Plans for the Fourth of July Summer Jam were one of the key points at the Uptown Wadesboro, Inc., meeting on Tuesday.

While the board didn’t have solid plans for the entertainment at the meeting, board members worked in the days after the meeting to finalize the details. Rather than hosting its normal three Summer Jams, UWI is only holding one in July. The Fourth of July celebration will be on July 3 in the Plank Road Realty parking lot from 6:30 to about 10 p.m. THE MIXX, an Anson band led by Garry Covington, will play a little bit of everything, including Motown, classic rock and beach music, from 7-9:30 p.m.

Fireworks will be displayed just across the street at 9:30 p.m. and will be visible from the parking lot. There will be Civitan hot dogs for sale, and activities for children will be available (beach balls, sidewalk chalk, glow-in-the-dark necklaces, and T-shirt tie-dyeing). If it rains, the band will be moved to the Ansonia Theatre.

The board also discussed the Anson County Arts Council’s plans for celebrating the movie “The Color Purple’s” 30th anniversary celebrations, which UWI will assist with. Plans for the celebration include a gospel sing on July 14 at 7 p.m. on the Wadesboro town square, a Bach’s Lunch featuring music from the movie on July 15 at noon, a meet and greet with locals who helped with the movies and a lookalike contest at the HOLLA! Center on July 16 from 6-8 p.m., and a showing of “The Color Purple” at the Ansonia Theatre on July 17 at 7 p.m.

Anne Leary spoke for the appearance committee about Uptown’s tiny trees. The trees were improperly pruned, stunting their growth. During a previous meeting, Wadesboro Town Manager Alex Sewell said the town will let the trees try to grow out this summer before looking into replacing them.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Leary asked the board members to look at the trees in other towns to see what type they are, how big they are, how much shade they provide, and how much space they take up as her committee continues to look at possible replacements for the trees.

Leary said that she would like to see shade trees to make the area more welcoming, but because of store awnings, some areas may do better with a smaller shrub.

New board member Walter Turner suggested that the board consider increasing its marketing through local media, including newspapers in surrounding counties, in order to draw in larger crowds for events. Leary also suggested the board look into advertising through Our State Magazine.

Turner also said that he and Jeff Boothby, chair of the Anson County Tourism Development Authority, met with members of the Anson Historical Society and took tours of the Leavitt House and the Ashe-Covington Medical Museum. “We were really impressed with both of them,” he said. “Both are very nicely done.” He said he and Boothby would like to see the two buildings, both of which are in the Uptown area, be open more to allow tourists opportunities to visit them.

The board also returned to the issue of finding a director. The North Carolina Main Street Program, which UWI is a part of, has previously waived its requirement that the board have a director, but has apprised the board that it needs to hire one soon. “Alex [Sewell] received a letter indicating that we need to really be moving in the direction of a full-time manager,” Dr. Don Altieri said. “In reality, it’s not going to occur here anytime soon.” Altieri said that he went to the town council to ask them to include money for a part-time position in its new budget, but that the council has not voted on the budget yet.

Altieri said UWI will open its farmer’s market on Thursday on the town square. The market will be open each Thursday this summer from 4-6 p.m. Vendors interested in participating can contact Uptown Wadesboro, Inc., for more information at 704-695-1644.