For Immediate Release
November 14, 2008
Contact: Michael Mahan mahanpots@rtmc.net
Seagrove, NC -- The spirit of community will be resurrected in the historic Luck’s Cannery, site of next weekend’s Celebration of Seagrove Potters, a two-day exhibition and sale of pottery. Organizers are asking patrons-of-the-arts to bring canned food items to the old bean plant next weekend, commemorating the goodwill that started community canning here in the late 1940s.
The Sandhills branch of Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina will collect food items and other supplies at the entrance to the pottery festival Nov. 22-23.
Holiday food drives are especially important, according to Lee Cheney, special events and food drive manager with the food bank. Thirty-three percent of the 450,000 people served by the food bank are children under 18 who are at home for the holidays and who normally rely on free and reduced lunch programs in schools.
Cheney said the current economic slump has caused more people to seek aid. “In the past six months, we’ve seen a 25-percent increase in folks in the local community who are now in need of food assistance,” she said.
“With the current economic situation, there are a lot of people in dire straits.” said Michael Cotten, outreach coordinator of the food bank’s Sandhills branch. He said that along with the increase in people seeking assistance, some people have inquired about soup kitchens.
The food bank does not accept items in glass containers. Most-needed items include canned meals, peanut butter, cereal, canned fruits and vegetables, rice, pasta, dried beans, hygiene items (toothpaste, feminine products, shaving items, soap, etc.), infant products (diapers, wipes, formula, infant cereal), and paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, etc.).
The Celebration of Seagrove Potters is Nov. 22, 9-6 p.m. and Nov. 23 10-4 p.m.. Admission is $5. Children and under twelve are admitted free.
Nearly 60 potters from the Seagrove area will be selling their work inside the newly remodeled warehouse of Luck’s, located on NC Pottery Highway 705, half-a-mile south of the traffic light in Seagrove. There will be demonstrations, historic talks, a kids’ booth and food vendors. A fund-raising auction is scheduled Saturday afternoon. A special gala evening will start the weekend off Friday night, with a unique auction of pots created by two or more potters working together. Tickets to the gala are $35 and include food and drinks and admission to the rest of the show.
For more information, visit www.CelebrationOfSeagrovePotters.com
Luck's Incorporated was founded as Mountain View Cannery in 1947 by Ivey B. Luck and Alfred Spencer, who were joined in 1948 by H. Clay Presnell. Spencer and Presnell later sold out to Luck and in 1953 the establishment became known as Luck's. Luck's specialized in pinto beans, vegetables and food products and employed many Seagrove families.
In 1987 and 1988, when Jiffy Pop was also being made there, Luck’s employed 380 people, said Darius Luck, plant manager since 1967. Luck, who is not directly related to Ivey Luck, is now acting as general manager for James Foods Inc. of Asheboro which is leasing the plant with plans to construct a discount grocery store in 2009.
The initial purpose of Luck’s was to perform home canning. People from the Seagrove area would bring garden vegetables and other locally grown food to the plant for processing.
Martha Luck Johnson, daughter of the late Ivey Luck, said she remembers when people were packing sausage and ham biscuits into tins to send to their children serving in the military overseas.
“I think it’s a great idea,” she said of the food drive, adding that her father was always “very happy” helping the community.
