Capital at Play June 2019

Megan Brown & Chris Allen

Frazier, Mercer, & Green

Waynesville Soda Jerks p.14

Well Played Board Game CafĂŠ p.74

Western North Carolina's Free Spirit of Enterprise

Cutting Edge l o c a l i n d u s t ry

Old-School Barber Shops

p.37

Volume IX - Edition VI complimentary edition

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colu m ns

Environmental Stewardship in Business p.32 Building a Portfolio Life p.56 June 2019

R OU EE NTS S ME ME CO ROVE P IM

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Editor’s Thoughts

A trusted partner in philanthropy since 1978. w w w.cf wn c.o rg

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his issue of Capital at Play is a very special one—well, actually, they’re all special to everyone here at the office. But when we first started brainstorming content ideas for it, one particular story immediately resonated with me in an unexpected way.

“Cutting Edge,” which is about old-school barber shops in Western North Carolina, took me back to two distinct points in the past.

In fact, one of those points was wayyy back, all the way to my childhood. I grew up in a small town about 50 miles southeast of Charlotte, a burg so Mayberry-esque that you half expected there to be a local deputy named Barney. And it had its own version of Floyd’s Barber Shop, run by an occasionally crusty but still gregarious gentleman named Andy—yes, it was called Andy’s Barber Shop.

I can still remember walking in with my dad on Saturday mornings, greeted immediately by clouds of Andy’s cigar smoke and the smell of pungent hair oils and shaving creams. We’d sit patiently, awaiting our turns (the joint always seemed busy), and when it was my turn, Andy would pick me up by my shoulders and plop me down in the chair, pumping it a few times with his foot until I was at the perfect clipping height…

Just typing this is giving me a sense memory of that cigar smoke and hair oils.

The other, more recent flashback was to my son’s childhood. There was a classic barber shop on Haywood Road in West Asheville, and every couple of months my cousin and I would take our kids in, and while they sadly will never have a sense memory of cigar smoke on a Saturday morning, they definitely know what hair oil and shaving cream smell like. Each time after they were finished, the barber would fish a couple of coins out of his pocket, hand them to the boys, and point at the gumball machine over near the front door.

They sure didn’t need any encouragement, each one racing across the floor and jamming the coin in the gumball slot…

The only thing I can add is that it is my fervent hope that one day my son and I can go together and take his son to an old-school barber shop on a Saturday morning. He’s still only a teenager, so I’m pretty sure that’s a good ways off. But in the meantime, I can read the magazine’s barber shop story and let the good memories tease me. For anyone else who reads it, I hope it prompts a few good memories for you, too.

Sincerely, Top: Photo by Travis Bordley Middle: Photo courtesy of Bountiful Cities Bottom: Photo courtesy of Working Wheels

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Fred Mills

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com

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Western North Carolina's Free Spirit of Enterprise

publisher

Oby Morgan associate publisher

Jeffrey Green managing editor

Fred Mills briefs and events editor

Leslee Kulba copy editors

contributing writers & photogr aphers

Evan Anderson, Jason Gilmer, Alesia Griesmyer, Anthony Harden, John Marla Hardee Milling, Jim Murphy, Shawndra Russell, Dawn Starks art director

Bonnie Roberson engagement editor

Emily Glaser

Dasha O. Morgan, Brenda Murphy

Information & Inquiries Capital at Play is Western North Carolina’s business lifestyle magazine. It embodies the idea that capitalism thrives with creativity—that work requires an element of play. Exploring everything from local industry to the great outdoors, Capital at Play is inspiration for the modern entrepreneur.

In every edition we profile those who take the risk, those who share that risk, and those who support them—telling the untold story of how capitalists are driven by their ideas and passions.

We cater to those who see the world with curiosity, wonderment, and a thirst for knowledge.

We present information and entertainment that capitalists want, all in one location. We are the free spirit of enterprise.

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Editorial content is selected and produced because of its interest to our readership. Editorial content is not for sale and cannot be bought. Capital at Play is financially sustained by advertisers who find value in exposure alongside our unique content and to the readers who follow it.

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Copyright © 2019, Capital At Play, Inc. All rights reserved.

Capital at Play is a trademark of Capital At Play, Inc. Published by Capital At Play, Inc. PO Box 5615, Asheville, NC. 28813

Capital at Play is protec ted through Tr ademar k Regis tr ation in the United States. The content found within this publication does not necessar ily ref lec t the views of Capital At Play, Inc. and its companies. Capital At Play, Inc. and its employees are not liable for any adver tising or editor ial content found in Capital at Play. The ar ticles, photogr aphy, and illus tr ations found in Capital at Play may not be reproduced or used in any fashion without express wr it ten consent by Capital At Play, Inc.

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At Bclip we do more than tell your story. Our business-first mentality and c creativity set us apart from other video production companies. It’s our mis help our customers sell their products, train their staff, and entertain custo video. We strive to eat, sleep, and think like the wonderful companies we w

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74

LOCAL TREASURES

GAME-ING THE SYSTEM

MEGAN BROWN & CHRIS ALLEN

KEVAN FRAZIER, CORTLAND MERCER, & STEVE GREEN

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com

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C ON T E N T S j u n e 2 019

rent a bellyak , and get out on the water this summer. photo cour tesy Bellyak

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

Cutting Edge

Old-School Barber Shops in Western North Carolina

insight

61

Rise of the Rentals

Unique Rentals in Western North Carolina

colu m n

12 J ust Ducky Mindy Ballard

32 Environmental

Stewardship in Business Written by Alesia Griesmyer

56 Building a

briefs

Portfolio Life

26 Carolina in the West 52 The Old North State 10

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

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nsight

It’s A Paradise

When it comes to knowing what parents (and grandparents) want for their young kids, Mindy Ballard of Just Ducky has the goods.

A

sheville can claim its fair share of legacy businesses, and it’s not a stretch to presume that a deep and abiding customer loyalty comes with the territory. Such is the case with Just Ducky children’s boutique, originally founded as Just Ducky Originals in 1982 by Sallie Broach in northeast Buncombe County.

Selling custom-made, high-end clothing for kids at home shows and at retail stores in Asheville and Waynesville, the company has endured amidst the sundry ups and downs that brick-and-mortar stores have had to weather, both during the notoriously perilous Asheville retail environment of the ‘80s and, more recently, the decimation of physical retailers at the hands of Amazon and other online entities.

The business has changed hands and locations a couple of times over the years, with Mindy Ballard purchasing it from Aimee Mayer in 2017; at that point Just Ducky was located in Biltmore Village. (Two of the store’s current employees, Sandy Slosman and Lucille Ward, have been with Just Ducky almost since its inception all those years ago.) Now, with a recent move in March to South Tunnel Road, beside Whole Foods and across from the Asheville Mall, Ballard predicts that she’ll be able to expand and grow the business even more.

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“We decided to relocate to better accommodate our customers,” says Ballard. “Our move from Biltmore Village was certainly a significant milestone for employees and our customers. Our current location has lots of parking and no stairs, which is a plus for customers shopping with small children in strollers. And we [now have] space to offer, in the future, a select choice of baby cribs.”

“Locally owned businesses that support our creative community is a large part of what makes Asheville unique.”

Ballard adds that another notable milestone was establishing online sales. “We have a number of out of state customers that visit our store while in the area. Our online sales initially started as a way to enable those customers to shop with us from their homes. It was a significant hurdle, but while still in its infancy, we continue to make progress.”

As suggested above, to date, Just Ducky has cultivated an extremely loyal customer base, one which by now

photos cour tesy of Just Ducky

spans several generations. Particularly well-known is the store’s in-house clothing line, on the Just Ducky label, which is also made in Asheville.

“I have continued to offer custom-made children’s clothing, still made here in Asheville as well other brands of high quality children’s clothing, such as Tea Collection and Mayoral,” explains Ballard. “The custom clothing still carries the Just Ducky label and continues to represent unique high quality, reasonably priced clothing. We offer a wide range of selected baby gifts and toys for children. We’ve also added several different lines to make caring for baby easier. For example, Magnificent Me sleepwear has hidden magnetic fasteners instead of snaps that makes dressing baby incredibly easy for parents— and grandparents!—and it’s buttery soft.”

Ballard is well aware of Just Ducky’s reputation as a beloved legacy business and takes great comfort in knowing that she’s able to continue contributing to the area’s retail vitality. “Just Ducky is a small local business that fits very well into the business community of Asheville,” she says, proudly. “Just Ducky values the creativity of our seamstresses to make our brand unique. Locally owned businesses that support our creative community is a large part of what makes Asheville unique.”

Ultimately, says Ballard, “We hope to become the go-to place for babies, both in the store and online.”

She pauses for a moment, then adds, with a smile, “I consider it a grandparents’ paradise!”

MINDY BALLARD

DRESS FROM the Just Ducky Line.

Just Ducky is located at 4 South Tunnel Road, Ste. 200. To learn more, visit them online at Justduckyoriginals.com.

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June 2019 | capitalatplay.com

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Local Treasures written by jason gilmer

|

photos by evan anderson

The folks behind Waynesville Soda Jerks have seen steady growth for their business, yet despite increased production and a significant recent expansion, they insist they are still learning as they go.

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June 2019 | capitalatplay.com

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Go ahead.

Call them jerks.

Megan Brown and Chris Allen are used to the moniker. Heck, they enjoy it.

They aren’t jerks in the goofy Steve Martin-way. Or like the driver who cuts you off on the highway. No, they are the nicest of jerks and they show their affection through flavored beverages.

The proprietors of Waynesville Soda Jerks have served up a bounty of flavors that use local fruits and vegetables since a small-scale debut on a Saturday morning in 2013 at Haywood County’s Historic Farmer Market.

“I have a T-shirt, that I made for myself, that just says ‘jerk’ on it,” Brown says. “I get a lot of compliments on it, and we might start making them to sell. A lot of people don’t know what a soda jerk is. Kids think we’re being funny, and older people are like, ‘I used to be a soda jerk!’”

The two 32-year-olds, who both graduated from Pisgah High School in Canton, are far from the dictionary version of jerks. They’re friendly and have much more in common with the soda jerks of yesteryear—minus the traditional white paper cap, bowtie, and apron—than those who prefer snark over “please” or “thank you.”

Old-school soda jerks were once responsible for making a customer’s favorite concoction at the local drug store counter or soda fountain, and the “jerk” part of the name was for how the handle was pulled to dispense soda.

“We decided on the moniker Soda Jerks in the early stages,” recalls Allen. “We wanted to, at least from a product standpoint, pay homage back to a bygone era.

We are simply carrying on this tradition and brought the name with us. Just for a fun play on words, and to add some level of intrigue, we do usually drop the ‘soda’ in conversation, or replace it with ‘proprietary’ in our official titles.”

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"THE JERKS" hand fill the soda bottles.

MEGAN BROWN & CHRIS ALLEN

There’s nothing foolish or half-witted about how Brown and Allen have gone about their business.

They’ve grown slowly, made connections with local farmers, and have gone from their “adult, glorified lemonade stand,” as Brown describes their humble beginnings, to a bustling business. Last year the couple and their lone full-time employee bottled 70,000 bottles of soda.

“Starting a business takes a drive and dedication most people just don’t have, as well as a diverse set of skills,” says Kaighn Raymond, one of the owners of Frogs Leap Public House restaurant in Waynesville.

“Megan and Chris have built the Soda Jerks from the ground up with their hard work and willingness to learn all the different skills required to produce their great product and run a business. They saw an opportunity in the local marketplace, set goals, and haven’t stopped working towards them—that is the only way to create something new, and it is much more difficult than those who have never tried will ever know. They have brought something new to our great town that we can all get behind and support.”

Returning Home Allen and Brown are locals in one of the truest senses of the word: They can trace their family history through the Western North Carolina mountains for several generations.

Staying in their hometown wasn’t their original plan, though. The couple, who were born in the same hospital, dated during high school and through some of their college years. “We broke up, and I never thought I’d see him again,” Brown says.

Twists and turns brought them home. Allen went to North Carolina State University in Raleigh to become an engineer, then learned that really wasn’t what he wanted to do. Brown, meanwhile, lived in several North Carolina cities, eventually hanging out at the beach for a bit before returning home.

“Growing up in Haywood County, there was not really a lot to do back then. If you wanted to do anything fun, you had to go to Asheville. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 18, so it was frustrating having to bum rides,” Brown continues. “We’re so local now, and June 2019 | capitalatplay.com

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THE FINAL TOUCH, the label placed just so.

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we love it. We weren’t like that as teenagers. There were a lot of people I went to school with who dreamed of immediately buying a house here with a white picket fence and just having that life, but I never thought that was for me.”

“It’s a fun, full circle story, being teens and growing up here,” Allen adds. “As most people do, we couldn’t wait to get as far away as possible. Now, 10 years later, we’re back and trying to ingrain ourselves into our hometown.”

(They love their roots so much that, in May, they made special “Pisgah High School 2019 Prom” bottles in Peach, Raspberry Cream, and Concord Grape flavors for their alma mater’s big event.)

HONEYSUCKLES ready for a soda creation.

“We saw the opportunity and it felt like it presented itself,” Allen says. “We didn’t sit down and do a lot of research and decide on a soda business.”

After they separately returned to Haywood County, they worked several service-industry jobs, began to date again, and discussed starting a business together. They grew up watching their parents’ hard work as small business owners—Allen’s mother cleaned houses, and Brown’s father serviced pizza ovens.

A foundational part of their relationship, Allen says, is their shared work ethic. They also had dealt enough with bosses to know they wanted to be their own boss.

They worked together at Frogs Leap Public House and were key members of the staff who helped open the business several years ago. Allen worked in the kitchen, while Brown worked out front, and the two continued to work there even as the Waynesville Soda Jerks opened and began to grow.

“The first years were difficult, Megan and Chris helped us create the foundation of who we are today and we will always be grateful,” Raymond says. “Opening a new business is always a risk, and we believe our success influenced others to take that risk with more confidence. We invested everything we had to open Frogs Leap Public House, and the Soda Jerks have done the same. Hopefully, their success will motivate others to invest in our community, completing the cycle we began and finally passing the torch on to the next local entrepreneur. Only through support of the local community can new business succeed and motivate the next generation.”

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 19

Farmers Market Beginnings A walk-through Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market one morning brought about the idea for a soda company. The weather was warm and there wasn’t a local beverage option at the market.

Sure, someone sold bottles of water, but in a place where everything is “local” it would make sense to have a local drink.

Like many successful businesses, the idea is simple—find a need and fill it. “We saw the opportunity and it felt like it presented itself,” Allen says. “We didn’t sit down and do a lot of research and decide on a soda business.”

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Allen and Brown had purchased a small soda-making machine for their home and had experimented with local produce and foraged berries to make syrups for their own needs. Having spent years in restaurants, either in the kitchen or behind the bar, they had the needed skills to invent recipes.

As noted above, their first foray into selling sodas at farmers markets was in 2013 and included a stenciled piece of plywood that served as their branding plus food-grade dispensers to bestow syrups into cups. They mixed the drinks on-site and sold them to others who bought vegetables and fruits from local farmers.

“We look so different now in our branding and the way we present our business,” Brown says. “It’s like looking back at the awkward teenage years.”

“We weren’t thinking very much beyond the Farmer’s Market as an extra gig and a pressure release from the service industry,” Allen says. “That was the main goal.”

For two years the business was seasonal. They chose produce that was available and turned it into syrups to sell at their vendor’s booth.

Frequently shoppers asked which stores carried their sodas or if they had canned soda that could be taken home from the

market. This opened up more questions for Allen and Brown, who first prepared the syrups and sodas in their home kitchen, and they continued to search for answers in how to increase the business.

“The Waynesville Soda Jerks’ story is one that demonstrates that if you believe in the products you make, that if you provide a product that gives a benefit greater than the one toward your bottom line, a profitable business will bloom,” says Saturday market manager Jaime Chestnut. “The Waynesville Soda Jerks got their start at Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market with the thoughts of hosting a typical ‘lemonade stand’ for the season.

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com

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Quick cash and an easy gig turned into something delightful to watch grow and further develop through the years.

“I’m not sure Chris and Megan were expecting the demand they received or the growth that has come with it, but they have continued to learn their trade and the business details that surround their field, and have continued to create an excellent product in a seemingly-effortless manner.”

Being vendors at the Haywood market also gave Allen and Brown a chance to talk and make deals with local farmers. They would buy up extra fruits to use throughout the week or barter with someone to obtain herbs that they’d experiment with for new products.

Years have passed since their debut, and they no longer need to be there on Saturday mornings to make extra cash. Their business has grown enough that Brown and Allen could take time off, rest, and prepare for the next week. Instead, they still go.

“We made a promise to ourselves and the market that we will always have a presence there,” Brown says. “That’s where we started. It still gives us a reason to go to the farmers market on a Saturday morning, eat muffins, listen to music, and hang out with our farmer friends.”

“We love buying a cold soda from them during a hot market, and they always make their way 22

| June 2019

through the market to pick up fresh produce from us and other vendors,” says King Harvest Farms’ Terry King, who sells the couple basil for their blueberry-basil soda. “They have a true sense of community, vital to our happy and thriving market… Aside from the fact that their sodas are so tasty, it’s a thrill for us, knowing that something we have grown from a seed has become part of a recipe that so many people will taste and enjoy.

We’re proud of that and appreciate Megan and Chris locally sourcing their ingredients.”

Becoming Full-Fledged Jerks Success at a farmers market is one thing.

Turning that into a sustained business has taken more time and a lot more effort.

After they took out a $3,000 loan and received more than $7,000 through a Kickstarter campaign, the couple began to up production. They took some classes through Haywood Community College and were able to move into a rent-free workspace for a couple of years. They eventually became full-fledged, rent-paying tenants and continued to expand, including a small retail space.

“We never wanted to have a gift shop,” admits Brown. “People just kept reading the address on the bottle and would drive from Asheville regularly because they wanted this experience that we can

LOCAL INGREDIENTS allow them to be connected with local farmers.

provide them. One day we were like, people keep showing up, so let’s put a cooler in here and let them buy soda.”

Even without a salesman on staff to pitch their product to wholesalers, Waynesville Soda Jerks has grown to almost 100 vendors.

Last year was the first year that Allen and Brown survived financially on just their soda-making jobs.

Stores and restaurants across Haywood, Jackson, and Buncombe counties carry their six-packs of soda. A recently hired part-time driver will make deliveries in those areas, and there are other vendors, such as a store in Georgia, that will drive to their facility to pick up sodas. One major vendor is Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Mills River, which has the sodas on its Taproom menu.

They currently produce seven f lavors—Apple Rosemary, Blueberry Basil, Blackberry Sorrento Pepper, LavenderLemon, Peach, Strawberry-Rhubarb, and Raspberry Cream. A grape soda currently isn’t being made because they didn’t buy enough grapes last year to produce the product throughout the year.

Waynesville Soda Jerks now purchases fruit in bulk from local farmers, juices the fruits in-house, and freezes syrups to use throughout the year. If they are in a pinch, they can reach out to the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project to find a regional farmer who has what is needed.

“We’re always trying to connect with new farmers,” Brown says. “As we grow, we want June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 23

to be able to spend our money and see it trickle down and see the effects and what they can do [in our area].”

More Soda To Come The brown-painted, cinder block building sits on Bridges Street near Waynesville’s downtown area and can easily be described as nondescript. After their lease wasn’t renewed last year, Brown and Allen looked at several potential sites to grow their soda business.

They needed more space and more long-term security. They didn’t really need more job responsibilities, but they added a few to their personal skill sets, like carpenter and painter. “Some people, when they think of small business ownership, they think that you sit behind a desk and money is rolling in. That isn’t the case,” Brown says. “We’ve got to be the delivery drivers, the syrup makers, the secretary, and the janitor. We’ll do whatever we need to do; whatever those roles are, we will find a way to fill them.”

The space was once a storage building, so Brown and Allen have built a retail space at the building’s front and an office in the back. Bottles are currently produced four at a time, and the label must be wrapped on the bottle by hand in the 2,800-sq.-ft. space. “We feel confident [enough]

“They grew up in Haywood County, and the fact that they continue to keep their focus on this community demonstrates where their hearts are.” in our product and brand and the work we’ve done so far that we don’t have to be on Main Street where there is high traffic,” Allen says. “We feel we can have enough of a draw that if people are nearby-ish, they’ll find us.”

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| June 2019

They’ll add an outdoor sign soon and possibly a mural on the building’s side. Even as renovations continue, soda drinkers find the place and ask for a look around.

Now the business owners are looking to their future. They need to up production. If a recently-applied-for loan comes through, more equipment will be purchased. That will allow Allen and Brown to finally meet the demand that their product has amassed.

“Once that’s in place, production will increase, and we will have more stock on hand and have the confidence to go out and start selling,” Brown predicts, of the new equipment. “We don’t want to be nationwide. That takes away from being local.

It’s no longer local if you’re selling in California.”

“The whole time, we’ve thought, ‘How do we meet this demand?’”

Allen adds. “The desire is there and the potential is there, but how do we capture it? We’ve never been able to get ahead. It’s a crazy feeling, and it’s one of those things, as a business owner, we try to be objective and see it as a good problem.”

There isn’t a blueprint for building this business—one sip at a time—so Brown and Allen are learning as they go. They

don’t want to run out of ingredients again and know that a late frost could damage local peaches, so they will look outside of the region if needed.

They both feel that they fought and worked through lean times, and have subsequently come out with a product that boasts local flavors and is healthier than other soda options. And through everything, they’ve managed to stay true to their belief of bringing the local food movement to a refreshing beverage.

“Megan and Chris are great people,” Haywood market manager Chestnut says. “They grew up in Haywood County, and the fact that they continue to keep their focus on this community demonstrates where their hearts are. Their success has brought many strangers to their lives who know them from their sodas, however, and Megan and Chris will spend the time making sure those who cross their path feel special.

“That kind of special touch goes far beyond business and demonstrates who they are as the people behind the scenes.”

Ah, those Jerks.

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 25

CAROLINA in the

Entegra had $1.6 billion in total assets, with 18 branches in Western North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina, and Northern Georgia. First Citizens had $35 billion in total assets, and over 550 branches in 19 states. Headquartered in Franklin, Entegra had been operating as Macon Bank from 1922-2015.

viable. This year’s meeting will discuss how to survive in the age of Amazon.

Challenges to be discussed include declining transaction counts and higher rates of employee turnover. Strategies for survival will be based on improving and personalizing the customer experience and keeping the convenience in convenience stores. The all-star lineup of guest speakers and panelists will include names famous only in the industry, as well as NFL great Peyton Manning. The headliner session is titled, “The Era of Disruption: Is Your Business Built for Growth?” In addition to the annual conferences, CSP hosts 15 smaller meetings each year and publishes educational material in print, online, and via e-newsletter for the $654 billion convenience-retailing industry.

A Convenient Meeting

About Those Tunnels…

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Convenience Store Products’ (CSP) Outlook Leadership conference will be held at the Omni Grove Park Inn in August this year. The event, which is invitation-only, is one of two annual conferences hosted by CSP, which positions itself as an educator for the industry.

The conference is a chance to learn about current trends and strategies for staying

John Nichols of The Nichols Company is trying to attract quirky shops to put Brevard on the map. For rent are spaces at 67 and 68 Main Street. Mantiques, which fills the bill by selling antiques that cater to the refined taste of the genteel gentleman, occupies the first three floors of 68 Main Street, the former Rice Furniture Building. The top floor, which formerly

WEST [

news briefs

Disciplined Acquisition macon county

An agreement for First Citizens Bancshares to purchase Entegra Financial has been approved by the boards of both banks and will close later this year, subject to the approval of regulators and the latter’s shareholders. In January, Entegra had announced its plans to enter into a merger of equals with SmartFinancial, which valued the bank at $158.2 million; upon hearing the announcement, First Citizens made a counteroffer to acquire the bank for $219.8 million. Miller Welborn, chair of SmartFinancial, described the bank as a “disciplined acquirer,” looking out for shareholder interests, in explaining why no counteroffer was made. First Citizens’ purchase price includes payment of a $6.4 million termination fee to SmartFinancial on behalf of Entegra. At the close of 2018,

]

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served as the design center for the furniture company, is available. The other building is the old Wachovia Bank, built in the 1920s. It has remained vacant since the bank moved to Asheville Highway in 2007. Nichols is advertising the building as four rentals in three stories, and he would like to recruit a restaurant or brewery for some of the space. Unique features include the old-fashioned bank look itself, with vaults and original moldings and hardwoods underneath a century of upfits. The basement comes with tunnels leading to Main Street.

Whee! avery county

slope. The plan is to have a lift pull the carts up 770 feet to the beginning of a 2,160-ft. curved and banked ride. The cars will accelerate up to 27 mph, and the whole ride will last only seven minutes.

The Bechards needed to clear a path 20 feet wide, but to live up to the attraction’s name, Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster, they’re working to keep the views as forested as possible. They had hoped to open this summer, but the delivery of pieces for the track, which were ordered from Austria, has been delayed for months.

430 valued at $25 million, the plant is described as having transitioned over the years from manufacturing lightbulbs to creating lighting solutions for use in the commercial and government sectors.

Little is expected to change in day-to-day operations under new ownership. The name will be simplified to Current by GE, retaining the hat-tip to the GE brand through a long-term licensing agreement.

The most difficult part of the transition was reportedly switching payroll to another accounting system.

Current Affairs

Naming Rights

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buncombe county

GE has closed on the sale of its In November 2011, Asheville City subsidiary Current, powered by GE, Council approved renaming the Civic headquartered in Boston, to American Center the US Cellular Center. Selling Industrial Partners, a New York-based naming rights garnered $1.35 million that private equity firm managing over $4.2 the city used to fund capital improvements billion in assets globally. The terms of long overdue for the building. The decision the sale were not disclosed.

The Since its was not popular; detractors claimed the organization in 1989, AIP has closed on city had no business turning a public asset almost 100 transactions, acquiring busiinto a commercial billboard. Now that the nesses with potential for growth. Back contract with US Cellular is about to come in 2017, GE announced its intention to to an end, the city sent out a request for sell its lighting division to refocus on its bids, and this time Harrah’s Cherokee uthority aviation, power, and healthcare lines. The Casino’s offer to pay $3.25 million for TM Into Excep five years East Flat Rock Current plant pacesbeen g Shas tion al Places with options for extension formin s n a r T operating since 1955. With a payroll of beat out US Cellular’s $543,000 for three

Eric and Tara Bechard are bringing the first alpine coaster to North Carolina.

Alpine coasters are like two-passenger bobsleds on a roller coaster track. Unlike roller coasters, the cars have brakes so the driver can control the speed. Alpine Theare popular in mountainous coasters regions of Europearage and are often appendages to ski areas, but they have been built in places like Jamaica and Haiti as well. uthority The Bechards have been working to get their idea off the ground for about three n I t o s Excep g Space tion al Places sforminpurchased some years, and land in Tranthey Sugar Mountain because they liked the

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years with options. The casino, located in Cherokee, is owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and operated

by Caesars Entertainment. As expected, before anything was signed, a number of pundits were saying that the new offer was worse than the old one. Talking points included: (1) government shouldn’t be promoting activities that large numbers of constituents consider immoral; and, since the house always wins, (2) government shouldn’t be promoting a scam. A decision has not been finalized.

Recycling Woes buncombe county

Recycling is an evolving art requiring continuing education. Not long ago, the City of Asheville attempted to encourage recycling by distributing bins for single-stream collection. All people had to do was wash containers with the recycling logo and toss them in the bin with paper products. That changed last year, due to the Chinese government’s decision to start rejecting many products American recyclers were shipping overseas. The recyclables were so contaminated, the process has been described as using China in lieu of sighting new, American landfills. The City of Asheville is serious about recycling, having set a goal of reducing its landfill shipments to 50% of 2010 levels by 2035. As of 2018, landfilling was down only 3.83%. Without Chinese markets, domestic markets are glutted, and companies that sort and find markets for Asheville’s collections are reporting less income. They say it will take time for American companies to create market share before they can be profitable again.

In the meantime, curbside recyclers are looking at rate increases when they renegotiate contracts.

Agriculture Trends western north carolina

The United States Department of Agriculture has released the results of the 28

| June 2019

2017 Census of Agriculture. For the most part, Western North Carolina (WNC) has trended with the rest of the nation in losing agricultural land between 2012 and 2017. The hardest-hit counties were Avery and Ashe, where nursery growers—in particular, Christmas tree farmers—have yet to recover from reducing plantings during the recession. The cattle industry is also diminishing, with some people only keeping a few cows to take advantage of reduced tax classification. A major reason for the decline continues to be that farmers are aging out. Since working farmers in WNC now have an average age of 60, and heirs are more inclined to sell farms for subdivision and development than to follow in the family tradition, farmed acreage and production is expected to continue to decline. Buncombe County is bucking the trend, though, showing small increases in farm acreage, with keeping sheep, goats, bees, and fruit and nut trees being popular choices.

Plant Paperwork watauga county

Back in 2015, Appalachian Materials applied for a high-impact land use permit for what has become known as the Rainbow Trail asphalt plant. The application was denied by the county’s planning and inspections director on the grounds that the Watauga County Schools’ central office was within 1,500 feet, and the county’s ordinances prohibit high-impact uses that close to educational facilities.

The board of adjustment supported the director’s decision, and so did the Watauga County Superior Court. But the North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the decision, interpreting business offices to be outside the intended definition of an educational facility. The county then appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court, and on March 27, the court declined to hear the case. Undeterred, the county’s legal counsel announced she would be discussing “next steps” with the board of commissioners. Plans for a second asphalt plant in the county, requested by JW

Hampton and Maymead, remain stalled by court battles, as the NC Supreme Court has not yet ruled on a challenge to the NC Court of Appeals’ decision that the plaintiff lacked standing.

Betting on Betting jackson & macon county

State Representative Kevin Corbin (R-Franklin) is confident one version of legislation working its way through the General Assembly will pass. He and Senator Jim Davis (R-Franklin) have been shepherding one bill in the House and another in the Senate that would legalize sports betting at both Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos in their districts. The House bill did not make the crossover date, but the Senate version has the support of the majority leader and the finance chair.

Because the bills have been promoted as economic drivers, all betting will have to take place in the casinos. No online betting or betting apps will be allowed.

Corbin said he was not a gambling man, but the tribe had approached him with a request, and the courts ruled in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association that the Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, which prohibited sports betting, was unconstitutional, as powers over betting are not mentioned in the Constitution and thus devolve to the states. If the bill is signed into law, Corbin expects bookkeepers could start taking bets by football season.

Undervalued Experience buncombe county

AARP in Asheville hosted the Asheville 50+ Works Employer Symposium at the Mission/AB-Tech Event Center on May 6. Event organizers contended that, in spite of abundant news of record unemployment, people aged 50 and over continue to struggle to find work. Reasons given why employers are hesitant to hire what AARP is euphemistically calling “experienced,” or “generational,” workers

include perceptions that they are set in their ways and resistant to adaptation.

Programming for the event included a keynote address by Phil Lenowitz, a retired deputy director of human resources for the National Institutes of Health. He was given an AARP award for his service at the NIH, where he created a “generational advisor” position. The event also hosted panel discussions and a job fair for experienced workers.

Partners supporting the symposium included the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board, NCWorks Career Center Asheville, the Land of Sky Regional Council’s Area Agency on Aging, Buncombe County, and the YMCA of Western North Carolina.

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In the middle of a construction boom, Appalachian State University needs temporary housing for about 200 employees who would otherwise live on-campus. A temporary rezoning of Boone’s Manufacturing and Office Institutional zonings in December 2017 already provides housing for 50-70 university employees for a term of five years, with an option for two more years. Now, members of the town council, representatives from the university, and real estate agents have reached consensus on a proposed temporary modification of the town’s Unified Development Ordinance that, if approved by the town council, would allow the college to rent space for residential uses along three corridors zoned as General Business.

A contingency on the town council is concerned that, while there are many vacant buildings now, commercial space will be needed as the community grows.

The renters in the General Business District will be primarily computer technologists and office staff. The temporary rezoning would also sunset after 10 years. Representatives of Appalachian wanted their intention to rent commercial space as little as possible to be clear.

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A group calling itself Mandir Street LLC has purchased the Masonic Temple just east of Main Street in Waynesville.

The building was designed by WH Peeps, an architect who collaborated on many now-historic buildings in North Carolina.

It was constructed in 1927, but lost to the Masons in 1930 due to bankruptcy. It has 16,000 square feet in three stories and a 17-space parking lot next door. The building was renovated in 1973 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It was last used as a restaurant and club, with the upstairs room rented for events. The new owners are Satish Shah, the owner of the Best Western Smoky Mountain Inn; his brother Prakash; and his son-in-law, Shan Arora. Arora is the director of the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Arora will integrate features of sustainable building into the new design, respecting the historic context inasmuch as possible. The developers plan to keep the first floor as restaurant space and the third as event space, but want to add offices to the second floor. They’re not sure how they’ll use the basement, but they’d like it to be for something more active than storage.

Faculty, staff, and students recently participated in the first annual Joint Simulation Experience for Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC) and Wingate University. The simulation set up an urgent care room, an emergency room, an operating room, and a check-in area and pharmacy. Students in BRCC’s nursing, nurse aid, emergency medical science, and surgical technology programs, plus Wingate’s physician assistant and doctor of pharmacy programs, were assigned positions they might assume once they graduate. Students in BRCC’s theater program were the patients, and they received detailed instructions on how to act out their assigned diagnoses. Others played family members to make the simulation more life-like, and cadavers provided clinical material for the operating room. For three hours, students in medical programs were observed to see how attentive they were and how well they followed diagnostic procedures. As the day went on, the chaos escalated. For example, students in the operating room were fixing a bowel obstruction when another patient was wheeled in with a gunshot wound. The three-hour training was the brainchild of BRCC’s Dean of Health Sciences and Emergency Services, Jay Alley.

RomanticAsheville.com has changed hands. The site was built by Mark File, who began posting a tourist guide for couples visiting Asheville in 2003.

Responding to requests from readers and small businesses and organizations through the years, RomanticAsheville. com grew to over 800 pages, covering attractions and events in 16 Western North Carolina counties. By 2014, it had become a full-time job for File, who was doing everything himself. By 2018, the website was receiving 5.5 million annual visits from people in 200 countries, and File still had a long list of unmet requests. He had collaborated with Justin Belleme, of JB Media Group, through the years, and the two agreed Belleme had the technology and passion for tourism to realize the expansion File foresaw. Before going into business for himself as a digital marketer, Belleme had directed projects for, among other clientele, the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau. He co-founded the JB Media Institute, which provides online training for small tourism businesses, and he co-produces the annual DIY Tourism and Local Marketing Workshop with Magellan Strategy Group.

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He Saw It Coming haywood county

Last summer, Haywood Community College pitched a Health and Human Sciences Building to the county commissioners and requested their “in-theory” support. Then, after consulting six architects, the college concluded it did not have sufficient funding. So, representatives returned to the commissioners with a request for $4.4 million. The college has at its disposal $2.4 million of $2.8 million from the NC Connect bond, and that sum will be lost if construction is not underway by March 2022. It also is the beneficiary of a quarter-cent sales tax with an earmark the commissioners could abolish at their discretion. The tax garners, on average, $1.7 million for the county; unfortunately, $1.4 million of that amount is currently servicing debt on a $10.3 million Creative Arts Building and a $5 million Public Safety Training Facility, and it won’t be until 2025 that the Arts building is paid off. Over the years the county has accumulated $2 million in savings from the unused portion of quarter-cent sales tax revenues, and that could help pay for the building. County Manager Bryant Morehead, as well as some of the commissioners, cautioned against depleting the school’s capital fund, noting the roof on the High Tech

Center needs to be replaced. Four years ago, Commissioner Kirk Kirkpatrick had warned the school there might not be enough for its nursing school plans if it went ahead with its public safety facility.

Hello, Yellow Brick Road avery county

The Land of Oz theme park will once again open on a limited basis to the public. The park had its origins when the Robbins brothers, who also owned Tweetsie Railroad, bought a large tract of land with the intention of doing something to attract visitors to the area between ski seasons. Charlotte artist Jack Pentes was contracted for the design, and he selected a Land of Oz theme because the beech trees reminded him of the talking apple trees in the movie. The park opened in 1970 with reproductions of the movie sets, an amphitheater, and, most memorably, a Yellow Brick Road. The park went bankrupt in 1980, and shortly thereafter, vandals set fire to the Emerald City and looted the museum. After that, the park was occasionally visited by vagrants and souvenir seekers, and it made top rankings in lists of spookiest abandoned places. Since 2016, the park has opened on a limited basis for the

Journey with Dorothy, where guests get to walk the Yellow Brick Road and visitors are randomly selected to role-play some of the characters.

Think Micro, Act Macro buncombe county

Venture Asheville's Asheville Impact Micro Grant 2019 awards ceremony was held May 1, and the five winners were: 3 Mountains/Tima Tea (founder: Sara Stender), Asheville Wedding Collective (Alexandra Herman), Burban (Ailis Grosh), No Sweat Undies (Carol Ann Bauer), and Relaspen (Dr. Jason Cook).

As discussed in our May issue, the program received 99 applications in which each small business described its business model, product/service, and market—and, in particular, how it would use the $5,000 grant if selected by the committee. Those serving on the committee were drawn from local investors, mentors, resource providers, and entrepreneurs in order to provide “a diverse perspective” regarding the startups applying for the grants. By all accounts, the vetting process was a challenging one, and it also underscored what a unique and talented startup community the area has.

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Environmental Stewardship in Business Waste reduction, through reduce, reuse, and recycle programs, can have a positive impact on the economy—and your business.

T

HE ZERO WASTE OR ZERO LANDFILL

A

ALESIA GRIESMYER

is the Environmental, Health, & Safety Manager at Hendersonville’s SELEE Corporation.

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initiative is becoming more and more popular in business.

Companies can now become certified as zero waste to landfill (ZWTL) through third-part y organizations. When I started my job at SELEE Corporation, I was told we had a new company initiative to achieve zero waste to landfill by 2025.

With a background in environmental studies, I had always been interested in protecting the environment through sustainable practices, but I had never been faced with such a large, real life challenge to completely change the way a facility thinks of and manages solid waste.

When you stop to think about how much trash we generate daily, just as individuals, it can be overwhelming. Considering this in the context of a business was even more daunting. Implementing change on such a large scale takes time and money; however, I learned that there are many opportunities to save costs and have a positive impact on other areas of the business in the process. I quickly learned that this was not just creating a process change but would require an entire cultural change

| June 2019

for both the people working here and the way we do business.

Where to Start?

With any big change, it is important to first get an understanding of your current situation to have a clear idea of where you want to go or need to go. I began by gathering two important pieces of information: (1) Our employees’ perception of recycling and waste reduction; and, (2) What kind of waste we had, where it was coming from, and what it was costing us. The results let me know where to start and what we would need to do to get everyone involved.

Learning the recycling market is no easy task, and, to make it worse, it seems like it is always changing.

A C O N S T R U C T I O N . B U S I N E S S . E M P LOY M E N T.

Even the basics of recycling at home can be complicated, but for a business, it can be extra challenging because of the “irregular” materials in your waste stream. I start with the “low hanging fruit”: large volume materials that might make the biggest impact, yet could be easy to find a new home for outside of the landfill. In the first year, we were able to divert over 40 percent of our potential landfill waste to compost and recycling programs. We also put an emphasis on source reduction. We found that many of our processes were creating unnecessary waste to begin with, which came at an added cost to the company—both in the raw materials we purchased and the disposal fees.

Our waste reduction program thus had the added benefit of saving us around $30K in the first year.

*** The recycling market in the United States took a big turn in 2017 when China introduced its National Sword Initiative.

This set new standards for the quality of recyclables that China would accept, putting a temporary hold on all materials coming from the United States.

TWO THINGS THAT CAN HELP YOU HAVE A SUCCESSFUL RECYCLING PROGR AM ARE PARTNERING WITH OTHER LOCAL BUSINESSES AND INTRODUCING COMPOSTING. China is now accepting some of our materials, but it is very limited, and the quality standards are very strict. The biggest impact this has had is on the recycling of plastics (something that has been in the news a lot lately). Very few plastics have a profitable market right now, and most recyclers are losing money on the business. It can also be difficult to identify the type of plastic from which certain items are made when they are not labeled. I encourage businesses to work closely with their recycling company to ask about these questionable materials. It is important to send a quality recycling stream because otherwise the materials end up in landfills, and it takes extra time and resources to get there. There are some materials such as cardboard, office paper, and metal scrap that still hold value in today’s recycling market, and businesses sending these to recyclers can turn a profit. Our company works with a recycling company for those cardboard, paper, and metal

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materials, and we receive a payment each month that we put back into our recycling program.

Two things that can help you have a successful recycling program are partnering with other local businesses and introducing composting. Partnering allowed us to recycle materials we otherwise would not have been able to—we were faced with the challenge of not having the volume or the space to store materials in the quantities that recyclers wanted. So, our “green team” visited many other area manufacturers to learn about their recycling practices and any challenges they were facing. We were then able to identify common materials that we both struggled with, and by working together, we could meet the volumes required for recyclers to collect them.

Introducing composting can be a big success as well. They cost of composting is comparable to landfill (in some cases, less), and you would be surprised how many items in your trash are ideal for composting. Composting is nature’s way of recycling. The process converts organic materials (i.e., food, paper, yard waste) into a dark, rich soil amendment. In the cafeteria, nearly 40 percent of our waste was food scraps. We also started collecting paper towels from the kitchen, bathrooms, and sinks on the manufacturing floor. The paper towels are great for compost because they add the carbon necessary for the process.

And composting has many benefits for the environment and economy. Compost improves soil texture, reduces soil erosion, and improves water retention (which reduces the need for irrigation). Its nutrient-rich properties also reduce the need for synthetic chemicals, thereby helping protect our watersheds. Composting cuts down on the need for materials to go to landfills and thereby reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Economic benefits of composting include reducing disposal costs,

I ENCOUR AGE EVERY BUSINESS, NO MAT TER HOW LARGE OR SMALL, TO THINK ABOUT WASTE DIFFERENTLY.

minimizing taxes and fees for landfill developments/clean-up, and contributing to local agriculture and food economies.

There are many options for composting in our area. You can compost at home or send your material to an industrial

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STARTS HERE

Many of our neighbors don't have access to affordable, healthy food on a regular basis. The YMCA teaches children how to make healthy food choices and to enjoy physical activity, contributing to their social and mental development. From nutritious afterschool snacks and summer meal programs to free produce distributions and cooking demonstrations, the YMCA is building healthier futures. » ymcawnc.org/nutrition « YMCA OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

composter. The benefit of using an industrial composter is that they can break down materials that would never break down in a home compost bin, such as meats, bones, cardboard, and compostable “plastics.” Industrial compost facilities have a much more active microbial process that reaches high temperatures to convert waste into soil in just a few weeks. We have several composting companies in our area that will pick up compost directly from your business and process it at their facility. In Henderson County there is also residential compost collection at the County Convenience (Recycling) Center.

in our kitchen. Instead, we bought each employee a reusable set of bamboo utensils.

Small changes like this cut down on our waste and costs, and they also helped drive a shift in employee mindset. We have a small garden on-site that employees help to plan, plant, and maintain each year. The fruits and vegetables are available to employees to take home throughout the growing season. We buy compost for the garden from the compost facility that we send our waste to. It’s a nice way to show employees the full life-cycle of composting.

***

***

There are other small initiatives that you can take to reduce waste and inspire cultural change. Our company stopped buying bottled water and, instead, gave each employee a reusable water bottle. We have several water bottle filling stations throughout the facility, and by making this change, we have already saved over 30,000 bottles. This is also a savings for the company because the long-term cost of suppling single-use plastic water bottles is much more than supplying a reusable bottle for each employee. Another change we made was no longer supplying single-use plastic utensils

I encourage every business, no matter how large or small, to think about waste differently. There are likely ways that it can be reduced at the source, repurposed, or recycled. And you might find that you are able to make positive changes while saving money in the process.

In addition to her position with the SELEE Corporation, the author is chairperson of the City of Hendersonville’s Environmental Sustainability Board and a member of nonprofit MountainTrue’s recycling team.

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local industry

Cutting Edge written by jim murphy

|

photos by anthony harden

Traditional barber shops have survived the lean, longhaired era of the ‘70s and the all-salon rage of the ‘90s.

In Western North Carolina in 2019, they’re thriving.

Barbers got a bad rap in the Bible.

When Delilah gave Sampson that fateful haircut, she turned him into a helpless weakling and set in motion a cataclysmic chain of events that began with the destruction of the Philistine temple and continued for a couple of years, with the local men saying something to the effect of, “Get away from me with them scissors!” But their hair kept growing, and pretty soon it was getting in their eyes and preventing them from doing anything productive. So, they reluctantly submitted themselves to a fashionable trim—and the barbers were back in business.

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 37

local industry

BASEBALL HATS, each designating a particular naval ship, are on display in Stanley Rice's shop.

And, yes, there were real barbers back in Sampson’s time. In fact, the word barber comes from the Latin, barba, meaning beard, and records dating back far as 3500 BC list barbers as the world’s second oldest profession—and the oldest legal one.

Since that Delilah fiasco, barbers have been thriving. Here in North Carolina there are about 7,000 to 8,000 licensed barbers working in no fewer than 2,500 shops, according to Dennis Seavers, executive director of the NC Board of Barber Examiners. A web search suggests close to a thousand of those barbers are working in the 16 counties of Western North Carolina.

*** One of the oldest is in Asheville, where Stanley Rice has been cutting hair for 65 years. “I’m the oldest of five boys,” he says, “And I was cutting my brothers’ hair when I was 13 years old.” Now, at age 78, he still works full-time at his Oakley shop on Old Fairview Road. He was born in Madison County and says, “I knew there had to be something better than farming. I would have liked to be a park ranger, but I ended up a barber.”

He joined the Navy, where “aboard ship my best friend was 38

| June 2019

the barber.” He picked up the trade and eventually became the barber for his Seabee battalion. The long-ago sailor’s shop walls are covered with hundreds of baseball style caps, each designating a particular naval ship. And his black shoes reveal a gleaming spit shine. Old Navy habits die hard.

After all those years, standing with his arms raised in a somewhat awkward position and trying to ignore the aches and pains that come with the job, what keeps him going?

“I guess I like people.”

Stanley launches into a discourse on the quality and value of barber shop conversation. “Now, this shop here, you’re likely to hear any topic. But religion and politics, that’s a danger point. If that comes up, just don’t say nothin’. Unless you know everybody’s on the same side you’re on.” He grins. “I’m a pretty good judge of people,” he says. “You talk to somebody a few minutes, you can figure him out. After all these years, I’ve had a lot of practice.”

Stanley slides into reminiscing ode, recalling some of his unusual experiences. “Back in the 1970s, some judges didn’t like young men coming before them with long hair. I’ve gone to the jail to cut hair for the son of one of my customers. And I’ve cut hair in just about all the local funeral homes.”

STANLEY RICE at his craft.

A haircut at Stanley’s shop costs $12. Even if he could do 10 to 12 cuts a day, after he pays his shop rent and other bills, the price would seem to leave him with only a small profit. “You’ve got to be conservative with your money,” he admits. But then he turns it around. “I’ve done OK in barbering. I’ve got a nice home, three cars…” He points to a picture on the wall. “That’s my baby.” It’s a 1998 Corvette, “with only 14,000 miles.”

Stanley has just finished a haircut for a customer who has been coming to Stanley since the 1990s. Stanley relaxes into his barber chair and recalls the lean years in the 1970s, when long hair was in style, and many young men considered haircuts a waste of time and money.

“That was a tough time,” he admits, holding up a hand with his fingers spread. “I had days when I did less than five haircuts.” He takes a long breath. “But never a day when I didn’t do any.”

Oakley Barber Shop, where Stanley works, is reminiscent of those old-time barber shops, where photographs compete for wall space with business cards and—in this case—all those naval hats. The shop also includes one item that Stanley believes might have historical significance. A Koken June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 39

local industry

PART OF THE MURAL Local Barber and Tap.

brand barber chair, dating from the early 1900s, was among the first models to have a hydraulic mechanism to raise and lower the seat. In earlier models, the barber had to spin the chair—and the customer—in circles to change the seat elevation.

Stanley grows animated as he indicates the round leather seat of his chair to establish its vintage status. He points out that later chairs have square seats. He believes this chair might have come from the Biltmore estate and that George Vanderbilt, himself, might have sat in it to get a trim.

OLD BARBER JOKE:

I asked the barber when would be the best time to bring in my two-yearold son. He answered, “When he’s four.”

At the opposite end of the barber shop style spectrum is the Local Barber and Tap on Walnut Street in downtown Asheville. Featuring a fivestool beer bar, this shop takes barbering to a new niche. The vibe here is contempo-cool: brightly lit with a large cartoon mural dominating one wall, a vintage shoeshine chair and old-fashioned instrument cabinet as décor pieces, four working barber chairs, three customers waiting, and the owner, Jordan Stolte, working in a private room beyond the bar. A wall clock is stopped at 5:00, calling to mind the cocktail-hour refrain: It must be five o’clock somewhere.

Jordan describes his becoming a barber as “mostly plan B. I was going to school for graphic design, but I got tired of computers. My family was good friends with the neighborhood barber. They pushed me, and I finally went for it.”

Jordan and his wife arrived in Asheville from Ann Arbor, Michigan, seven years ago. (“We got tired of the cold winters.”) He worked in the Grove Arcade shop until he saw the opportunity to create a niche with a combination “beer-bar-ber” shop: “The timing was right. I knew it was going to do well. I knew the business was there.” He opened in 2015, and as he 40

| June 2019

JORDAN STOLTE

STOLTE'S PRIVATE room right behind the bar.

now notes, “We’re doing better than I expected. The town is growing like crazy. People find us.”

His only advertising is on social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook, yet he’s been successful enough to raise his prices. “We started doing $20 haircuts, but recently raised it to $30. If you go to a salon, a men’s haircut is $30 or even more. But it was kind of scary when we raised the price. We were afraid we might alienate some people.”

His shop has become popular, but the gimmick— the niche—is the beer bar.

“We don’t make a lot of money off the beer,” he says. “But that gets people in the door. I would say after 3PM, maybe 25 to 30 percent of the customers have a beer.” (And we must add an editorial note to customers: If you’re inclined to buy your barber a beer, wait until after he finishes cutting your hair. Especially if you’re also getting a shave.)

At age 40, Jordan is beginning to feel the physical effects of his trade. “Standing all day can be hard on your body,” he admits, “but still, I like it better than sitting all day.” And he says it’s a job that will never disappear. “It’s one of those old-time trades that the Internet can’t replace. You might never get rich, but you’ll never be poor. If you’re a good barber and you like talking to people, you’ll always be busy.”

Jordan says one of his biggest hurdles was finding barbers to staff his shop. He says, “There are plenty of cosmetologists,” but not as many who are trained to cut men’s hair.

*** To get a state license, a barber must complete 1,528 hours of class time in a barber college.

Dennis Seavers, at the North Carolina Board of Barber Examiners, says there are 35 to 40 barber June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 41

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TOOLS OF THE TRADE.

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BARBER SHOPS are no longer a boys club, with many women coming in for intricate designs or a simple cut.

colleges in the state, but none in Western North Carolina.

However, McDowell Community College is apparently planning to add barbering to its curriculum. Seavers notes that the board has not received an application yet from McDowell—a source on campus indicated the barber curriculum must wait for construction of a new building—but says a barber course at McDowell would be a welcome addition for the western part of the state.

On the matter of the barber’s license, Seavers says the purpose is to assure that barbers “operate safely with regard to sanitary and health considerations.” He cites the need for clean tools, careful use of chemicals such as barbicide, sterilizing equipment, hair straightener, or dye. “The license requirement is meant to limit the threat of disease,” he says. Licenses, as he puts it, “don’t exist to assure good haircuts.”

The board handled 48 complaints statewide in fiscal 2018, and Seavers says the two most common were for an unlicensed or dirty shop. Civil penalties can range from $50 to $500 or more. “And,” he says, “in some rare cases we can revoke a license.” Those stronger penalties would be imposed for cases such as a shop with no running water or other, similarly rare, violations. He adds one more: “It’s a misdemeanor to operate without a license.”

OLD BARBER JOKE:

Q: If having your tonsils removed is a tonsillectomy, and having your appendix removed is an appendectomy, what is it called when you have a growth removed from your head?

A: A haircut.

Barbers agree that what they enjoy about the job is the people they meet and the conversations they have. Indeed, the barber shop has evolved into a neighborhood conversation pit, but its beginnings stretch a long way from a friendly chat. In those early centuries, superstition was a central ingredient of all knowledge, and one widespread belief was that evil spirits could enter a body through the hair. Cutting the hair was seen as a way to drive out them out, giving a certain religious element to the practice—and giving the barber status as June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 43

local industry

AT SMOOTH’S DO DROP IN hair styling is a release for creative expression.

barber-priest. In that dual role, he also performed ceremonies such as marriage and baptism. During these rituals, the barber would not cut hair until the religious ritual had been completed.

Then, he would cut the hair and tie it back so no evil spirits could enter and no good spirits escape.

During the middle ages, they were known as barber surgeons because, in addition to a haircut and a shave, they performed what are now medical procedures, such as extracting teeth or even amputating limbs. This was an era when state-of-the-art medicine included “bleeding”—draining some of a patient’s blood to rid him of an infection.

It was this dimension of the barber’s trade that produced one of our most durable iconic symbols: the barber pole.

The red and white spiral stripes date back to that era, representing the blood-stained rags from a bleeding operation blowing in the breeze to dry. The original poles were simple shafts of wood painted with the red and white stripes, but with the advent of electricity, the “poles” morphed into glass tubes with interior lighting and a motorized rotating motion to enhance the spiral illusion. Nowadays, the barber pole is simply an identifying totem, but its history tells a far more complicated (and less pleasant) story.

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YOU HELP CHANGE LIVES.

Barbers do not share in the belief that different races require different hair cutting techniques. They tend to agree that “white” hair and “black” hair gets cut the same way. “It all falls on the floor,” no matter the color of the customer, says Baron Kinkaid, a barber at Smooth’s DO Drop In on Eagle St., where the clientele is mostly African-American.

If barber shops have become local conversation arenas, Smooth’s DO Drop In is a full-blown Olympic stadium.

One day recently, a high-volume debate questioned the relative basketball abilities of Julius Erving and Michael Jordan. Interrupted by bursts of laughter and punctuated by interruptions from other customers, Baron faced off against a patron in a duel that eventually morphed into an imaginary game between their own personal all-time all-star teams.

Meanwhile, Baron continued to work on the customer in his chair, who was enjoying the verbal confrontation as much as all the others.

After the haircut, Baron said the jive is part of his day. “I like trash talking. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. It’s a place to hang out. Get a haircut.”

As for his origins as a barber? “It’s what came natural. I started cutting my father’s hair when I was 14. It was an outlet for my expression.”

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June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 45

local industry

Baron has been a barber for 25 years, and he admits the physical strain of the job.

“Legs, back, arms, elbows. It gets to you.

But I love it. I get to interact with people, and I don’t have to answer to a boss. I’m a free-spirited person.”

A haircut costs $18, and the shop stays busy. For Baron, the joy of the job is “knowing the individual in the chair. Every day someone comes in with a different story. Just depends on the day. And I love hearing all of it. If I’m entitled to put my hands on your head, I should know what’s in your head.”

***

STEVEN ISAAC

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The barbers Capital at Play spoke with all agreed that they enjoy their jobs for two reasons: good conversation and independence.

At the Biltmore Plaza Barber Shop in Biltmore Village in Asheville, owner Steven Isaac summed up both benefits: “The social aspect is worth more than all the money I’ve ever made. It’s like coming to work and hangin’ with your best friends.” And “I like working for myself; hate having a boss man.”

The shop has been a neighborhood fixture for more than 30 years, and Steven bought it about a year and a half ago. “I inherited some customers when I bought the place,” he says, and a customer sitting in his chair quickly adds, “He’s a character and his predecessors were characters.”

The shop has an upscale look with three chairs, black-and-white flooring, and a pinball machine in a corner. “It’s exactly what I was looking for,” he says. A haircut costs $20, and Steven tries to send his customers away with a good cut and a satisfied look. “I definitely ask them what they want just to make sure I’m at one with them. Everybody’s different.”

Like many of his colleagues, Steven began cutting hair long before he became a professional. “I started cutting my own hair when I was 14. I still do it, still cut my own hair. I was 23 when I started thinking about going to barber school. I found the thing I wanted to do the rest of my life. It’s all I want to do.”

OLD BARBER JOKE:

A barber shop put up a sign attacking a fancy salon down the block. The sign said, “Why pay $20? We cut hair for $2.”

The salon responded with a sign saying, “We repair $2 haircuts.”

Another longtime barber institution sits on Merrimon Avenue in north Asheville, where a sign announces Joe King’s Barber Shop. The sign is a bit of a landmark, and it’s somewhat inaccurate: Joe King died 13 years ago, although the person who bought the business, Susan Hill, chose to retain the name June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 47

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JOE KI NG’ S HAIR

SHO P

SUSAN HILL at work.

precisely because it was so well known. “I also chose to keep our prices low, so everyone can look good!” says Hill. “I have done hair for 46 years— Billy Graham, Harry Anderson, to name a few, have been among my clients—and being a native of Asheville, I can remember men and boys lined up out the door for haircuts in the ‘60s.”

When Capital at Play visited the barber shop Linda Spears—who Hill says was her very first employee—was the only barber on duty. Linda had a customer in the chair, who was wondering why his haircut would cost $15 and a beard trim only $8 “when I have more hair on my face than on my head.” A longtime customer, he and Linda shared the banter of old friends—with a lot of loud laughter. Linda has been a barber for 36 years. “I love it. It’s the best job. I talk to people all day. I love their stories.” Pressed to relate some of those stories, Linda takes a long breath, scanning her memory for a good one. Finally, “I had a female customer and she had babies for hire.” She nodded to affirm her memory.

“Couples would hire her to have their baby, and she would go around the country, live with the couple and have their baby. She had five babies.”

Warming to the topic, she goes on. “I had one customer who came back several times and we’d talk all the time, and he was always talking about movies, and then I found out that he was a movie producer. Just the people that you get to meet.”

The shop features poster-size photos of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean, and a sign proclaims an extra charge for “whining.” Soft music provides background for the conversation. Linda says her customers come from as 48

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LARRY HIGGINS IS one barber you could meet at Tri-City.

TRI-CITY BARBER SHOP

far as Brevard and Marion. Most of them are a joy, she says, but “You always have some customers that are real nasty. It’s a low percentage. But you always get the one who doesn’t like anything you do. Nothing’s ever good enough, but they always come back and torment you again and again.”

The Tri-City Barber Shop in Weaverville is only a few miles from Merrimon Avenue, but the feel of the place is of another world. Owner Mitchell Willis and Jerry Angel work at adjoining chairs that always seem to be busy while as many as four or five customers wait their turn. They estimate they have about 500 regular customers, ranging from locals they’ve known since childhood to newcomers whose accents identify them as outlanders.

A haircut costs $14, but the main event is often the conversation, which ranges from sports to weather to the daily news headlines and personal stories. “Hunters and fishermen come in with their stories—they just keep you listening,” Mitchell says. “What was their big catch or big kill? We see hundreds of interesting people.”

Part-time barbers occupy three more chairs, but Tri City is clearly Mitchell and Jerry’s show. They work 10 hours a day, three days a week, and 12 hours the other two. Many of their customers are multi-generational families. On the day we visited, Jerry was cutting hair for a five-year-old, and the June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 49

local industry

Get Clipped

Here is the contact info for the barber shops discussed in our story.

Call them for their days/hours of operation.

OAKLEY BARBER SHOP

830 Fairview Rd, Asheville, NC 828.277.8731

4 Brook St, Asheville, NC 828.274.0552 biltmoreplazabarbershop.com

THE LOCAL BARBER AND TAP

84 W Walnut St, Asheville, NC 828.232.7005 barberandtap.com

JOE KING’S HAIR SHOP

484 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC 828. 774.5900

SMOOTH’S DO DROP IN

8 Eagle St, Asheville, NC 828.285.0557

50

BILTMORE PLAZA BARBER SHOP

| June 2019

TRI-CITY BARBER SHOP

1 Try-City Plaza, Weaverville, NC 828.645.3690

banter ran to the difference between the youngster’s hair and his grandfather’s.

After 54 years cutting hair, Jerry has no complaints. “Nothing hurts,” he says, dismissing the idea of physical stress. However,

planted the seed.” But he stops short of saying he’s committed to it as a lifetime career. “I could take or leave the work of it.

But I’m very content with where I’m at, with what I’m doing.

You can be content man, and that’s enough.”

“I got a haircut one day and I decided that’s what I wanted to do. I was probably a senior in high school.”

Mitchell, now in his 15th year as a barber, acknowledges the impact. Do the long days leave him exhausted? “Sometimes.

It depends on how good the conversation goes. I do frequent a chiropractor to help with all the compression I put on my spine and my joints.”

Jerry’s journey to barbering was a straight line. “I got a haircut one day and I decided that’s what I wanted to do. I was probably a senior in high school.”

Mitchell took a more circuitous route. “I was raised in the building industry, and my dad was pushing me to get something to fall back on. My grandfather was a barber, so that’s what

As for Jerry, “I’m committed,” he vows, drawing a laugh from the customers. What would he do if he weren’t a barber? “I don’t have a clue. I never thought about it. I’ll be here until I can’t anymore. I’ve got to have something to do.”

***

The old-fashioned barber has survived the long-hair era of the ‘70s and the salon rage of the ‘90s. Hair and beards continued to grow, barbers continued to trim and shave—and as the trade has adapted, the essentials have remained the same.

“Next!”

Farmer Joe Answers “What is an Agrihood?”

IT IS A NEIGHBORHOOD AROUND A WORKING FARM. The heart of Olivette is a fully operational organic farm, and early residents are already swinging by the packing shed to pick up baskets of fresh produce grown right here—just one perk of living in an agrihood. Joe Evans, Olivette’s Sustainable Agriculture Specialist, says: “I’m here to not only grow food and feed families within the community but to create conversations around food production, to incorporate community members who want to be involved and connect with the land in a way that is unique to Olivette.

I’m here to not only share my love for farming but to share my passion for people and working together to create a better reality.”

www.olivettenc.com | 1069 Olivette Rd, Asheville, 28804 | 828.407.0040 51 June 2019 NC | capitalatplay.com

THE OLD

NORTH

STATE [

news briefs

Moving Out of Old Fort old fort

Ethan Allen Interiors is ceasing casegoods manufacturing at its Pine Valley Division in Old Fort. As part of a corporatewide vertical integration effort, casegoods operations will be moved to other facilities; mainly, plants in New Orleans and Beecher Falls, Vermont.

Lumber processing operations will continue at the Old Fort facility, and the casegoods space will be converted to a state-of-the-art distribution center.

In turn, the company’s distribution operations in Passaic, New Jersey, will shift to Old Fort, a larger facility being necessary to handle increasing federal General Services Administration orders.

North Carolina was affected earlier by the vertical integration when the company concentrated its upholstery

]

manufacturing in Maiden (near Hickory).

Ethan A llen has plans to expand operations there with a $5 million, 80,000-sq.-ft. expansion. Ethan Allen is expecting the restructuring to cost about $7-$8 million, but hopes to realize a $5-$6 million increase in gross profits by 2020. The 325 laid off in Old Fort and 55 laid off in Passaic are eligible to apply for work locally at the new operations or anywhere else with the company.

include tape as well as custom-printed signs and reflectors. Factories use tape much like offices use cubicles, to define office spaces and direct foot traffic. The tape lines on the floor also serve safety purposes, delineating hazardous zones and segregating foot traffic from heavy machinery on the move. Insite Solutions, like the old Sears catalogs, offers “Good,” “Better,” and “Best” floor tape. The latest design is in the “Best” category, the Superior Mark line. It is described as 32-mil thick, polymer-reinforced vinyl tape. The patented advantage is its beveled edge. The bevel resists curling from rolling and sliding traffic and directs dust and grime over the tape, instead of pushing it underneath. It therefore doesn’t have to be replaced as frequently as other tapes. The concept is simple, and it has been around awhile. Inventor and managing director Cliff Lowe began the patent application process in 2004.

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Insite Solutions has added a fifth product to its patent portfolio. The company sells, mostly via its website, stop-painting.com, decals and tape for factory flooring and roads. Products

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City, South Carolina, filed “critical circumstances” petitions with the United States Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission. Both manufacturers of polyester textured yarn claimed importers from China and India had pushed massive amounts of product into the United States ahead of the imposition of announced tariffs.

Then, following the filing of the petitions, imports increased 27%. Claiming material injury, the domestic producers asked that countervailing and anti-dumping duties be charged retroactively. The former are intended to offset the government subsidies a company receives, and the latter are intended to address the difference between the import price and fair market value. Following an April determination by the Department of Commerce that importers were being subsidized at rates as high as 459.98%, United States Customs and Border Protection began collecting preliminary countervailing duties.

by Polynesian dancers, characters, and a couple corporate chefs. L&L was founded

by Johnson Kam and Eddie Flores, Jr., in Hawaii. A drive-through restaurant, it served the plate lunch, which is standard fare in Hawaii. Its roots go back to the 1800s with the lunches laborers used to carry to the sugar plantations and pineapple fields in compartmentalized tins. They contained rice and leftovers, but the main ingredient was friendly sharing. Hawaiian food is a mix of tastes from Japan, China, the Philippines, Korea, Portugal, and New England. When Kam and Flores opened their first store in California in 1999, nobody was familiar with the plate lunch, so they called the meals Hawaiian barbecue. Franchisees receive expert training so they can enjoy running a fun business, serve delicious food, treat customers with Hawaiian hospitality, and profit off memorable marketing campaigns. North Carolina is now the twelfth state to open a franchise, with other locations being in Guam and Japan.

the old north state

are scheduled to begin winding down in May and effectively cease by October.

The 220 affected employees have been offered work at HanesBrand distribution centers, the nearest of which is 30 miles south, in Rural Hall. Those not selecting this option will receive severance packages, and the company is working on getting them federal aid under the United States Trade Adjustment Act. The reasons for the closure begin with rising costs of materials—in particular, polyester manufactured in the western hemisphere. To remain cost-competitive, HanesBrand has been purchasing socks from large-scale specialty producers in Asia. This, in turn, eliminated the need for jobs in HanesBrand’s El Salvador operations. And that made room for work being done in Mount Airy to be offshored for additional savings. HanesBrand intends to sell the 212,000-sq.-ft. plant, which originally opened in 1979.

Stay or Go?

Happy Meals

Musical Chairs

concord

On April 13, Andy and Franny Robinson hosted the grand opening of the first L&L Hawaiian Grill-Shops franchise in North Carolina. The celebration was attended

mount airy

HanesBrand announced it is closing its Mount Airy factory, which manufactures Hanes and Champion socks. Operations

durham

It may be months or years before some businesses reopen, following a huge gas explosion in downtown Durham that made national news. First, safety concerns postponed a thorough

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the old north state

investigation promised by the North Carolina Utilities Commission. The cleanup went well beyond clearing dust and asbestos. Even though Mayor Steve Schewel declared the three-block area around Brightleaf Square safe for businesses about ten days after the incident, parking spaces were still full of debris and closed, and customers were hesitant over returning. Some of the buildings remain condemned, meaning even cleanup crews were not allowed to enter. Then, once the buildings are rebuilt, owners will have to apply for permits and submit to all the inspections a new building would need.

The Chesterfield Building was offering free office space for affected businesses, and representatives from NCWorks Career Center were there to help with business counseling. Community businesses rallied together with fundraisers and GoFundMe campaigns, but some employees could not afford to wait until things reopened. Governor Roy Cooper has requested federal assistance.

That’s Fancy pembroke

WE STILL PARTY 54

innbatcave.com | June 2019

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke broke ground for a new building to house its School of Business.

Over the last three years, enrollment in graduate and undergraduate programs at the college has risen from 800 to 1400. The building had been on the school’s wish list for years, and it was finally made possible with $29 million in state funding plus $23 million from the Connect NC bond referendum and another $6 million appropriation arranged by state senator Danny Britt. Private-sector contributions included $7 million from famous Los Angeles developer Jim Thomas, who is a Pembroke native. To get ideas for the architects, SfL+a and Glavé & Holmes, a team of business school faculty toured new buildings for college business programs. Using their input, plans were drawn up with a 300-seat auditorium, event space seating 150, a

career services center, an interactive market trading room, a computer lab, a video conference room, and more.

Metcon Construction Company, the general contractor, expects work will be completed by spring 2021.

New in Medicine charlotte

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding for exclusive negotiations with Atrium Health for establishing a four-year medical school in Charlotte. Wake Forest already has a medical school in Winston-Salem; the deal is described as creating two campuses within the same medical school.

Negotiations are expected to close sometime this year, with the campus opening in 2021 or 2022. It is expected the Winston-Salem campus will remain focused on research, with Atrium offering to dedicate millions of dollars in research grants from the federal government to the original campus as part of the deal. Wake Forest has been receiving about 10,700 applications for its 145 openings for medical students each year. Preliminary visions for the new campus could expand school totals to 3,200 students, residents, and fellows participating in over 100 specialized training programs. While consolidation continues to be the order of the day, with hospital boards deeming scale a major factor in insurance negotiations, analysts are now saying mergers only realize a fraction of supply-chain advantages projected and often result in increased costs.

The Happier, the Healthier: Part I wadesboro

The Carpenter family of Wadesboro won the first ever Chicken Welfare Enrichment Design Contest. The national contest was but one way Perdue

Farms is working to improve the quality of life for its suppliers’ chickens. The invention, dubbed the Carpenter Bench, was selected over 32 others in a process that included pitching the idea before a panel of judges and setting up the invention in a room with other contest entries to see which ones young chickens selected. Judges were primarily interested in keeping chickens happy through facilitating roosting, perching, playing, socializing, and exercising.

While farmers were reticent to accept the idea at first, studies have shown chickens are healthier when they’re happier. Judges were also interested in products that would be easy and inexpensive for other farmers to replicate. For their efforts, the Carpenters received a $5,000 check. Other awards were given for the Chicken Tree, and the Suspended Roosting Ramp.

Part II charlotte

Kevin Gatlin had compassion for hospitalized children, sitting all alone and miserable. He wondered what it would be like for his own child, so he and his wife brainstormed ideas to help kids cope.

His wife called to his attention the fact that their family members use the beds in the house for homework and board games, so Gatlin had the idea to make bedsheets with gameboards and educational tables. His mother was a teacher, so he turned to her and her colleagues to come up with the most amusing and educational design elements. Two years later, Gatlin is in business as Playtime Edventures. He sells three-piece sheet sets and sleeping bags with cheat sheets from geography, math, science, and grammar. Games include word finds and oversize gameboards. Gatlin said he realizes that, as a business, he has to turn a profit, but seeing a hospitalized child enjoying his product is priceless.

The sheets are now used in ten hospitals in the country, and if people want to, they may purchase them online for donation to other medical facilities.

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Building a Portfolio Life

With a current economic environment that is dynamic, and with changes coming rapidly, it behooves you to diversify, be proactive—and even consider a side hustle.

W

HAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU

D

dawn starks

is a Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner, writer, blogger, and podcaster who resides in Asheville, NC. You can find her at SimpleMoneyPro. com.

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hear the word “portfolio?” Most likely, your first thought has to do with investments: People talk about having an investment portfolio. Or if you are a creative t ype, you may have f irst thought of an artist’s port folio.

In both cases, the word portfolio refers to a collection of something, such as investments or artwork.

Oxford’s online dictionary, however, includes an adjectival definition for portfolio: “Denoting or engaged in an employment pattern which involves a succession of shortterm contracts and part-time work, rather than the more traditional model of a single job for life.”

This descriptive version of portfolio has attracted my attention recently. I first heard about the concept of a “portfolio life” on a podcast of the same name, hosted by author/speaker Jeff Goins. The Portfolio Life podcast features interviews with creative people who are making a living by building a business around creating some form of art. | June 2019

The podcast is terrific, and the portfolio life concept really struck a chord. After a little poking around, I found a 2007 book by David D. Corbett titled Portfolio Life: The New Path to Work, Purpose, and Passion After 50. The book focuses on how people reaching their retirement years are seeking a different outcome from the traditional experience of retirement.

According to Corbett, some people reaching retirement start a new career or even create a new business. Others volunteer their time, as well as fill their lives with various activities—a portfolio of activities—to feel fulfilled and motivated in the final years of their lives.

As a financial professional who specializes in helping people plan for and execute a successful retirement, this is not news to me. There is an

D increasing need to think outside the box when it comes to planning for retirement. The retirement of prior generations was simpler, with Social Security and pension benefits supplying the majority of needed income.

Sadly, that retirement model is no longer the case. Most companies have done away with pension plans, and Social Security now replaces a smaller percentage of many worker’s income needs in retirement. Even government employees still eligible for a pension often don’t work long enough in the same job to grow a substantial pension benefit.

Because of these challenges, people are beginning to plan differently

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PORTFOLIO LIVING OF TEN PLACES AN EMPHASIS ON A BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND LEISURE. for their work and life. Realizing t he u n l i kel i hoo d (a nd p erhap s undesirability) of maintaining one career for life, some people are getting creative and starting earlier on the portfolio life plan that Corbett touts for retirement. And honestly, why wait for retirement to spice up your work life?

So, what exactly might a portfolio life look like?

People of my generation, Generation X, have waited until middle age to acknowledge that a more diverse career does not equate to a lack of success. Having grown up before the internet with parents who followed the traditional “one career” plan, we “X-ers” are late to the party. Now that we are at the party, however, we are embracing the idea of diversifying our career portfolio—just in time for our mid-life crisis!

The Millennials have fallen into portfolio living with more ease. This

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happened partly through necessity: Hitting the work force during the Great Recession was an obstacle to developing early career stability. But the Millennial mindset is more geared toward portfolio living in general.

Portfolio living often places an emphasis on a balance between work and leisure. Perhaps you want to spend more time with your family or volunteer for your favorite cause— so you work fewer hours. We see examples of this sort of balancing taking many different forms. Parents of small children interrupt their careers temporarily to care for the kids. Burned out professionals take a sabbatical in order to rest and regroup.

But portfolio living can also mean redesigning your work life. Perhaps you have competing passions demanding your attention. You may have a main job (part-time or full-time) and plug into a second career on the side. Whether you call this a “side hustle” or “moonlighting,” it’s a way to rethink how you spend your time.

In my experience, side hustles are usually about bringing in additional income to the family. Portfolio living certainly can reflect the need to have multiple income sources. But I

CAPJune19

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think this phenomenon is more than that. Crafting a diverse collection of paid work and unpaid activities translates into a desire to have varied experiences. Having multiple experiences allows us to develop and utilize variant skill sets.

WHILE POTENTIALLY UPPING YOUR SATISFACTION WITH YOUR LIFE, HAVING DIVERSE FORMS OF PAID EMPLOYMENT ALSO RESULTS IN RISK REDUCTION. The current economic environment is dynamic, and the changes come rapidly. Spending several years getting a college degree no longer guarantees you are promised a steady career trajectory. Lifelong learning and ongoing development of new skills are the only way to stay marketable today. I propose

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that instead of viewing this reality as a curse, view it as an exciting challenge full of possibilities.

Developing a portfolio life mentality provides a framework allowing you to be proactive, versus reactive, when the economy (or your industry) shifts, and your current position is no longer relevant. Unlike the good old days, companies are rarely loyal to their long-term employees. Similarly, employees no longer feel loyalty to their company as they once did. Along with this shift in loyalties, good company benefits are often not available. Employers are sometimes unwilling to hire full-time employees in the attempt to reduce the cost of providing benefits.

If that is our new workplace reality, why not embrace it?

Working two part-time jobs that you love instead of one full-time job that may or may not be fulfilling might be a good solution for you. Can you start your own business while maintaining your primary job? Once your business is off and running, reduce or eliminate the hours you spend at your primary job. Being a contract employee or freelancer is another great example of living a more flexible, portfolio life.

While potentially upping your satisfaction with your life, having diverse forms of paid employment also results in risk reduction. If you have various skills and work opportunities, you are less likely to suffer a catastrophic job loss.

As we examine the obstacles that impede a traditional retirement, having a portfolio life also helps us gain satisfaction from remaining in the workforce far longer than we might have ever imagined. Longer lives, coupled with retirement income challenges such as inadequate pensions and Social Security benefits, are already driving people to work well into their sixties and beyond.

Wouldn’t it be better to work longer with purpose ?

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Rise Rentals OF THE

Want to upgrade your summertime wanderings, explorations, and general activities? Western North Carolina has plenty of fun and unique rentals perfect for the adventurous soul. photo cour tesy The Flying Bike

written by shawndr a russell

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ummer in Western North Carolina is magical

—temperatures sway from low-to-mid-80s to campfire-worthy 60s at night, thanks to our lovely mountain breezes. But the true star of an epic summertime experience here is the great outdoors: millions of acres of national forests, umpteenth hiking and mountain biking trails, and a plethora of swimming holes are all located within an easy day trip. You can kayak between breweries along the French Broad River Paddle Trail, hike the tallest peak east of the Mississippi at Mount Mitchell, or pilot a standup paddleboard across Santeetlah Lake, named by Microsoft’s MSN as the #1 most beautiful lake in the United States.

And if you don’t want to go it alone, you can always browse through the fairly new Airbnb Experiences in Asheville, where you can essentially rent a human to enjoy all kinds of crazy cool Asheville activities. (Yes, you read that correctly: rent a human. Or at least employ their services for a period of time.)

Many of the Airbnb Experiences hosts—and Ashevillians in general—have taken up some kind of outdoor hobby since moving to The Land of the Sky (and most juggle multiple such hobbies!), but the cost of gear can certainly add up quick. So, we wanted to see what kind of gear you can rent in and around Western North Carolina to help our readers navigate what they can try before they buy—or, in many instances, what they can do without ever having to buy at all. (Who has room to store all that gear anyway?) Maybe you just want to book a one-time, super cool experience that could lay the groundwork for the best day of your whole summer, like renting a luxury, exotic, or off-road vehicle, or perhaps jumping on a bike, since motorcycle and electric bike versions both can be rented to take on what has been described in the media as “America’s Longest Scenic Drive,” a/k/a, the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Whatever your goal, you’ll be doing your brain a favor because, as Harvard Medical School famously shared in “Rev Up Your Thinking Skills by Trying Something New,” their December 2015 health letter: “It turns out that the human brain has a great potential for something called neuronal plasticity—that is, it’s malleable. It appears that challenging our brains—for example, by learning a new skill—leads to actual changes in the adult brain.” Or, as Harvard neuropsychologist Dr. Kathryn Papp explained in the article, “It may create new connections between brain cells by changing the balance of available neurotransmitters and changing how connections are made.”

And if your new interest becomes a full-blown hobby, it can improve your whole life. In April of 2018, in her article for Mental Health Matters, “Pursuing a Hobby Can Improve Your Mental Health,” journalist Sally Phillips observed, “A hobby or activity can help an individual by reducing stress; help to improve mood and especially effective in managing mood swings; certain

photo by Anthony Harden

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BYOB AND PYOP! (Push your own pedals) photo cour tesy The Amazing Pubcycle

photo cour tesy Bellyak

activities will promote and encourage socialization that can help combat loneliness; it can help improve memory; and, helps to reduce depression, especially if you pursue a hobby or activity that makes you extremely happy.”

Rent a Human Let’s dive right in to the awesome experiences you can book directly with a local resident through Asheville Airbnb Experiences. You can rent an artist’s brain and book painting, tie-dying, photography, glassblowing, jewelry, or clothes making lessons. Or, enjoy nature atop a horse or with an expert fly fisherman, cyclist, naturalist, birder, or your very own alpaca hiking buddy. Maybe you’re ready to learn from some of Foodtopia’s local talent? Rent a chef, chocolatier, foodie, or baker for a spell. Practically every category of interests is covered through these Airbnb Experiences, a feature the company launched in 2016 that has now rolled out in over 1,000 cities globally and secured more than one million so-called “experience bookings.” Users can search through categories including sports, food and drink, entertainment, nature, classes and workshops, health and wellness, arts, cooking classes, and history tours. In Asheville there are over 80 experiences to choose from so far.

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photo cour tesy Slinging in the Smokies

Semi-pro riverboarding athlete, and Appalachian Riverboard Company owner, Kevin Yount is actually one of the Asheville Experiences hosts you can “rent” and is billed as the only riverboard guide provider in the Southeast.

descents—and it’s a great place to enjoy other outdoor activities. Later, I also began trying my hand at building boards as well and that’s how Appalachian Riverboard Company came about.” He adds that he has goals to set up outposts throughout the Southeast, including Tennessee, West Virginia, and Georgia, but for now, he loves spreading the word about this new whitewater sport, which he describes as “bodyboarding for whitewater.”

“A lot of people perceive it as dangerous since you are going head first, but since you are prepared to be in the water for the entire duration (with wetsuit, knee and shin pads, and fins, in addition to standard helmet and personal flotation device for whitewater), you’re in a much better position to be swimming through whitewater than if you miss a roll in a kayak or fall out of a raft,” Yount says, clarifying, “[But] like other whitewater activities, it can be as mild

Sure, it’s fun to rent a Jeep or convertible from a standard car rental place, but why not check out the area atop something a little more... out there?

Yount moved to Western North Carolina from the Piedmont specifically to build a tourism business around the sport he loved, but struggled to make a living doing.

“I chose and have remained in the area,” Yount explains, “because there are still a lot of streams that have yet to be riverboarded—I really like pioneering first 64

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photo cour tesy Asheville Motorcycle Rentals

or as extreme as you choose to make it by the river that you choose.”

A Different Kind of Wheels Sure, it’s fun to rent a Jeep or convertible from a standard car rental place, but why not check out the area atop something a little more... out there? Consider renting the futuristic 2-seated, 3-wheeled Polaris Slingshots from Slinging in the Smokies, located in Maggie Valley. A few states, including Maine, New York, Wisconsin, and Montana, require that Slingshot drivers have a motorcycle endorsement, but in North Carolina, just a regular driver’s license will suffice. However, Polaris does recommend “always wearing a DOT approved full face helmet” when driving a Slingshot. Slinging in the Smokies outlines nine touring routes on their website that take riders through big swaths of Western North Carolina, with landmarks, restaurants, and waterfall stops noted carefully.

Perhaps you’d rather add more wheels, not less, to your tour of Asheville and be able to drink at the same time? Then book

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a spot aboard the Amazing Pubcycle, Asheville’s 13-person giant bicycle (motor assisted and includes a driver) that will take you on a 40-minute jaunt through the city, or a pub tour with two stops. Operations Manager Joe Carroll shares that about 40 percent of their business comes from locals, usually in the form of company outings, team building events, and birthday parties.

“We have benefited greatly from the talented performers that we have on staff,” Carroll says. “Our backgrounds range from stand-up comedians to brewers to bird-watchers. Our eclectic mix of tour-guides keep the passengers guessing.” Sometimes, though, the tables are turned and the passengers become the performers, like when a flash-dance team had the pubcycle stop at several junctions downtown to show off their choreographed moves. Did we mention their tours are BYOB? Asheville also features several skateparks, and AshevilleNC. com considers Asheville to offer “some of the most exciting 66

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photo cour tesy Bellyak

skateboarding action in the Southeast” in part for its 17,000-sq.-ft. government Skatepark, located downtown at the corner of Flint and Cherry Streets. Over in the River Arts Districts, skaters can thrash indoors year-round across RAD Skatepark’s 10,000-sq.-ft. space, the first indoor skateboard arena built in Western North Carolina. You can rent skateboards there and take lessons for $35 an hour from professional skateboarder Kevin Shelton, who turned pro in 1987.

(Or maybe you’re looking for a taste of glam with which to wheel elegantly through the region? You can reserve an exotic car from the Exotic Car Collection by Enterprise, a service over at the Charlotte airport and only offered currently in 51 cities. Their inventory includes about 30 high-end choices from carmakers like Jaguar, Maserati, and Porsche. Take your pick, head to the mountains, and impress your friends—or maybe pick your friends up at the airport and transport them in style to the mountains.)

Splish Splash You might already know that Asheville is considered one of the best places to tube in America, at least according to Afar magazine, in part, because dog companions—life vested, of course!—are permitted on the French Broad River. Afar writer Shilo Urban recently described the experience as “more social than secluded, this eclectic and sunny strip boasts waterfront gastropubs and craft breweries with easy river access. Carry a cover-up or change of clothes in a dry bag so you can stop to nosh on chargrilled oysters at the shipping container restaurant Smoky Park Supper Club, grab a bucket of peanuts at The Wedge Brewery, or play lawn games by the bonfires at Bywater Bar.” Several outfitters like Zen Tubing and French Broad Outfitters rent tubes for the Broad, or you can check out other great tubing spots in the area like Deep Creek, Green River, and Catawba River.

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Tubers might also enjoy the nice-and-easy pace of renting a pedal boat at Rumbling Bald Resort located on Lake Lure (and previously profiled in “Song of the Summer,” in our July 2017 issue). Two- and four-person boats are available for hourly rates, along with SUPs (standup paddleboards). The boats are very user-friendly and ideal for families as they’re very safe, too. Or, go bigger and rent a pontoon boat from Rumbling Bald’s North Shore Beach Cabana, which also features an on-site restaurant, Legends.

photo by Mike Belleme

Bellyak riders face forward and lay on their stomachs in an experience the company dubs as being “to kayaking what snowboarding is to skiing… an entirely new way to experience the same terrain.”

To go really big, try the latest SUP-board craze… a 6-person giant that will cart you and five of your favorite people down the French Broad River. Touted as the GodzillaSUP, this 17-foot behemoth (which the river veterans at French Broad Outfitters calls “The Invader”) makes for a whole new way to enjoy the water—and bond with your fellow paddlers, since you have no choice but to use teamwork to keep this big rig moving.

Meanwhile, Wai Mauna Asheville SUP Tours, whose founder, Kyle Ellison, was profiled in the August 2017 issue of this magazine, also has a huge SUP board you can rent nicknamed the Party Barge. Wai Mauna (a Hawaiian term that translates as “fresh water in the mountains”) offers paddleboard delivery and pickup for those who want to rent boards both large and standard size, but who also don’t want

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photo cour tesy The Flying Bike

to have to strap them to the top of their car or have them poking out the rear of a hatchback. You can also sign up for one of their stand-up paddle classes to try your hand at whitewater SUPing. This experience requires two separate 3-hour classes to ensure paddlers are ready to safely navigate Class I-II rapids, and Wai Mauna’s guides are all required to have their paddleboard certification from the American Canoe Association.

And if you’re looking for a bit more adventure and speed, consider renting a Bellyak. Similar to a riverboard, Bellyak riders face forward and lay on their stomachs in an experience the company dubs as being “to kayaking what snowboarding is to skiing… an entirely new way to experience the same terrain.” Our region has eight rental locations, and they often host demo events across the country, or interested Bellyakers can sign up for classes, which are taught on the Tuckasegee Gorge in Dillsboro, North Carolina.

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A Little More Rugged Speaking of exploring old terrain in a new way, have you ever done the Land Rover Experience at Biltmore? Of course, everyone loves perusing the home, gardens, and winery, but the Estate has tons of outdoor activities you can book, including Segway tours, sporting clays, and falconry. During the Land Rover Experience, drivers get to test their skills against off-road obstacles, which include steep ascents and descents, side tilts, log crossings, and rock crawls. Guests can opt for a 1-2 hour experience or an entire day, with the opportunity to navigate even tougher terrain.

And if you just want to be a passenger, an expert can drive you for only $25 per person (driving experiences start at $275 per vehicle, with up to three riders permitted).

Of course, if you’d rather have a wilder ride and tackle more intense off-road challenges, you can rent an ATV or UTV—think tough golf cart!—and

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explore one of two trail systems located within Western North Carolina designated for off-highway vehicles, or OHVs: the Wayehutta OHV Trail System located within Nantahala National Forest, or the Brown Mountain OHV Trail System in Pisgah National Forest. In fact, North Carolina boasts four off-road trail systems, and all allow ATVs, 4-wheel drives, and dirt bikes with a valid day or seasonal pass. Interested off-roaders can rent from Grandfather Powersports located in Boone or High Country Polaris in Newland.

Not ready to venture out on your own? Join a 4-hour guided ATV tour with Appalachian Outdoor Adventures based in Boone or jump on a UTV with Off the Grid Mountain Adventures located in Elk Park. And Marion’s Blue Ridge Expeditions specializes in taking clients off-roading in Land Rovers and providing safety and agility training on extremely rugged terrain. “Take in the sights, sounds, and feedback through the steering wheel and seat of your pants,” explained owner Marshall Grant, in a July 2018 Capital at Play profile. “Be aware of what others are doing in your 4x4 convoy and, pretty soon, you will begin to anticipate what your fellow drivers are doing…

I want people to enjoy this sport and do it safely.”

Just Cruisin’ For those who just want to soak in the sights and sounds of the gorgeous outdoor wonderland that is Western North Carolina at a nice easy pace, consider renting an electric bike or motorcycle. Electric bikes can be rented for up to eight hours, and note that bikers must be at least 16 with a suggested minimum height of five feet. Alice Kexel, of Asheville’s The Flying Bike, shares that 90 percent of their tour bookings come from visitors, but when it comes to renting an eBike, locals take the cake as a means to test out if they want to buy their own.

“The hills really show off the advantages of the electric bikes and generate a lot of smiling faces when our guests cruise up a street with little effort,” she says, adding, “and as parents of young kids, we know how hard it can be to find something fun and accessible for the whole family. How is it possible for the average person to bike up a mountain with a two- and five-year old? Electric bikes level the playing field and make these kinds of experiences possible.”

But motorcycle enthusiasts will want to take advantage of exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway—called “America’s Favorite

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Drive” by USA Today and many other outlets—atop a big bike to appreciate all the twists and turns that make up this 469-mile stretch of beautiful mountainside.

Phil Cann, owner of Asheville Motorcycle Rentals, the only area rental shop that exclusively rents motorcycles,

would be a good opportunity to start one.” And while 90 percent of his riders are tourists, he does see locals come in who have motorcycling friends visiting. Not surprisingly, business booms for Phil in the fall when riders want to take in the changing foliage. He also notes that he’s had several customers share that taking a Harley Davidson on the Parkway “is a tick on their bucket list.”

“How is it possible for the average person to bike up a mountain with a two- and five-year old? Electric bikes level the playing field and make these kinds of experiences possible.” says he opened his shop, because, “when I was moving here from the UK with my wife, I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a motorcycle rental shop here already—the riding in the area is amongst the best in the country. So I thought it

***

Regardless of which of these rental experiences make it onto your personal bucket list for this summer and beyond, you can find lots of affordable ways to ride, glide, or float across the mountains and waterways that make Western North Carolina, one of the most outdoor adventure-friendly areas in the world.”

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Asheville’s premiere board game cafÊ, Well Played, celebrates two years of making all the right moves and helping people connect in the non-digital world.

Game-ing the

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(L-R) CORTLAND MERCER, KEVAN FRAZIER, AND STEVE GREEN.

System written by marl a hardee milling photos by anthony harden

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 75

DON'T KNOW THE rules? That's ok! Employees explain games to patrons.

hen three friends rolled the dice on a new concept of fun in the Asheville area, they could only imagine at that time how well the business would do.

Kevan Frazier, Cortland Mercer, and Steve Green fully examined and vetted their concept before opening the doors of Well Played, a board game café located at 58 Wall Street in downtown Asheville.

Taking their time really paid off. They celebrated their second anniversary this past March and they’re looking forward to continued growth.

Capital at Play first introduced Well Played in our March 2017 issue as part of our feature on the Western North Carolina gaming industry (“Ready Player One”), just as the business was launching. Now that they are well into their third operational year, we decided to take a closer look at the trio of partners, how they met and funded the business, how they’ve built a successful model for curating fun, and how they’ve supported each other in the midst of immeasurable personal grief.

Getting the Concept Right Here’s how Well Played works: Customers are invited to pay a $5 per person/per day cover charge at the door, which allows unlimited play while they choose from among close 76

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to 700 board games in their growing library. Their website claims it’s the largest board game library in North Carolina.

Memberships offering unlimited play are available for $20 per person/per month.

Their clientele covers all ages, from young kids to grandparents, but Kevan also points out that Well Played is rare in its ability to give 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds a late-night place to hang out, where most venues require an age of 21. “We are one of the few spots you can come to as a 19-year-old with your 23-year-old friend and both of you be well accommodated,” he says.

Gamemasters are on hand to help explain game rules, offer strategy tips, or answer questions, and they serve up a variety of nostalgic comfort food like “The Mac” (their signature mac ‘n’ cheese grilled cheese), flatbread pizzas, snacks, milkshakes, local draft beer, and well-loved snacks like Goldfish, Chex Mix, Animal Crackers, Gummies, and more.

If someone is just stopping in for a glass of wine or dessert after a show, there are free bar games they can play that don’t require the $5 entry fee.

“We wanted to make sure we got it right,” says Steve. “We would meet multiple times a week. It took about a year for us to really develop the idea. We got down into the weeds hard.

We were discussing not only what we wanted on the menu, but the employee culture and things we thought would add to the experience of Well Played. It was vital to us to really examine

that this is a great place to get a great grilled cheese and also a place to be entertained and make sure people have a smile on their faces. We knew that if we were trying to cultivate fun, we needed to make sure that as many of the elements that are conducive to fun are there.”

But even with the meticulous planning, they also experienced a learning curve once the idea became a reality. As Cortland admits, “You can have a great business plan, but you don’t know what you’re getting into until you open your doors. We, like any other new business, had to figure those things out. We’ve had our trials and tribulations along the way, but we’ve had the good problem of people wanting to be here and wanting to be in the space.

We’re grateful that folks bought into the concept early on.”

Reconfiguring their up-fit budget to actually launch the business became challenging, as unexpected expenses continuously came into view as modifications were made.

While Kevan won’t say how much they exceeded their original budget, he does say it was “a good chunk more,” and elaborates upon some of the surprises they had to contend with.

“As an example, this space had a bar in it originally. We were just going to do some modifications to the bar, but once they started getting into it [the contractors] said, ‘This is not going to be especially stable.’ We said, ‘Well, that’s not good. What will it cost to put a new bar in?’ That was a few grand we hadn’t planned on doing. And that would happen in the electrical stuff and some of the plumbing stuff. We looked at chairs and tables from other places, and once things started coming together in here, it wouldn’t be the right look. So, we ended up buying new chairs versus buying used chairs. That’s some of the things that added to our cost along the way.”

Continuing to Evolve Lack of adequate storage space proved problematic as soon as they opened Well Played. On busy weekends Kevan and Cortland would often find themselves racing to the grocery store to stock up on depleted items to keep the menu orders filled. Inconvenient, to say the least, but also not cost effective.

“We didn’t have room to keep a week’s worth of food,” says Kevan. “Part of our lessons of experience learned is that there’s a real balance about when you order and how many times you order a week. There are certain vendors we only want to order once a week from, and that may be because of the cost of the delivery or because of their minimums—and we might be able to meet the minimum once a week, but we can’t meet it twice a week. So, that gets to be a bit of a balancing game there. We have 18 or 20 vendors and try to get local on everything that’s available and cost effective.”

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 77

STEVE GREEN

CORTLAND MERCER

“If you look over there,” Cortland says, while pointing to their bar area, “you’ll see that our only back of the house space is that little dish pit and some storage on top. About a year ago, we got some storage next door. It’s an added monthly cost, but at the same time it allows us to have more of a consistent product. It allows us to have more flexibility with our menu and continue to grow and evolve it. Another thing we’re getting ready to roll

KEVAN FRAZIER

“We’re not going to compete with Cúrate in terms of fine dining, but we want to provide good quality food for what we do.” out is a really fun cocktail menu. That never would have been possible before because we need storage with cages.”

“Our biggest single challenge is our very small kitchen production space,” agrees Kevan. “The main bar is our kitchen.

We don’t have a hidden kitchen somewhere. There are certain limitations. We don’t have a deep-fat fryer, but at the same time, most of the things you can cook with a deep-fat fryer 78

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SOME OF Well Played's huge game archive.

we don’t want to serve because we don’t want greasy hands touching the games.”

They’ve tweaked the menu along the way with what sold and didn’t sell, while remaining true to their original vision to offer up comfort food and snacks like you’d find at grandma’s house.

They continually seek out the best ingredients and vendors with the freshest products.

They’ve added salads along the way, nixed the idea of offering Hot Pockets, and changed the type of bread used on the flatbread pizzas. Their biggest seller, hands down, was an original idea.

“We knew we wanted to do grilled cheeses,” says Kevan. “The three of us were thinking about our favorite cheesy things, and I said, ‘How about a mac ‘n’ cheese grilled cheese?’ We all looked at each other and said, ‘YES!’ We could do that.”

“We’re not going to compete with Cúrate in terms of fine dining,” says Cortland, “but we want to provide good quality food for what we do and still deliver that mac ‘n’ cheese homey goodness. It’s all about nostalgia and fun here, and if our food program doesn’t back that up then we would fail on that side of the house.”

Kevan points proudly to the health inspection notice on their wall that recently graded Well Played a sanitation score of 100. “We’ve always been in the upper 90s, but just recently received a 100, and that’s the result of the whole team making that happen.”

They have around 15 employees, most of whom work on a part-time basis. “There’s a pretty high turnover rate around town for staff in the restaurant industry, but we have a handful of folks who’ve been with us since we opened the doors two years ago and, we feel good about that,” says Cortland.

Strong Bonds The three owners are tied together through a connection to UNC-Asheville. Kevan and Steve have been friends for around 28 years since their days as classmates at the school.

They later connected with Cortland, who served as Student Body President at UNCA during the 2009-10 school year and graduated in 2011.

Kevan and Cortland first tossed around the idea of a board game café together, and then invited Steve to breakfast one morning to consider the possibility of a three-way business partnership. The idea immediately appealed to Steve and brought back memories from his youth. His dad was in the military and his family moved every 12 to 18 months. “We didn’t have a lot of money,” he says, “but I had a Monopoly game. One of the last things we packed was the board game and one of the first things we unpacked was the board game.

That was our entertainment.”

Steve adds that the idea also intrigued him because he thought it would be neat to be part of something where you June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 79

WITH 700 games to choose from, sometimes a classic is best.

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THEIR FAVORITE mac ‘n’ cheese grilled cheese, coming off the grill.

can unplug, unwind, and actually have a conversation with someone: “We decided we were not going to have TVs, we’re not going to offer Wifi, and we’re not going to have a lot of hoopla. It’s almost like you can tell when people have that moment here when they’re like, ‘You know what? I haven’t touched my cell phone in fifteen minutes and I’m okay. I’ve made it.”

The three men structured the business as a partnership LLC with each one having an equal share. “We each made a cash contribution into the business, and then we also took a loan through the Carolina Small Business Development Fund,” says Kevan. “So that was our funding mechanism to put the business together. We didn’t operate on a shoestring, but we tried to be really savvy about what we put money into. We spent some time with the folks at SCORE—they helped us out. Knowing other restauranteurs in Asheville like Charlie Hodge, who owns Sovereign Remedies, was a giant help.”

Each partner brings his own skill sets to the table and is a perfect match to complement the others. “Steve does HR and finance and his wife, Kathrine, is our accountant. Cortland is responsible for media, marketing, and special events, and I am responsible for operations,” says Kevan.

Now here’s the tricky part, time-wise. Each partner has a fulltime job outside of the work required to establish and maintain Well Played. Kevan serves as the executive director for Western Carolina University’s programs in Asheville, which is based in Biltmore Park.

Cortland works in strategic communications, consulting as director at High Lantern Group. And Steve is employed in economic development.

The trio has worked out the logistics, though. As Kevan explains, “We don’t have to be directly in here a great deal of the time. We have a great team that manages that part of it. We’re all in at least once a week, and of course that’s typically for us at lunchtime, evenings, or weekends. We each do work from home in the evenings, and on weekends and we talk.”

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com

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GREEN'S TATTOO that he got for his daughter.

“If any one of us owned Well Played, we couldn’t do that,” he continues. “It’s taken all three of us. None of us had a background in running a restaurant. We had to learn the ropes in that, but Steve and I came in with a lot of large-scale event management, and that often has a food service component in it.”

“The three of us work really well together,” adds Cortland. “I think most business folks get in with partners and they want to tear each other’s throats out by week two, but we’re all still good buddies.”

In terms of profit, Kevan says, “We were in the black our first year and we were in the black last year, so that’s really great.

We had made some decisions early on that, because the three of us were still working full-time, we could choose not to take any money out for the owners until our goal was in the third year. We’re now in the third year, so that’s part of our plan. You don’t put money into a business without an expectation that you’ll get a return on it.”

“I should also say that I’m really fortunate that my employer, WCU, is really supportive of this,” Kevan adds. “They know I’ll get my primary work done and get well more than 40 hours from me; but also, it’s a great way to be connected in small 82

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business, and hospitality, and tourism, which are two really important areas for us as an institution. Sometimes I refer to Well Played as my graduate internship in entrepreneurship.”

Finding Light Amid the Darkness Portions of the ceiling at Well Played remain jet black. At one time, blackness immersed the whole space—ceiling, walls, and floor— conducive to a nightclub vibe back when it operated as The National. Green notes that when the Well Played partners took over the building, they would try to hold meetings in the darkened tomb with only one hanging light bulb to illuminate their surroundings.

“This was just not a positive place to meet,” he says. “I love showing people the ceiling and try to help them envision the whole thing—floor to ceiling—just black.”

It’s a bit hard to imagine the void amid the cheerful colors of the space today. They transformed the ebony interior with light making it a place that’s ideal simply for hanging out, with tables and booths up front, along with a bar area, and a back-room space filled with more tables and chairs. They have seats for

"YOU SUNK my battleship!"

82 people. Linking the two gathering areas together is a massive game library in the middle, as well as restrooms.

The three partners worked hard to transform the space, with hues evoking feelings of calm, relaxation, and fun,

recently plunged into the kind of bleakness that seemingly offered little hope of a reprieve. But Steve and his wife, Kathrine, have an arsenal of powerful weapons in their battle against the darkness: They’re keeping light flowing in with their love, hope, and fierce dedication to their four children. They have two boys, ages 13 and 11, and two girls, ages 5 and 3.

The personal darkness appeared suddenly when Steve discovered the older daughter limp in her bedroom, her flesh appearing blue, in June of 2018. As a former EMS medic, he quickly began life-saving efforts and stayed with his daughter in the ambulance as it raced her to Mission Hospital. From there, they went on to Chapel Hill for further testing.

Doctors gave grim news for then 4-year-old Camden (Cami). “She was diagnosed with five high-grade glioblastoma tumors,” says Steve. “Zero percent chance, three to six months to live.”

The news rocked them to their core, left Steve crying for two months, and tested the bonds of his business

“I couldn’t have asked for better partners,” he continues. “In my case, I couldn’t have continued the operation without partners.” as well as designs to provoke thought and serve as a backdrop for stimulating conversations and good-natured competitions. “We’re pretty happy with the transformation,” says Steve.

Steve’s awareness of the contrast between the black ceiling and the happy colors in this space becomes all the more relevant upon learning how the businessman’s life

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 83

Battleships, Hungry Hippos, Exploding Kittens, & More:

WHAT’S HOT AT WELL PLAYED The owners of Well Played—Kevan Frazier, Cortland Mercer, and Steve Green— created the place as a nostalgic throwback to a time where people spent more time playing board games and actually talking to each other than playing video games or digital game apps on phones and other electronic devices. Those popular games of the past, such as Monopoly, Sorry, Risk, Clue, Life, etc., are all available at Well Played, but you might not be able to guess what’s topping the request list these days.

“Exploding Kittens is the game we have to replace most often,” says Kevan.

“Exploding Kittens is popular mainly because of the online car toon ‘The Oatmeal’,” explains Cortland. “Honestly, it’s not that great of a game, but the cartoon drawings in it are super fun and it’s an easy game to learn. Some people compare it to UNO. They also make a NSFW [Adult only] edition.”

Here’s a Quick Look at Some of the Other Popular Games: Science-Based Games Photosynthesis and Wingspan are super popular right now. “Photosynthesis is a game where you are essentially growing forests by planting trees,” says Cor tland.

“Personally, I find it very relaxing, almost meditative to play. It’s almost like a board game version of gardening.

In Wingspan you are essentially an ornithologist who is trying to attract unique birds to your research preserve.

It’s a fun game, but you also get to learn about a bunch of different birds.”

Party Games Groups that want to have fun together often choose such games as Secret Hitler, What Do You Meme?, Codenames, and Cash ‘n Guns.

Nostalgia “We see a lot of folks pick up their favorite childhood games like Battleship and Mouse Trap,” says Cortland.

“I was super stoked when last year for the holidays an anonymous fan sent us a copy of Crossfire, which was popular in the ‘90s and they had an awesome commercial. I think everyone has a game like that and we try to stock as many of those as we can—Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots and Hungry Hungry Hippos kinda falls 84

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into that category. You wouldn’t want to play them every day, but for a healthy dose of nostalgia, they are perfect.”

Gamer Favorites The more serious hobby gamers often choose Gloomhaven and Scythe—both relatively new games that have come out in the last year or two. Cortland explains each: “Gloomhaven is more of a tabletop, storytelling game where you choose a character and then go on a series of quests or missions, so it’s played typically over a series of kind of ‘choose your own adventure’ games. Scythe is an interesting engine-builder game set in post-apocalyptic Europe where a series of factions are competing for resources to gain territory. It’s very high strategy/skill-based, but I think what makes it so popular is the theme and awesome game miniatures.”

Secret Stash Some games in the Well Played collection don’t appear on the library shelves. They store separately and will discreetly roll out at times. “Like we have this really cool copy of HeroQuest,” says Cortland. “If you bought it on eBay, it would be around $150—it’s super expensive. We keep it stored in a secret collection because it could get beat up on the shelves.”

partnership with Kevan and Cortland. He says one of the reasons he feels comfortable sharing such acutely personal information is because it gives him an avenue to praise Kevan and Cortland for their understanding, friendship, and support as he focused on his family.

“If it had been just me, Well Played would have shut down last June,” says Steve.

He admits that in the early business planning stages, although he was intrigued with the idea, he was also apprehensive about having partners because, as he says, “Partners can cause a delay in action; you might have some condensing; you might have to listen to opinions.” But his apprehension faded as the three worked closely in planning out the concept and building stronger bonds together.

“I couldn’t have asked for better partners,” he continues. “In my case, I couldn’t have continued the operation without partners.”

Fortunately, Kevan and Cortland were able to take on extra day-to-day tasks to keep Well Played operational whenever Steve had to be absent, but Steve and his wife also maintained their share of responsibilities.

“I am very blessed that my wife is a CPA who is brilliant,” says Steve. “We are able, when we are in Memphis at St. Jude’s Hospital, to do payroll and all the other necessary functions. We carry our laptops and do payroll every two weeks, and do all the HR and regulatory and the legal and the insurance. It’s pretty amazing that I have partners who are so supportive and are able to carry on a lot of the business without me being physically present. It’s a blessing.”

As they desperately searched for treatment for their daughter, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital stepped in at the 11th hour with an experimental drug. Cami has responded extremely well, with Steve saying, “We went from five brain tumors to two in two months, and the other two tumors might not be tumors at all. We may have already had the miracle of miracles.

“Her doctors say she is revolutionizing cancer for patients around the world. There are technically five patients on this drug, but Cami is the only person in the world who hasn’t had some other treatment.

She hasn’t had radiation. She hasn’t had another kind of chemo.”

This allows doctors the benefit of truly seeing the result of this drug without influence from other means of treatment.

Even in the midst of scary treatments and an unknown future, Steve tries to preserve moments of fun for Cami. She used to become very anxious when medical staff would access her port, so Steve June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 85

has created a special ritual of comfort and reassurance for his daughter.

“She had a pen in her hand one time,” he says. “She was anxious and grabbed my arm and started drawing on my arm. She immediately relaxed. So, we did it again and

Then he rolls up his sleeve and shows off a tattoo that covers the lower portion of his right arm. The design looks like a zentangle of sorts with lots of open spaces in and around the designs. “I got this so she could color it,” he says. “I put some of her favorite things on here like a lightning bug and the sun and a rainbow.”

The tattoo serves as a visible testament of Steve’s love for his daughter and the length he will go to support her and, hopefully, create opportunities to smile and laugh amid the scary uncertainty.

He scrolls through his cell phone to find a photo of himself and Cami, their faces alive with laughter. “We had our first giggle in 10 months about two to three weeks ago. I was really excited. We were at an iHop and I know everyone around us thought we were being silly, but it was a wonderful moment.”

In March, Cami defied the prediction that she would not live to see another birthday. She celebrated her fifth birthday in grand style, along with her younger sister, Cora.

Their birthdays are days apart.

“Growth is definitely on our minds. It’s an exploration, but we don’t have plans in hand at this moment for how we’d like to do that.” again and again. Turns out that’s all she needs to relax.

It’s become our special bond. She draws all over my arms.”

He shows off the scribbles on his left arm. “She’s learning letters and one day she was putting letters together. We decided to see what a funny word would sound like, so we were trying to pronounce all these things.”

WESTERN NORTH C AROLINA’S FREE SPIRIT OF ENTERPRISE

W E S T E R N N O R T H C A R O L I N A' S

HELP KIDS PLANT A GARDEN! The Unbroken Circle Project helps Native American families of the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.

This year we’re helping the kids plant vegetable gardens and learn about healthy food options.

We need help purchasing the plants.

You can donate online at unbrokencircleproject.org/ donate/ or make checks payable to “Unbroken Circle Project” and mail to: PO Box 1364, Fletcher, NC 28732 The Unbroken Circle Project is a non-profit 501(c)3 Guidestar recognized organization .

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$15.

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C API TAL ATPL AY. C OM

“When you’re not expecting to have a good Thanksgiving or a good Christmas or a good New Years, to make it to a birthday you’re not expecting, it’s very special,” Steve says, his eyes flooding with tears. “We had a huge birthday party. We asked for one Disney princess to show up and 14 came. I didn’t even know there were 14 princesses.”

Looking Ahead Will Well Played expand to other locations? That’s a question the trio currently ponders. They also field a lot of calls from people across the country who want advice on opening a similar business or those who want Well Played to come to their communities.

“Growth is definitely on our minds. It’s an exploration, but we don’t have plans in hand at this moment for how we’d like to do that,” says Kevan. “We don’t necessarily think that means another location in Asheville. My main office is in south Asheville. The number of repeats we have in south Asheville from Biscuit Head to White Duck and all of those, they do well, but I don’t know if that would be for us.

One thing is for sure—they want to keep creating smiles and give folks an avenue for discussion, learning strategic moves, and problem-solving.

“The more you are connected to the news and what’s going on in the world, things are just crazy and nutty. We’ve lost our ability to talk and to chat and to figure out problems,” says Steve. “There’s a lot space between the extremes, where a lot of people can meet and greet and gather and have a cerebral conversation on how to solve problems, and that’s what board games do. You come together and a lot of times along the way, hopefully, you’re having a lot of fun and either mutually or exclusively find a way to solve a problem. That’s another thing I like about modern board games—a lot of times you’re on the same team as you navigate this thing, so you’re doing teamwork exercises as well.”

“We’ve really built a niche, and people have responded,” summarizes Cortland. “It’s a fun place where you can go and spend time with your friends or family. We found a way to make that work.”

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People Play at

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1. Alice Griffin & Ashley Griffin-Wineinger 2.Betsy Gillespie places a bid.

3. Treasurer Debbie Heffner and President Binford Jennings

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4. Katina Turner (R) w/new members Elizabeth Ford & Laura Hudson, and friend 5. Bob Maxwell & Shelia Elingburg 6. Former CWL President Anita Metcalf

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7. Nancy Waldrop & David King 8. Beverly Burt & Patricia Paulk 9. (L-R) Kim Dechant, Sonya Leonard, Tonya Dalton, Sarah Thomas-Moore, Gala chair

Children’s Welfare League Spring Gala Plaza Resort Expo Center | Asheville, NC | April 6, 2019 Photos by Mardy Murphy 9

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Joanna Best, Susan Hunter, Martha Goebel, Alice Griffin, Ashley Griffin-Wineinger, & Alaina Neal 10. Buddy & Sylvia Greenwood 11. Bobbie & Brady Blackburn

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12. Betsy Gillespie, Sarah Thomas-Moore, Laura Livingstain, & Patricia Cole 13. Shelley White & Allison Sellers 14. Katherine Morosani, Binford Jennings,

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Lisa Obereuter, & Katherine Soderquist 15. Sovereign Remedies “Cultivated Cocktails” were among the evening libations.

16. Neal and Amy Hanks June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 89

events

june

EVENTS june 1-2 , 6 - 9, 13 -16

Bright Star: Bluegrass Musical

7:30PM (Thu-Sat), 2:30PM (Sat, Sun) Owen Theatre, Mars Hill University 100 Athletic St, Mars Hill, NC The widely-acclaimed collaboration by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell tells a story about love and small-town secrets.

The drama is set in Asheville and the surrounding areas, but this will be its premiere in Western North Carolina.

>Tickets: Premium $34, Standard $29 > 828-689-1232 > sartplays.com june 1-2, 7-9, 14-16, 21-22

Henry IV, Part 1

7:30PM

Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre 92 Gay St, Asheville, NC

june 5, 12, 19, 26

The Montford Park players like this Shakespearean work because it’s accessible and great (and free). Henry IV is one of the Bard’s best known pieces, and a classic for the park.

> 828-254-5146 > montfordparkplayers.org

LEAF Community Arts 6-7:30PM

Pritchard Park 67 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC Wednesdays, Easel Rider artists teach crafts and/or entertain with free cultural performances.

> 828-251-9973 > ashevilledowntown.org

june 4

Incredible Business Networking – East Asheville

june 6 -29

7th Annual Pollination Celebration

11:30AM-1PM

Holiday Inn Asheville – Biltmore East 1450 Tunnel Rd, Asheville, NC

Various Asheville/Buncombe County Venues

Attendees are asked to bring a stack of business cards and get to work at this free event. Sponsors include Big Frog, Radius, Rainbow International, Lone Bird, Montreat College, CBIZ Flex-Pay, and ACTIONCoach Bill Gilliland. They request that participants purchase a lunch to thank the host restaurant.

Asheville GreenWorks and Bee City USA-Asheville turns National Pollinator Week (June 17-23) into a month’s worth of tributes to bees and their ilk, who are crucial to our agriculture and ecosystems. Everything from honey tastings and garden planting workshops to film screenings and a “pollinator scavenger hunt” will take place.

> 828-777-2288 > meetup.com/Asheville-BusinessNetworking/

> 828-254-1776 > ashevillegreenworks.org

®

828-254-6141 mbhaynes.com

PROUDLY EMPLOYEE OWNED

QUALITY COMMITMENT CHARACTER 90

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june 6

Haywood Chamber Annual Dinner

Laurel Ridge Country Club 49 Cupp Lane, Waynesville, NC 28786 The yearly roundup features awards that go to business owners who have enhanced the county’s business environment. The top award goes to “Business of the Year.”

This is a members only event.

> Member Individual Ticket - $50 Member Table of 8 - $500 > 828-456-3021

june 6 , 13 , 20 , 27

ArborEvenings

6-9PM North Carolina Arboretum 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, Asheville, NC See the Arboretum in night lighting and listen to live music in the Heritage Garden. See the beautiful flowers in the sunset’s glow.

> Parking: Personal Vehicle $14, Motorhome $50, Bus $100 > 828-665-2492 > ncarboretum.org

june 6 - 8

Blue Ridge Fiber Fest

Alleghany County Fairgrounds 1375 US Highway 21 North, Sparta, NC The Mountain Homespun Fiber Guild hosts workshops, classes, meetings, browsing, sales. Classes will be conducted at the Senator’s House on Main Street.

> Classes: $35-$110 each > blueridgefiberfest@gmail.com > blueridgefiberfest.com june 7- 9

WordCamp Asheville

UNC-Asheville, Highsmith Student Union 1 University Heights, Asheville, NC WordPress pros network and experiment together. Friday’s PreCamp gets beginners up-to-speed on how to launch and maintain a WordPress website.

Preregistration required.

>Tickets: Camp $50, PreCamp & Camp $85 > asheville.wordcamp.org

june 8

Clay Day

10AM-4PM Folk Art Center, Milepost 382, Blue Ridge Parkway, Asheville, NC Artisans from the guild and elsewhere will demonstrate and help with hands-on family fun in throwing, hand-building, and surface-designing. Make-and-Take Raku is $10 extra.

> 828-633-5819 > southernhighlandguild.org/event/clayday/

june 8

Angel Pets Expo

10AM-6PM Renaissance Asheville Hotel 31 Woodfin St, Asheville, NC At long last, experts are coalescing to collaborate and brainstorm best practices for aging pets. The expo, while only a portion of a wider conference, is open to the general public.

> Admission: $5 > 828-450-4424 > angelpetsconference.com

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 91

events

june 8

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Cybersecurity for Small Businesses

9AM-12PM AB-Tech Small Business Center 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler, NC

Instructor Jensen Gelfond, owner of Asheville Digital Lifestyle, says a little knowledge goes a long way when it comes to cybersecurity. Topics at this free workshop include device shielding, credit card protection, safe browsing, password management, backing up files, and more.

> 828-271-4786 > ashevillescore.org June 12 - August 5, 2019

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OR Enjoy saving $300 on a Sunrise recliner & ottoman, LegComfort recliner or office chair *See Store for complete details.

june 11

The Maker’s Table: The Strength of a Single Thread

6-7PM Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Chestnut St, Blowing Rock, NC With samples of her own work, Paula Bowers will discuss the history of weaving, which has not evolved much in thousands of years, as well as modern techniques.

> Admission: $5 > 828-295-9099 > blowingrockmuseum.org june 14 & 29

SPECIAL FINANCING See store for details.

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(828) 669-5000 Mon. - Sat. 9am - 5:30pm TysonFurniture.com 92

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Dargan Landscape Architects Events 10AM Dargan/Dovecote Barn 35 Flash Point Dr, Cashiers, NC On 6/14, Mary Palmer Dargan of Dargan Landscape Architects has a discussion of “Hip & Cool Plants” for your yard.

Then, on 6/29, horticulturist Edmund

Taylor talks about tetraploid daylilies and “making new plants.”

> 828-743-0307 > dargan.com june 14

Summer Garden Tour

4-5PM Bullington Gardens 95 Upper Red Oak Trail, Hendersonville, NC

The garden welcomes guests any day it’s open, but this day, director John Murphy will be guiding a free stroll through the mini-ecosystems. Registration required.

> 828-698-6104 > bullingtongardens.org/eventsworkships/

june 15

All You Need to Know about Website Development

9AM-12PM AB-Tech Small Business Center 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler, NC

Instructor Steffi Rausch is the owner and designer for Evolv. She will give a free talk about how to select a good web developer for your company.

> 828-271-4786 > asheville.score.org june 21

Downtown After 5

5PM North Lexington Avenue, Asheville

Third summer Fridays, around 5,000 people head downtown to blow off steam after a hard work week, but some continue to network. Prestige Subaru sponsors this 30-year-old tradition.

> ashevilledowntown.org/ downtownafter5

june 21-23

Don’t stop now

North Carolina Rhododendron Festival Downtown Bakersville

The 73rd annual celebrates the beautiful flower with a pageant, a craft fair, food, children’s activities, live music, a car show, a 10K, and dancing in the streets. The NC Rhododendron Pageant is held in conjunction with the Festival.

> ncrhododendronfestival.org june 21-22

Historic Flat Rock Garden Tours

Hopewood Gardens 365 Sherwood Dr South, Flat Rock, NC

Having come this far, you’re standing at the gap of uncertainty. You need more than a controller but can’t afford a full-time CFO — not yet.

Crossing the divide is easier than you think. At Kaplan CFO we do it every day. As part of your management team, we create the processes,

Alan Minker

Kaplan CFO Partner

alan.minker@kaplancfo.com 919.402.6427 www.kaplancfo.com

resources and financial stability you’ll need on the other side. Let’s go.

The tour of half a dozen manicured landscapes will depart from Hopewood Gardens three times: Friday (1-4:30PM) and Saturday (9A M-12:30PM and 11:30AM-3PM); and a garden party Friday (5:30-8PM) will raise funds for garden preservation.

> Admission: Tour $60, Party $100 > 828-698-0030 > historicflatrockinc.com june 21

Doc Watson Day Celebration

4-8PM The Jones House 604 West King St, Boone, NC In the ninth annual free bash, musicians influenced by Doc, including some who played with him, will gather on the lawn for some pickin’ ‘n’ grinnin’ in his memory.

> 828-268-6280 > joneshouse.org/doc-watson-daycelebration/

Custom pools and spas.

We create unique backyard environments 1200-C Hendersonville Rd. Asheville, NC • 828-277-8041 • waterworkswnc.com Swim Spas by American Whirlpool.

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events

– august 10 Horn in the West june 21

8-9:30PM (Tue-Sun) Daniel Boone Park: 591 Horn in the West Dr, Boone, NC

Actors interpret the struggles endured by a band of settlers, led by Daniel Boone, with help from the Cherokee, all for freedom from the Crown. The show is put on by the Southern Appalachian Historical Association, who focus on maintaining the heritage of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

> Admission: Adult $20-$45, Student $17-$45, Child (0-12) $15-$25 > 828-264-2120 > horninthewest.com/horn

june 22-23

ASAP Farm Tour

12-5PM Western North Carolina

As Seen In WESTERN

NORTH CAROLINA’S

FINEST HOMES

A collection of local farms are opening to the public for guided tours, hands-on activities, demonstrations, and sampling.

Visitors drive themselves, at their own pace. There is usually enough time to see 3-4 farms a day.

>Tour Pass (per car): Advance $30, Weekend-of $40 > 828-236-1282 > asapconnections.org/events/asaps-farm-tour/ june 22

Antique & Vintage Show 8AM-5PM Downtown Hendersonville, NC

In the 28th annual, registered vendors sell anything old— crafts, furniture, Americana, kitsch, and agricultural and industrial scavenges—on the sidewalk downtown.

> 828-233-3205 > downtownhendersonville.org/annual-antique-vintage-show/ june 22

Drums & Dragons

8:30AM-3PM Lake Julian Park: 406 Overlook Rd Extension, Arden, NC

562 Long Shoals Road Arden NC | June 94828-687-1968 • 2019 TogarRugs.com

This is the second year of racing the dragons! Groups race dragon boats to raise money for the WNC Bridge Foundation

(formerly the CarePartners Foundation). Over $51,000 was raised last year from 15 teams. The WNC Bridge Foundation addresses health challenges in our communities.

> 828-777-2827 > drumsanddragons.org

providing quality connections, quality pay, quality care, and quality relationships between care providers and clients on their own terms.

We Match the Best Provider for YOUR specific needs, ultimately the best match is YOUR CHOICE

june 22

Upper French Broad Riverfest

10AM-3:30PM Champion Park: 6 Main St, Rosman, NC

In addition to the normal fair fare, this event includes tubing, archery, fishing, a scavenger hunt, and live reptiles.

Transylvania County is the headwaters of the French Broad River, and this festival is all about celebrating the River.

> 828-585-7487 > transylvaniafrenchbroadstewards.org/upper-french-broadriverfest/

– july 1 Asheville Percussion Festival june 24

The best choice to provide in home care Beth M. Lamb RN, CMC 828-553-1727 beth.lamb@ choicecareyourway.com

Lisa L. Laney MSW, CMC 828-772-0002 lisa.laney@ choicecareyourvvay.com

www.choicecareyourway.com

Various Asheville Venues

Rhythm enthusiasts converge on Asheville for a week of education and collaboration. The week ends with the Masters of Percussion concert at the Diana Wortham Theatre.

> 828-258-0710 > ashevillepercussionfestival.com june 27

Listen to This

7:30-9:30PM 35below: 35 East Walnut Street, Asheville, NC Details of this month’s installation of storytelling by local characters remain TBA. The event is hosted by Tom Chalmers.

Stories and songs are performed for everyone’s enjoyment in this monthly event.

The Care You Trust

Every Moment Matters.

When living with a serious illness, Four Seasons can help you make the most of each moment and feel better doing it.

> Admission $15 > 828-254-1320 > ashevilletheatre.org/events/listen-to-this/ june 28

Dwight Yoakam 8-10:30PM

FourSeasonsCFL.org June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 95

events

NEW & CONSIGNMENT FURNITURE!

The Largest Consignment Store in WNC… 20,000 sq ft of shopping fun!

3699 Hendersonville Rd. Fletcher, NC 28732 (Clothing, decor, furniture & more!)

MON – SAT: 10 – 6 828-687-7565

|

www.ilovelulus.net

US Cellular Center, Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 87 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC The hero of Appalachian folk music tours with his new album, Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars. With 30 years of music under his belt, Yoakam heads back to his bluegrass roots.

>Tickets: $37+ > 828-259-5736 > uscellularcenterasheville.com/event/dwight-yoakam-2019/ june 29

Grey Eagle 25th Anniversary

10AM Lake Eden, Black Mountain, NC

A camping festival commemorates all the great acts that earned distinction for the Grey Eagle. Mandolin Orange and The Budos Band headline for names like James McMurtry and Drivin’ N Cryin’.

>Tickets: VIP $150, Door $85, Advance $75, Youth (0-9) FREE > 828-232-5800 > thegreyeagleanniversary.com

june 29

Annual Heritage Day and Wood Kiln Opening

10AM-4PM Traditions Pottery: 4443 Bolick Road, Lenoir, NC

In addition to loading the kiln with a menagerie of mugs and knick-knacks to be sold that day, there’ll be storytelling with Fred Frawley and Orville Hicks, music by The Dollar Brothers and Glenn Bolick and Friends, an interactive quilting party, and more arts and crafts for sale.

> 828-295-3862 > traditionspottery.com/events.html

169 Charlotte Street Asheville, NC 28801 828-575-9525 metrowinesasheville.com SMALL SHOP SERVICE *FREE & EASY PARKING*

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LARGE SHOP SELECTION

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.

June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 97

EXCEL® V

BEFORE

WALK ON TOP OF THE WORLD AFTER

You’ve already picked out your favorite swimsuit, so get ready to show off your incredible legs too. The Excel® V procedure uses high precision lasers to target pesky spider veins and skin pigmentation in a fast, safe and pain-free way. These state-of-the-art lasers are adjustable in size so they can target over 20 different skin issues at various depths and on all skin types. In as little as 15 minutes, you can walk out of our office feeling confident and ready to show those legs off to the world!

Contact Biltmore Restorative Medicine to schedule your consult today.

98

biltmorerestorative.com • 828.210.2285 | June 2019

Pierre DeMatos, MD, FACS Sometimes the best runs come on the days when you don’t feel like lacing up the shoes, but you do it anyway. #feelingwhole

You have a choice when it comes to surgeons.

Connect with our comprehensive team of surgery specialists that sees you as an individual, not a number.

From elective to urgent surgical procedures, outpatient to inpatient, let us help you charge forward, combining the most advanced science and the least invasive techniques — with kindness, compassion and comfort.

AdventHealth Surgery Specialists are here to ease your mind and lift your spirits. It’s time to feel whole.

AdventHealth.com 855-774-LIFE (5433)

Surgery Specialists at Hendersonville June 2019 | capitalatplay.com 99

MLS# 3463677 | $899,000

YOU’LL SEE OUR SIGNS EVERYWHERE This time of the year, you’ll see Beverly-Hanks’ sold signs blooming all over Western North Carolina. See something you love? Come check it out before it’s SOLD! Last year, our agents helped over 4,000 buyers and sellers.

OUR LOCATIONS

Find your next home at beverly-hanks.com or contact your local agent. You’ll find our agents working and playing in our favorite places throughout Western North Carolina.

Most offices are located on Main Street in your neighborhood.

NORTH ASHEVILLE (828) 251-1800

SALUDA (828) 749-3504

DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE (828) 254-7221

DOWNTOWN BREVARD (828) 877-6006

SOUTH ASHEVILLE (828) 684-8999

SOUTH BREVARD (828) 877-4490

BURNSVILLE (828) 682-7408

WAYNESVILLE (828) 452-5809

HENDERSONVILLE (828) 697-0515

WEAVERVILLE (828) 251-1800

LAKE LURE (828) 694-3001

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