Across the Carolinas Articles

From the mountains to the coast, you’ll find members of the First Bank team working hard to make the community a better place.

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April and Kevin sitting in front of board game

Business Spotlight: KnA Games Kevin and April Cox, owners of KnA Games, love to create games. Their latest product, Space Movers, is their most ambitious project yet. 4 min read

Front Porch Realty: Prepped for Growth Laura McCorry has been selling real estate in the Triangle area since 1996. After working for a franchise realty company for the first 9 years of her career, her referral base had grown so large that she decided to open her own real estate company in 2005. 3 min read

Business Spotlight: Pine Knot Farms Pine Knot Farms has been in Stanley Hughes’ family for over 100 years. He tells us his story and how organic agriculture has never been more important. 4 min read

Volunteering Part 2: Help Wanted! This is the second in our 2-part series examining how to find local volunteering opportunities. 6 min read

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Volunteering Part 1: Helping Others, Helping Yourself This is the first article in our 2-part series examining how to find local volunteering opportunities. 3 min read

Business Spotlight: White Dogwood Farm & Stables First Bank client White Dogwood Farm & Stables is a full service breeding and boarding facility started by Elizabeth and Chris White. The Whites truly love horses and their boarding facility offers top notch care, quality feed/hay and daily turnout. 3 min read

The Hagler's standing in front of farm equipment

Business Spotlight: Hagler Farms Bryan Hagler tells the story of Hagler Farms in Laurinburg, North Carolina. 2 min read

Business Spotlight: Little Black Dressing Video

Business Spotlight: Little Black Dressing Co. Kissie Stroup started High Point-based Little Black Dressing Co. simply to “provide something for [her] family” but it has become so much more. The dressing is now carried in supermarkets across the region and was even the official dressing of the 2014 U.S. Open in Pinehurst. Video Transcript Kissie Stroup: I think my grandmother passed onto us taking care of the household. Families don’t do that anymore. You know, they’re off to baseball and then they’re off to football and they’re off to tennis or they’re at dance and the home life now seems to have lost its family orientation. And that’s what I think she did. She, and my mom, provided that for us. And that’s what I wanted for my kids. It’s a lost art. Stroup: I am Kissie Stroup and I started a food business called Little Black Dressing. We produce four flavors of refrigerated, all-natural salad dressing. I just wanted to provide something for our family. You know, my husband’s worked hard, the fabric furniture industry was not good during there in the crash seven years ago, and I thought to myself, “What can I do?” Stroup: I don’t have anything that anybody else really has, and I think that’s the key. You’ve got to give them something different. Food seems to be the thing that you come back to. You entertain, you eat around the table…it seems to be when we’re the happiest and when everybody gets along. So, we gathered around food. Stroup: I’ve had a lot say it’s the best dressing they’ve ever eaten and it’s because its fresh and its different. It’s unique. I’ve got four different flavors and I don’t do anything like the other flavors that you see in the refrigerated salad dressing section. Stroup: Why would I want to compete with those large companies? I don’t. I don’t want to. I want to do something different. I’m going to give you what I grew up eating and they’re unique, they’re different. Success: Is it making a lot of money? Because I’ve yet to do that. Is it that’s it’s in every grocery store in the nation? I don’t know. I don’t know what the success of it is. I feel successful that I 3 min read

Business Spotlight: Elizabethtown Baptist Church Video

Business Spotlight: Elizabethtown Baptist Church Located in Bladen County, NC, sits the majestic Elizabethtown Baptist Church. The church plays a major role in the Elizabethtown community and that was never more apparent than in the aftermath of a devastating tornado. 1 min read

The Sun Shines on North Carolina’s Solar Power Growth Thanks to 215 sunny days a year and solar-friendly regulations and tax credits, North Carolina is a great place for those who want to convert solar rays into electricity. 5 min read

How Local Produce Leads to Local Innovation When you take a bite of an apple or dig into some leafy greens, do you ever think about where they came from and how they were grown? With the wealth of information available via the Internet, wary consumers in North Carolina (and beyond) are getting invested in and engaged with where and how their food is produced, from the chemicals involved to the methods used to get the goods from the farm to their forks. It’s no surprise that many are finding it’s often more beneficial for their bodies, their families, and their communities to purchase food products from local farms. Paul Jones, Media Marketing Specialist of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, explains that the interest in organic, locally grown food is nothing new in North Carolina. “Agriculture has such a rich heritage in North Carolina and continues to be the state’s top industry,” he explains. “I think both those factors contribute to our strong interest in local food.” But the rebirth of the farm-to-table movement nationally has been “tremendously beneficial” to farms that dot the state, says Jones. One such business is Pine Knot Farms located in Hurdle Mills, North Carolina. Pine Knot Farms: Organic Original The Orange County farm was originally built for large tobacco crops but is now known more for its certified organic vegetables including collards, kale, and sweet potato greens. Owner Stanley Hughes and his wife, Linda Leach Hughes, are proud to carry on the century-old tradition of organic farming that started when Stanley’s grandfather purchased the land in 1912. “Back in the day, they were farming organically, but there was no term for it,” says Linda. “It was just the way things were done. This land is over 100 years old and has never had any chemicals on it.” Stanley says that the local movement has led to increased demand of Pine Knot’s organic products. “We’ve seen an increase of 15-25% a year in the last 10 years because folks are more educated about what they eat.” Buying Local Helps Local Economies And they are not alone. The Hughes say they have seen many other farms benefiting from consumers who keep their food spending within the community. “It’s helped them to maintain 5 min read

The T-Shirt Crews in Support of Local Businesses If it’s Friday at First Bank’s Albemarle branch on Highway 52, that means it’s t-shirt time for the staff. But not just any cotton pullovers will do. The shirts you’ll see are created by and branded for one of the small businesses in the area. 2 min read

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