Growing Up in the Piedmont Triad

Book excerpt: North Carolina's Piedmont Triad was a magical place to grow up in the '40s and '50s. Time ticked slowly with The Lone Ranger on black-and-white TV sets, newspaper cartoons like Roy Rogers and nine-cent Saturday morning kiddie movies. Teens joined the Latin Club, danced at the city swimming pool's upstairs pavilion and swooned over Elvis Presley at the YMCA. Parents hosted bridge parties, followed Sam Sneed at the Greensboro Open and listened to Ella Fitzgerald at Club Kilby. Travel back with local author Alice Sink to the halcyon days of country fairs, stock car racing at Bowman Gray Stadium and Betty Crocker. Featuring nostalgic Triad recipes and an "Older than Dirt" quiz, this compendium of memories will make anyone of a certain age with roots around these parts feel like a kid in a candy store.