 In 2002, at the suggestion of former Carrboro Alderman and poet Jay Bryan, the Carrboro Art Committee put forth a call for a Poet Laureate. Catherine DeVine coordinated the effort, enlisting the help of Chapel Hill poet and essayist Michael Chitwood to make the choice. A blind judging was conducted with each candidate for the title submitting two copies of their entry, one signed, the other unsigned. The Art Committee held on to the signed entries, and passed along the unsigned entries to Chitwood, who then made his choice.Chitwood chose Kate Lovelady as our first Poet Laureate, who held the title for a year. Last year the task of choosing her predecessor went to Kate. The same blind judging process was used again. Her choice was Patrick Herron. When Patrick submitted his application for Carrboro Poet Laureate, it was clear he had a vision. He wanted more than just a title. He wanted to make Carrboro a mecca for poetry and planned to accomplish this in part with a huge poetry festival. He somehow managed to accomplish this lofty goal, virtually on his own. 
The First Annual Carrboro Poetry Festival featured readings from 40 poets, from both North Carolina and beyond, during the two-day event which occurred on Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6, 2004. It was a huge success, with several of the readings standing room only.Putting together an event of this magnitude is no easy task, especially when only one person is the driving force behind the effort. The devil is in the details. Who will provide food? Who will run the sound system? Who will pick Joe up from the airport, and where will he stay? How does all of this get funded? With some help from the Carrboro Recreation and Parks Department, some funding from the Town and other contributors, and the generosity of some local businesses, everything went off without a hitch. 
Somehow, Patrick made it all happen. Through his dogged determination and sheer love for what he does, he pulled it off. Not only that, he did it quite well. It was all a learning process for Herron though, and he saw that the wheels grind slowly at times. Writing grant proposals, finding other sources of funding, booking and setting up the performance space, printing the programs, and the many other details of such an endeavor, all take time.When it started to come close to the time to choose a new poet laureate, a decision that had been announced on July 4th in the past, Herron addressed the Carrboro Art Committee with concerns. In his opinion, in the future the position should be a two-year or more stint, giving the laureate time to plan the festival and make the connections necessary to apply for various grants to fund the event and keep other poetry projects ongoing. The Art Committee took his recommendations to heart, and has asked Patrick to stay on as Carrboro Poet Laureate for another year. We are proud and happy that Patrick has accepted. For more information on the Carrboro Poetry Festival, go to carrboropoetryfestival.org. Patrick became the father of more than the Carrboro Poetry Festival this year, with his wife Janet giving birth to their first child, a daughter named Sofia, on Sunday, July 31, 2004. Computer Stuff | Downtown Carrboro Map | Events | Prices | Restaurants | UniqueOrn Enterprises 
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