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A new gazebo, part of the Gary Shell Cross-City Trail, overlooks the
Intracoastal Waterway just north of the Heide Trask Drawbridge.
REST AND REWIND
A
N octagonal wooden gazebo on Wrightsville Sound
marks the waterside terminus of the Gary Shell Cross-
City Trail at the Intracoastal Waterway on the New
Hanover County mainland across from Wrightsville
Beach. The trail is a 15-mile, off-road, multi-use pathway that
meanders from Wade Park through the Pine Valley neighborhood
via South 17th Street to Halyburton Park, and continues along
Independence Boulevard to Empie Park and McCrary Park along
Randall Parkway. Travelers may skirt the west and southwest perim-eters
of the University of North Carolina Wilmington campus and
Autumn Hall to Eastwood Road to the trail’s end, which via wooden
walkway runs beneath the Heide Trask Drawbridge and rises back
up to street level on Airlie Road.
The illuminated trail provides public parking, bus stops, restrooms,
and FIXIT stations equipped with small tools for gear repairs. The
City of Wilmington initiated the Cross-City Trail under the leadership
of the late Gary Shell, former director of parks and recreation, and
later deputy director of community services, with a joint city/county
$35.5 million parks and green space bond in 2006.
POWER OF LOVE
VOLUNTEER chaperones
and supporters join guests
each year in February for
Wilmington’s Night to
Shine, a prom for special needs people
ages 14 and older.
This free, Valentine’s Day weekend
event was created by the Tim Tebow
Foundation in 2014 to positively impact
the value of life for special needs people
and their families worldwide. In 2018,
537 host churches and 175,000 volunteers
hosted 90,000 prom guests around the
world simultaneously. Two area churches,
Global River and Lifepoint, team up to
host the event.
DANCING THROUGH BARRIERS
CELEBRATING its 50th anniversary, the
Dance Theatre of Harlem is renowned
for forming the nation’s first all-black
classically trained ballet company.
Now its internationally celebrated ensemble of
14 racially diverse dance artists will perform an
eclectic program drawn from a repertoire of his-toric
and new works at Kenan Auditorium on the
University of North Carolina Wilmington campus,
Saturday, February 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Founded in 1969 by the late Arthur Mitchell, the
Dance Theatre of Harlem’s mission is empowerment
through the arts. In addition to its professional resi-dent
and touring ensembles, the company supports
a New York City-based arts education center and a
community-based, international outreach program,
Dancing Through Barriers.
The performance is co-presented by the UNCW
Office of the Arts with the Countywide Community
Development Corporation. Tickets may be reserved
in person, by calling the Kenan Auditorium Box
Office, or online by following this link: https://uncw.
ALLISON POTTER
14
WBM february 2019