Meet Nick Hess
Nick Hess knows Smithfield the way you only can when you've poured concrete-level work into it.
[Nick grew up in [HOMETOWN] and served in the [BRANCH OF SERVICE], where he [SERVICE DETAILS — years, role]. He studied [DEGREE/FIELD] at [SCHOOL].] (Confirm every detail in this paragraph with Nick before publishing; delete anything he does not confirm.)
In June 2021, at one of the hardest moments in memory for the restaurant industry, Nick and his partners Derek Joyner and Tim Ryan did something most people thought was crazy: they opened a new restaurant. Not just anywhere — in the restored 1929 Red Point Service Station on South Church Street, a roughly 750-square-foot piece of Smithfield history they rebuilt with salvaged materials and a lot of stubbornness. Red Point Taphouse became the first restaurant to open in Smithfield after COVID hit: a farm-to-table kitchen with its own one-barrel brewery, run as a family effort with Nick's wife, Julie, as general manager. Nick and Derek had met the way a lot of Smithfield friendships start — coaching youth baseball together.
“I'm not running against anyone. I'm running for the town that gave my family everything.”
— Nick Hess
For three and a half years, Red Point did what great local businesses do: it hired local, bought local, and gave people a reason to gather. In January 2025, with other professional commitments growing, the partners sold the restaurant to new owners who keep the taps flowing today — while Nick and his partners kept and care for the historic building itself.
Nick's work in town didn't stop at the restaurant door. In December 2022, he and Julie, together with Gordon and Deb Holloway, purchased Gatling Pointe Yacht Club, keeping a neighborhood gathering place in local hands. He is a member of the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce. And he currently serves as Chair of the Smithfield Board of Zoning Appeals — the citizen board that applies the town's land-use rules fairly, case by case. It's detailed, unglamorous work, and it means Nick will walk into Town Council already knowing how zoning, permitting, and town process actually function.
Nick has also seen the other side of the counter. As a small-business owner, he experienced firsthand how a single town requirement — in his case, a water-line connection costing tens of thousands of dollars — can push a thriving local business to the brink. He doesn't tell that story out of grievance. He tells it because he never wants another Smithfield business owner to face a process that feels arbitrary, slow, or deaf to common sense.
That's why he's running: not against anyone, but for a Smithfield that grows on its own terms, spends taxpayer money like it's the town's rent check, treats its small businesses like the treasures they are, and does the public's business in public.
Nick and Julie live in Smithfield. You'll still find him at the ballfields, on Main Street, and — every chance he gets — on your front porch, asking for your vote.
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Nick is running a front-porch campaign — and there's a job for everyone who wants Smithfield to get this right.
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