Connecting Creativity, Innovation, and Community
Left: Spacious bay doors provide convenient access to the proposed space for the ceramics lab.
Kirstie Tiernan and Kenan Rainwater present a tour of the area for the proposed music studio.
In the search for a suitable space, Jeff Clark suggested that the group contact David Watters and Scott Daemer at The Beamery in Helmsburg.
The Beamery property has evolved over the years. It originally housed the Helmsburg elementary school, and later Kenneth Fleener made it into a motel / dining / entertainment establishment. In the 1990s Sharon Rivenbark bought the property, added more buildings, and transformed it into the For Bare Feet sock factory. A fire forced the factory out in 2011, and Rivenbark donated the buildings and land( 22 acres) to the county.
Eager to get the property back on the tax rolls, the county sold the site to The Beamery group in 2013. The Beamery has leased portions to a number of other small businesses over the years, but still has ample room for new tenants.
Watters and Daemer presented an 8,800-square-foot building as the potential site for Tiernan’ s vision of a community center.
In homage to the Beamery Group’ s partnership, the proposed center was renamed“ The STEAMery”— a play on the STEAM( science, technology, engineering, art, and math) acronym and the Beamery name. The Beamery property owners have agreed to hold the space for the STEAMery’ s fundraising efforts as the group seeks the necessary grants and donations to complete the project.
A team of specialized committee members and supporters has assembled to tackle building code review, marketing, and
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