HKY4
LIVING
Catawba County is the hub of commercial/retail sales in the Greater Hickory Metro area which generates nearly $4 billion in annual retail sales. Some of the finest furniture shopping in the world can be found in the Hickory Furniture Mart and the other area retailers. Catawba County is also home to the Hickory Motor Speedway, known as the "Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars" and the Hickory Crawdads. The YMCA of Catawba Valley offers numerous athletic, daycare and health and fitness opportunities for all ages at several facilities in the county. The Hickory Community Theatre, The Green Room Community Theatre, Clater-Kaye Theatreworks, Hickory Arts, the Hickory Music Factory, the Hickory Museum of Art, the Catawba Science Center, and the Western Piedmont Symphony are only a few of the cultural organizations that call Catawba County home.
SPORTS & RECREATION
Catawba County offers a wide range of sports and recreation for enthusiasts of every kind. Rock Barn Golf & Spa was home to the Greater Hickory Classic, a PGA TOUR Champions Tour Event. Other golf courses include the Catawba Country Club, the Lake Hickory County Club, Hampton Heights Golf Course, and Catawba Springs Golf Course among others. The Hickory Motor Speedway hosts the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series and is known as the “Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars”. The 2015 South Atlantic League Champion Hickory Crawdads (Class A Affiliate-Texas Rangers) offer minor league baseball at its best. The YMCA of Catawba Valley offers numerous athletic, daycare and health and fitness opportunities for all ages at several facilities in the county. There are several active running and biking clubs. Additionally, the Catawba River provides many opportunities for boating and other recreations. Catawba County is also home to numerous parks that include Bakers Mountain Park and Riverbend Park and provide opportunities ranging from family picnics and playgrounds to hiking and fishing. The Zahra Baker All Children's Playground in Hickory is designed to be accessible to children of all abilities and includes a wheelchair accessible tree house.
ARTS & CULTURE
Home to two community theatres, a college theatre, a symphony, a choral society, and a first class art museum, Catawba County provides an array of artistic and cultural entertainment. The Hickory Community Theatre is the third oldest, and one of the largest, community theatres in North Carolina. In addition to its productions and educational classes, the Hickory Community Theatre also provides entertainment opportunities ranging from karaoke to a series of movie nights. Like the Hickory Community Theatre, The Green Room Community Theatre offers a range of plays and musicals as well as educational classes and other opportunities for youth. Other groups offering instruction and performance opportunities include Clater-Kaye Theatreworks, Hickory Arts, and the Hickory Music Factory. The Lenoir-Rhyne University Playmakers offer productions each year as well. The Western Piedmont Symphony, a professional orchestra of 60+ members, presents an annual season of symphonic music featuring guest artists who are rising stars of classical music. The Western Piedmont Symphony is also well noted for its outreach to students. Each year, the Chamber Orchestra (a smaller version of the full orchestra) goes "on the road" to bring concerts to nearly 30,000 public, private and home-schooled children in four Hickory metro area counties. The Hickory Choral Society, a volunteer organization of some 110 voices, presents three concerts annually including a Christmas Concert. The Hickory Museum of Art is the second-oldest art museum in North Carolina and the first museum in the Southeast to collect American art. The museum offers exhibitions, lectures, art classes, films and outreach programs to schools and other groups. Additionally, Catawba County offers a Science Center (which includes an aquarium and a planetarium), a History Museum, several concert associations, a youth symphony and a wide variety of musical groups ranging from Barbershop to Bluegrass.
RELIGION
There are over 200 congregations in Catawba County representing a variety of Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and other beliefs. All major protestant religions are represented with the largest number of adherents belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the North American Lutheran Church. In addition, there are numerous religious schools available in Catawba County encompassing grade ranges K-12.
RETAIL & SHOPPING
Valley Hills Mall
1960 Highway 70 SE, #244
Hickory,North Carolina 28602-5107
828.328.2436
Mon-Sat: 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
Sun: 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Enjoy great one-stop shopping and a family-friendly environment at over 90 specialty stores and carts, 11 food court retailers, and four department stores, Belk, Dillard's, JC Penney, and Sears. Valley Hills Mall has a 28-foot antique carousel in the food court, a Speedway Soft Play Area for kids, carpeted, soft seating areas, family restrooms with a nursing facility, and two parking decks available to provide a pleasant customer experience.
Hickory Furniture Mart
2220 Hwy 70 SE
Hickory, NC28602
phone 800.462.MART
phone 828.322.3510
Mon-Sat: 9:00am – 6:00pm
Hickory Furniture Mart presents a complete selection of domestic and imported furniture and furnishings. Largest of its kind in the nation, the Mart complex features 100 factory outlets, stores and galleries selling more than 1000 well-known manufacturing lines such as Broyhill, Thomasville, Lane, Henredon, La-Z-Boy and others. In addition to the four-level main building, the complex includes a hotel, restaurant, coffee shop, shipping service, lounge and tearoom. Throughout our idea-rich showrooms, attractively discounted prices are offered on bedroom, dining room, living room, office, family room and patio furniture, as well as rugs, window coverings, lighting, art, antiques and a huge selection of accessories.
Other Major Retailers include:
A. C. Moore, Academy Sports, Babies R Us, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Dicks Sporting Goods, H. H. Gregg, Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Michael’s, PartyCity, Petco, PetSmart, Ross Dress for Less, Shoe Carnival, Shoe Show, Steinmart, T J Maxx, Target, Toys R Us, and Wal-Mart.
RESTAURANTS
Catawba County’s more than 100 restaurants represent an extremely wide variety available to suit any taste and budget. Fast Food restaurants include McDonalds, Bojangles, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hardee’s, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, Backyard Burgers, Cook Out, Subway, Chik-fil-a, Burger King, Checkers, Wendy’s, Zaxby’s and Sonic. Other restaurant styles include Steak, Seafood, Cafeteria-style, Chinese, Mexican, Thai, Italian, Greek, Jamaican, and Vietnamese.
ACCOMMODATIONS
With 20 hotels and 3 Bed and Breakfasts,Catawba County has a variety of accommodations to meet any taste and budget. Over 1800 rooms are available at hotels including the Choice Hotels Family, the Marriott Family, Jameson Inn, Hampton Inn, Days Inn, Red Roof Inn, and La Quinta Inn & Suites among others.
HEALTHCARE
Catawba Valley Medical Center is a 258-bed hospital with approximately 1,900 employees, a medical staff representing all the major specialties of a regional referral center, with 10,137 adult admissions, 9,715 surgical visits, and 2,003 deliveries in 2015. CVMC provides a broad range of general acute and specialty care services as well as owns and operates eight primary care practices in the area. The CVMC Emergency Department is the region's busiest, serving more than 53,000 patients annually. CVMC is the region’s largest not-for-profit, public healthcare system serving the community without direct funding from taxes. CVMC provides and promotes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness, preventive medicine and acute care. CVMC received a fourth consecutive Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center in 2014 and has been recognized by WomenCertified® with Women’s Choice Awards for America’s Best 100 Hospitals for Patient Experience in 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015; America’s Best Hospitals for Patient Experience in Obstetrics in 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016; America’s Best Hospitals in Orthopedics in 2013 & 2014; America’s Best Hospitals in Cancer Care in 2015; and America’s Best Hospitals in Stroke, Bariatric Surgery and Stroke in 2016. CVMC received the 2013 & 2014 Premier Inc. QUEST® Award for High-Value Healthcare recognizing its reduction in harm, mortality, readmissions and costs and improvements in metrics for patient experience and evidence-based care.
Frye Regional Medical Center, a part of Duke LifePoint Healthcare, is a 355-bed acute care facility that has been serving the medical and health care needs of people living in Catawba County and central western North Carolina since 1911. Located in downtown Hickory, Frye now has a staff of more than 1,700 professionals. The Frye team proudly delivers quality medicine and compassionate care with a focus on patient comfort and satisfaction. Frye offers a choice of private and semi-private rooms to make each person's stay as pleasant as possible. The Heart Center at Frye is home to the most extensive array of cardiology services in the Unifour area. Frye is the only hospital within 48 miles of Hickory to have full service cardiology and on-site heart surgery, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The advanced team at Frye can diagnose and treat advanced heart conditions without transferring patients to a distant facility. Frye's main campus also includes 5th Avenue, a luxury women's birthing center and an outstanding pediatric unit, as well as an accredited, full-service cancer center, an award-winning bariatric surgery program, advanced orthopedics, neurosciences and inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation.