Capital at Play May 2016

Ginger Frank

Poppy Hand-Crafted Popcorn p.12

Phelps Clarke & Douglas Ager Solar Craftsmen p.50

Mari Fox

Mother’s Little Helper p.64

The Free Spirit Of Enterprise s t u dent colu m n

Noah Koch – Adrenture p.22

c a p i ta l a d v e n t u r i s t

MX Marks the Spot p.78

Gone to the Dogs LOCAL INDUSTRY

Volume VI - Edition V complimentary edition

capitalatplay.com

Doggie Day Care Throughout Western North Carolina

p. 24

May 2016

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2

| May 2016

Kelly Davis

Steve Jennings

Jean Wauford

T. Jeff Covington

John A. York

Ragan H. Ward

John D. Kimberly

B:11.375” T:10.875” S:10.125”

Where to?

Wherever your financial journey takes you, the community bankers at Carolina Alliance Bank can help you find the way.

From Asheville’s art galleries to the apple orchards of Hendersonville, they know Western North Carolina, and with everything from commercial loans to mortgages, they’ve got the products you need to meet your goals.

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carolinaalliancebank.com May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

3

Editor’s Thoughts

F

or the May Capital at Play we are immensely proud of a new feature of the magazine we’re initiating. It’s appropriately called the “Student Column,” and, per that title, it will involve area university students profiling fellow student entrepreneurs. No huge departure for us, content-wise; covering the regional pool of entrepreneurial talent is not only right in our wheelhouse—it is our wheelhouse.

That said, the column is something our publisher Oby Morgan had been thinking about for some time, and when he floated the idea to me I was immediately all in. Not only would it potentially give us access to a previously untapped well of subject matter—the occasional Facebook-like phenomenon aside, I’m not sure that most people even realize successful businesses are increasingly being launched from college campuses—it would also allow us to utilize our own resources to encourage and assist promising young careers, not just of entrepreneurs but also writers.

In a nutshell, the students writing the columns look into the entrepreneurial efforts of a current student, or one who graduated in the last calendar year but had still developed his or her business idea while in school. For journalism students, they get to develop portfolios, hone interviewing skills, and gain valuable experience working directly with an editor; marketing/PR students learn about how to craft an organic narrative and work with a media outlet; and the student entrepreneurs, hopefully, will gain some valuable exposure for their products and services. As one person enthusiastically told us, upon hearing about our plans, “This is like a win-win-win-win!”

For our inaugural Student Column, then, please meet Appalachian State University student Noah Koch, whose Adrenture company brings an AirBnB-style peer-to-peer approach to outdoor gear rental, and Allegra Korver, also at Appalachian State, a writer and marketing/business management major. Both may be relatively new to the world of business that we here at Capital at Play operate within, but as far as I’m concerned, both of them are already winners.

Sincerely,

Fred Mills

4

| May 2016

ASHEVILLE: Historic Biltmore Village 9 Kitchin Place 828-274-2630

STORE HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 9:30am-7pm Sat. 9:30am-6pm Sun. 12pm-5pm May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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The Free Spirit Of Enterprise

publisher

Oby Morgan associate publisher

Jeffrey Green managing editor

Fred Mills briefs and events editor

Leslee Kulba copy editors

Dasha O. Morgan, Brenda Murphy contributing writers & photogr aphers Emily Ballard, Jeff Eason, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Anthony Harden, Allegra Korver, Amanda Lugenbell, Roger McCredie, Marla Hardee Milling, Toni Sherwood, Arthur Treff

You want the best for your family.

gr aphic designer

Bonnie Roberson marketing & advertising David Morgan, Katrina Morgan, Pat Starnes

Information & Inquiries gener al advertising inquiries

e-mail advertising@capitalatplay.com or call 828.274.7305

So do we, and it shows.

Pardee Hospital was named one of the 100 Best Hospitals in America for Patient Experience.

for subscription information

subscribe online at www.capitalatplay.com or call 828.274.7305 for editorial inquiries

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FINEST QUALITY HANDCRAFTED MATTRESSES MADE IN ASHEVILLE

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andcrafted in Asheville, mattresses by Colton Mattress Factory at 848 Hendersonville Road offer unmatched durability, uncompromising comfort and orthopedic support. Artisan craftsmanship that incorporates the latest in mattress technology with age-old handcrafting techniques makes for the most comfortable night’s sleep you’ve had in years.

Business owner Mike Emerson has been in the mattress business for 35 years. At 13, he started working for a small mattress company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, sweeping floors and helping with deliveries. At the age of 20, the owner retired and Emerson bought the company. Over the next 10 years, Emerson expanded the business to 20 stores in 5 midwestern states with over a hundred employees, Emerson still owns half the company and it is still in operation today. Emerson was semi-retired and living in Asheville, feeling bored, and decided to start another mattress factory and named it after his son, Colton.

People here in Asheville really like buying high quality products that are locally made.

Emerson says, “Business has been strong and we can hardly keep up with demand.” He said, “A lot of customers that come into our store are frustrated with the quality of nonflip brand-name mattresses that they have purchased recently that didn’t last as long as they expected. So many products today are made to wear out fairly quickly so you have to replace them. Colton makes mattresses the old-fashioned way so they last longer.”

Asheville’s headquarters for adjustable beds, Colton Mattress can build the bed that is perfect for you. It makes beds with infinite mattress positions that include head and foot massage. Create your own adjustments to relieve back pain, improve circulation, and sleep deeply. Any mattress

Colton Mattress builds can be turned into an adjustable bed.

Want a super-firm mattress, a super-soft mattress or something in between? Colton Mattress can create the precise firmness you desire. It sells a lot of beds made with latex, a natural material that naturally inhibits dust mites, mold and mildew. Derived from the tropical rubber tree, latex instantaneously conforms to the shape of your body, relieving pressure points for an uninterrupted sleep. Talalay latex used by Colton reduces high-pressure areas that shut off capillary blood flow and cause you to toss and turn all night.

Mattresses made from Cooling Gel Memory Foam conform to the body, relieve pressure points and aid circulation. Choices range from pillowy soft to body-contouring firm.

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Memory foam mattresses virtually eliminate motion transfer. (you won’t feel your sleep partner move). Emerson stated, “We offer a 30-day comfort guarantee because we want you to love your new mattress.”

When you purchase a new mattress from Colton they will donate your old mattress to people in need if it is still sleepable.

There are 25 different models to choose from at the showroom. Visit with Mike Emerson or Rick Reed and they will help you select the perfect mattress for you.

Colton sells directly to the consumer, eliminating distributors and retail stores, to keep prices competitive with national brands. Colton has mattresses for every budget, prices range from $110- $5000. Colton is committed to manufacturing and selling the highest-quality mattresses and when you buy direct from the factory you save 10-50% every day. Colton builds and stocks a wide selection of mattress types and sizes.

COLTON MATTRESS SPECIALIZES IN 4 TYPES OF MATTRESSES • 2-sided mattresses that can be flipped over

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May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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ANYTOWN SUBARU ANYTOWN SUBARU

Built to take you to the Another case of a Subaru Good Good news. news. place you’ve never been. r winding roads. places others don’t. or going winding roads.

It’s It’s winter. winter.

winding ones. nwinding ones.

The The all-new all-new 2012 2012 Subaru Impreza.

Impreza.

The The optimist’s optimist’s car car ofof choice. choice.

Symmetrical You have the go-anywhere capability of a Subaru, alongSymmetrical with Less Less of of a aSubaru test test drive. drive.

The 2016 Legacy doesn’t follow. With industry-leading safety, it’s a 2015 mance that comes with Subaru engineering, the All-Wheel All-Wheel Drive Drive and and 36 mpg* mpg* get get you you further further in in any any weather. weather.

Traction Traction and stability stability X-MODE and a36 surprisingly spacious upgraded interior.

It’s and the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ with optional EyeSight. Add to that the confidence More More of of a a joy joy ride. ride. rmance that comes with Subaru engineering, the mosthelp fuel-effi cient midsize crossover in America at 33smiling mpg. control control help avoid avoid slippery slippery situations. situations.

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Subaru, Legacy, and EyeSight are registered trademarks. *EPA-estimated hwy fuel economy for 2016 Subaru Legacy 2.5i models. Actual mileage may 1 sedans for January 2005 – October 2014. **MSRP excludes destination on IHS Automotive, Polk U.S. Total Registrations fortrademarks. all-wheel drive vary. †Based Subaru, Forester, Impreza, Legacy and Outback are registered EPA-estimated hwy fuel economy for 2015 Outback 2.5i models. Actual mileage † † *EPA-estimated *EPA-estimated hwy hwy fuelfuel economy forand for 2012 2012 Subaru Subaru Impreza 2.0i2.0i CVT CVT models. models.

Actual Actual mileage mileage may may vary. vary.

MSRP excludes excludes destination destination andand delivery delivery charges, charges, tax,tax, titletitle andand registration registration fees. fees. and delivery charges, tax, title, registration fees.

Retailer sets actual price.

2016 Subaru Legacy 2.5i Limited pictured has an MSRP ofCUV $29,935. oneconomy EPA-estimated hwy fuelImpreza economy for 2015 model vehicles within the IHSMSRP Automotive, Polk Non-Luxury Midsize segment. may vary. 2Based Dealer Dealer sets sets actual actual price. price.

2012 2012 Impreza Impreza 2.0i2.0i Limited Limited pictured pictured hashas an an MSRP MSRP of $21,595. of $21,595.

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2011 2011 Outback Outback

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this page :

An installation of Solar Panels by Sugar Hollow Solar photo by Anthony Harden

F E AT U R E S vol. vi

12 A KERNEL OF AMBITION & A BUCKETFUL OF WORK GINGER FRANK

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50

SOLAR CRAFTSMEN PHELPS CLARKE & DOUGLAS AGER

64 MOTHER’S LITTLE HELPER MARI FOX

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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Going To The Dogs: Create Your Happy With doggy day care in Western North Space Carolina, there’s more involved than

mx r acers

rounding the bend, photo by Anthony Harden

78

c a p i ta l a d v e n t u r i s t

MX Marks The Spot

what meets the paw, er, eye.

Local garden and landscaping experts offer advice for digging in the dirt.

Inside the colorful, noisy, and thrillseeking world of Indoor Motocross in Western North Carolina.

s t u dent colu m ns

briefs

p e o p l e at p l ay

22 N oah Koch – Adrenture A peer-to-peer rental system specializing in outdoor gear.

Written by Allegra Korver

on the cover :

One of the playful pooches at A Dog’s Day Out of Hendersonville, photo by Anthony Harden.

10

| May 2016

36 Carolina in the West 60 The Old North State 74 National & World News

88 SAVOR Blowing Rock 2016.

events

90 Decisions, Decisions

This month there’s music galore, theatrical encores, and stuff to explore—including performances by Willie Nelson, stagings of “Death of a Salesman”, and excursions into wilderness stargazing and salamander hunting.

UIT? #1 #1REASON REASON #1 PEOPLE PEOPLERE QUIT? QUIT?

HIP POOR POOR POO LEADERSHIP. LEADERSHIP. .

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LetLet Express Let Employment Express providesolutions solutionstoto Em Express EmploymentProfessionals Professionals provide address your address workplace your w address your workplacechallenges. challenges.

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www.expresspros.com www.expresspros.com www.expresspros.c May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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written by roger mccredie photos by anthony harden

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| May 2016

don cox

a poppy display at their North Asheville Location.

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

13

T

the fine art of popping

corn just got finer.

he first popcorn, we are told, was discovered in Mexico some 5,600 years ago. By that time, corn itself had been cultivated as a food crop for a couple of thousand years, so it must have come as a surprise to Mexico’s indigenous peoples of five millennia ago when a container of seed corn, exposed to moderate heat, suddenly began erupting into puffy white nodules while emitting a volley of soft pops.

Over the centuries, this volatile maize made its way to the upper reaches of Native America. It is recorded that the Iroquois introduced it to the first European explorers, who no doubt watched the bursting kernels first with cries of “Sacre bleu!” or “Carramba!” or “Egad!” and similar exclamations before concluding that it was good to eat, but would be greatly improved with a little salt and butter.

These adventuresome early foodies were probably not aware that the strain of corn yielding this phenomenon simply has a hard outer hull that encloses a starchy inner core, and that when exposed to heat, this inner core expands, bursting through the hull with a tiny explosion. They only knew that as a snack, it made a great accompaniment to watching stickball matches or an afternoon of bear-baiting.

In fact, “popped corn,” as it was first called in 1848 by Russell Bartlett (the quotations man) in his Dictionary of 14

| May 2016

Americanisms, became such a treat that the preparation as well as the eating of it became a family occasion. A popcorn popper—a basketlike contraption of wire mesh with a long handle—became a standard fireplace accessory. To achieve popping success, however, it was necessary to master the technique of continuously shaking the popper over the coals instead of open flame. Failure to do this resulted in an acrid, smoking litter of blackened kernels in the bottom of the popper.

To the rescue came one Charles Cretors, a baker and confectioner in Lebanon, Ohio, who discovered that a peanut roaster he had invented worked just as well as a popcorn popper. He field tested his contraption on the midway at the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 and found that the public’s demand for popcorn was at least as great as its craving for roasted peanuts. The two snacks were often sold in tandem from city pushcarts, and popcorn found a new and lasting niche as a staple of the era’s newest social temple, the movie theater.

In 1951 Charles Bowman and his partner, Orville Redenbacher, a bespectacled ex-fertilizer salesman with a fondness for bow ties, bought a seed corn plant near Valparaiso, Indiana. They tested literally thousands of strains of popping corn before settling on one they called “RedBow” and began marketing it. The partners hired an ad agency, which, in the way of ad agencies, charged

retail bags

them $13,000 for recommending that the company and the product be known as Orville Redenbacher’s. Bowman had to console himself with several million dollars.

All of which is how it came to pass that Ginger Frank founded Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn in Asheville, North Carolina. Well, eventually.

Frank, mother of two, came to Asheville some 15 years ago from Fort Myers, Florida. She entered a career in retail and eventually became manager of companion stores Blossom (a florist) and The Baggy Goose (stationery and wedding invitations), now in Biltmore Park’s Town Square.

“But I wanted to do something on my own.” she says. “I started looking at my own experience and how that might fit with Asheville’s personality.”

Her capacity for simultaneous internal and external analysis is a part of Frank’s personality makeup that has been noticed before. In early 2014, Verve magazine said of her: “For those of us who approach change and think ‘natural disaster,’ it’s refreshing to find there’s another point of view in the world and, actually, close by. That perspective comes from Ginger Frank, a person who gladly (even avidly) launches from one thing to the next and re-imagines new beginnings as a kind of art form. wholesale bags May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

15

popcorn kernels can weigh

“It’s a perspective that has helped the Florida native visualize what’s possible… just as it has flooded many other blank canvasses in her life with a fresh light.”

Which is another way of saying Ginger Frank thinks outside the box, and later in 2014 it turned out that the box was full of popcorn.

“One thing kept coming back to me,” she recalls. “When I was growing up there was a popcorn store in town. Just one, and it always did well. Everybody likes popcorn. And they don’t always want to go to the movies or a ball game to get it, but those happy associations are there. Popcorn is a happy food. There’s so much you can do with it, flavor-wise, and even the smell has something special about it; it’s a kind of magic. I thought about that, and I thought about how magical Asheville is, and I said, ‘Hmm...’”

For Frank, the magic now happens in a second-floor storefront in a bustling Merrimon Avenue restaurant/retail complex that is also home to, among other establishments, an ice cream parlor, Japanese and Mexican restaurants, a spa, and a hair salon. The door displays Poppy’s logo—an open red poppy blossom with, as its center, a pristine white popcorn kernel. Ginger Frank opens the store’s door, revealing a front space with a lounge-

upwards of 50lbs per sack.

“Popcorn is a happy food. There’s so much you can do with it, flavor-wise, and even the smell has something special about it; it’s a kind of magic.” style seating area in front of a service counter that’s equipped with chalkboards showing the array of popcorn flavors on offer, including weekly specials.

Noting the ever-full parking lot and Poppy’s location in this hive of activity, a writer is prompted to ask what percentage of Poppy’s business is walk-in trade, and is somewhat surprised by the answer.

“Actually not that much, in the scheme of things,” Frank says.

“In the beginning, over-the-counter was a big part of the business, but these days most of what we do is corporate-oriented. The front here is sort of like a factory outlet. And this is the factory.

Everything we make comes right out of here,” she says, gesturing past the counter towards the kitchen area, which, the interviewer now realizes, takes up most of the actual floor space.

“I think that’s what I was feeling for when I first came up with the popcorn store idea,” she elaborates, “to go beyond just being a popcorn boutique, per se, to being a supplier of boutique popcorn for other people. Popcorn lasts a long time—keeps its flavor and 16

| May 2016

ginger fr ank

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

17

freshness a long time—and that means it’s good to pass on to third parties.

“For instance,” she says, “we have a standing order with an orthodontist here in town who gives a bag of popcorn to his patients when they get their braces off. Since you sure can’t eat popcorn with braces on, it’s kind of like a graduation certificate.”

Hotels and their gift shops are also prime prospects, particularly since they cater to a captive audience that has already been pre-screened by its choice of the hotel itself. “But we don’t do any private-label contracting,” Frank says. “Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn is sold as Poppy, no matter where it’s resold.”

“The same is true of fundraisers,” she adds.

“We do nearly all our own packaging and we can have special packaging designed for a particular event or organization, but our name and logo still go on it.”

Fundraisers and special events, in fact, have given a tremendous boost to Poppy’s success.

Frank notes that Asheville “is an event-rich town; there’s always something happening. And a lot of volunteerism and nonprofit activity goes on here. We try, in particular, to partner with agencies and causes that we feel strongly about.

A good example is the Community Foundation [of Western North Carolina]. This past year we were a sponsor of their Power of the Purse luncheon, and we’ve donated twenty percent of our profits from November through February directly to their Women’s Fund, which goes towards their Womenfor-Women grant program.

“This is good marketing, good networking for us, but it’s more than that. It helps establish us as members of the business community who care about Asheville. We’ll be contributing to and helping four new nonprofits this year; next year we hope to do four different ones.”

So how does Poppy market itself at the corporate level?

“Well,” she says, “if we can get people to try it, the product is our own best advertising. So we just try to do a lot of direct selling. When we first started out, I spent an awful lot of time just driving around with a car full of popcorn samples and knocking on doors. Things are a little easier now that we’ve achieved some recognition, but that’s still the underlying marketing plan—get ‘em to try the popcorn. If we can do that, the rest usually takes care of itself.”

And what about the product itself? They teach you in Marketing 101 that you have to have a 18

| May 2016

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filled days and nights, an extensive list of amenities – all in one of America’s most desirable retirement destinations, minutes from historic Biltmore Estate, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Asheville’s vibrant downtown. You’ll be free to explore new interests and passions, embrace new friendships, and enjoy life at your pace.

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USP—a unique selling proposition that sets your product apart from the competition’s. What’s Poppy’s USP? “That’s easy,” says Frank. “It’s all natural. Everything. Starting with the popcorn itself.”

Frank’s principal raw popcorn supplier is Reist Popcorn Company, a family firm in the heart of Amish country, Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. The company’s profile speaks to

moved in the town of Mount Joy to its present location. Over the years, there have been many additions, remodels, and equipment updates, evolving to the present state-of-the-art facility that it is today.”

Frank indicates a stack of fifty-pound sacks of Reist popcorn kernels prominently displayed in Poppy’s customer area.

“We want people to see that we start with naturally grown, non-GMO popcorn,” she says. “That’s the basis for everything else, and it carries right through all our other ingredients.

We only use pure coconut oil to pop with. And all our herbs and spices and f lavor ingredients are natural. Even the pink color we use for our ‘cotton candy’ popcorn comes from beets.

Organically grown beets.”

Popcorn’s very blandness, Frank explains, is what makes it such an ideal medium for flavoring. It’s a tabula rasa that has little taste of its own, yet readily absorbs and conveys the taste of just about anything else. Classic salt and butter-seasoned

Having secured its niche, Poppy is ready to take its next step: an all-retail store in Asheville’s historic Grove Arcade. “It’s a natural progression for us,” Frank says. simplicity, wholesomeness, and solid growth based on hard work: “Reist Popcorn Company,” it says, “ has always believed that the best way to run a business dedicated to quality and service is by starting small and growing steadily. Founded in 1925 by Alvin Reist, the business started on the family-owned Lancaster County farm. Within a few short years, the business

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20

| May 2016

popcorn is of course available at Poppy—in fact, that’s how it’s referred to on the flavors list—but Poppy actually makes more than thirty different flavors that gallop across the taste spectrum from spicy to hot to sweet to unpredictable combinations of all three.

Poppy classifies its flavors as “Savory” (which includes such tastes as Rosemary/Olive Oil, Sriracha, and pimento cheese), “Premium” (such as Triple Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and Dark Chocolate Pretzel), and “Candied” (Salted Caramel, Cotton Candy, the white cheddar and salted caramel “Asheville Mix,” and the white cheddar, jalapeno cheddar, and salted caramel “Poppy Mix”). There are also several during the year that are “Holiday” flavors and only available for a short time, such as Gingerbread (Christmas) and Easter Confetti (Easter).

Having secured its niche, Poppy is ready, Frank says, to take its next step: an all-retail store in Asheville’s historic Grove Arcade, which opened in mid-April. “It’s a natural progression for us,” she says. “We feel like, with an all-natural, artisanal product we’re such a perfect fit with the Asheville brand. And nothing’s more emblematic of Asheville and its brand than the Grove Arcade.”

But for Ginger Frank, her business, she says, extends beyond branding and marketing and even the manufacturing of popcorn,

per se. Like most entrepreneurs, she sees her business as very much an extension of herself, and she has summed up her thoughts about that two-sided coin in a paragraph appended to the Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn website: “We love family and we love friends that are like family.

We love our teachers and our schools. We love horses and we love baseball. We love great flavor and tasty treats. We love that God thought to plant us in the middle of this beautiful place and this supportive community. We love the sunshine and the snow and each season in between. We like funny jokes, laughing out loud and movie night, and time with our favorite people. We think life should be fun. And simple. And celebrated.”

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21

student column

Noah Koch – Adrenture a peer -to - peer rental system specializing in outdoor ge ar

L

allegra korver

is a double major in marketing and business management and a Walker Fellow at Appalachian State University.

Questions/ comment s about this story? Email us at editor@capitalatplay.com. Asheville.

22

IK E M A N Y OF T HE WOR L D ’ S G O OD IDE A S , Noah Koch’s began as a problem—a big problem. A problem that found him, his dad, and two other guys climbing Mount Rainier with the wrong gear at the wrong price at the wrong time. It was all wrong, because the gear was not their own; and it was not their own, because transporting outdoor gear across the country is really expensive.

But, as they found out, renting sub-par gear locally is also really expensive, and potentially dangerous.

What would have been simple at home in North Carolina, where all of their mountaineering gear was stored, was unreasonably difficult in Washington.

The Kochs’ Mt. Rainier problem birthed the idea that having the right gear on your adventure should not be in itself an adventure. And soon, that idea became an adventure of its own. Or, in this case, an Adrenture.

Founded in June of 2015, Adrenture is a simple idea: users of outdoor gear rent their gear to other users, peer-to-peer style. Think AirBnB, but for people who prefer the backcountry to the big city. And, like AirBnB, the process is easy to use and understand. First, people take pictures of their unused gear; then, they upload pictures and descriptions to the site after creating a profile. Users can then set their price (in addition to Adrenture’s markup), and, finally, approve or reject rent requests as they occur. PayPal insures all the transactions so there is no risk to those who upload items and, in the end, everyone benefits. Users make a few bucks from things sitting in a closet, and Adrenture receives a portion of the transaction.

Adrenture is the culmination of Noah Koch’s passions, heritage, goals, and education. It is no coincidence that his father, Thomas, led the expedition that sparked the original concept. Mr.

| May 2016

Koch was an important part of both founding the company and fostering a passion for the outdoors in Noah. A retired member of the Swiss Army, Koch was an adventurer from the start. Early on, he strove to encourage Noah’s love of mountains as well as a thirst for risk. “I’m used to putting myself in harm’s way,” says Noah, referring to his mountain biking and climbing habits. But it is not hard to see that his meticulous focus on process and levelheadedness in the face of danger—so important in risky outdoor pursuits—have translated well into the world of entrepreneurship.

It helps that Noah, a marketing major, also has access to the Transportation Insight Center for Entrepreneurship at Appalachian State University in Boone. The Center, as it is informally known, provides office space and expertise to student entrepreneurs at the university. Erich Schlenker, the director of the Center, proved invaluable to Noah and his team, both in terms of knowledge and connections. Fortunately, the Center is also closely associated with Appalachian’s Entrepreneurial Studies program, which is offered as a minor as of the 2016 calendar year.

It was an introductory class in this program, Opportunity and Entrepreneurship, that was the catalyst in transforming the Mt. Rainier idea into a reality. A simple question from the professor, Dr. Jesse Pipes—“What is your best idea and why?”— took Adrenture out of Noah’s head and into the

A classroom, where Pipes and his students were able to provide feedback and action items to start a real live business. Pipes invested time and resources into the budding business outside of class time, too, giving Noah advice on everything from seeking investors to filing taxes.

Taxes, as it turns out, are one of Noah’s least favorite parts about running Adrenture.

The “daily grind” tasks that offer no immediate gratification have made owning a business challenging, especially when combined with the normal student obligations of homework and class, as well as fraternity and other university involvement. “We have to really focus on the small victories in order to stay motivated and stay focused,” says Noah. But he adds that he loves the work, too: “Every day is a new experience and a new learning opportunity… and when we do get those small wins, it’s a great feeling.”

The “we” Noah often refers to is a small but dedicated team of fellow students at Appalachian who pitch in to do the varied work that running a business involves.

There is Chase Marshall, a childhood friend and computer science major with an eye for design; Kalin Rierson, a blogger and social media fiend; and Dillon Makar, who takes the striking photos used on the Adrenture website (www.Adrentures.com) and for advertising content. Out of the four, Noah owns 64%, Chase owns 1%, and Kalin

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NOAH’S GOALS INCLUDE PUT TING MORE FUNDING INTO MARKETING AND “ENGAGING MORE PEOPLE WHO ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT THE OUTDOORS.” and Dillon do it for resumes and portfolios. The other 35% of the company is owned by a small investment firm called Gold Sail Capital, which is based out of Indiana and run by Stephen Toyra, a Purdue graduate, and Paul Griggs, an undergraduate at Purdue. In fact, because of Toyra and Griggs, Adrenture has a dedicated team at Purdue that runs social media campaigns, serves as brand ambassadors, and in general provides support to the home team at Appalachian State.

It is fortunate that the Purdue team is younger overall, because all four of Adrenture’s team members are graduating in May of this year. The students in Indiana, as well as a handful of younger students the Boone team is recruiting, will provide a touch point with the critical college student market as Noah and company move off campus and into the “real” world. Noah, for one, has accepted a position with AETNA health care insurance beginning in June of 2016. He, Chase, and the Purdue team will continue to work part-time on Adrenture, which, while profitable, is not providing full-time incomes just yet. Looking forward, Noah’s goals include putting more funding into marketing and “engaging more people who are passionate about the outdoors.”

Noah Koch certainly embodies that passion for outdoor adventure. Even a brief conversation with him usually includes casual references to climbing in the Alps or mountain biking the Appalachians, or really any activity that can get him outside.

But the passion does not stop there—Noah is deeply invested into facilitating transformative experiences for people who may not be able to afford them in the traditional market. Starting the Adrenture platform accomplished more than just solving a personal problem or making a buck; it made, and is making, the great outdoors a more accessible place for the adventurous.

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local industry

Going Dogs TO THE

Doggie day care in Western North Carolina: There’s more involved than what meets the paw, er, eye. written by toni sherwood photos by anthony harden

24

| May 2016

link loves running and

fetching at Happy Tails.

Is playing with puppies your idea of a great day at the office? Well, don’t go into doggie day care.

But wait, won’t you be surrounded by cute dogs?

Okay, yes. But the foundation of this business is interpreting and monitoring animal behavior. In the best of places, a well-trained staff is working constantly to stimulate a dog’s mind as well as his legs.

The state-of-the-art trend in dog training is positive reinforcement. Aaron Bales was introduced to the method in 2000 when he started working in doggie day care in Washington, D.C.. He was employed and trained by a woman who began her career as a dolphin trainer at Sea Life Park in Hawaii. “Dolphin training is where positive reinforcement came from,” Bales says.

“It’s the best way to do it.”

Bales, now the owner of Happy Tails Country Club in Fairview, sees the trend continuing to gain momentum.

“People are more into their dogs,” Bales says, “and they’re getting better at understanding dogs.”

“In the last ten years, more people have become sophisticated about positive reinforcement,” Elliot Weiner says. “It doesn’t mean you never say anything negative.” Weiner’s been working with animals for 25 years and is a nationally certified Professional Dog Trainer. He currently leads canine behavior evaluations for both Asheville Humane Society (AHS) and Brother Wolf Animal Rescue (BWAR).

Weiner believes a good doggie day care can be beneficial for a lot of dogs. “At a good doggie day care the safety of the dogs is paramount,” Weiner notes. “The staff is trained to recognize body language and head off a conflict.”

Pet parents bring dogs to day care for many reasons; some dogs are destructive at home, others are lonely and bored. A dog may need some basic training. Or owners are just too busy to exercise their pet. These facilities are regulated by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, which imposes strict requirements on cleanliness, current shots for dogs, and supervision; a one to ten ratio of people to dogs is required. (Pet parents and day care operators dodged a bullet recently: On March 1 in North Carolina, new sales taxes on certain services such as automobile repairs and appliance installation went into effect, and an early proposal by the state Senate had also included veterinarians and day cares. Those services were eventually excluded from the law, however.)

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 25

candy breisacher

local industry

with some Pet Vet pals.

Pet Vet On Patton

The clean and bright facility of Pet Vet on Patton is centrally located in Asheville near the I-240/I-26 interchange. It also serves as a veterinary office and therefore has a full-time medical staff during day care hours. Many clients drop off their dog for a checkup and routine shots, with the benefit of spending time in doggie day care until their pet parent can pick them up after work. Alternately, boarded pets benefit from day care services offered as part of the package. Pet Vet is also able to handle dogs with special medical needs.

Candy Breisacher has been in the animal industry for over 25 years and is a senior staff member specializing in dog behavior. She is the one who evaluates dogs before they come to doggie day care to be sure they are a good fit. But sometimes the evaluation process can take more than a day. That’s why Pet Vet gives new clients a free week of day care (five consecutive days).

At Pet Vet, the dogs are attended at all times. The outdoor play areas are divided into big and small dog areas, and there is a smaller separate fenced space for dogs to begin getting comfortable before they enter the social space.

The indoor areas are basically small rooms without windows and are used when the weather doesn’t permit outside play or the dogs need a rest. There are no indoor/ outdoor runs.

“We structure these dogs from the minute they’re here,” Breisacher says. “We do light training if needed. The goal is to keep play from getting out of hand.”

A Dog’s Day Out

Located in Hendersonville, A Dog’s Day Out is both a doggie day care and a grooming facility. Owners Jeff Mueller and Beth Koller have been in business for three years.

Koller started cleaning cages at a kennel at 16, quickly moving into managing a kennel. Soon she was a vet tech. Her dream was to open a doggie day care, but to do it right.

“I worked for a kennel that did day care, and I saw too many risks and injuries,” Koller says. “Basically, they didn’t have enough knowledge.” Her partner, Mueller, was working in the construction industry rehabbing houses, but he put it aside to help Koller get her dream business up and running. They both learned a lot in the process.

The first hurdle was to find the space. They saw promise in the empty building not far from downtown Hendersonville, but it was zoned industrial. Unfortunately, their business is considered a service business. “We had to do a zoning amendment,” Mueller recalls. “It took about three months. The city council had to approve it. When they said, ‘All in favor’? I held my breath.”

26

| May 2016

pet vet offers

grooming as another service.

a dog ’s day out has an

indoor and outdoor play area.

With the zoning approved, all they had to do was get their license. “Once we got the building we called the inspector so we would do it right,” Koller says.

One of the main requirements is that all materials must be non-absorbent. That means no wood floors. Gravel is required in the yards because mud can breed disease, whereas gravel is easy to clean and disinfect.

Dancing cast and crew, whose filming headquarters is just down the road.

Good Behavior

Tristan Rehner is the Animal Behavior Manager at Brother Wolf Animal Rescue [www.bwar.org] in Asheville. “As a trainer, I’m always thinking, what behaviors are dogs learning when we’re not teaching them? They’re always learning.”

She sees play times interspersed with rest times as very important.

“You need more structure than dogs playing all day,” Rehner says.

“Down time should be built in. Dogs that play to the point of fatigue can get snappy.”

Since Rehner began dog training in 1996, she’s seen the industry change.“Positive reinforcement can train them to do anything you need them to do,” Rehner says. “It’s just as effective and doesn’t carry the side effects of punishment.”

“It’s the only movement that makes sense,” fellow trainer Weiner agrees.

“Positive reinforcement can train them to do anything you need them to do,” Rehner says. “It’s just as effective and doesn’t carry the side effects of punishment.”

The couple borrowed from family to get the business off the ground. “We spent twice what we intended—a lot of it on safety features,” Mueller admits. One unique aspect to their set-up is a garage-size doorway draped with huge plastic strips, which allows dogs to go inside and outside at their pleasure.

The couple finds their clients run the gamut: working people, retirees spending the day on the town, theater-goers attending Flat Rock Playhouse, and even the celebrity dogs of the Dirty

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 27

beth koller plays with some dogs at the day care.

local industry

jeff mueller

“Some places the dog has to be ‘good’ to be allowed in,” Pet Vet’s Breisacher says. “Not here. Usually we can work through their behavior. I can count on one hand how many we’ve turned down.”

Breisacher says dog behavior is not about set formulas, but techniques for different situations. There’s a lot of troubleshooting, she adds, but overall it’s always about what is best for the individual dogs. “Some people want their dogs to do things like play, but it’s not always what the dog wants.”

Woof Pack

Melissa MacKinnon of Woof Pack took a circuitous route to becoming a proprietor of a doggie day care. She became a realtor in 2003 and built her dream home, which meant she could finally adopt a dog. “The minute I had my own place I knew I’d get a dog,” MacKinnon says.

She rescued Lucy, a hunting hound who had been badly abused. Lucy was shy, very afraid, and terrible on a leash. When MacKinnon took Lucy for some training, it wasn’t working. The approach was far too harsh for her timid girl.

This launched MacKinnon on a journey to learn more about animal behavior, hoping to find techniques that would work well for dogs like Lucy. In 2007 she went to Animal Behavior College, becoming a Certified Trainer. She opened Woof Pack in 2009, a boarding and day care facility near her home in Boone.

MacKinnon designed the facility to best accommodate dogs of all temperaments. The den-like individual rooms are 28

| May 2016

grooming at

A Dog’s Day Out

a aron bales

with (L-R) Blake, Rambo, and Annie.

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 29

local industry

luxuriously appointed with televisions, classical music, and raised beds. These are real rooms, not fenced pens. There are indoor playrooms for multiple dogs to cavort. There’s also a huge outdoor fenced yard. Dogs are never left unattended and are structured in their day between outdoor romps and indoor rest.

MacKinnon practices only positive reinforcement in her training and handling of dogs. To help dogs adjust to their day care and boarding experience, Woof Pack offers new clients a free day of day care, a “trial day,” where a dog’s separation anxiety can be measured and appropriate playgroups can be determined. This gives owners an extra measure of confidence.

MacKinnon was happy to announce Woof Pack just won “Best Boarding Facility” in Watauga County, a community vote sponsored by the Watauga Democrat and Mountain Times.

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Happy Tails Country Club

The entry area of Happy Tails Country Club, with its comfy sofas, TV area, and dogs freely lolling about on the furniture, will make any dog lover feel at home.

The large building sits on eight acres of former pastureland in Fairview, just east of Asheville.

Happy Tails has a golf cart to take visitors on tours of the spacious grounds, allowing guests to observe the dogs without interacting with them. Three staff members are outside working with dogs in the larger dog area. “Staff is the highest cost in this business,” owner Bales admits.

Happy Tails has 50 suites situated inside a 4000-square-foot clubhouse, and an additional 10,000-square-feet of outdoor play areas. With endless cleaning, training, walking, and interacting with dogs, it’s easy to see how staffing costs could be substantial. Fortunately, with good word of mouth, business is booming. “We’ve already got reservations for Christmas,” Bales says. (The recent spring break period in Asheville

k athy mcdowell

and Buncombe County found the business completely booked up.)

Dogs that want to come to Happy Tails will go through an evaluation process, although there are no breed restrictions. The facility prides itself on offering a top-of-the-line experience for each dog. “Spending 40-50 hours a week around dogs for the past 18 years, I might have learned a few things,” Bales quips.

Dog House Doggie Daycare

“Expect the unexpected,” says Kathy McDowell, co-owner of the Dog House. “You have to think like the dogs, and don’t take anything for granted. It’s a different day at work every day.”

McDowell owns the business with her mother, Jane Johnson, who is an expert on dog behavior from her many years training and showing dogs. McDowell started training and showing dogs at 12.

“Spending 40-50 hours a week around dogs for the past 18 years, I might have learned a few things.”

Located on Riverside Drive in Woodfin, the facility has indoor/outdoor runs and separate areas for big and small dogs. They offer boarding as well.

Dog House celebrates its ten-year anniversary this year. “It’s a great business to have.

It’s fun and never boring,” McDowell says, “but it’s not what everybody thinks it is. What I do for Christmas is work here—stay the night and work all day.”

Risks

One of the most unexpected situations to erupt in the industry was last year’s outbreak of the dog flu, which swept through the area, May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

31

local industry

while day care is fun , the

excitement of being picked up by one’s human can’t be contained. forcing some facilities to close. Doggie day care facilities require dogs to be current on Bordatella, Rabies, and Distemper vaccinations, as well as regular heartworm and flea protection, to ensure the safety of all animals. But despite these precautions, diseases are one of the risks; it’s analogous to how rapidly and widely an illness can be transmitted throughout a human kindergarten class.

“It spread like wildfire,” Happy Tails’ Bales recalls. “It was one of the worst things I’ve experienced in the business.” Bales’ own dog contracted the flu and had a cough that lingered for three weeks. Happy Tails closed its doors for two weeks to allow the outbreak to subside.

A Dog’s Day Out handled the situation by cleaning extensively with products that kill flu and watching for symptoms among their client’s dogs. They kept on the pulse of things by regular contact with veterinarians, somehow managing to avoid an outbreak.

McDowell of Dog House says behavior changes can signal sickness. Unfortunately, with the dog flu, animals were contagious before symptoms became apparent. She sent a couple of animals for testing, but managed to avoid an outbreak.

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| May 2016

Despite the fact that the scare has subsided, that doesn’t mean dog flu is no longer a risk. “They developed a vaccine, but it was a different strand,” Pet Vets’ Breisacher says. “Dog flu is always going to be an issue.”

Giving Back

Many of these doggie day care facilities work with rescue groups. Some dogs get highly stressed in the shelter atmosphere, which can be loud and limited in terms of individual attention. Day care offers relief to these dogs and teaches them socialization skills.

“AHS has partnered with Happy Tails before,” Weiner says.

“They’ll take a dog that’s overwhelmed at the shelter and work closely with them, even letting them stay there.”

A Dog’s Day Out often partners with Big Fluffy Dog Rescue (which is headquartered in Nashville and has volunteers in several states in the South as well as New England) by offering free services to foster dogs.

ALTHOUGH WE HAVE AT TEMPTED TO COMPILE A THOROUGH LIST, based on available information that could be verified at the business’ website, what follows might not be a complete list of all doggy day care facilities in our region (but it can be, if you give us your feedback). We have not included area kennels, groomers, trainers, veterinarians, and pet sitters, as our main criteria for inclusion was that doggie day care should be one of the services advertised. Please feel free to let us know of any notable errors or omissions via editor@capitalatplay.com.

A Dog’s Day Out

At Play with Sparky

942 Maple St, Hendersonville, NC 28792 (828) 692-0200

www.adogsdayoutnc.com

Additional Services: Grooming; Spa services; Training classes

Paw Pleasers Pet Resort

542 Short McDowell St, Asheville, NC 28803 (828) 254-5772

The Soapy Dog

340 Felmet Rd, Flat Rock, NC 28731 (828) 692-5277

270 Depot St, Asheville, NC 28801 (828) 350-0333

Additional Services: Training classes; Boarding (crateless); Grooming; Massage; Nail painting; Cat and exotic animal boarding

www.thesoapydog.com

Additional Services: Boarding; Grooming; Cat boarding

www.atplaywithsparky.com

Canine Social Club 178 South Charlotte St, Asheville, NC 28801 (828) 774-5668

www.caninesocialclubofasheville.com

Additional Services: Gym Pass fitness sessions w/treadmills and aquatic therapy

Dog Daze 9 Busbee View Rd, Asheville, NC 28803 (828) 274-6645

www.dogdazedaycare.net

Additional Services: Boarding; Grooming

www.mypawpleasers.com

Additional Services: Boarding; Grooming; Do-It-Yourself Bathing

The Woof Lodge

Urban Dog Retreat

www.thewooflodge.com

803 Fairview St, Asheville, NC 28803 (828) 407-0776

www.urbandogretreat.com

5992 Asheville Hwy, Hendersonville, NC 28791 (828) 216-5187 Additional Services: Boarding; Grooming; Emergency on-call vet services

Additional Services: Boarding; Grooming; Do-It-Yourself bathing; Webcams

Paws In Motion

You Work, I’ll Play Dog Daycare and Training

www.ncpawsinmotion.com

677-A Brevard Rd, Asheville, NC 28806 (828) 665-1010

7 Serendipity Ln, Penrose, NC 28766 (828) 577-7053 Additional Services: Dog slumber parties; Training classes; On-call veterinarian

www.ywipdogdaycare.com

Woof Pack Pet Services

Additional Services: Boarding (crateless); Training; Grooming; Webcams

410 Appaloosa Trail, Boone, NC 28607 (828) 773-4811

www.doghousedoggiedaycare.com

Top Dog Kennel

Additional Services: Boarding; Grooming

12 Cavalier Ln, Swannanoa, NC 28778 (828) 686-3175

Additional Services: Boarding (crateless); Training classes; Dog birthday parties; Cat boarding

Dog House Doggie Daycare 1054 Riverside Dr, Asheville, NC 28804 (828) 252-2323

www.woof-pack.net

All God’s Creatures Great & Small

Hair of the Dog

www.ashevillekennel.com

1210 Hendersonville Rd., Asheville NC 28803 (828) 274-4150

Additional Services: Boarding; Grooming; Breeding; Exercise programs; Cat boarding

2001 Hickory Boulevard SE, Lenoir, NC 28645 (828) 572-4080

Additional Services: Grooming; Boarding; Day spa

Spring Valley Farm Dog Care

Happy Tails Country Club

171 Share The Rd, Pisgah Forest, NC 28768 (828) 577-4477

Additional Services: Boarding (crateless); Grooming; Cat & bird boarding

www.hairofthedogasheville.com

1984 Cane Creek Rd, Fairview, NC 28732 (828) 628-8510

www.happytailscc.com

Additional Services: Boarding (crateless); Grooming

Pet Vet On Patton 2 Hansel Ave, Asheville, NC 28806 (828) 232-9990

www.petvetonpatton.com

Additional Services: Vet; Boarding (crateless + kennel); Grooming; Laser therapy; Pet hospice care

www.springvalleyfarmdogcare.com

Additional Services: Boarding; Private dog park membership

Home-Sweet-Home Dog Boarding & Care, LLC 134 Princess Pl, East Flat Rock, NC 28726 (828) 697-0327

www.carolinadogcare.com

Additional Services: Boarding

www.allgodscreaturesgreatnsmall.com

Animal Magnetism 95 Elysinia Ave, Waynesville, NC 28786 (828) 550-6651

www.animalmagnetism4u.com

Additional Services: Boarding; Grooming

Animal Hospital of Waynesville 91 Depot St, Waynesville, NC 28786 (828) 456-9755

www.animalhosp.com

Additional Services: Veterinary; Boarding; Grooming; Laser Therapy; Cat boarding

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

33

local industry

To Webcam Or Not?

All of these facilities have internal cameras to monitor dogs.

But the latest in modern doggie day care is the webcam. Now pet parents can watch their dog playing and hanging out at the facility. But is it just a fad?

Brei sacher ad m it s t hey discussed having a webcam at Pet Vet but decided not to, because many behaviors that are normal for dogs may not be what pet parents want to see, such as humping.

Koller adds that the camera can misrepresent things.

“They may look at their dog lying down and think, he’s not doing anything, when he just played for two hours.” Still, at A Dog’s Day Out they feel it is a novelty some customers will appreciate, so they are planning to add it at some point.

MacKinnon polled Woof Pack clients, asking if they would be willing to pay extra for the webcam service, but the majority did not find it worth the extra charge.

But for those pet parents that want to view their dog on camera, one area doggie day care, You Work I’ll Play, has installed webcams, one in the large dog area and one in the small dog area.

When the West Asheville business opened in 2006, webcams were fairly new, so the costs were much higher. “We spent $900 a piece on the webcams,” co-owner Jill Lydic says. “We’ve never regretted the decision.”

Jill and her husband, Jason, knew that owners would love to see their dogs throughout the day, and it lent an air of transparency that the couple felt would be a good selling point. Occasionally they do get calls from owners saying, “My dog isn’t doing anything.” Jill then explains to them that the dog played for a time and then took a rest. “We strive to be honest,” she says.

Because the cameras don’t cover every square inch, each dog might not be visible at every moment. But mainly, owners

Overall, the modern philosophy in dog behavior is that each dog has a unique personality that can be influenced by breed, environment, and socialization.

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We al, commercial, commercial, industrial industrial & insti tuti onal customers of We are proud to serve serve the the residenti residential, industrial & & insti instituti tutional onalcustomers customersof of We are are proud proud to Western NC and the surrounding areas.

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- Buzzy Cannady,CEO Western NC NC and the surrounding areas. Thank you for Western for your your business! business! -- Buzzy Buzzy Cannady, Cannady,CEO CEO since 1921.

1921. since since 1921.

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An Equal Opportunity Employer An AnEqual EqualOpportunity OpportunityEmployer Employer

appreciate seeing dogs being supervised and playing appropriately. You Work I’ll Play accomplishes this by limiting the number of pets per day (24 large dogs, 14 small dogs) so they are always adequately staffed, therefore at times exceeding the one person per ten dog rule. The other benefit of this day care and boarding facility is that R.E.A.C.H. (Regional Emergency Animal Care Hospital; www.reachvet.com) is right next door on Brevard Road and is open 24 hours a day.

Overall, the modern philosophy in dog behavior is that each dog has a unique personality that can be influenced by breed, environment, and socialization. There are no magic formulas in dog behavior, but positive reinforcement gets the best results. With more and more pet owners considering their dogs as family members, and up-to-date behavior techniques becoming more mainstream, doggie day care will surely continue to be in high demand.

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CAROLINA in the

WEST [

news briefs

From Grocery Clerk to CEO buncombe county

Ingles Markets, Inc., has a new president and CEO. Jim Lanning was promoted in March. Lanning had served as president for thirteen years. His story is that of the American dream. He began clerking with the grocery chain at the age of 16.

Upon graduating high school, he was promoted to stock clerk and then grocery manager. He was serving as an assistant store manager when he began pursuing a degree in business administration from Western Carolina University. With his degree, he became a store manager. From there, he proved willing to work wherever the company needed him, transferring to larger and larger stores and leaving a trail of improvements with every move. By 1995, Lanning was made district manager

]

for Northeast Georgia; he later became the chain’s Chief Operating Officer, and, in 2003, Chairman of the Board Robert P. Ingle II selected him to serve as president for the entire chain. The promotion in no way will reduce Ingle’s responsibilities. He has been serving as chairman of the board since 2004. While Ingles is listed on the NASDAQ, it is a family-controlled business, with 86% of voting power and almost half of corporate shares vested in the Ingle family. It operates 202 supermarkets and a number of neighborhood shopping centers in six states, and owns the dairy facility behind the store’s Laura Lynn line.

They Must Be Sober henderson county

Pyramid Healthcare is moving forward with opening a substance-abuse treatment

facility in Mills River. Twelve Oaks, LLC, a North Carolina corporation formed by the Pennsylvania-based Pyramid, purchased a 12-acre parcel on Old Turnpike Road for $2.3 million. The parcel contains a lovely farmhouse-mansion that will require renovations if Pyramid can procure the necessary permits. The company must also obtain a state license to operate a treatment facility. Mills River Town Council approved the project over complaints from neighbors, voiced in a public hearing that extended two nights, but which were deemed largely misguided. There were apprehensions the center would be a methadone clinic or a detox facility. The nature of the center, however, is only to treat people who are sober and detoxified. But to be doubly sure, the council, as conditions on the permit, required Pyramid to: (1) file regular safety updates; (2) cooperate with law enforcement to ensure safety; (3) submit to oversight by a seven-member advisory committee, which included members of Pyramid; and (4) improve the driveway for emergency vehicle access.

The Mills River facility is but the latest phase of Pyramid’s entry into Western North Carolina. It recently acquired Real Recovery in Asheville, where it already owned October Road, Inc..

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Haul Less, Build More henderson county

Jennings Builders Supply & Hardware opened another store in March. The hardware store was founded in Cashiers in 1984 by CEO Dick Jennings. He has since built locations in Brevard and Franklin, and tried running a mini-store in Asheville for awhile. The new store, located toward the northern end of Howard Gap Road in Fletcher, is intended to better serve the needs of customers who have been traveling to southern counties. In addition to carrying lumber and hardware, this store will feature a state-of-the-art design center. Design centers are a signature item of all Jennings stores. They are staffed by enthusiasts knowledgeable in the fields of wood, stone, tile, and glass, as well as cabinetmaking and fixture fitting. In addition to providing copious meeting space for vendors, architects, and building associations, the design center will have computer resources to help customers design kitchens and bathrooms, with renderings of materials and products from the Medallion, Stanmark, Jeld-Wen, and Kolbe brands. Coming down the pike will be a wood shop for processing custom projects and another workshop dedicated specifically to the assembly and hanging of doors. Jennings now employs over 150

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the old north state

national & world

and it is one of the few remaining independent builders’ supply stores in the region.

carolina in the west

of Uber and Lyft algorithms. UZURV has beta-tested in 10 other cities and hopes to open a network of markets along the East Coast.

Making Uber Safer buncombe county

UZURV is beta-testing in Asheville. The company, based in Richmond, Virginia, is developing an app to help riders using Transportation Network Companies (TNC) like Uber and Lyft choose their own drivers. The on-demand Reservation Service Rider app is free and available from the Apple and Google Play stores.

Drivers interested in participating can sign up at www.uzurv.com. The app was motivated, in part, by two Uber drivers who wanted more control over their time and money by building an element of predictability into their independent contracting businesses—and wanted to share those conveniences with other drivers. Riders will benefit because they can work with trusted drivers and select amenities they prefer. While allowing riders to hand-select drivers or select one using filters (such as vehicle make and model, snacks offered, availability of child car seats, accommodations for seniors, or pet policies), the app does not preclude them from using TNC’s as designed. The app only manages the reservation portion

Not Made for These Parts haywood county

One of the region’s oldest economic development organizations, the Smoky Mountain Development Corporation (SMDC), will disband, citing revenue shortfalls. Founded in 1984, SMDC had offered services to small businesses in 10 Western North Carolina counties, including low-rent incubator space for about eight startups at a time in its 17,000 - sq.-ft. Waynesville facility. The incubator will continue to operate under the auspices of Haywood Community College, which will honor all tenant leases. SMDC also brokered 504 loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration, and that was its downfall. Federal 504 loans start at $350,000 and are to be used primarily for real estate purchases. While there is no systemic decline in applications for these loans nationwide, there never was much of a market for them in the rural regions of Western North Carolina. As a party connecting startups with 504 loans, SMDC had quotas to meet within given

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timelines, and that didn’t happen. SMDC, furthermore, was supposed to collect the lion’s share of operating costs from the fees collected for executing 504s. 504 loans will still be available in Western North Carolina through Avista Business Development Corporation in Buncombe County, and Asheville SCORE will continue to hook up small businesses with other federal services offered by the SBA.

Indian Receivers cherokee county

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| May 2016

The Cherokee Preservation Foundation awarded 18 grants, with a total value of over $2.4 million, in order to further its mission of improving the quality of life for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). The winners were: (1) Nantahala Racing Club, for environmental stewardship and wilderness instructor training; (2) Bascom Corporation, for an educational native culture exhibit; (3) EBCI Kituwah Preservation and Education Program, for preserving the Cherokee language; (4) Graham County Indian Education, for an arts and crafts summer camp; (5) Cherokee Historical Association, for sustainability projects; (6) Museum of the Cherokee Indian, to support the Cherokee Friends program; (7) Friends of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, to integrate Cherokee culture into the curriculum of Cherokee Central Schools; (8) Western North Carolina Regional Education Foundation, for vocational education at CCS; (9) Mainspring Conservation Trust, for planning around the Nikwasi mound and Qualla Boundary; (10) North Carolina International Folk Festival, Inc., to represent EBCI at Folkmoot; (11) Snowbird Cherokees Traditions, to support language programs; (12) Western Carolina University, for adult leadership programs; (13) Hope CenterCherokee, for parenting programs; (14) Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, for exhibits and preservation; (15) Western Carolina University, for a community mapping project; (16) Mainspring Conservation Trust, for birding education and historic preservation; (17) Graham Revitalization

Economic Action Team, for an outdoor living laboratory; and (18) EBCI Cooperative Extension, for sewing classes.

If You Start Me Up I’ll Never Stop haywood county

The Hay wood Chamber Business Economic Development Committee wants to promote the start-up and expansion of local and small businesses, in addition to the typical focus on recruitment and relocation of larger manufacturing or related businesses that employ large numbers of people.

Most business growth occurs in smaller businesses in our community. To promote the spirit of “entrepreneurship,” then, the committee has implemented the Business Start-Up Competition to encourage and reward financially prospective business owners in order to additionally create jobs for the county.

Individuals who demonstrate they are in the process of starting a new business in Haywood County within 12 months before or after the date of the award (between Jun 1, 2016, and May 31, 2017) will be eligible for up to $10,000 in cash, to be given as part of the Business Start-up Competition program sponsored by the Haywood Chamber of Commerce. A deadline of May 12, 2016 was given for applying in the competition, and prospective applicants can download the application as a PDF from the Chamber’s website.

Holy Swiss Army Knife, Batman! buncombe county

The Lever Gear Toolcard is better than a crime-fighter’s utility belt. It’s a money clip, bottle opener, screwdriver, ruler, box cutter, nail puller, protractor, wrench kit—40 devices all in one gizmo the size of a credit card. It is designed to look great and last forever. Best of all, Toolcard is TSA-compliant. The inventor, Mike Scully, is an industrial designer and mechanical

engineer by trade. The stage is set in a promotional video describing all those annoying things that break unexpectedly, and days that pass before the tool and the project wind up in the same room. With Toolcard, “Your to-do list won’t stand a chance.” Mike is not one to enjoy carrying a lot of tools around, so he and his pals brainstormed up a list of all the items they could slip easily into a wallet slot. The finished product is a high-quality tool made of durable, blade-quality 420 stainless steel. It comes in black or silver, with lasermarked graphics that can include your logo or personal message. Lever Gear is in the middle of a KickStarter campaign trying to raise $12,000. The first batch of Toolcards is scheduled to ship in June. “Now go get stuff done!” is Scully’s command, at the conclusion of the video.

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With the newly-announced additions of Kirkland’s home décor, New Balance and Skechers athletic shoes, Restoration Hardware, Workshop Tools, Starbucks, and Acropolis Pizza, Asheville Outlets is looking for room to grow. This is a far cry from the old Biltmore Square Mall that, until recently, occupied the same footprint. Biltmore Square was once a beautiful mall, but in its last days, it was a ghost town, home to a handful of shops, and a hangout for mall walkers at best. Now, not even a year after Asheville Outlets’ grand opening, New England Development’s Marketing Manager Deborah Black says future successes are building on the past’s. So, in early May, plans for an 83,000-sq.-ft. expansion to the 523,142-sq.-ft. complex will go before the City of Asheville’s Planning and Zoning Board and Technical Review Committee, before going before city council for final approval. If plans survive unchanged, two big-box spaces will be connected to Field and Stream by a breezeway, and an additional 8,000-sq.-ft. will open in a standalone structure behind Motion Makers Bicycle Shop.

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leisure & libation

PAINTERS GREENHOUSE plants, photo by Anthony Harden 40

| May 2016

Create YOUR Happy Space

L leisure & libation

written by jennifer fitzger ald

Local garden and landscaping experts offer advice for digging in the dirt.

WHERE IS YOUR HAPPY SPACE? As the weather warms, many Western North Carolina residents find joy in the great outdoors.

Gardening—growing flowers, vegetables, herbs, landscaping the yard, even creating a relaxing outdoor living space—is a favorite hobby for many and, indeed, a happy space.

There are unlimited possibilities when creating this space. The look and feel is dependent on many things, including your personality and likes, your budget, and what you hope to gain from the space.

The employees of B.B. Barns, a garden center and landscape services company located in South Asheville, hear a lot about happiness. The staff is passionate about people and plants.

Their goal is for customers to have a successful gardening experience.

Explains Letha Hinman, the manager and buyer of the company’s annuals department, “We have people that come here, and one of the first things they might say is, ‘This is my happy place. I’m so glad I’m here today.’ What we want to do and what they know we will do is steer them in the right direction to take some of that ‘happy’ back home with them.”

There are many benefits to gardening, with therapy and health being at the top of the list.

There is a joy that comes from gardening and the aesthetics that it provides. It is exercise that can be beneficial to one’s health and well-being.

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 41

leisure & libation

“It’s health,” agrees Jon Merrill, the garden center general manager at B.B. Barns. “Emotional health, it’s spiritual health, it’s physical health, it’s mental health. It’s all of those.”

Merrill also mentions environmental health and being stewards of our planet.

“Trying to make sure we are planting the right plants and putting back the things that we are destroying, and that we are not destroying more from the things that we are doing,” he says.

“I’m going to come home tonight to my house, my backyard, and I am going to breathe it all in, and I’m going to look at all this beauty that God has given me and just enjoy my life,” Hinman adds.

Growing and Knowing One of the trends in gardening over the last few years is the desire of people to grow their own food and know where it is coming from and how it was treated. And regional interest in gardening is very high, whether it is creating outdoor living spaces or growing your own food, according to Alan Israel, of Jesse Israel & Sons Nursery & Garden Center, located in the Western North Carolina Farmers Market.

“We have seen a trend in the last decade of using plants for multiple purposes,” says Israel. “For example, mixing in blueberries in foundation plantings works well to enjoy the ornamental and edible aspects of the plants. Also, knowing where your food comes from and how it was grown is very important here and can be done in your own backyard.”

“People are so much more conscious of what they are eating,” says Therese Figura. As the director of business development at B.B. Barns, this is a trend that she and the staff have witnessed.

“And growing your own food is knowing your food—especially in the style in which you grow it,” she continues.

“Organic gardening has been a very big goal of people. We are buying more edible gardening plants than ever before because of the demand. Young parents are very focused on the organic gardening. They are very focused on purchasing organic food. They are very concerned about the environment and what their children are exposed to, especially by the food that they eat.”

Another trend is small space gardening for a variety of reasons—a young couple living in a small town home as they save money for their first home, or a retired couple downsizing and moving into a smaller space.

“They have much more limited space, but they still want a garden,” says Merrill. “So it’s either container gardens or it’s miniature plants. It’s columnar trees instead of big wide dogwoods. Just small spaces. People still love it; they still want to do it; they just don’t have the acre and a half like my parents, who had two acres, to garden with.”

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BOXWOODS at B.B. Barns, photo by Anthony Harden

B.B. BARNS garden decorations, photo by Anthony Harden

L

REEMS CREEK NURSERY Petunias photo by Oby Morgan

Right Plant, Right Spot Local garden experts offer the following tips for creating a classic container garden b.b. barns -Have good drainage material in the bottom.

-Use the best soil and fertilizers.

-Know if it’s to be put in the sun or shade.

-Know what your vision is and what colors you like.

-If you’ve got hot baking sun all day and you don’t want to be a slave to that, make a container that is going to suit your needs so that you don’t have to water three times a day. pa i n t e r s g r e e n h o u s e -Account for how tall and wide each plant will be at maturity.

-Make note of those that might be likely to spread or take over a pot.

-Be sure you water and feed container gardens more frequently than those in the ground as they drain and dry out and lose feed much faster.

t h e m u s ta r d s e e d m a r k e t -Remember to plan for a non-living item to add that special contribution to the garden—a huge glazed pot or urn, architectural remnant, concrete ball, large bird bath, vintage obelisk, moss animal, rusty chair, or outdoor mirror.

-Remember to view your garden from many different angles, inside and out.

-Always find out where these pots will live, so you can choose the “right plant for the right spot.”

-Choose your container wisely, make sure it has drainage holes and can withstand our winter weather, and use good quality fresh potting soil.

-If your container is large, you can add empty plastic cups or packing peanuts to fill up the bottom.

-Remember in a container or small space garden, the plant choices are even more important because the whole plant needs to look wonderful all season, even if it’s not blooming.

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 43

leisure & libation

TOMATO PLANTS photo provided by Jesse Israel & Sons Nursery & Garden Center

The Great Outdoors What’s involved in creating an outdoor living space that you and your family and friends can enjoy? It means something different to everyone, and can vary from a small deck with a table to hardscaping with arbors, pergolas, an outdoor kitchen, and a fire pit.

“If you are a senior who downsized and you have a good size deck, that’s an outdoor living space,” says Figura. “The fire pit is portable and small. You are going to want to look at some furniture that has endurance for the Western North Carolina mountains. We sell a lot of teak and a lot of furniture that is made of recycled materials. Furniture, umbrellas on a deck, possibly an outdoor rug, possibly a little flag. But containers, containers, containers. Trees in containers, herbs and vegetables. An outdoor space does not have to be gigantic because everybody wants to be outside, so what you are doing is adding charm through gardening, through the bones of furniture. Even trellises are fabulous on a deck, especially for privacy.”

If customers are interested in creating a big space that involves large construction, the B.B. Barns staff will direct the customers to their landscape division.

You may want to take your outdoor living space a step farther by inviting birds and pollinators to visit.

“Butterflies, hummingbirds, honey bees, native bees—it’s all nature, all restful—great for the soul,” says Hinman.

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L Square One If you are new to gardening, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed as you walk into a garden center. The choices of beautiful and colorful blooming plants are exciting but can also be intimidating.

How do you know what will work best for you and your space? It’s the job of the professionals to answer those questions, provide solutions, and take that intimidation away.

“Usually with beginning gardeners, it’s keep it simple,” says Merrill. “We’ve got so many varieties of plant materials, but we also know the ones that you are going to be successful with. You can still have something beautiful, but it doesn’t have to be this huge perennial garden that takes tons of work.”

“Starting small is good,” explains Hinman. “If you branch out too far, you will see it takes more time, perhaps, than

“Worst mistake a new gardener can make is to walk into a garden store and pick the first blooming plant they like.”

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We will hold your hand, and we will make sure that the first plant, if you are at square one, is a success and you can nurture it, and be happy. We try and say there is a square one for everybody and here is square one for you and you can make this work. And then come back for square two.”

B.B. BARNS flower pot getting chosen, photo by Anthony Harden

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Tools

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| May 2016

B.B. BARNS flowers for sale, photo by Anthony Harden

L Average Annual Extreme Minimum Temperature 1976 - 2005 Zone Temp(F) 7b

5 to 10

7a

0 to 5

6b

-5 to 0

6a

-10 to -5

5b

-15 to -10

Boone Sugar Mountain

Asheville Cherokee Hendersonville

MAP Drawn from the The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

Do Your Homework & Know Your Zone At the Mustard Seed Market, a garden center located on Highway 321 South in Blowing Rock, owners Robb and Danielle Stewart always ask numerous questions of their customers because there is a plant for every spot. They encourage gardeners to know their yard’s sun/shade conditions: Wet or dry? Do they have deer problems? Is their space protected, or exposed to brutal winds? Is their home a year-round or a summer home?

Are they a nurturer or a neglecter? Type A or laid back? What species of plants are thriving at their home? What have they tried before?

“We, as garden designers, can quickly assess our customers’ needs [and] help them choose wonderful appropriate plantings,” says Danielle Stewart. “Worst mistake a new gardener can make is to walk into a garden store and pick the first blooming plant they like. Find a reputable independent garden center to make your plant purchases. They have the best selection, best value for the investment, and should have the best educational experiences as well.”

In addition, when determining which plants to buy, it’s important to consider the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. This is a standard by which gardeners can determine which

plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree Fahrenheit zones.

“It’s important that we have everything for the right zone,” Hinman says, about the inventory at B.B. Barns. “Our zone is 7, with different sorts of pockets that might be 5 at the top of the mountain [because it is colder], or there might be a pocket in Lake Lure that is a 7B because it is warmer there. We have to know where these plants fit into the USDA zones and where that person lives, and connect them.”

Dana Stenger, owner and manager of Painters Greenhouse, LLC, in Old Fort, says we are fortunate to live in an area where many cool-weather species and warm-weather species can both be grown. If we moved a bit further north or south, our planting options would become more limited.

“As long as you properly prepare your soil and planting site, you can plant just about anything around here,” she says. “We have a lot of beautiful plants that are native to our region. If you want something that is easy to grow, often resistant to local pests and diseases, and offering both beauty and support to pollinators and wildlife, then native plants are a great choice.

Another great option is to try edible landscaping and incorporate perennial edibles and useful plants into your ornamental May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 47

leisure & libation

landscape. Some edibles do better than others in our climate— blueberries, hardy kiwi, passionflower vine, rhubarb, and goji berries are all great examples of edible plants that are also very attractive. Probably our biggest challenge in the Asheville area is the hot, often humid and wet weather we face in the summers. Look for plants that are resistant to mildew, are grown specifically for heat and humidity, and make sure you allow space between plants for air flow.”

Soil What?

Stenger stresses to her customers the need to prepare spots completely before they start putting plants in the ground.

“If you’re planting in the ground, it is important to note that our local soil has a lot of clay and can struggle with drainage.

We advise amending your soil with a topsoil, potting, or compost mix to improve drainage and add a bit more nutrition.

It also helps to test the pH of your soil. Most local extension offices will do the test for free.” (Fun Fact: The color of some flowers—hydrangea, for example—is determined by the pH of the soil and can be altered as desired.)

“If you have compacted clay soil with lots of rocks,” Stenger continues, “you may want to try building some raised beds.

Whatever you choose—amending your existing soil, making a raised bed, or planting in containers—investing the time and expense up front to properly prepare for your plant needs will definitely pay off in the long run. Plants will mature faster, grow healthier, and produce more food if you prepare accordingly in advance.”

When tackling a landscaping project, Stenger recommends properly prepping the soil, possibly building it up a bit, and making sure you have a very detailed and researched plan prior to planting.

“It’s easy to get excited and just start plopping things in the ground, but you want to look at the total expected height and width, as well as light and water needs, of each plant, and incorporate that into your planning,” she says. “No matter how much you love crape myrtles, they probably won’t bloom in a shaded yard. It’s also helpful—and fun—to peruse gardening books, magazines, and websites to get an idea of what appeals to you. Do you like old-fashioned cottage gardens, natural and native landscapes, manicured and formal, etc.?”

And while there really isn’t a general rule in regards to water and fertilizer frequency, Stenger suggests that when buying plants, make sure you take note of any informational signage or tags and/or do some research when you get home to ensure

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L you are providing what each plant needs. It is very helpful to know how much water each plant requires when planning your landscape so you can group those with similar needs together.

Tools of the Trade If you are just starting out on your gardening journey, you will need to choose a few tools of the trade.

“There are endless tools available to make gardening easier,” says Stenger.

“Probably the most handy is a good, strong trowel. If you have trouble with your knees or back, you may want to invest in a padded kneeler or perhaps a raised bed at waist height. If you have lots of pruning, you may want to invest in a good pair of loppers. That said, you can make an amazing garden with nothing but your bare hands if you are determined enough.”

Regardless of your gardening status—a novice or a master— these local experts are here to offer you guidance and support in your journey. Enjoy the warm weather and take advantage of the time to create a space and grow something beautiful.

“Gardening is addictive, makes you feel great, enriches our lives like nothing else, and, although challenging at times, worth every moment,” says Mustard Seed Market’s Danielle Stewart.

Alan Israel additionally advises beginner gardeners not to overthink the process and just get their hands dirty.

“Go out and try a project. If it works, great; if not, then you have learned something,” he says. “Also, start small and add on. It’s easy to get overwhelmed either with planning an entire

“Gardening is addictive, makes you feel great, enriches our lives like nothing else, and, although challenging at times, worth every moment.” landscape or planting a full garden. Pick one bed or one plant to start with and the rest will fall into place. We have a wealth of knowledge available in this area, whether it is your local garden center staff, the extension service, or your gardening neighbor.

Utilizing these resources will help grow your own garden to its fullest potential.”

The curtain rises on another day

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888.489.4144 · visitabingdonvirginia.com May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 49

Phelps Clarke and Douglas Ager are aiming to revive the lost art of craftsmanship.

INSTALLATION of home solar panels 50

| May 2016

Solar

Craftsmen written by emily ball ard photos by anthony harden

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

51

INSTALLATION can take up to several days.

n an early spring day,

the drive out to Sugar Hollow Solar in Fairview, near Asheville, is picturesque. As the fog lifts, the valley is littered with livestock grazing in pastures, and signs indicate family farms that are steeped in generational and regional history. Driving past Looking Glass Creamery and Hickory Nut Gap Farm, you start to wind along a wooded road. Through the budding trees, a simple geometrical logo can be seen on the side of a large barnlike structure, marking the destination of an innovative business with strong ties to the community and a business philosophy committed to fairness and integrity.

Phelps Clarke and Douglas Ager are cousins and the driving forces behind a renewable energy and solar technology company. Their office is set in a rustic building that could easily be mistaken for an old hunting lodge. Upon entering, you are met with a space completely outfitted to run a business with employees diligently working on sales, design, and operations. Down a narrow, creaky hallway, Phelps and Douglas settle in behind a long desk. As they talk, they both casually throw their hands behind their heads and lean back in their seats. Their demeanor is relaxed, and as they tell their story it is obvious that they are in their element, a perfect blend of simple country surroundings mixed with modern technology, much like the business that they are so passionate about.

Growing up on the Farm Phelps and Douglas grew up in Fairview, and were no strangers to getting their hands dirty and helping out around the farm. They were comfortable using a chainsaw to cut wood, or fixing up an old Ford truck, but they were also honors students. “We were farm boys, but we also grew up in a family of lawyers and doctors,” Douglas explains.

Both have a strong intellectual side, but have a natural proclivity to field work and building things with their hands.

Phelps’s father was and is a lawyer in Asheville, and he had every intention of following in his dad’s footsteps. He had a preconceived notion of what his path should be. “I just thought you bumble through high school, you bumble through college, and then you got a good job. That’s what you did,” he recalls. But he was plagued with nagging doubts, and as a self-proclaimed slacker he was deeply confused about which direction he wanted to pursue.

Phelps recalls being deeply affected at the age of 16 when he read a book that his aunt gave him. The book was Ishmael, and a seed was undoubtedly planted that would shape his approach to future endeavors. As he 52

| May 2016

recalls this time, he describes his ambitions in an almost sheepish manner, but there is a spark of genuine passion and enthusiasm behind his words. “It seemed important to do something good for the world or something,” he says.

“I mean, that sounds all glorious, but… you might say that I got sold on the environmental imperative to help fix and sort out things.”

For a period of time, Phelps tested the waters in different areas. He went to college as a history major, but was never fully invested in it. He and Douglas were both trying to find their way. Inspired by the Cormac McCarthy book, All the Pretty Horses, the two even planned to set off to Mexico on horseback as a break from college. This didn’t quite work out for them, but it certainly reveals the adventurous and idealistic values that the two share and would eventually combine to create a business.

Phelps attended the automotive program at A-B Tech, but once again felt that there was something missing. He decided to go to school at Bowdoin College in Maine, and suddenly he found that physics was something which resonated with him, and he quickly excelled. “I worked as hard as I have ever worked,” he remembers. “There was a lab that I would spend hours in just training my common sense. That is what my physics education did.”

DOUGLAS AGER

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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After an internship at Camp Chewonki (located near the Maine coast just slightly northeast of Portland) that, with its focus on environmental education, explored solar and sustainability, Phelps was inspired and felt that he had some hands-on experience and a genuine interest in the field. As many of his classmates were graduating to move on to Wall Street or become doctors, he set his sights on home. With a clear direction in mind, he contacted Dave Hollister with Sundance Power Systems, and spent five years learning everything he could about commercial and residential solar power options. (Sundance Power Systems was profiled in the November 2014 issue of Capital at Play.)

Phelps describes his time spent with Sundance as “an equal exchange of value in the marketplace.” He had a drive and an ambition to learn the industry, and the value he gained through this experience enabled him to form a basis for the kind of business he wanted to pursue on his own.

A friend introduced Phelps to a craftsman who specialized in heating systems, and he was instantly intrigued by the work.

Keith Holdsworth had 30 years of experience with boilers,

radiators, and hot water systems, and the two instantly clicked.

The result was Holdsworth and Clarke, a company that Phelps could call his own. By the second year they had a rush of business. They found a niche in radiant floor heating, and when a company called First Light Solar closed their doors, they sent all their leads to Phelps and Keith, which led to a boom in their solar electric work.

“Building and craftsmanship is something that interested me, but I got tired of building things for other people. I realized that I needed to turn that craftsmanship into a business that I could grow and retain ownership of.”

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| May 2016

“I knew how solar worked; Keith knew how heating worked; but neither of us really knew how to run a business,” says Phelps.

“I thought it was just slap your name on it and do good work and it all works out, but the reality is, it’s a lot more complicated.”

With a new company to manage in an industry that was growing, Douglas’s interest in joining forces with Phelps was both timely and appreciated. A new phase for the company would emerge. “Doug’s the guy with the vision. I am just the solar guy,” Phelps admits.

A Welcome Addition Douglas feels that business is not something that was ingrained in his DNA. His great grandfather was a Presbyterian minister, and when he moved to this area in 1916 to a piece of land that would become Hickory Nut Gap Farm, he wanted to serve the community. He started The Farmers’ Federation to help the local farmers and to cultivate better agricultural practices in the area, and these values carried over to Douglas’s parents, and consequently helped form his own similar ideals.

“Growing up, business wasn’t really a route I saw as a possibility,” Douglas remembers. He feels strong ties to the region, and says that for him and his family it wasn’t always about profit. The family sustained the farm, and Douglas developed deep roots to the land and to fieldwork.

When his brother Jamie started to show interest in running the business, Douglas took notice. As Hickory Nut Gap Farm grew and prospered, as well as nearby Flying Cloud Farm that was run by his cousin, Douglas was starting to form his own ideas.

After years of working as a carpenter and a contractor, he was ready to embark on something new. “Watching them do it… at some point it just kind of clicked for me,” he says.

“Building and craftsmanship is something that interested me, but I got tired of building things for other people. I realized that I needed to turn that craftsmanship into a business that I could grow and retain ownership of.”

His experience working for other companies led him to frustration with leadership and management techniques, and he began forming his own concrete ideas of how he could do it better. He went back to school to receive his master’s degree in English at Western Carolina University.

Writing was what really inspired him, but he felt that in order to truly pursue that as a career, he would have to move to a larger city, and he wasn’t ready to make that compromise. Instead, he used other aspects of his education to put towards a new venture. “It taught me how to research a lot, and also how to sit at a desk for eight hours a day,” he explains. “It’s hard to do when you are used to working outside. It’s hard to transition, and that really enabled me to be productive.”

He was able to apply this to a marketing and writing skillset that were just the elements missing in the business that Phelps was growing. With his desire to stay in the area and a business he could sink his teeth into, the stars aligned for the two cousins. “This was a way to stay here and do something good, and feel good about it,” Douglas says.

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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A Business Reboot When Douglas joined the team, the company was primarily focused on heating and solar hot water, but in the renewable energy industry at the time, solar electric was a huge component to succeeding in the business. They quickly expanded into that arena.

The name of the business was changed to Sugar Hollow Solar—it’s located on Sugar Hollow Lane, just off Sugar Hollow Road—and they implemented a marketing plan. They also began hiring a qualified team to join them on their business journey. Douglas wrote the company philosophy for the website with the mission of “changing the current energy and business paradigms.”

It reads: “At Sugar Hollow Solar, we care deeply about moving our society towards a more sustainable future—not just in the environmental sense but in how it relates to overall quality of life, now.”

When Phelps read the articulated business philosophy that Douglas had written, he was blown away. He felt that he had hit the nail on the head. Of course they both wanted to succeed as a business, but it was more important for them to build something together that they could be proud of. To that end, one thing they have adopted is a servant-leadership technique to running their business. This type of management is an alternative to most hierarchal business models, placing heavy emphasis on employee development as a means to produce better and more meaningful work. They have 11 employees, and most of their work is done in-house, only occasionally hiring a subcontractor to do work (such as excavating a trench) if needed.

Their style is also open book management. “We are trying to do business better, to innovate, to be transparent,” Douglas explains. “We are trying to provide good service to every client and also provide good service to our

PHELPS CLARKE 56

| May 2016

employees, to build an organization that they can all believe in.” (He adds that he currently owns one-half of the shares of the company, and while at the moment the employees do not share any equity, he and Phelps are interested in exploring options for the future in regards to that.)

Phelps doesn’t approach a job in a hurry; he is more concerned with client satisfaction and employee dedication.

“We care about our clients,” he says. “This is our town, and we have one shot at building a reputation, and that is super important. I don’t care about the money—I care about a good reputation through honesty and integrity.”

Business Reality Part of building a lasting business is adapting to change. This is something that Sugar Hollow Solar is experiencing firsthand as the industry is going through some ups and downs. The types of services that Douglas and Phelps have offered are solar electric, which are the panels that convert sunlight into electricity; solar hot water that utilizes the sun’s energy to heat the water in your hot water storage tank; and radiant heat that uses water to carry heat through pipes in the floor as an alternative to forced air. They also offer micro-hydro projects that use water from a natural stream to create electricity.

In 2015 Sugar Hollow Solar installed approximately 60 solar electric (aka rooftop) systems, plus other projects, experiencing their best year yet. That could have been due, in part, to the

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looming deadlines of the North Carolina tax credits that were offered to customers. Under the previous system, solar energy clients were able to recoup a large portion of their installation expenses. With an estimated 30% federal tax credit and a 35% North Carolina state tax credit, this was a huge incentive for individuals and businesses to purchase a system.

says. “North Carolina solar rooftop residential is pretty bad right now, and commercial is even worse. They aren’t looking 15 years out; they are looking at next year. So making those big investments is even harder for those businesses.”

Many solar companies are shifting their focus to doing business in South Carolina, where tax credits are still offered.

(According to the South Carolina Energy office, the current incentive in the state is 25% of eligible costs, with a maximum incentive in any given tax year of $3,500, or 50% of the taxpayer’s tax liability for that year, whichever is less; and if the amount of the credit does exceed $3,500, the excess can be carried forward for up to 10 years.) Although Douglas and Phelps are certainly considering that route as well, they have also decided to focus on alternative services to offer that will hopefully supplement their business and maintain their trend in growth.

“Our margins are really tight,” says Douglas. “Definitely not a highly lucrative field at this point. We try to make 15% profit on jobs, but have been lucky to end up with 10% or so. We’re still working out a lot of the kinks due to the growth in our operation

With a focus still on energy efficiency and environmental conservancy, they are able to take on a new range of projects. “I love that stuff.”

Unfortunately, the state tax credit expired at the end of last year, and Douglas and Phelps believe that this has, and will, drastically affect the industry and their business. Although they saw an influx in business before the expiration, there is certainly not the same incentive that they can offer to their customers anymore as a cost reduction.

“We really won’t know until spring what it has done to the market. We are hoping it is just a blip in the pattern,” Douglas

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last year. Since North Carolina got rid of the tax credits we’ve basically been breaking even—no profit—since the beginning of this year just to keep our guys busy and give us time to move into the South Carolina market. We’re hoping it is only a temporary lull [here]. This time of year is the toughest as far as cash flow, because we don’t have many jobs on the calendar—which means there are no down payments in our bank account.”

Phelps adds that when it was just him and Holdsworth, they were doing around $200,000 in revenue. Then the first year with Douglas they did $300k, and then $600k. Last year, the sales goal was $1.2 million and they ended up at $1.5 million. He says they have set a goal for this year of $3 million, noting, “I have set that goal for myself every year and achieved it.”

One part of their business that is thriving is the radiant heating. With the knowledge in hand, they are diversifying their business through electrical work. With a focus still on energy efficiency and environmental conservancy, they are able to take on a new range of projects. This shift in work is especially interesting to Phelps. “I love that stuff. If I could just plumb all day, I would. You can put your hands on the pipes and just feel it. Solar electronic, you have to imagine the little electrons moving through the wires.”

A few avenues and projects that they are exploring are maintenance and renovations on old electrical systems, and

battery operated systems with the emergence of new technology, such as the Tesla battery.

What’s next?

When asked about the future, Douglas says, “Honestly, we are still working on it, but obviously it is providing good service and being committed to this place. Ultimately, it is about giving back to the community.”

“We call ourselves solar craftsman, and I think craftsmanship is really a lost art,” Phelps adds. “You can’t just do the same old thing that your grandad did.”

With every new business venture, there are growing pains and an element of learning as you go. What usually makes for a lasting business is a strong foundation. Douglas and Phelps are passionate about what they do, whether it is adding a new valve to a water system or reaching a milestone in their advertising campaign.

They both bring their individual skills to the table, and the result is a company that continues to grow with two passionate individuals at the helm and a team behind them that wholeheartedly shares their vision. Hopefully this will be the perfect recipe for success.

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THE OLD

NORTH

STATE [

news briefs

Driving In Circles north wilkesboro

Benjamin Stewart Parsons, known to Tarheels as simply “Benny,” passed away in 2007 following a long career as an American NASCAR driver and, later, as an announcer/analyst/pit reporter on SETN, TBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT. Born and raised in Wilkes County and the Blue Ridge Mountains, he had numerous championships—including 1985 Daytona 500 Champion, 1980 World 600 at Charlotte Winner, and 1986 Atlanta Invitational Winner—and top ten finishes, not to mention scores of awards, during his racing years. His career winning total was $4,498,643.

Now he’s potentially poised to join the NASCAR Hall of Fame; announcements are set for May 20. In 1988, after retiring from full-time racing, Parsons would go

]

to work as an on-air broadcaster for ABC/ ESPN until 2001, before moving to NBC/ TNT. Fun fact: Parsons also appeared in various films, including Stroker Ace, Herbie Fully Loaded, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

she found about 500 bottles of pills from the 1940s and 1950s. After safely disposing of the contents, she immediately sold one brown bottle, whose paper label advertised opium as the main ingredient, for $110.

She also acquired an unopened container of asthmatic cigarettes advertised as being good for the lungs. Other prizes included mint-condition pennants for Ashley and Highland high schools, which no longer exist; a 1962 child’s baseball mitt still in the box; unopened Christmas lights; and a diner-style Campbell soup dispenser. The big “Smith’s Drug” sign will be displayed on the Madd Hatter’s back wall for ambience.

Not This Year Spring Cleaning gastonia

When Arnold Walker announced in March he would be closing Smith’s Drug in downtown Gastonia, Gloria Cochran rushed in. Cochran runs the Madd Hatter Antique Shop, making a living off reselling vintage nostalgia, which she collects by cleaning out old closets. She offered to purchase and remove all of Smith’s basement and backroom clutter, hoping to find items to sell in her shop or on eBay. To her delight,

carolina beach

Carolina Beach Town Council voted unanimously March 22 to backpedal on a contract awarded to Paragon Building Corporation on February 23 for the Boardwalk Northern Extension Project.

Construction was scheduled to start March 14 and continue until summer.

The decision was in response to owners of shops and residential real estate who feared that obstruction to access, noise, and other inconveniences associated with construction would hurt profits during

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and fees. The town responded by confining the trucks to industrially-zoned areas. An attempt to ban them from downtown commercial areas was struck down by the planning board. Later rules required the trucks to have a brick-andmortar sponsor, and the last decision, which went into effect immediately in March, capped the number of days a food truck could operate, and a brickand-mortar restaurant could sponsor a truck, to two per week. This blindsided some food truckers who had been under the impression that the limitation was off the table. They are now arguing it is impossible for them to earn a living working only two days a week. Town management viewed the new arrangement as a fair middle road.

the deliverer and recipient enter the correct codes. The lockers eliminate problems like having to wait around the house to sign for packages. Cleveron now delivers about 450,000 a month to 61,000 lockers in 800 locations in Europe. Durham-based Bell and Howell advanced the technology by incorporating a 3D lift system that custom-fits cubbies to packages. PackRobot is thus able to, within the space of a tall kiosk, store three times as many packages as conventional locker arrangements.

PackRobot is climate-controlled with high security features. Packages dropped off are photographed, weighed, and measured for identification purposes. Using a smartphone app, customers can retrieve them in less than ten seconds.

Sophisticated Dead Letter Drop

Eyefuls of Fish Color

durham

David Jones, who enjoys having a saltwater aquarium in his home, finally realized a dream of turning it into a business. He just opened Fintastic Aquariums of Wake County, a 16,000sq.-ft. shop selling psychedelic fish and glowing coral. The store houses 31 tanks that are larger than those typically found

Food Trucks Continuing Troubles fuquay-varina

Like other municipalities, FuquayVarina is making up the rules for governing food trucks as it goes along.

The town first allowed the trucks to do business last summer. But owners of brick-and-mortar restaurants felt the trucks were getting a better deal, not having to pay the same level of rent, taxes,

74

Last year, Bell and Howell announced a partnership with Estonia-based Cleveron to create what is now known as PackRobot. Cleveron is in the business of setting up package terminals.

They operate like lockers with IT that allows the proper cubbies to open when

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the tourist season. Town management was also concerned about risks involved with beachgoers crossing a construction zone. Likely the most important factor, though, was the Hampton Inn’s corporate requirement for all its oceanfront properties to have direct access to the beach. That would have required the town to be financially responsible for building something separate for the inn should it open before construction was complete. The contract, in the amount of $727,211, was never actually signed, as negotiations had been ongoing. The decision to postpone may require the town to reimburse Paragon for any sunk costs to date. The project will be re-bid as the tourist season winds down.

36

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 61

the old north state

in retail stores. Jones emphasizes the importance of ecosystem management for aquarium enthusiasts, having already helped a few customers clean up some messes. He quarantines sick fish and will soon have more “hospital systems” for rehabilitation. Jones insisted on having a store in his hometown, but says it would not be possible without help from a supplier in Southern Florida whose store he has frequented for personal use. The supplier hand-selects the inventory he ships to Fintastic. As a retailer, Jones can get better variety at better prices than individuals. He fills special orders, too, and he suggested that making his passion his vocation and putting smiles on customers’ faces has been life-changing.

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A Bar Too Low elizabeth city

A University of North Carolina audit listed twenty-one problems with Elizabeth City State University(ECSU).

The audit and two internal audits, prompted by “anonymous allegations,” were completed in December, but managed to avoid public attention until March. Problems discovered included the acceptance of 93 freshmen who had not met admissions requirements, 42 of whom did not meet the minimum GPA; and incomplete enrollment packages, many without even high school transcripts, for all but 232 students. The school became ineligible to award federal student loans because of a default rate in excess of 50% for three straight years, financial aid often having been given to ineligible students. Abuse of resources by administrators included excessive phone calls to Senegal, and chancellors reportedly using university staff to chauffeur personal trips and charging non-business meals to the university.

Rules were not followed in the hiring of administrators, either. Two ECSU chancellors resigned in swift succession during the period covered by the audit.

The campus police chief resigned after

it was discovered that 100 crime reports from 2013 had never been investigated.

Lots of Legal Support raleigh

LexisNexis Legal & Professional has added 46 employees to its Raleigh office since the beginning of the year, and it intends to add another 150 before 2017. LexisNexis’ Raleigh office now employs 475. The company moved its legal software solutions division from Cary to Raleigh in 2014. At the time, management was considering leasing out some of the unused building space. But following an open house that attracted 180 prospects and a corporate transfer of an undisclosed number of Ohio employees, the Raleigh offices are well on their way to employing 650. The Raleigh operation makes software to facilitate legal research, and it houses technical personnel to assist with the businesses’ other arms of legal research and business news. LexisNexis received $8.9 million in economic development incentives from the state when it announced in 2012 its intention to create 350 jobs with an average salary of $91,644. Headquartered in New York City, LexisNexis employs 10,000 worldwide. It is a division of London’s RELX Group, formerly Reed Elsevier, which grossed $6.73 billion last year.

Windmills for Others’ Viewsheds outer banks

A study by North Carolina State University economists, entitled “The Amenity Costs of Offshore Wind Farms: Evidence from a Choice Experiment,” concluded offshore wind farms would negatively impact home rentals and tourism. For the most part, 484 persons who had recently rented North Carolina beach property for at least a week did not want to see the turbines.

Turbines, which are typically 50 stories

high, would have to be at least 8 miles offshore to reduce their visibility to a tolerable level; 30 miles would put their crowning red hazard lights over the horizon. A study by the University of Delaware concluded the opposite, that the windmills would spur their own tourist industry. Offshore wind farms are banned in the mid-Atlantic, awaiting the identification of appropriate locations by a study that the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management(BOEM) is currently conducting. The BOEM would not allow the turbines within 11.5 miles of shore near Wilmington and 27.6 miles near environmentally or historically sensitive areas like Kitty Hawk.

Foam Flowing under One Umbrella hickory

Hickory Springs Manufacturing (HSM) signed an agreement to sell its HSM Foam Solutions division to Arsenal Capital Partners, a private equity firm. HSM is a major supplier of foam for seating, bedding, medical applications, and packaging.

Arsenal Capital has also purchased Elite Foam, Incorporated of Newman, Georgia, and an interest in Pacific Urethanes, LLC of Ontario, California. HSM has factories in Conover, North Carolina; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Verona, Mississippi; Commerce, California; and Americus, Georgia. The acquisitions will operate under the umbrella of Elite Comfort Solutions. The HSM facilities will continue to serve their existing customers.

Over the years, HSM developed hundreds of formulations, including the combustion-inhibitive Code*RedII® Foam, the highly-porous HiFlo Reticulated Foam for outdoor furniture, Preserve Viscoelastic Memory Foams in a range of densities and pressure supports, and a number of High Resilience foams. Hickory Springs will continue to run the metal and fiber operations for its furniture assemblies.

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 63

MARI FOX 64

| May 2016

Mother’s LITTLE Helper Got the spring cleaning woes? Just pop one of Mari Fox’s pills or brew some of her “tea”… written by marl a hardee milling

I

f residents in one Weaverville neighborhood didn’t know better, they might start raising eyebrows at the curbside exchanges in front of Mari Fox’s house. She openly trades bags of pills for handfuls of cash, but there’s no reason to call in drug enforcement agents. The pills she’s pushing prove the perfect remedy for smelly laundry. Her patent-pending capsules contain powdered soap nuts and offer a non-toxic, environmentally-friendly, chemical-free, and fragrance-free way to tackle laundry, as well as other household chores.

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photos by anthony harden

While she is willing to sell at the curb at home, most customers find her Shecology booth at area tailgate markets. She rotates among the North Asheville Tailgate Market on the UNC Asheville campus, the Asheville City Market, and area festivals. There’s a calendar on her website—www.shecology.com—detailing where to find her any given weekend. Her products are also offered at a wide range of businesses in Western North Carolina.

Watching Mari interact with tailgate market customers is a joyful experience as she injects enthusiasm and laughter into May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 65

every conversation. This is a woman who really believes in her mission—she calls it her “destiny”—to provide an easy, eco-friendly solution to household chores that really works.

Quite a few people curiously, and somewhat skeptically, eye the glass jars of pills, while she proclaims, “These little pills will take the odor out of ANYTHING.” Then, a repeat customer comes along and proclaims, “I love these!” and gives a spontaneous word-of-mouth testimonial to the potential shopper standing beside them. “This is another reason I do markets,” says Mari. “I get direct customer feedback.”

On a recent morning at the North Asheville Tailgate Market, a tried and true customer went a step further. Regina Loveday of Asheville encouraged Mari to pull out her cell phone and tape her giving a testimonial of all the products she’s used and loves. “Put that on your website,” said Regina.

You see, the enthusiasm is infectious. Once people try Shecology products, according to Mari, they most often come back for more, and also eagerly talk the products up to others. “It’s spreading and my customers are helping spread that for me. Once they become a user they want to help me spread the word. Who knew cleaning supplies could be so exciting?” says Mari, with a grin.

“The ball has started rolling,” she continues. “I just have to keep the momentum up and build it. If customers will go off the board and try something new, that’s when I get them coming back for more.”

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ALL PRODUCTS are still hand packed for sales.

The Special Ingredient The idea for her business was sparked one day when Fox, a military veteran and a single mom, was sitting at a red light.

She had been driving around town trying to find someone who sold Seventh Generation dishwashing liquid. Then the irony hit her—she was using gas to drive around to buy liquid packaged in plastic. “Just how environmentally friendly is that?” she asked herself.

“To me, that is one of the big downfalls for the cleaning industry,” she says. “All that packaging that gets thrown into landfills. Even if you recycle the plastic, it’s not a good thing.

It’s not the best option out there. The best option is not to contribute to the humongous amount of plastic being added to the environment. I’m always trying to innovate and make it easier for customers, while still aligning with my philosophy of lightweight, non-liquid, do-it-yourself things that make ecofriendly cleaners affordable to everybody.”

From that lightbulb moment, she began researching different companies and trying out different products to see if she could come up with something better. Her market research took her to a natural products show in Boston. A woman was selling soap nuts and Mari bought some. The testing process went well and she knew “this is it”—that she had hit on a great all-natural ingredient.

Soap nuts are the main ingredient in the laundry pills, but they aren’t really nuts. They are a type of fruit. If you’ve never heard of them, these curious little pods are only grown in Northern India and Southern Nepal. There are different varieties of soap nuts, but Shecology uses one called Sapindus Mukorossi. After extensive research and testing, Mari chose this variety because she believes it’s the best for cleaning.

She bought a half container load of soap nuts—which equals three tons’ worth, approximately 6,600 pounds—from a grower in India and began experimenting with packaging. It is possible to use the actual soap nuts in washing machines, but when she went through an introduction to business program at Mountain BizWorks, focus groups there had a hard time understanding how to use the odd little pods.

Her greatest challenge involved creating a method that would be psychologically easier for people to embrace when doing their laundry. Mari took the soap nuts into the Natural Products Lab at A-B Tech and began grinding them into powder. That’s when she hit upon the strategy of putting the powder into capsules that can be simply tossed into the drum of the washing machine.

The pills consist of a dissolvable vegan capsule filled with the soap nuts and two other natural ingredients.

One of the first questions potential buyers ask at her booths is: “Will they work in high efficiency washers?” The answer is yes. The pills are safe for all machine types, fabric types, and temperature settings. She advises using one to four pills, depending on the size of the load.

Another frequent question: “How do Shecology laundry pills stack up against major brands?” She can confidently answer that May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 67

SHECOLOGY employee, Grace Anderson, labeling products for sale.

question because of third party testing. “I tried to get comparable detergents that didn’t have any fragrance and had stain testing done. The stains were coffee, red wine, salad dressing, spaghetti sauce, grass, and soil. My laundry pills cleaned coffee and red wine better than Tide Free & Gentle, Seventh Generation, and Ecover, and was just as good for salad dressing, spaghetti sauce, and soil. I’m really proud of my stuff. I know it works. The latest customer testimonial—people feel compelled to tell me—is that my laundry pills take out pesto and blood.

Oh, and fruit juice and tea.”

In addition, when soap nuts are simmered in water on the stove it results in a liquid that can be used for all-purpose household cleaning.

Testing on soap nut liquid revealed that it’s powerful enough to kill salmonella, E. coli, black mold, staphylococcus aureus, and yeast. She sells bags of the whole soap nuts for people to simmer into a liquid, but she also has hit upon a new idea that has her regular customers clamoring for more. Her newest

product: soap nut tea bags. Just simmer a tea bag for 10 to 15 minutes in two cups of water, let it cool, and then fill a glass jar with nozzle and spray it as an all-purpose cleaner. Mari says she even cleans her fruits and vegetables with this liquid, adding, “You can use it for everything.”

Her product line now consists of the laundry pills, soap nut tea bags, whole soap nuts, powdered soap nut laundry detergent (she found some people were opening the capsules and dumping just the powder in, so now she sells the powder alone), goat milk soap, doggy bath soap, Anytime Shine suede-like cleaning cloths, and wool dryer balls.

Her mind is always swirling with new product concepts, so don’t be surprised to see other things appear at her booth.

Testing on soap nut liquid revealed that it’s powerful enough to kill salmonella, E. coli, black mold, staphylococcus aureus, and yeast.

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Booming Business Mari works out of the 1,100-square-foot basement of her home. It’s where the capsules are produced, although she

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has stopped grinding the soap nuts herself in a giant rock tumbling device she had an engineer build for her. She now orders the powder from a grower, but she still sifts it to create a finer consistency.

“I have three part-time workers,” says Mari. “They make the dryer balls, put the soap nut powder into capsules, pack the powder, and pack gift envelopes. I pay them way more than minimum wage. That’s another big philosophy of my business, to pay people well and help them make ends meet. I’m going to be looking for part-time sales help as I continue to grow this year.”

The business doubled in 2015 and is on track to double again this year. Her goal is to sign eight new wholesale customers every month. She’s also called in a consultant to help her with pricing and other financial considerations. “I got help from the smartest person I know. His name is Joe Luna. He was my former boss at Colbond out in Enka. It’s now called Bonar.

He was director of sales and marketing, but he’s retired now.

Getting his help is one of the smartest things I’ve done in the past year. I just feel much more confident about the financial side of my business; marketing is my specialty, but the financial part always bogged me down. We had our first meeting in August 2015, and since then he’s come over once a month

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MARI FOX displays Shecology’s wares

with his calculator and we go over everything. I have targets I hit every month. I really look up to him—he’s an advisor I trust.”

Hitting those monthly targets has been helped along significantly thanks to online sales. It’s very easy for customers to order because her products are lightweight and inexpensive to ship. She offers a laundry pill subscription service and can now offer a custom delivery schedule. Previously, customers had to select a monthly or bi-monthly option, but now they can create the schedule that works best for them. “One of my most unusual subscription customers is a holistic after-school care in Atlanta,” notes Mari. “It’s all about holistic living and teaching kids about clean living and natural stuff.

They get 400 laundry pills every five weeks.

“One of the main reasons I do festivals is because a lot of tourists are there. When they go home, they order my products online. I believe that’s why my online business is half of my sales.”

She’s working to continue elevating her online presence, including customer testimonials and YouTube and Instagram videos showing how to use the products.

She’s also honing in on niche markets that can benefit from a product designed to tackle harsh odors—places 70

| May 2016

like animal shelters, nursing homes, businesses that cater to people who have sensitivities to chemicals and fragrances, and also to travelers, because since the pills aren’t liquid, they are easy to pack.

“I donated a big pail of laundry pills to the Asheville Humane Society. They probably put 10 pills in their big commercial laundry machine. They have garbage cans full of urine soaked towels from cages and it sits there sometimes for a day or two. The smell is horrendous. Their laundry volunteer was totally impressed with how it smelled when it came out of the washing machine, but she still had doubts. When it came out of the dryer, it smelled clean and fresh.” Because the laundry pills don’t suds up like traditional detergent does, this was concerning to the volunteer, and she couldn’t believe that something that didn’t suds up in recognizable fashion could leave the towels smelling so clean.

Mother’s Little Helper If her dreams come true, at some point she’ll get her laundry pills into the hands of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Their sweaty concert clothing can definitely benefit, but that’s not the main reason she wants to approach them. As a die-hard Rolling Stones fan, Mari keyed into their song “Mother’s Little Helper” when devising a tag line for her laundry pills. Each jar has a logo that says “Mother’s Little Helper” over the design of a butterfly, and she has trademarked that phrase in the laundry category. While the mother’s helper referred to in the original Stones song was valium (a “little yellow pill” that “helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day”), Mari’s laundry pills are also intended to assist moms with their busy days.

“I am writing Mick Jagger. I am not holding back this year,” she says, adding that she is hoping for a sixth degree connection to the Rolling Stones—a friend or acquaintance who might be able to put her laundry pills into their hands.

One interesting thing she’s noticed is that men get as excited about her products as women do. “There’s such a diverse group of people who are early adopters, including a lot of men. They love this stuff. It’s easy. It works. It’s cool and different. It’s really exciting to me. Stuff like that keeps me going,” Mari says.

“I recently gained a couple of new wholesale customers,” she continues. “The owner of Weaverville Drug Store went home and tested it. He has a farm, and clothes usually wind up full of dirt and horse manure. He told me later, ‘My jeans were cleaner with your four laundry pills than when they came straight out of the drawer on my day on the farm.’ He was so impressed he put in a big wholesale order. Now it’s available in my little town of Weaverville.”

She’s equally excited to be expanding out of the immediate area. A new shop called The Local Company in Johnson City, Tennessee, contacted Mari first. The owner had received a May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

71

pack of laundry pills for Christmas and loved them so much she wanted to stock them. “I took her a wholesale order in January and she reordered before even opening the store,” says Mari.

Shecology products are offered for sale at a wide variety of retailers. In Brevard and Hickory, they can be found at Food Matters Market; in Marshall, at Madison Natural Foods; in Boone, at Boone Healing Arts Center; in Asheville, at West Village Market & Deli, Villagers, French Broad Food Co-op, Willow’s Dream, The Littlest Birds, aSHEville Museum, Asheville Visitor Center, Herbiary, Jus’ Running, and Green4Life; in Fairview, at Trout Lily Healthy Mini Market; and even at a retailer in Charlotte and a couple of stores in Indiana.

She also signed up for a few festivals this year that she hasn’t participated in before—Greening Up the Mountains in Sylva (which took place in April), the 2nd Annual WNC Natural Parenting Expo (Sunday, May 22 from noon to 5 PM, at Stephens Lee Recreation Center), and Asheville Vegan Fest (Sunday, June 12 in downtown Asheville). “I might also go to the Southeast Products Expo in Florida in December,” she says.

“Another big thing—Rock Star Health Consulting in New York just approached me and wants to put my laundry pills in gift bags for all their customers. They are a growing business. It’s

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health consulting, so they see the benefits of using something natural that doesn’t have any toxic chemicals in it. I just sent them 200 travel size samples to put in their new client gift bags.”

Thinking outside of the box is a daily priority, and she’s open to the idea of investors or a partner who will help her take Shecology to greater fame. “So many people have told me they think my product is innovative enough to be on Shark Tank,” she says. “I’m not ruling out anything. I think the possibilities are exciting and endless with my product line. It’s just so far ahead of all the other eco-friendly businesses. I feel like I have something really special.”

Motivation to Succeed Mari applies the same “can-do” approach to her business that she used when she was in the Army and as a single mother.

She enlisted after graduating from high school in her native Connecticut because she wanted a chance to travel and explore before settling down. Her service lasted for four years, including time spent living in Europe, but she remained for 10 years in the Army Reserves and wound up spending eight months in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm in 1990.

In between the four years of regular duty and being called up to go to Saudi Arabia, Mari earned a degree in journalism/ advertising/marketing at the University of Georgia, and had a daughter, Alison (“Ali”), who she raised on her own. (Ali is now

“In the Army, I was pushed to the limit physically and emotionally,” says Mari. “It just made me know that I could do anything I put my mind to. I feel confident that I can rise to any challenge. When I left the Army, I was a Sergeant and a Squad Leader, so I was in charge of five people. I would never ask someone to do something I would never do myself. I don’t think I’m above any of it—to me that was the good quality of a leader, to do whatever they are asking you to do.”

She says the Army also taught her to work with what you have and be resourceful. This taught her to be a creative problem-solver and eventually set her on her path to being an innovative entrepreneur who is putting her mark on the world of ecofriendly cleaning products. She’s confident enough to predict continued growth for her business, noting, “Last year was the first year I was able to pay myself and make a profit. I feel like this year my business is going to explode.

“I’m going over the edge, I swear—I’m going over the fence.”

preparing to graduate from Appalachian State University in Boone this month with a degree in exercise science. She plans to go on to physical therapy school.)

Spending time in the Army gave Mari the self-reliance and leadership skills she now demonstrates in running her own business. It’s also where she developed her high standards of cleanliness.

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UPDATES FOR

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NATIONAL WORLD [

news briefs

The Eyeball Code ithaca , ny

Eight million Americans are blind.

Many of them suffer incurable macular degeneration. To date, prosthetic devices offer only ghosts of light, but Sheila Nirenberg of Cornell University made a discovery shared back at TED2011. It had long been known that light falling on the retina stimulated photoreceptors, which passed information to encoders that interacted with the brain. The existence of the code was well-known, but Nirenberg made progress in cracking it.

Many forms of blindness occur when the photoreceptors and encoders die, while the back end of the system remains fully functional. Nirenberg proposed replacing the photoreceptors of the retina with a chip which would, with a transducer, generate code to fill in the gap. She is now

company finally unveiled a concept vehicle at the Consumer Electronics Show. A month earlier, the company had accepted $215 million in economic development incentives from the State of Nevada for the construction of an assembly plant.

But around that time, signals from the Chinese stock market gave investors a scare. Leshi Internet Information and Technology, the company owned by one of FF’s backers, suspended its trading in China. That was interpreted as standard operating procedure for restructuring, and Jia Yueting, CEO of one of Leshi’s divisions, said he was funding FF with his own resources. In the meantime, FF put up a $75 million bond and said it is doing cold-weather testing on a vehicle in the Midwest.

]

ready for clinical trials with a bionic eye, which consists of a visor-mounted camera that relays information to light-stimulated genes injected into the eye. The patient’s healthy tissues will pick up the rest of the processing.

Magical, Mystery Car gardena , ca

Established Standard Could Acquire Flashy Airline

Faraday Future (FF) has gotten a lot of media attention that at times appears hollow. The startup manufacturer of electric cars is backed by Chinese billionaires, and it had been expected to give Tesla Motors a run for their money. Like Tesla, FF is aspiring to master multiple markets, including battery packs, electronic entertainment, and other things that can be integrated into a vehicle. In January the

seattle, wa

Alaska Air Group, Inc., agreed to buy Virgin America for $2.6 billion. JetBlue Airways Corporation had also expressed interest in the acquisition. If approved by regulators, the deal could close as early as January 2017. Virgin’s shareholders

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would be getting $57 per share out of the deal, a 51% premium; and Alaska Air would be acquiring service to a number of California cities, helping it become the premier West-Coast airline. With hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Anchorage, the combined airline would handle 1,200 daily departures and bump JetBlue as the nation’s fifth largest airline for traffic. Details have yet to be settled about whether or not Alaska Air would run a hybrid fleet or swap Virgin’s leather-seated, mood-lit Boeings for Airbuses. Virgin was viewed as a popular but unprofitable airline. Its tycoon, Sir Richard Branson, expressed sadness over the merger, the United States Department of Transportation requiring him to assume minority voting-share status. If the deal does not go through, Virgin could be on the hook to pay Alaska $78.5 million.

So Much PC Garbazh, It Looked Real washington, dc

The website looked like that of any other college—a homepage photo of a diverse mix of smiling students gathered around books in the library, a great seal

36

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carolina in the west

the old north state

of the university matching the school’s Kelly green and purple colors, and buzzwords run amok. There was even an up-to-date Facebook page. Unfortunately, there never was a University of Northern New Jersey. It was bait for a federal entrapment operation that resulted in the arrest of twenty-one brokers charged with conspiring to fraudulently maintain student visas and obtain worker visas for 1,000 foreigners. Undercover agents were actually solicited by the brokers to participate. The perpetrators paid the agents thousands to generate fake credentials.

Most of the would-be beneficiaries of the scheme were former students from China or India who had overstayed their visas.

They will not be charged, but now that their visa status is known, the rest of the story is not difficult to guess.

national & world

McLaren 570S, a Lamborghini Huracán, and several track-ready GTs. Members pay $180 a month and then purchase points to buy driving days for the car of their choice. Thus, thirty days of driving might cost around $10,000. The club used to be closed, with membership capped at 450, but it intends to raise the ceilings on the number of driving members and house members—and dues. The new club has three times the square-footage of the old, plus great outdoor amenities. The interior lends itself well to a showroom, with space for an additional twenty vehicles. So, the club is opening up somewhat to let nonmembers admire the cars from a distance and take advantage of the attached marine facilities.

Let’s Get This Party Started

A Club with Big Boys’ Toys

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Last year, the Classic Car Club Manhattan moved into the stable on Hudson River Pier 76, formerly used by the New York Police Department’s mounted unit. The private club is home to thirty-eight supercars, including a

Watly, an award-winning green energy company, is about to launch an Indiegogo crowd funding campaign to build another Watly 3.0. The Watly is a multitasking infrastructure hub capable of collecting solar power for immediate electrical conversion and water filtration, and providing Wi-Fi either through existing 3G/4G

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networks or satellite connections. A typical Watly is 35 feet long in a sleek design built to be modular. It is the company’s intention to set up the devices across the African continent and provide three pillars of technology to nations where, today, survival is the only order of the day. If things go as planned, Watly could bring internet to 29% of Africans, a number still lagging seriously behind the global average of 50%. CEO and founder Marco A. Attistani explained, “We are providing for the Internet of Things where there is no internet and very few things.” Indiegogo funders will get to vote on whether the first unit will be placed in Nigeria, Ghana, or Sudan.

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California became the first state in the nation to raise its minimum wage to $15/hour. An estimated 5.6 million Californians, or 32% of workers, are trying to survive on the current minimum wage of $10. The new minimum will be phased in, with hikes of 50 cents the first two years, and then $1 more each year until 2022. A similar effort is underway in New York. There the minimum is $9, but it will be raised to $15 in three stages in New York City. Increases elsewhere will proceed more slowly and as the economy warrants. Other cities, such as Los Angeles and Seattle, already have a $15 minimum. The California legislature took action in lieu of national decisiveness. But economists warn the move will result in the termination of thousands of jobs, and an estimated $3.6 billion will have to be collected in taxes each year to payroll government workers. Small business owners, who drive job creation, are expected to feel the brunt. An estimated 5-10% of low-skill jobs will be cut across the state.

The Bed Genie Is out of the Box Bottle lexington, ky

Tempur Sealy International, Inc., announced it would join the bed-ina-box fad. The decision came after a year of market research. The beds are typically purchased by young adults who prefer the convenience of ordering on their smartphones to trying out mattresses in a showroom and haggling with high-pressure salesmen. Tempur joins the likes of Leesa Sleep, Yogabed, and Casper Sleep, who, within a couple years, have managed to capture 2-3% of sales in the United States’ $14 billion mattress industry. The typical bed-in-abox weighs 90 pounds but is compressed, with specialized mattress-compression machinery made by companies like C3 Corporation, into a box the size of a large suitcase, to take advantage of FedEx and UPS shipping rates. Most beds-in-boxes come in limited sizes and softnesses and sell for $500-$999 with a free return policy. Tempur Sealy’s bed-in-a-box will go by the name Cocoon, and it will be available through the websites of most of the company’s retailers.

Surprise! Instant Legislation! new york, ny

Pfizer and Allergan were about to transact the largest pharmaceutical merger in history, but the United States Treasury, at President Obama’s urging, acted in a timely fashion to outlaw companies from moving their headquarters to a country with a more favorable tax climate. Such a move is referred to as an inversion. Pfizer had intended to save $1 billion a year by moving its headquarters from New York to Ireland.

Allergan had beaten Pfizer to the punch, already changing its domicile to Dublin after merging with drugmaker Actavis.

Pfizer’s savings would have helped the corporate giant pay the $363.63 per

share offered Allergan. Instead, the new tax rule rendered the deal “unworkable.”

Pfizer’s CEO Ian Read has for years been striving to be more competitive among foreign competitors with lower tax burdens. Pfizer will now have to pay Allergan $400 million for breaking the deal, per the terms of the merger agreement.

Got His Chips Cashed In pomeroy, oh

L a st mont h t he Jer r y G a rcia Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit organization established in 2015 by Manasha and Keelin Garcia to “serve to support meaningful causes through the beauty of art and music,” announced that traveling exhibition “The Art of Jerry Garcia” would run at the Psylodelic Gallery in little Pomeroy (How little?

Population was just 1,852 in the 2010 census.) from early April through early August. If that gallery name looks like a misspelling of “psychedelic,” fear not; the late guitarist’s friend (and fellow guitarist) Jorma Kaukonen, of Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane fame, founded the gallery and presumably selected the name. Kaukonen enthused, “We are so honored to be able to show my old friend Jerry’s work in the Gallery. If Jerry and I were to be able to look into the future back in the ‘60s when we met, we sure would’ve gotten a kick out this. I made sure that I worked on hanging this show in particular. His work is exemplary.”

Garcia’s fine art has toured in various exhibitions since 1990, including in 2014 at the prestigious Centre National d’art Contemporain Le Magasin located in Grenoble, France.

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Spot

Inside the colorful, noisy, and thrillseeking world of Indoor Motocross in Western North Carolina.

I

’m a sucker for all things that consume gasoline and belch smoke, motorcycles in particular.

I’ve watched Motocross and Supercross racing on cable and YouTube for years because the action is intense. How can anyone ride that well? I’ve never seen a Motocross racer pass by my house. Where do those high-flying men and women actually come from?

Did they wheelie out the door of some secret SoCal moto-lab run by Red Bull? Nope. As it turns out, they come from everywhere in the United States, mostly kids from rural communities. They come from places like Asheville.

The Western North Carolina Agricultural Center— or, as most people refer to it, the WNC Ag Center—in Fletcher, near Asheville, lures winter-weary moto addicts out of their cabin-fever stupor with the Victory Sports Indoor Motocross (MX) Racing Series. I’d never seen an indoor event live, so it was time.

If motorcycle racing conjures images of bearded, overweight men swilling beer and smoking astride loud motorcycles, grab your mental remote and change the channel. Picture instead: clean-cut, lean athletes in bright colors, piloting high-flying, hightech dirt machines.

Inside the arena, the bleachers are filling with spectators clutching bags and blankets against the February chill. They huddle under the radiant heaters and chatter excitedly. A piece of heavy equipment is grooming the dirt course after the afternoon qualifying races. There is excitement in the air. Fluorescent clad youngsters clutching helmets run along the mezzanine, while older teens huddle with dads talking strategy and try to remain calm.

The first race, or moto in the lingo, is the 4-to-6-year olds on tiny 51cc motorcycles. The little guys are barely bigger than their helmets. Adorable doesn’t come close to how sweet these little bobble-heads look as they motor up one side of the large jump, pause, then motor down the back side, tires never leaving the ground.

They look like they could be riding bicycles, I think.

After a lap or two, I start paying attention to the kids in the lead. Coming out of corners, they’re actually gassing it, spinning the rear wheel to slide the bike around the corner, and accelerating quickly down the straight.

I admit it, I’m not a good patient when I’m sick, and I’m not a good spectator for the same reason: I want to get in on the action in front of me. I’m in the arena less than thirty minutes and I want to somehow become five again and rip around the course.

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 79

capital adventurist

Fifteen Seconds of Fame The checkered flag is out, and the tykes ride through a narrow passage leading them offstage. Meanwhile, the amped-up booth announcer is whipping the crowd, announcing the winner. I see one tiny rider taking giant steps to mount the winner’s podium. He is greeted by a fast-talking podium announcer who walks the youngster through a grown-up interview.

“Great race, Jimmy, what was it like?”

“It was fuuuuunnnn,” comes the small reply. (chuckles from the audience) “I’ll bet it was! Where are you from, son?”

“North Car-o-linaaaa….” is the kindergartner’s reply. (more congenial laughs) “Yes son, but where?”

“Fletch-rrrrrr…”

“And who brought you here?”

“Mom and Dad….” (Could he be any cuter?)

“Right, but is there else anyone you want to thank?”

“Oh… Bill’s Tractor Service, and my Uncle Jim!” “And that’s all from the podium, let’s go racing!”

Everyone who wins a moto gets to practice his or her TV interview skills.

Within 45 seconds the race populated by 7-to-9-year olds on slightly bigger bikes is off with a roar. What a difference a couple years makes! These boys and girls are not only sliding through corners, but they’re getting airborne over the smaller jumps. Their body positions have them looking like clones of their adult heroes.

During the third lap, one racer gets airborne in a sweeping right turn, and crashes through the dirt bank on the outside of the curve. The bike slides into the wall, the rider face-plants into the soft dirt, and I jump out of my seat in a panic.

No need. Instantly he’s up, shaking his little fists in frustration. Corner workers run, frantically flashing yellow flags to keep other bikes from crashing into the lad. Meanwhile our hero rights his bike and works the kick-starter like a sewing machine until it bellows a cloud of blue smoke. A spray of dirt from the rear wheel rockets him back onto the course. These kids are tough… “..surely I’d be tough if given a chance to re-invent my youth,” I posit to no one in particular.

How do the races in little old Asheville fit into the grand scheme of motocross? The Ag Center has hosted the Victory Sports Indoor MX for the last 24 years. This winter series is held in three other venues within a five-hour drive of each other, and most of the racers try to race in all of them. Motocross is mainly an outdoor sport, but indoor series give the racers an opportunity to keep their skills sharp in the winter months.

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KINDERGARTNERS on tiny motorcycles.

QUEUE for starting gate - words of encouragement from dad.

But… The Local MX Races are Small Time, Right?

Nope. Just as the Victory Indoor and Outdoor MX series are part of the Southeast region, there are similar amateur pointsgathering series happening in the Southwest, Northeast, and Northwest. There are many championships throughout the season, but the Olympics of the sport happen in Tennessee during the week-long amateur championships held on Loretta Lynn’s ranch every August. Last year, more than 60,000 amateur MX racers attempted to qualify.

Doing well at Loretta’s opens doors, for riders of any age, and not just for those wanting to turn pro. Many a young racer has picked up a sponsor or two during the week-long event, which is heady stuff for a youngster. It’s important to note that all of the top United States professional MX and Supercross riders passed through this system on their way to the top—guys like Ryan Dungey, James Stewart, Ryan Villopoto, and Ricky Carmichael all raced here.

Age classes in amateur MX begin at four, go through the teens, and into the 50+year range. Adults race in some classes, but the predominant age group is elementary through high school years. When competitors reach their later teens, classes are based on motorcycle engine size and cumulative points. Accrue enough points, and you advance.

When a racer moves through all these classes they can turn professional and have a shot at making a few thousand dollars in a weekend locally. The jump to change classes and turn pro is a decision not taken lightly by those in the know. Timing is everything. Enough points get a racer into a higher performance class, meaning they have to face down tougher competition on possibly faster equipment. What if you’re not feeling ready? Then, racers intentionally keep their points count down, biding their time until they put together a more competitive bike or better skills.

If getting paid to race is your dream, then the holy grail for young professionals is securing a “factory ride,” i.e., joining a heavily sponsored team where the bikes are insanely tricked-out and riders actually collect a salary… salaries that can soar north May 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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JOCKEYING for position out of turn one - contact is inevitable. of six figures. Few privately funded individuals are successful in pro Motocross or Supercross because it’s just too expensive.

How does the average kid from the country do it? The entrance door is Arena Cross, the gladiatorial motocross stage in front of a talent scout-rich audience. The racers I talked to agree that they’ll only have one or two shots at making a good showing for the scouts.

Where the Action Is Unlike the team sports where the path to a professional career involves success with a winning team in high school, followed by the same in college, motocross racers can achieve success while still in high school, limited only by their talent.

Participating in individual sports like motocross, racers learn the importance of preparation and goal setting, the cornerstones of discipline. With that, riders achieve the satisfaction that comes from reaching goals as well as the flipside: working really hard but having to lose to their peers… gracefully.

Learning these lessons at a young age brings a maturity not found elsewhere.

Athletic events are more enjoyable when you know a player or two, so before race night, I asked motorcycle oriented friends what to expect at the races, and there were a few talented locals to watch out for. Who knew?

In Friday’s 250cc B-class race, I watched brothers Joshua and Caleb Carter battle for first place. I had been told that of the two, Caleb had the talent and desire to make a living racing, but to me, they both looked amazing on the course. (Note: B-class is one step away from the top-of-the-heap A-class.)

Out of the start, the Carters had good positions for the crucial first turn, where 15 bikes cram into a space of around six feet to be the first through the corner. A few racers went down, and Caleb was blocked by Colby Morse (of Flat Rock, North Carolina) as brother Joshua took the lead.

Holy cow, this is just like the racing on TV, I think. These guys are amazing!

No one was standing with head bowed in worship of a smart phone. These kids were fully engaged in life with what was happening in front of them, not absorbed in cyber space.

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What a great race from the three young men. They rode so fast that they caught the rear of the pack after only one lap. (Race leaders who are trying to keep up a winning pace refer to slower riders as “traffic.”) Caleb was riding his heart out, trying to gain every advantage over brother Joshua and Morse. He was passing slower riders in the air and passing in the corners, but just when it looked like he’d overtake the leaders, traffic would block his path.

But, seconds before the finish, Caleb squirted into second place, putting Colby third. It was a clash of titans, a cliffhanger.

The crowd went wild, but to give Caleb his due, earlier in the day, he bested brother Joshua in another race, finishing first... and he was riding with a separated shoulder!

TRAILERS become garages and places to hang.

The Scene There are no bad seats in the Ag Center arena; from the front row, you’re only ten feet from the action. The noise thunders in your chest and rattles your fillings. Watching agile riders sail twenty feet in the air hit me hard: I want to be out on the track, but I also realize that the skills I’m witnessing come only from years of practice.

Where’s a time machine when you need one?

Next to the indoor track is a large parking lot filled with trucks, campers, and pop-up canopies. Parked next to each is a group of brightly colored dirt bikes. The atmosphere is of a friendly campground where everyone knows each other. Adults are chatting or twisting wrenches on motorcycles. Kids of all ages run, bike, and skateboard through the maze of vehicles, clad in neon race gear.

I see a gang of seven-year-olds on bikes roar out of the arena post race and park the bikes. Looking like small super heroes in their gear, they gather on a grassy hillside, chattering excitedly. They pull their helmets off and throw themselves to the ground rolling down the hill, giggling like the children they are.

The kids I talked to were amazing human beings; wellspoken, poised, polite, and dedicated. I’ve never been called “sir” as much in my life… but one thing was missing: No one was standing with head bowed in worship of a smart phone.

These kids were fully engaged in life with what was happening in front of them, not absorbed in cyber space. Serious amateur motocross contenders spend hours each day on their bikes. I don’t think the kids rolling down the hill would call it work.

Size Doesn’t Matter I find Joshua and Caleb Carter behind their trailer of bikes, which doubles as a workshop. Mom, Dad, and attendant girlfriends are celebrating the exciting race with the brothers and their mechanic.

The young men sitting across from me are still jacked-up from the race. Josh and Caleb are intelligent, well-spoken, and extremely polite. Their joy and enthusiasm for the sport is contagious, and it is obvious how much they care about each other. I immediately feel like part of the family.

“I tried out for baseball and football and was told that I was too short. I hated that,” says Caleb, “but when I race, it’s just me; no one’s telling me anything.”

The brothers came comparatively late to racing. They entered their first races around age ten, which doesn’t seem to have set May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 83

capital adventurist

them back much. Home-schooled by mom, they had plenty of time to practice their riding, which has probably given them an advantage.

Additionally, their cousins live on adjoining land, and they race as well.

The two racing families travel to MX races almost every weekend. The brothers agree that most of their close friends are the fellow racers they’ve been spending the last eight years with.

The Carters are from Leicester, North Carolina, where the family has enough spare land to house two motocross courses: One is sized to imitate the average outdoor amateur motocross track; the other is a scaled down to resemble the tight indoor circuits. The family business is paving and line painting, so there is no shortage of earth moving equipment on the property, which explains the MX courses.

Caleb, age 17, and Joshua, age 19, are very closely matched in riding talent, as evidenced in the race I just watched. When Caleb recently announced that he wanted to take a shot at turning professional, older brother Joshua decided to play a supporting role. Up until this point, their parents had been spending equal sums on the two boys.

Josh asked his dad to spend all the money on getting Caleb better equipment to make him more competitive. The dedication to Caleb’s career showed during our interview, as Joshua began to answer some questions for his brother… just like a press agent.

“Caleb and I have always pushed each other on the track, it’s how we grew up,” says Joshua. “If he’s on the track, I feel like I can push more, and vice versa.” Caleb smiles broadly and nods his agreement.

It must be working, because people have noticed Caleb’s talent and have pitched in to help. Mary Strickland, owner of City Cycle Supply, sponsors him, as does Eurosport Asheville, the local BMW and KTM dealer. Their mechanic, Brad, is a talented engine builder who was so inspired by watching Caleb handle a bike that he contacted the family, out of the blue, to volunteer his services. Racing is a family.

Going for the Win Back in the arena, I watch one of three professional motos of the evening. It has been said that MX races are won in the corners, and one rider, clad in red, is proving this theory. Each corner, he brakes very late and hard, then with one smooth motion, pivots the bike around an imaginary point. Feet never touch the earth, and the bike exits the corner leaning over so far that the handlebar grip appears to be less than a foot off the ground.

Over and over, the man in red rockets out of the corners, sails over the jumps, and floats over the three-foot-deep washboard. He’s so smooth, the bike appears suspended by invisible wires. He makes it look easy.

I catch up with Tyler McSwain, the aforementioned man in red, of Shelby, North Carolina. We’ve found an empty conference room where we don’t have to shout above revving bikes. Soft-spoken and polite, Tyler has a deep motocross history, which he’s sharing with me. I ask him what exactly is going through his head in the seconds before he rockets out of the starting gate. He fidgets in his seat and adjusts his cap.

“Winning,” he says.

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THE ALL NATURAL ANTIDEPRESSANT

THE CARTER BROTHERS in a tight race for first, with Joshua in the lead.

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THE FIRST TURN is an important time, and can set your position for the entire race.

“Okay, I get it because now that you’re 20 and a professional rider, it’s your job. But what about when you were a little guy?” I ask.

“Winning!” he counters. “I started racing when I was five, and I picked up my first sponsor at Loretta Lynn’s during my first year. I learned that coming in first has its rewards.”

days are full. Tyler makes sales calls for sponsors; his bikes always need attention; and he, of course, must ride daily to keep his skills fresh.

Out on the track tonight, he appeared to float, but don’t be fooled. MX racing is very tough on the human body.

“I’ve broken this femur six times, and this femur…”— he’s sudden ly silent. The lack of noise from the arena breaks his concentration.

“Will you excuse me, sir?

I’ll be right back.”

Tyler bolts out the door and returns five minutes later.

He had to help a friend into the start gate who showed up to the races without any support group.

“Sorry, I had to go help him.

You need someone to kick the dirt around your gate, or else you don’t get a good start. You can’t do that for yourself.”

MX racing has been his weekend home—his extended family since he was five. Here, he’s surrounded by family and friends,

No one starts this game wanting to turn pro. They are fueled by the fun of twisting a throttle on a lightweight motorcycle, many when they are just toddlers. Weekends in the backyard expand to weekends in a camper next to a motocross track.

He’s genuinely grateful for his dad’s support, which has been a 15-year commitment. Since he’s now a pro, and the fatherly funding has slowed, Tyler is learning how costly and time consuming it can be to sponsor a young motocross star. His 86

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and to the little guys he’s the successful big brother… so he works to set a good example.

We talk a bit about his next move on the pro circuit.

“Right now, I’m on an $8,000 bike. At Arena Cross, I’ll be up against factory guys on $50,000 motorcycles. You only get one shot, so I have to bide my time, and hope that I find enough sponsors who can help me build a better bike.”

Racing is how he’s spent his life so far, and Tyler is in his prime riding years. Despite the frightening crashes and debilitating recoveries, he wants to shoot for the stars and become one. He believes he owes it to himself and everyone who has supported him over the years. 2016 may be a pivotal season for the young man from Shelby; he’s another rider to watch for.

Where do they Come From?

No one starts this game wanting to turn pro. They are fueled by the fun of twisting a throttle on a lightweight motorcycle, many when they are just toddlers. Weekends in the backyard with dad and mom expand to weekends in a camper next to a motocross track. Summers blur into years spent racing with friends, and suddenly you’re a teenager and everyone tells you that you’re good at motocross. So, yes those TV and YouTube motocross insaniacs come from right here, not some racer factory.

But, not everyone turns pro. Even though he rides well enough, Joshua Carter, when not working in support of his brother Caleb, will be working at the landscaping business he’s launching this year, while racing will remain his hobby. I talked to another competitive class B racer, Austin Johnson.

He, too, has spent his childhood racing MX bikes, but this is to be his last year. He’s entering college next September, with plans to take it all the way to med school.

“I’ll always race,” says Austin, “I love the speed and the competition.”

All’s Right with the World Driving home, I’m feeling exceptionally happy. I watched some talented athletes of all ages display great motorcycle handling skills, but it was more than that, I was touched by the humanity of the whole thing. Amateur motocross racing isn’t some big impersonal corporate machine; it’s families doing something that’s fun and active.

Competitors of all ages encourage each other on the track.

If your bike is broken, your nearest competitor might be the one coming to your rescue with parts or tools, because it’s not just about winning. It’s about having fun and being with your friends. Isn’t this the kind of world we’d all like to live in?

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 87

People Play at

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1. Beth Stanforth, Belinda Koon, & Ann Hoscheit at Doncaster Outlet 2. Shelly Worsley & Becky Starnes 3. Skylar Ferrer (L) & Beth Zagst, owner of Ugga Mugga Bakery

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4. Travel journalists Lynn & Cele Seldon sample wine from Linda Wiseman of Linville Falls Winery.

5. SAVOR Volunteers Susanna Russell & Virginia Powell 6.Quincy Simmons & Lindsey Dolan

7. Anna Wagner & Ashley Payne at Monkee’s 8. Rhonda Sprague, Leah Weddington, Amory Beaver and Janet Blankenship at Rustique Restaurant

SAVOR Blowing Rock 2016 Downtown Blowing Rock

April 14-17, 2016 | photos by Jeff Eason, courtesy of BlowingRocket.com, & Amanda Lugenbell

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9. Mandy Poplin and Dave Culler enjoy the Reidel Glassware seminar.

10. Milton & Felicia Baucam, Rosemerry Williams, Jessica Meyer, Gretchen Beckham, Connie Johnson, & Katie Williams

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11. Erica Lackey of Blue Ridge Mountain Club 12. Janelle Karr & Kylie Philbeck after the Corkscrew 5K 13. Jerrica Ragin and Shantae King

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14. Amanda & Toby Trouille with Brad Call of Call Family Distillers 15. John Bolen & Carolyn Seaman at the Grilling with the Masters cooking class May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 89

events

may

EVENTS may 1-21

The Box: A Contemporary Jewelry Challenge

may 1 & 6 - 8

On the Verge 7:30PM (Fri & Sat), 2PM (Sat & Sun) Hendersonville Community Theatre 229 South Washington Street, Hendersonville, NC Three Victorian lady explorers fight a jungle with machetes and share stories of former adventures from deepest darkest Africa to highest Himalaya to Terra Incognita.

10AM-6PM (Tue-Sat)

>Tickets: Adult (18+) $22, Student

Benchspace Gallery & Workshop at the Center for Craft, Creativity, & Design 67 Broadway Street, Asheville, NC

> 828-692-1082 > hendersonvilletheatre.org

This exhibition is curated by Platforma, an initiative of Bella Neyman and Ruta Reifen of New York City. They sought to highlight the phenomenon of replacing precious metals and gemstones with other materials for wearable art. To make their point, the New Yorkers shipped a Coca-Cola can, a towel, an envelope, a CD-ROM, and an eraser to eight American artists and asked them to use some or all of the menagerie to make some bling. Come see what happened.

> Free > 828-785-1357 > craftcreativitydesign.org/the-box

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$18, Youth $12

may 1

Asheville Zine Fest 11AM The Grey Eagle 185 Clingman Ave, Asheville, NC Makers of zines, minicomics, and small press from around the region will be in attendance to sell, trade, and show off their works. Come shop independent works of literature, politics, strangeness, art, and all kinds of unique publications.

> Free

> 828-232-5800 > thegreyeagle.com may 1- 28

Million Dollar Quartet Flat Rock Playhouse Mainstage 2661 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, NC Based on a book by Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott, the true story is told of an impromptu jam session with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. Featured songs include “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Hound Dog,” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”

>Tickets: $15-$40 > 828-693-0731 > flatrockplayhouse.org may 5 - 28

Death of a Salesman 7:30PM Thurs-Sat The Magnetic Theatre 375 Depot St, Asheville, NC Long before a certain political candidate set out to make our country great again, playwright Arthur Miller was making

his case for the tragic dissolution of the American Dream via Willy Loman. This revival of the classic play is directed

by Henry Williamson and stars Steven Samuels as the titular salesman.

>Tickets: $21 online/$24 at the door.

$10 student tickets available 15 mins. before curtain. > 828-239-9250 > themagnetictheatre.org

may 6

13th Annual Tourism Day Event 10AM-2PM North Carolina Welcome Center I-26W, Mars Hill, NC This year’s showcasing of Western North Carolina’s traditional offerings will feature the usual mountain music and cloggers. Displays will promote heritage sites, things to do, and areas of natural beauty. Representatives from Monarch Rescue and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will be on-hand to get folks interested.

> Free > 828-689-4257 > sbeasley@nccommerce.com

people to preserve a wilderness feel and respect National Park standards. Bob, we are told, does not sleep at night, and so he can stay up and talk as long as you want.

may 6

Webb Wilder 7PM Altamont Theatre 8 Church St, Asheville, NC The Nashville songwriter, roots-rocker, and big-hat-wearer—not to mention well-documented sci-fi enthusiast—will screen his new film Private Eye in the Saucer’s Reign, then will proceed to kick out da jamz live. An all-ages, seated general admission show.

>Tickets: $17 adv./$20 door > 617-501-1983 > thealtamont.com may 7

Wilderness Stargazing 45 minutes before sunset Linville Gorge - Call for details.

HikeMore Adventures will host a Wilderness Stargazing Event with astronomer and future director of the Blue Ridge Public Observatory Bob Hampton.

Hampton will guide explorers on a fourhour telescope tour of the night sky, and our friend will cook up a campfire meal.

This event is limited to ten preregistered

> Admission: $75 > 828-595-4453 > hikemoreadventures.com may 7

Explorer’s Outpost Mining Sluice Grand Opening 10AM Western North Carolina Nature Center 75 Gashes Creek Road, Asheville, NC Special guests from the Colburn Earth Science Museum, soon to be the Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS), will contribute to festivities at the grand opening of a gem mining sluice. Guests will be able to purchase bags of roughage at Captain Dave’s Gift Shop. They’ll then be able to run them through the water and search for treasure. The experts will provide a brief presentation on gems and the history of mining them in the Appalachians. They will remain on-hand to field questions. Participation is free with admission. Discounts for city residents apply.

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offering introduction to sporting clays classes monthly www.wingsnclays.com | 828.633.1806 May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 91

EILEEN FISHER

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS

events

> Admission: Adult $10.95, Senior

(65+) $9.95, Youth (3-15) $6.95, Infant Free

> 828-298-0182 > wildwnc.org may 7

Salamander Saturday 9AM-6PM Grandfather Mountain 2050 Blowing Rock Highway, Linville, NC Naturalists from Grandfather Mountain’s staff will share what they know in an allday celebration of things cute and slippery.

2onCrescent

828.274.1276 • 2oncrescent.com Open Everyday 11am - 5pm 4 All Souls Crescent, Biltmore Village

>Tickets: Senior $18, Adult (13-59) $20, Child $9, Infant (0-3) Free

> 828-733-4326 > grandfather.com may 7

TR&HC Block House Steeplechase 10AM-4PM Foothills Equestrian Nature Center 3381 Hunting Country Road, Tryon, NC

Feather Your Nest

CONSIGNMENT SHOP

Specializing in upscale one-of-a-kind furnishings, housewares, home decorative items and vintage & fine jewelry.

New items arriving daily!

Come see for yourself!

Tuesday through Saturday | 10am to 4pm 1215A Greenville Hwy. Hendersonville, NC

828.693.3535 Accepting Quality Consignments

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The TR&HC Block House Steeplechase races have been entertaining aficionados since 1947. The atmosphere is similar to that of the Kentucky Derby. This event typically draws 18,000-20,000, and tickets are per-vehicle.

>Tickets: $100-$1000 > 828-863-0480 > blockhouseraces.com may 7

Chris Young 7:30PM Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort 777 Casino Drive, Cherokee, NC Young has had six number-one hits on the country charts, and he was once nominated for a Grammy. Now on tour

with his latest album, I’m Comin’ Over, he’ll be performing on what Harrah’s describes as the leading events, entertainment, and concert venue in the Southeast.

>Tickets: $30-$108 > 800-745-3000 > ticketmaster.com may 9

Little Steven’s Underground Garage Tour featuring The Sonics 8PM The Orange Peel 101 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC Sixties garage legends The Sonics (“Psycho,” “The Witch”) are still touring, believe it or not, and this show will be a three-chord bash to tell the grandkids about. As one CaP staffer sagely notes, “Heck, drag the grandkids along and give ‘em a musical education!” Opening acts The Woggles plus Barrence Whitfield & The Savages are not to be missed either. Maybe Little Steven himself, aka Silvio Dante, aka Bruce Springsteen’s guitarist, aka Steven Van Zandt, will turn up this evening.

>Tickets: $20 adv./$22 door > 828-398-1837 > theorangepeel.net

– june 5 Brave New World: The Musical may 11

7:30PM (Wed-Sat), 2PM (Sun) North Carolina Stage Company 15 Stage Lane, Asheville, NC Soma! Take me away! The story is told of the perfect authoritarian state where the leaders, surrounded by the ultimate in scientific consensus, run the people with just machines that make wise decisions.

Everybody lives in harmony, because

When You Need Someone Who

they are chemically-compelled to think the same way. So, what happens when an illegal alien from a less civilized culture crosses the border?

Knows The Ropes

>Tickets: $16-$40 > 828-239-0263 > ncstage.org may 12

Beekeeping: On the Ground & in the Cloud 11AM-12:15PM Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Chestnut Street, Blowing Rock, NC Beekeeping is coming back in a big way, but it has long been a tradition in Appalachia, renowned for its honeys; especially, the sourwood variety. As honeybees became endangered over the last 30 years, beekeepers have had to work harder to keep their bees happy and healthy. Today, beekeepers use technology to help them plan for and make executive decisions affecting their hives. Catch on to high-tech bee management and try local baked goods while at it.

John C. Hunter Attorney at Law

Providing experienced legal representation for over 30 years

One North Pack Square | Suite 421 Asheville, NC 28801 828.281.1940 johnhunter@jchlawfirm.com jchlawfirm.com

> Admission: Adult $7, Senior/Military $6, Student/Child $4 > 828-295-9099 > blowingrockmuseum.org

may 12 -15

Spring LEAF Festival

SMALL SHOP SERVICE LARGE SHOP SELECTION

Check website for schedule/times.

377 Lake Eden Road Black Mountain, NC Each year, in the spring and then again in the fall, the nonprofit LEAF Community Arts celebrates with an eclectic, family friendly music and arts festival. Among the highlights this time around: Juan De Marcos & the Afro-Cuban All-Stars, Shovels & Rope, Fatoumata Diawara, Sarah Jarosz, Pedrito Martinez, and plenty more. The theme is “world fusion with Cuban spice,� appropriately enough,

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An investment in the future...

events

given the recent thawing of relations between the United States and Cuba.

>Tickets: prices vary.

(Kids under 10 are free w/parent.) > 828-686-8742 > theLEAF.org

may 15

Hendersonville Symphony’s Youth Orchestra: Spring Concert 4-6PM Bo Thomas Auditorium at Blue Ridge Community College 180 West Campus Drive, Flat Rock, NC There’s s omet h i n g ab out t ho s e Hendersonville musicians. They like to surprise you with their selections. Here, too, the set list for the Youth Symphony, Sinfonietta, and Prelude Ensemble remain TBA.

...yields a lifetime of value.

With a passion for learning and teaching, our exceptional faculty leads by example and brings out your child’s personal bests.

•

The 47 Members of the Class of 2015: Included a United States Military Academy appointee, National Merit Commended Scholar, National Merit Semifinalist, National Merit Finalist, and National Achievement Boule Foundation Scholarship winner

•

Logged more than 4,000 hours of community service

•

Were accepted into 18 honors colleges/special programs

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Were offered $4 million in academic and athletic merit scholarships

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Are attending 30 different colleges in 16 states and two countries Carolina Day School inspires students to become innovative thinkers who communicate with intelligence and clarity, create with vision and purpose, and act with courage and compassion to confidently make a meaningful difference in the world.

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>Tickets: Adult $7, Youth Free > 828-697-5884 > hendersonvillesymphony.org may 18

Olde Virden’s Super Happy Trivia Challenge 7:30PM Asheville Community Theatre’s 35below 35 East Walnut Street, Asheville, NC You deserve a good laugh. So why don’t you try on the local version of Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! Some of the area’s sharpest actors and entertainers ad lib answers to weird and esoteric questions.

And you’re in the game show audience live. I wouldn’t promote this if I weren’t in awe of the encyclopedic minds of some of the local actor-types in this town.

>Tickets: $12 > 828-254-1320 > ashevilletheatre.org

may 18

Blues & BBQ feat.

Samantha Fish 7PM New Mountain AVL 38 N. French Broad Road, Asheville, NC Enjoy the pre-show victuals (the “BBQ” section) courtesy of Moe’s, then rock out with one of the hottest blues performers on the planet, Samantha Fish (the “blues” section, duh), who has worked with the likes of Devon Allman, Jimmy Hall, Paul Thorn, Luther Dickinson, and Cassie Taylor.

>Tickets: $10 > 828-785-1701 > newmountainavl.com MAY 19

Tac Talk: The Best in Motion Pictures 6-7:30PM Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Chestnut Street, Blowing Rock, NC The story is told of the old, brick Yonahlossee Theatre, Blowing Rock’s longest operating film venue. It seated 400 with special seats on a balcony. At first, it was only a summer showhouse.

The building is now the home of Hanna’s Oriental Rugs & Gifts and Christmas in Blowing Rock. A Q&A will follow the historic review.

> Admission: Adult $7, Senior/Military $6, Student/Child $4 > 828-295-9099 > blowingrockmuseum.org MAY 21

Saluda Arts Festival 10AM-4PM Historic Saluda 44 West Main Street, Saluda, NC Heritage, arts, and culture are the order of the day at the 13th annual Saluda

Arts Festival. Media will be diverse, but the artists are all Appalachian. Like mostly all festivals around here, there will be mountain music of all sorts, craft demonstrations, and stuff for the young’ns to do. The festival is sponsored by the Saluda Business Association.

> Free to wander > 828-817-2876 > saluda.com MAY 21

Willie Nelson & Family 7:30PM Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort 777 Casino Drive, Cherokee, NC Your only problem now is getting a ticket. As we used to say in the business, “There’s no such thing as a sold-out show.” It was originally to feature Merle Haggard as the opening act, and Hag certainly would have shared the stage with Nelson at some point.

Sadly, he passed away April 6 on his 79th birthday.

> 800-745-3000 > ticketmaster.com > tickets: $90-$175

Lower School Grades Pre-K to 5 Critical foundational skills and exceptional enrichment program including STEM, Art, Spanish

Key School Grades 1-8 Model school for bright students with language-based learning differences

Middle School Grades 6-8 Single-gender classrooms, peer group program, expedition learning

Upper School Grades 9-12 Full-time professional college counselor working with students to prepare for college and beyond

MAY 22

Baroque Vibes 3PM First Presbyterian Church 40 Church Street, Asheville, NC Back by popular demand, this will be the finale for Pan Harmonia’s 16th season.

Harpsichord, vibraphone, flute, and bassoon will combine to take 17th-century English dance and masterpieces from Telemann, Bach, Corette, and Rameau beyond the Baroque.

>Tickets: Advance $15, Door $20, Student $5 > 828-254-7123 > panharmonia.org

Asheville’s Pre-K/12 Independent Co-Ed Day School A Balanced Approach to Building Character and Developing Intellect

APPLY NOW FOR 2016-17.

CarolinaDay.org/Apply 828.407.4442

May 2016 | capitalatplay.com 95

events

MAY 24

2016 Power of the Purse MAY 28TH SAT 11AM-5PM

MEMORIAL DAY SALE! Inventory Reduction Sale

70% OFF & MORE! ALL SALES FINAL!

PROMOTIONAL SPECIAL!

FREE Gun Cleaning Day! Take a chance to win a “Bug Out Bag” or A Gun. Monday- Friday:11am to 7pm (Closed Wednesday) Saturday:10am to 6pm | Sunday:1pm to 5pm 828-274-0028 ONTARGETNC.COM ontargetncinc@aol.com

The Tennis Professor Asheville’s Full-Service Tennis Store

12-2PM Expo Center, Crowne Plaza 1 Resort Drive, Asheville, NC This luncheon will feature astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison. While aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor in a cooperative mission between the United States and Japan, Jemison performed experiments on weightlessness. Prior to taking to flight, Jemison was an Area Peace Corps Officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia. With an M.D. from Cornell, she practiced medicine in Los Angeles.

Jemison currently fundraises for the 100 Year Starship, an initiative exploring prospects for human interstellar travel.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.

>Tickets: Standard $75, Patron $150 > 828-254-4960 > cfwnc.org MAY 27

10th Anniv. Americana Burlesque & Sideshow Festival 8PM & 10:30PM The Grey Eagle 185 Clingman Ave, Asheville, NC

Top Brand Racquets, Shoes & Clothes Indoor Hitting Area Demo Racquet Rental $5 off purchases of $50 or more in May 854 Merrimon Ave • North Asheville

Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 & Sunday 12-5 828.620.8693 • www.TheTennisProfessor.net 96

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In the classic Vaudeville fashion, you will revel in the company of satin and sparkle, unicorn-feathered starlets, and fish-eyed zombie boys. One of several annual productions of Future of Tradition, a seminal force in the underground Asheville arts community since 1999, this is a partially seated show.

>Tickets: Early “Speakeasy” show $15/$20; Later “Last Pastie Standing” show $10/$15 > 828-232-5800 > thegreyeagle.com

MAY 27-30

Blue Ridge Classic of the Carolinas Dog Show 7AM-8PM Western North Carolina Agricultural Center, Davis & Expo buildings 1301 Fanning Bridge Road, Fletcher, NC This is an all-breed dog show that will feature conformation, obedience, and rally. This event coincides with the Blue Ridge Dog Agility performances, which will be held in the McGough Arena at the Western North Carolina Ag Center from 9AM-4PM the same days.

> Parking $5 daily > 864-480-9990 > wncagcenter.org MAY 28-29

Lake Lure Arts & Crafts Festival 9AM-7PM Arcade Plaza 119 Arcade Street, Lake Lure, NC Here comes another Appalachian festival with all the trappings of the others – except this one is set where the original Dirty Dancing was filmed, in the picturesque arcade, with the beautiful mountain backdrop, across from the wide beach, of the lovely lake. . . This one has mini-golf, too.

> Free > 828-625-4683 > lakelureartsandcraftsfestivals.com

If your organization has any local press releases for our briefs section, or events that you would like to see here, feel free to email us at events@capitalatplay.com.

Please submit your event by six weeks in advance.

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Bank Local.

You choose to live, work and shop locally. Doesn’t it make sense to turn to your neighborhood bank to help you realize your dreams for a fuller life?

First Bank is a full-service bank with the emphasis on “service”, by providing local decisions and local faces.

I N CLUDI N G

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LEARN MORE AT

LOCALFIRSTBANK.COM A SHE V ILLE DOW N TOW N 828-252-1735 LE ICE STE R 828- 251- 9254 | ASHEVILLE SO UTH 828-687-7450 Equal Housing Lender May | Member FDIC 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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Whether it’s gourmet sandwiches for eight or a cocktail reception for 500, The Chef ’s kitchen is dedicated to providing fresh, beautifully presented, and affordably priced menus that are sure to delight you and your guests.

Visit Us At www.TheChefsKitchen.com

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