Already, Party on the Plank has become bigger than he dared hope, which he both expected and found surprising.
On one hand, Lovejoy has worked hard for months on the project, even though he’s not getting paid for his efforts. He hopes to clear enough that he can pay himself something in the end.
He expected to get results, based on the strengths he brings to the project: being an ideas guy and stubbornness.
“I’m not that smart, and I have a huge learning curve, so I’m willing to put 30-40 hours a week in without getting paid and to follow through on my vision,” he said.
He has, however, been surprised at the response. People, he said, tell him it’s about time somebody put time and effort into livening up downtown. They ask what he’ll do if too many people show up.
Lovejoy isn’t sure he deserves credit for doing more than starting a ball rolling.
“I think I’ve made a dent. I’m hesitant to say how much of a role I’ve played,” he said.
But he says he does believe something is beginning to happen, and to help with Party on the Plank and future events, he set up a limited liability company called Renovo Designs. “Renovo” means “renewal,” he said.
“It’s a social entrepreneurship company, taking a cultural or societal need or challenge and coming up with a business model that addressed the need,” he said. “It basically enters into a relationship with nonprofits to help them put on events and advance the cause of renewal in High Point.”
Lovejoy is planning for Party on the Plank to be an annual event, and he hints he may have other events in mind.
Already, Party on the Plank promises to be one of three large events in downtown High Point.
Last summer’s Ilderton High Point Beach Music Blast, a series of outdoor concerts, was so popular that it will be repeated next summer on Thursdays Sept. 9-30th, said Tommy Lineberry of Children’s Home Society, which benefitted from the concerts.
A group called Friends of John Coltrane will stage a fundraising concert next Labor Day weekend, and it is designed to seed yearly jazz festivals, said Patrick Harmon of the Friends group. “Stuff is starting to happen that will turn heads,” Lovejoy said. “That’s the big picture, I think, of a snowball starting to roll.
“A main part of the philosophy of Party on the Plank and Renovo Designs is that business follows people, and people follow culture, and if there’s not a sense of vitality, people leave. The reason businesses leave High Point is people don’t come, and the reason people don’t come is that there’s no reason for people to come.
“So the bigger problem is to get people to come (downtown.)”
vknopfler@hpe.com | 888-3601
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