Content is King

When a photo of the new statue at Reidsville’s Morehead and Scales streets appeared April 5 on Rockingham Now’s Facebook page, people reacted.

Within 36 hours, the image of Budding Future incited more than 10,000 views and 100 comments.

Where is the Confederate statue that had stood there since 1910, until a vehicle struck it down in 2011?

And why wasn’t it repaired instead of replaced?

Who decided on this new statue, and are Reidsville residents doing without some service in order to pay for it?

These and aesthetic critiques dominated the online dialogue. People who don’t live in Reidsville, Rockingham County or even in North Carolina, chimed in.

The short answer is that civic leaders chose an exhaustively transparent process for selecting an artist, developing a symbol and involving city residents.

The result is Budding Future, a stainless steel and acrylic metaphor for the evolution of Reidsville. Its design honors our past while symbolizing a hopeful future and an inclusive community. Its image replaces a broken relic that represents honor for some, and repression for others.

What happened to the original Confederate statue?

The pieces of the original Confederate statue lie in the collections vault of the Museum and Archives of Rockingham County. Jordan Rossi, executive director of MARC, says, “We are keeping an eye on it, it is carefully monitored. We keep him at optimum temperatures and humidity, and with no light.”

Too broken for reassembly as a standing statue, Rossi says, the pieces now await a preservationist’s plan for stabilization, and will, one day, become part of an exhibit.

“I think the statue is an incredibly important part of Reidsville history. He’s an artifact of his time period,” Rossi says. “The context of his story belongs to the 1900s, and it’s connected to how the people in power remembered the civil war and valued the civil war.”

In 2014, a replica was placed in Block 11 of Greenview Cemetery. It is the tallest monument in the cemetery, and it stands on the cemetery’s tallest hill, between two rows of Confederate tombstones.

Why the cemetery and not the traffic circle?

The Confederate statue was owned by the North Carolina Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, says Jay Donecker, mayor of Reidsville. When it was knocked down, the company that insured the statue said any replacement would have to stand on private, not public, property.

The traffic circle at the intersection of Scales and Morehead streets is public property, part of U.S. 29, and “you cannot sell part of the state or federal highway systems,” Donecker says. The city could, however, sell a plot in Greenview. Standing between rows of Confederate gravestones “is an appropriate spot” for the replicated Confederate statue, Donecker says.

Why spend time, money on a new statue?

The first part of Donecker’s answer came in an email: “The vibrant downtowns in small towns are those that embrace arts and entertainment … so this public art project is just one more piece in solving the puzzle of making our downtown attractive for people from all walks of life.”

In a later phone conversation he added, “People choose to live in small towns not just because of the basic amenities, but because of the quality of life. We put up playgrounds, softball fields, tennis courts,” and produce activities on Market Square. “These are all intangibles,” he says, which “make the difference between just existing and enjoying life.”

Why not another statue of a soldier?

“We have a lot of new residents walking our streets whose heritage is not reflected by that (Confederate) monument,” says Donecker. “It’s not about saying your heritage doesn’t matter. It’s acknowledging that our community is a fabric of many different heritages.”

Did the decision involve Reidsville residents?

Donecker begins his answer by defining who’s entitled to be involved. “Everyone is allowed to have their opinion. However, when it comes to allocating dollars, it’s the residents of Reidsville” who have the right to be involved. His point: the critiques from those who don’t live within the city limits, and therefore don’t pay city taxes and fees, are irrelevant.

The transparency of the process is something of which the city administration is very proud, Donecker says. “Very few communities approached it like we have. We were very open, even though people tried to derail or scuttle the whole effort.”

Beginning in January of 2013 and ending three city managers and more than three years later, the process included a review of ideas and a nationwide call for artists; it continued through the selection of an artist, reviews of renderings, a public forum for residents to meet the artist and contribute ideas, all culminating in the statue’s creation and installation.

Where did the money come from — the increase in water and sewer rates?

“No,” Donecker answers bluntly. Of the $68,000 that Budding Future cost, $30,000 was paid for by the Reidsville Area Foundation, and Reidsville paid the remaining $38,000. “Our general fund revenues (total) $16 million,” Donecker says. “In every (city’s) budget there are dollars expended on quality of life.” The statue originally cost $60,000, but changes suggested by city residents added another $8,000.

About Budding Future

Created by artist Jim Gallucci of Greensboro, It stands nearly 18 feet tall and includes 2,000 pounds of stainless steel bought from Tri-State Steel Products in Reidsville. The base, shaped as a star, weighs 2,300 pounds. Creating the sculpture required cutting, sheering, engineering, detailing, welding, finishing, and installing LED lights, Gallucci says.

Gallucci’s works include “Veteran’s Memorial Archways” for Rockville, Md.; the “Gate of Opportunity” for the South Trust Bank building in Jacksonville, Fla; and “Play Ball”, the baseball gates for UNC-Greensboro. In 2006 Jim also designed the gates for First Horizon Park, the home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers Baseball team.

For Reidsville, Budding Future “is the signpost you put out that says, ‘We’re open to new ideas, success, new business,’ ” Gallucci says.

“More people probably came out and looked at (Budding Future) in the last two weeks than came out in the last two years to look at what was there before,” Gallucci says. “It gets people talking, and when they’re talking to each other, they’re not in isolation, they get to know each other.”