PICTURE THIS: Port City Jerry Day 2025
- Shannon Rae Gentry
- Sep 13
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 16
Notes by Shannon Rae Gentry and photos by Tom Dorgan
We took a stroll down Shakedown Street this past Saturday at Port City Jerry Day to benefit the United Way of the Cape Fear Area. The sold-out show raised short of $50,000 and 100% of the proceeds will directly benefit local charities and support their community programs.
It couldn't have been a more beautiful evening at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater. Collectively, we have weathered a long, stormy week (err... lifetime?) in the world and I feel gratitude for a mild—dare I say, chill—evening of belonging and togetherness in our community's outdoor park and amphitheater.
And nothing that makes GLA feel more like GLA than a packed audience happily bobbing and weaving to the beat of the Dead. Covering the music for the evening, literally, were HyRyder and The Possums.
Miss the show? Watch the full HyRyder set now:
Vendor row was packed with creative wares, vintage records, sparkly threads, and witchy candles that made me feel fall in my heart. Supported by Brandon Gerarci, vendors included:
Cosmic Carolina Dyes Co
Fennario Thunder
T.Shaw Designs
Dust & Sunshine
Carolina Hippie Shack
Building Buddies
Wolfe’s Melting Pot
Mary’s Magic Crochet
Jared Fiebig Glass
Creo Collective
Muzick Etc
TTP Records
Photos by Tom Dorgan. Follow @encoreILM on Instagram.
Other nonprofit tables joined Cape Fear United Way for the evening included Reflections of Hope, Fronting Life, and Plastic Ocean Project.
Supported by Tiff Greene (The Cosmic Connector), flow artists Megan Elizabeth (Megaladon Meg) and Jody Vasquez were joined by visual artists:
Kim Barr
Terri Dawn
Lacey Vilandry
Abby Wilcox
Jahde Art
Ariel Chornsbay
Addie Wuensch
Angel Murrill
Angelica Gross
The family highlight for us came when our daughter built LEGO glasses at the Building Buddies station—BRILLIANT idea, more of this, please! I had a chance to talk to Devin Hall and we naturally connected (pun unintended) over BB's "Disconnect to Reconnect" mantra. You can also catch Hall on season 6 of "LEGO Masters."
Shout out to my "missed connection" of the evening: the young woman who spotted my encore t-shirt and excitedly yelled, "Oh my gosh, I love encore! I wished they'd come back!" To which I gleefully squealed as I drifted away with the crowd, "encore is back!" (I love saying that.)
