Wilson This Week

Baseball teams came from seven states, the team from Greenville took home the trophy, but the real winners were Wilson restaurants, hotels and other businesses that benefitted from all the visitors and also everyone who got a chance to watch fantastic baseball.

And the great news is we will do it all again this weekend.

Gillette Athletic Complex hosted the 8-10 year old Tournament of State Champions, which kicked off last Friday, July 22, with a welcome party at the Whirligig Park along with the ceremonial first pitch by Mayor Carlton Stevens. Taking part were teams and family members from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as North Carolina's champion team, Greenville Tarheel, and Wilson City Little League filling in an open spot.

Play started Saturday morning at Southern Bank Stadium and concluded Wednesday, with the Tar Heel Little League from Greenville, N.C., knocking off South Carolina, 8-2, with a huge late-inning rally.

As the last of the teams leave town, we are preparing for another invasion beginning this Friday, the Tournament of State Champions for the 9-11 yr old bracket. If you enjoy baseball, come see games Saturday-Wednesday (schedule information is linked below.) 

And even if you don't like baseball, wave a friendly hello to all our visitors. Many of them are staying in our hotels for 5-6 days, eating in restaurants, and buying other goods here, helping our local businesses. We want to make these tournaments an annual event so treat everyone like guests.

Lake Wilson is down more than 6 feet from its usual levels due to drought condition. However, the city’s drinking water quality is still exceptional and not threatened.

Nearly all of Eastern North Carolina is suffering drought this summer, which has caused the low water levels at Lake Wilson, City workers were forced this week to clear out hundreds of dead fish.

However, the drought is not threatening the city’s water supply. We draw most of our raw water from Wiggins Mill, which is fed by Buckhorn Reservoir via Contentnea Creek. Buckhorn is only 1 ½ feet below normal levels. However, if the drought continues, the city could be forced to restrict lake use.

We do draw raw water at Toisnot Lake, which is why we cannot close the dam completely at Lake Wilson. The dam’s gate are always partially open to maintain stream flow and keep up water quality in the stream and at Toisnot.

Wilson Lake is already rebounding a little as water was released this week from Silver Lake upstream. We could use some additional rain, however.

The City of Wilson received two awards Thursday, including a statewide honor, for its record-setting 2021 United Way campaign. During the United Way's annual Cultivation breakfast, the City's United Way Committee accepted the Nancy Sallenger Spirit Award, which is given to a local campaign that demonstrates outstanding creativity.

The group also received the Spirit of North Carolina award from the United Way of North Carolina. This is a statewide award that only a very small percentage of campaigns qualify to receive and even fewer win.

Our 2021 campaign was co-chaired by Matt Shaw and Bernadette Whitley, run entirely by an employee committee, and finished with more than $132,000 in cash, checks and pledges, which was the highest amount in the city's 60-year partnership with United Way.

For the first time in three years, the Human Relations Office was able to hold its Youth Citizens Academy earlier this month. Seven young people took a three-day deep dive into how the city operates. The teens got a behind-the-scenes look at police, fire, utility, broadband and other operations, plus they learned all about future careers they might pursue. 

It was a blast meeting these teens and future leaders, and we hope they will eventually come back and work with us. 

We likely will hold a Youth Citizens Academy in 2023. Keep watch on our social media channels next May.