Moore Miracles campaign encourages consumers to buy local, help businesses recoup after days-long power outages

The president of the Southern Pines Growler Co. said Florence left his business without power for several days. He and CEO Brandi Underwood vowed it would never happen again.

The two owners decided to install a satellite generator before moving in 2020 to a newly-constructed, three-story brick building at 160 West New York Ave.

The generator allows Southern Pines Growler to power its first floor and continue business operations in the event of an emergency. The company was one of only a few in Southern Pines that could fully operate after the Dec. 3 attacks on two Moore County substations knocked out power for more than 45,000 people and businesses.

Bateman recalled a phone call he had with Underwood on Dec. 3.

“We basically got on the phone [with] each other and said, ‘We’ve got to get down there,’” Batman said. “So, we came down Saturday night.

“… We got power going because we had a room full of customers, a band was playing and they were all just kind of chilling.”

Bateman and Underwood knew the community faced a grim reality the next day.

“We said, ‘You know what? Nobody is going to have power,’” Bateman said. “We need to go in and make coffee and make pancakes and do something to be able to give people a place to go because there’s nothing.

“I mean, the entire area was out [of power].”

Sundi McLaughlin is the owner of Mockingbird on Broad, which is a local shop that has operated for the past 14 years at 162 Northwest Broad St. The shop includes unique finds for the home, baby, child, clothes, pajamas, pillows, jewelry, books and furnishings.

Mockingbird on Broad remained closed from Dec. 4 through Dec. 7 due to the outages.

“It’s pretty devastating because Christmas for us in retail is like the Super Bowl,” McLaughlin said. “It’s like you gear your entire buying towards these two months.

“So, to lose … almost a week was pretty devastating.”

Much of the ice cream and food at the The Ice Cream Parlor Restaurant at 176 NW Broad St. melted or spoiled with the power out for days, according to owner Anthony Parks.

"We've had power outages before from ice storms and such, but this was different," Parks said. "Nobody was prepared. Everything just stopped on a dime."

Parks estimated his business lost between $8,000 and $10,000 during the outages.

Marie & Marcele Boutique co-owner Crystal Brown said she's had customers visit from Raleigh and Greensboro. She is wishing the momentum continues to make up for the days closed during the outage.

"You do kind of freak out if you go back and look at the numbers and see what you're losing," Brown said. "It's one of the busiest times of year."

When the power was out, many people in the community gathered at Southern Pines Growler Co. It served as a haven for many people who didn’t have their power renewed until Dec. 7.

“The greatest thing was having a bunch of kids,” Bateman said. “We had a whole bunch of kids that came in here.

“And, there’s nothing that delights you more than seeing a smile on kid’s face when they’re in a difficult situation, and they get a cup of hot chocolate and a stack of pancakes.”

People came to warm up, eat meals, drink a cup of coffee, charge their phones and to pass the time as crews worked to restore the power.

“It gave us a chance to basically do something that we could do that no one else could do, and it’s a great feeling,” Bateman said.

Donations came in the form of leftover food that otherwise would have spoiled, pancake mix, coffee grounds, bacon and sausage.

Bateman said the community had a tremendous sense of relief when crews restored power by midday on Dec. 7.

“You had a lot of people that were like, ‘We can finally go home,’” Bateman said.

Mockingbird on Broad reopened on Dec. 8 because McLaughlin said most of her staff had gone out of town to go somewhere with power. McLaughlin said customers returned in droves.

“They came through in COVID, and they came through this past weekend,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin has enjoyed seeing familiar faces return to her store.

“I love seeing people who are coming to help them out in, like, a ‘Christmas crisis,’ or just like, ‘Hey, I’ve got three hours. The kids are in preschool,’” McLaughlin said. “It’s all wonderful, and I can’t express my gratitude [enough] because we know people can shop anywhere in the world.”

“A lot of businesses either had to close or had to operate on a very weird kind of situation,” Bateman said. “In our case, because of the way we set up the building, we were able to operate basically every day and have people come in, and it was almost like we were just doing a normal thing … but it wasn’t normal, but it seemed like normal.

“We were a little bit lucky because we have a brand-new building, so we were able to incorporate all that. Whereas, someone that moves into a building that’s 30 or 50 years old, no chance [they could operate].”

The investigation remains ongoing to find the person or people responsible for the Dec. 3 attacks.

“We’ve had power outages before with freezing rain, winter weather type like that, but something like this, a deliberate act of vandalism is something we’ve never seen here before,” said Phil Werz, who serves as the president and CEO of the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen.

In the aftermath, the Moore County Board of Commissioners and state Sen. Tom McInnis approached Werz on how to help the area recuperate.

“This is the holiday season,” Werz said. “A lot of people in this community and many areas, they depend on the holidays for their revenue.

“Some mom-and-pop [stores] here, it could make or break their year.”

Werz said many mom-and-pop stores in the area don’t have a strong online presence.

“Those three or four days these businesses lost revenue is critical to them,” Werz said.

Werz said the CVB is also planning a holiday-themed Street Corner Karaoke to give away $25 gift cards to Moore County businesses from noon to 2 p.m. on:

“I think a lot of people are just like, they just want to be able to have the sense of community and see each other and say, ‘You know what? This power outage is over. It’s the holidays. We need to get out and celebrate, and live life again,’” Werz said.