Shelby, North Carolina



The City of Shelby is located in Cleveland County, North Carolina. The city is home to 20,323 citizens and has experienced extraordinary amounts of revitalization over the past fifteen years which has led to a 4.5% population growth since 2000 and makes Shelby Cleveland County’s most visited tourism attraction. The City of Shelby, Cleveland County volunteers, and Destination Cleveland County have implemented three projects which have contributed to the revitalization of the city. First, through the renovation of two vacant buildings, one former movie house and a former courthouse, Shelby has added two attractions to their downtown which has generated increased revenue that keeps Uptown Shelby thriving. The first attraction was originally the Cleveland County History Museum which was located in the former Shelby Courthouse, but now is in the process of being renovated into the Earl Scruggs Center which will house many historical artifacts as a museum with specialization in southern music. The second attraction is the Don Gibson Theatre which was an old vacant movie house  abandoned during the 1960s then completely renovated by a group of volunteers into a downtown performing arts center which has generated unprecedented amounts of revenue into downtown Shelby. The Don Gibson Theatre developed an alliance with downtown business entitled, “The Marquee Club” in which the theatre advertises and promotes small businesses in downtown Shelby. Not only has Shelby renovated two buildings to bring two aspects of revitalization to Uptown Shelby, but a unique carrousel has been renovated that attracts nearly 800,000 people to the Uptown Shelby Park each year. Shelby’s Carrousel is a year round carrousel that is open to the public daily. The carrousel was completely renovated and transformed into its current state in 1998 primarily by volunteers who sought to bring vibrancy to downtown. Over the past fifteen years Shelby has revitalized their community in three ways. First, the Earl Scruggs Center preserves and renovates the past in a way that attracts visitors to Uptown Shelby and provides community members with a meeting and event center. Next, the Don Gibson Theatre garners excitement and attention to Uptown Shelby through their headlining concerts which generates revenue for Uptown Shelby merchants. Lastly, the Shelby City Carousel offers a unique opportunity for community members and tourists to take advantage of.

Description
Shelby, North Carolina…The City of Pleasant Living. The City of Shelby is located in Cleveland County, North Carolina about an hour and fifteen minutes from the Greenville-Spartanburg area. The city is home to 20,323 citizens (Uptown Shelby Association) and has seen a 4.5% population growth since 2000 (Nicholas Interview). The average income per household in Shelby is $33,432 (City Data, US Census) with 39% of Shelby residents making between $75,000 to $100,000, 37% making between $10,000 and $20,000 and 25% making between $30,000 to $40,000 (City Data, US Census). Shelby was established in 1843 and named after Revolutionary War hero, Colonel Isaac Shelby who fought at the nearby Battle of Kings Mountain (Anthony, City of Shelby). Shelby’s uptown is nationally registered with the Department of the Interior as a nationally registered historic district (Anthony, City of Shelby) and offers three unique attractions which over the past fifteen years have propelled Shelby into being one of the most vibrant cities in North Carolina.

The first attraction which has contributed to nearly one hundred years of community vibrancy and involvement was the construction in 1919 of the Shelby City Carrousel. The carrousel was originally a twenty-nine horse, large scale merry go round which was funded by several prominent families in Cleveland County in partnership with Atomic Rides and Amusement Incorporated (Holtzclaw Interview). Charlie Holtzclaw, Director of the Shelby Parks and Recreation Department, compared the carrousel as a representation of the mood of the 1920’s as being, “carefree, robust, and extravagant” (Holtzclaw Interview). The carrousel was originally maintained by the outside contractor Atomic Rides and Amusement Inc. and charged fifty cents per ride, a symbolic price which is still charged for fare today (Holtzclaw Interview). The carrousel was an immediate success and attracted visitors from as far away as Utica, New York (Holtzclaw Interview). However, as the economy began to digress into The Great Depression, private and public donations for the carrousel began to diminish and the carrousel was neglected without any maintenance or up keep for nearly twenty years (Holtzclaw Interview). It was not until October 1951 that the carrousel would be renovated once it was purchased by James E. Strates Shows Inc. out of New York for $6,500 (Holtzclaw Interview). During the winter of 1951-1952 all the horses on the carrousel were improved upon and repainted along with adding new shields to the center of the carrousel and a wooden shelter to protect the carrousel from weathering (Holtzclaw Interview). By the spring of 1952 the carrousel was back like never before and experienced significant success. It was not until 1998 that the carrousel would receive any more renovations, although some local observers say that renovations were needed as early as 1978 (Holtzclaw Interview). In 1998, Tommy Forney, Elinor Morgan, and Brian Morgan formed a coalition of volunteers through two public clubs for the carrousel restoration project called ‘Shelby City Park Carrousel Friends’ and ‘Partners in the Pavilion ‘ (Holtzclaw Interview). Between the two groups $174,500 was raised to restore the carrousel and in an agreement made with the City of Shelby, the city council agreed to designate $90,000 tax revenue per year for maintenance and up-keep of the carrousel (Holtzclaw Interview). Within a year the carrousel reopened for the first time with the new renovations which included the addition three new horses, two new chariots, and multiple new animals in the carrousel (Holtzclaw Interview). After the renovations were completed Shelby City Park, where the carrousel sits as the center, completely revitalized with the addition of an Olympic size swimming pool, a 1,600 seat gym/auditorium, a golf course and a seven championship caliber ball field (Holtzclaw Interview). A combination of all these attractions make Shelby City Park the most visited attraction in the region garnering over 800,000 visitors annually (Nichols Interview). The carrousel was also the recipient of the 2007 Preservation Award by the National Carrousel Association which praised the carrousel as being, “a proven program of restoration” (City of Shelby Parks and Recreation).

The second attraction which makes Shelby, North Carolina a perfect example of a city revitalizing their uptown is the recently constructed Don Gibson Theatre. The Don Gibson Theatre exemplifies the model for renovating a vacant building into a community asset that focuses on culture and partnering with small businesses. The theatre was an old vacant movie house, which was abandoned during the 1960s, then completely renovated by a group of volunteers, known as Destination Cleveland County, into a downtown performing arts center in 2009 which has generated unprecedented amounts of revenue into downtown Shelby. The Don Gibson Theatre developed an alliance with downtown business entitled, “The Marquee Club” in which the theatre advertises and promotes small businesses in downtown Shelby. The Don Gibson Theatre is funded by the original group of volunteers who started the renovation project, Destination Cleveland County, and is an award-winning, volunteer-driven, unique public-private partnership and 501(c)3 organization (Epley Interview). Thanks to the theatre, the Holiday Inn Express and Hampton Inn hotel accommodations in Shelby now routinely run at 90% occupancy, regardless of the season (Nichols Interview). Not only have hotels in Shelby benefited from the success, The Don Gibson theatre has attracted numerous Grammy Award Winning Artists to play at the venue and offer entertainment for the community and attracted outsiders to Uptown Shelby where revenue is garnered for many other uptown businesses.   In 2007, Destination Cleveland County got the support of Shelby City Council to lease the city owned Flickr Theatre for $1 per year and the option to purchase the theatre for $207,137 (DeLea, "DCC gets go ahead to lease Flick Theatre"). In October 2008, the City of Shelby issued a lease agreement with Destination Cleveland County for the theater and approved a $500,000 challenge grant for the renovation project (DePriest, "Plans for Don Gibson Theatre unveiled."). Also, in May of 2008, The Don Gibson Theatre received a $400,000 grant from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center (Killian, "$400,000 Grant Announced to Help Don Gibson Theatre.").

The last attraction to Shelby, North Carolina which will be instrumental in adding vibrancy to the city is the reconstruction of a former courthouse which had been renovated into many different venues before reaching its current state as the Earl Scruggs Center. In 1974, the Shelby Courthouse, which had been in operation since 1907, moved their facilities into a new courthouse. Instead of leaving an abandoned building downtown, in 1976, Shelby turned the former courthouse into a History Museum for Cleveland County. Today, the History Museum is being renovated into the Earl Scruggs Center which not only renovates the History Museum, but offers a community gathering place. Emily Epley, Executive Director of Destination Cleveland County describes the center as, “a celebration of the rich cultural history and heritage of Cleveland County, reflective of the American South, through the lens of the life of Cleveland County native Earl Scruggs. It will also explore the tradition and innovation of this renowned banjo player. His development of a unique 3-finger playing style continues to influence music around the world” (Epley Interview). Destination Cleveland County was started as a grassroots project to add economic vibrancy to Shelby. The organization is responsible for the operation of both the Don Gibson Theatre and the Earl Scruggs Center. In regards to funding, Ms. Epley remarked that, “We have secured some state and federal funding that have recognized the catalyst effect of the effort. But major funding has been secured from a large number of individuals in the community” (Epley Interview). Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina was able to secure a $1.5 million grant from U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (Allen, "Scruggs Center gets $1.5 million boost"). Another major recent source of funding was the Rhythm, Roots, & Run 5K and 10K run through Uptown Shelby in which participants paid $25 to partake in the run all of which went for fundraising towards the Earl Scruggs Center (Epley Interview, "THIRD ANNUAL RHYTHM & ROOTS RUN"). The event took place on November 3, 2012 and was a sell out and garnered more than $10,000 for the center (Epley Interview, "THIRD ANNUAL RHYTHM & ROOTS RUN"). The major objectives of the center will be to portray the area's history using existing artifacts, showcase the life of music legend Earl Scruggs, and offer rotating displays of local history and regional music (Epley Interview). The center is set to open in early to mid-2013 (Epley Interview). Epley also cited that a Gardner Webb University Godbold School of Business study estimates that the combined economic impact from The Scruggs Center and The Don Gibson Theatre will be $180 million over a 10-year period, creating 200-250 jobs for the county (Epley Interview).