Connect with the Catawba County community through our local news and special events.

New Resident: Hickory has what we're used to having in Charleston: the downtown life and the industry

0 Comment(s) | Posted

 

by Virginia Annable, Hickory Daily Record
Click here for the original article from the Hickory Daily Record.

Nicole and John Sedberry found familiar comforts in Hickory's downtown, which offered entertainment and community. ROBERT C. REED, RECORD

Nichole Sedberry has a love for mountains, hiking and the outdoors. She’s pined for a home in North Carolina for years. Last year, she and her husband decided to make the move from Charleston, South Carolina.

After researching North Carolina cities and towns, looking at the housing market, downtown growth and job availability, the Seberrys settled on Catawba County. She had little prior knowledge of Hickory, but the area fit the bill.

“I didn’t want to be directly in the mountains, but I wanted to be near the mountain topography, so I started doing some research and found Hickory,” she said. “I found this happy medium by looking at the houses that were available. I started researching the area and thought this kind of makes sense. It’s got the topography we want, the tight-knit community we want and … Hickory has what we’re used to having in Charleston: the downtown life and the industry.”

The amenities and quality of life Catawba County offered lured the Sedberrys in. They are not alone. Several who moved to the Hickory area in the past year say the offerings of the area drew them in. Local officials say a concerted effort to improve and market the quality of living will play a part in continuing Catawba County’s growth.

Companies are growing quickly in Catawba County, which means an ever-growing need for people. Local governments are making an effort of improve the quality of living and hope that will help draw in people, County Manager Mick Berry said.

“We want our residents to love living here, and quality of life plays a huge role in that,” Berry said. “Residents who enjoy living here also play a huge role in attracting new residents, so it becomes mutually reinforcing. That’s why quality of life is as important as economic development and job creation, both for our current residents and for talent attraction.”

For some new residents, the efforts are already working.

Hiking, parks and community

Sedberry and her husband John have lived in Catawba County since the beginning of 2022. She’s re-starting her real estate business and as a welder, John has entered a welcoming job market, she said.

The pair have explored the area’s downtowns and hiked popular trails, Sedberry said. It’s all lived up to her expectations, with the added benefit of a low cost of living, she said. The area’s need for workers and strong job market are a benefit, she said.

“As a real estate agent, there is serious opportunity and jobs to be filled, and that bring bodies to buy homes,” she said. “I think both sides of that coin are shiny.” 

Deb Yocum, another recent arrival to the Hickory area, ended up in the area for similar reasons as the Sedberrys. Yocum moved from Iowa in December.

“We love outdoors stuff like hiking, kayaking and camping but realize we’re getting older and we’re not digging the heavy-duty winters,” she said. “We started looking for other areas in the country where we could do outdoor stuff where the weather was mild.”

She and her husband made four trips to North Carolina before making the move to Hickory. The city’s medium size, mild traffic and growing restaurant and business scene attracted them, Yocum said.

Her biggest gripe so far are the confusing street names in Hickory, she said.

The most difficult parts of the move were finding housing in a tight market, and finding a job, Yocum said. The job market for entry-level positions is vast, she said, but finding work as experienced professionals — she a mental health therapist and her husband a scientist — took more time. Both landed at jobs in Lenoir.

Even some living in North Carolina are looking to Catawba County for an improvement to their quality of life. Joshua and Jessica Dycus moved their family from Shelby to Conover in December looking to join the welcoming community.

“We found ourselves in Hickory a lot, and (Joshua) works in Hickory,” Jessica said. “We preferred the area. People are so nice up here.”

The family made friends quickly and started exploring parks for their kids, museums and joined a local church.

One of the aspects of living in Conover the Dycus family most appreciate is the public works services, such as roadside trash pickup, Joshua said.

Every small aspect of quality of life adds up to create a strong community to live in, Jessica said.

‘We’re heading in the right direction’

Improving and promoting the quality of living in Catawba County is of ever-growing importance, Berry said. The county places a focus on education, health, safety, water, sewer, housing, arts, culture and parks, he said.

“While employment can often be a primary driver for choosing where to live, cost of living, education, housing, and a community’s quality of life are also major considerations,” Berry said. “If more people continue to work from home, they will have even more flexibility in choosing where they live which will make a community’s quality of life even more important.”

There’s always room for improvement, Berry said. The county recently decided its emergency services division was lacking. The county added new supervisory positions and is building three new EMS bases, Berry said.

There are other areas for improvement, like school infrastructure, Catawba County Economic Development Corporation President Scott Millar said. School appearances can make or break a first impression, and some schools need improvements, Millar said.

Design Foundry President Eric Fulcher said he thinks those quality of life strong points and amenities need to be marketed to people to get them to move here.

“I really don’t think we do a great job of telling our story,” Fulcher said. “The Catawba Valley region is a wonderful place to work and raise a family, from our community college, Lenoir-Rhyne University, proximity to Charlotte, the mountains and the coast, strong community leadership, and it is a safe environment to raise your family. We need to talk about that more.”

Fulcher said the community has a lot to be proud of.

Jeff Allen, owner of Novel Taproom in Newton, sees the value in improving and promoting his community. He said Catawba County’s strengths include the availability of entertainment, like live music, museums and theaters, outdoor activities like the new Hickory City Walk, county parks and golf courses, and the growth of downtown spaces with boutique retail and alcohol social districts in Newton and Hickory.

“We’re heading in the right direction. We’re not quite in the right place,” Allen said.

Allen would like to see more restaurants and retail options in downtowns, and continued growth of housing in downtown areas.

TSG Finishing Human Resources Manager Melodie McLachlan sees room for growth in her efforts to recruit employees for the fabric finishing plant in Long View. She wants to see more partnerships between local government and businesses to improve living.

“Think of Greensville, South Carolina,” McLachlan said, “And how they have attracted thousands of new people to the area because they created a desirable place to live with a nice downtown, great parks and recreation programs for kids, cleaned up the homelessness issue, partnered with local businesses to grow and provide jobs and encouraged small businesses to open there.”

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Leave a Comment