Capital at Play August 2016 by Capital at Play Magazine

Jeff & Lee Herold

Greenhouse Moto Café is Up & Running p.24

Space to Grow

Local Industry Look at the Town of Mills River p.36

The Free Spirit Of Enterprise

video intervie w

with jeremy littlejohn capital atpl ay. com

Interview with Jeremy Littlejohn, co-founder of RISC Networks

Future Shock

colu m ns

The Death of SuperWoman?

One woman’s advice for female entrepreneurs considering motherhood

p.16

p. 76

Alex Freeman BottomsUP Box Lenoir-Rhyne University, Student Column

p.68

l e i s u r e & l i b at i o n

Taking the Right Step Contra dancing offers fun, exercise… and cultural continuity. p. 54

Volume VI - Edition VIII complimentary edition

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August 2016

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August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

Editor’s Thoughts

ast month in this space, we outlined some of the changes taking place at the magazine, including rolling the Capital Adventurist section into Leisure & Libation, and launching a new section, Insight, which features short profiles of local businesses. We’re hugely encouraged by the response to date.

What’s been unexpectedly gratifying is the public embrace of our exclusive editorial videos, including our look, in June, at East Fork Pottery’s Alex Matisse and John Vigeland, and then Leather Specialty Company’s Larry Black, in July; the number of views, shares, and “likes” on social media for the clips have been, in a word, remarkable. Up this month: a video profile of RISC Network’s Jeremy Littlejohn, which you can find at Capitalatplay.com and our Facebook and YouTube pages. One thing that has not changed is our mandate to thoroughly cover the many emerging (and ongoing) industry trends throughout the region. Please check out this issue’s Local Industry report on Mills River, which by all accounts is becoming a go-to area in terms of new business expansion. There are a lot of wide open spaces out that way, folks, and you can expect the trend to continue. On an entirely different note: Each month, as the Capital at Play braintrust nears completion of another production cycle, my usual insecurities arise: Do we have all the bases covered in these features? Is the layout what we want to convey visually? Will our cover grab people’s attention sufficiently to prompt them into picking up the magazine in the first place? In pondering this, it strikes me what a complete team effort creating a magazine represents. Every person is essential. There’s our roster of columnists and contributors, who shape the material that becomes our content, and the profile subjects themselves, who allow us into their lives; our senior photographer, Anthony Harden, and our designer, Bonnie Roberson, who supply the kind of visual mojo any editor would kill for; our associate publisher and marketing/advertising staff, who keep our fiscal engine tuned up and humming; and of course CaP founder and publisher Oby Morgan, who simultaneously puts his faith in all of us and keeps a watchful eye over the proceedings. Anyone I’ve forgotten? Oh yeah—you. The readers. You’re as integral as anyone else. Don’t worry, I won’t go all Jerry Maguire on you. But in a very real sense, you complete that team effort.

Sincerely, 4

| August 2016

Fred Mills

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August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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

Melanie Ferguson, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Anthony Harden, Roger McCredie, Jay Sanders, Jason Sandford, Dawn Starks, James J. Shaffer

No Two Patients Are Alike.

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Bonnie Roberson Caroline Rains Intern marketing & advertising Roy Brock, David Morgan, Katrina Morgan, Pat Starnes

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

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| August 2016

this page :

One of the many motorcycles on display at The Greenhouse Moto CafÃ© photo by Anthony Harden

F E AT U R E S vol. vi

UP & RUNNING JEFF & LEE HEROLD

ed. viii

FUTURE SHOCK JEREMY LITTLEJOHN

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

C ON T EN T S a u g u s t 2 016

of the endanger

A CONTRA DANCER paying admission to join the dance at The Grey Eagle, photo by Anthony Harden

lo c a l i n d u s t r y

Space to Grow

Sizing up the Henderson County town of Mills River by a quick glance at a map can be deceiving.

l e i s u r e & l i b at i o n

Taking the Right Step

Contra dancing offers fun, exercise… and cultural continuity.

colu m ns

insight

briefs

16 The Death of

12 D eerfield Episcopal

20 Carolina in the West 50 The Old North State 72 National & World News

SuperWoman?

Advice for female entrepreneurs considering motherhood. Written by Dawn Starks

68 A lex Freeman –

BottomsUP Box

Student Column Written by Melanie Ferguson on the cover :

Owl statue in RISC Networks office, photo by Anthony Harden 10

| August 2016

Retirement Community Veronica Neal Home Veronica Neal

The Tree & Vine Terri & Paul Karlsson

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nsight

DEERFIELD CAMPUS photos courtesy Deerfield

A Sense of Community Since 1955, Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community has been as forward thinking as it is unique.

DEERFIELD’S St. Giles Chapel

| August 2016

ver a half-century ago, the Rt. Rev. George Henry, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina from 1948-1974, envisioned the creation of a caring community for seniors. At the time, retirement communities were not nearly as common as they are nowadays; it has been noted that he got the idea after several women in the area, many of them widows, came to him seeking help, at a loss about what to do or where to go to live. His vision was realized in 1955 through a generous gift by Charles and Marjorie Timson, and the community was initially established in the Timsons’ 11-room summer residence on 30 acres of farmland. Since then, Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community (Deerfieldwnc.org) has grown into a prestigious, nationallyacclaimed, nonprofit life care community, located on 125 acres near the Blue Ridge Parkway, approximately six miles south of downtown Asheville. What makes Deerfield so popular—and desirable? Notes Director of Marketing Kathy Foster, Deerfield “has always been forward thinking, and includes such amenities as a day spa (Riverwalk Spa), a large art studio, pottery studio and kiln, and extensive fitness and wellness offerings. We are able to offer more opportunities than what you might find at other communities.” A community center and wellness center comprise most of the common areas, and Deerfield is clearly proud of its accompanying amenities, which include a handsome lobby, a casual dining bistro, a well-appointed formal dining room, private dining rooms, beverage lounge, outdoor terrace, guest rooms, and a library. Other unique offerings include a bank, a billiards/poker room, an enclosed aquatic therapy center and lap pool, a business center, an aerobics and exercise/weight room, state-of-the-art croquet court, beauty salon, and physical therapy. Additionally, Deerfield’s Life Care concept offers its residents unique health care benefits, as well as significant financial advantages and security. The Life Care benefit assures the availability of long-term nursing care or assisted living in the Deerfield on-site health center. Deerfield is also one of the few retirement communities to have its own freestanding chapel, St. Giles Chapel, and a chaplain and

associate chaplain on the team. “[There is also] a healthcare chapel in Simonds Health Care Center so that residents in skilled nursing who could not get to St. Giles Chapel had a place to worship,” says Foster. “Its state-of-the-art features include mechanical shades to cover windows, and a screen that mechanically lowers from the ceiling so that the space can also serve as a community activity room for movies and other programs.”

“We are able to offer more opportunities than what you might find at other communities.” Deerfield has remained affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina and is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors made up of leading citizens, business executives, and professionals. The President/CEO, Robert Wernet, and senior management team, including a licensed Nursing Home Administrator, oversee the dayto-day operations of the community and the health center, and implement the policies of the board. At present, the facility employs over 300 staff members. A 1999 expansion added two midrise apartment buildings, cottages, villas, a community center, a wellness and assisted living center, and an innovatively designed skilled nursing center. 2010 brought a second expansion via an 83-residence apartment building and more common spaces. And a current expansion will add 27 new units and an additional 54 residents, to bring the total to over 600. It’s all testimony to Rev. Henry’s original intention to create and maintain a thriving, caring, and forward-thinking community.

photos courtesy Veronica Neal Home

Energy, Passion, Love, Drive Veronica Neal’s eye for nuance and quality is a reflection of her deep Western North Carolina roots.

eronica Neal grew up in the design and fashion industries, enjoying an extensive career as a model, actor, and spokeswoman. Yet, according to Neal, the initial inspiration for Veronica Neal Home’s interior designs and furnishings was of considerably humbler, less cosmopolitan origins. “Veronica Neal Home (Veronicanealhome.com) launched in August 2008 in Asheville, and my inspiration began in the River Arts District,” says Neal, who is originally from Western North Carolina. “I found myself there when it wasn’t so famous. I opened a small studio in the old candle factory, and I met and collaborated with many artists. What appeals to me about this region is the energy, passion, love, and drive of a small local community that reaches throughout the United States and the world, channeling the creative entrepreneurial spirit.” Neal explains that her early experiences helped foster a love for design, and by attending international home furnishings markets (“My former business partner was in the fabric industry to the trade.”), she was able to learn the ins and outs of the business while traveling. Having established her original home base of operations, Neal next opened a showroom in Biltmore Forest. The reception was overwhelmingly enthusiastic thanks to her eye for nuance and quality that has became her signature: Each sectional, sofa, headboard, August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

insight

“My product—[it’s what] I’m most proud of. I know the workmanship involved in every piece. Every design.”

VERONICA NEAL and ottoman or bench is hand-crafted in the United States and includes custom designed frames, hand-tied springs, and spring down cushions. The Veronica Neal Home catalogue also includes an exclusive lighting line, cabinetry for bathroom and kitchen, concrete selections for bathroom and kitchen counter tops, occasional end tables and

seating, home goods, and many other design essentials. By 2013, Neal had increased her brand awareness sufficiently to expand the business into a new showroom in the heart of the well-known High Point Furniture District. That, too, has been a success, although this year she made the decision to close that showroom. Explains Neal, “I’m looking forward to getting [back] on the road with a few trade shows, including the International Furniture Market in High Point. The Veronica Neal Home collection is currently available in Asheville at Rudy’s Furniture. “I have introduced a new line of promotional sectionals made in Mississippi, and I’ve designed a new modular collection to build your own sofa, or sectional for a specific space, that will be offered at Rudy’s as well,” says Neal, adding that she

is actively seeking dealers for the brand, as well as a strong internet presence. Asked to reflect upon her journey to date, Neal notes, “My most significant personal and professional milestones were working with my new partner, and getting back out there after personal loss. I realized that I could achieve excellence with the brand in new ways. And my product—[it’s what] I’m most proud of. I know the workmanship involved in every piece. Every design. It takes so many artisans to create a product for Veronica Neal Home. I’m proud to be a part of a community that keeps people prosperous to contribute to the greater good.” “I think we are all very unique as designers,” she concludes, “so you just have to click with the client. I’m very grateful to all the people who loved me and trusted me with their homes.”

A Blossoming Business It’s five years—and counting—of remarkably steady growth for The Tree & Vine.

“W

e were trying to eat healthier and were really bored with uninspired protein and vegetables. We came across an olive oil and balsamic store while on vacation in early 2011, and purchased several of the products. As we enjoyed using our newfound products to jazz up our food, I flippantly said, ‘I think I need one of these stores!’” Terri Karlsson is discussing the impetus behind her and husband Paul’s decision to start The Tree & Vine in 2011 in Asheville’s Biltmore Village. And from that simple DIY urge for artisanal foodstuffs, a business has blossomed, with locations in both Asheville and Knoxville, a warehouse, and even a companion

| August 2016

business (premium pet product store CitiFid-O, also in Knoxville). The Karlssons, incidentally, aren’t exactly business neophytes. Terri had a career with Norfolk Southern before becoming involved with nonprofits, while Paul is a retired Naval Aviator and a former global consultant for IBM; they have also had a cabinetry, remodeling, and residential general contracting business for several years. They moved to Western North Carolina in 2006 and operate a bed and breakfast apartment in their home in Pisgah Forest. As Terri puts it, mock-ruefully, “This was to be our ‘retirement home’—we are now busier than ever!”

PAUL & TERRI KARLSSON photos courtesy The Tree & Vine

In addition to selling and serving as a tasting shop for its signature olive oils and balsamics, The Tree & Vine offers teas and coffees, gourmet foods (everything from sauces, spices, and condiments, to jams, cheeses, and pasta), kitchenware, and bath/body products. “We are completely independent and source our own olive oils and balsamics from the growers,” notes Terri. “We have a personal relationship with our producers and even with many of the producers of our gourmet foods and kitchenware. We travel to the Mediterranean on a regular basis, and also offer an amazing culinary tour to a specific region in the Mediterranean for up to 14 travelers each year.” The Tree & Vine’s product lines have clearly resonated with the public (also shop online at Thetreeandvine. com), with the company expanding to Knoxville in 2012, a mere year after the Asheville opening. Terri explains that they were recruited by developers in downtown Knoxville, who felt the store would be a good fit for the city’s urban revitalization. The warehouse followed in 2013 “so we could have better control over our supply chain”, as did the pet store in 2014. Last year saw a relocation of the Asheville store to Gerber Village.

TASTING BAR

“We originally opened in June of 2011,” says Terri. “We had decided against a franchise or a distributorship, so we researched and made contacts and figured out how to source and present the products on our own. [Then after] several years in Biltmore Village, we wanted a larger space in Asheville with better access and parking for our local clientele.”

“We are completely independent and source our own olive oils and balsamics from the growers,” notes Terri. “We have a personal relationship with our producers and even with many of the producers of our gourmet foods and kitchenware. ” She adds that with the Gerber Village store, which is well-positioned to take advantage of the current population boom extending along the Hendersonville Road corridor of South Asheville, their plans going forward will center on “increasing our visibility and message.”

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

column

The Death of SuperWoman?

Advice—based on one woman’s experience—for female entrepreneurs that are considering motherhood.

H E Y S A Y W O M E N C A N ’ T H AV E I T A L L .

We can’t be successful businesswomen and be good moms; we have to choose. We are not fair to our children if we work outside the home. We are not fair to our employer if we put our families first. Isn’t that how the rhetoric goes? Do we women have to choose?

dawn starks

Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner and financial advisor at Starks Financial Group. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/ SIPC.

My opinion on this has changed over the years that I have been a mom. With the benefit of perspective, I would say that women can do it all— just not necessarily all at the same time, and not without thoughtful planning and the willingness to accept help. Part of the problem is that, frequently, career women think of their work as their “baby.” That was certainly my frame of mind. I started my firm in 1999, and like most business owners, I ate, slept, and breathed work. It was the first thing on my mind in the morning, and the last thing on my mind before I fell asleep. It was, in short, The Most Important Thing. Having children wasn’t really even on my radar during those early years. My husband, Greg, and I married in 1998, and it was not a priority to have children. Growing up, I suppose I always figured I would have kids, but once I finished school and went into the work world, it was all-encompassing and exciting enough to occupy all my waking hours.

| August 2016

An offhand, very direct question by my physician changed all that. “Are you and your husband going to have children?” she asked abruptly, and out of left field, at my physical in early 2007. I replied that, honestly, we had given it exactly zero thought. “Well if you do plan to, you better get moving—you are getting old,” she asserted. Wow. Talk about a brick to the head. (As an aside, I know she sounds rude, but I dearly loved that doctor and her direct ways.) So started a few months of discussion, and many hours of soul searching. Did I even want to be a mom? What would become of my business? How would I even juggle all that? By that time, my business was well-established; I had built a team of trusted employees; I was even enjoying life more with a four-day work week. Gone were the days of working “eight days a week,” as I liked to refer to it. I had arrived, to some degree. Greg and I decided that, despite our older age, we’d give it a shot and let fate decide. Unlike some couples, we didn’t go into this “project” with a burning desire to be parents.

YOUR WHOLE WORLD IN

EXPERT HANDS We weren’t completely sure it was right for us, but we thought if it happened, it would be rewarding and the right path. Likewise, if it didn’t happen, we liked our life, and continuing on that path would be right. Our daughter, Rowan, was born in July of 2008. For those of you paying attention, I don’t mess around. If I have a new idea, I flesh it out, examine it, obsess over it, decide to do it, and then get right down to it—why wait? Having a child was no different, and my older age provided the right atmosphere for avoiding procrastination. The last weeks of my pregnancy were really the crisis point for my career.

I COMPLIED AND CUT MY WORK WEEK TO THREE DAYS FROM FOUR. BUT I DID NOT GO DOWN GENTLY; I WHINED AND CRIED AND TOLD HER MY BUSINESS WAS MY FIRST BABY—THIS WAS NOT AN EASY THING TO ASK OF ME.

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While the majority of the pregnancy was normal and quite manageable, my blood pressure became a real problem near the end. My midwife, another straight shooter, got right in my face and told me I needed to cut back on work, or she would put me on bed rest. That would have been a fate worse than death for me, so I complied and cut my work week to three days from four. But I did not go down gently; I whined and cried and told her my business was my first baby—this was not an easy thing to ask of me. August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

column

Mothers will not find it surprising that the moment my entrepreneur, I would quit work and be a stay-at-home mom. daughter was born, I experienced an immediate flip of priorities. But that is not my situation, and I cannot fathom abandoning My maternity leave was challenging on two fronts—having my “first baby.” a new baby is a total game I a m s u r e t h a t wo m e n changer, physically, emotionally everywhere experience these and spiritually. But the second dilemmas every day, and that CAN WE WOMEN DO IT ALL, challenge came in the form of is why I am interested in the the economic meltdown that conversation. Can we women HAVE IT ALL, BE IT ALL? I occurred in the second half of do it all, have it all, be it all? I THINK WE CAN, BUT IT IS 2008. Talk about stress! think we can, but it is massively MASSIVELY CHALLENGING. The eight years since my challenging. It is also, in my IT IS ALSO, IN MY OPINION, daughter was born have been opinion, impossible to “do it all, interesting for me, to say the least. have it all, be it all,” all at the same IMPOSSIBLE TO “DO IT ALL, Juggling work and motherhood time. For women entrepreneurs HAVE IT ALL, BE IT ALL,” is not for wimps. I still love my that are considering motherhood, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. business—I love the people I and even for women employees work with, I love my clients, and I who are considering motherhood, love the work that I do. But being I would offer some advice. a mother has been life-changing. I can honestly say that if my The most important piece of the puzzle for me has been life were different, perhaps if I were an employee instead of an my spouse. When we discussed the possibility of starting a

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family, we both agreed that it would be ideal for him to be the stay-at-home parent. Due to other things going on in our lives, this has not been a perfect arrangement, and during the early years, members of our family were very helpful in providing care for our daughter so that I could work (still just three days per week—I decided that was an awesome balance), and Greg could oversee the building of our house. Whatever the situation, I feel that working mothers need to have a good support system—reliable childcare, supportive family, and, most of all, a supportive spouse. A second piece of advice is that you have to be organized. Organization is a goal, really, rather than an actual state of being. I can and do make lists and can keep myself mostly straight, but I can also simply walk out of the house without my carefully packed lunch. But spending time to think through the coming days has become very important for me. I need to be able to see what is coming up, so I can prepare myself. Lastly, don’t forget YOU. It is easy, far too easy, to give all of yourself – to your clients/customers, to your staff, to your spouse, and especially to your children. But letting the well

run dry is not a happy place to be. Ask me how I know. This has been the biggest struggle for me in the past few years, and I do not have it all worked out yet. What I do know is that it requires constant vigilance to make sure that I have the time I need to be in my own headspace so I can refill the well. My initial ideas about being SuperWoman have certainly changed during my life. I would never suggest that women shouldn’t strive to have it all, do it all, and be it all. Strive away, but be prepared to adapt and change as you go along, and recognize that having most of it, doing most of it, and being most of it is often completely enough.

ROMPERS RULE!

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CAROLINA

300-Mile Fish Ladder

in the

WEST [

news briefs

Because Memories Should First Be Experienced haywood county

Taylor and Preston Gregg are this year’s winners of the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Start-up Competition. They were awarded $10,000 to establish a wedding venue, to be known as the Ridge on Chestnut Mountain, in Canton. Taylor says she isn’t going into business to process customers; she wants visitors to stay, relax, and soak in the ambience. A wedding, she says, should be an experience and not a production scheduled for a specific time. The Greggs themselves were married on the property, it being Preston’s family farm. The concept had

ashe county

]

its inception six years ago on a scratch piece of paper. In the following years, the couple traveled up and down the Eastern United States researching what they liked and didn’t like about similar establishments. If all goes as planned, the Ridge will open next year and will feature a 6,400-sq.-ft. reception barn, with a bridal loft and groom’s den. It will have a rustic appearance, furnished with Amish farm tables and wooden crossback chairs. Ceremonies for groups of up to 299 will be held in a 2,400-sq.-ft. pavilion furnished with church pews. Patrons will be able to rent the space or purchase a package that provides all the trimmings, which will be provided by local vendors. Extras can include fireworks, yoga classes for the bride’s entourage, and skeet shooting for the groom and his pals.

Tim and Erin Espinosa don’t see a problem with marketing saltwater fish up in the mountains, 300 miles away from the nearest ocean. Tim had been a soldier, disabling unexploded ordnance for the United States Army for fourteen years until neural damage, contracted in the line of duty, forced him to make a career change. He wanted to be his own boss and loved commercial fishing enough to consider becoming a deckhand, but family tugged at his heartstrings to remain in the mountains, in West Jefferson. The next best thing was to set up a fish market. Residents of Ashe County have no problem purchasing seafood from supermarket retailers like Ingles and Walmart. So, Espinosa’s edge is to sell the fish fresh, never frozen. He uses a network of wholesalers that move the fish off the boat and into refrigerated trucks as quickly as possible. Espinosa is self-taught, having watched the pros getting off the fishing ships and viewed numerous YouTube how-tos. He started off with coolers in his car, and he would sell fish on the way home. Now, High Country Seafood Company has a brick-and-mortar presence for selling more interesting varieties like

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wahoo, king mackerel, and blue crab. The Espinosas say they can usually run down more exotic varieties with advance notice. The store, for now, is open only Thursdays through Saturdays.

Makes Perfect Sense buncombe county

PC Magazine ranked Asheville-based DigitalChalk among the ten “Best Online Learning Platforms for Business in 2016.” DigitalChalk is headed by the business savvy CEO Russ Stinehour and customer-oriented CTO Troy Tolle. The publication rated the company’s software well-suited for in-house training in medium-sized businesses. Pros included an “excellent” user interface, which includes a “solid” administration tab and a course builder that “couldn’t be much simpler to use.” William Fenton, who authored the analysis, praised the software for its ease in uploading and rearranging a wealth and variety of files. And DigitalChalk will convert videos to standards and specifications established for web-based education. A number of tools help test user attention and retention, and student progress is recorded in the Instructor Gradebook. DigitalChalk works with on-demand

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courses and webinars. The platform is somewhat pricier than those offered by Axis, Litmos, and SmarterU; however, it comes with a two-month assignment to a dedicated support representative to walk an organization through customized tutorials. Companies can adjust their billing up or down depending on participation, and the software comes with a 30-day, money-back guarantee. Although DigitalChalk markets nationally, two of its “happy clients” are Duke University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

They’re Calling It a Win-Win-Win-Win-Win henderson county

Work is frantic and around the clock at the 100,000-sq.-ft. Health Sciences Center. At times, 100 people can be seen tending to various stages of production. The frenzy began two years ago when Wingate University President Jerry McGee asked the Henderson County Commissioners to help the school expand. That set off a collaborative investment involving Henderson County, the City of Hendersonville, Wingate, Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC), and

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Pardee Hospital. The city purchased land next to Pardee’s medical office building, and the county agreed to build a $32 million facility. Wingate would lease space for its P.A. and M.B.A. pharmacy programs; BRCC would transfer its allied health facilities there to make room for its mechatronics program on its main campus; and Pardee would lease space on the ground floor for its Comprehensive Cancer Care Program. The latter will bring under one roof oncologists, researchers, surgeons, and social workers. Consolidation will also help make sure everybody has access to state-of-the-art equipment and the newest of protocols. The construction deadline was to be the opening of BRCC’s 2016-2017 school year, and Vannoy & Sons Construction reports progress is on schedule. BRCC and Wingate will move in any day now, and doctors should start seeing patients December 5.

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The North Carolina Eminent Domain Law Firm recently hosted a public education forum for residents to be affected by the widening of New Leicester Highway. The North Carolina Department of

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Transportation (DOT) plans to widen portions of a 4.3-mile stretch to three lanes in some places and four lanes with a median in others. The $34.8 million project should begin later this year and end by 2020. In the process, 135 property owners will be made some kind of offer from a pot of $9.6 million for right-of-way acquisition. Attorneys Stan Abrams and Jason Campbell are both former attorneys general for the North Carolina Department of Justice, and they have concluded that the state’s laws favor the DOT. What’s more, the state’s standard practice is to assess property values below market to stretch taxpayer dollars. With a firm working on over 140 projects statewide now, the attorneys claim landowners don’t know their rights. They get a notice in the mail, and they don’t realize they can challenge the appraisal or renegotiate. In 2015 people who renegotiated a Right-Of-Way (ROW) assessment received, on average, 85% more than the initial offer. Those taking the matter to court received about 200% more. The other Buncombe County ROW acquisitions that the firm is challenging are for individuals along the I-26 Connector and in the Asheville River Arts District.

Growing Business transylvania county

Gaia Herbs, the nation’s largest organic herbal brand, announced a $5 million expansion and the creation of twenty-five positions. Gaia is a producer of over 200 medicinal herb products retailed at health food stores like Earth Fare and Whole Foods, as well as online. It was founded by Ric Scalzo in 1987, in Massachusetts. Scalzo moved the headquarters to Brevard in 1997 after purchasing a 250-acre organic farm. He now farms 350 acres and operates a 60,000-sq.-ft. greenhouse in Mills River. Combined, the two sites take advantage of the region’s climatological support for rich

biodiversity to produce over 30% of the company’s plants. As Vice President of Marketing Todd King notes, 80% of the world’s plants can be grown in Western North Carolina. The company also has a farm in Costa Rica that supplies fresh product year-round. What Gaia does not grow itself is sourced from certified organic farmers and wildcrafters. One of Gaia’s hallmarks is its transparency, clearly communicating to customers the sources and processing steps for all herbal ingredients. Over the last four years, employment at Gaia has grown from 91 employees to 240. Additional facilities are needed to meet demand that has been outpacing its competition in a growing industry. Leadership is also looking to expand into the beverage mix industry. Earlier this year, Gaia raised $20,865,283 in debt and equity financing from investors.

To Bureaucratize Indie Cool buncombe county

The Asheville Citizen-Times’ Answer Man, John Boyle, recently explored the likelihood of Asheville craft brewers selling out to industry heavyweights. Rumors have been swirling, but parties interviewed only admitted to having had investors come by and ask questions, and never knowing for whom they were working. Craft brewing is the largest growing segment in the beer industry. With 620 new operations opening last year, big brewers are interested in recovering market share—but they keep failing in their attempts to start their own craft lines. One reason is the cool factor. According to some, it is difficult to create the locality and history that add ambience to craft beer when subject to tight production schedules, focus groups, boards of directors, and shareholders. So, acquisition is the new model. Last year, eight craft brewers were absorbed by larger companies. However, none of the 24 craft brewers in Buncombe County, nor any of the

50 in outlying regions, fit the profile for acquired businesses. Those purchased were brewing at least 40,000 barrels a year, and the closest any local comes to that is Highland Brewing Company at 15,000. Last year, Reuters reported New Belgium, then valued at $140 million, was toying with selling out for $1 billion. New Belgium has since denied the rumors. Asheville Brewing ‘s president, Mike Rangel, recently quipped that he’s willing to sell for $1 billion.

A Product for the Consumer Class buncombe county

Brightfield Transportation Solutions successfully completed a round of seed funding with considerable assistance from Asheville Angels, a group of thirty-five area investors that work with the economic development organization Venture Asheville. Brightfield builds and installs solar chargers for electrical vehicles; they come singly or in banks for fleets. While Brightfield raises $1.25 an hour for the stations they operate, the bulk of its income comes from selling apparatus, not electricity. The seed funding will pay to expand the company’s vending beyond North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee and into Georgia and Florida. Venture Asheville was impressed by Brightfield’s leadership team, which includes a nonprofit fundraiser, a business lawyer, a mechanical engineer, and entrepreneurs. Leadership showed it could work with potential investors, and the investors liked the product as well. CEO Stan Cross explained consumers are demanding green products, and he markets to a growing number of people interested in more technical aspects of sustainability. Education tends to run proportionately to income, as was demonstrated with a 2013 University of California—Davis study that found 80% of Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt, and Tesla Roadster drivers lived in households earning over $100,000 a year.

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A SAMPLING of Jeffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 60 motorcycles 24

| August 2016

& Running

Jeff Herold was planning on retirement, then he saw the building that would become The Greenhouse Moto CafĂŠ.

written by jennifer fitzger ald

photos by anthony harden

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 25

JEFF HEROLD

Jeff Herold and his wife, Lee, moved to Western North Carolina from Tampa, Florida, last August. Lee was a Florida native, while Jeff originally hailed from Indiana—“I am a Hoosier,” he declares firmly—and they had fallen in love with the region for its geography and cool climate while vacationing in the mountains. By that point, their children had left home and gone off to college, and Jeff, who’d retired from his career as an industrial lubricants salesman (Lee was a florist), further liked the area because it was considerably less crowded than Florida, and he found it to be a great place to indulge one of his great loves, motorcycles—the Blue Ridge Parkway traditionally being a popular destination for motorcycle enthusiasts of all stripes. 26

| August 2016

Herold had initially discovered motorcycles at the age of 13. His first, a Suzuki Motocross, started his passion for the sport. Then, for various reasons, he stopped riding after turning 20, but when he was 40 he rode a friend’s Royal Triumph and the bug bit again. He had to go out and get a motorcycle. Soon enough, he owned several. After his retirement and subsequent relocation to the area, he needed a place to store his motorcycles. He could put them in a warehouse where they would never see the light of day and where he would never ride them. Or, he could think outside of the box and find a home for them where he could share them with others. Even before moving, he’d spotted the vacant former Carolina Roses greenhouse located at 4021 Haywood Road in Mills River. The peaked glass roofs reminded him of a conservatory he’d seen when visiting Scotland. It also made him think of the times he’d visited the Ace Café, a one-time transport café near London, England, well-known in motorcycle August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 27

BANDS can be enjoyed every weekend.

culture. There was something special, he says, that drew him to the building. Herold decided to buy the greenhouse and reinvent the space, which clearly had potential but would need a fair amount of work; windows had been left open and birds were even living inside. But Herold recognized that potential and began the transformation. Now, the building may still look like a greenhouse on the outside, but inside, the appearance has changed radically, with a music stage, bar, and tables spread throughout the interior. This is how The Greenhouse Moto Café was born. “I won’t share the particulars [of the purchase], but it wasn’t that big a deal,” he says modestly, adding that, initially, starting a bar wasn’t part of the plan, and that he didn’t even have a background in operating a small business, much less a bar or restaurant. “I think we wanted to do something,” he continues, referring back to his motorcycle storage dilemma, “but the bar idea was not on the list. I think the building and location are correct to do something like this, however—[it’s a] local need. “And the bones were there. We recycled and repurposed much of what was [already] there. The bar is structurally some old tables and a transaction counter. The band stage is made mostly of some old greenhouse plant tables. The motorcycles hang from some reclaimed steel columns we painted up.” Indeed. The Greenhouse Moto Café now is home to his 60 motorcycles— the oldest from 1966, the newest from 2012. He bought the motorcycles from individuals, all over the place. How did the unique name come about? Herold explains the interesting combination thusly: “It’s a greenhouse; ‘moto’ is European for motorcycle; and café—our intent is to have coffee, beer, wine, liquor, and some kind of food. We are not a restaurant.” The business opened earlier this year on March 15. Herold is still experimenting and adding to the business. He originally invited a variety of food trucks to be on-site. That has proven to be inconsistent, however, so he is launching plans to have his own food truck with food available for purchase. He will also be open seven days a week starting in August. There are 26 taps and 80 beers available, with a focus on local beers. Herold plans to become a private club in the future in order to be able to legally sell wine and liquor. Pizza delivery from a local pizza spot is also available. There is a courtyard, as well as plans for a deck.

Listen to the Music Music is a key ingredient to the success of the establishment. The music stage is full every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with live music, and an open mic night has recently been added on Thursday nights. 28

| August 2016

THERE IS NO BAD angle to view these pieces of art.

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 29

“We like to have more classic rock, country, bluegrass—local flavor music with local musicians. There are a lot of musicians here,” Herold says. “As we get established, we will have some larger acts from Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte. There are some big acts that live in the area.” Herold describes his Greenhouse Moto Café as being like the “Far Side” meets “Land of the Lost.” “It’s just a cool place. Unusual, unique, unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else,” he says.

| August 2016

The café’s Facebook page describes it as an “eclectic moto café bar music venue with food trucks and vintage motorcycles on display. Cool stop on your ride in beautiful Western North Carolina.” When entering The Greenhouse Moto Café, one immediately spots the motorcycles. They are hanging on the walls, sitting around the interior space, and even present on the music stage. Herold welcomes people to stop in and take a look. His passion for motorcycles is obvious as he walks through the café. There is a story behind every bike and every piece of

memorabilia in his collection. Your eyes will dart between the eclectic collection that includes motorcycle parts and helmets, a shrine to the popular show The Sopranos, and a mannequin complete with a wedding dress, motorcycle helmet, and gas mask. Herold has plans to use the wedding dress mannequin as part of a T-shirt design for the café. A large sculpture of a man sits on top of the piano near the music stage. Created by a local artist, it is a crowd favorite along with the wedding dress mannequin. There’s also a sign

left from the previous owners stating, “Thank you for coming to Carolina Roses.” Herold visited the local Salvation Army thrift store and purchased jackets that are hanging from the ceiling. They add to the décor of the huge space but are also used for sound baffling to make the space acoustically correct. “You can’t turn your eyes without seeing something new,” customer John Lynn says, after walking in the door for the first time.

“People come to the area from all over the East Coast to ride, and they are finding out about The Greenhouse Moto Café and stopping by. We’ve been well-received by everyone who has walked in here.”

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

Tomato Cans, Pyramids, & Hog Boys Motorcycle Facts From Across the Ages.

British inventor Edward Butler is credited with coining the term “motorcycle” when inventing a 3-wheeled petrol vehicle in 1884.

In 1917 the United States entered World War I and needed motorcycles for the war effort. The United States military purchased over 15,000 motorcycles from Harley-Davidson during World War I.

The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor.

BSA stands for Birmingham Small Arms Company, a British company which at its peak during the ‘40s and ‘50s was the largest motorcycle producer in the world. Harley-Davidson motorcycles nickname “hog” began in the 1920s when a team of farm boys, who became known as the “hog boys,” consistently won races. The racing team’s mascot, a pig, was carried on a victory lap after each race won by the team. During this time period, Leslie “Red” Parkhurst broke 23 speed records on a Harley-Davidson 61 cubic inch racing motorcycle.

The largest parade of Harley Davidson motorcycles consisted of 2,404 motorcycles and was achieved by Rober to Macdonald, The RRiders, and the Harley Davidson Club Hellas (Greece), in Patras, Greece, on May 22, 2010.

The tallest rideable motorcycle measures 16 feet, 8.78 inches tall from the ground to the top of the handlebars. It was constructed by Fabio Reggiani from Italy, and the motorcycle was ridden over a 100-meter course at Montecchio Emilia, Italy, on March 24, 2012.

| August 2016

Tommy Clowers of Ramona, California, achieved a motorcycle jump height of 25 feet from the top of a 10 -foot ramp af ter a run up of 40 feet at Van Nuys Airpor t, California on Januar y 21, 2001.

Steve McQueen didn’t do the famous 65-foot motorcycle jump in the 1965 movie The Great Escape. American Triumph dealer Bud Ekins did it in one take.

The Indian Army’s Daredevil Team is credited with the world record for the largest motorcycle pyramid ever created. This group created a pyramid of 201 men riding on 10 motorcycles.

The longest distance riding a motorcycle in 24 hours is 2,019.4 miles and was set by American L. Russell “Rusty” Vaughn at the Continental Tire Test Track, Uvalde, Texas, on August 10, 2011.

One of the most expensive motorcycles in the world is the Ecosse ES1 Superbike with a price tag of $3,600,000.

POOL IS just another way to pass the time at Greenhouse Moto

Every Saturday night is bike night, and this evening the parking lot is full of a wide variety of motorcycles from both locals and tourists who might be passing through the area. Herold says tourists make up ten to fifteen percent of his customer base, which he thinks is growing as word spreads. Riders from as far as Atlanta, Florida, Illinois, and neighboring states have stopped in for a visit. “People come to the area from all over the East Coast to ride, and they are finding out about The Greenhouse Moto Café and stopping by. We’ve been well received by everyone who has walked in here.”

Inspiration & Innovation As noted above, Herold’s design and vision of The Greenhouse Moto Café came in part from places like the Ace Café, which has been redeveloped as an entertainment venue. It originally operated from 1938 until 1969, then re-opened on the original site in 1997. When the Ace Café first opened in 1938, it started to attract motorcyclists because it was open 24 hours a day. The café was rebuilt in 1949 after being destroyed in a World War II air raid. The Ace gained steam after the war when the British motorcycle industry was at its peak.

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

Herold says the big deal at transport cafés was record racing—a record was played and the rider would dash out the door and ride his or her bike to a designated spot and be back by the time the song is over.

Herold’s bikes are not for sale, and no repair work is done at the café. Herold does, however, offer motorcycle rentals for people flying into the Asheville Airport. “Our future plans are to bring tourists from out of the country that want to come and see Western North Carolina and ride motorcycles. We would put them up at the Grove Park Inn or the Pisgah Inn and really show them a good time—all the local flavor—music, food, the Biltmore, Sierra Nevada, kayaking, tubing.” Herold finds that word-of-mouth is the best advertising right now, especially among locals, who play a key role in his future goals for The Greenhouse Moto Café. (He maintains an active, lively Facebook page for the business.) The idea, he says, is to develop “a good local base that keeps it operating profitably. During the riding season, people put this on their list of places to stop. Like Maggie Valley or Tail of the Dragon—we think this is a good stop.”

“It’s really not that complicated. It’s hard work. You just have to use your head and common sense. Know that you will be dealing with things that are like the DMV on some issues.” Popular during this time were café racers—a lightweight, lightly powered motorcycle optimized for quick rides over short distances. The term developed among British motorcycle enthusiasts of the early 1960s, where the bikes were used for quick rides between cafés.

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Herold says his wife, Lee, was critically important in getting the business going and running. “She has an eye for aesthetics and has made the place mass appealing and tasteful, although it is [still] pretty industrial and utilitarian.” In the end, their vision to repurpose the space was both creative and innovative. The location, just miles from the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, is also a prime spot with easy access. “This is an investment for me, and this area [Mills River] is going up,” he says. “This is a popular road.” Herold has learned that being a business owner is demanding, with little down time. In the months leading up to and following the opening, he has spent hours familiarizing himself with North Carolina rules and regulations. “It’s really not that complicated. It’s hard work. You just have to use your head and common sense. Know that you will be dealing with things that are like the DMV on some issues. Relax, and get through it—try and enjoy it. The more enjoyable you are to people you are dealing with, the better things tend to go.” Herold says that the only real downside to operating the business is that he can only find time to ride a motorcycle maybe

once a week now, so he recently added a general manager to his staff to lighten his load. “I’ve got it up and running—now I want to turn it over to someone else to run.”

A Place for Everyone Everyone is welcome at The Greenhouse Moto Café. The colorful pink ’55 Desoto that sits in the parking lot is a preview of all that is waiting inside. The roses in bloom in the front of the building are a colorful reminder and tribute to the history of the building. “I’m retired, and I’m going back and doing it again,” says Herold, reflecting on his new, unanticipated role as a small businessman. [But] I have two children in college, so I needed to go back to work. And we’ve really met nice people here— fantastic. They like us, and they like the people they meet here. “We are a pretty casual place. We are never going to be chic. We just want to run a respectable business and have fun. “And see the bikes!”

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SPACE Sizing up the Henderson County town of Mills River by a quick glance at a map can be deceiving.

GROW

GAIA HERBS BUILDINGS photo courtesy Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development 36

| August 2016

written by jason sandford

local industry

AT 22 SQUARE MILES, 7,000 RESIDENTS, AND AN ABUNDANCE of farm land, Mills River, located in Henderson County just south of Asheville, is a humble hamlet. Locals who wanted to fend off encroaching growth and possible annexation from other nearby cities formally incorporated the town just 13 years ago. Its roots are firmly planted in its agricultural past, but a town hall built for business and amenities such as a rolling 50-acre park (also still being developed) signal the town is evolving. August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 37

local industry

photo courtesy Sierra Nevada

hat town maps and topography don’t show is a powerful economic engine that has roared to life over the past few years. Since Sierra Nevada Brewing Company announced it would build its East Coast Brewery in a unique Mills River industrial park in 2012, a variety of companies have pledged to create more than 700 jobs and invest more than $355 million in the town. One of those—the announcement by GF Linamar, LLC, of an auto parts manufacturing plant—ranks as the biggest in Henderson County’s history in at least the past 60 years, and perhaps ever, according to local economic developers. Andrew Tate, president and CEO of the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development (HCPED), says simply that the area is the new employment center of Western North Carolina, one that will also be tied closely tied to Upstate South Carolina and its jobs and manufacturing base over time. That area, which encompasses Greenville, Spartanburg, and Greer, is home to automaker BMW’s largest plant; BMW has said that access to highways, rail lines, and sea ports were keys to investing in the location. In parallel fashion, easy proximity to transportation 38

| August 2016

pathways—to that list, add an airport that’s nearby— help make Mills River attractive to companies like GF Linamar and the automotive industry (and its suppliers) in general. Mills River Town Manager Jeff Wells points out that none of this has been exactly random, citing the aforementioned 2003 incorporation as another factor in shaping the town’s appeal. “I would say that the residents of our community wanted to be able to decide their own future,” explains Wells. “I think the growth potential of Mills River was well recognized by not only its residents but also by the county and nearby towns as well. So it was imperative that our community have the ability to maintain our principles of protecting agriculture, being business friendly, and also maintaining low density housing policies.” It is worth noting that the Mills River incorporation process was not automatically a done deal. In fact, a May 15, 2003, “Proposed Incorporation of the Town of Mills River” report to the North Carolina General Assembly, drafted by the Joint Legislative Commission on Municipal Incorporations, had initially concluded that while Mills River met certain specific standards

henderson count y accol ades Henderson County has the lowest ad valorem tax rate in the Asheville MSA and 18th lowest in the state. Recipient of Expansion Solutions magazine’s 2009 Award of Excellence in the automotive industry. Business NC magazine’s Small Business of Year (2005, 2010) from Henderson County.

The Henderson County Public Schools System ranks 8th among the top NC Public Schools and in the Top 10 SAT scores in North Carolina. Lowest crime rate for a community with a population greater than 100,000; according to the State Bureau of Investigation’s Annual Summary Report of 2014, between 2013 and 2014 the crime rate dropped 10.6%.

Ranked #13 of 91 “Medium-Sized Cities” 2012 Best Cities for Job Growth, Forbes.com May 2012. Ranked #2 in Best Cities to Live in North Carolina, CreditDonkey.com, 2014. Source: http://gohendersoncountync. org/pdf/CommunityProfile.pdf

mills river -

henderson count y

close proximit y to pisgah national forest and the asheville regional airport.

2003

FLETCHER

incorpor ated

7,162

MILLS RIVER

2015 popul ation

1.5%

incre ase in one ye ar or 109 people (us census)

HENDERSONVILLE

FLAT ROCK

square miles in size

4 public schools : mills river elementary school , glenn marlow elementary school , rugby middle school , & west henderson high school .

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 39

local industry

demogr aphics of henderson count y

FERNCLIFF photo courtesy Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development

popul ation

l abor force

110,563

47,674 WILL WORK FOR FOOD

WILL WORK WILL WORK WILL WORK FOR FORFOOD FOOD FOR FOOD

WILL WORK unemployment FOR FOOD

r ate

4.1% (June, 2016)

high school graduate or higher

67,162

$ $$$

bachelor WILL WORK degree orFORhigher FOOD WORK $21,182 $ $ WILL FOR FOOD

$ $$$ $$$ $ $$ WILL WORK FOR FOOD

2013

projected income

Household: $47,465 Personal: $25,859

$ $

henderson county land area

372.95 square miles

2011

median home value

$190,700

$ $ $$ $ $

$$$ aver age work commute time

median age

21 minutes

2013

Source: http://gohendersoncountync.org/pdf/CommunityProfile.pdf

| August 2016

required by General Statutes (for example, the town had to get the “express approval” of Asheville, so it asked Asheville to adopt a resolution to that effect), one of those standards regarding urban development had not yet been met, so the Commission did “not recommend incorporation of the area as the Town of Mills River.” Ultimately, matters were worked out, and House Bill 232, sponsored by 117th House District Representative Carolyn Justus (and originally accompanied by Senate Bill 287, sponsored by 48th Senate District Senator Tom Apodaca), passed during the 2003-04 legislative session, allowing Mills River to incorporate in June of 2003. As a condition of incorporation, Mills River was required, under state law, to submit a plan to offer at least four core municipal services, out of a potential eight, to residents (i.e., taxpayers), by the third year of its incorporation; those eight are police protection, fire protection, solid waste collection or disposal, water distribution, street maintenance, street construction or right-of-way acquisition, street lighting, and zoning. The options Mills River selected were police, fire, planning and zoning, and street lighting, with the services of course being paid for via taxation. Earlier this year there was some controversy regarding Mills River’s original choice to share the Henderson County sheriff’s department with the county in order to satisfy the police protection part of the requirements. According to the Hendersonville Lightning, the county was on the verge of

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pulling out of the agreement because the amount of money it was collecting from the town was not covering the countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s costs; as a result, the town was â&#x20AC;&#x153;exploring either starting a police department or getting into the garbage business to meet the core service requirement.â&#x20AC;?

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The options Mills River selected were police, fire, planning and zoning, and street lighting, with the services of course being paid for via taxation. As a survey of residents determined that law enforcement was deemed a higher priority than garbage collection for the town, an agreement was eventually reached whereby the county would continue to provide deputy coverage for Mills River for another three years, although in the third year the cost to the town would be considerably higher, by an estimated seven times what it is paying now. The

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French Broad Crossing Wild River Preserve Marshall, NC August 2016 MarkFields.com

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local industry

BROADPOINTE Industrial Park photo courtesy Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development

Bold Rock Cider Mills River Entrance: store and bar pictured. photo courtesy Bold Rock Cider

Hendersonville Lightning noted in a subsequent report, “Mills River taxpayers are facing a whopping increase of 12 cents per $100 valuation — an extra $360 a year for a home valued at $300,000. If the council adopts the budget as currently drafted, the town tax rate will spike from 2.24 cents to 9 cents per $100 valuation. The fire tax rate is also 9 cents.” As things stand, however, the tax rate in Mills River is still considered relatively low, 18 cents per $100 valuation, making it an attractive proposition for both homeowners and businesses. Town Manager Wells adds that it’s speculative as to what might have been the outcome of the incorporation process had the current annexation rules, which were amended in 2012 by the General Assembly, been in place back in 2003, when incorporation of Mills River was viewed by many as a necessary defensive move. “It’s obviously a very different environment [now] in regards to annexation law than a decade before,” he says, additionally noting, 42

| August 2016

“but there are no risks [at the moment] to us losing our incorporation status. I am not familiar with a scenario where that could happen.”

The Resources

Other parts of Western North Carolina can boast a hive of small businesses, or a plethora of health care or tourism jobs. But in Mills River, it’s a mix of brewers (both beer and cider), agri-businesses, and high-tech metals and plastic manufacturers. In July Smart Products, Inc., which uses injection molding technology to make plastic valves and pumps, announced it was moving its business from the West Coast to Mills River, where it plans to build a 30,000-sq.-ft. center for manufacturing and design, as well as its executive offices. The company said it would spend $3.2 million on the move and create 26 new jobs.

“Henderson County and the town of Mills River have showcased the resources we need to continue producing our product and stay competitive in the industry,” Mark Jernigan, Smart Products’ CEO, said in a prepared statement. The resources noted by the business executive are easy to identify: flat land for construction, easy access to East Coast markets via Interstate 26 and the steadily growing Asheville Regional Airport, low taxes, and a good quality of life. Most observers of the region agree that Mills River has them all. “The number one asset is that we have a lot of land available in large tracts,” says Town Manager Wells, noting that Broadpointe and Ferncliff industrial parks on the north end of town rank as the hottest locations for activity. But buildable land abounds. As suggested, the town’s tax rate, at just 18 cents per $100 of valuation, is particularly attractive to companies. It’s one of the lowest in the region. The town’s location in

the middle of the East Coast makes it attractive to distributors. And its central location between Brevard, Asheville, Hendersonville, and Greenville, South Carolina, makes it a desirable place for workers, Wells adds. A housing policy that specifies minimum lot size in the town should be about three-quarters of an acre and local schools with high rankings for student achievement add to the quality of life. “It all makes us very competitive,” Wells says. The town is being deliberate on another front that leaders know is critical to economic development: those intangible “quality of life” attractions. Town officials recently surveyed residents about services and amenities, and they’re continuing to develop a 50-acre park that Wells says they are “quite proud of.” With greenway trails, tennis courts, playgrounds already built, and future plans for baseball, softball, and soccer fields, the Mills River park literally offers something for everyone. Kayakers and canoe paddlers can also tap into the Mills River through access points. August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 43

local industry

“I think parks and recreation gets undersold a lot of times for the amount of economic development that it can bring,” Wells says. “We think we have one of the best.”

The Industrial Park

Mills River was on a path for economic development success long before the town was incorporated, says Tate of the HCPED. That’s because economic development officials have long nurtured relationships with property owners who one day decide to develop their land. It happened with Broadpointe Industrial Park in the mid-1990s. The area was home to a dairy farm before it was converted into a center for light industrial activity. The family that owned the farm approached economic 828 665-7730 | 1103 Brevard Rd. | Asheville NC 28806 | frameittoat.com

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So when the owners of a beautiful and unique tract of land along the Mills River known as Ferncliff approached town officials, economic developers were ready. development officials and said they wanted to develop their property in a way that provided, as Tate puts it, “good, clean, well-paying jobs.” Broadpointe was born. Businesses such as Federal Express, Pepsi, auto parts company Continental Teves, pressure-sensitive label supplier Raflatac, polymer component maker Raumedic [see sidebar], and wine/spirits distributor Empire Distributing all landed there, Tate said, and a precedent was set.

BREWHOUSE photo courtesy Sierra Nevada

an economy to grow in H e r e’s a q u i ck l o o k a few of t h e b ig e co no m i c d eve l o p m e n t a n nou n ce m e n t s i n M ills R i ve r ove r t h e pa s t fou r ye a r s . BOLD ROCK

RAUMEDIC, INC.

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO.

In 2014, the Virginia-based cider maker announced a potential $8 million investment and the creation of 50 new jobs when it announced it would open a manufacturing facility and tasting room to complement its flagship cidery. The company initially bought 10 acres in Broadpointe Industrial Park, but later, in 2015, purchased a 22,500-sq.-ft. building at a different location, citing “accelerating demand” for its products that necessitated boosting production sooner.

The German manufacturer of polymer components used in the medical and pharmaceutical industries announced in 2015 that it would invest $27 million over five years and create 172 jobs with an average annual salary of $55,419.

The California-based beer brewer announced in 2012 that it would invest $107.5 million over five years and create 95 full-time jobs that paid an annual average wage of $41,526. Economic development officials say Sierra Nevada has already exceeded those hiring and investment numbers.

Location: School House Road in Mills River

GF LINAMAR, LLC The manufacturer (a combination of Swiss and Canadian companies) of motor vehicle components announced in February 2016 that it would invest $217 million in building and equipment over seven years, and the creation of 350 jobs with an average wage of $47,738 per year.

Location: Broadpointe Industrial Park

SMART PRODUCTS, INC. The maker of injection-molded plastic valves and pumps used in a variety of business sectors (automotive, food, beverage, medical) announced in July 2016 that it would relocate its California business to Mills River, build a 30,000-sq.-ft. building, and invest $3.2 million. It would bring with it 26 new jobs. Location: Fanning Fields Road, near the entrance to Broadpointe Industrial Park

Location: Ferncliff Park

TRI-HISHTIL A collaboration of three companies in the United States, Israel, and Italy announced in 2014 that it was buying 42 acres of land in Mills River from the Van Wingerden plant nursery. (The company annually produces in excess of 80 million plants.) The cost was $2 million. The company said it planned to hire 125 employees, but didn’t announce an average annual wage. Location: School House Road in Mills River

Location: Ferncliff Park

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 45

local industry

BOLD ROCK PATIO photo courtesy Bold Rock Cider

So when the owners of a beautiful and unique tract of land along the Mills River known as Ferncliff approached town officials, economic developers were ready. The heirs of the Westfeldt family came to town leaders in the mid-2000s about creating a second industrial park across the French Broad River from Broadpointe. Family members had owned land in the area for nearly 150 years, and they wanted to develop it under specific restrictions. Family member Vaughan Fitzpatrick asked the town to annex 262 acres and work began on crafting an agreement on developing the new industrial park. “We had a shared vision and we built a relationship around our common interests,” says Tate. “The family wanted to find companies that provided good-paying jobs, but also companies that had similar values in terms of sustainability and land stewardship.” Local officials worked with the family, and after going through six or seven versions of a written agreement, all sides finally agreed to certain restrictions built around those shared values so that the land could be developed. The town annexed Ferncliff Park in 2009. “That gave us a unique industrial park, one that may not have a peer on the East Coast,” says Tate. Adds Fitzpatrick, a hint of pride to his voice, “We were the first property to be voluntarily annexed in Mills River.” 46

| August 2016

GAIA HERBS BUILDING photo courtesy Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development

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Henderson County Public Schools Margaret R. Pardee Memorial Hospital Park Ridge Health Charter, Inc. Henderson County Ingles Markets, Inc.

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local industry

The next step was to find companies willing to locate in the park. After several misses, economic developers landed Sierra Nevada. It was a remarkable win. In 2012 officials with the California-based beer maker announced they would create 95 full-time jobs (with an average wage of $41,526, plus benefits) and invest $107.5 million over five years to build their new brewery. CEO Ken Grossman said at the time that his company looked at more than 200 sites before settling on Ferncliff Park. That site was perfect because of its focus on sust ainability, native landscaping, and environmental stewardship, qualities the company prizes, Grossman and l o c a l o f f ic i a l s s a i d . (Prized qualities, indeed: Earlier this year, Sierra Nevada’s Mills River facility became the first American production brewery to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’s Platinum Certification, the highest tier offered by the U.S. Green Building Council. The certification rates and

recognizes sustainable design and a building’s environmental performance.)

The Big Win

The crown jewel of area economic development landed in Mills River in February. Henderson County officials announced that GF Linamar, LLC, a manufacturer of light-weight powertrain, driveline, and structural components for the automotive industry,

Local officials were ecstatic about the GF Linamar win, but they’re not resting. Tate says he and his colleagues regularly field calls from prospective clients. would spend $217 million to build a new plant in Ferncliff Park. The company, which is a joint venture between Georg Fischer AG and Linamar Corporation, said it would hire 350 employees over the next five years and pay an annual average wage of $47,738.

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industries, said it would build a 60,000-sq.-ft. building for its first United States manufacturing facility. The facility includes a $10.6 million state-of-the-art clean room operation. Raumedic CEO Martin Bayer took note of the impact of the cluster of manufacturing businesses, saying in a statement, “For us, Henderson County provides an experienced and skilled workforce and the ideal business environment for our investment.” Other businesses are growing and locating in Mills River as well. American Quality Foods just doubled the size of its building and added 20 workers, Tate notes. He adds that Gaia Herbs, headquartered in Brevard, recently bought a 60,000-sq.-ft. greenhouse in Mills River; the expansion is expected to represent a $5 million capital investment and generate in excess of 25 new jobs. Local officials were ecstatic about the GF Linamar win, but they’re not resting. Tate says he and his colleagues regularly field calls from prospective clients. “We have good, steady activity,” he says, “and we don’t see it slowing down.” sources

“The location is ideal for us,” Yves Serra, CEO of GF Linamar, said at the time, noting the proximity to Interstate 26. Linamar, which is based in Canada (Georg Fischer AG is located in Switzerland), first announced an area presence in 2012 when company officials said they would spend $75 million to build a plant in Arden in southern Buncombe County and hire 250 workers. Since then, the company announced the addition of another 150 jobs and a $115 million expansion of its facility off Hendersonville Road. Grading on the Ferncliff Park location of GF Linamar is underway, with production there scheduled to begin in 2017. The HCPED’s Tate says that the company’s investment in Mills River is the biggest economic development project in Henderson County since GE Lighting arrived in the county in 1955. The GF Linamar highlights the type of companies that are “really driving the tax base and our employment economy,” according to Tate, who notes that while big-name breweries often get a lot of attention, it’s the highly technical plastics and metals manufacturers that are the core sector for Mills River. Another example of just such a company was Raumedic AG’s 2015 announcement that it would buy a 10-acre site in Broadpointe Industrial Park. The German company, which manufactures components used in the medical and pharmaceutical

Legislative Commission report: http://bit.ly/29Wc6Us UNC incorporation report: http://unc.live/29NUVVt Senate Bill 287: http://bit.ly/29DuF9 House Bill 232: http://bit.ly/2a9qQBx NC GA Session Law 2003-242 (HB 232): http://bit.ly/2auXhcI

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THE OLD

NORTH

episode, which aired Saturday, June 30, at 9:00PM, featured home buyers from Raleigh seeking a beach home to fix on a budget. When the gag order was lifted, general manager Chad MacAvery showed a similar project to NewsChannel 12 reporters. It featured modern hardscaping, with walls, steps, a built-in kiln, a pergola, and subtropical garden embellishments. About ten of the company’s 32 employees participated in a project that lasted five days. Other local businesses were tapped in the process. Yardworks has enjoyed a longstanding presence in Carteret since moving from Emerald Isle. They design and build their own landscaping, hardscaping, irrigation systems, and outdoor lighting configurations for residential and commercial properties.

STATE [

news briefs

This Dog Sells Turkey Ties morehead city

Melissa Lutz has opened a store selling men’s apparel and accessories. It sells all men’s sizes, but the only item for boys is bowties. It sells anything from T-shirts, shorts, and ball caps to polos to tuxedo shirts, but it doesn’t sell shoes or rent tuxedos. Since there must always be a twist, the store sells a lot of items made in North Carolina. What can’t be sourced from the state comes from South Carolina or Georgia. Lutz even sells items from a pair of lines she owns: Duck Dog Clothing Company and Cocklebur Creek Company. And with local flavor comes specialty items. Of course there are neckties with North Carolina college logos. But then there are Brackish feather

]

bow ties, handmade with feathers from guinea (fowl, not pigs), pheasant, and turkey. Lutz also sells Hook N Hide leather belts made in Charleston. These feature huge buckles, shaped like blue marlins, dolphins, and other creatures from the ocean, and they double as bottle openers. As a finishing touch, once Jake, Lutz’ dog, gets settled in his new location, he will be, as she says, a fixture.

They Assure They’re Humane as Possible

Secret Garden No More

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SoBran BioScience selected North Carolina as the home of a new research center. The international company performs research on drugs and medical devices preparatory to advancing them to tests on humans. Seeking to expand in an environment with a large field of

After two months, landscaping firm Yardworks, Inc., was allowed to let the cat out of the bag. They had been selected to improve the grounds for a home to be featured on Home & Garden Television’s Beach Front Bargain Hunt series. The

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biotech specialists from which to choose, SoBran had short-listed locations in five other states before being swayed by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T). Prospects for collaboration with NC A&T became serious when engineers at the school were looking for animals somewhat larger than rats on which to test magnesium screws that biodegrade in damaged bone mass. NC A&T will now lease SoBran pastureland for raising lab animals as the school and company partner on a number of research projects. SoBran will start out with an 8,500-sq.-ft. facility, which its director of business development, Simon Selwood, expects will be outgrown within a year.

Liquidated Damages Precedent

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national & world

Ryan C. Fry. Morris, a prolific inventor, stopped receiving his $10,000 per-patent bonuses in 2007 with the understanding that a formal policy for compensation was being drafted. It never materialized, so Morris sued, claiming Scenera owed him $210,000 in bonuses and unlawfully terminated him for threatening to sue. A jury decided Morris was entitled to the bonuses under the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act and damages under the North Carolina Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act. Attorney fees and damages for patents already granted were further awarded. The Court of Appeals agreed, but the Supreme Court reversed its decision. The Chamber, the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys, and North Carolina State University had jointly filed an amicus brief arguing for fairness in securing the rights of job creators and claiming a ruling in Morris’ favor could substantially harm the state’s competitive business climate.

the old north state

formerly Freightliner, announced it would be laying off 800 workers in Gaston County. Two hundred of them would be let go from the company’s parts and logistics plant in Gastonia on June 24, and the rest would be cut from the Mount Holly plant July 1. The layoffs were described as temporary, but Daimler has been hosting job fairs and helping affected workers with resume writing and filing for unemployment insurance. UAW Local 5286 President Scott McAllister explained that retrenching employees ASAP was important to checking negative economic multipliers before they ripple through the community. Daimler is rightsizing in response to an anticipated 15% drop in sales of medium and heavy-duty trucks. With the North Carolina layoffs come the release of 270 workers from the industry giant’s plant in Santiago, Mexico, and 170 from its home-base in Portland, Oregon. This wave follows the laying off of 1250 from Daimler’s Mount Holly and Cleveland plants in February.

raleigh

The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s vice president of government affairs, Gary J. Salamido, applauded the state’s Supreme Court for overturning a Court of Appeals decision in Robert Paul Morris v Scenera Research, LLC and

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wind farms. Apex Clean Energy of Charlottesville has invested millions in a system of 105 turbines, each 600 feet tall, that would stretch 26.5 miles along the coast in Perquimans and Chowan counties. Apex has cleared Department of Defense (DOD) and Federal Aviation Administration hurdles for a number of similar projects, but this time it was threatened by North Carolina House Bill 763. If passed, it would affect about 45 of the turbines, rendering the entire project economically infeasible. The bill would apply standards stricter than those of the DOD to military flight paths in the state. Legislators claim the bill, titled the Military Operations Protection Act of 2016, would protect their districts from base downsizing and closure. Apex’ vice president for federal business, David Belote, says the legislation indiscriminately bans turbines, whether or not they pose dangers. Unaffected by the bill would be Iberdrola Renewables’ nearby wind farm, which will power Amazon’s data centers.

Not Muggy in Here fuquay-varina

Jon Pierce was rejected by twenty-three banks before finding one willing to help him with a Small Business Administration Loan. He wanted to start a restaurant, but prospective lenders would say they were just recovering from a bad restaurant loan or that they had maxed out the restaurant category in their loan portfolio. Backing him were sixteen friends and family members. He even hired a loan consultant who specialized in restaurant financing to help after the first sixteen rejections. Finally, State Bank and Trust of Atlanta took a chance, and business at Pierce’s Mason Jar Tavern has been out the door since it opened in January of 2015. So, to rave reviews, Pierce and his wife, Maggie, opened a second Mason Jar Tavern in Fuquay-Varina with three times the capacity of their Holly Spring launch and seventy-six staff members in training.

The restaurant serves Southern comfort food, Chef Tucker’s favorite ingredients being bacon, butter, cheese, bourbon, and red wine. Local brew is served in mason jars because that’s how Pierce took his beverages as a child.

Advertising Techniques 1, 3, 6, 8, & 10 robeson county

The Lumbee Tribe has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Anheuser-Busch of using its tribal trademark without permission in its ads. In question is the Circle of Life, its quadrants colored red, white, black, and yellow, with zigzags and the words “Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina” circumscribed. Adding to the infringement is the tribal slogan: “Heritage, Pride & Strength.” Both appear above beer coolers in convenience stores in historic Lumbee lands. The tribe has asked the beer company to pay court costs and turn over profits derived from the trademark. Lumbee Tribal Chair Harvey Godwin said the suit followed attempts to settle out of court for what litigation papers name “blatant and ongoing,” “immoral,” “unethical,” “oppressive,” and “unscrupulous.” In addition to implied consent, Godwin said the ad is “particularly offensive” because Native Americans are often stereotyped as suffering from drug and alcohol abuse.

Because the Catalog’s Too Big to Read huntersville

Mitutoyo has opened its expanded, 7,700-sq.-ft. M3 Solution Center in Huntersville. Mitutoyo specializes in the production, repair, and calibration of precision instrumentation and systems. Yehan Numata founded the company in 1934 to mass-produce high-quality micrometers into affordable ranges. Through the years, the company’s

product catalog evolved and expanded to include mechanical, then electronic and optical gauging products. With the advent of the computer, Mitutoyo grew again to provide sensors and software for connectivity and integration. Now a world leader in metrology, Mitutoyo is used widely by the electronic, semiconductor, and medical device markets. The M3 Solution Centers sport open floorplans, in scientific white, where the latest in tools and instruments are on display and operational. They are staffed by highly-skilled technicians who demonstrate products and man project desks for system design. Training and tech support go without saying. Appointments are recommended, but drop-ins are welcome.

Financial Squeeze greensboro

In about six months, Carolina Bank will be the last of Greensboro’s homegrown financial institutions to leave town. Greensboro’s NewBridge Bank made the penultimate exit in March when it was acquired by Raleigh’s Yadkin Bank. First Bank of Southern Pines announced it will be purchasing Carolina Bank for $97.3 million, or $19.26 per share. Carolina had eight branches in the Triad area compared to First’s 88 in three states. The small bank will add $706 million in assets to the larger’s $3.4 billion. Carolina’s President and CEO Bob Braswell said he had to either grow or sell because low interest rates and compounding regulation were going to compromise shareholder dividends. After finding no businesses suitable for acquisition, the board decided to explore selling out, but the only way to know the bank’s value was to solicit offers. First’s proposal was accepted because it came with a compatible corporate culture and a pledge to retain existing employees. In the last fifteen months, twelve North Carolina community banks have been sold in mergers.

Friday

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

Ballroom at Crowne Plaza Resort, Downtown Asheville

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Visit www.mowabc.org or call 828-253-5286 The dress is casual, but the night will be extraordinary! Bid on vacation packages, local artwork, handmade jewelry, children’s toys, and a variety of gift certiﬁcates and services generously donated by individuals and local businesses who support our cause. Complimentary beer, wine, and heavy hors d’oeuvres will be served throughout the evening and a cash bar will be available. 100% of net proceeds will beneﬁt Meals on Wheels of Asheville & Buncombe County in its mission to care for the homebound elderly of our community.

MEALS ON WHEELS

of Asheville & Buncombe Co. August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

DANCERS at John C.Campbell Folk School photo courtesy of John C. Campbell Folk School

Taking THE 54

Right Steps | August 2016

leisure & libation

Contra dancing offers fun, exerciseâ&#x20AC;Ś and cultural continuity. written by roger mccredie photos by anthony harden August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

leisure & libation

If you do not come too close, if you do not come too close, On a summer midnight, you can hear the music Of the weak pipe and the little drum And see them dancing around the bonfireâ&#x20AC;Ś Round and round the fire Leaping through the flames, or joined in circles, Rustically solemn or in rustic laughter Lifting heavy feet in clumsy shoes, Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth Mirth of those long since under earth Nourishing the corn. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;T. S. Eliot East Coker 56

| August 2016

ance is as old as humankind. It probably predates its partner: music. Scholars tend to classify dancing—performing a deliberately organized set of movements—into two broad categories: those that are intended solely for personal expression (performance dancing), and those designed to promote interaction with other people (participation dancing). Oh, sometimes the two overlap, as anybody knows who has ever watched Dancing With The Stars. (They call that “ballroom dancing,” but come on: How many times have you ever seen anything resembling those sequin-bedecked calisthenics at the club dinner dance or the annual soiree of the Loyal Order of Owlhoots?) But mostly, there’s no mistaking whether a dance is designed to be watched or indulged in by the rank and file. Most of us automatically think of participatory dancing as done by couples, which can vary from cheek-to-cheek romanticism to rescue-me desperation, depending on the partner and the circumstances. And of course, there have been couples dances designed to amuse either the couples themselves or those watching them. (Within the past century alone, the nation has survived such terpsichorean excesses as the Turkey Trot, the Jitterbug, the Watusi, the Frug, and the Monster Mash; not to mention, more recently, the Hammer Dance, the Stanky Leg, the Crab Walk, and the Running Man.) But whereas couples dancing is a relatively modern phenomenon, there’s another dance form that’s much older: the group dance. And that’s the kind that concerns us here: the kind that Eliot sees the ghostly farmpersons doing. The kind that brings us together, makes us interact with each other, and promotes spontaneous good cheer. The kind you might see at the LEAF Festival in spring and fall. The kind that gives us at least a fighting chance of avoiding stepped-on toes and random halitosis. Mind you, in its many centuries of bringing people together, dancing has spawned a few glitches. Writers’ Almanac tells us that “in 1374 in Aachen, Germany… an outbreak of dancing plague or dancing mania, also known as St. Vitus’ Dance, first began. From Aachen it spread across central Europe and as far away as England and Madagascar. Dancing mania affected groups of people—as many as thousands at a time—and caused them to dance uncontrollably for days, weeks, and even months until they collapsed from exhaustion. Some danced themselves to death, suffering heart attacks or broken hips and ribs. At the time, people believed the plague was the result of a curse from St. Vitus. Scientists now tend to believe it was due to ergot poisoning or mass hysteria.” In spite of such incidents—or maybe because of them— “set” dances only increased in popularity.

Opposites Attract There are, of course, many kinds of group dances. Nowadays, when people think of communal dancing, especially in Appalachia, they default-think square dancing, a form in which self-contained sets of (usually) four couples, arranged to form a square, execute a series of steps among themselves, without interacting with other “squares.” Or they think clogging, which is square dancing on steroids, with Irish and Cherokee overtones. But in fact, one of the oldest and purest types of communal dance, and one that has experienced a rebirth in these parts, is the venerable contra dance. For those not familiar with it, the term “contra dancing” is confusing. It is not a mispronunciation of, or interchangeable with, “country dancing.” Ergo, it doesn’t by extension have anything to do with Scottish country dancing, a favorite hobby here in a part of the United States that’s liberally laced with Scots descendants. (To bewilder you further, “country” in “Scottish country dancing” is misleading. There’s nothing rural about Scottish country dancing; on the contrary, it’s the formal ballroom dancing of Scotland ,and it traces its lineage directly to the courtly dances of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.) No, “contra” is Latin for “opposite,” and the main feature of contra dancing is that it is danced by two long lines of couples facing (contra) each other. The figures involve progressively changing partners so that, by the end of the dance, everybody has danced with everybody else. August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 57

leisure & libation

“The whole idea is togetherness,” says Annie Fain Barralon. “Community togetherness, where people who already know each other can socialize, and where strangers can become friends and get assimilated into the community.” Barralon knows whereof she speaks. She is Music and Dance Coordinator at one of the country’s most unusual institutions: the John C. Campbell Folk School. As such, she is responsible for what is perhaps the most visible department of a remarkable institution whose curriculum embraces all aspects of folk heritage and culture, from basketry to blacksmithing to oral history.

Hands Across the Water The Folk School, with its noncompetitive curriculum and its family-like association of students and teachers, was the brainchild of a pair of adventuresome outlanders. In 1908, a Wisconsin-born, New England-educated social reformer named John Campbell and his wife, Olive Dame Campbell, packed up a horse-drawn wagon and set off for deepest, darkest Appalachia, which in those days was rumored to be living in the dark ages and in sore need of reforming. As they traveled and interacted with locals from Georgia to West Virginia, an idea occurred to the couple: What they had originally envisioned as a missionary undertaking could and should be a two-way street. The natives could benefit from being exposed to education, technology, and agricultural advancement; the outside world could be enriched not only by the artisanship they saw being practiced in the mountains, but by exposure to the folk culture that permeated the whole Appalachian way of life. Olive Campbell’s passion was music, and she found to her delight that the Southern mountains were a treasure trove of ballads, songs, and instrumental tunes that these mountaineers’ ancestors had brought with them from England, Scotland, and Ireland generations before, and which they incorporated matter-of-factly into the rhythm of their daily lives. That rhythm, of course, included dancing, the mountain social vehicle of choice. And lo and behold, the dancing, likewise, involved figures based on those learned across the water centuries before. So while her husband counseled farmers, Olive Campbell listened to their families’ songs and watched them dance. And eventually she took the decisive step of reaching out to the man who, at the time, was considered the leading folklorist of the English-speaking world, Cecil J. Sharp. The London-born, Cambridge-educated Sharp, who is often referred to as the rescuer of British folk music, was in America during the early years of World War I, prospecting for nuggets of music to prove his theory that British folk tradition had made a successful transatlantic 58

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HOLDING HANDS at the start off the dance.

If the Folk School and the spinoff organizations it spawned had not been in place, Southern dance culture might have been kidnapped entirely by boot-scootinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; line dancing. August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 59

leisure & libation

Don’t Swat the Gnat in the Cage A (very) partial glossary of contra dancing terms

If you decide to venture into the fun-but-arcane world of contra dancing, you may be a tad confused at first by some of the terminology used by callers in directing the dance. Nearly every contra dance gathering these days features a beginners’ instruction period before the main dance. But since even the best instructors can only cover so much ground in half an hour, we thought we’d help you get a head start by offering the following list of contra dancing terms and their definitions. Allemande left or right: Two dancers turn to face each other and, using a handshake grip, walk past each other, extending the opposite hand to the next dancer in a similar fashion. (“Allemande” is a French word meaning “German dance.” Contra dancing is nothing if not diverse.) Balance (as in “Balance your partner”): This is a dance move in which you (1) step off with your right foot and swing your left leg to the right, then (2) step left, and swing the right foot to the left. If this proves too challenging you can just (1) step forward on your right foot and (2) step back on your left. (“Balance” is also what you need a degree of to complete either version.) Box the gnat: In this step the man takes the woman’s right hand, and then the couple raises their joined hands to make an arch. The woman walks underneath the arch, while the man walks clockwise around her to exchange places. How this movement came to be called “box the gnat” is lost to history, as well as to everybody else. Do-si-do: A frequently heard term that is totally meaningless to anybody who has never danced it. It consists of two dancers (1) passing right shoulders (going clockwise half around each other), then (2) sliding behind each other’s back and return to place by (3) passing left shoulders (counterclockwise). Many people think the term “do-si-do” has something to do with the syllables of the chromatic scale. Not so: It’s simply from the French dos-à-dos, meaning “back to back.” Petronella balance: Four dancers, previously in line (or maybe out of the room completely) do a “balance” (see above), then spin once around over their right shoulders (clockwise) so as to end up one quarter to the right in the set of four, in the place previously occupied by the person who was on your right, but who, with luck, will also have moved on. The move is from a dance called “Petronella.” So there you have it: several well-chosen contra dance terms that, when studied, should put you ahead of the game on the dance floor. Of course, to make sure you stay ahead of the game and avoid both physical injury and social disgrace, you can simply remain in the bar area with one leg propped on a chair and throw these terms around while grimacing occasionally and saying how much you’d love to be out there. 60

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BOOGIE SHOES on the dance floor

leap to the New World. By 1915 he had just about given up, which is understandable since his research had not taken him much deeper into the forest of American folklore than Chicago. Thanks to Campbell’s input, Sharp, together with his collaborator, Maude Karpeles, was able to record hundreds of Appalachian ballads, folk songs, and dance tunes. Following John Campbell’s death, Olive and her co-folklorist, Marguerite Butler, set off for Scandinavia, where “folk schools”—noncompetitive centers of learning that focused on ethnic arts, crafts, and lore—had flourished for many generations. It occurred to them that the model of the rural Danish folkehøjskole (pronounced “Fahl-keh-hoy-skew-leh”), in particular, might lend itself to adaptation back home. Thus, John C. Campbell Folk School was opened in 1925, and the study and performing of Southern mountain communal dancing has been an integral part of the school’s curriculum ever since. Which is important, because in the South, contra dancing, which had been as popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries as it had ever been in the North, began to decline in popularity. The Civil War put a

serious dent in Southern communal dancing because it left the South with very little to dance about, as well as a serious dearth of dancing partners. Even so, an image comes to mind: Remember the dance scene in Gone With the Wind, where Scarlett, in her widow’s weeds, is staring longingly at the dancers and surreptitiously tapping her foot? And Rhett notices and propels her onto the dance floor? And the lines form up, and Rhett and the not-very-bereaved Scarlett grin at each other, while Atlanta society gets the vapors? And the caller announces the Virginia reel? Well, a Virginia reel, authorities say, is technically, a contra dance, although Southern dance purists might call that a stretch. Anyway, over decades, Southern folk dancing inclined more towards square dancing and clogging; just as, prompted by the outfits of “country” entertainers and bands, the participants themselves curiously came to bedeck themselves in crossover quasi-Western outfits of ten-gallon hats, jeans, and cowboy boots. If the Folk School and the spinoff organizations it spawned had not been in place, Southern dance culture might have been kidnapped entirely by boot-scootin’ line August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 61

THE CROOKED PINE BAND with caller Dave Winston (left) keeps the crowd moving.

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dancing—which has nothing in common with the “lines” of contra dancing except the word. About the same time that the Folk School was developing its music and dance program, an interesting parallel was shaping up in, of all places, Michigan. One of its patrons was that prototypical industrialist, Henry Ford, who, it seems, was something of a folk dance and music groupie; he contributed extensively to organizations devoted to both (partly, it’s said, as a passive-aggressive response to the increasing popularity of jazz, which he detested). As a folk dance aficionado, Ford had made numerous friends within that community. One was Massachusetts dance coordinator Benjamin Lovett, and Ford persuaded him to come to Michigan and start a dance conservancy there. The story goes that Lovett at first had to decline Ford’s invitation, because he was under contract to teach folk dancing at a local inn; no problem, said Ford, who promptly bought the inn. Together, Ford and Lovett actually began a dance program, including contra lessons, in Ford’s hometown of Dearborn. And Ford, all by himself, published a book titled Good Morning: After a Sleep of Twenty-Five Years, Old-Fashioned Dancing Is Being Revived by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford in 1926. (Ford did not indicate how “Old-Fashioned Dancing” had managed to nod off to sleep in 1901.)

Anyway, New England and the upper Midwest were mainly responsible for the survival of contra dancing in America throughout the mid-twentieth century. There, various weekend events such as dance camps and weekend dance programs provided outlets for traditionalists who couldn’t keep their feet still, and dance events were coattailed onto the increasing number of folk festivals that began to ride the tide of the so-called folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. There was a notable exception to this Northern monopoly on contra dancing: Richard Chase, the Alabama-born folklorist who catalogued and published The Jack Tales and The Grandfather Tales, did much of his work, which included col lecting dances, in the Beech Mountain area of North Carolina. Chase, however, split for the West Coast—he is credited with introducing contra dancing to California—and did not return to Beech Mountain until the late 1970s, when he tried to reignite the interest he had generated years before. He met with indifferent success, job-seeking and mass communication having taken their cultural toll in those hills, so he retired to Hendersonville.

Twist & Shout So it’s fair to say that contra dancing in this neck of the woods was largely saved, and restored to the people whose ancestors used to dance it, by Yankee incomers (plus Chase, of course) who, looking around for a contra venue, intersected with the arc of the Folk School, or struck out on their own to recruit their own startup groups if need be. Some Southern dance purists still tend to view contra

Contra dancing has gained toeholds throughout the United States, the ground in North Carolina proving particularly fertile for raising the contra crop. dancing askance: “It’s kind of like an invasive species that’s popular but can choke out the native varieties,” Warren Wilson College’s Phil Jamison, a popular dance caller, said in a newspaper interview. Although contra dancing has gained toeholds throughout the United States, the ground in North Carolina proving particularly fertile for raising the August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 63

leisure & libation

SMILING all the way to the last dance

contra crop. The August calendar at Contradancelinks. com lists a total of 42 contra events for August across North Carolina, from Brasstown to Wilmington and including Charlotte and Winston-Salem. Moreover, each month’s calendar is at least that full. Boone, for example, is a college town nestled deep in the mountains, and it’s a stone’s throw from “Uncle Dick” Chase’s old stomping ground at Beech Mountain. On all those counts, you’d expect it to be a logical place to encounter contra dancing, and you’d be right. The Boone Country Dancers sponsor a contra dance at various locations once a month. (No, that’s not a typo: They are country dancers. It is a contra dance. Refer to what I said earlier about “country” and “contra” and do try to keep up.) Over in Charlotte, contra dancing happens regularly in a decommissioned school house in the city’s Chantilly neighborhood, as well as a sort of folk fusion version called “techno contra” at a Unitarian Universalist church. In Carrboro the thriving Triangle Country Dancers sponsor a year-round program of folk dancing, much of which is contra. The renowned Fiddle & Bow Society of Winston-Salem has its own contra society which dances weekly. According to Annie Fain Barralon, the biggest, and perhaps oldest, folk dance organization in the Southeast is the Old Farmers’ Ball (or the OFB, as it’s commonly known), which operates out of Swannanoa right here in Western North Carolina. “It’s an umbrella, a resource,” she says. The OFB was first a place—well, two places, actually: a depression-era dance hall on Swannanoa Road, and a later reincarnation, called by the same 64

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STEPPIN’ OUT Contra dancing is abundant throughout North Carolina. An excellent month-by-month reference guide can be found at Contradancelinks. com. Here’s the skinny on the venues mentioned in this article: john c . campbell folk school

chantilly hall

One Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC 28902

2101 Shenandoah Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205

Free introduction to Contra, Square, and Circle Dances to recorded or live music “almost” every Tuesday night from 7-8PM at Keith House on the Folk School campus. Beginners, couples, and singles, all welcome.

The Charlotte Country Dancers sponsor dances at Chantilly Hall every Monday of the year except Memorial Day. There is a beginners’ lesson at 7:30PM, followed by the dance itself from 8-10PM.

The school also holds contra dances twice a month from 8-11PM in the Keith House Community Room. Beginners, singles, and couples welcome. A d m i s s i o n : A d u l t s $ 7; A g e s 12-18 $ 4 ; Under 12 $3. “Beginners should come promptly at 8PM, since we start with easier dances and more teaching,” the school advises. > 800 -365-5724 or 828-837-2775 Folkschool.org the old farmers’ ball (ofb)

Warren Wilson College, Bryson Gym 701 Warren Wilson Road, Swannanoa, NC 28778

Admission: $7; students $5 > Charlottedancegypsies.org boone country dancers

(Various locations)

The Boone Country Dancers sponsor a contra dance once a month, usually on the second Saturday. “Everyone is welcome regardless of dance experience. We have dancers ranging in age from 7 to 70. You don’t need to bring a partner to dance. We welcome new dancers and always have a new dancers’ workshop before every dance.” Admission: $7; high school students $5; under 12 free.

Contra dancing every Thursday from 8-11PM, with a lesson (“strongly recommended for beginners”) at 7:30PM.

> 828-406-0580 Boonecountrydancers.org

Admission: OFB members $5; non-members $6; Warren Wilson students $1.

fiddle and bow society

> Oldfarmersball.com

The Fiddle & Bow Country Dancers (part of the venerable Fiddle & Bow Society) sponsor contra dancing every Tuesday night in either Clemmons or Winston-Salem from 8PM until 10:30PM, and on the third Saturday of each month in Greensboro from 8-11PM, with a free beginners’ lesson at 7:30PM. “You don’t need to bring a par tner with you to enjoy Contra dancing, but do please bring soft-soled shoes.”

the grey eagle

185 Clingman Ave, Asheville, NC 28801 Contr a Dancing ever y Monday night from 8-11PM, with a beginners’ lesson at 7:30PM. Admission: $7 > 828-232-5800 Thegreyeagle.com

4201 Thorn Ridge Rd., Winston-Salem, NC 27106

> Fiddleandbow.org

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 65

leisure & libation

name, whose roof collapsed during the Blizzard of 1993—but the term now refers to both a schedule of dances and to the organization that sponsors them. The OFB holds regular Thursday dances at Bryson Gymnasium on the campus of Warren Wilson College. Memberships in the OFB are available; you don’t have to be a member to attend a dance, but members get a discount on admission prices.

space would have precluded trying to perform dance figures. Not so at the present Clingman Avenue location, which boasts a food and drink area and a capacious performance/dance space. Grey Eagle hosts a weekly contra dance on Monday evenings. There’s a $7.00 admission tab and regular dancing begins at 8PM, but lately a beginners’ class—which newbies are urged to attend—starts at 7:30PM. C l i n g m a n Av e n u e skirts the French Broad where Asheville becomes West Asheville, called by townies the “hipster vortex” for its trendy pubs and gentrified real estate. Parking for Grey Eagle can be problematic when the club’s smallish lot is full, as on a recent, rainy Monday. By 7PM or so, cars already line both sides of Clingman and a steady trickle of customers is flowing in to pony up admission for the beginners’ class. Hipster vortex or not, the demographic is widely mixed: university students in cutoffs and t-shirts, granola types in long, flowered skirts or jeans and flannel

“People come out at the end of the dance with their jaws aching from smiling. They’ve been having a great time with people they’ve never met before in their lives.” In Asheville proper, the leading contra venue is Grey Eagle Music Hall. Grey Eagle, named for the venerable fiddle tune that used to signal the opening of the Asheville Dance and Folk festival, traces its descent from the original Grey Eagle that opened in Black Mountain in the late 1970s. That club specialized in showcasing local folk music talent; its limited

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shirts, mom and pop tourists newly outfitted at Mast General Store, and even one or two older couples who look like they’re actually from around here and have probably been doing this kind of dancing since before it got rediscovered. “The thing I love about contra dancing,” says Beth Molaro, the unofficial den mother of the Grey Eagle Monday Night dancers, “is that I don’t know of anywhere else you can go into a room full of people and spend the next three hours smiling at each other. “Can you go to a ball game and do that?” she asks rhetorically. “People come out at the end of the dance with their jaws aching from smiling. They’ve been having a great time with people they’ve never met before in their lives. And that’s pretty cool.” Seated at a table in the restaurant area (“My feet are too sore to dance tonight.”), Molaro relates her own folk dance and music odyssey. “I’m from Long Island originally,” she says. “Married a West Virginia boy, and this music was his way of life. Living in West Virginia, I fell in love with both the music and the dance. I’ve been calling dances for 34 years, all over the United States and abroad. My daughter is 15 now; the year she was born, I called 130 dances with her, a newborn, strapped to my tummy in a carrier. She must have gotten sympathetic vibes; she’s a marvelous dancer.”

She looks around us as, in the other room, the Crooked Pine Band strikes up “Arkansas Traveler,” and caller Dave Winston begins working with the beginners: “Circle left… circle right… take four steps in… now four steps back…” “Our group originally started dancing at a little club downtown called Be Here Now, about 20 years ago,” Molaro continues, “but we migrated over here 17 years ago, when Grey Eagle moved over from Black Mountain, and we’ve been here ever since. It’s an ideal place.” From the stage, Winston is now instructing his charges in how to swing their partners. “Here’s all you have to do,” he says. “Pivot with your right foot. Just tap your heel; you don’t even have to move your foot, just pivot. Now come around with the other foot. See how easy? Now let’s try it for real.” Crooked Pine moves into the lilting notes and marked tempo of “Fisher’s Hornpipe.” The dancers take their places, and answer the calls. When time comes to swing partners, you can see the concentration in their faces: “Pivot… just tap that heel… five, six, seven, eight… all right!” Concentration becomes epiphany. It worked. They did it. They are now contra dancing. For real. And grinning from ear to ear.

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 67

student column

Alex Freeman – BottomsUp Box

melanie ferguson

has a MA in Writing from Lenoir-Rhyne University. She is a freelance writer and writing coach. Questions/ comment s about this story? Email us at editor@capitalatplay.com. Asheville.

OME T IME S A T U R N IN LIFE TA K E S YOU BY surprise, leading you right where you need to go. For one young entrepreneur, Alex Freeman, founder of BottomsUP Box (BottomsUpBox.com), a craft-beer themed subscription box service, this is exactly what happened.

Alex, born and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, grew up thinking about eventually attending big universities but landed in a much smaller setting in Hickory, at Lenoir-Rhyne University (LRU) with a lacrosse scholarship. Attending LRU became lifechanging for Alex, something he remains extremely proud of. While at LRU, Alex obtained a bachelor’s degree in economics in 2014; two years later, in May of 2016, he completed his Master of Business Administration with concentrations in entrepreneurship and innovation. But Alex didn’t start out knowing business was his career path. He had plans to become a special education teacher for the deaf; however, that program lost its funding, sending him searching for another major. Taking a cue from his parents who both managed small businesses, he explored business courses. He credits his parents’ years of encouragement and motivation, guiding him to develop his entrepreneurial abilities. In that entrepreneurial spirit, Alex had 50-60 ideas fail before creating BottomsUP Box, a quarterly subscription package containing a limited, specialty T-shirt and pint glass, along with three to five other pieces. Craft beer-themed items, he realized, were accelerating into a larger niche, and while a niche product was “equally exciting as well as nerve-wracking,” he understood how the overall experience appeals to craft beer consumers.

| August 2016

He notes that as a consumer, himself, of numerous subscription boxes and also having previous experience with a few small companies, “I saw the craft beer scene exploding in North Carolina and around the country, and just put the two together.” Initially, Alex cold-called various people who laughed at his idea, telling him he needed a more technical design. He notes only one call out of 10 or 15 was successful, but this drove him to try harder. “Most recently, more than half the box was drummed up by referrals or by companies reaching out to us, valuing that marketing space the box provides,” says Alex. Alex initially started the company, an LLC, with his own money, and then funded the first box on Kickstarter, selling his initial goal of 100 units, which shipped in August of 2015, and then growing sales by 20 percent in every quarter thereafter. The quick profitability came as a surprise, and he made the decision to reinvest most of the money back into the company. Alex later brought in two equity partners, Ralph Griffith and Joseph Huntley. “We have faith in the longevity of the company that our equity will be worth something in the long term,” says Alex. While the company does invest in marketing, Alex also stresses the importance of word-of-mouth and social media in the success of BottomsUP Box: “Ninety percent of the traction that we received on Kickstarter was because of Facebook promotions

The

Most Important thing in your and because of strategic partnerships that we struck up with craft breweries on social media.” Craft beer enthusiasts, like Alex, are dedicated and passionate. Alex emphasizes how much unity there is within the craft brewery community. He laughs when describing the “terribly hard job” of visiting various bars and breweries, drinking beer while discussing remarkable products created by brewery owners in the craft beer marketplace. The camaraderie extends into sharing mutual promotions on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Alex searches across the country for unique customized items to fill the box. In addition to the T-shirts and pint glasses, some unique items have included 50 caliber bullet bottle openers, craft beer candles, and craft beer soap. Pint glasses for the first

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year were mostly sourced from North Carolina, and last quarter the box included leather coasters produced at Oowee Products in Asheville, a company employing autistic adults to help produce their products. When Alex discovered this connection, he was intrigued; relating back to his earlier interest in special education, he immediately wanted to use this company in the boxes.

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noting how Chicago is an excellent craft beer hub, as well as a prime location for a number of consumer packaged goods firms with many fulfillment facilities. Alex and his team do not yet depend on BottomsUP Box for their livelihood but hope in the near future it will be possible. Headquarters will remain in Hickory, which Alex considers his second home. Alex is adamant about giving back to the university and the community which helped him build this business. To that end, he currently uses a student intern at LRU, Jack Stuart, a junior, to help with social media and packing, and he hopes to eventually hire him. “We’re going to continue that wheel of turning LRU business students into employees of the company and having the one that came before them train them,” says Alex. Alex explains each box is hand packed. Currently, inventory floats back and forth between Chicago and Hickory, depending on where items were initially sourced. He describes holding packing parties to personalize the creative way of filling the boxes, proud that it is a product they create with their hands. Although in the beginning Alex disliked the grind and challenges, he now says they are what he loves most, and finds them motivating and exciting. He expresses immense satisfaction in selling someone a product and being able to

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Going forward, the company plans to put a consumable in each box, such as craft beer hot sauce, garnish, and a craft beer protein bar. They also have a barbeque sauce in the works, and a rail tie bottle opener will be included in an upcoming box. Alex notes that “part of the fun and passion” of his job is locating products that people would not normally find by themselves. One important selling point is the perceived value BottomsUP Box provides, with an individual box priced at $35, and a oneyear subscription, which includes four quarterly boxes, priced at $115. (Both include free shipping.) The team continues in developing their goal of creating a theme for each box. Boxes are limited to those quarterly shipments to assure that quality items can be maintained as inventory. Sixty percent of sales come from online, while other business is generated from retail sales in local bars and stores and at beer festivals. Alex relocated to Chicago following graduation and has also made connections with Chicago area bars, as well as a boutique that ordered T-shirts for their store. The Chicago move has been a big step, with Alex taking a job at Michael Page, a recruitment firm, where he works as recruitment consultant on a team consulting for start-up companies. He hopes to continue building business relationships and branching out,

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view their excitement about it when they post photos on social media. “We are trying to fill a little piece of someone’s heart with some craft beer merchandise,” says Alex. Alex believes the subscription box services industry will continue to boom through diversifying and specialization. He

ALEX SAYS HE KNEW HE HAD A FUN IDEA BUT ADMITS TO BEING SURPRISED BY THE AMOUNT OF SUPPORT WITHIN THE MARKET AND IN THE EXCITEMENT SURROUNDING THE PRODUCTS.

He stresses that his company is there to help others, saying, “We want to be someone’s first sale and be someone’s milestone achievement in reaching customers, so we want to be a facilitator of growth in the craft beer market.” Reflecting on his success to date, Alex says he knew he had a fun idea but admits to being surprised by the amount of support within the market and in the excitement surrounding the products. He praises LRU for providing mentorship, noting the one-on-one connections and relationships established with professors and fellow business school students in a smaller school setting are “paramount and priceless.” When not working, Alex is currently exploring his new surroundings in Chicago with his girlfriend and his Great Dane/ Australian Shepherd puppy. He is looking forward to attending lots of baseball games and enjoying local clubs. Alex encourages other entrepreneurs to “jump into their goals and take the next step in their entrepreneurial endeavors.” Like him, you may wind up being surprised where it all leads you.

says his goals include expanding BottomsUP Box within the next two years with a couple of other unique product brands. “One of the most gratifying things for me in the next year is I want to be able to say I helped somebody get a job, and that job is helping them raise a family and is supporting the economy.”

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August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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and methods for enforcement of policies upon a wireless device.” The technology would allow venues to broadcast on their premises an infrared signal carrying code that disables or otherwise scrambles a device’s ability to record or execute other functions. This comes as consumers are demanding more, not fewer, features. Concerns have been raised that the technology in the hands of an autocrat could silence political opposition. On the bright side, the patent says the invention could turn off phones when operation would pose interference problems with critical electronics, as in airplane takeoffs and landings. The same technology could be used, for example, to provide self-guided tours in museums.

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Pop stars make headlines these days when they stop, mid-performance, to complain about somebody chatting on their cell phone. Fans are annoyed when they spring for an expensive seat, only to have views of their heroes obscured by a sea of blue lights held aloft. To help, Apple has been awarded U.S. Patent No. 8,254,902, “Apparatus

Your town is my town.

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The Hershey Company just turned down a $26 billion buyout from Cadbury owner Mondelez International, but analysts are expecting another go-round. Hershey has in recent years rejected similar offers, but now the landscape

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has been shaken up. Hershey is controlled by the Hershey Trust, which owns 81% of the company’s voting stock. The trust, now with a $12 billion endowment, is over 100 years old, having been set up by founder Milton S. Hershey to fund in perpetuity a school for underprivileged children. Problems surfaced earlier this year after the trust fired its executive vice president when he pled guilty to charges of fraud in campaign contributions. Then, an ongoing investigation by the state’s attorney general’s office called for three directors to step down over questions of term limits, conflicts of interest, and expenditures. Attorney General K athleen K ane, meanwhile, faces indictment for perjury and leaking grand jury information; an accusation she says was trumped up by political opponents.

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Metals and mining giant Rio Tinto saw shares rise 4.1% during JeanSebastien Jacques’ first week as CEO. Jacques oversaw the offloading of the company’s unprofitable Blair Athol coal

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mine in Queensland for an Australian dollar. The move was not unprecedented. In June 2015, Stanmore Coal paid Vale and Sumitomo Corporation the same amount for the Isaac Plains coking coal mine 60 miles away. But in the latest deal, Rio Tinto got stuck paying $60.1 million to rehabilitate the site. Although the mine closed in late 2012 following years of low coal prices, TerraCom hopes to mine 2.2 million tons of high-energy, low cost coal before year’s end. In another deal, only a week before the Blair Athol sale, Rio Tinto gave away its 53.8% stake in the Panguna copper mine in Bougainville, which is attempting to secede from Papua New Guinea. Civil unrest made leaving behind an estimated 5.8 metric tons of copper and 19.3 million ounces of gold advisable. Now, Bougainville’s president John Momis is threatening to sue Rio Tinto for a greater share of the gift, which was split between his domain and Papua New Guinea.

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B erk sh i re H at h away a nd C E O Warren Buffett had to ask permission of the Federal Reserve to increase

national & world

his ownership stake in Wells Fargo & Company above the disclosure threshold of 10%. Buffett last purchased Wells Fargo shares in October of last year, but his ownership stake increased in March as a result of Wells Fargo’s ambitious stock repurchase program. That is, his 506,308,470 shares, then valued at $23 billion, became a greater portion of stock outstanding. Wells Fargo is America’s largest bank in terms of market capitalization, and it is one of Buffett’s top four investments. The other three companies are IBM, American Express, and Coca-Cola. Repurchases from the latter two have benefited Buffett as well. He claims his investments gain $50 million each time his stake in the aggregate of the four increases a tenth of a percent.

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Electromyography is the process of collecting electrical data from human skin for the diagnosis of neurological disorders. The process has earned votes of no confidence from some practitioners. W hat’s more, it uses cold, sticky gel that patients don’t appreciate, and it monitors processes

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for only minutes. So, Yael Hanein at the Tel Aviv University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology has applied technology that Takao Somey has been developing over the last ten years at the University of Tokyo. It collects electrical signals from the skin via what popular science articles are calling electronic tattoos. Flexible transistors, LEDs, sensors, photovoltaic cells, and conductive connections, made of oxynitrate and parylene, are deposited on an adhesive and flexible base, the whole circuit being a tenth of the thickness of kitchen plastic wrap. The patch can stretch and crumple without effect, so it moves with the skin and without discomfort, and it can stick for days at a time.

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Joshua Brown was killed when his self-driving Tesla Model S collided with a tractor trailer. Details of the police report showed the truck making a left turn in front of the Tesla, pushing it off the road, and sending it through two fences and into a utility pole before it careened to rest. Original analyses claimed the white truck was rendered invisible against the glare of the sky to both the driver and the optical sensors used by the car’s Autopilot feature. While one group is now calling for more regulation and testing, technology enthusiasts are quick to argue there could have been a different outcome had the truck and car been plugged into the same Autopilot network. In six years, self-driving cars have been involved in 11 accidents, with one fatality, while racking up 1.7 million miles. It is difficult to draw any statistically compelling comparisons between this and the 35,000 fatalities caused each year by 269 million conventional cars logging three trillion miles.

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Southern dairies are on the verge of extinction. An estimated 40 remain in Alabama, and Louisiana is following suit. In 1980 Louisiana had over 1,000. At last count, the number was 119 and falling. Nationwide, the tally is at 45,344, about a third what it was in 1992. The reason is that the costs of farmland, construction, agricultural equipment, feed, fuel, fertilizer, and utilities are all rising faster than the price of milk. And the reason prices aren’t rising commensurately with costs is the United States Department of Agriculture sets the price of milk on a regional basis. For Louisiana’s St. Helena, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes, that price is now $14 per hundredweight, compared to a production cost of $18 to $20. Other factors driving up the cost of farming include health regulations for the cattle and computerized farm equipment, which both require professional servicing.

“Juno, Welcome to Jupiter” la cañada flintridge, ca

NASA’s Juno spacecraft had been traveling to Jupiter for almost five years. It’s on a mission to orbit, along longitudinal lines, for eighteen months, collecting data on the planet’s composition and gravitational and magnetic fields. But getting the 3,500pound craft to fall into orbit would take some doing. The gravitational field of the mighty planet would accelerate the craft to a maximum speed of 165,000 miles per hour. To avoid sinking into the gassy mass, scientists calculated Juno would have to fire its retrorockets thirty-five minutes, while consuming 17,600 pounds of fuel. At 8:53PM on the 4th of July, scientists at mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory erupted with applause

upon receiving the signal indicating the probe was orbiting; project manager Rick Nybakken ceremoniously ripped up Plan B. If and when orbit appeared impossible, the craft was going to change course and fly off into space, transmitting data much like Voyager 1 and 2 have done.

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Parliament voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU), citing, among other things, the importance of national sovereignty. The EU had been attacked as morphing from a customs union into an opaque, authoritarian bureaucracy and an all-pervasive, micromanagerial regulator. EU regulations were estimated to cost Britain 2-6% of GDP, while joining had had no effect on government spending, which maintained at 42-43% of GDP. But now that the UK has its sovereignty, economists at the Cato Institute point out that its leaders are responsible for making things better or worse. For example, Norway and Switzerland have been faring well in the European Economic Area without joining the EU. Britain could also get a jump on trade treaties the EU has been blocking. Britain is seen as too substantial a trade partner not to do business with EU nations, so deals will be worked out. Unfortunately, the £13 billion Brits would save annually from the Brexit has already been burnt through in terms of programs promised by both pro- and anti-Brexit leaders.

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JEREMY LITTLEJOHN 76

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Future Shock written by jay sanders photos by anthony harden

After Jeremy Littlejohn co-founded RISC Networks, the company quickly realized it not only could provide key IT services—it could create services that didn’t previously exist.

video intervie w

capital atpl ay. com

e live in a noisy world. Every single day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. According to Vcloudnews.com, that’s enough information to fill 10 million Blu-ray discs, or four stacked Eiffel Towers if you were to pile the discs into a single stack. What’s more, 90 percent of all the data in the world has been created in the last two years. Big data comes from a lot of sources: posts to social media, sensors gathering climate information, digital cameras and videos, financial transactions, and email, just to name a few. We each walk around with a small computer in our pockets that is millions of times more powerful that all of NASA’s combined computing in 1969 when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon. We’re storing the current GPS location of our cell phone, archiving all of our text messages, and recording the changes in stock prices, but how do we make sense of it all? Jeremy Littlejohn, CEO and co-founder of Asheville-based technology company RISC Networks, has a vision of the future where taming, analyzing, and understanding big data will bring great value to enterprise companies and consumers alike. RISC’s primary products and services include Solution Mapper, a one-time IT Infrastructure assessment for medium to large businesses that helps solve IT problems and plan for change; CloudScape, which helps organizations create and maintain an application-centric view of their IT environment (use cases include Cloud and Data Center Migrations, Security, Disaster Recovery, and ongoing performance trending); and IT HealthCheck, a turnkey, software-as-a-service IT Operations Analytics platform that allows businesses to help their customers improve reliability, scalability, performance and optimization of their IT environment. August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 77

PETE SCHISSEL , a member of the development team

We were the cool house (or something like that) Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee, Jeremy’s first computer was an Apple Mac Classic II, the quintessential early Macintosh with the ¾” floppy drive on the front and the greyscale screen. As a college professor, his father was one of the first people to get a computer. While most high school students were still typing their papers on traditional typewriters, it was common for Jeremy’s high school buddies to congregate at the Littlejohn house to take advantage of the new word processing capabilities of the Apple. Not only did the computer have a printer, it also facilitated the easy cut-and-paste editing that we take for granted today. Jeremy graduated from Nashville’s Belmont University in 1999 with a B.S. degree in communications and political science, along with aspirations to make movies. After a brief experience in film school, he returned home where he started picking up odd jobs in the video space. “One day,” remembers Jeremy, “this guy I know with a film production company called me for a gig at the Tennessee Walking Horse celebration in Shelbyville, about an hour outside of Nashville. I’m in the middle of the ring, and I’m the camera that’s working the jumbotron, which is really not that big; back then it was smaller than a modern TV. I’ve got my headset on, listening to the director. As the horses go around, I would zoom in, slide back, zoom in some more... all of a sudden I had an epiphany. I was filming a horse’s ass. I was done.” That night he went home and started looking for a new career. “There’s nothing better than having a terrible job to get you ready to do something new,” he says. His brief career in video had revealed an affinity for computers. “I had a cousin in Texas who was one of the first Cisco CCIEs [Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert]. He worked in industrial grade computing, like plumbing. I called him, and I said, ‘What should I do? How do I get into this industry?’ So I bought some books, and I went to CompUSA and bought some used computers that had been traded in and started doing stuff in my closet, trying to teach myself and learn.” Jeremy quickly got a job at Nortel Networks, refreshing leased computers from Dell, and eventually worked his way into the networking group. He was laid off in 2001 at the end of the first dot-com boom, and took a job in Connecticut where he met his eventual business partner, Greg Watts. “Greg was a proctor for the physics lab and had a computer science degree. He came right out and knew what he wanted to do, but I had to find my way there along the way,” says Jeremy.

Current State of Affairs A VINTAGE RN50 node that was used to send out for engagements. Now, completely virtual, they use these machines as door stops now. 78

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Founded on February 17, 2007, RISC Networks—which stands for Remote Infrastructure Services Center—was formed as an LLC by Littlejohn and Watts. They had been

THE OFFICE BOUNCER, Tetanusaurus Rex August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 79

RISC NETWORKS’ downtown Asheville office.

working at a small boutique agency focused on serving Cisco Systems’ clients, and when that Connecticut-based company was acquired, the pair formed a managed services practice with a recurring revenue model. “At that time we had bought a commercial, off-the shelf platform to do this—it was called Enable,” says Jeremy. “At the same time, we started doing services for Cisco because we had some specialties around unified communications that weren’t available generally. We got some big clients like Aeon and some others through that.” Cisco brought larger projects to the table, including an IT assessment for Home Depot that covered more than 2,000 locations and all of the network infrastructure to support them. “This software would collect the data. We liked it because we could write our own stuff against it, like our own reporting. If you think about it, we 80

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were collecting the data, adding the intelligence, and then helping people consume it.” While working on the Home Depot contract, RISC was pushing Enable well past its capabilities. Finally, Enable’s CTO contacted RISC and explained that their product was not designed for what Jeremy and Greg were doing. In fact, nothing in the marketplace currently existed to perform the data collection and analysis. Recognizing a hole in the market, Jeremy and Greg went back to the drawing board. Greg went into the lab and designed a whole new analysis product built in the Amazon Cloud, while Jeremy maintained the current business of professional services, consulting, and assessments. “We went through the process; it took approximately a year and a half to build the plane while we’re flying it. We would slowly introduce [the new software] into the running

engagements. Then one weekend we turned it on, hoping that it would work, and it did. It didn’t work perfectly, but it worked. It was just a process. A process of figuring out what does and doesn’t work. Where you don’t have a solution [and] creating your own solution.” RISC was approached by several large technology solutions providers such as CDW, Presidio Solutions, and ePlus that wanted access to the analysis platform outside of Cisco. This led to the creation of a SaaS (software-as-a-service) subscription model in 2012. “We created Solution Mapper and filed a patent on it. Solution Mapper is just a way of looking at the data that [the technology providers] could use, essentially creating a punch list of things that they could go work on with their clients. It is a way for them to get business from their clients, but also a way for their clients to get a list of items that needed to be

fixed,” says Jeremy. Solution Mapper took off in 2012, firmly establishing RISC Networks’ role in helping other companies analyze and assess their technology infrastructure, and make recommendations for improvements. RISC Networks is a firm believer in using its own products. As Jeremy puts it, “You’ve got to eat your own dog food.” RISC engineers work in the platform daily. It is common for them to work with their customers, looking for ways to improve an algorithm or any other things that will make the product better. Working alongside their clients, certain patterns begin to emerge. A lot of enterprise level customers need to improve their systems but are faced with the prospect of repairing and replacing physical servers. Cloud Computing is the practice of using a network of remote internet servers to store, manage, and process data, rather August 2016 | capitalatplay.com

NORA TRAMM, one of eight developers

than using a local, physical server, and has quickly become one of the most rapidly growing and cost-effective sectors of the technology world. Virtualizing a company’s technical infrastructure has many advantages. With CloudScape, RISC Networks has created a powerful platform that automates and analyzes the transition from traditional data centers to modern Cloud computing. Explains Jeremy, “We see two types of companies making the transition. Those where Cloud is a strategic piece to their business, adding a value that doesn’t have anything to do with the cost. Whether it costs less or more is not really relevant; it helps them do something that they could not do before. Or, that in doing, was so cost prohibitive, that it never made sense. “Companies who have a lease on a data center that is expiring, and they don’t want to renew the lease, or businesses that just acquired another company but can’t house them at their current data center, these are the externalities that drive this decision. We probably see today more of the second camp, people who have some issue they have to deal anyway, so let’s modernize—let’s do it the new way.” Jeremy sees the application as becoming the focal point of modern innovation, and RISC Networks is built around a n appl ic at ion- c ent r ic view of the universe. We use applications every day on our smartphones and laptops. A n application can be as simple as social media ser vice T w itter, or a s c ompl ic at e d a s photo-editing powerhouse Photoshop. Although it is common for an application to rely on third-par t y resources, an application is most importantly a selfcontained set of features and services. This allows applications to be portable and moved from one hosting environment to another with relative ease. “People don’t move servers to the cloud, they move applications to the cloud. So how do we translate the world of servers, storage, and infrastructure into the world of applications? We spent most of 2014 and 2015 really honing in on how we could do that for people, at scale, on an automated basis. We’re typically going to go into a client that has 6,000 servers—some of which they’ve acquired when they acquired another company, and they really just don’t know what they have. It’s just all running.” CloudScape helps solve this problem

“I don’t look out past two-three years really. It is too hard to know. I would say that our current plans are to grow at least 100 percent yearover-year for the next few years.”

JOEL BERGSTEIN, developer 82

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by providing an automated performance and migration assessment, and creating recommendations to make the modernization of the company’s hosting needs a simple and easy endeavor. In July of 2016, R ISC released CloudScape 2.0. “CloudScape is our award-winning software, and the 2.0 version is light years ahead of where we were just 6 months ago. We are very excited about it and our development team, led by Greg, my co-founder, did an outstanding job improving on what was already an amazing product,” says Jeremy. RISC Networks expects to double their revenue in 2016. When asked about future growth plans, he replies, “I don’t look out past two-three years really. It is too hard to know. I would say that our current plans are to grow at least 100 percent year-over-year for the next few years. We see that type of runway and we are small enough that we can get those multiples.”

The Nature of Problem Solving Jeremy Littlejohn, and the entire team at RISC Networks, are constantly asking themselves “What do we do?” This question is not intended to refine the mission statement or craft a new elevator pitch, but rather bring focus to their day-to-day operations. Analyzing the organization of the company and how the work is performed keeps them relevant, agile, and able to deliver true value to their customers. “I don’t want to build a company that’s a one-trick pony,” says Jeremy. “We want to build a process that we can apply to any issue.” R ISC Networks’ signature value proposition is defined by the way they approach problem solving for their customers. While steeped in the focus of the IT world, this four-step process has a universal feel to it. Many businesses can learn and grow from the way RISC evaluates clients’ current situations and needs, and turns this information into actionable results.

August 19-20, 2016

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Visualization of a single application’s dependencies in a network environment based on real world anonymized network data, courtesy RISC Networks

[ Step 1 ] Collect Data R ISC Networks CloudScape software scans the network systems of a company’s enterprise environment, collecting as much relevant data about the health and architecture of the entire system as possible. “We have to go and be able to find information that people don’t know is there,” says Jeremy. “We’re IT focused, so how do we parse logs? How do we get performance data from different pieces of equipment? How do we abstract [all of this] so that doesn’t become a difficult thing for you?” During this process, it is possible for hundreds of millions of data records to be captured for analysis.

[ Step 2 ] Add Intelligence What does it all mean? That is a lot of data; how do you make sense of it all? The core of RISC Networks’ intellectual property is applied intelligence, sorting

| August 2016

through millions of data records and identifying patterns. RISC’s proprietary algorithms combine large data sets from multiple sources, finding the stories that heaps of information can uncover when viewed through the proper lens. The real value of the CloudScape application, and the true power of RISC Network’s services, is revealed when the beneficial intersections are used to highlight the mass of knowledge and make it relevant and usable. “The value that we bring to the market is really in the intelligence that we add to the data,” notes Jeremy.

[ Step 3 ] Make the Findings Easy To Consume Now what? How do you deliver the discoveries in a useful, meaningful, and beautiful way, that is easy for the customer to consume? RISC curates the results, often eliminating interesting results that just obscure the real problem or add noise to the discussion. The

Visualization of all application stacks in a network environment based on real world anonymized network data

organization also prides itself on its vivid and colorful infographics that isolate the important findings, making them understandable on a very human level. “We use color to help signify importance and criticality. The visualizations have evolved over several years and we continue to find new uses for shading as well as size and color. Mostly we experiment and see what we like when we go to use it. We develop products that we like to use and make sense to us as users. If we don’t like it, it won’t get built.”

[ Step 4 ] Provide Clear Solutions and Steps The future for RISC Networks, Jeremy says, is in the action steps that the data analysis reveals. “The ‘do’ piece is something that we haven’t focused on in the past, but we are starting in the second half of this year. We’ll continue to develop the first three steps, collecting, adding, and consuming, but we have

good processes and great teams in there. That’s just a matter of iterating over and over and getting better at it. The ‘act’ piece is one that we haven’t really done much of and now we are starting to say, ‘Okay, we want to enhance what we do here.’” The ever-changing and evolving nature of technology is opening some interesting doors. The Internet of Things—the network of physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect and exchange data— provides fascinating potential for RISC’s iterative discovery process. “Greg and I are always looking for places that we can take that kind of intellectual property and apply it to something that is not just IT data. We had a conversation last night about what are the first things that we want to take our model and point it at that aren’t specifically related to IT. So we’re excited about that.”

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 85

Entrepreneurial Advice Jeremy relocated to Asheville from Chicago (“It was a lifestyle move for me.”), where he had been running RISC offices in 2010, and one year later offered to move the rest of his staff to North Carolina. They started with offices on Coxe Avenue but quickly outgrew the space. Now located in a loft space above Olive or Twist in downtown Asheville, RISC currently employs 30 people with hopes of adding 15 - 20 more in the coming year. “The business community has been great. When I first got here I didn’t know what was going on. Nobody knew about us which was fine because we were just doing our thing. I’m excited about the future since Josh Dorfman has come to town and [Dorfman’s company] Venture Asheville has really taken off... I’m excited about the enthusiasm people have. Asheville has so many fantastic people that either live here or work here. Getting them engaged in something locally is really great for Asheville.” Jeremy is equally animated about the future and entrepreneurship. He is inspired by the impact it can have and the way it can affect the community. He defines success as being about personal and professional goals and how they change over time, but doesn’t allow entrepreneur blogs and

how-to books to characterize him or his process. “Constantly trying to define success based on other people’s goals or metrics is a terrible way to live. For me, right now, success is sustainable growth at a rapid pace while staying true to our vision for the company. I think one good goal for founders is to work towards making themselves irrelevant. That is a goal of mine,” he says. For people just starting new businesses there is no reason to delay. “Start today. Bootstrap for as long as you can and provide professional services to fill your revenue gaps. You have to be able to offer some value while you are getting your product or service off the ground. You can monetize services easier than products, so don’t be afraid to do that. It is also the best way to learn what should be in the product.” Most importantly, he says, “consult, advise, do the work yourself. Ask for help. Get mentors and advisors who can keep you from spending a ton of time making the same mistakes everyone else has before you. I have hired the wrong people many times. I try to get better in the process after each one, but you are always refining it.” Jeremy also sees agility as being paramount to successful pivots and adaptation. Perspective switching gives a founder the ability to examine an obstacle from many points of view. “How many ways can you look at a problem and re-define it?

photo by Misha Schmiedecke

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Can we role play and find another solution? We have a lot of healthy debate internally. My co-founder and I have been doing this for nine years, so while we don’t know everything, we are comfortable with our decision making process.” For outside inspiration and guidance when mak ing choices, Jeremy is a member of the local Vistage group led by Bill Tate. “Bill and the other members of the team are invaluable to me as I make decisions.” When asked what he has found most satisfying in business, Jeremy’s tone is persuasive, yet contrary. “I think that being satisfied is exactly how you feel right before you go out of business. If you are satisfied you are in dangerous territory. Entrepreneurship is hard, and I have found I get the best results when I am working angry and totally unsatisfied.” Jeremy Littlejohn and RISC Networks are excited about the future, and are building a sustainable business

prepared to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of modern information systems and big data. His endeavors offer positive solutions to advance the technology and entrepreneurship community in Western North Carolina,

“How many ways can you look at a problem and redefine it? My co-founder and I have been doing this for nine years, so while we don’t know everything, we are comfortable with our decision making process.” and his words evangelize both the quality of life in our region and the extremely supportive business environment. Concludes Littlejohn, “RISC Networks, and many other small companies in the area, are trying to build strong, stable, exciting companies here in Asheville. We are here. Come see us, and get engaged in our community like we are in yours.”

It's always

PLAY TIME in Abingdon. Main Street Busker Fest, 9/3/16 Downtown Abingdon, VA

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 87

People Play at

1. Bill Coburn of Windy Knoll Farms with one of his Scottish Border Collies. 2. Clan Buchanan in The Parade of Tartans. 3. EJ Jones, bagpiper/event director of the Celtic

| August 2016

Groves, Celtic Jam, and Celtic Rock Concert. 4. Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Events â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Caber Toss. 5 & 15 The Massed Bands under the direction of Drum Major Michael Burke.

6. Wes Kiser, professional Scottish athlete throwing the stone. 7. Tim Morris and the granddaughter of Greg Culpepper, of Clan Macneil.

61st Annual Grandfather Mountain Highland Games July 7-10, 2016 | James J. Shaffer { Jjshafferphotography.com or Facebook.com/JJShafferPhotography }

8.Boysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; kilted foot race. 9. BJ Ferguson and John Ferguson at the Patron/ Sponsorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Reception. 10. Knight in the Parade of Tartans.

11. (L-R) Bobby Groves, Cornelia Groves, David McKenzie, Alex Lyerly, and Scotty Gallamore. 12. Clan tug-of-war.

13. Chris Chafin, professional Scottish athlete doing the Caber Toss. 14. Amanda Ford, Scottish athlete.

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 89

events

august

EVENTS – october 23 Nature Connects®: Art with LEGO® Bricks august 1

8AM-9PM

The North Carolina Arboretum 100 Frederick Law Olmstead Way, Asheville, NC While most of us LEGO freaks grew up, Sean Kenney made his passion his career, and now he’s a self-described “professional kid,” playing with LEGOs all day long. As if it weren’t impossible enough to dismiss fantasies of what this massive, majestic monarch butterfly, made of over 60,000 LEGO bricks looks like, we now learn our friend the butterfly will be accompanied by 13 other larger-than-life pals using up over 370,000 LEGOs altogether.

> Parking: Car $12, Bus $100 > 828-665-2492 > Ncarboretum.org

august 1- 6

Horn in the West

8-10PM 591 Horn in the West Boulevard, Boone, NC This is one of Western North Carolina’s g reatest traditiona l productions. Numerous re-enactors and dancers in costume tell the story of backwoods North Carolina when Daniel Boone walked these hills and the British were coming. Daniel Boone what a doer what a dream comin’ truer was he. See website for peripheral events.

>Tickets: Adult $24, Child (3-12) $12, Laptop Infant FREE

> 828-264-2120 > Horninthewest.com

setting is Montmartre, Paris, in 1904. Audience members are not only entertained by dancers, as back in the day, they get to see a slice of the drama of cabaret life as interpreted by Asheville’s finest. Guests are encouraged to dress the part.

>Tickets: $65 > 828-575-9494 > Lex18avl.com august 2 -7

The Pajama Game 7PM (Tue, Thu, Fri), 2PM (Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun) Hayes Auditorium, Lees-McRae College 191 Main Street, Banner Elk, NC In the setting of a pajama factory, the eternal love-hate relationship between management and labor plays out personified in Sid Sorokin and Babe Williams. Like true love, to those with eyes to see, this, too, is comedic.

august 2 & 17

Cabaret, Can-Can & L’Amour ~ Paris 1904 ~ Above All Else 5:45 & 7:45PM

>Tickets: Adult $35 & $40, Child $18

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> 828-898-8709 > Lmc.edu

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mountain hiking on the website. The Grassy Creek Gem Show will be going on at the same time, at the Parkway Fire Department two miles down the road.

Asheville Fashion Week Various Venues

> Admission: Adult $3, Child (0-10)

It’s described as an “arts and fashion event with the ultimate goal of creating buzz and giving a relevant outlet to fashion houses, buyers, and culture enthusiasts in Asheville.” Sponsored by Gage Models & Talent Agency, there will be several happenings at the Altamont Theatre (including the Aug. 3 kickoff and an Aug. 4 runway showcase), with the “Fashion in Film” on Aug. 5 and the grand finale Aug. 6 at venues TBA.

FREE > 828-765-9033 > Ncgemfest.com

august 5

Lockhart Conducts Sibelius

7:30PM Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium 349 Andante Lane, Brevard, NC

> Ashevillefashionweekusa.com

As part of the Brevard Music Center’s Summer Institute & Festival, Jean Sibelius, composer of the soaring anthem symbolic of Finland’s independence from Russia, will be celebrated through his less-known modern composition, Symphony No. 2. Also on the program are Michael Torke’s Bright Blue Music and Alberto Ginastera’s Harp Concerto. Torke’s work excepted, the music is fit for high-anxiety motion picture scenes. It is a blast to watch the classical musicians go crazy on their instruments.

august 4 -7

North Carolina Mineral & Gem Festival

10AM-6PM (Thu-Sat), 12:30-5PM (Sun) 12121 State Highway 226 South, Spruce Pine, NC This is a literal rock festival celebrating the earth’s crust for over 60 years. Raw and finished lapidarian eye candy will dazzle; offerings ranging from little fossils to one-of-a-kind engagement rings. If, at day’s end, you’ve not had your fill, check out opportunities for mine tours and

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august 5

The Unicorn Ball

8PM The Grey Eagle 185 Clingman Ave, Asheville, NC All ages are invited to walk through “a door into a world of wild sparkling magic, authentic glamour, and raucous abandon.” Translation: live DJs, glitter wrestling, runway costume contest, photo booth, tarot readers, and plenty of folks in drag.

>Tickets: $15-$20 > 828-232-5800 > Thegreyeagle.com august 6

Jerry Douglas Band with Special Guest Mipso

8-10PM Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts 287 Rivers Street, Boone, NC

Many virtuosos these days generate complexity to snow academicians. Not 13-time Grammy award winner Jerry Douglas. He makes beautiful music to

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events

soothe the senses. His instrument of choice is the dobro/resonator guitar, which he is said to have reinvented in so many ways. His sound is built on misty mountain blues, Celtic acoustic, and more modern sounds. Opening act Mipso is a combination of mandolinist, guitarist, fiddler, and double bassist; three of whom sing.

>Tickets: Adult $28, Student/Child $20 > 828-262-4046 > Theschaefercenter.org august 6

Color Run 2K at Chetola Resort

10-11AM

Timberlake’s Parking Lot, Chetola Resort 185 Chetola Lake Dr, Blowing Rock, NC People of all ages can see if they can run a little over a mile in an hour while blowing poofs of color on each other. Makes as much sense as anything. Proceeds benefit Blowing Rock CARES, a local food bank.

> Registration: $5 > 828-295-5533 > Chetola.com august 7

Season Finale: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony 3PM Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium 349 Andante Lane, Brevard, NC

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The Brevard Music Center Orchestra and an accomplished quartet will close down the 80th season with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in D Minor (a.k.a. the saddest key), with choir. This is the monumental masterpiece that ends with the exultant “Ode to Joy.” Other selections will include Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music and Robert Aldridge’s Janus Overture.

>Tickets: $15-$55 > 828-862-2100 > Brevardmusic.org august 7, 14 , 20 , 21, 28

Music in the Vineyard

1-4PM

Grandfather Vineyard and Winery 225 Vineyard Lane, Banner Elk, NC How’s this for romantic? A picnic on a covered patio, in a terraced vineyard, on the banks of the Watauga River, at the foot of Grandfather Mountain? BYO picnic basket, but cheese, crackers, and sausage will be floating about the premises. There will be live music with an Appalachian ambience. Scheduled performers are, respectively, Matt Bizzell, Klee & Mike, the Johnson Brothers, Redleg Husky, and Don Vallarta.

> 828-963-2400 > Grandfathervineyard.com august 11

20th Anniversary Celebration

7-10PM

The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design 67 Broadway Street, Asheville, NC The Center for Craft Creativity & Design encourages critical analysis along with professional development in the world of American crafting. Artists, collectors, and sponsors will mingle this evening over food, drink, live music, and installations to raise funds to support programming. The VIP reception begins at 5:30PM.

>Tickets: Patron $250+, GA $100 > 828-785-1357x103 > Cccdnow.org august 12 - 28

Crimes of the Heart 7:30PM (Fri & Sat), 2:30PM (Sun)

Asheville Community Theatre 35 East Walnut Street, Asheville, NC This is a Pulitzer Prize drama; one can almost expect to see dysfunctionality normalized before their eyes. Presumably a true story, this play by Beth Henley invites the audience into Old Granddaddy’s home in Mississippi to listen to three emotionally-scarred sisters as they reunite after one of them murders her abusive husband.

>Tickets: $15-22 > 828-254-1320 > Ashevilletheatre.org august 12 -14

Lake Lure Olympiad Sports Festival

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Rumbling Bald Resort & Chimney Rock Village 112 Mountains Boulevard, Lake Lure, NC Events will at least include opening ceremonies, the 10K Dam Run, the Couch to Cart Path Run, a 1-mile and 5K swim, the Lake Lure Triathlon, the Junior Olympiad, a golf tournament, and a 5K run or 25-mile bike to the summit of Chimney Rock. See website for preregistration fees.

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> FREE to watch > 828-287-6113 > Lakelureolympiad.com august 13 – september 18 Southern on High by Greg Krolick

10AM-6PM Grovewood Gallery 111 Grovewood Road, Asheville, NC

The genre is described as hillbilly art, either because it uses Masonite, roof tin, and whittled wood, or because it depicts hillbilly things. The paintings are visions of old Appalachian mountain music, Delta blues, Cajun, and honky tonk. They look sort of like

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tiffany musicians with swirling panes saturated in primary colors.

> 828-253-7651 > Grovewood.com august 13

Art in the Park

10AM-5PM Park Ave Near Main Street, Blowing Rock, NC In their fifth season, festivities will take place in a larger, greener venue, near lots of merchants happy for customer traffic. One hundred juried craftspeople and artisans will show and sell a variety of genres. Prices are expected to range between $5 and $5000. Peripheral activities include free food and wine tasting at the chamber of commerce and yoga in the yard.

> 877-295-7851 > Blowingrock.com

– september 28 Costume at the Turn of the Century august 15

UNC Asheville 1 University Heights, Asheville, NC

The Asheville installation will be the United States’ premiere for this international exhibit, with more than 1,500 costumes by more than 300 designers from 31 countries placed throughout the campus. Costumes will manifest in drawings, digital displays, and the old-fashioned real-thing way. You’ll leave thinking Lady Gaga shops at Bon Worth. Special events include a song and dance in Spanish costume August 23 at 6PM in the Highsmith Union Grotto, and opening ceremony August 26 at 5PM in the Blowers Gallery of the library, with a reception following at 6PM in the S. Tucker Cooke Gallery of Owen Hall.

> Iroussan@unca.edu

| August 2016

august 17

Dougie MacLean

8PM Diana Wortham Theatre 2 South Pack Square, Asheville, NC Dougie is big in Scotland and Asheville. This will be one of only 3 stops on his tour leading up to his gig at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Colorado. Dougie’s songs have been covered by hundreds of artists, and he has been the subject of three BBC documentaries. You might recognize “Caledonia,” “Ready for the Storm,” or “This Love Will Carry.”

>Tickets: Adult $38, Student $33, Child $20 > 828-257-4530 > Dwtheatre.com

august 18

Brian Wilson

7PM Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 87 Haywood St, Asheville, NC Against all odds, Wilson is mounting a full-blown Pet Sounds tour to mark the epochal Beach Boys album’s 50th anniversary. With indie-pop combo the Wondermints as Brother Bri’s backing band and BBs Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin as special guests, the entire record will be reproduced live, right down to the original studio effects.

>Tickets: $57-$112 > 828-259-5736 > UScellularcenterasheville.com august 19 - 21, 26 - 28

Oliver!

7:30PM (Fri & Sat), 2PM (Sat & Sun) Hendersonville Community Theatre Main Stage: 229 South Washington Strt, Hendersonville, NC This is Lionel Bart’s award-winning interpretation of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. It’s a sad story of an

orphan boy who keeps innocently getting into trouble. The Artful Dodger begs you to “Consider Yourself at Home,” and afore long, you, too, will be saying, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

>Tickets: Adult $26, Student $20, Youth (0-18) $15

> 828-692-1082 > Hendersonvilletheatre.org august 20

Family Bluegrass Gospel Harmonies

7:30PM Harvest House Performing Arts Venue 247 Boone Heights Drive, Boone, NC The Cockman Family is described as a bluegrass gospel blend of Doyle Lawson, Quicksilver, Doc Watson, Emmylou Harris, and New Grass Revival. The concert is a presentation of Joe Shannon’s Mountain Home Music: Celebrating Appalachian Culture.

>Tickets: Adult $20, Student $10, Child (0-12) FREE

> 828-964-3392 > Mountainhomemusic.com august 21

The Bacon Brothers

8PM The Orange Peel 101 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC You’ll be at least one degree closer to actor/rocker Kevin Bacon when this show comes to a conclusion—and indeed, he and his film/TV composer Michael have been making with the music since their teen years.

>Tickets: $28 adv., $30 d.o.s. > 828-398-1837 > Theorangepeel.net august 23

Rick Springfield with Night Ranger and the August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 95

EILEEN FISHER

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS

events

Romantics

7:30PM-12AM The Biltmore Estate One Lodge Street, Asheville, NC Wow. Three multi-million selling, former Top 40 acts in one night. Back in the ’80s, this would have been three stadiums full. Now it’s simple intimacy on the South Terrace with the sun setting behind the Blue Ridge Mountains.

>Tickets: $65-$90 > 866-336-1255 > Biltmore.com

2onCrescent

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

august 26 - 27 The Circle 2:30PM 35below at Asheville Community Theatre 35 East Walnut Street, Asheville, NC In the season finale for the Autumn Players’ Readers Theatre Showcase, William Somerset Maugham explores in a 1921 drama the pros, cons, trickle-downs, and come-arounds of stable home life versus the thrill of a fling.

>Tickets: $6 > 828-254-1320 > Ashevilletheatre.org

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august 26 - 27

Jam in the Trees

7PM UNTIL (Fri) & 10AM UNTIL (Sat) Pisgah Brewing 150 Eastside Drive, Black Mountain, NC An all-star lineup including the Wood Brothers, Junior Brown, Willie Watson, the Burrito Brothers, the Secret Sisters, Patrick Sweany, and Leyla McCalla, for starters, is coming together to encourage folks to “go outside, get connected, get lost a little, and act to protect our forests and future generations.” A portion of proceeds will profit the nonprofit Wild Forests & Fauna’s Big Tree Project.

> Passes: Friday $25, Saturday $50, VIP $100

> 828-669-0190 > Pisgahbrewing.com august 27

High Country Triple Crown Half Marathon 6:30AM-12PM Kidd Brewer Stadium 270 Stadium Drive, Boone, NC

The more or less famous race is back to its old track. Runners will start at Appalachian State University’s Kidd Brewer Stadium at 7:30AM sharp and continue flat for a mile to the IHOP, where the dude with the 0.0 bumper sticker will have to make a serious decision. There will be no glory stories of crawling to the finish line 15hours later, though. Everybody must get off the roads by 12PM sharp.

> Registration: Advance $65, Door $75 > 828-262-7825 > Active.com august 30

BJ Barham

8PM The Grey Eagle 185 Clingman Ave, Asheville, NC Most regional music fans know Barham as the charismatic frontman for Raleigh roots-rockers American Aquarium. But he’s also got a brand new solo album, Rockingham, that is getting a lot of attention as well. Opening act: Justin Osborne of Susto.

>Tickets: $15 > 828-232-5800 > Thegreyeagle.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 at least six weeks in advance.

August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 97

AA SUMMER SUMMER TO REMEMBER TO REMEMBER at YMCA Camp Watia at YMCA Camp Watia

You made it possible. TheYou YMCA of made Western North would like itCarolina possible. to The thank our of donors for North their Carolina support would duringlike YMCA Western thetocreation of YMCA Watia, our new thank our donors Camp for their support during overnight summer camp. With great joy, the creation of YMCA Camp Watia, ourwenew welcomed our summer first campers June great 12, 2016. overnight camp.onWith joy, we welcomed our first campers on June 12, 2016. What started as a vision has become a reality—an affordable for the a What started as overnight a vision camp has become children of Western North Carolina, justthe reality—an affordable overnightlocated camp for outside of Bryson City. North Carolina, located just children of Western outside of Bryson City. During the eight years it took to realize this vision, we the relied on years the guidance, generosity, During eight it took to realize this andvision, commitment of volunteers, board members, we relied on the guidance, generosity, andand funders. commitment of volunteers, board members, and | August 2016 98 funders.

They shared our dream of an affordable summer for local onean thataffordable would They camp shared our families, dream of be summer a nurturing and fun place for children from camp for local families, one that would all walks of life. and fun place for children from be a nurturing all walks of life. That generosity and commitment raised over fourThat million dollarsand for commitment YMCA Campraised Watia, generosity over which toward building ideal setting for fourwent million dollars foranYMCA Camp Watia, kidswhich to make createanmemories that for wentfriends towardand building ideal setting willkids lastto a lifetime. make friends and create memories that will last a lifetime. Opportunities are still available to help us raise our final $1aremillion to complete this us Opportunities still available to help dream. contact Kristen Aquino atthis raise Please our final $1 million to complete 828dream. 210 9653 if you would like to beAquino part of at Please contact Kristen this828 legacy our community’s 210for 9653 if you would youth. like to be part of this legacy for our community’s youth.

Thank You! Thank You!

THE JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME “I made great new friends this summer.”

Nine-year-old Zac had never been to overnight camp. When he learned he’d be going to YMCA Camp Watia, he was “scared and excited.” But after the first night’s let-loose glow stick party, he jumped into the fun, playing GaGa, enjoying free swim time, and taking breaks in Hammockville. He tried new things, like water polo and making paracord bracelets. “I felt fantastic practicing something new,” he said. After he returned home, his parents noticed he had a greater appreciation of nature. They could see his pride in having gone to overnight camp and having made new friends, and they heard the excitement in his voice as he shared stories of his camp adventures. “When we dropped him off, I felt proud to be able to give him this and proud to see him venture off on his own journey,” said his mother.

» ymcacampwatia.org «

YMCA OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA August 2016 | capitalatplay.com 99

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