FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Farmville’s famous Paramount Theater marquee announced the exciting news – “WELCOME GOOD MORNING AMERICA.” ABC’s correspondent Kaylee Hartung and her crew were recently in Farmville to do a story on the North Carolina Furniture School located on Wilson Street. The segment, which airs Wednesday, October 13, is part of a series on small businesses and the challenges they faced during the COVID 19 situation.
“We had to pivot during the pandemic,” says Stuart Kent, the founder and director of the NC Furniture School. “In 2019 our classes were full. We were at capacity as late as March 2020 when everything shut down.”
Without the classes, the Furniture School had to find a way to stay afloat, and so they became a custom woodworking shop to get through the pandemic.
“With tremendous support from the town, we got through it,” says Kent. “It was a community wide effort.”
That effort included Farmville residents and an area developer bringing meaningful work to the school-turned-custom-woodshop. Greg Cannon, the owner of the Farmville Hardware Store, located across the street from the Furniture School, provided a forklift when needed and made it easy to get supplies. Volunteers helped in the shop, and the Chamber of Commerce provided some group advertising opportunities for many local businesses along with the Furniture School.
“It was exactly what a small town can and should be,” says Kent. “I’m not sure we would have gotten through the pandemic without the community.”
The NC Furniture School was one of many businesses and Farmville one of several communities throughout the United States that were highlighted in the GMA series. The segment featured Kaylee Hartung following the instructions of teacher Stuart Kent, and the making of a wooden bowl, inscribed on the bottom, that she got to keep.
Hartung experienced the art of woodworking like the students who are now back at the school since it has opened again in a limited capacity, and is focused on its original purpose, which is to teach the art of woodworking.
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For more information, contact Stuart Kent at info@ncfurnitureschool.com or 252-916-8226, or contact Lori Drake, Executive Director of the Farmville Chamber of Commerce at 252-753-4671 or send an email.