The candidate filing deadline for the 2023 municipal elections was last Friday, July 21st, and its passing kicked off the official start of the race to the polls.
NEXT Meet the Candidates
To mark the occasion of the filing deadline, NEXT of Chapel Hill and Carrboro hosted a Meet the Candidates event at the Dead Mule on Franklin St. for those of us running for office in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough. It was an excellent opportunity to meet my fellow Town Council candidates in person, as well as some of the outpouring of candidates for CHCCS School Board who answered the last-minute call to serve our children and schools.
It's amazing that we live in a place with such a wealth of thoughtful, engaged citizens. We may not all agree on every policy point, but when we make the effort to understand each other's intentions, we can approach our disagreements with respect and a spirit of compromise. There's nothing like in-person, off-line interaction to foster cooperation.
Chapel Hill Magazine "Best of" Celebration
This weekend my husband Brandon and I were thrilled to represent our restaurants, Bluebird and Hawthorne & Wood, at an event honoring the winners of Chapel Hill Magazine's 2023 "Best of" awards. Between the two restaurants, we were winners in 15 different categories (if you let Brandon count "Best Chef" twice 😉).
We LOVE being an active part of the Chapel Hill community and we could not be more flattered that our customers feel the same.
To us, feeding you all is just the tip of the iceberg. We get to be the kind of employer we want our fellow citizens to have, and support local non profits like TABLE, Habitat for Humanity, and Transplanting Traditions Community Farm. We get to be a part of the excitement of our town's big events (looking at you, Chelsea v. Wrexham) and the site of your celebrations.
Owning small, local businesses takes grit, but the pay-off is both personal and communal.