Culture
PHOTOS: Eastern Bluebird Festival 2025
Hundreds flocked to the heart of downtown Warrenton for the second annual Eastern Bluebird Festival.

Hundreds flocked to the heart of downtown Warrenton for the second annual Eastern Bluebird Festival and was treated to live entertainment, great food, vendors, a mural ribbon-cutting ceremony and so much more! (April 26, 2025)
See Also: Eastern Bluebird Mural Celebrated with Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
Arts
Paint with a Purpose: Artist Seeks Volunteers for Soul City Mural
Adults and families are invited to sign up to help paint the new mural at the Magnolia Ernest Recreation Center in Soul City.

Artist Max Dowdle will begin installation of the new mural on the Magnolia Ernest Recreation center pool building in Soul City on June 2nd. He is inviting community members of all ages to join him in the painting process. Individuals or families can participate for a one-hour shift between 3:00pm – 5:00pm on June 2nd through June 4th.
The new mural is part of the Legacy NC Mural Project by Dowdle, NC Main Street, and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. The project aims to create a mural in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties that highlight the unique history and legacy of each county while creating a unifying thread that ties all of North Carolina’s counties together through art.
Dowdle worked with a committee of Soul City residents, community leaders, and members of the Warren County arts community to create proposed designs. These designs were then presented to the community and voted on. The winning design can be seen below (this design is still subject to minor changes from Dowdle).

Contact Hannah Jones at hannahjones@warrencountync.gov or (252) 257-3115 to sign up. To accommodate space, each shift will have no more than 10 people. No experience is necessary!
The Magnolia Ernest Recreation Park is located at 252 Duke Drive, Norlina, NC off Soul City Boulevard.
Learn more about Max Dowdle and to view his work, visit NCPublicArt.com.
For more information about the Legacy NC Mural Project, visit https://www.ncmainstreetandplanning.com/blog/categories/legacy-nc-100-murals-100-counties.
RELATED: Warren County Residents to Vote on New Mural Design for Soul City
Books
PHOTOS: Warren Artist Market Celebrates Tenth Anniversary with New Anthology
TEN celebrates the successful, decade-long run of First Friday Poetry Night.

The Warren County Artist Market (WAM) hosted a hybrid book launch for their latest anthology, TEN last Friday (5/9). Comprised of poems, short stories, and essays incorporating the theme of “ten,” the collection celebrates the successful, decade-long run of First Friday Poetry Night hosted by the creative group in Warren County, NC.
Anita Lynn Williams, who co-edited the anthology with her friend and mentor, Kim Schroeder, emceed the festivities in The Hive, located in downtown Warrenton.
In 2013, WAM was co-founded by Thomas Park and Arlene Bice and, today, includes members Williams and Sterling Cheston, Jr. They host the monthly event every first Friday of the month at 7pm at The Hive (108 S. Main Street). It is free and open to the public. For more information about the Warren Artist Market, follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WarrenCountyArtistsMarketBirdland.
TEN is now available in paperback and Kindle ebook: https://amzn.to/3GQk8CJ
Arts
Eastern Bluebird Mural Celebrated with Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper proclaimed Warrenton, NC as the National Eastern Bluebird Capital.

Joined by the Lake Gaston Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Town of Warrenton, and mural artist Tom Lang, residents and friends from afar celebrated the new Eastern Bluebird Mural with a ribbon-cutting ceremony during the Eastern Bluebird Festival on Saturday, April 26th in downtown Warrenton.
Ahead of last year’s festival, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper proclaimed Warrenton, NC as the National Eastern Bluebird Capital because the town has the highest concentration of them.
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