West Rowan HS student wins Cheerwine Festival design contest

Doug Coats
·2 min read
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SALISBURY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – A West Rowan High School student was chosen as the winner of the Cheerwine Festival’s T-shirt Design Contest.

Nicholas Smith, a freshman at West Rowan, produced a design that creatively combines the silhouette of North Carolina with a Cheerwine bottle, embodying the cherry soda’s home state. Out of the 10,400 votes cast, he received nearly 2,000.

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“I grew up in North Carolina and wanted to capture the local culture,” Smith said in a statement.

Smith will receive a $1,000 gift card, a commemorative plaque from Salisbury Mayor Karen Alexander at the festival, a gift basket and more. His art teacher, Kimberly Nance, will receive $500 for new art supplies.

The Cheerwine Festival will be held May 18, from noon to 10 p.m. in downtown Salisbury. 

“We were delighted by the diverse and impressive submissions from students throughout the Carolinas,” says Joy Ritchie Harper, vice president of marketing at Cheerwine. “This contest once again highlighted the incredible talent we have in our schools, and we appreciate all the students and teachers who participated and fans who voted.”

Fans can preorder the T-shirt by visiting: cheerwine.com/festival-contest.

Cheerwine invited high school students across North and South Carolina to submit original artwork showing their Carolina pride. The beverage was created in 1917, and is still privately owned and operated out of Salisbury. The top 10 finalists were chosen by a panel of judges and then opened to public voting.

Carter Coon, a sophomore from Northeast Guilford High School, and Elijah Gulledge, a junior from West Rowan and another student of Nance’s, were runners-up and will each receive a plaque from the mayor and gift basket.

The festival’s musical lineup also has been revealed. Headlining is Let’s Groove Tonight, the nationally acclaimed Earth, Wind & Fire tribute band. The festival will also feature an array of live performances, including the rock and blues band The Phoebes Band, singer-songwriter Braden Hull and funk group TKG Experience.

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