Tuesday
Because of the area’s first severe thunderstorm in months on Friday, the Clover delegation left Charlotte 90 minutes later than scheduled only to miss the connecting flight and be stranded in New Jersey overnight. The group was rerouted through Germany and didn’t arrive in Larne, Northern Ireland, until Sunday, more than 30 hours after leaving the states. “We’re happy to finally be here,” said Mayor Donnie Burris calling Enquirer-Herald from Larne on Monday.
When entering Larne, the group noticed a sign that said “Welcome to Larne, Sister City to Clover.”
Clover plans to post a similar sign in the future. The delegation spent Monday taking in the sights of Northern Ireland, including Giant’s Causeway, a beautiful rock formation along the water, Bushmills Distillery, the oldest licensed distillery in the world, Carrick A Rede, a bridge hundreds of feet above the water, and Dunluce Castle, an old castle on a hill overlooking the water.
They discovered many of the towns across Northern Ireland, including Larne, have plenty of businesses but there are no major chains or international industries. “It’s a lot of locally-owned shops and businesses,” Burris said. Today, the delegation spent the morning visiting Larne schools. They didn’t show up empty-handed. At Larne High, Burris presented a Clover Blue Eagles football jersey to Larne High’s acting principal John Armstrong. The official Sister Cities Agreement signing ceremony is later tonight.
Wednesday
It was an event worth waiting for. During the Larne Borough Council’s meeting on Tuesday, Mayor Donnie Burris signed the official Sister Cities Agreement with Larne, Northern Ireland.
“It was a culmination of a 10-year process and it felt great,” Burris said, calling from Larne. “We started out this twinning relationship and never expected it to evolve into what it is today. We’ve all become such good friends.”
Burris described the last 10 years as a courtship. Many Clover leaders worked hard throughout the last decade fostering the relationship with Larne.
“Now, it’s like we’re in a marriage,” Burris said. “We’ve developed a full partnership, and we have this great opportunity to help each other out.”
After the ceremony, the group exchanged gifts, had dinner in the Mayor’s Parlor and chatted the night away with their newfound friends from Northern Ireland.
Earlier in the day, the Clover delegation toured Larne schools. “It’s so different from our schools,” Burris said. “It’s much more formal.”
The group visited Larne High School, Larne Grammar School, St. Comgall’s College and Roddensvale School, where they met with some of the same students who visited York County earlier this year. One student, Mason, remembered his visit to a Charlotte Knights game — he even remembered Homer the mascot — and treated the group to his own rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
Friday
The Larne delegation spent most of Wednesday and Thursday working on economic development opportunities. They met with chamber leaders and had lunch with LEDCOM, an economic development group.
"They have programs over here we can really learn from," Mayor Donnie Burris said. "We've been talking in Clover a lot about business specs. They have that, too, but it's a business start-up program."
The program is geared toward entrepreneurs and small industries. In addition to providing a work space, the business start-up program provides resources to help the business reach its goal, Burris said.
"They have an 80 percent success here," Burris said.
The Clover group also met Reverend McClure at Larne First Presbyterian. They shared a letter that Clover Presbyterian Pastor Douglass Key had written and discussed many ways to revive a partnership between the two churches.
They also discussed a sister city arrangement between a Northern Ireland golf course and Spring Lake, met with the Larne Times editor Valerie Martin, learned about Larne's history from expert Liam Kelly and attended a Rotary Club meeting.
They'll attend a farewell dinner tonight and head home first thing Saturday.