influx of new technologies, rendering older devices obsolete, as well as the demand for the safe and secure disposal of data, has created incredible growth in the electronic waste industry, and we look forward to establishing a significant, long-term operation in Badin.” Shegerian made the announcement on Monday, May 23, 2011 before a crowd of 100 community leaders and local officials, including U.S. Congressman Larry Kissell, State Sen. Bill Purcell, State Rep. Justin Burr, Stanly County Commissioner Josh Morton, Badin Mayor James Harrison and Albemarle Mayor Whit Whitley. He thanked the community for the warm welcome that ERI has received in North Carolina. “This announcement is what we have been praying for ever since the shuttering of the Alcoa Inc. smelting operation,” Mayor Harrison said. “I hope that ERI’s selection of Badin is a sign of good things starting to take place for the Badin community and Stanly County.” ERI works with retailers, manufacturers, Fortune 500 companies, government entities, educational institutions and charitable organizations to recycle electronic waste, including laptop computers, cell phones, televisions, printers and other electronics. Some of its notable customers include Best Buy, Samsung, the Salvation Army and the U.S. Government.

Alcoa razed a 120-foot water tower at its former aluminum smelting plant in Badin on Sunday, February 27, 2011 as part of the company’s aggressive plan to redevelop the site to attract new jobs to the community. When crews pulled the water tower to the ground at 8:05 a.m. it represented the latest effort by Alcoa to prepare the 123-acre site for new companies. Alcoa is spending more than $10 million this year to refurbish the buildings, remove old manufacturing equipment, and remove old buildings that have no use for the future tenants. “There is strong interest in the Badin site,” said Kevin Anton, Alcoa’s chief sustainability officer. “We have had productive talks with several companies and will continue preparing the site for new employers.” The water tower, built in the 1960’s to provide a backup water supply for the plant, is the first of more than a dozen structures on the site that will be demolished this year. Carefully observing safety and environmental regulations, crews made several strategic cuts to weaken the tower immediately before it was pulled down with 200-foot cables attached to the tower. The tower landed safely in an open space located inside the site’s fence. The steel structure will be cut into scraps and recycled. “This day represents a new beginning for the Badin site,” said Anton. “We are committed to bringing new jobs to the community.”

After a delay brought about by Mother Nature’s icy weather, Better Badin started the year with renewed vigor. The meeting took place on Monday, January 17, 2011 at Badin Town Hall.

The organization, which has been around since the 1980’s, had a full slate at the year’s first meeting. Elected officers are Karen Lowder, vice-president, Martha Garber, treasurer and Josie Cleghorn, secretary. As required by its non-profit status, the group also elected a 15 member board of directors.

Newly elected president, Bill Harwood, came up with a more structured agenda for this group of hard-working volunteers. The meeting still ran for over two hours, but Harwood believes the group is on the right track to accomplish more in a shorter period of time than was the case at last year’s meetings. The agenda for the year’s first meeting included forming a committee, headed by Vanessa Mullinix, to run the annual Best of Badin Festival.

Another committee was formed to put on the Poor Man’s Supper scheduled for Saturday, February 19, 2011 from 4 pm to 6:30 pm at the Badin Fire Station. The supper is free and open to the public, but donations are welcomed and will go to Badin neighborhood improvements.

Another committee will set up exterior events for the annual Triathlon.

Scholarships were discussed. Badin Mayor Pro tem Doloris Chambers requested $250 in matching funds for a scholarship for West Badin’s Teens making a Difference. The money will go towards college tuition.

It was agreed to set up a Centennial Committee initially as a separate entity from Better Badin. This committee will meet on a regular basis to plan events for Badin’s 100th birthday. The town was founded in 1913. “We hope to have an event every month throughout 2013,” says David Summerlin. This group will meet on Monday, February 28, 2011 at 7 pm at the Badin Town Hall. Officers will be elected and discussion will include fundraising efforts. The public is welcome.

Better Badin is dedicated to revitalizing Badin. It was instrumental in the town’s incorporation, initiated and continues to put on the annual Best of Badin Festival, formed the local museum and was active in the recent Small Town Main Street Project. Meetings are at 7pm on the second Monday of every month at Badin Town Hall. Friends of Badin are encouraged to attend.

Downtown's New Sidewalk

A $250,000 Economic Development grant from the Alcoa Foundation is being put to good use in Badin’s commercial district. Projects completed or nearly completed include a Badin video, the Town Hall façade, the Vann Memorial Library, street trees, and new sidewalks. Possible future projects will include the Post Office parking area, a new sidewalk on Roosevelt Street in West Badin, a renovation of the gateway to the town at the junction of Falls Road and Highway 740, landscaping around the library and a new crosswalk. “We will choose projects from this list and complete them as money allows,” says Town Manager Jay Almond. Another downtown renovation project is near completion. Alcoa’s Conference Center is benefiting from $45,000 in improvements, including restoration of the building’s single-pane windows, fresh paint on the interior and an exterior pressure wash. Repointing and sealing bricks on the exterior will be completed in the coming weeks. “The Conference Center provides an important service to the community,” says Mark Stiller, Alcoa’s Director of Asset Management. “The project protects this historic building and ensures it will be available for years to come.” Built in 1916 as the Badin Hospital, Alcoa spent $288,000 in 1988 to complete a historically correct renovation to convert it into a conference center and training facility. Since that time, the facility has been used by Alcoa, the Town of Badin, group meetings, and the monthly planning sessions of the town’s Strategic Planning project.

Above: Town Manager Jay Almond shows off the new sidewalk to Dee Bennett and friends.