March 16, 2022

With pandemic limits on public gatherings reduced, local activities and gatherings are returning to normal.

Nowhere is this more evident than at Pilot Mountain, where a full slate of spring, summer and fall activities have been unveiled, with the first such event beginning this week with the start of the celebration. Patrick’s Day downtown Thursday.

This begins a series of over 20 festivals, cruises, specialty markets, family events and concerts scheduled for the rest of the year.

Christy Craig, Pilot Mountain’s downtown events coordinator, said the town’s first-ever St. Patrick’s Day event is a little more low-key than some of the other planned activities.

“It features a scavenger hunt,” she said.

The hunt begins at City Hall, where visitors can stop and pick up a free green tote bag, along with a list of participating city stores.

“Each store has a cloverleaf with a number,” she said. Shoppers note the number on the cloverleaf, on the list of participating stores, then once they have found all the cloverleaf numbers, shoppers return the card to the town hall to enter a raffle for prizes.

She said organizers could even help pay for some shopping – when visitors start their day at City Hall, they can get a scratch ticket, with cash prizes to help ease the cost of shopping downtown.

“It’s just a little event to get people downtown, give business owners a little boost during a slow time,” she said, while providing fun activities for visitors.

“We were just looking to expand to run some events earlier in the season,” Mayor Evan Cockerham added. “Our summer schedule, and even our fall schedule, got pretty tight. St. Patrick’s Day seemed like a logical choice. He said some businesses and restaurants were even adopting the St. Patrick’s Day theme on that day- the.

Although a smaller event, the scavenger hunt kicks off a wide variety of celebrations planned for Pilot Mountain. These include the city’s famous Hot Nights and Hot Cars cruise series scheduled to meet monthly from May to October; the return of the popular Mayfest after an enforced absence of three years due to the pandemic; vintage markets; and a new activity — Fun Fridays.

“We’re going to try something a little different this year to try to entice people to come downtown after hours to stay,” Craig said of Fun Fridays, which will take place on the 15 July, August 19 and September 19. 16. “We want to give people something to do that no one else does.”

The event will feature live music and a DJ, dancing, concessions and other activities, each inspired by a different theme – the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

“We will encourage people to dress up for the theme and visit the stores before staying for the party,” she said.

“We are always looking to add, to do more events,” Mayor Cockerham said. “Pilot Mountain has always done great events, we just wanted to do something that brings more music, arts and entertainment.”

He said when he was first elected several years ago, one of his priorities was to work with businesses and other organizations to organize events that would bring more people to the city.

“We want downtown Pilot Mountain to become a destination of choice, a place for families to go.”

At the time, he said the city hosted seven or eight annual events. Now that figure is almost at two dozen.

“I give a lot of credit to Jenny Kindy and Cristy Craig,” he said. Kindy is the town’s main street coordinator. “We are excited to welcome people to Pilot Mountain now that many COVID restrictions have ended. I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun.

The full list of Pilot Mountain events is as follows:

March 17 — Saint-Patrick Downtown

April 9 — Pilot View Vintage Market

May 6 – May 8 — Mayfest

May 28 — Community for a 5k Cause

June 4 – Hot Nights Hot Cars In Cruise

June 25 — PMPO Food Trucks

July 2 – Hot Nights Hot Cars In Cruise

July 15 — 70s Fun Friday

July 23 — Dinosaurs on Main

August 2 – National Evening

August 6 – Hot Nights Hot Cars In Cruise

August 19 — 80s Fun Friday

September 3 – Hot Nights Hot Cars In Cruise

September 16 – Fun Friday 90s

September 24 – Foothills on Main Dinner

October 1 – Hot Nights Hot Cars In Cruise

October 22 — Glow Party

October 29 – Monsters on Main & Trunk or Treat

November 5 — Pilot View Vintage Market

November 26 – Deck the Halls / Mistletoe Market

December 3 — Parade and Tree Lighting