WTVI invites members to film premiere of "Our Vanishing Americana"

WTVI members and their friends and families are invited to the free premiere of the new film Our Vanishing Americana.

Our Vanishing Americana is a new documentary that tells the stories of people who work diligently to preserve Main Street America. Using North Carolina small towns as a backdrop, the program reconnects you to the shopkeepers, barbers, grocers, patrons and neighbors at the heart of hometowns we all remember.

View clips from the film.

The story is based on the book Our Vanishing Americana by Mike Lassiter and Lee Grant. Lassiter spent six years traveling the state to preserve images of small towns. Last year, Lassiter returned to several locations with a film crew that included Emmy-winning producer Scott Galloway (A Man Named Pearl) and Emmy-winning WTVI photographer Randy Fulp.

The result is a warm, funny, nostalgic story of vanishing connections between our friends, our ancestors, and our sense of home. With general stores and hardware shops, corner drug stores with soda fountains, mom’n’pop grocery stores, hot dog stands, filling stations, barber shops, and single screen theaters... You'll be reminded of a way of life vanishing from our landscape.

Places featured include:

• Dees Drug Store, Burgaw


• Davis General Store, Croft


• Dick’s Hot Dog Stand, Wilson


• Todd’s Country Store, Buffalo Cove


• Burgaw Antique Place, Burgaw


• Snappy Lunch, Mt. Airy


• Graham Barber Shop, Graham


• D.E. Turner Hardware, Mooresville


• Conrad & Hinkle Food Market, Lexington


• Pioneer Theater, Manteo


• Sutton’s Drug Store, Chapel Hill

Admission is free for friends and family of WTVI members.
When: Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009, 5-6 p.m.
Where: The historic Gem Theatre
111 West 1st Street
Kannapolis, NC 28081 (directions)

Reception to follow at the nearby Forty Six restaurant, on the North Carolina Research Campus.