The Lilies Project

Caroline Armijo

Funding Received: 2017
Walnut Cove, NC
$350,000
Funding Period: 2 years and 6 months
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June 25, 2018

Last week, I joined Ira Tilley live on the air with Voice of the People. I was a little nervous, but Ira promised that the thirty-minute show would fly by. And he was right! I’ve already heard from a friend about how much she enjoyed our conversation. And that Ira is right. Conserving our natural resources is not a political issue. 

I do regret not correcting Ira when he said that I am a resident of Stokes County. I am a Stokes County native, but I live in Greensboro. I try to be very transparent about that fact. I should have corrected him immediately because I never got back around to it before it slipped my mind. ​

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This station sits at the end of a road atop a small ridge in Mayodan. It has been on the air for fifty years! They have recently received the okay for two FM channels. I'm really tempted to say I want my own show! I am definitely trying to figure out a podcast format. We would love to use a podcast to share great Stokes County stories. But I also meet so many amazing people, including Ira,  as part of my work that I always want to record our conversation. I have the most amazing job ever. 

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After lunch, Ira treated me to lunch at the Airport Drive-In along with his father. I loved how his dad's shirt matches the 1960 map of industry in North Carolina. Walnut Cove and Danbury are on the map!  I also met several friends who came over to tell me some of their insight into local history.

One man knows my father, of course, and promised to give him a call about the Shoe Buckle Plantation, which was purchased by the Hairston Family from the Daltons long ago. He then went on to tell me that both black and white members of the Hairston family go to the reunion together, which is explored in Princess Hairston's film. I told him that I have a black friend and a white friend, both Daltons, who great one another as cousins. He replied, “We are all the same.” Let it be.