In 1999, a program aimed at reducing teen pregnancy, paid local citizens a $1 a day to not get pregnant. The College Bound Sisters Program , rewarded children starting at age 12 for their ability to prevent their ovaries from becoming infested with the evil seeds of mankind. If the girl made it to college unfertilized, they could have earned up to $2,000 towards their college education. The program was administered by UNCG and funded by the NC Department of Health and Human Services.
2.Southern Guilford High Shcool spelling mistake.
In 2010, Greensboro received international notoriety when the image of a road in front of Southern Guilford was repaved and school zone markings had to be re-painted. Except the word school, was misspelled as shcool. Interestingly, the mistake wasn't caught until it had gone viral on almost every major news network. Quickly after, the embarrassing mistake was fixed.
3. Exotic Carwash
You could say Harper's II Exotic Car Wash on Guilford College road was viral even before the internet, but things blew up when in 1999 the New York Times ran an article that described how topless car-wash served out-of-town guests arriving for a local golf tournament, and how the city would look the other way with this new version of tourism as long as a privacy fence was erected. The best part of the story was how the car wash was seen as punishment to dancers. Eddie Collins, the owner, was quoted as saying "'especially those prima donnas who think they are too good to wash cars.''
4. Exorcism of European Study Abroad Student
Micheal Gromek's story of studying abroad in America went viral when Der Spiegel, a widely read German newspaper, published his account of a year with his Winston Salem host family. From the moment he arrived he was forced to go to church, preached to about sex, and ultimately put through a ritual to banish the devil from his soul. While the events technically did occur in Winston, the story names Greensboro's airport and also, Gromek states that eventually he was placed at another family 50 km away, which suggests it might have been Greensboro.
5. Sinkhole on Wendover opens up and swallows cars.
In 2007, Wendover Avenue developed a minor traffic delay and national coverage, when a sinkhole 15 feet wide and 24 feet deep swallowed a few of the 72,000 vehicles that travel down the busiest street in Greensboro. How did this happen? A leaking pipe eroded the earth underneath the road and swallowed the sedan. In 2012 another sinkhole, this time only six feet wide occurred.
6. Black Doll wears Monkey clothes.
Greensboro's Costco became the viral laughing stock of the retail businesses when pictures of an African American baby doll were posted online. The doll called a Cuddle With Me doll, wears an outfit that reads "l'il monkey", and includes a banana. Many stores in other cities never placed the dolls on the shelves because of the publicity the toy received from shoppers in Greensboro, and who believed it perpetuated continued racism in the south.
