Nearly 300 people braved 100-degree temperatures to celebrate Greenville’s LGBTQ community on Saturday during a dedication ceremony for the Paddock Club Public Art Sculpture on Dickinson Avenue.
The sculpture was created from the spiral staircase that was a prized remnant of one of North Carolina’s longest-running gay clubs and placed where the club once stood before the building was razed to build the 10th Street Connector. Now wrapped in the colors of the rainbow, it stands as a symbol that Greenville is inclusive, Mayor Pro Tem Monica Daniels told the crowd.
“The world can be a daunting and lonely place when you feel different from everyone else, and finding a safe space and a sense of community can feel like finding a safe place in a harbor of rough seas,” Daniels said. “The Paddock Club was that safe harbor for so many, and this sculpture is a representation of our community’s dedication to creating a safe and inclusive space for everyone.”
Glen Haddock, manager of the Paddock Club for 25 of its 30 years, said the club got its start when Bill Brock, who was running a country and western bar at the location, decided to change it into a gay bar in July of 1973. The Paddock Club, with drag shows and dancing and a fun and welcoming atmosphere, built a reputation as a sanctuary for LGBTQ people. It operated continuously until Dec. 26, 2003, just shy of 30 years and six months.
At the time it closed, it was the longest running, continuously operating gay bar in the state of North Carolina, Haddock said.
After it shut down, the Great American Mining Company followed by the Limelight continued to serve the queer community in the building until the NCDOT acquired and demolished it in 2013.
Jeremy Jordan operated the Limelight with the help of several friends including Haddock. He said Saturday that throughout all the iterations of the club, one thing that remained the same was the staircase, which was central to the hundreds of shows through the years.
The DOT told Jordan nothing in the building would be salvaged so they could take what they wanted. One thing they kept was the spiral staircase.
“This building was just as important to the people that went to the Paddock, that went to the Great American Mining Company, it was just as important to the people that went to Limelight, and I’m sure that every person here today that went to any of those three bars has a memory regarding this staircase,” said Jordan.
He kept the staircase in his backyard for eight years and showed it to Greenville historical and arts advocate Candace Pearce. She told Jordan it was going to be a landmark when she saw it rusting there, he said.
A community effort sparked by Jordan, Haddock, Pearce and others led to the Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge and Jessica Bradsher, a Greenville-area artist whose work has been displayed on city streets from Florida to Missouri to Massachusetts. The council worked to fund project and selected Bradsher as the sculptor.
“It is a great honor and privilege to have been selected to create this work of art, and literal blood, sweat, and tears went into this piece,” Bradsher said Saturday. “The staircase came to me stripped down to the bare metal rusty. I used a grinder to cut where I needed a cut, I smoothed it so that it was smooth to the touch, then I wrapped these beautiful bands around it, and after two and a half years of working and waiting, here it is,”
Bradsher said that she has so much pride to add this piece to her portfolio. “I will absolutely treasure it for its great meaning to this community, and I hope it gives future generations a beacon of hope, beauty, and history for years to come,” she said.
Emerge Executive Director Holly Garriot said that public art like sculptures and murals excell at conveying a story and a message.
“That is so important for the Paddock sculpture because it commemorates where the Paddock Club was, but even more than that, it talks about creating a safe space for the LGBTQ community,” said Garriot. “And just the fact that here in Greenville, we want to show that we are inclusive, and when it comes down to it, it’s all about love.”
District 3 representative on the Greenville City Council Marion Blackburn said the event marked a joyful day for the community “where we formally recognize the value and the preciousness of our LGBTQ community, and the Paddock Club, where in many ways that sense of community all began.”
Daniels said the dedications and the city’s Summer of Pride is an outgrowth of the City Council recognizing that different cultures, nationalities — everyone — has a place in Greenville.
“And we’re also standing on what we say when we say that Greenville is an inclusive community, where all are welcome, all are safe, and all are loved,” said Daniels.
“And when we say inclusive, this sculpture is physical proof that we mean it, we stand by it, you are welcome here, and we want everyone to feel free to express who they are here because we are a loving community,” said Blackburn.
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