With a showcase of art, music and youthful enterprise, downtown Laurinburg will be crawling with talent on Friday night.
From 5 to 8 p.m., the Laurinburg Downtown Revitalization Corporation and the Laurinburg-Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce will hold the first Spring Art Crawl as a complement to graduation weekend at St. Andrews University and UNC-Pembroke.
A dozen artists from Scotland and neighboring counties will be stationed inside downtown businesses on Main and Atkinson streets. Each artist will have work for sale, from oil paintings to jewelry and metal work, and the public is welcome to view the displays.
Several local artists stationed inside businesses between Railroad and Church on Main and Atkinson streets from 5 to 8 p.m. Each artist will have a selection of artwork for sale, and all are welcome to come view the offerings.
The first Art Crawl was held in October of last year, and organizers say that this event will build on the success of that event.
“We talked to the people who displayed last year, then through ARTScotland we connected with some new artists, and then everybody else was just word of mouth, they contacted us about participating in the event this year,” said co-organizer Jennifer McRae. “We did extend it an hour this year so that everyone would have time to get to all the artists.”
Art enthusiasts and those just interested in a downtown stroll will be able to wander at their leisure through a selection of local art, from painter Megan Parlow in Brenda’s Florist to watercolor and oil painter Emmy Gainey in Quick Copy Center.
Glass artist Deck Guess will be in Art by Design on Roper Street, with painter Dora Sharber in Harley’s Tuxedo. Jewelry artist Crystal Hyatt will offer a display in the Gospel Music Store, while Shirt Tales will host Bonnie Dee’s exhibition of metal work. Scotland Drug will feature portrait artist Ted Nanopoulos. Rounding out the variety of art on Main Street will be UNC-P sculptor Epi Duran in Hi-Lites.
The Spring Art Crawl will also add artists at the Gill House featuring Amanda McCombs with some “fabulous” ceramic pieces, Champ Dial at Dazzling Diva and wreaths and hand-crafted decorations at The Tinker Shoppe.
As participants perambulate through downtown Laurinburg, they will never be far from the sound of music, as Sean McDonald, Gary Gallman, the Red Hill Gang, and Day and Knight Jazz will be stationed on Main and Cronly streets between the artists.
Students from the 2013 class of the Chamber’s Young Entrepreneurs’ Academy will be stationed in the Storytelling and Arts Center from 5-7 p.m. to display their six new businesses to the public. Students will have booths set up to showcase Forget-Me-Knots, Katch-Up, Shrink’d Surprises, Terrific T-Shirts, Nature Boy Lawn Care and Sweet Tooth Cupcakes, and some will have merchandise to sell.
In combining local artistic talent, up-and-coming business owners, music, and the dining available at 215 on Main and the Gill House downtown, LDRC and the Chamber hope to demonstrate the area’s potential as a gathering place and commercial area.
“Laurinburg’s downtown has a lot to offer, but most people opt to shop at the quickest places,” said Drew Sledge, owner of Quick Copy Center. “The variety of materials downtown, the owners in the shops are incredibly pleasant, the service is A-1 in every one of the places you go, and that’s something you don’t always get in other places.”

















