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CHOCOWINITY – A new restaurant and funds from the American Rescue Fund are soon to arrive in town. 

The restaurant, Poppy’s Smokehouse, is moving from its current location in Winterville to the Food Lion shopping center and will be taking up residence in the old Highway 55 restaurant location. 

“They will be relocating here in Chocowinity where Highway 55 used to be,” said Joy McRoy, town clerk and finance officer of the town of Chocowinity. “They just put in their zoning permit and their deposit so I don’t know what their timeline is as far as actually opening.”

The restaurant features barbecued beef and pork prepared Texas and North Carolina style and a host of local produce from area farmers. Applications are open for all positions at the new restaurant and are available on the restaurant’s Facebook page. 

In addition to the new restaurant, McRoy says the town has been granted funds through the American Rescue Fund. 

“We will be getting some of the American Rescue Plan funds and we’re looking into maybe getting broadband or some citywide wifi. We’re trying to get a point to point system where we can put cameras up at intersections so if anything happens, we can have that on camera.”

The American Rescue Plan funds are part of a nationwide stimulus funding program to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These funds come from the American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed into law on March 11 and promised $1.9 trillion in funding to individuals and municipalities to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.