[piano intro] [air whooshing] [upbeat bluegrass music] - But I know he always built things from scrap and made it work, made it term, made it do what he wanted to do.

I mean, he built it.

You know what I mean?

He didn't go and buy it.

He went out, he built it.

♪ - We didn't do a feasibility study because had we done one, all signs would've said you'll never be able to accomplish this [chuckles].

So we just plunged in.

♪ - This is absolutely something that can work out in other places.

Find that thing that makes you special.

Find that thing that, other people in your community can get excited about and join in and feel like it's theirs.

♪ - In the town of Wilson, a traveler may visit the largest brightly tobacco market in all the world.

He may even see and hear one of the famous auctioneers as he conducts a tobacco sale.

And here's an auction in progress let's watch and listen [auctioneers speaking indistinctly] - Really exciting 'cause this building's going to be redeveloped.

It's been vacant for a long time.

It's a really historical place.

- The community looked at downtown and started to come up with some really creative ideas as to how they could revitalize historic downtown Wilson.

And so [mumbles].

One of the ideas that came out of that, was to create sort of like a Central Park in downtown that was populated with Vollis Simpson's whirligigs.

[birds chirping] - It's an asset that no other community had.

And as Vollis built his whirligigs over the last 30 years and he became more and more well known and recognized as an artist.

As Vollis Simpson whirligig in London, this one in Moscow, in private collections all over the world.

And we thought, well, my goodness we got the original collection right here.

[upbeat music] - He prided himself in doing things the way it should be done.

And I always appreciated that.

It kind of taught me, helped me learn that this is the way you're supposed to do things whatever you're doing.

[upbeat music] [birds chirping] - He made it powerful to remove or pick up something that was very unique [chuckles].

And I seen it as a kid.

I just got amazed by him.

'Cause I always liked things with scrap.

- Locally he got some ribbing from people because they'd say, "Vollis have you gone crazy?

What in the world are you doing?"

And that didn't bother him because he was getting enjoyment out of it.

He said, "Well, people may think I'm crazy."

He said, "But I'm enjoying it."

- Well, I had a lot of material left over.

I didn't want to just junk it salvage it.

And I put [mumbles].

Worked 10 years putting that out there in the [mumbles] every weekend for 10 years.

Give or take a little bit on Sunday.

Stayed with it, no help period.

The only help I had out there was well digging, dug hold for the horses to see steep foot deep.

I dug the rest over a posthole digger.

[birds chirping] Everybody made fun of me, laughed at me and [mumbles] [birds chirping] Are you out of your dam mind?

My daddy made us all work.

[crowd chattering indistinctly] - This project began as homely as Vollis Simpson himself with an idea, creativity and the tenacity and will to make something beautiful.

Today with deep appreciation to the commitment of Vollis and Jean Simpson and their family.

I am honored to announce this site as the future home of the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park.

[crowd clapping and cheering] - This is a public private partnership.

This is everyone coming together to make this happen.

And I could not be more delighted to be here.

And wherever I travel around the state I remind people that creativity means business in North Carolina.

Creativity means business and it means jobs.

[crowd speaking indistinctly] - Did you try?

[laughs] - What were the odds of this all working?

I'd like to say, they were really good because we had a whole group of really dedicated people and we were not going fail.

[crowd speaking indistinctly] - Her first dance.

♪ Don't worry, about a thing ♪ ♪ 'Cause every little thing, gonna be all right ♪ - How we're gonna impact our community for the future is that we are gonna invest in our community.

We are gonna transform our community by investing.

- It's gonna draw a lot of attention to the city of Wilson and it's gonna benefit us.

By having different people come tourists, money, businesses, new businesses opening up.

- I think the first grant we got was from an organization called ArtPlace.

We got a Creative Placemaking award.

That is when an arts project generates economic development, that got us going.

- They see the vision, they see what it can become.

They see the end result.

The light at the end of the tunnel that if this is finished, it opens doors for other opportunities, for other local businesses.

- Some people came on board at the inception, some people have come on board along the way and some people are still coming on board.

- Back there and bring 'em in and put 'em together.

- You don't a 100% know if it's gonna work.

So yeah, I do sometimes call it a faith-based project because you are surmising that it's going to have the effect that you want it to have but you don't know for sure.

- Designing those things, have to be quite honest with you.

They're not my cup of tea, [people laughing] - Yeah but you know art is in eye of the beholder, but I'm glad we got.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- But they're growing on me.

[people laughing and clapping] - Yeah, you go.

[metal objects clanking] Let us see now.

I got to make some wheels.

[birds chirping] [foreboding music] [men speaking indistinctly] - That would probably go first.

- But do you like the way it looks when it's weathered or do you like it looking new?

- Well, I like it both ways [chuckles] either way that chain is rusty as a ply point it's got own ball burns and- - Yeah it's got grease fittings and all that.

All these tough in yet greasy.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Clean up some of the rust on the chain to make the chain work again.

[upbeat music] - Well, they'll strip that out now.

That's [mumbles] they gonna tie it off.

It needs to be removed.

- Well, we're here to take down the first whirligig and we're just assembling it by pieces and trying to record each piece where it goes back to document it.

- Because he built all of these piece by piece, assembling them on site we're kind of having to take them apart in reverse order.

- I told him I was like the whole shaft from the top comes all the way down to the bottom.

'Cause the whole thing right here spins as well.

- See I hand spun this helix of all the reflector boxes and that seemed to spin independently of the drive shaft above.

- Oh, is it?

- There's a lot of information as to how he put this together and what his thinking was and which elements came first and which were added later.

So we don't wanna lose that sequence of original events and artistic intent.

[upbeat music] - This is an inspection scope, also known as a borescope.

It's a fiber optic little digital camera.

And I'm looking up inside here because he's got a piece of railroad rail, which is basically helping support this.

And we're just seeing how far up he may have welded this in case we have to cut a few weld to this assembly.

[machine engine throttling] - Yeah.

- It might have reflected chain.

- Did you choose a particular gear ratio here to get a certain element of spin or speed?

- Estimates before that's worth?

[man laughing] Turn lots over.

[machine engine running] [men speaking indistinctly] [upbeat music] [men speaking indistinctly] [upbeat music] [machine engine running] - I like fixing stuff.

I really love the challenge of fixing something that somebody else can't.

- Well, if you telling me he can't fix it and he proves you wrong.

[welding machine sizzling] - My name's Sam Price.

I'm from Black Creek, lived there for 42 year.

- My name is Mel Bowen.

I've lived in Wilson all my life.

- This is a Tuff style metal he used.

And he must have had a load of it because he used a lot of it, but it's not available anymore.

They went from this, to a half round quarter round and it is solid.

It has a flat back to it.

So it's gonna add a lot of weight to it.

- You're okay.

- But hopefully we were thinking with the working of the bearings, it's gonna free it up and it's gonna work like it did when we had it.

- These ones.

- Yeah.

- And then there was some other stuff on the interior that we've taken off so they could work on it.

- And so in terms of the- - The metal there, - The rusted metal, we're thinking paint or are we thinking just arrested?

- I think this is one that possibly could be painted.

- That was gone.

Everybody was scratching.

We were all scratching our head trying to figure out what he have [mumbles].

- This has been seen this way for decades.

- That's what I'm saying.

- I mean, it really has been without the paint.

- You don't want be pulling those heavy nail.

- No, I don't want muck with it at all.

- It's all rusting out but that was a very vibrant red piece at one time.

All of it.

- So if you did clear coat that it still from a distant gives you a solid color.

- All of this has to be replaced though.

All of it.

And while they're still functioning and working right now we want them to be working, 30 years from now.

- We want to get people jobs.

We want to keep people in Wilson.

We want people to be able to develop skills, meet the needs of Wilson and the greater Wilson community.

- This is a reflector, one of the DOT sign.

If you take the sum of his life, working, moving buildings, being in the war, that it kind of influences what he's doing.

He's got a word, but all of those experiences together influence what kind of work he is putting together.

- Vollis has been here forever.

So they've grown up with him.

They've been out there when they were really young but I think it belongs to all of citizens in North Carolina.

I even think in terms of the Southeast as a region, that more and more people up and down the East Coast will come to this place, because they're here and they've read about him in the New York Times.

We all know about his work, no matter where we are from because he's the best of what he does.

[Man and Woman speaking indistinctly] - So joy, even an hour or two hours that he could be in the interaction, smell welding equipment, burning, anything like that.

He was happy.

And so just a little exposure with talking with us about it and feeling himself, feeling free that he was, in his mind, where he needed to be.

He was working a little slice of heaven on earth.

- When they get to a tight spot.

They'll think what we always do that says a lot about what they have done to go all out to make this as much like it, he built it as possible.

And to please him, that it was done, right.

[birds chirping] - I used to move houses.

I used to do record service.

I farm and I worked here.

I've done it all.

I mean, I had a big record in Wilson County weighed 44,000 pounds.

Back when I really got in full swing, I didn't make one of nothing.

I may just sit right on make different things and make plenty of them.

[welding machine sizzling] [upbeat music] [crowd clapping] - This project is significant because of the message it's conveying to North Carolinians to other people in the nation and the world.

We want to be like, Vollis Simpson.

We want to be self-reliant.

We want to be talented.

We want to have a vision for how to improve the world and we don't wanna stop until the good Lord makes that decision for us.

I really do think that's a great role model.

And that's extremely important that this project is being lifted up and showing us in North Carolina, how to do this work.

Vollis' art is infused with all these values and these whirligigs are not only becoming a symbol for Wilson and Eastern North Carolina but for our whole state.

[metal pieces clanking] [upbeat music] ♪ Hear the whistle, it's four o'clock ♪ ♪ This whole world, gon' real interrupt ♪ ♪ Keep your hand, keep your hand ♪ ♪ Till I hold on, ♪ ♪ Hold on, hold on ♪ ♪ Keep your hand, keep your hand ♪ ♪ Till I hold on ♪ ♪ Gonna get to heaven, ♪ ♪ I'm gonna chase down ♪ ♪ Where the rob and sterling crown ♪ ♪ Keep your hand, keep your hand ♪ ♪ Till I hold on ♪ ♪ Hold on, hold on ♪ ♪ Keep your hand, keep your hand ♪ ♪ Till I hold on ♪ - Everything was tobacco this, tobacco that.

It was like the booming City of Tobacco, so working in the warehouses or working out in tobacco fields.

Now it's more of art scene, a technology base.

It has like revolutionizes itself and it's the future.

- Now we have the potential to be a real bustling city where people can come because of Vollis Simpson's work.

When you pass through the Park and you see those windmills just going around and moving, all those parts are moving in concert.

It is evident that is a renaissance.

- Come on baby.

We haven't been walk around.

[crowd chattering indistinctly] - To build a park like we are building in a depressed area of Wilson that is generating economic development all around it.

It is generating tourism dollars.

It's generating opportunities for so many people that they wouldn't have had without this project.

It's generating jobs.

It's the old story, a rising tide lifts all boats and this project is doing that and will continue to do that for another generation or more.

[windmill turbines running] [upbeat banjo & violins music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [upbeat banjo music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪