Vote for ‘cool’ local products in statewide contest

News Flash: Carteret County is represented by a pair of entries in the online contest to determine “The Coolest Thing Made in North Carolina.” The field of 80 nominees was released Aug. 25 by the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce. Let the voting begin! 

The products with local ties are Crab Pot Christmas Trees, which are homegrown in Smyrna, and the Shibumi Shade, which was invented in Emerald Isle.

 

The popular competition is a just-for-fun way to “spotlight” North Carolina’s important manufacturing sector, which employs more than 10% of the state’s workforce,” said NC Chamber President Gary Salamido.

The NC Chamber boasts: “What’s made in North Carolina is what makes North Carolina.” 

Crab Pot Christmas Trees are manufactured in Smyrna by Fisherman Creations. The holiday products were invented in 2003 by Neal “Nicky” Harvey of Davis. He was just tinkering in his shop one day when the idea hit him. 

“We just cut up some scrap pieces of the green vinyl-coated wire into triangles,” Harvey commented, “and then we started putting lights on them. When we got all our crab pot orders filled, we start making trees.”

 

“The important thing,” he said, “is that we came up with a way to make it fold flat” with the lights still attached, for easy storage.” 

It was just a cottage industry until 2009, when Harvey sold the upstart business to Don Acree. He formed a company known as Fisherman Creations to brand, produce and market Crab Pot Christmas Trees.

 

Trees come in various sizes from 1.5 feet to 8 feet tall. They are available through national chain retail stores in every U.S. state as well as through online outlets. More than a million crab pot trees have been sold since 2003, the NC Chamber commented. 

Acree said the company uses American-made “hexagonal wire mesh,” that is both strong and pliable. Reviews from customers rate the trees as “lovely, beautiful, practical and ideal for indoor or outdoor use.” 

Part of the reason for the popularity of crab pot trees is their simplicity, Acree said. “No dropped needles, no watering, no stringing of lights and no struggling with a stand.” 

“We hope anyone who enjoys our trees will be sure to cast a vote for us” in the NC Chamber contest, he added.

 

The Shibumi Shade was hatched in 2016 by three 20-something entrepreneurs – brothers Dane and Scott Barnes and their friend Alex Slater. Their quest during family vacations spent at Emerald Isle was to improve on the standard beach umbrella.

 

Alex, Scott and Dane

Today, the bright blue and teal Shibumi Shade, a simply designed flap-in-the-wind product, is “everywhere” you look on the beaches of the Crystal Coast…and beyond. 

The NC Chamber said: “The Shibumi Shade changed how people experience the beach by working with the wind, not against it. The free-flowing design works with the slightest ocean breeze to cast ample shade.” 

It’s the “most portable, easy to set-up beach shade on the market…providing enough shade for six people to sit comfortably.”

 

Shibumi Shade is headquartered in Raleigh and products are hand-sewn in Asheboro and Asheville. 

Now, it’s up to us. 

Go to coolestthingmadeinnc.com and vote “early and often.” You can cast one vote per day. The field of candidates will narrow with each round of voting. 

Windows are very narrow. By Sept. 8, only 10 of the 80 nominees will be left standing. 

The competition is fierce within the “small business category.” 

Other formidable contenders include George’s BBQ Sauce, Buck Stove, Ashe County Cheese and E.M. Walton’s Premium Salted Caramel Whiskey.