Features

Firm Foundation: Charlie Rivenbark is a Wilmington mainstay

04/09/08 @ 01:40:39 pm by archivesadmin

By: Shea Carver

There are those who reside in Wilmington and there are those who have roots planted firmly in its soil. Charlie Rivenbark is of the latter, having called the Port City his home long before Eastwood Road was a four-way street (or perhaps even a street at all) and when beach trollies ran to Wrightsville for mere cents.

With memories of our coast forever imbedded in his genetic makeup, throughout the town’s evolution and continuing maturation, Rivenbark, general broker for Maus Warwick Matthews and Company commercial real estate, finds the excitement and the anticipation of our state’s annual Azalea Festival “the best time of the year—better than any holiday. When I was growing up as a teenager and in my 20s, it was always like the kick off to beach season,” Rivenbark says, “because it always coin-sided with Easter. . . . It celebrated rebirth.”

The 60-year-old Rivenbark sat down with me last week in his cozy office, aligned with old photographs of Wilmington—from the Lumina days at Wrighstville to the mercantile days of downtown, when Belk Berry was still the hotspot for Saturday shopping—to talk about the annual Azalea Festival. “It’s like a big coming-out party after a hard winter, which we haven’t had in years,” the proud Wilmingtonian assesses, with a cheshire cat grin that’s just as welcoming as his genuine and enveloping disposition. Rivenbark seems to be a man typified in Southern culture: He served his country in Vietnam (“I was drafted in the ‘60s,” he tells.); he talks to his mother on a regular basis (she even called in the middle of our interview, to which he kindly and lovingly asked, “Mama, is everything OK?”); and he has an appreciation of life (The New Testament sits upon his desk) and its joys—all of which include memories of family and celebration during Azalea Festival weekend.

“As a very little boy, my aunts took [me and my siblings] down to the parade route real early on Saturday mornings,” he recollects of his first festival memories. “Back then they’d do crowd control; they used to have the mounted motorcycle policemen, and they would ride along the edge of the curb to keep people back, and it used to scare me to death. I was more interested in them than I was in the parade. It was a big deal. My aunts would take snacks and stuff, and we would watch the clowns and the bands. Of course, riding around Greenfield Lake was also a big deal years ago, before so many other things came along.”

Greenfield served as a main destination during the festival thanks to its founder Dr. Houston Moore and his wife, both of whom began the springtime gala in the ‘30s. At that time Greenfield was a Works Progress Administration project, which helped unemployed citizens find work during the Great Depression. “Moore and Mayor Wade, who came up with the big Christmas tree idea,” Rivenbark explained, “planted azaleas around the lake to make it pretty, and everyone loved it. So, Houston said, ‘With the way those things bloom every year, there ought to be a celebration for it.’”

However, because of the war, the celebration wasn’t of imminent concern initially, so it was put on the back burner. But when Rosie the Riveter was able to take off those working shoes at the end of WWII, local civic groups came together and revived it, making Moore the first president of the festival. “He didn’t show up for the first meeting,” Rivenbark laughs, “so they made him chairman. He used to say, ‘Don’t miss those meetings!”” Unfortunately, Moore passed before the first festival took off in 1948, also the year Charlie Rivenbark was born. “My aunt used to tell me—I was really gullible, I guess—’When you were born, they did that festival for you.’ So when I was 6 or 7, I used to think that it was my festival.”

Thus, it only made sense for Rivenbark to eventually serve on the board. “I have been working on [it] all my adult life,” he says contently. Yet, nowadays he plays from the sidelines, acting as an advisor to the board, while great folks like “Dana ???, Donna Cameron and Donna Roberts, among many others” take the reigns. To organize an event of this magnitude is no small feat. There are 100 committees who put in a good 2,000 hours annually. “It’s very intense,” Rivenbark says, especially of booking the entertainment, which runs on average $125,000 per artist/group, all generated by monies from sponsors, patrons and donors, as well as from the minimal amount of tickets sales, which alone would come no where near covering the artists’ costs. “Every year people say, ‘Get Barry Manilow.’ Well, you can’t get Barry Manilow when he receives a couple million dollars a performance—if he ever leaves Branson.”

Because UNCW’s Trask Coliseum only holds so many spectators, the board is further limited to their bookings. “We only get to sell 4,000 tickets,” Rivenbark notes, which is why tickets are $50. This alone generates only 200 grand—that is, if all 4,000 are sold. “Then you have $25,000 in production cost,” he continues, along with other incurrences, as well as fire marshal requirements, having the EMT on site, catering, etc. “If we break even at a concert we all take a drink because we’re so happy,” Rivenbark says jovially.

Despite the obstacles faced in its planning, locals can thank the Azalea Festival committees for helping Wilmington host bigger-name acts. “Once in a while you’ll hit a homerun, “like the year we got Jessica Simpson,” he notes, admitting he didn’t even know who she was at that time. “But six months after we contracted with her, she was a hit. We couldn’t have even gotten her [afterward]. Carrie Underwood was another one. We’ve had so many big stars here, who weren’t big when we got them.”

While the concerts and the numerous visiting celebrities (see the center spread for the 2008 guests) have become de riguer of the festival, the plethora of downtown bustle has also helped draw in the masses with the annual street fair. “Doug Eckels started it in 1970,” Rivenbark shares. “This year the street fair had to undergo some major change because the Hilton was renovating, and we were not able to close all of Water Street like we had in the past. . . . We all thought, God what are we going to do? But [it] was the best thing that ever happened because now the Street Fair is going to go into places it hasn’t been before: all up and down Front Street.” This will include an increase of vendors from 100 to 350. Another focal point will be the lot at 2nd and Market streets, where there will be a skateboard ramp with professional demonstrations taking place, along with the numerous stages of musical and entertainment acts spread throughout, which includes the multi-cultural stage at the old Bailey Theater.

Perhaps one of the most exciting returns to 2008 will be the one and only beer garden. Since its hiatus over the past six years, it will return to the Water Street Parking Deck rather than to the Hilton. Here, there will be acoustic music, a DJ, as well as beer, provided by Coastal Beverage, and wine from various wineries, including our almost locally-hailed Silver Coast Winery out of Ocean Isle. The American Legion Auxillary will be running it, with proceeds from sales benefitting the organization.

Assumably, the effect of all of these changes will be unsurpassable to Wilmington’s economy and especially the downtown merchants, who will now see direct foot traffic moving in front of their businesses. While Wilmington may not fully be in the throes of financial strain as places with higher costs of living are, every positive impact to our local economy is something to cherish. “Dr. Hall, local economist, does all the number crunching,” Rivenbark remarks. “He has said over the last five or six years or so that it pumps in around $7 million, but we think it’s more than that now.”

In continuing its drive for support, Rivenbark notes that anyone who has a desire to help the Azalea Festival grow can apply to be a part of the committee. “Generally, we’re looking for someone who’s worked their way and earned their stripes,” he admits. “The president, the immediate past president and the immediate, immediate past president serve as the ultimate selection committee.” Likewise, they’re always accepting sponsors, patrons and donors. “The fact of the matter is the Azalea Fest would not be possible without the help of GE, Progress Energy, Savage Tan, Wachovia, My Rewards and the many benefactors, donors and community partners,” Rivenbark itierates. Various packages of patronage include tickets to the highly-sought-after Garden Party, not available for purchase to the public—and “in which some are already going for $500 on Craigslist right now,” Rivenbark notes—as well as tickets to all the concerts and parade seating, as well as tour tickets and numerous other parties and events. To find out more, call the Azalea Festival office at 910-794-4650 or go to www.ncazaleafestival.org.