Shopping Local, Supporting Harbor

Jonathan Breeden: [00:00:00] On this week’s episode of The Best of Johnston County podcast, our guest is Amy Kradel and Emily Stocks with the Southern Women’s Show of Johnston County, which is gonna be on October 1st, 2026, at the Clayton Center in downtown Clayton from 4:00 to 8:00. It’s absolutely free, 40 vendors, DJ, cash bar, tons of fun, swag bags, gifts, silent auction, all to raise money for Harbor House and the domestic violence, which is a domestic violence shelter here in Johnston County.

We also talked to Emily Stocks a little bit about her business, Decks Plus, and outdoor patios, sunrooms, and all of that stuff, siding that they provide, to the citizens of Clayton and have now for over 20 years. So if you’re interested in sunrooms, three-season rooms, or the Southern Women’s Show, or how Harbor helps women in Johnston County, listen in.

Welcome to another episode of Best of Johnston County, brought to you by Breeden Law Office. Our host, Jonathan Breeden, an experienced family lawyer with a deep connection to the community, is ready to take [00:01:00] you on a journey through the area that he has called home for over 20 years. Whether it’s a deep dive into the love locals have for the county or unraveling the complexities of family law, Best of Johnston County presents an authentic slice of this unique community.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Best of Johnston County podcast. I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden, and on today’s episode we have Amy Kradel and Emily Stocks with the Southern Women’s Show of Johnston County, and Emily Stocks owns Decks Plus in Clayton, North Carolina.

We’re gonna talk to them a little bit about the where the idea of the Southern Women’s Show came from, what it is, who it benefits, and we’re gonna talk a little bit about decks, what kind of decks you can have, what kind of decks Decks Plus provides, and what they can do to transform your home into an oasis.

But before we get to that, I’d like to ask you to like, follow, subscribe to this podcast wherever you see it, whether it be on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, or any of the other s- social [00:02:00] media channels, the Best Johnston County Podcast. The Best Johnston County Podcast comes out every single Monday, and has now for just at three years.

We started this podcast in November of 2023, so we’re almost at three years, and we’ve had a lot of great guests talking about what they love about Johnston County. So if you love Johnston County as much as we do, this is the podcast for you. Welcome, Emily and Amy.

Emily Stocks: Hi.

Amy Kradel: Hi.

Jonathan Breeden: Hey.

Emily Stocks: How are you?

Jonathan Breeden: Good. I’m doing good.

I appreciate y’all coming here. We started talking about this when we were on a bus tour of Clayton a couple of months ago

Amy Kradel: That’s right

Jonathan Breeden: down by the Clayton Chamber of Commerce, which was a ton of fun. I mean, I learned so much, you know, that I thought the Clayton Chamber did a great job of that. I’d never been behind the gate at Caterpillar ’cause I don’t work at Caterpillar.

Emily Stocks: Right.

Jonathan Breeden: I had no idea it was, like, all these buildings spread over this massive campus or I’d never been behind the gate at Griffols.

Amy Kradel: No.

Jonathan Breeden: You know? And I mean, they built a whole new campus

Amy Kradel: Sure

Jonathan Breeden: on the other side of that railroad track. So, it was fascinating. We had a good time and it was good to get to see you there.

And I [00:03:00] know Amy from her time working with The Neuse.

Amy Kradel: Mm-hmm

Jonathan Breeden: you know, anybody’s who’s ever sold any advertising in Johnston County, I think I know them. You know them. I probably know them. So anyway let’s start with I know you’re here to talk about the Southern Women’s Show, which is on October the 1st at the Clayton Center from 4:00 to, 4:00 to 8:00.

Before we get to that, I do wanna talk a little bit about Decks Plus, your business with your husband. How did it get started? What do y’all do?

Emily Stocks: So, my husband Steve and I, we started Decks Plus in 2019. My background, I was a marketing director for a law firm. And.

Jonathan Breeden: I could use some help.

Emily Stocks: I am happy to help you. And he one day just called me up, I was actually on a trip, and he called and said, “We’re gonna start a deck business.” And I said, “Okay, we’re gonna start a deck business.” So, we actually have a showroom in Clayton. We build lots of composite decks. We transform wood decks into maintenance free.

We specialize in TimberTech composite, but we also do windows, doors. We’ve done work at Amy’s house.

Amy Kradel: Mm-hmm.

Emily Stocks: We’ve done work you know, for a lot of [00:04:00] friends. But basically customer service is our number one.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Yeah, so y’all are general contractors.

Emily Stocks: We are.

Jonathan Breeden: So are you the general contractor or is he?

Emily Stocks: He is.

Jonathan Breeden: He is. He is. He’s got the license.

Emily Stocks: He’s got the license.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. He’s got the license. So how did he get into building?

Emily Stocks: His father. Back when he was a boy, his dad was a general contractor. Steve is from Snow Hill, North Carolina. So he was.

Jonathan Breeden: That’s awesome.

Emily Stocks: Born and raised in North Carolina. And he started doing that with his dad.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s interesting. Yes. I got you. Well, you’re not from Snow Hill, North Carolina.

Emily Stocks: I am not.

Jonathan Breeden: I think you’re like from Boston or somewhere.

Emily Stocks: Well, I am originally from Boston.

Jonathan Breeden: You sound like you’re from Boston, even though you’ve lived here a long time.

Emily Stocks: A long time.

Jonathan Breeden: What brought you to Johnston County?

Emily Stocks: In 2000 I worked for a high-end retirement living community, and they transferred me to Raleigh. So I came to Raleigh in 2000, had my son, and have never left.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s awesome. So that’s awesome.

Emily Stocks: We moved to Johnston County in 2001.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. I gotcha. And y’all do more than just decks, right? You do sunrooms?

Emily Stocks: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Patios.

Emily Stocks: [00:05:00] Screen porches.

Jonathan Breeden: Siding.

Emily Stocks: Yes. Yep, siding. Three season rooms are really big right now. When the pollen season comes, you don’t want a screened-in porch, you wanna be able to put your windows down. So we do a lot of three season rooms also.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, my wife and I have been talking about a three season room for probably 10 years.

Emily Stocks: Well, pull the trigger. Let’s do it.

Jonathan Breeden: I mean, you know, the, the, the issue is, I think, well, I know they would have to change the roof line, and that gets a little expensive.

Emily Stocks: It does.

Jonathan Breeden: But it would be

Emily Stocks: But we can do it.

Jonathan Breeden: But you can do it.

Emily Stocks: We can do it.

Jonathan Breeden: You absolutely can do it. There’s no doubt.

Emily Stocks: Hey, come on, you’re a lawyer.

Jonathan Breeden: Well-

Emily Stocks: You can do it.

Jonathan Breeden: Well-

Emily Stocks: If your wife wants it, we’re gonna do it.

Jonathan Breeden: I understand. One of the things you do that I thought was interesting, concrete patios.

Emily Stocks: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Explain what that is and why that’s a good idea.

Emily Stocks: So a lot of people they want the extra space for a grill. We do a lot of stamped concrete and regular brush finish concrete, but it gives you a little extra space. For people that have a screened porch, obviously you can’t put a grill on a screened porch, so they need a concrete space outside. A lot of people also wanna build a pergola.

Jonathan Breeden: Yep.

Emily Stocks: [00:06:00] Over a concrete space just to make it a little more decorative. So we do, do some of that also. But basically, my main goal is to build Decks.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Emily Stocks: Yes. We want to build lots and lots of composite decks. It’s maintenance-free. Homeowners love them. You never have to stain it, seal it, so that’s a big plus.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, I think I’ve stained or sealed the deck at my house at least two or three times in the 16 years that I’ve owned it. So and then it starts to warp and the wood.

Emily Stocks: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: Comes up a little bit.

Emily Stocks: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: And you know, I get why the composite stuff. But my thought is always it’s too hot The composites are too hot.

Emily Stocks: No, not at all.

Jonathan Breeden: They burn your feet.

Emily Stocks: So TimberTech actually has five or six different composites. They are made of PVC, so it is cooler. It’s called a cool touch board, and there’s several different colors, in gray, in beige, and brown. You can pick what color you want, and it’s actually cooler on your feet than wood. And you don’t have to worry about splinters if you have pets. If you have children, [00:07:00] grandchildren you know, you’re gonna get splinters. It’s wood.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So do y’all do outdoor kitchens or any of that stuff?

Emily Stocks: We do not.

Jonathan Breeden: So you’re not into that sort of.

Emily Stocks: No.

Jonathan Breeden: Design stuff and.

Emily Stocks: No.

Jonathan Breeden: You know, some of the hardscaping. That’s not y’all’s thing.

Emily Stocks: It is not, but we will refer you to someone great.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Emily Stocks: We have lots of great.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Emily Stocks: Vendors that we work with but we don’t do those.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. But you do roofing too.

Emily Stocks: So we do roofing when we build a screened-in porch.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, so you’re not like a roofer.

Emily Stocks: No.

Jonathan Breeden: You’re not gonna just come replace my roof

Emily Stocks: No

Jonathan Breeden: from a hail storm.

Emily Stocks: No, not at all.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Emily Stocks: No.

Jonathan Breeden: So you do roofing because you’d have to change the roof line.

Emily Stocks: Because you have to change the roof line-

Jonathan Breeden: Like at my house

Emily Stocks: to build you a screened-in porch.

Jonathan Breeden: Right, to build me a porch.

Emily Stocks: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. I gotcha. Yeah. My neighbor just finished theirs, and it is really, really, really, really neat. Yes. I mean, you know, ’cause you can just, you know, you can, I guess you put glass.

Amy Kradel: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: And then you just lower the glass, and then you put the glass up, and you would heat and air it with a mini split?

Yes, a mini split. Is that what most people do? That’s what most people do. Mini split. I’ve got one of those in my garage. Yes. they’re really, really neat. When the kids were littler, we could, they would go out [00:08:00] there and we could- Play … turn it on in the summer, in the winter, and they could play, and they could play in the summer- Mm-hmm

when it wouldn’t be, you know, it couldn’t get it real, real cool because it’s hot in the summer here, but it could, it could probably lower it 20 degrees.

Emily Stocks: Oh, definitely.

Jonathan Breeden: I mean

Emily Stocks: For sure. Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. Right. So, I still have remembers when my kids were little out there with the mini split in the garage, you know, playing ping pong in the middle of the winter- Right.

Mm-hmm … and stuff like that. So, so that’s neat. So yeah, the, the pollen, the, the pollens- The pollen is a problem … yeah, it’s a problem. Golly. You know, this is the South, so it is what it is. That’s right. I don’t know if you have pollen in Boston, but anyway.

Emily Stocks: Nope, we do not.

Jonathan Breeden: Do not have pollen in Boston, so well, that’s great.

That’s great. So, so who’s your ideal client? Who, who do y’all work with mai- mainly?

Emily Stocks: We work with homeowners. We don’t work with builders. We work directly for homeowners. So you would call us up. I set up an appointment for Steve or Mark to come out and meet with you, take measurements. They give you an estimate.

If you’re ready to go, we do your build. Right. Simple.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And y’all will-

Emily Stocks: We pull all permits. We’re licensed general contractors. We have four crews [00:09:00] that work directly for Decks Plus. We do not sub out any work.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, I didn’t know that.

Emily Stocks: Yep. Mm-hmm. We do not. We everybody works for Decks Plus, all of our crews.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, that makes it easier for you to keep on time.

Emily Stocks: Yes. Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: So, so you would come out, this wood deck of mine, you would tear it down- We would redo the roof. You could put me a sunroom on, or three-season room

Emily Stocks: Yes

Jonathan Breeden: and then another deck so I’d have an outside area too.

Emily Stocks: Sure.

Jonathan Breeden: You could do both of those things

Emily Stocks: Absolutely

Jonathan Breeden: on the same footprint that was there.

Emily Stocks: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: What about the impervious surface rules?

Emily Stocks: Steve handles all of that. Okay. He does all the architectural drawings. He pulls all the permits, all the impervious. He calculates everything. We take your survey that you have of your house submit everything, and easy-peasy.

Jonathan Breeden: All right. That sounds

Emily Stocks: Yes

Jonathan Breeden: that sounds cool. So, and y’all can do this in just a couple months?

Emily Stocks: Couple weeks.

Jonathan Breeden: Couple weeks. All right, so I don’t have to wait six, eight, 10 weeks for you to start.

Emily Stocks: Not at all. Not at all.

Jonathan Breeden: I guess ’cause you have your own crews.

Emily Stocks: Correct. That’s right.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, man.

Emily Stocks: The longest process is waiting for the permit.

So if you live in the town of Clayton, they run- … two to three weeks. [00:10:00] If you’re in Johnston County, they run about two to three weeks. If you live in Raleigh it could be a month or two.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Well, that’s great. That’s great. That’s great. So how can people reach out to Decks Plus?

Emily Stocks: You can call us or you can visit our website.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Emily Stocks: You can email. You can stop by our showroom. Okay. Our showroom’s open Monday through Friday- All right … 7:00 to 5:00.

Jonathan Breeden: Where’s your showroom?

Emily Stocks: We’re located on at 10151 Clayton Boulevard.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Emily Stocks: We’re right in between the Jiffy Lube and the Pizza Hut, right in front of the Food Lion on Highway 70, now Clayton Boulevard.

Jonathan Breeden: Clay Boulevard. Yes. Okay, cool, cool. And what’s your website?

Emily Stocks: www.decksplusllc.com.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And I’ve been to the website. It’s pretty cool. Like, some of those pictures-

Emily Stocks: I actually need to up

Jonathan Breeden: Did you do all those?

Emily Stocks: I did, but-

Jonathan Breeden: Okay …

Emily Stocks: I actually need to update it.

Jonathan Breeden: I mean, it looks so good I thought- I’m sorry … you were pulling stock pictures.

Emily Stocks: Not at all.

Jonathan Breeden: I mean, I was like, “This is really impressive.”

I’m like, “She got some AI pictures on here.”

Emily Stocks: No, no AI pictures.

Jonathan Breeden: I only [00:11:00] put on there jobs that we’ve done.

I know. I’m just giving you a hard time. I’m giving you a hard time.

That’s good. Right. Tons of five-star reviews. Yes. Tons and tons of five-star reviews which is great. They actually are all five stars on Google, so- No.

14.9 … and that’s hard to

Emily Stocks: get. Oh,

Jonathan Breeden: 14 point… Okay.

Emily Stocks: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: I gotcha.

Emily Stocks: We built a wood deck and there was one nail that got left up.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, my.

Emily Stocks: We didn’t bang it

Jonathan Breeden: in hard enough. Oh my goodness. Oh, man. That’s crazy.

Amy Kradel: Anne admits it.

Emily Stocks: And it, and I- And Anne made it. Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. All right. We

Emily Stocks: try to be perfect, but you know.

Amy Kradel: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah.

Right. That’s great. That’s great. All right. Well, so let’s talk a little bit about this, the Southern Women Show that.

Emily Stocks: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Y’all are doing this. This is gonna be your third year.

Amy Kradel: Yes.

Emily Stocks: Third year.

Jonathan Breeden: Third year. I know that’s exciting and you know, I’ve been a sponsor of it I think all three years.

Emily Stocks: All three years. Yes, you have. We appreciate it.

Jonathan Breeden: And you know, I’m a big supporter of Harbor, and I thought it was a great thing when y’all were gonna try to raise money for Harbor. So where did the idea come from?

Amy Kradel: So Emily and I, Friends, live in the same neighborhood, friends, shopping friends.

Emily Stocks: Over 10 years.

Amy Kradel: Bunko friends, all that. Her, my husband and I are friends with her and her husband like that. And so we, the Raleigh Women’s [00:12:00] Show, COVID kinda stopped all those shopping shows. And Emily and I, ’cause I was working part-time at the Neuse Country Club and getting to know a lot of people downtown Clayton and realizing that, oh my gosh, I’m getting my energy again, meeting all these different people, love that, and Emily’s the same ilk.

And I was like, “Emily, let’s do a shopping spree. We can raise money. Let’s find the charity that, you know, where our heart leads us,” and that led to Harbor. And that first year we were just like, “Okay, are we gonna be able to do this?” And we did it, and loved it and here we are, third year.

Jonathan Breeden: Man, that’s wild.

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Jonathan Breeden: And so, [00:13:00] this year there’s gonna be 40 vendors.

Amy Kradel: 40 vendors.

Jonathan Breeden: At the Clayton Center, October 1st. And so what kind of vendors will be there?

Amy Kradel: We have such a good.

Emily Stocks: I know. It’s huge.

Amy Kradel: Oh, my gosh. So we immediately knew that we wanted to curate who the vendors are, ’cause we didn’t want 10 vendors of the same product. So we’ve really tried to be across the board, everything you can imagine. We have people that fishing lures to homemade leather purses that the quality is unbelievable, to, you know, boutiques.

Emily Stocks: Party.

Amy Kradel: Where I work part-time, Boutique 1220.

Emily Stocks: Yep.

Amy Kradel: Shout out Smithfield, come see us.

And I mean, we just have such a good display of everything, of local businesses, and we try to use all the local vendors we can, ’cause we want as many community, local, you know, local people from the community there-

Jonathan Breeden: Right

Amy Kradel: as possible.

Jonathan Breeden: And I guess there’s, there’s music, there’s a DJ.

Amy Kradel: We have a DJ. We have a cash bar inside the chambers, which [00:14:00] is where some of the vendors will be. We have a s- certain area for our sponsors, and we’ll mention our sponsors for sure, and, ’cause we, it wouldn’t happen without our sponsors.

Without our sponsors. Thank you. And we, you know, it’s just, we’re just trying to do bring that variety in that we think Clayton, all the people can enjoy

and- And this year we’ve added in a silent auction.

Yes.

So we’re trying to get a lot of donations. Trying to get a grill right now from Hudson’s Hardware.

Mm-hmm.

And a lot of other businesses. Yes, yes. Some baskets, some different things, to raise more money for Harbor.

Emily and I go around during the event and sell raffle tickets, ’cause we do a 50/50. We also sell raffle tickets for the gift baskets or prizes, because every person that attends, it is free to the public, will get one raffle ticket when they come in.

Emily Stocks: And also, we have 150 swag bags.

Amy Kradel: Yes.

Emily Stocks: For the first 150 people that come through the doors they get a free swag bag-

Amy Kradel: Mm-hmm … filled with- With, with info, with info and items [00:15:00] from vendors.

Emily Stocks: And sponsors.

Amy Kradel: And sponsors.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, that’s cool. That’s cool.

Emily Stocks: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: So it is free.

Emily Stocks: It is free.

Jonathan Breeden: Free for anybody to come

Emily Stocks: Mm-hmm

Jonathan Breeden: and shop and see what’s going on.

Amy Kradel: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: And I mean, what do you hope people get from it? I know we’re raising money for charity, but I mean, what was your thought? Promote small businesses?

Emily Stocks: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: Bring the community together?

Amy Kradel: Yes. Yes and yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Kradel: And I think because we know how much we enjoyed doing things as a small group with friends and going out and doing that, and Clayton is, the growth is crazy, and why can’t we start our own?

And we did. And again, it all leads to community, ’cause Clayton’s community is just growing like crazy. And I feel like the ties are really solid with a lot of people downtown Clayton, and I enjoyed it so much when I was down there. I mean, you know, we’d go to an event just to go just so we could.

Emily Stocks: Right.

Amy Kradel: Get to meet people. See people.

Emily Stocks: Right. And Johnston County is growing, as you know. Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, no. Well, in the last two years you’ve done it at the Neuse Country Club.

Amy Kradel: Yes, and we outgrew that.

Jonathan Breeden: And yeah, outgrew that. And so now [00:16:00] you’re gonna go to the Clayton Center.

Amy Kradel: Clayton Center.

Jonathan Breeden: And you know, it’s gonna be. That’s a lot, I mean, 40 vendors is a lot.

Amy Kradel: And if it keeps.

Emily Stocks: We could have 70 easily.

We potentially are gonna outgrow this area. And we were just talking before we started and said, “Gosh, if we could find an empty warehouse somewhere that, you know, had heating and air and electricity, we could make that work.”

Amy Kradel: And.

Emily Stocks: Or maybe we do try to get something. You know, we’re trying to keep it Johnston County.

Amy Kradel: Yes.

Emily Stocks: So that’s why to go to Raleigh, sure, we could go to the fairgrounds where the Raleigh Southern End of the Show used to be.

Amy Kradel: We wanna stay in Johnston County.

Jonathan Breeden: Right, right, right, right.

Emily Stocks: But our goal is to stay in Johnston County.

Amy Kradel: And support Harbor, which is.

Jonathan Breeden: Yes.

Amy Kradel: Local and our growth for that, so our first year we raised.

Emily Stocks: 1,500.

Amy Kradel: 1,500, and then last year we raised 3,000. Our goal this year 5,000, and we just want.

Emily Stocks: 1,801.

Amy Kradel: It to continue to grow.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, that’s great. That’s great. That’s great. So how did y’all decide on Harbor? I mean, I love Katrusia

Emily Stocks: Right

Jonathan Breeden: and, and all of them.

Amy Kradel: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: And you know, you know- We did, we did … we work, we work, we [00:17:00] work with them, we work with them all the time because, you know, we do domestic violence cases here. Right. Sometimes we’re on, we’re on both sides you know-

Amy Kradel: Well, we support Pizzazz … to stay to the business. We support…

And we also support any, like, The Purple Shoe, and, which is not Johnston County, but all those like, and Pizzazz, we support that. And, and I don’t know if it’s because we do know people personally involved with Harbor or is it, you know, we, when you checked all the boxes, it checked all the boxes for us saying, “Okay, it’s local.

We know people. We know it’s an ongoing issue that still needs support, and how can we help?” And that’s-

Jonathan Breeden: Right …

Amy Kradel: that’s where we’re-

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Well, and, and so, harborshelter.org is the website. And they are Johnston County’s domestic violence shelter and domestic violence educator, and court, have court advocacy as well.

They, they do have, they do have a shelter. They help people if they can help you they have classes to help you get out of a domestic violence situation. They have classes to help you [00:18:00] stay out. They are offered on Zoom. You can do them from your house. They’re absolutely free. You just reach out to them and they will be glad to help you.

If you need a place to go, they will help you do that. Pizzazz is their high-end sort of thrift store that is in downtown Clayton. And it is open several days a week. And I’ve taken more stuff there- Uh-huh … with tags on it-

Emily Stocks: Mm-hmm …

Jonathan Breeden: than not tags on it. Right … from kids and, and, and, you know, stuff- Women’s clothing

women’s clothing and stuff like that. A lot of clothes. And it’s really, really they do a really, really good job with that.

Amy Kradel: Well, you know, we used to do the swap. We did. And we had, in our neighborhood, we did a swap for all the ladies in the neighborhood, and I enjoyed that so much ’cause… And you would not believe the amount of clothes that people would bring out of their closet.

And we, you know, we were like, “Bring things gently used, just like you would take to Pizzazz. We’ll do a little swap, and then what’s left we’ll take to Pizzazz.” To Pizzazz. If you could have seen her-

Emily Stocks: My Tahoe was full

Amy Kradel: Full …

Emily Stocks: of

Amy Kradel: shoes- [00:19:00] Of what we, we take every time … and clothes and jewelry and- With tags

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, no, right.

Amy Kradel: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah.

Emily Stocks: You know.

Jonathan Breeden: No, I, I do. I

Amy Kradel: do. I do. But it, but it’s definitely worth, I mean, support Pizzazz ’cause they get good stuff in there, and it’s, I mean, the ladies, they do a great job. And-

Emily Stocks: And Kay Johnston is a dear friend of mine. I’m actually on the Harbor board of directors. And Kay really appreciates-

Amy Kradel: Mm-hmm

Emily Stocks: all the help. Whether it’s $1,500 or $5,000- Right … they don’t care. Right. They need the money, like you said. Right. These, th- these women are going to court. Right. These women need clothing. They need to get a job. They need to get out of a domestic violence situation. You know firsthand- Oh,

Jonathan Breeden: I absolutely do. Right

what that means. I, I gave, I gave her a car one time. I had an old car, and, and I gave it to her, and they, they shined it up and gave it to somebody- The perfect person … who needed a car to get going. Mm-hmm. Yes. And you know. That’s amazing. And, right, yeah. And that’s when she first became the Harbor director.

I knew her from when she was doing juvenile justice. Oh, okay. Uh, we were, we were helping. I was representing juvenile deli- delinquents that were getting in trouble, and she [00:20:00] was helping- Mm-hmm … try to restore them with classes- Mm-hmm … and counseling and stuff like that. So anyway, but she was great. She on the podcast, I think maybe around Christmas of ’25, I think.

I didn’t look before I got on here, but go back and find the one with, with her. It is fascinating. Her story and how she got to do it, and what they’re doing is tremendous. They have their Harbor Ball every year- Yeah … around Va- Valentine’s Day or the week after Valentine’s Day. We support that every year, and that’s, that’s so fun.

I know you’re involved with that as well. And it’s just a great group of people. So, I guess, how do people reach out? If they wanna sponsor, if they wanna. I know the vendors are probably sold out at this point.

Amy Kradel: Vendors are sold out.

Jonathan Breeden: Vendors are sold out. Vendors are sold out, but if they wanna sponsor?

Amy Kradel: We would love sponsors. We welcome any sponsors, and.

Emily Stocks: Absolutely.

Amy Kradel: And I have to say our sponsors come back every year.

Emily Stocks: Yes. Just like you. Yes. And we appreciate that.

Amy Kradel: And we appreciate it because we do what we can.

Emily Stocks: To promote you.

Amy Kradel: Support our sponsors and promote, and that’s gonna continue to increase too on how we can do our promotions and stuff, because our growth is [00:21:00] happening on the backside of things as much as it’s.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Amy Kradel: Happening on the front side of things.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So what’s the website?

Amy Kradel: Probably our contact information is the easiest and best way.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Kradel: And our emails are the best way. So if you wanna.

Emily Stocks: Absolutely.

Amy Kradel: And that’s on here.

Emily Stocks: And it’s, and also the Southern Women Show of JoCo, we have a Facebook page. They can message us, they can go to Southern Women Show of JoCo, send us a message. It will come to Amy and myself. We’re admins on there.

Amy Kradel: Yes.

Emily Stocks: Or, I mean, feel free, they can email Amy or myself directly. My email address is EmilyMKT29@gmail.com.

And mine is easy. It’s Amy Kradel, and then that’s AmyKradel109@yahoo.com.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right. So the Facebook page y’all’s, y’all’s emails

would be the best way to reach out if somebody’s interested in a sponsor.

Emily Stocks: And they can, if they wanna Facebook message us, we’ll be happy to give I’ll be happy to give ’em my phone number to call me- Yes

and we can have a live conversation.

Jonathan Breeden: All right. Cool, cool. That’s great. [00:22:00] So last question we ask everybody on this podcast, what do you love most about Johnston County?

Amy Kradel: Okay. Well, now I am from Johnston County.

She’s from Johnston county.

I can go, you know, I’m from Meadow. Not Meadow, I’m from Meadow.

Jonathan Breeden: Meadow, that’s right. That’s right.

Amy Kradel: So I am I just love JoCo. I never, I always thought growing up and going to Campbell, I was like, “Oh, I’m gonna leave Johnston County. I’m gonna fly away and never come back.” And marrying a man from Massachusetts, and here we are living in Johnston County.

Emily Stocks: Yep.

Amy Kradel: So that tells you. I love Johnston County.

Jonathan Breeden: All right.

Emily Stocks: And for me, I love Johnston County. It’s just the small town feel. Now it’s growing, so now it’s getting to be, you know, a little bit bigger. But I went to college in Providence, Rhode Island. I grew up in Danvers, Mass. You know, I took my first job in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Amy Kradel: Wow. Yes.

Emily Stocks: So, I mean, for me, I went from city life to, I mean.

Amy Kradel: Myrtle Beach.

Emily Stocks: Myrtle Beach.

Jonathan Breeden: Myrtle Beach, which is its own thing.

Amy Kradel: Which is its own thing, yes. I was only there two years. But moving to [00:23:00] Johnston County, I mean, I just love it. I love the people. I love, you know, the diversity. And just being a part of the community.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. No, it really is the people.

Emily Stocks: It is.

Jonathan Breeden: I mean, it’s the people. You know, you can live anywhere, but you’re not gonna find this good of people that’ll do anything.

Emily Stocks: Right.

Jonathan Breeden: To help you.

Emily Stocks: Correct.

Jonathan Breeden: And that’s the thing that I love the most about it.

Amy Kradel: And I was gonna say, I think people that move here want that feeling.

Jonathan Breeden: Correct.

Amy Kradel: Sure. So it just kinda.

Emily Stocks: Yes.

Amy Kradel: Osmosis. We all kinda get along.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Right. It rubs off on people.

Amy Kradel: Yes. Absolutely.

Jonathan Breeden: Right? Right. No, it absolutely does. Absolutely does.

Emily Stocks: I mean, my parents left the North and moved down to The Villages in Florida, and it’s like, I go down there and I’m like, “Oh, hmm, I don’t think I could live here forever.”

Maybe for a couple of months in the winter I could, but I just love this area. Mm-hmm. I love the people.

Jonathan Breeden: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. That’s great. Well, we’d like to thank Amy Kradel and Amy St- Emily Stocks from the Southern Women’s Show of Johnston County for being our guest on this week’s episode of Best County Podcast.

And we talked a little bit about Decks Plus. So if you’re interested in [00:24:00] a deck, siding outdoor patio space, reach out to Emily and Decks Plus, or go visit their showroom on Clayton Boulevard there near the Pizza Hut in Clayton, North Carolina. The Southern Women’s Show will be, the third anniversary of it, or the third version of it, I guess- Mm-hmm

will be October 1st at the Clayton Center from 4:00 to 8:00. 40 vendors, DJ, cash bar tons of fun, sponsors, raffles, giveaway, swag bags. So, if you’d like to do some local shopping and support local vendors and a local charity like Harbor please visit them. If you’d like to sponsor it, reach out to them.

As I mentioned earlier they definitely could use more sponsors. I know the vendors are already sold out. So, definitely reach out to help sponsor that, or just contribute to Harbor yourself. And you can do that and visit the Southern Women’s Show, and maybe find, do some early Christmas shopping there on October 1st.

So until next time, I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden.

That’s the end of today’s episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to [00:25:00] sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.

If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.