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“The waters were rushing in, and I prayed, ‘Lord, you said if I had faith the size of a mustard seed…’ and then I watched the waters recede,” said Larry. I met him almost nine weeks after the storm as he and his neighbors were still working to get warmth in their temporary housing.
The water did not recede quickly for most folks across western NC and Tennessee—and yet their faith was strong as well. Many, after losing their homes, businesses and even loved ones, were seen volunteering at their local churches just days later.
Nature didn’t knock; Helene came in uninvited and with a vengeance.
I am at a loss for words to describe the effects of Hurricane Helene this past September 27. My tears that continue to emerge make up for lost words; they seem to surface as soon as I hear of yet another story of destruction, survival and hope.
When I consider the countless ways locals, business owners and people from all over the country came together—and continue to travel to our area to help—I will forever be in awe. There are not sufficient ways to express thanks for all they have done and continue to do.
A dear friend and fellow business owner shared a new word she wants put into Webster’s Dictionary: “enoughness.”
There is not “enoughness” to do what we all want to do to help others and sort out our own lives amidst this event we lived through. All of us who call these mountains “home” never imagined that a Hurricane could have brought so much devastation to our area. Prepare? Candles, water for flushing, generators, and non-perishable foods ready for eating—all those efforts quadrupled could never have prepared us for this storm.
Literally days after the storm when Banner Elk lost all water, sewer and power, the Town’s management turned the Historic Banner Elk School (the location of our CML office) into a well-run distribution center, offering relief to thousands of neighbors who needed help and comfort. Thanks to Nancy and Rick Owen and their incredible team for over two months of service.
winter!
It was surreal to walk out of our office to the hallway and see a wall of diapers and baby formula; and across the hall, at the Banner Elk Book Exchange, counselors were on hand and FEMA agents spoke with people about emergency aid.
continued on next page
My husband, Tom, the Sugar Mountain Golf director, was gearing up for the final month of the golf season at Sugar Mountain when Helene struck and literally swept away sections of greens and fairways and left gigantic pines on the course and cart paths.
The Sugar Mountain Golf & Tennis Pro Shop and the CaddyShack became a makeshift free Medical Clinic operated by a team of volunteers led by Dr. Sherry O’Donnell from The Heartbeat Mission Clinic. They offered more than medical assistance—their presence, support and prayers were so healing for hundreds of folks. The clinic was just one of countless operations that popped up to offer some relief, and many to this day are still serving the community.
While at press time many of the distribution sites had consolidated, others, like Foscoe Grandfather Community Center, remain in operation to help through winter months.
It has been amazing to watch these beautifully orchestrated efforts toward recovery.
The accounts of bridges washed away or compromised, and then stories of bridges being rebuilt, and relationships being forged through the devastation, will continue to be the hallmark silver lining to Helene. Beneath the mud and rubble our precious earth cried, and yet pure white snow falls this season, reminding us of cleansing and renewal.
When two major local charity fund-raising festivals—the 47th Annual Woolly Worm Festival and the 46th Annual Valle Country Fair—were cancelled, a small and heartfelt Woolly Worm tribute was held on the field to honor our first responders and electrical lineman. The town of Banner Elk was still without water and sewer, but folks gathered to get free food in front of the Historic Banner Elk School and listen to local musicians David and Claire Kimmel sing their hearts out. The loss of that money not raised for charity will be sorely missed.
We also missed the sheer fun of Oktoberfest and many other festivals. So, we eagerly anticipate marking our 2025 calendars for these and so many other fall events.
We all share in the grief and the hope because that is the fabric of who we are—“Mountain Strong” resilient people. We will move forward and continue to celebrate each other’s milestones and successes, doing so to also honor those who have lost so much.
The feelings I have experienced since the storm could best be described as stark, raw, surreal, exhausting, sad, and almost numbing. Yet, monumental acts of love, hope, grace, resilience, and tenacity have somewhat softened the blow.
Along the way, I have met folks who needed help, but said, “There are others in worse condition.” The folks in this area are truly Mountain Strong.
The needs of families and individuals will go on for months and years. And so will the stories of neighbors, church groups and organizations helping each other in the aftermath of one of the worst natural disasters in our history.
But what Helene didn’t do was sweep away the grit and fortitude of our mountain people.
We are putting out this winter issue in the hopes that you will take us with you. That you will read the stories, visit our advertisers, and remember that shopping, dining, playing and staying local is more important than ever.
While we welcome visitors and celebrate the winter season and all that it has to offer, we remain diligent in our continued support of recovery. We hope you will let us know what amazing treasures you found at a local shop, or challenging hikes you took, or how the wonders of our mountains made for a memorable stay, or served as a reminder of why you live here year-round.
We hope the warmth of the hot cocoa and soft blankets on our cover gives readers a sense of comfort. To all the people who have lost loved ones, homes and businesses, our prayers are with you—we want to continue to hear your stories, so please reach out to us.
And to all who have made a difference in this recovery effort, and who continue to help in the coming months and years, we offer a toast.
We are forever grateful.
“…our community has come together in a way I’ve never seen before. Helene has affected us all in different ways, and for some, the impact has been devastating. Throughout this time, I’ve witnessed our faith-based organizations, nonprofits, local businesses, friends, and families uniting to support those in need. It has truly been remarkable to see the outpouring of love and compassion throughout the High Country.”
—Boone Police Major Daniel Duckworth
Strength in the Face of the Storm:
Scenes of Kindness, Creativity and Cooperation in our Communities
By CML Staff
OnSeptember 25, 2024, a weather event triggered a series of heavy rains in western N.C. and bordering states, saturating the ground and swelling our streams and rivers. Less than 48 hours later, a powerful tropical cyclone rushed through the Gulf of Mexico and carved a swath of destruction, from Florida to the Appalachian mountains of NC, TN and VA. Weeks later, it was determined that the flooding and winds produced by Hurricane Helene set a record for the most damage ever recorded in our state. Our friends in Florida and neighboring states also endured some devastating effects.
The recovery of our region continues this winter and for many months and years to come. But beyond the visible changes in the landscape, the most notable takeaways from this event are the amazing acts of bravery and kindness, the incredible ways in which we adapt to hardship, and the resilience of our communities, especially when we unite for a shared cause. continued
Courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse
Honoring Our First Responders and Line Crews
First Responders: Today, and every day we want to thank all those who serve.
From local law enforcement and firefighters, to 911 dispatchers, medics, rescue teams and the NC National Guard, we have so many men and women to thank for saving lives; limiting injuries and loss; protecting property and assets; and demonstrating acts of bravery and compassion. When you encounter any of these incredible people, please take a moment to thank them for their tireless service. We also pay tribute to the many electrical line crews who worked around the clock for numerous weeks in dangerous conditions to help restore power to our hard-hit area—read our feature article, “A Heroic Month in the Life of Electrical Line Crews,” on page 74.
Overflowing with Generosity
During the weeks following Helene, resource distribution centers were established to accept and house the many tons of essential supplies donated by charitable organizations, businesses, local, state and federal government agencies, and kind individuals from all over the country. In addition to the main Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) for each county, other relief centers were set up at area churches, fire stations, warehouses, high schools, colleges, and community centers. The Historic Banner Elk School in downtown Banner Elk became a FEMA resource center, as well as a major supply hub for everything a family could need, from baby formula to toothpaste to cleaning supplies to clothing. Linville Resorts organized another huge resource distribution center, serving neighbors directly, as well as restocking other relief centers based on each site’s needs. The
Williams YMCA provided vital supplies, food, shelter, showers, and free childcare. The Avery County Cooperative Extension and the Watauga Extension provided essential agricultural supplies and much more.
Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation was able to turn its focus outward from park operations to humanitarian efforts in Avery County, working with dozens of nonprofits (local to international), regional businesses, tourism colleagues, good Samaritans and many others in an effort to bring relief to the mountain’s surrounding communities. Over on the Zionville, NC/ Trade, TN border, Zionville Ramp Company (ZRC) transformed into the State Line Resource Station and Rural Distribution Center. ZRC owner and organizer Ashley Galleher posted on Facebook in midNovember, “Much of the nation has moved on from this once-in-a-lifetime disaster … we try to communicate the desperate, urgent [ongoing] need for monetary donations, gift cards, and volunteer labor to rebuild our communities.” Read our feature article on Galleher and her good work on page 61.
Feeding the Masses
Sally Loftis, Interim Executive Director at Feeding Avery Families, recently noted, “Before Hurricane Helene, we served an average of 500 families per month with 150+ meal boxes through onsite distribution, deliveries, and mobile distribution. In the last six weeks [following the storm], we served 2,500 families in addition to supplying local churches, volunteer fire departments, and Emergency Operations Command with meat and essentials for cooking meals.” Feeding Avery Families also served as one of the many major relief
centers for supplies beyond food. Other food pantries, including Hunger and Health Coalition and Hospitality House, amplified their operations as they continue to feed our communities for the long-haul.
Refrigerators and Hot Meals
Shortly after the storm hit, the Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA) staff jumped into action by offering their Food Hub freezer and refrigerated storage to producers, checking in with farmers about their urgent needs, and mobilizing hundreds of volunteers to help farms with clean up. brwia.org, brwia.org/disaster-resources.html
In another example of creative problem solving, Coyote Kitchen in Boone, who had a catering order in progress at the time of the storm, pivoted quickly. “When your 100-person catering order gets canceled at the last minute, you get the opportunity to feed the fine folks over at Hospitality House! Being able to help our community . . . made our hearts grow ten times.” Other local restaurants with electricity and stocked pantries were able to put their commercial kitchens to use for the greater good—many free and discounted meals were provided at places like Spear Store, Elk River Depot, The Party Barn in Banner Elk, and Mountain Grounds at Tynecastle.
A big shout-out to all churches, organizations and individuals who ensured that our communities’ basic need of “hot meals” was met with Drive-thru Hot Meal Sites. Read our feature article on World Central Kitchen’s efforts on page 98.
Clean Water Warriors
Clean tap water, ready for drinking, was hard to come by in many communities in
Historic Banner Elk School Resource Center
Feeding Avery Families
Party Barn in Banner Elk (photo by Susan Russ)
the weeks following the storm. Bottled water distribution sites were set up at fire stations, churches, schools, warehouses and parking lots. Cases were brought in by the National Guard and other providers by the truckload. For communities with damaged water lines, including Banner Elk, bottled water fulfilled immediate needs. But as water started flowing again through repaired systems, filters were needed to convert nonpotable water to clean, drinkable water. Wine to Water, a nonprofit based in Boone and dedicated to providing clean water globally, offered free filters to every resident of Banner Elk. Read more about Wine to Water’s mission on page 65.
Warm Beds and a Roof Overhead
The American Red Cross, in coordination with local organizations, set up temporary Emergency Shelters across the region, including at the Holmes Convocation Center on the App State campus. Local hotels and inns quickly stepped in to help those whose homes were destroyed and to house relief workers from off the mountain. A number of our area hotels participated in Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) offered by FEMA, including Best Western in Banner Elk. Over in Newland, The Inn at Shady Lawn also accommodated families sent by FEMA; yet, other displaced families were in need—Shady Lawn’s owners readily opened their doors to unsheltered neighbors, and generous donors pitched in to sponsor these families. Rhode’s Motor Lodge in Boone prioritized hosting employees in need, first responders, relief crews and displaced community members. They also delivered prepared food out into the community. The Rock Gym in Newland served as major
emergency shelter, and fire departments, churches and caring families throughout the region provided warm beds, showers, and a refuge for weary storm victims.
Hometown Heroes
While countless volunteers from all walks of life could be sighted throughout the High Country and foothill communities, few groups were as eye-catching as Samaritan’s Purse volunteers in their brightly colored t-shirts. Samaritan’s Purse, a faithbased humanitarian aid organization with headquarters in Boone, exists to “provide spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world,” including right here in the High Country. Says one Avery County resident, “They swooped in… with their orange t-shirts (capes in my opinion). They started demo, carried out furniture, bagged up trash, hosed out mud, piled up keepsakes… I have never seen anything like the orange army from Samaritan’s Purse that descended on my neighborhood and stayed.”
Data Matters
We are thankful for the people and technology devoted to compiling critical data to help determine where and how to rebuild our infrastructure in the quickest and safest ways. Within days following the storm, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data showed over 1,900 landslides in the affected areas, providing valuable logistical information so that roads, bridges and public infrastructure could be re-engineered and repaired quickly. According to the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management, the storm and its aftermath damaged more than 160 water and sewer systems, at least 6,000 miles of roads, more than 1,000 bridges and culverts
and an estimated 126,000 homes. The Office’s initial estimate reports at least $53 billion in damages. In addition to helping steer resources to our region, important data allow us to plan better for future disasters. osbm.nc.gov, usgs.gov
Neither Rain, Nor Snow… Nor Floods!
What happens when a post office is completely inundated by a raging river (mixed with toxic water from a nearby sewage treatment facility)? They get clever, and make sure mail service rolls on. For several months, the Linville Post Office (CML’s postal provider) had to relocate their main operations to a mail van in their parking lot while the building was being renovated. P.O Box holders were greeted at the van’s window by friendly faces who cheerily doled out each day’s mail.
Valle Crucis School Students Get a New Classroom
For the first time in more than 80 years, the original Mission School classrooms at the Valle Crucis Conference Center are being used as current-day classrooms, housing second through fifth graders from Valle Crucis School who were displaced by Helene. Next door at Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Kindergarten and first graders are busy learning. The sixth through eighth graders are temporarily located at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute (CCC&TI) in Boone. Valle Crucis School students will remain at these locations until 2025 when their new school on Broadstone Road is completed. Having young students at the Valle Crucis Conference Center, says Executive Director Margaret Love, “has continued on next page
The N.C. Army National Guard helps keep the water flowing (photo courtesy of N.C. Army National Guard).
Temporary beds are shown in App State’s Holmes Convocation Center, which, in coordination with the Red Cross, was set up as an Emergency Shelter for students and community members (photo by Troy Tuttle).
Neighborhood Heroes:
We thank everyone who gave their time, energy and talents to help others.
Valle
been nothing but a tremendous blessing. A true gift.”
Holy Cross Episcopal Church and the Valle Crucis Conference Center co-sponsor the annual Valle Country Fair to raise funds for community outreach; the 2024 event was cancelled due to the storm. Plans are underway for the 2025 Festival, to be held October 18, 2025. vallecountryfair.org, vcconferences.org, holycrossvallecrucis.net
Lees-McRae College Students to the Rescue
The strange sight and sound of U.S. Army Chinook Helicopters filled our airspace as the N.C. National Guard helped evacuate most Lees-McRae (LMC) students from Banner Elk, a town that lost its core infrastructure, including power, water and sewer. One group of LMC students stayed behind and served their community as volunteer firefighters and first responders, participating in lifesaving rescues and offering reassurance to residents in the toughest moments.
Chief Tyler Burr of Banner Elk Fire Rescue later paid tribute to those students, saying “know that your courage, teamwork, and unwavering dedication have touched our hearts in ways words cannot fully express. Our community will always remember your heroism, and I am eternally grateful to stand alongside you as part of this firefighter family.”
App State Students Participate in “Day of Service”
Around 175 Appalachian State students took part in the university’s Student Day of Service—Together We Are Mountain Strong event, held Oct. 19, just three weeks after the storm. They logged over 500 hours of
community service to support Hurricane Helene relief and recovery efforts in communities across the High Country. Pictured above, right, is App State’s Scott Varga, a first-year cybersecurity major from Pinehurst, carrying wood while volunteering at Grace Builders Woodlots in Boone as part of the Student Day of Service event. The university also set up the App State Disaster Relief Fund, raising and distributing over $4 million in bridge funding for thousands of students, faculty and staff at Appalachian State University as they navigated significant losses and challenges from the storm.
The Sweet Sound of Relief
Dozens of music artists from all over the country have banded together to hold fundraising concerts for communities impacted by the hurricane. One of the largest was the “Concert for Carolina” in Charlotte, featuring big names such as Luke Combs, Eric Church, Billy Strings, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, and other popular artists. The October event raised more than $24 million for Hurricane Helene relief efforts.
Concert headliner Eric Church, who has a home in Banner Elk and is cofounder of “Chief Cares Foundation,” is bringing additional hurricane relief to Avery County in the form of new homes. Church’s Foundation has partnered with Clayton Homes to build 100 homes in Avery County in 100 days. The process is underway, and the state of N.C. and FEMA are also providing support to make it happen.
“Our mission in North Carolina is to be here for the long haul. We are going to start by immediately building homes for 100 families in Avery County and the surrounding areas,
and keeping these communities preserved and rebuilt. We are committed to the longterm rebuilding of these communities,” notes Church on his website at chiefcares.org.
Read more about the many recent hurricane relief concerts featuring top recording artists in our Art Remarks column on page 44.
Cleaning up Our Rivers
Like mountain people, rivers are also resilient—but they need our help. MountainTrue’s “Recovery & Resilience” program focuses on water testing and river clean-ups, which will take place for many months to come. The High Country Office Of MountainTrue partners with and protects communities in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Caldwell, Burke, Watauga, and Wilkes counties and will be water testing and spearheading river clean-ups to remove garbage and debris from our region’s rivers for the foreseeable future. To help, go to mountaintrue.org/eventscalendar or facebook. com/wataugariverkeeper. For well testing pick-up/drop off locations, see mountaintrue. org
Caring for Animals in Need
Animals are near and dear to our mountain communities, from the pets we love, to the horses we care for, to the farm animals we raise. Our area Humane Societies stepped up to offer free pet food, bottled water, kennels, and more to families with fur children. They were also instrumental in reuniting pets with their owners after the storm, and providing free urgent/ER vet care and prescription refills for the pets of those affected by Hurricane Helene. Averyhumane.org, Wataugahumane.org, mitchellcountyanimalrescue.org, ashehumanesociety.org, humanesocietyofwilkes.org
Crucis students were welcomed at their new “school.”
Linville Post Office keeps the mail rolling.
Thousands of people have served with Samaritan’s Purse across western North Carolina (photo courtesy of samaritanspurse.org).
Southern Sun Farm Sanctuary (SSFS), Ashe County’s 501 (c)(3) horse rescue operation, traditionally opens its facilities and pastures to anyone needing to evacuate horses due to an approaching hurricane. In September, however, SSFS found itself in the path of Hurricane Helene and was battered with over 20 inches of rain, flooding stalls, barns, the tack room and the arena. Quickly moving their horses out of standing water, they were able to care for 19 horses for a week despite no power or water and no way out of their road. While all survived, the farm suffered barn, tree, fence and trailer damage, making it hard to transport and house displaced horses. The organization seeks donations towards a 3- to 4-horse trailer and new barn so they are prepared to continue helping displaced horses in the future— all donations are fully tax-deductible. southernsunfarm.com/donate
A Winning Woolly Worm Emerges
Many of our favorite fall festivals had to be cancelled in 2024. But Woolly Worm festival organizers—the Avery Chamber of Commerce and Banner Elk Kiwanis—stayed busy (and innovative) finding ways in which the community could still participate, honor first responders, raise some funds for Avery County, and have a little fun. A “ceremonial race” was held on a small stage in downtown Banner Elk, challenging first responders to race their chosen caterpillars. This year’s winning woolly worm belonged to Team Newland Fire Department. Organizers extended “a huge thank you to our diligent first responders who raced and to everyone who tuned into our live stream!” Want to get in the Woolly Worm spirit, even if the festival
couldn’t happen? You can still pick up an official 2024 Woolly Worm t-shirt at Banner Elk Shirt Company. And see our Tidbits on pages 92-93 for the winning Woolly Worm’s winter ‘24-‘25 forecast. Plan now to attend the 48th Annual Woolly Worm Festival to be held October 18-19, 2025. Woollyworm.com
Operation Save Christmas
Helping in a region’s recovery goes beyond the obvious. NC Christmas tree growers are the second largest Christmas tree producers in the U.S., employing more than 7,000 workers each year. Some farms in Western North Carolina had greater difficulty this year for obvious reasons, including washed out roads and property loss. “As a farmer, harvest is always a challenge,” said local grower Larry Smith, “This year had a different set of challenges for us.” Homeowners and businesses, who in the past may have put up an artificial tree for the holidays, heard through the grapevine that a good way to support our tree growers was to simply purchase real trees from a local farm. Last minute shoppers, and early shoppers for next year, can locate a tree farm at ncchristmastrees.com
In other tree news, one of our area’s largest and most beautiful Christmas trees—a 20-ft Fraser fir—was saved for a very special customer. In late October, White House staff travelled to Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in Avery County to choose and cut the special tree that was placed in the Blue Room of the White House!
Chambers of Commerce Focus on Outreach
The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation established its “Hope for the High Country: Hurricane Helene Business Resiliency Disaster Grants,” offering area businesses grant funding. The Avery County Chamber partnered with Avery County Young Professionals to launch “Build Back Avery,” a grassroots fundraising effort dedicated to helping Avery County residents recover and rebuild. Over in Ashe County, the efforts include the “Ashe County Advantage Project,” collecting donations to support emergency relief and recovery efforts with funds supporting community needs in Ashe County. These local Chambers of Commerce and others in the region played a vital role in sharing the latest storm updates, providing resource directories to the public, and checking in with local businesses to assess their needs.
Show Your Support of Our Local Businesses and Nonprofits
Sadly, many area businesses and organizations sustained significant damage and losses. Some have had to close for the foreseeable future, while others are doing their best to make lemonade from Helene’s lemons. The Harvest Farm corn maze and pumpkin patch in Valle Crucis was flooded and destroyed, their 2024 fall season a total wash-out. Yet their message to the community remained uplifting: “Our family thanks you for your continued support, friendship, and visits to our farm each year. Please pray for our families and communities so deeply impacted from Hurricane Helene as we begin the unprecedented task of trying to restore what was lost.”
An App State student volunteers during App State’s Student Day of Service - Together We Are Mountain Strong event (photo by Chase Reynolds).
Lees-McRae students being evacuated to Hickory (photo courtesy of Lees-McRae College)
Watauga Riverkeeper volunteers pick up garbage and debris in the Watauga River (photo courtesy of mountaintrue.org).
A horse at Southern Sun Farm Sanctuary in Ashe County wades in the flood waters (photo by Southern Sun Farm Sanctuary)
There is always a light at the end of the tunnel...
Over in Foscoe, the Appalachian Apothekary, well known for its afternoon tea parties, had to gut their entire space, yet the tea room plans to reopen for the winter season. Grandfather Vineyard & Winery, whose main bridge to their parking area and tasting room washed down the Watauga River, jumped into action to welcome their customers back by constructing a foot bridge from their satellite parking lot to their facilities. The 103-year-old Old Hampton Store in Linville, while put out of operation for months, encouraged their Facebook followers to donate to several local nonprofits who have been instrumental in recovery efforts, including Feeding Avery Families, OASIS, WAMY, and Watauga Riverkeeper. “Take care of them and when we are back on our feet, we will take care of you,” reads their post.
The Mast General Store, which was fortunate to have minimal storm damage, is selling their popular Mountain Strong items, with many of the proceeds going directly to organizations helping people recover from Hurricane Helene.
Support your favorite businesses and nonprofits throughout western North Carolina in whatever ways you can: visit in person as often as possible, buy online at their websites, purchase gift cards, and like them/follow them on Facebook so you can keep up with their progress and share updates with your friends.
It would take an entire magazine to recognize all the many government and service agencies, charitable organizations, businesses and individuals who have helped make recovery in our region a reality… yet there is still so much to do! Please continue
to help throughout 2025 by donating to relief funds, participating in fundraising events, volunteering where needed, frequenting our local businesses, and spreading the word of our communities’ needs and successes.
On page 76 you’ll find our annual guide to local nonprofits, many of which are critical to our area’s recovery. ALL of them exist to make life better for our communities every day of every year.
Mountain Strong products are available at Mast General Store
Here are several online resources with updates on the latest needs in our area:
Avery Chamber of Commerce: averycounty.com/helene-resources/ Town of Boone: townofboone.net/711/Hurricane-Helene-Resources-and-Services
Avery County Gov’t FB page: facebook.com/averycountync.gov
Town of Banner Elk: bannerelk.com/help/ Appalachian Voices: appvoices.org/helene-relief/ NC Disaster Relief Fund: unitedwaync.org/nc-disaster-relief-fund-helene
The Linville River rises to record levels, inundating the Old Hampton Store
White House staff came to Avery County and Cartner Tree Farm to pick out tree (photo courtesy Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm and Avery County Gov’t.)
Race of the Woolly Worms, Newland Fire Department takes 1st Place
Thesun never rose on Friday, September 27, in the southern Appalachian Mountains as rain continued to fall, eventually totaling 35 inches over a three day period. From Boone to Asheville, the Watauga, Linville, Toe, Cane, Swannanoa, and French Broad Rivers rose beyond historic levels decimating mountain communities. That morning Gunther Jochl of Sugar Mountain watched the storm from his office window.
“It was a river of water coming down the ski slopes,” he said. “Giant trees were falling in every direction.”
It would take a chain saw to get out of the parking lot, and more clearing once at home a mile away.
Ski instructor and Sugar Mountain homeowner Wendy Snyder experienced the wall of water surging down the mountain. “It looked like the Nolichucky River coming down the ski slopes.” Snyder, a longtime whitewater raft guide, likened the torrent to the three-mile stretch labeled “Rollercoaster” on the popular rafting destination. “The ground trembled and mudslides were everywhere,” Snyder said. “I’ve been through hurricanes but this was something more. It was terrifying.”
Brad Moretz at Appalachian Ski Mountain joined his crew to deter a flooding cascade threatening the ski lodge. “There were just four of us in waist deep water clearing the drains,” Moretz said. “We’ve had five drainage improvement projects of the last decade and that was the difference in saving the lodge.”
At Beech Mountain, the lift station atop the OZ run, newly christened Carolina-Caribbean, was destroyed. But relatively speaking, Beech and Appalachian were unscathed. On the Monday following the storm, staff meetings were underway at all three area ski resorts and damage assessment underway. Sugar Mountain’s Oktoberfest was canceled two weeks after Helene. But the six-member North Carolina Ski Areas Association published a proclamation of its own, declaring on October 17 “…there’s no question. There will be skiing this winter.” It was the second time the skiing body publicly announced a proactive stance as a collective body, the first in 2020 with the group’s Ski Well—Be Well initiative in the face of COVID-19, which earned the approval of regulatory agencies to open for skiing. Nevertheless, advanced bookings for lodging had cratered in the wake of the
hurricane as folks cancelled, their deposits protected by the declaration of the region as a state and federal disaster area. As relief poured in from as far away as Michigan, many stayed away out of concern for the region wide disaster area. Relief distribution centers popped up everywhere, with generators, propane heaters, bottled water, food and warm clothing virtually on every corner. Still, conversations about opening the ski areas by the holidays were thought insensitive, if not downright offensive. Many on social media platforms decried the notion. In the face of such suffering by thousands displaced by flood waters and winter’s imminent arrival, the collective and pervasive angst was easy to understand. Roads were dangerously compromised, their shoulders dumping grounds for debris, and the power grid over taxed.
“It was a time of neighbors helping neighbors,” Snyder marveled. “They are strong people and no one was waiting for help to reach them from the outside. With tractors and chainsaws they got to work.”
Beech and Appalachian set opening dates around Thanksgiving weekend. Sugar planned to open as soon as temperatures allowed snowmaking. On the strength of cold temperatures and a beautiful snow fall, Sugar opened November 22, just seven weeks after the unprecedented disaster.
With time, those most seriously impacted realized the realities of a tourism driven economy. Direct and indirect revenues add $250 million to the winter handle. And since Covid-19, outdoor recreation doubled the number of enthusiasts. With recovery years away, mountain people embraced each other in a desperate need for “normalcy.” But the suffering of the displaced can never be discounted.
During the initial response, the airport hangars at the Elk River Club were turned into an emergency hub of supplies, aircraft and helicopters. Jochl, a longtime pilot, put his King Air turboprop, and its 2,500-pound cargo space, to work ferrying in supplies.
By November 11, Sugar Mountain, Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk and Beech were ready to welcome visitors. “What kind of Christmas would it be without the ski slopes open?” Snyder noted. “Restaurants, lodging and jobs mean a lot to the High Country.”
Say whatever you will about Southern Skiing, residents and visitors have come to expect the unlikeliest of regions to deliver a reliable product for skiing and snowboarding. In the wake of Helene, it did just that.
“Ski areas are always charging forward,” Jochl said. “Skiers are going to come—through recessions, wars, COVID” Weather can help or it can hurt. We’re used to adversity, but this was tragic.”
For Pete’s Sake
At the Beech Mountain Resort, The Meadows, running parallel with Lower Shawneehaw, is home to terrain park riders enjoying Eastern America’s Highest Town. In a touching gesture, The Meadows has been re-christened in honor of the late Pete Chamberlin, a larger than life character who wore the National Ski Patrol colors for 70 years, most of them on Beech. For Pete’s Sake now has a lot to live up to in the ubiquitous spirit of the mountain, whose wake last summer attracted hundreds of fellow patrollers, neighbors and community leaders.
He came to his sport honestly. Growing up in New York state Pete wanted to play ice hockey, but when the local golf course installed a rope tow, he put the skates down and found some skis. Twice as a young man he joined National Ski Patrol candidates for certification for the Red and White patrollers vest, and twice the testing was rained out when the gang would retire to the nearest tavern. Pete and family moved to Hickory in 1969, the year Sugar Mountain Ski Resort opened with the south’s longest vertical drop. Pete was ecstatic, and donned his patroller’s vest, turned inside out as he was still only a candidate in training. While skiing down the mountain’s signature Black Diamond, Tom Terrific, he came upon an injured skier, a woman with a multiple break in her leg. She was off to the left side, in the
Up and coming junior racer on Upper Shawneehaw at Beech Mountain
For Pete Chamberlin, children and ski patrol were family.
elbow of the steepest terrain on the mountain. A sled was summoned and Pete took charge. He was joined in the evacuation by two other patrollers, but Pete manhandled the sled and brought the injured skier to first aid at the bottom of the hill. When all was secured the two bemused patrollers asked Pete why he wore his patroller’s vest inside out. He explained he never completed his certification for the patrol. The two patrollers told him to put it on the right way; they were the certification officers of the Southern Division of the National Ski Patrol and he had just passed with flying colors. Well, for Pete’s sake.
What Will They Think of Next?
When the late Grady Moretz took charge of the troubled Appalachian Ski Mountain in 1968, a few consistencies surfaced right out of the gate. His restrooms were clean, his employees capable, and the food service was top notch. And snowmaking was job one. The man who would hand out pay envelopes to each employee face to face with a handshake would like what he sees today. While son Brad and family remain keen on the basics, the restroom facilities rival any country club in the state, and innovation and technology have been the buzzwords. Young Moretz was the first to bring RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) to the south creating a seamless process to the lift chair. Online lift ticket
sales, equipment rental, ski lessons, clothing, even ice skates have been consolidated and 20 kiosks at check-in include locker rentals with broad access for your entire group. During COVID Moretz introduced check-ins at five-minute intervals, like a tee time at the golf course. Spacing was inherent in the plan, and the mad crush ameliorated, even at peak times. The “flex ticket” offers 8 hours of skiing regardless what time you hit your first chair. When you arrive at the gate your license plate lets everyone in the building know who has arrived, further streamlining check-in.
“Busy days just don’t seem that busy,” Moretz said. “It’s great on easy days, but really shines on peak hours. All these measures work to create a synergy. It’s a beautiful thing.”
And because the infrastructure produces more man-made snow per acre than any resort in the south, snow conditions are reliable. As Grady used to say, “It’s a lot easier to predict our closing day than it is our opening day.” Welcome to the South.
Sugar’s Kim Jochl Appointed to Critical Travel Post
Former World Junior ski champion and former member of the U.S. Women’s Alpine Ski Team was appointed to the North Carolina Travel and Tourism Board by the NC House of Representatives. It’s been reported that Sugar Mountain’s Marketing
Director and wife to Sugar Mountain President Gunther Jochl, is the first principal of a North Carolina Ski Area to be named to the board. Kim has spent her adult life promoting skiing in the High Country as President of the North Carolina Ski Areas Association and Sugar Mountain’s ambassador to the sport, along with her twin sister, Krista, a two-time Olympic skier for the U.S. team at Alberta and Lillehammer. The appointment is particularly poignant coming in the wake of unprecedented region-wide destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene, closing Sugar Mountain’s Golf Course indefinitely, uprooting hundreds of trees, and turning town hall into a relief distribution center.
“We are over the moon about opening early this season,” Jochl said. “We had an extraordinary Thanksgiving weekend and hope our local business community did as well. Moving forward with a sense of normalcy seems to give us all a sense of relief.”
As for her new role representing NC travel interests, Jochl carries a torch for the region. “I hope support and recognition comes to the High Country by this appointment,” she said. “We’re counting on more promotional and advertising dollars to be spent highlighting the mountains of our state.”
AppSkiMtn has delivered the goods year after year
Sugar Mountain's Kim Jochl brings the spotlight to High Country Skiing
Winter Life . . .
For many, a High Country winter is known for its snow skiing and snowboarding. After all, the area boasts three great ski destinations, including Beech Mountain Resort, Sugar Mountain Resort, and Appalachian Ski Mountain.
But wintertime offers countless opportunities for residents and visitors of all ages and interests—both indoors and outdoors. Here we provide a helpful directory of just some of the numerous winter activities available to you and your family. Be sure to check websites and social media for each listing to find addresses, days and hours of operation, costs, age restrictions, advance reservation requirements, postHelene updates, and other specifics.
Festivals
Chetola Resort at Blowing Rock’s Festival of Lights in Blowing Rock becomes a Winter Wonderland through January 26, 2025, with over 50,000 dazzling lights around Chetola Lake. Make the drive around the resort and Chetola Lake for a stunning winter lights experience— the warm colors against a cool mountain background make for a view like no other and highlights the natural beauty of the High Country. The displays illuminate at dusk each evening. The festival is a High Country tradition that culminates in Blowing Rock’s Winterfest.
27th Blowing Rock Winterfest returns to Blowing Rock January 23 – 26, 2025. Jump into winter with the Polar Bear Plunge and Beer Garden. Keep warm with restaurant specials, a Chili Cookoff and family activities at area attractions. Shop till you drop on Main Street while enjoying the Ice Carving demos in Memorial Park. Whether you’re looking for a couple’s getaway or a family friendly weekend, Winterfest has something for everyone!
Additional Holiday Festivities are offered in each of the High Country’s towns. Holiday
decorations and twinkling lights are especially magical against a background of snow in the High Country. Check out the parades, along with festive Christmas tree and art exhibits.
Mountain Attractions
Apple Hill Farm in Banner Elk features alpacas, llamas, angora goats, and more! Find joy and connection through the animals and the experience of a real working farm. Take the 60-minute guided tour and leave with a smile on your face and memories to share. Public tours are offered Wednesday-Sunday until January 1, 2025, then Wednesday through Saturday until Memorial Day. Expanded hours are available for private tours. All tours require advance reservation.
Earth to Sky Park, a venture of Mayland Community College, is an environmental educational park for those interested in learning about the natural world. Located in Burnsville, the Park includes the Bare Dark Sky Observatory for stargazing and more; the Arthur Planetarium, featuring a variety of programming for all ages; and a Children’s Discovery Center. Due to the recent storm, the Park will be closed until January 2025. Once it reopens, there is 24-hour access to the parking area for stargazing.
Grandfather Mountain in Linville features the Mile-High Swinging Bridge. Weather permitting, the swinging bridge is the perfect spot to take in the endless winter vistas and capture the snowcapped mountains. Afterwards, head down to the Wilson Center for Discovery, and the animal habitats, where you can see how otter, cougars, elk and eagles stay busy during the winter months!
Hero’s Axe House at Shoppes of Tynecastle in Banner Elk/Seven Devils, is a premier axe throwing venue with unique projected axe throwing targets. Hero’s hosts axe throwing
birthday parties, bachelor/bachelorette parties, team-building events, company events, and a variety of other special occasions.
Linville Caverns in Marion are the only show caverns in NC and have a constant year-round temperature of 52 degrees. This is a perfect place to visit on a cold and windy winter day! See the winter hibernation of granddaddy long-legs and unique limestone formations. The caverns are open during the winter on weekends only. Bring a raincoat or a coat with a hood—the cave tends to drip! Due to temporary closures at the Caverns post-Helene, please be sure to check their website for current hours before your visit.
Mountain Cat Off Road Adventures in Blowing Rock is the latest venture by Sky Valley Zip Tours, offering a new way to experience breathtaking landscapes. This exciting addition to the High Country’s adventure scene promises to redefine off-road exploration through exhilarating experiences while keeping environmental impact at a minimum. (Sky Valley’s Zipline adventures reopen in March 2025.)
Mystery Hill in Blowing Rock is a unique blend of indoor and outdoor adventure. Explore the mysterious Natural Gravitational Anomaly, and watch a ball roll upwards and water flow uphill! Have fun with weird science in the hands-on science attraction, the Hall of Mystery, or encase your friends in a giant bubble at Bubblerama. Try your hand at axe or knife throwing and brave the Bull Riding Challenge at Tomahawk Hill.
Sugar Creek Mining Company in Banner Elk lets you experience the thrill of prospecting for your very own authentic gemstones. You’re guaranteed to find precious and semi-precious gemstones in every bucket. The expert staff will set you up on the heated flume line and then help you pan for gems and identify them. If
Museums at Mystery Hill
Cedric at Apple Hill Farm, courtesy of Apple Hill Farm
Blowing Rock Winterfest, photo by Lonnie Webster
desired, expert gem cutters can cut your rough gemstones and set it into a piece of jewelry.
The Blowing Rock in Blowing Rock is an immense cliff 4,000 feet above sea level, overhanging Johns River Gorge 3,000 feet below; it is also North Carolina’s oldest tourist attraction. Enjoy the endless winter views and read the legend. Weather permitting, the attraction is open daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., so call ahead during inclement weather.
Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock celebrates the holiday season through Dec. 30 with Tweetsie Christmas, a winter wonderland and a nighttime train ride among thousands of dazzling lights! Enjoy rides, shops, Santa, and more. Following the 2024 holiday season, the attraction will reopen again on Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster in Banner Elk is the first alpine coaster in the NC mountains. Each cart accommodates one or two people. Once the cart is pulled by a cable to the top, the remainder of the ride is downhill—fed by gravity—on multiple 360-degree loops, with riders using hand brakes to control the speeds, which reach up to 27 miles per hour. Note: the property sustained damage during Hurricane Helene, so please check their website or Instagram feed for important updates.
Ice and Snow
ICE SKATING
While others are skiing or snowboarding on the slopes, you and your children may enjoy ice skating. Sugar Mountain Ski Resort has the added advantage of ice skating located next door to restaurants, retail stores and other amenities. At Appalachian Ski Mountain, families can watch the resort’s Zamboni scrape the ice floor to get the rink ready for skaters!
SLEDDING
Endless Options for Fun this Season
Sledding is the easiest and most accessible winter activity for all ages. It can be done almost anywhere there is a hill and public property—an inexpensive plastic sled will do—and snow in the High Country is almost certain throughout the season! The Town of Beech Mountain offers the only municipal sledding hill in the southeast. Designed for kids ages 12 and under, parents or other responsible adults are allowed on sleds with preschoolers. Located across the street from the Visitor Center and behind the Brick Oven Pizzeria, it can be accessed from Bark Park Way, the paved road that runs beside the pizzeria. Two state-of-theart snow guns ensure a good base and quick coverage when the weather is optimal for snowmaking. Only plastic sleds may be used— no tubes or sleds with metal runners. Rentals are available at nearby businesses, or purchase your own at Fred’s General Mercantile.
TUBING & ZIPLINING
If snow tubing and ziplining are more your speed and comfort level, you have several great choices in the High Country. All offer sweeping views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, plenty of lanes, snowmaking, plus moving carpet lifts to quickly transport you back to the top. Check out Beech Mountain Resort, Hawksnest in Seven Devils, Sugar Mountain Resort, and Jonas Ridge Snow Tubing, all in the northwest NC mountains.
KIDS’ CAMPS & LESSONS
If you want to expose children to the lifelong sport of downhill skiing or snowboarding, you’re in the right place. While you can learn at any age, kids have the advantage of being flexible, nimble and relatively fearless. Enrolling your child in one of the region’s ski or snowboard camps is a great way to introduce them to a positive and fun first-time experience. Plus, while they’re in camp, you’re freed up to enjoy some adults-only time!
Appalachian Ski Mountain has SKIwee and Cruiser Camp programs designed to teach beginning skiers, ages 4-10, and snowboarders, ages 7-12.
Beech Mountain Resort offers several kids’ camps: Snowboard Learn to Ride for ages 6-12 to learn the basics of snowboarding; Snow Kamp for ages 2-5 to provide a positive and fun first-time experience; and Traxx ski instruction for ages 6-12. Also, Ski & Ride School offers hourly lessons for ages 4 and older and Snowflakes Childcare watches kids, ages 1-5, while adults hit the slope.
Sugar Mountain Ski Resort’s Children’s Snowsports School includes Sugar Bear Ski and Polar Bear Snowboard schools to teach skiing to children, ages 5-10, and snowboarding to children, ages 7-14.
Indoor
Climbing & Fitness
When being outside is less than appealing, indoor climbing can be a great alternative. Two facilities in Boone offer superb options. Center 45 Climbing & Fitness has 2,000 square feet of indoor climbing (bouldering) terrain. The walls are all 14 feet at the apex with varied terrain. Every week, talented and creative route setters craft new and exciting climbs. The facility also offers additional weightlifting and general fitness opportunities, along with a climbing-specific training area. Rock Dimensions Tower, next to the Footsloggers store in downtown Boone, stands about 40 feet tall and has more than 4,000 square feet of varying climbing terrain to accommodate both beginners and seasoned veterans. The “Tower to Rock” program combines a tower experience with climbing out on real rock all in a day! Staff belays as well
Sledding at Beech Mountain
The Blowing Rock Sky Valley Mountain Cat
Indoor Climbing
More!
as belay classes and certification opportunities for belaying at the tower are also offered.
The Fred and Margie Pfohl Buckeye Recreation Center in Beech Mountain offers nonmembers day passes for full access to the facility, including a weight room, regulation-size gym, indoor tennis courts and a soft playroom for kids eight and under. The lobby provides Wi-Fi, cozy seating and an extensive lending library. Fitness classes are offered as well. The recreation center also manages the free canoe and kayak rentals on Buckeye Lake.
Williams YMCA of Avery County has something for everyone! Visitors can get a day pass and access everything the YMCA has to offer, including the indoor swimming pool with water slides and aerobics classes, a wide variety of group exercise classes, the Wellness Center with cardio and strength machines, basketball courts, indoor batting cages, golf simulators, drop-in childcare and more! If you’re staying longer, ask about YMCA membership opportunities.
Museums, Galleries, Art Trails & Workshops
MUSEUMS
BRAHM (Blowing Rock Art and History Museum) in Blowing Rock promotes the arts and Southern Appalachian heritage and history through educational programs, exhibitions, activities and permanent collections. See Art Remarks on page 44 for details on BRAHM’s winter programming.
Appalachian State University’s Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone offers free admission to permanent collections and
rotating exhibitions. Enjoy guided Gallery Conversations, ARTtalks, and Drop-In Artmaking. Upcoming exhibitions include: “Master Printer: Bill Lagattuta and Friends” through April 5; “The Clothes I Wear” through May 3; “22nd Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition and Exhibition” through May 3; “38th Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition” through May 14; and the “Campus Arts Corridor,” current displays through August 7, 2026.
The NC High Country Fresco Trail throughout the High Country includes more than a dozen frescoes painted in small mountain churches in the 1970s by artist Ben Long, a NC native. Follow the trail to see the following: 1849 St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Fresco, downtown Wilkesboro; Holy Trinity Church Fresco, Glendale Springs; St Mary’s Church Fresco, West Jefferson; and Sloop Chapel, Crossnore.
Beech Mountain History Museum is run by the the Beech Mountain Historical Society and operates seasonally with both permanent and rotating exhibits. The collection includes early life on Beech Mountain; chronicles on its earliest known visitors, the Cherokees; logging, milling and railroads on the mountain; and the Beech Mountain Music exhibit, with a featured area highlighting local storyteller Ray Hicks.
The Museum of Ashe County History, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the historic 1904 Ashe County Courthouse building as a county heritage museum for visitors of all ages. The museum features a number of permanent and revolving exhibits, such as “Mining,” “Virginia Creeper,” and “Moonshine and Music.”
Mystery Hill Museums include the 1903 Dougherty House: Appalachian Heritage Museum and the Native American Artifact Museum in Blowing Rock. The Dougherty House was the first home in the area to have electricity and running water. The home is
being restored to its original 1903 condition. Guests can tour the home, which is filled with turn-of-the-century furniture, antiques and memorabilia; you’ll also enjoy the Native American artifacts on display.
The Avery County Historical Museum in Newland is housed in the old county jail and features exhibits on railroads, local Civil War history, and country music stars Lulu Belle and Scotty Wiseman, among many others exhibits. The museum is on the National Register of Historic Places. Due to Helene storm damage in downtown Newland, please call before scheduling a visit.
ART GALLERIES
Artists’ creativity never lets up. Winter can be a great opportunity to see some of the latest creations by local artists before the spring crowds arrive. Workshops and other events are also held throughout the year. Carlton Gallery is one of the foremost fine art galleries in the High Country, exhibiting paintings, glass, sculpture, wood, clay, wearable fiber and jewelry. Crossnore Communities for Children has provided hope and healing for North Carolina’s children in need for more than 100 years. In support of their mission, the Crossnore campus invites the public to several arts and crafts venues, including an Appalachian weaving museum and gallery, Crossnore Weavers, and Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery. Mica Gallery in Bakersville is a cooperative gallery of fine crafts, showcasing the work of its artist members whose creative lives have been nurtured by the energy of the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains. The Johnson County Center for the Arts in Mountain City, TN, features numerous artists from the area and offers a “Maker Space” for anyone who is feeling inspired to be creative. The gallery at Jones House in downtown Boone showcases local and regional artists in changing monthly exhibits. Also in Boone, you’ll find Hands
Crossnore Weavers
Dandelion, by Kimberly Obee of Mica Gallery
Williams YMCA
Gallery, Blue Ridge ArtSpace, The Pottery Lot, and more. Just east of Banner Elk, peruse the Sally Nooney Gallery, and in downtown Banner Elk check out the Art Cellar Gallery, It’s All About the Art Gallery, and the BE Artists Gallery (open on select weekends and by appointment only through the winter months). If local sculpture is your interest, check out Anvil Arts Studio Sculpture in Linville Falls (by appointment). Over in Ashe County, the Ashe County Arts Council houses a popular gallery with rotating exhibits.
ART TRAILS & WORKSHOPS
Many other galleries and crafts venues are open through the winter season, and some offer hands-on opportunities to create art. One of the best resources for finding listings and details of all art venues in the region is the Blue Ridge Craft Trails website: blueridgeheritage. com/blue-ridge-craft-trails. You can also visit our local Arts Councils’ websites, including Ashe County Arts Council, Watauga Arts Council, Toe River Arts, the Cultural Arts Council of Wilkes, and the Johnson County Center for the Arts in Mountain City, TN.
Let’s Be Artsy! in Boone unleashes your creative side. The talented team of instructors guides you step by step through the session’s featured painting. All painting supplies and artist instructions are provided. No art experience is needed. You can even take a fun, introductory belly dancing class, too!
Reading & Educational Programs
Winter is the perfect time to cozy up with a book. The Appalachian Regional Library System is known for its wonderful collections, librarians and special programming throughout the year. Visit the Ashe County Public Library
in West Jefferson, the Watauga County Library in downtown Boone, and the Wilkes County Library in North Wilkesboro. The Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library System also offers modern and cozy facilities, knowledgeable staff, and a variety of amenities, with branches in Newland (Morrison Public Library), Bakersville, Burnsville and Spruce Pine. In downtown Banner Elk, be sure to visit the Banner Elk Book Exchange where you can “Bring a Book, Take a Book” (or jigsaw puzzle) throughout the year. The Book Exchange continues to add to their special regional collection—books written by regional authors or about regional subjects.
The Children’s Playhouse in Boone provides children from birth to age eight with an enriching, educational play environment while at the same time offering their parents and caregivers friendly support in the important job of raising children.
Music, Live &Indoors
Check out the many restaurants, breweries and wineries mentioned throughout this issue to find live music, from jazz to traditional mountain jams, all season long. Also, check out this issue’s Cultural Calendar for winter and early spring concert performances.
The Blue Ridge Music Trails website is your guide to the traditional music of the North Carolina mountains and foothills. You’ll find a complete listing of events, including listening and playing opportunities, at blueridgemusicnc.com
Plan Now to Attend Merlefest 2025! The annual MerleFest will be held April 24-27—it is considered one of the premier music festivals in the country, serving as an annual homecoming for musicians and music fans. Held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in
Wilkesboro, North Carolina, MerleFest has 12 stages of “Traditional Plus” music and so much more.
Theatre
When the weather turns blustery and cold, a matinee or night at the theatre may be in order. Check out the offerings around the region, such as the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, several groups at Appalachian State University (Department of Dance, Hayes School of Music, and the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts); Ashe County Little Theatre in West Jefferson; Barter Theatre in Abingdon, VA; BeanStalk Community Theatre and Blue Ridge Community Theatre in Boone; CoMMA in Morganton; Ensemble Stage and Lees-McRae College performances in Banner Elk; and the Walker Center in Wilkesboro, among many others. See this edition of CML’s Cultural Calendar for a complete listing of upcoming productions and contact information for each theatre.
If the “Big Screen” is more your style, check out one of our area’s restored historic theaters showing both new movies and classics—you’ll step back in time when you visit the Parkway Theater in Ashe County, and the Appalachian Theatre in Boone. Just down the mountain from the High Country in Morganton (Burke County) is the Marquee Cinemas Mimosa 7 multiplex movie theater, which began showing movies in the 1940s. Today, through years of restoration and new construction, it is a sevenscreen, first-run downtown movie theater.
Banner Elk Book Exchange
Parkway Theater, West Jefferson
Blue Ridge Craft Trails
Blue Ridge ArtSpace (Boone) on the Blue Ridge Craft Trails
Community Resilience
The Arts Lead Our Hurricane Recovery by Feeding Heart and Soul
American Artscape magazine wrote at length in 2023 about “The Role of the Arts Sector in Promoting Resilience and Well-Being.” Although meant to codify case studies following the 2020 global pandemic, their primary finding rings true today as our region recovers from Hurricane Helene. “The arts continue to address and contribute to public health, healing, well-being, and community resilience.”
CML asked the cultural organizations we have the privilege of covering about their own recovery stories these past few months. They responded with details about difficult but inspired and necessary decisions made during this second major disruption of their production schedules in just over four years. We’ve selected a sampling of stories that demonstrate their contributions to our community resilience, edited below for length and clarity.
Minor Damage, Major Opportunities
According to Appalachian Theatre Executive Director Suzanne Livesay, “we spent the week of September 30th cleaning up, drying out, and shifting events.
By Keith Martin
Though cancelled rentals and postponed events were numerous, the silver lining became available dates allowing us to provide a place for families to get away and recharge while power, water, and connectivity were out, and schools on hiatus.
“Our full time staff dove in and began facilitating free screenings of family friendly and classic movies which received rave reviews from our impacted community. Partnering with Watauga High School, we were able to host their students for a Friday night film screening. Our Mast Store Community Room provided a place for the heavily impacted educators from Valle Crucis School to gather together for pre-planning before returning to their temporary classrooms.
“The App Theatre incurred a $100,000 loss in revenue since the events related to Hurricane Helene. Our End of Year Matching Campaign hopes to provide some relief for the budgetary shortfall. Donations may be made at apptheatre. org.”
Remarkable Timing
Joni Ray, Executive Director of the
Ashe County Arts Council, said that her agency faced difficult choices in the wake of Hurricane Helene, managing canceled programs and postponed events. “In October we were able bring back Junior Appalachian Musicians and even hosted a Pop-Up Art Sale for vendors after Art on the Mountain was canceled. We were also able to reschedule the Missoula Children’s Theatre Residency, bringing 35 local students into the theatre.
“Remarkably, prior to the hurricane, we had already purchased ’Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood’ for all 4th through 6th graders following an author visit by Asheville resident Robert Beatty in collaboration with the Ashe County Public Library. The book now resonates deeply with students following recent events. Despite the challenges, we remain committed to supporting our community through the resilience of the arts.”
Barter Theatre Gives Back
Among the first to meet the challenges posed by the hurricane (as they were at the beginning of the pandemic) was Continued on next page
Courtesy Suzanne Livesay
Barter Theatre in Abingdon, VA. Scott Little, Associate Director of Marketing, noted the company’s commitment to their core values of community and service by providing complimentary tickets to residents affected by the disaster as well as first responders and emergency response workers.
Additionally, a percentage of paid ticket proceeds from performances were donated to southwest Virginia for disaster relief. Barter also provides an in-person “bucket” appeal at performances for cash donations, 100% of which went toward the relief efforts.
Same Time, Next Year
For Beanstalk Community Theatre, according to Founding Artistic Director Amy Beane, “It was an extremely difficult decision to postpone our production of ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,’ and one we didn’t make lightly. With a cast of over 30 kids who had worked many weeks on the production, it was heartbreaking. Our production was scheduled for the second weekend of October, and it was so close to the hurricane, we just couldn’t see bringing it to the community when everyone was hurting so much. We weren’t even able to get in touch with many of our cast members due to the power outages.
“We have decided to postpone until next year and have offered all cast members the same roles they were playing this year. We hope all will be able to return and make it one of our best productions yet!”
Documentary Theatre
Watauga High School drama teacher Zach Walker submitted his director’s note from the playbill for the early performances of “SURGE,” an original play with music conceived by his students in the Pioneer Playmakers ensemble. It read, in part, as follows:
“When Helene hit western North Carolina in September, Sarah Miller had been working with the Playmakers for two months, devising a show [for the NC Theatre Conference High School Play Festival]. Then we missed almost a month of school. This ensemble chose not to let Helene end their NCTC experience and, instead, found their voice in retelling her story. Since I was in Boone, and Sarah was with her family in Wilmington, we worked collaboratively, through virtual meets, to get the students’ words to the stage. Circumstances resulted in Sarah and I codirecting this show, just as we have done for the spring musicals. As this story continues to grow and evolve, Sarah and I, together, have the opportunity to watch the students do the same.
“‘
SURGE’ is a devised performance about all of us. For many, the challenges of Helene are still ongoing. From the words and actions of this ensemble of high school students, we have been given a chance to grieve, to heal, and to help each other move forward. Thank you for being here for each other.” The WHS production is featured elsewhere in this issue.
~Joni Ray
Performing Arts Groups Rebound from Hurricane Helene
With Hundreds of Performances and Dozens of Productions Scheduled
By Keith Martin
One of the oldest and most revered theatre traditions is that “The Show Must Go On,” a phrase meaning that a performance or event continues despite obstacles or difficulties, even if something unfortunate happens… such as Hurricane Helene. CML so admires the resilience of our arts organizations who have rebounded from the autumn challenges to mount full seasons between January and mid-April 2025.
The following is an overview of performing arts offerings on the schedule, including those at our area colleges and universities, listed alphabetically. PLEASE REMEMBER that all performances, dates, and times are subject to change, especially in inclement weather, for artist and patron safety; you are strongly encouraged to contact the box office for the most current information.
See you at the theatre!
Opera fans rejoice! The biggest news during the current season was recently announced by the APPALACHIAN THEATRE OF THE HIGH COUNTRY (ATHC) in Boone with their Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series of eight major works being screened through May 2025. The muchanticipated series began with Offenbach’s Les Contes D’Hoffmann and Testori/Brant’s newest work Grounded, and continues on December 29 with Puccini’s Tosca, January 25 with Verdi’s Aida, Beethoven’s Fidelio on March 15, Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro on April 26, and Strauss’ Salome on May 17, before concluding The Met’s inaugural Boone broadcast season with Rossini’s Il Barbiere Di Siviglia on May 31.
For the second year in a row, audiences are invited to ring in 2025 during New Year’s Eve @ App Theatre on Tuesday, December 31. The noon family-friendly countdown to the new year features a special pre30th Anniversary screening of the original Toy Story (1995). Following the film, the party continues with a countdown to a mock New Year’s Eve including a photo booth, party favors, a sparkling cider toast and a balloon drop. Soul Benefactor with Mais Céu take to the stage at 9 p.m. to begin a festive evening that includes dancing, party favors, the photo booth, a live viewing of the Times Square Ball Drop, and a midnight champagne toast. January 18 brings fifteen-time Grammy Award-winner Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder to the App Theatre; need we say more? On February 13, the Chatham Rabbits return to Boone with their heartfelt lyrics over guitar and banjo, an instant connection with audiences, and banter that can only come from a married duo that spends way too much time together but still manages to be in love.
Commemorating over 50 years (to the day) of the original March 1, 1973, release date of Pink Floyd’s masterpiece, Deconstructing “The Dark Side of the Moon” with Scott Freiman explores themes of life, death, and insanity of the iconic rock album. St. Patrick’s Day weekend kicks off on March 15 with The Tan & Sober Gentlemen playing Irish tunes, ballads, and pub songs right next to the Appalachian fiddle tunes of their youth, melding the two into what they call “Irish American hillbilly music.” Rapidly rising on the bluegrass scene, Billboardcharting artists Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road with The Wilder Flower come home to the Doc Watson Stage on March 23, having performed internationally and stateside winning both industry awards and the hearts of fans who turn out to see them at some of the industry’s most iconic venues. In addition, dozens of movies will be screened this winter and spring. AppTheatre.org.
The vibrant ASHE COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL and the picturesque Town of West Jefferson have programmed a wide variety of events from now through April and beyond. Their popular and well-attended Ed Perzel Chamber Music Series has four concerts on the schedule including the Lysander Piano Trio on January 19 with their “polished and spirited interpretations” (New York Times) in bringing expressive and inventive programming that has thrilled audiences worldwide. They are followed on February 16 by the Appalachian State Faculty Ensemble highlighting masterworks that showcase the ensemble’s dedication to chamber music’s nuanced and collaborative artistry. The Dali Quartet appears on March 2 with its celebrated “classical roots, Latin soul” program blending Western classical and Latin American music traditions, winning the Chamber Music of America’s 2024 Ensemble of the Year award. Closing out the Perzel Series on March 23 is the Poieses Quartet, winners of the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, presenting a unique approach to the string quartet tradition, introducing new compositions that highlight emerging voices and fresh perspectives within chamber music.
Other events at the Ashe Civic Center include the Heartland Baroque in Concert on January 11 featuring the lively spirit of 17th and 18th century music played on baroque violins, cello, dulcian, bassoon, and theorbo, combining vivid storytelling with masterful technique. The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration is a community event featuring guest artist and “troubadour of truth” Crys Matthews on
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Hadestown at ETSU's Martin Center
January 20, highlighting’s King’s teachings of peace, unity, and equality in our society. Two performances by The Kruger Brothers have been scheduled to meet ticket demand with shows on both February 1 and 2 when brothers Jens and Uwe, along with musical partner Joel Landsberg, blend bluegrass, folk, and classical influences into a uniquely rich sound. The Tray Wellington Band graces the stage just one month later on March 1. Based in Johnson City, TN, and Jefferson, NC, Tray has received a number of awards and accolades, including two from the International Bluegrass Music Association: the 2019 Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year and 2019 Momentum Band of the Year (with Cane Mill Road). AsheCountyArts.org
“Who’s on First?” is the next offering at ASHE COUNTY LITTLE THEATRE in the intimate Ashe Civic Center from March 13 - 16. Jack Sharkey’s witty play takes a husband, wife, lover and friend, adds a strange lamp, a gun and a rubber chicken plus a party that begins at 8 p.m., then again at 8 p.m. and then again at 8 p.m. until, obviously, you have a comedic nightmare on your hands. AsheCountyLittleTheatre.org
BARTER THEATRE, “The State Theatre of Virginia,” has announced their entire 2025 season (16 shows!), but let’s focus on the five productions being mounted over the winter and spring months. Their main theatre, the Gilliam Stage, will open on March 8 with The Book Club Play by Karen Zacarias with performances through March 30. The book club started by Ana and her friends has become the subject of a documentary film, and all is going swimmingly… until a new member throws the group dynamic into chaos that’s unfortunately caught on camera. From April 11 – May 11, Million Dollar Quartet, the sleeper hit of the 2009-10 Broadway season, returns to Barter. On December 4, 1956, an extraordinary twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley together at Sun Records for what would become the greatest jam session of all time; it is a lively reimagining of that legendary night with classics such as “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Walk the Line,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Hound Dog,” and more. The Barter Players take to the Gilliam Stage from March 25 - May 10 with Pete the Cat, for whom life is a musical adventure of friendship, no matter where you wind up, all the way to Paris and back… in a VW Bus. The script and lyrics are by Sarah Hammond with music by Will Aronson and based on the series of books by Kimberly and James Dean.
Across the street on the intimate Smith Theatre stage, folks who missed Mary Lucy Bivins’ star turn in the title role of Grandma Gatewood Took a Walk have a second chance to see her bravura performance from February 6 - March 8. Catherine Bush’s charming play is about Emma Gatewood, a 67-year-old who told her children she was “going for a walk” but failed to mention that it would be over 2,000 miles through 14 states, making her the first woman to solo throughhike what was then the newly formed Appalachian Trail. Indeed, with Hamlet, “something is rotten in the State of Denmark” from March 25April 23 (coincidentally, Shakespeare’s birthday) when, on a dark night, the Ghost of Hamlet’s father reveals that his death was the result of murder. Now his murderer sits on the throne and has taken Hamlet’s mother for his wife. This is Shakespeare’s seminal tragedy as you’ve never seen it before. BarterTheatre.com
The next show by BEANSTALK COMMUNITY THEATRE is Ian McWethy’s Too Many Detectives at the Murder Mansion in the Appalachian Theatre from March 20 – 22. It features such great characters as Sherlock Holmes, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Scooby Doo gang, and many more. Sure, you think you’ve seen this type of murder mystery before. A cast of eccentric characters meet at a mansion, only to become suspects of a murder that a singular genius detective will eventually solve. But what happens when all the suspects are the detectives? For info, please visit BeanStalkNC.com, but for tickets go to AppTheatre.org.
The many offerings by the CITY OF MORGANTON MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM (CoMMA) include the Dan Tyminski Band on January 31. Throughout his 30+ year career, Tyminski has left his mark in every corner of modern music. Tyminski’s voice famously accompanies George Clooney’s performance of the Stanley Brother’s classic song, “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow,” in the film, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou bringing bluegrass into focus for millions of new fans. On February 6 the Jon Lehrer Dance Company arrives from NYC to showcase Jon’s unique choreography and definitive style. His extensive background in both the modern and jazz dance idioms fosters choreography that is organic, athletic, artistic, and often humorous.
The Broadway national tour of the musical Come From Away stops at CoMMA for one night only on March 10. Written by Tony® nominees Irene Sankoff and David Hein, this New York Times Critics’ Pick takes
Kruger Brothers at Ashe Civic Center
Appalachian Dance Ensemble, photo by Bob Brodd
you into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them on 9/11. Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night, and gratitude grew into enduring friendships. The Red Hot Chili Pipers not peppers!—will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 with what CoMMA describes as “the Number One Celtic Rock Band on the Planet.” There will be bagpipes with attitude, and drums with a Scottish accent. A blazing, nine-piece rock band and a show so hot, it carries its own health warning (hearing protection is highly recommended). April 4 features the Dallas String Quartet with their Strings Unleashed tour, “A Rock Fusion Experience… brimming with your favorite rock songs - played on electric string instruments.” CommaOnline.org
The DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DANCE AT APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY continues its 35th Anniversary Season with five productions on their Boone campus, beginning with Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight by Lauren Gunderson from January 22 - 26. Tonight, 18th century scientific genius Emilie du Châtelet, and romantic companion to France’s preeminent literary star, Voltaire, is determined to answer the question love or philosophy? It is followed from February 26 - March 2 with Beautiful, Useful, True Conceived and directed by Elizabeth Parks, the play is an ecofeminist story of earth, ears, and heart using the work of Eunice Newton Foote and other female climate scientists, activists, and artists as a springboard to pose questions about climate change, respect for the planet, and respect for one another.
2025 marks the 50th year for the Appalachian Dance Ensemble, whose spring production takes place from March 26 - 30. The concert will feature current and alumnae dancers in collaboration with talented design tech faculty and students with eight different pieces on the program every night. The Appalachian Young People’s Theatre will perform The Fisherman and His Wife by Larry and Vivian Snipes from April 11 - 13. The story is based on the Brothers Grimm tale of the fisherman who catches a magical fish and uses his wishes to bring happiness to his wife. The spring season closes with She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen with performances from April 23 - 27. When Agnes loses her younger teenage sister, Tilly, in an accident, she joins Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons campaign to try and connect with her lost sibling. But instead of simply playing a game, Agnes finds herself catapulted into an actionpacked D&D world. TheatreAndDance.AppState.edu
The DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DANCE AT EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY in Johnson City has three shows on the boards this spring beginning with The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe from March 6 – 9. A finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the third mostproduced play in the country the next season, the story centers on an elite high school soccer team and follows the development of relationships among nine young women during a series of soccer game warmups. Professor Bobby Funk has adapted The Tempest for April 10 - 13 in commemoration of Shakespeare’s birthday month. Thought to be one of the Bard’s last plays, the first scene takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest with the rest of the story set on a remote island, where Prospero, a wizard, lives with his daughter, Miranda, and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit. On April 27, Theatre and Dance collaborates with the Department of Music on a Sondheim Musical Review based on the works on the late composer and lyricist who is regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater and widely credited with reinventing the American musical. ETSU.edu/cas/theatre
LEES-MCRAE COLLEGE in Banner Elk and their Performing Arts Department are producing Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of MacBeth from February 27 - March 2. This classic play reveals to us the danger of ambition, crafting a terrifying parable in which great people are destroyed by the power of their own success. www.lmc.edu/theatreshows
The MARTIN CENTER FOR THE ARTS AT ETSU is bringing four Broadway national tours to their Johnson City campus beginning with Pretty Woman: The Musical from January 27 – 28. Based on one of Hollywood’s most beloved romantic stories, the musical version of the movie springs to life with a creative team led by two-time Tony Award®winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell, an original score by Grammy® winner Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, and a book by the movie’s legendary director Garry Marshall and screenwriter J. F. Lawton. ETSU says the show will “lift your spirits and light up your heart,” and asks, “Are you ready to fall in love all over again?” Hadestown, winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards® including Best Musical and the 2020 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Theater Album, performs from March 10 – 12. The show is still running on Broadway and is billed as “a haunting and hopeful theatrical experience that grabs you and never lets go.”
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Verdi's AIDA on Metropolitan Opera Series
Grandma Gatewood at Barter Theatre
Next up is Dear Evan Hansen running from April 15 – 17. Declared “one of the most remarkable shows in musical theater history” by the Washington Post, it is the first musical to take a groundbreaking look — from the point of view of both the parents and young people—at our complex, interconnected, and social media-filled lives. Finally, the aforementioned Come From Away (see above listing under CoMMA) closes out the series from April 28 – 29 with this intriguing tagline: “On 9/11, the world stopped. On 9/12, their stories moved us all.” ETSUMartinCenter.org
MERLEFEST has announced the initial lineup ahead of their annual event, taking place April 24 – 27 on the campus of Wilkes Community College. This year’s leading acts include two North Carolina-based heavyweights: folk-rock trailblazers The Avett Brothers and Appalachian-rooted duo Watchhouse, as well as legendary singer/songwriter Bonnie Raitt and Canadian folk and bluegrass ensemble The Dead South. MerleFest 2025 will feature a return of the Late Night Jam hosted by Sam Bush, and additional festival performances by Kruger Brothers, Jim Lauderdale, and more. Also set to appear are industry forerunners like Wyatt Flores, The War and Treaty, The SteelDrivers, Asleep at the Wheel, Brent Cobb, Alison Brown, and Della Mae. For newcomers, MerleFest honors the lasting legacy of its founding legend, Doc Watson. MerleFest.org
The award-winning PIONEER PLAYMAKERS AT WATAUGA HIGH SCHOOL (mentioned frequently in this issue of CML) have announced their 2025 spring musical: the high school edition of Mean Girls with performances on April 3 – 5. This rock musical features a book by Tina Fey, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and music by Jeff Richmond, and is based on the 2004 film by Mark Waters, which was also written by Fey and was in turn inspired by Rosalind Wiseman’s 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes. onthestage.tickets/watauga-high-school-theatredepartment
The SCHAEFER CENTER PRESENTS performing arts series, presented by Appalachian State University Office of Arts Engagement and Cultural Resources, has an impressive line-up that begins on February 8 with Ballet Hispánico performing CARMEN.maquia. They invite audience members to “embark on a journey through time and emotion as
we commemorate 150 years of Carmen in a spellbinding dance performance inspired by the works of Pablo Picasso. Choreographer Gustavo Ramírez Sansano’s quintessential work breathes new life into Bizet’s timeless tale, infusing it with raw passion and visceral energy.” On March 28, Interpreti Veneziani: An Evening of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons will be presented at a limited-seating concert in the Summit Trail Solarium, Plemmons Student Union. The Venice, Italy-based ensemble made their debut in 1987, immediately gaining a reputation for the “... exuberance and all-Italian brio characterizing their performances.”
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings perform on April 4. Welch’s rich and remarkable career spans over 25 years, and she and her musical partner David Rawlings are a pillar of the modern acoustic music world. They have been hailed by Pitchfork as “modern masters of American folk,” and “protectors of the American folk song” by Rolling Stone. The duo recently released their 10th studio album, Woodland. April 12 will bring the Marcus King Band to the Schaefer Center stage. Formed in South Carolina in 2013 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Marcus King, the group is a Grammy-nominated Southern rock and blues band with a devoted fan base. Info and tickets at TheSchaeferCenter.org
The WILKES PLAYMAKERS at Benton Hall Community Arts Center in North Wilkesboro open their 2025 season on January 18 with a one night only Broadway Revue showcasing talents of some of their well known Playmakers as well as a few new faces celebrating their love of musical theater. From March 27 – 30, James Lapine’s Tony Award®winning book along with Steven Sondheim’s Tony and Grammy Awardwinning score for Into The Woods intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests. A Night with Edgar Allan Poe performs from April 10 – 13 and promises to be “an immersive theatrical experience that delves into the macabre and mysterious world of one of America’s most famous writers, bringing to life some of Poe’s most chilling and captivating works,” such as “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” to explore themes of madness, death, and the supernatural. WilkesPlaymakers.com
"The Arts Lead Our Hurricane Recovery by Feeding Heart and Soul."
Bonnie Raitt at MerleFest
TOY STORY on the Family Friendly NYE at The App Theatre
Interpreti Veneziani on Schaefer Presents Series
“OOPS… They Did It Again!”
By Keith Martin
Watauga High School
Wins
Third State Theatre Championship in Six Years
“It’s déjà vu all over again!” is arguably baseball legend Yogi Berra’s most popular Yogi-ism. However, with the Watauga High School (WHS) Pioneer Playmakers and their award-winning drama program, it’s déjà vu all over again… and again.. and again, as their original play, “SURGE,” captured the Distinguished Play Award at the North Carolina Theatre Conference (NCTC) State Play Festival for the THIRD time in six years.
In fact, this is the fifth state theatre championship for the school, following previous wins for the play “Dearly Departed” in 1999, directed by Playmakers founder Trimella Chaney, the production of “John Lennon and Me” in 2007, directed by Sarah Miller, “Ernest and the Pale Moon” in 2019, directed by Zach Walker, and in 2023 with “Our Place,” also directed by Miller. In 2017, Miller and Walker were named co-recipients of the NCTC K-12 Theatre Arts Educator Award, “presented to a current or former theatre teacher in NC schools, who has demonstrated excellence in the classroom, superior production achievement, and has served as a leader among peers.”
It was an embarrassment of riches for WHS. Not only did they capture the top prize, the “Judge’s Choice” Distinguished Play designation, but they also won the coveted Daniel A. Seaman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Ensemble Theatre. In addition, co-directors Miller and Walker took the C. C. Lipscomb Award for Excellence in Directing, and a trio of talented students (Kyleigh Hogan, Clara Lappan, and Liliana Lemus) won a special award for “Best Composition of an Original Song.”
Miller said she was “humbled and stoked and stunned” to share their success, while noting that “SURGE” received yet another Superior Rating, the 20th year in a row for the Playmakers and the 44th time overall for the program.
“SURGE” is an original devised play recounting the experiences of the troupe, their school, and community during and following the devastation of Hurricane Helene in September. Devised theater is a collaborative process for creating a live performance without a pre-existing script. The student creative team originally had worked together to develop another theme but, after Helene, started the process anew focusing on news reporters chronicling stories of three High Country families: the Shepherds, Critchers, and Andersons.
This year, over 2,400 students from more than 90 schools performed 118 different plays at eight regional festival sites. The top 16 productions were invited to perform on the state level on November 21-22.
“We continue to celebrate a spirit of community at the play festival, giving students an enriching environment to learn from each other and celebrate each other’s work,” said NCTC Executive Director Angie Hays. “Young artists leave feeling accomplished, energized, and inspired.”
The storied history of WHS theatre dates back to 1987 when Chaney founded the program that she would lead for 18 years before retiring in 2005 and turning the troupe over to former student Sarah Miller, a member in the original Playmakers class. WHS stalwart Greg Pope worked with both Chaney and Miller until his 2013 retirement, with Zach Walker joining WHS that same year.
At a benefit performance of “SURGE,” Lees-McRae College Professor Emeritus Dr. Janet Barton Speer offered pre-show comments, noting how the creative torch has been passed from one theatre generation to another. “I got to work with LMC students who filled me with joy and took the message of theatre into the world. One of those students was Trimella Chaney.
“In 1978 I was given the opportunity to direct musicals for Blue Ridge Community Theatre. From that time forward, community folks, including hundreds of children, got their theatrical start in a BRCT musical. Sarah Miller is one of them. It is a circle. Sarah went from community theatre to high school productions with Trimella. And here we are with one of the finest high school drama departments in the nation.”
Chaney remarked that Speer was on the selection committee for the original Playmaker troupe who selected Miller. “Theatre is powerful. It stirs our emotions. Through theatre we express, entertain, educate, create, strengthen, and unify. This group has definitely provided a service to our community helping us to process the destruction caused by Helene. They are telling our story in a powerful way.
“I may have birthed the drama program at WHS, but Sarah Miller and Zach Walker have grown it, nurtured it, and parented it to new levels. They are two of the most creative, dedicated, talented, and insightful theatre arts educators in North Carolina.”
WHS now advances “SURGE” to the Southeastern Theatre Conference in Baltimore in March 2025. And who knows… perhaps the next head of the Pioneer Playmakers will be onstage, and someday follow in the footsteps of Chaney, Miller and Walker.
High Country Charitable Foundation
The High Country Charitable Foundation wants to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has stepped up to help rebuild our community. Whether you volunteered your time, worked tirelessly on the ground, or generously donated, your contributions have truly made a difference in the lives of so many in the High Country.
What you’ve done is nothing short of heroic, but it’s also deeply personal. Each act of kindness has helped forge connections that will last a lifetime.
We cherish our community and are grateful for everyone who has come together in the face of adversity, showing the love and compassion that make Avery and the surrounding areas such a beautiful place to call home. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us.
CONTACT US TODAY TO FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN HELP THE FOUNDATION!
Art Remarks
By CML Staff
Some of the world’s best artwork, fine and functional crafts, and performing arts can be found right here in the High Country. Now more than ever, the arts scene needs your presence and support—read the updates below and seize some of the amazing opportunities awaiting you this season.
The NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund Provides Help for Artists in Western North Carolina
Western North Carolina is well-known for its rich cultural traditions and vibrant creative communities, and artists and arts organizations are among those that have suffered significant losses. The North Carolina Arts Foundation is providing funding and assistance to artists and arts organizations affected by Hurricane Helene through their recently established NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund, which will help fund grants to artists with immediate and upcoming needs..
You can help in the recovery of the arts sector by contributing directly to the NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund. Or, you can choose to support a project featuring artists of Western North Carolina that will inspire and help heal those who suffered the trauma of losing homes, businesses, personal possessions, and loved ones.
You can learn more and donate online at ncartsfoundation.org. For those interested in making a donation with a check, make it payable to the North Carolina Arts Foundation and mail to: PO Box 26263, Raleigh, NC 27611. Please write the word RELIEF in the “Memo” section of the check to designate the funds for NC Arts Disaster Relief.
Local arts relief funds have also been established to help artists, artisans, and musicians in specific communities. Watauga Arts Council created Hope after Helene, a special fund to be able to quickly respond to the unique needs of our local artists and arts organizations in Watauga County (watauga-arts.org). Toe River Arts set up a local Disaster Recovery Fund for Mitchell and Yancey County artists (facebook.com/@ toeriverarts/). Other resources for artists can be found at Ashe County Arts Council at ashecountyarts.org, Wilkes Art Gallery at wilkesartgallery. org, and Johnson County (TN) Center for the Arts at jocoartcenter.org
Top Name Music Artists Partner with Communities to Raise Funds for Hurricane Relief
In the weeks following the storm, many musicians were busy collaborating with one another on how they might contribute to storm relief. And contribute they did!
Dozens of notable musicians helped organize numerous performances to benefit disaster recovery, and concerts were held in towns and cities throughout NC, VA, and TN, raising nearly $25 million for relief efforts. There was the East Tennessee Highlands Hurricane Relief
Concert in Oak Ridge, TN; the Mountain Aid: Music for Healing, Strength for Tomorrow concert in Johnson City, TN; and the Blue Ridge Holler concert series in Roanoke, VA, to name just a few. In North Carolina, concerts took place across the entire state, from the App Aid concert in Raleigh, to A Night of Kindness in Hickory, to the biggest of the poststorm music fundraisers, Concert for Carolina in Charlotte, featuring Eric Church, James Taylor, Luke Combs, Sheryl Crow, and other renowned musicians.
In Avery County, another sold-out performance, Music for the Mountains, wowed the audience at the Hayes Auditorium at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, which featured Wesko, Mikele Buck, Hayden Coffman and other special guests, with all proceeds going to Avery County First Responders whose families were impacted by Helene.
Beyond sharing their talents on stage, performers have found other creative avenues to show their support in response to the tragedy and loss around them. Celebrated singer-songwriter Eric Church, a music artist with strong ties to the High Country, provides one such example: he signed over all of his publishing royalties for his new song, “Darkest Hour,” to the State of North Carolina.
“From Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, Upstate South Carolina, parts of Georgia and even Florida, which took a direct hit, there are so many places that were impacted. Specifically in the area that I’m from, the mountains of Western North Carolina were devastated,” said Church. “These are our family members, they’re our friends, they’re our neighbors—and they’re in dire need of help.”
Church added, “This song, ‘Darkest Hour,’ was the best way I could think to try to help. We’ve been helping with boots on the ground efforts, but this is something that will live beyond just the immediate recovery. This is not a quick thing to fix, so hopefully ‘Darkest Hour’ will be able to contribute to that for a long time to come. This song goes to my home, North Carolina, now and forever.”
Church performed “Darkest Hour” at the 58th CMA Awards in late November, promoting our region’s needs to a nationwide audience. Readers can listen at ericchurch.com/news/DarkestHour
Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) Winter Offerings
Over in Blowing Rock, the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum will host the third of three Pop-Up Art and Craft Fairs to help local artisans that were affected by Hurricane Helene. The final Fair of the season takes place December 13-15 at 159 Ginny Stevens Lane in Blowing Rock. Admission to the fair is free, and all proceeds will go to the artists. The fair will offer handmade crafts, fine art, jewelry, pottery, textiles, and more—find unique holiday gifts while directly supporting local artisans.
In other news, BRAHM and the Blowing Rock Historical Society recently unveiled plans for a reimagined Ginny Stevens Gallery: “Blowing Rock, A History,” featuring a diorama of the iconic Mayview Manor Hotel
Eric Church with Governor Roy Cooper; Church signed over his publishing royalties for his new song, “Darkest Hour,” to the State of North Carolina.
Melanie Miller-Alchemist Garden, at BRAHM’s Pop Up Art and Craft Fair
by renowned Charlotte-based realist painter and diorama artist Dan Nance. The newly apportioned gallery opened in mid-November, with an immersive exhibition celebrating the town’s rich history.
Also on view at BRAHM this season is “SHIP/SHAPE: Page Laughlin and David Finn,” showing January 25 through May 4, 2025. “SHIP/ SHAPE” is a dynamic exhibition featuring more than 25 paintings and sculptures that explore and delight in the various manifestations of ships as image, symbol and metaphor. This marks the first time in over 30 years that the two artists, who are a couple, have developed an exhibition together.
Beginning March 1, “A Cardboard History of Blue Ridge Music” will be on view, and will run through April 26. Based on the vast and wideranging collection of music memorabilia collector Tom Murphy, this special exhibit will give visitors a window into the careers and impact of numerous well-known and lesser-known Blue Ridge musicians.
Glass artist Sarah Vaughn’s installation, “Considerations,” will be on view February 15 to August 10, 2025. This exhibition features an immersive display of over 4,000 cast, blown, and flame-worked glass river rocks, representing a decade of Vaughn’s exploration of memory, trauma, and resilience. This will also be BRAHM’s first site-specific collaboration with an artist, the culmination of more than two years of planning and development.
Learn more about these and other winter happenings at BRAHM by visiting blowingrockmuseum.org.
Colorful Caterpillars on Display
Once it became clear that the Woolly Worm Festival could not take place in October due to Helene, festival organizers got creative and offered a variety of activities so that residents and visitors in Avery County could still celebrate our famed woolly worms! One activity was the “WNC Message of Hope Coloring Contest.” Coloring sheets and crayons were available at Mountain Grounds Coffee & Tea Company, the Avery County Chamber of Commerce, and Williams YMCA.
Over 100 beautifully colored sheets were submitted, and judges from Stonewalls, Mountain Grounds, and Structall Building Systems stepped up to select the top entries and determine which artists would receive cash prizes for their artwork. The results were as follows: 1st place - Kenley from Lees-McRae ($250 cash prize); 2nd place - Violet from Williams Academy ($175 cash prize); 3rd place - Ava from Riverside Elementary ($75 cash prize); plus, four honorable mentions, each winning $25.
All of the winning artwork was featured at Mountain Grounds Coffee near Lowes Foods in Sugar Mountain, 3990 NC-105 #10, Banner Elk, NC 28604. Although the contest is over, you still can download the Woolly Worm coloring sheet at woollyworm.com/webfest/
Painted Memories and More at the Watauga Arts Council
The Watauga Arts Council (WAC) is hosting a variety of events and
opportunities to interest local artists, help fundraise for their Hope After Helene Arts Relief Fund, and provide support to fellow community members.
In collaboration with the High Country Watermedia Society, WAC is launching an initiative to create “Painted Memories”—custom paintings for those who lost homes or properties in the storm. Local artists can volunteer to paint portraits of pre-storm homes from submitted photographs, offering a meaningful way to preserve memories of lost or storm-impacted homes. If you or someone you know has been affected, or if you are an artist wanting to get involved, you can submit a form at watauga-arts.org, or call 828-264-1789. This initiative will be ongoing, with plans to host a public exhibit of the finished home paintings this coming spring.
Also this winter, WAC is hosting a variety of classes and workshops. Starting Thursday, January 2, and running every Thursday through January 23, you can participate in Surface Design: Intuitive Fiber Arts. “Guiltfree stitching, no rules, just your imagination… set aside your worries, relax, and take up a needle and thread.” This class, taught by instructor Pamela Torres, is designed to help you lean into what pleases your eye and makes you happy. Sewing with intuition rather than rigidity, students will use a variety of fabric, buttons, lace scraps, memorabilia, stamps, and various fibers to create designs that appeal to their personal taste, intuition, and instincts.
Whether you are an artist looking for opportunities to have fun and potentially earn income, or a supporter of the arts, WAC invites you to join them in nurturing and sustaining the local arts community. Check out all that the WAC has to offer at watauga-arts.org or on social media.
Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Announces the Heritage Hearth Charity Drive
The Blue Ridge National Heritage (BRNHA) is a nonprofit organization that preserves, cultivates, and promotes the cultural and natural heritage of Western North Carolina. In response to the hurricane, BRNHA has organized the Heritage Hearth Charity Drive, a creative effort to collect hand-knit and crocheted accessories for all ages to benefit residents of Western North Carolina impacted by the storm.
“BRNHA is asking the fiber community at large to do what many love to do—create warmth and comfort through handmade items,” said Bridget Herbig, BRNHA’s Communications Manager. As areas recover, BRNHA strives to keep Western NC on the radar of those outside the region. The organization will collect donations now through January 20, 2025, including knit or crochet hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, and cowls. The North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NCVOAD) will assist in connecting BRNHA to groups that can disperse donations to those in need. Donations can be mailed (or dropped off) to: Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, c/o Heritage Hearth, 31 College Place, Suite 120, Asheville, NC 28801. Learn more at blueridgeheritage. com/heritage-hearth-a-handmade-charity-drive/
Woolly Worm Coloring Contest
Heritage Hearth Charity Drive Watauga Arts Council
On September 25th we were thrilled to host our big grand opening for our firm and on September 26th our new office building was destroyed by Hurricane Helene. We have spent our time since then working in our communities to help those in need - we will never cease from our unwavering commitment to our families, our communities and our clients! Give us a call or stop in just up the road at our other office. We look forward to serving you! Experience counts!
Sip, tour, and explore this winter in Yadkin Valley wine country.
Explore the Winter Wine & Beer Passport: YadkinValleyNC.com/guides/winter-beer-wine-passport. Enjoy discounts at wineries, breweries, restaurants, and lodging.
WINTER CLOTHING & SHOES
Columbia • Merrell
• Wigwam • Camelbak
Seirus • Sherpani • Turtle Fur
Sorel • Life is
Book Nook
By CML Staff
Time to curl up with a good book! Whether you’re interested in history, or looking for inspiration, you’ll find a large selection of written works by talented writers, many of them local. Here we highlight several options to consider.
At the Museum of Ashe County History you’ll find a wide variety of local and regional history books, many written by well-known local historians and authors. “We just got in some new titles, as well as some familiar favorites for you to enjoy,” share Museum Gift Shop employees. Some of the latest titles include: Kirk’s Civil War Raid Along the Blue Ridge, by Michael C. Hardy (The History Press); The Scotch-Irish Influence of Country Music in the Carolinas, by Michael C. Scoggins (Arcadia Publishing); North Carolina Moonshine: An Illicit History, by Frank Stephenson Jr. & Barbara Nichols Mulder (Arcadia Publishing); Finding Daniel Boone, by Ted Franklin Belue (The History Press); and The True Story of Tom Dooley: From Western North Carolina Mystery to Folk Legend, by John Edward Fletcher (The History Press).
The Museum of Ashe County History’s Gift Shop also carries items such as coffee mugs, bookmarks, postcards, caps, t-shirts, and more— great for gift-giving this winter season! The Gift Shop is open during regular museum hours, Monday – Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All proceeds from the Gift Shop directly benefit the museum. ashehistory.org (Photo courtesy of Museum of Ashe County History)
Sharing Hints for Happiness: Every one of us has a different life experience, and at times we may be in search of greater “happiness.” Meet Banner Elk, NC, resident mOjAf Curtis: he has some nuggets of wisdom from his own life journey that he wants to share with you in his recently published book, Hints 4 Happiness: Living with Joy, Peace, and Happiness
“This book is a description of how I found joy after so many years of living without pure happiness,” notes the author. “My hope is that it will also act as a manual for achieving peace for anyone who truly wants to live each day without the many destructive emotions that prevent most people from enjoying their existence on this planet.”
At first glance, the book seems somewhat child-like, and the author makes no apologies: “I honestly believe that my soul is more connected with my four- or five-year-old self than with any other age. Imagine what it would feel like to live with the pure joy of a four-year-old!”
Yet inside you’ll find chapters on serious topics, including “Having No Regrets,” “Dealing with Physical Pain and Discomfort,” and “Being Grateful for Everything.” Throughout, you’ll find stories in which most adults of a certain age can easily relate, and the paperback is filled with whimsical illustrations by the author. Find Hints 4 Happiness on Amazon, or if you’re in downtown Banner Elk, visit Sorrento’s Italian Bistro and ask for mOjAf’s book. (Published by Timeless Treasures Publishing)
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: A New Classic that Will Lift Spirits All Year Round
By Elizabeth Baird Hardy
It is no secret that the High Country has faced epic challenges of late. After the devastation of Hurricane Helene at the end of September, some residents may have found the prospect of Christmas to be the last thing on their minds. After all, it is hard to be jolly or to think about tinsel while mucking out the wreckage caused by flooding or cutting up downed trees. Yet, even in the midst of challenges, there have been bright spots connected to our region and its long-standing role as a provider of Christmas trees and holiday cheer. The 2024 White House Christmas Tree was chosen from our very own Avery County, with Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm holding the honor of providing the Blue Room Tree. In addition to that rather spectacular event, the High Country has continued to rise above the struggles, in both large and small ways that linger even after the Christmas decorations go into storage, finding joy often where it is least expected.
In much the same way, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (2024), directed by Dallas Jenkins, shows that disasters may not always be what we expect, and that we may discover unexpected blessings under the strangest of circumstances, in any season.
Based on the beloved 1972 novel by Barbara Robinson, the new film is not the first adaptation of the story of the horrible Herdman children who take over the annual Christmas play with both hilarious and heartwrenching results. A popular play based on the novel is a seasonal favorite for theatergoers both locally and across the state, and a 1983 movie was made for television. This theatrical version, released in theaters at the beginning of November and slated for streaming in 2025, embraces the novel’s 1970s setting while also telling a timeless tale that will continue to entertain and inspire audiences well into the future. Rated PG for the Herdman hijinks, it’s really a film suitable for all viewers.
Director Dallas Jenkins, well known for his work on the popular series The Chosen, understands how to take a familiar text and create an entertaining film that is faithful to its source, while also presenting its own vision. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever tells the story of “the worst kids in the history of the world,” who show up at church for the snacks and take on the major roles in the nigh-sacred annual Christmas Pageant, an event so bound in tradition that changes in cast usually only happen when children age out. It also tells the story of Beth, who narrates as an adult, played by Lauren Graham, and who as a child is played by Molly Belle Wright. Beth watches her mother, Grace (Judy Greer), as she takes on the unexpected challenge of directing the pageant with its unorthodox cast. In the process, Beth, her mother, and their community, all learn more about one another and about a story they thought they knew.
The film’s cast is absolutely delightful. While Chosen fans may enjoy seeing some familiar faces in different roles, the stars of the show are the children who make up the core of the cast. Wright is fantastic as Beth, whether she is praying earnest but humorous prayers or watching the surprising changes in her mother and in the terrible kids she thought she knew. Those horrible kids are played by a team of remarkable young actors who pull off both the violent shenanigans and thoughtful questions that make the Herdmans both exasperating and compelling. Their leader, older sister Imogene, is played by newcomer Beatrice Schneider,
who gives an incredible, nuanced performance capturing the anger, hurt, and brittle pride of Imogene, as well as her genuine curiosity about the Christmas story. She and her siblings, not jaded by years of Sunday School stories, are truly puzzled by actions like the Innkeeper putting up the Holy Family in a barn and annoyed that they will not be allowed to kill Herod as part of the play. Mason Nelligan plays older brother Ralph, who takes on the part of Joseph with a wonderful blend of bravado and tenderness. All the younger Herdmans are portrayed beautifully by the young cast, who provoke laughter, exasperation, sympathy, and affection at various turns. Tiny Gladys (Kynlee Heiman) is an unsmiling holy terror who becomes an angel who means business. The rest of the supporting cast is diverse and strong, pulling viewers into a community that is both nostalgic and contemporary.
Although the story’s turns lead to an uplifting outcome, the plot does not suffer from predictability, as the audience, like the town of Emmanuel, is constantly surprised by the unpredictable Herdmans. Jenkins’s deft directorial style and the snappy pace give us a movie that pauses in just the right places for reflective moments without ever lagging. The lovely soundtrack is a perfect complement to the visuals that will be very familiar to anyone who remembers the 1970s, especially those who wore tinsel wings and sang “Away in a Manger” in their own childhoods. Although the titular pageant is one of those bathrobes and babydoll affairs, the movie is a first-rate production that is sure to be a perennial favorite.
Many of us in the High Country may look at the holidays and at 2025 in the same way the community views the Herdmans, but this delightful treat of a film reminds us that there is good to be found even in those times (and people) that terrify us. The Herdmans, whom everyone believes are all on their way to “Hell by way of the state penitentiary,” show their town, and us, that “Christmas comes for everyone.” Like another seasonal classic, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever lets children tell us what Christmas is all about; like Linus, who always drops his blanket when the angel proclaims “Fear Not,” Gladys Herdman’s unconventional angel will get our attention. This film, and its reminders of the beauty to be found even in unlikely places and times, makes this a classic that will lift spirits now, throughout the year, and for Christmases to come.
Make Plans to Visit Grandfather Mountain in the “Quieter Season”
Grandfather Mountain’s long winter season brings some of the most spectacular moments to the nature park and preserve. Visit in the “quieter season” for more opportunities for magical, solitary mile-high experiences. You’ll also avoid the crowds that you normally find in winter months.
The weather atop Grandfather is some of the most extreme and fast changing on the East Coast. Between periods of winter-like weather are many sunny mild days perfect for hikes and even picnics. The park is open every day in winter, except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, weather permitting.
A few reasons why now is the perfect time to visit:
Cooler temperatures bring out the animals’ personalities in Grandfather’s wildlife habitats.
Clear days without the haze of summer means that visitors enjoy the longest views in the Blue Ridge. On select days, you may get a glimpse of the Charlotte skyline, more than 80 miles away, or postcard scenes of trees covered in ice and snow.
Mildred’s Grill and the Wilson Center for Nature Discovery are the perfect places to warm up! While you dine, watch winter birds outside on the feeders.
Milder days during this season are still usually quieter days, making for some of the best hiking opportunities of the year.
To learn more about visiting during the quieter season, visit grandfather.com/winter-visits
Travel Tips for a Thoughtful Post-Helene Visit to Grandfather Mountain and the Area
Book your Grandfather Mountain visit in advance. As always, booking tickets and a reservation time online in advance is highly recommended. This is the only way to receive available discounts on admission and guarantee that you will be able to enter the park. There is a chance that some days and time slots may sell out.
Be cautious and patient as you navigate roads, and expect traffic delays. Construction work is happening around the clock to repair infrastructure throughout the area.
Approach your visit with empathy, especially when interacting with members of the surrounding communities. Many people’s lives have been completely uprooted by the storm. When you are interacting with local business owners, wait staff, frontline employees, etc., please be sensitive to the trauma they may have experienced as a result of Hurricane Helene. Many folks are still dealing with ongoing difficulties.
Shop at local businesses while you are here. The effects of the storm have had massive impacts on the region’s economy, as the High Country is typically very busy in fall and many business owners rely on that season to cover their expenses throughout the year. Support small businesses by shopping and dining local during your visit.
Winter Notes ...
Remember that Grandfather Mountain State Park is a separate park. Grandfather Mountain State Park is owned and operated by the state of North Carolina and has its own set of announcements that are separate from the Grandfather Mountain nature park and preserve.
Wilson Center
Cougar
Winter Hiking
Helping Our Neighbors
Grandfather Continues to Support Hard-hit Community Members
The nature park and preserve suffered only minor damage from Helene, which allowed the nonprofit Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation to turn its focus outward from park operations to humanitarian efforts in Avery County. In fact, many staff members immediately began showing up at the mountain to assist the community following the hurricane, even before cell signal communication was restored to the area. Since the storm hit, the organization has worked with dozens of nonprofits (local to international), regional businesses, tourism colleagues, good Samaritans and many others in an effort to bring relief to the mountain’s surrounding communities.
In the first few weeks following the storm, Stewardship Foundation staff worked hard every single day out in the community—cooking hot meals in hard-hit areas; purchasing and delivering generators, fuel and heaters; helping people clean out flooddamaged houses and apartments; cutting and delivering seasoned firewood; purchasing and setting up Starlinks as community internet hubs; and working at the various distribution centers.
Needs are shifting every day and the organization plans on helping meet those needs for as long as possible. Grandfather is focusing efforts now on getting people back in their homes by connecting families with contractors and by helping rebuild driveways and replace culverts. The organization also plans on patnering with other nonprofit organizations to help fill in any financial or need-based gaps to ensure that people can safely and quickly return to their homes.
You can learn more about this work and how you can support it at grandfather.com/helene.
Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation
The nonprofit Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation strives to inspire conservation of the natural world by helping guests explore, understand and value the wonders of Grandfather Mountain. For more information, visit www.grandfather.com
GMSF staff serving meals in Avery County
GMSF staff distributing donated goods
Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation staff prepping bagged meals for the community
Birds in the Storm
By Paul Laurent
As mountain communities continue to clean up and rebuild after the devastation of Hurricane Helene, I’ve gotten lots of questions about what happens to birds during storms like the one we experienced this past fall. The sad fact is that quite a few are killed, either by high winds, downed trees, or flooding. The good news is that birds and other wildlife are remarkably resilient in the face of natural disasters, and many more birds weathered the storm just fine. Some migratory birds actually took advantage of the storm to speed up their journey.
Birds have an amazing ability to sense changes in the weather. If you look at migration data from the day of the storm, over a half-billion birds took to the sky and headed west out of the path of the hurricane, then they rode the strong, southerly winds on the western edge of the storm to make a massive push south to the Gulf of Mexico. Many of these birds likely shaved several days off their journeys to wintering grounds in the tropics!
On the other hand, hurricanes also tend to pick up tropical and pelagic birds and bring them hundreds of miles north of their usual ranges. The process is called ‘entrainment.’ Basically, the spinning winds of the storm catch soaring birds and gradually collect them in the calm of the eye. These birds will stay within the eye rather than battle the storm again, and they can remain in the eye of the storm for days or even weeks until it dissipates and breaks up, leaving them in some very unusual places. The other way to get these fallout birds is when the strong winds on the leading edge of the storm simply push birds ahead and to the side of the hurricane. In Helene’s case, lots of tropical and pelagic birds were seen in southern Florida, while others found themselves as far north as central Kentucky. Many of these birds managed to find their way back home, though some certainly were left too weak to survive the return journey.
A friend on the coast of North Carolina saw nine Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring over his house in Southport. These massive birds are far more common off the coast of Central America! While I’m sure quite a few of these tropical species passed through the mountains as well, the damage to roads and bridges made it largely impossible to go looking for them in this area.
The day after Helene came through I was able to get down to Valle Crucis Community Park to see how much damage there was. The roads were a mess, with downed trees and powerlines just barely cleared enough to allow one-way traffic. The sidewalk around the park had been lifted up by the force of the water and big chunks of it were scattered across the mowed fields. Park benches set into concrete were warped, twisted, and relocated, and someone’s SUV was crumpled up in the Watauga River next to a big shortage shed that wasn’t there the day before. The devastation was staggering to witness, until I made my way down to the natural meadow on the far end of the park. The young sycamore trees growing there all survived the storm, and while the fall wildflowers had been pushed flat by the flood waters, some were already beginning to stand themselves back upright.
I saw flocks of Palm Warblers picking through the fallen leaves; they are subdued little warblers, mostly brown with pale yellow under their tails, which they pump up and down almost continually as they for-
age. A Merlin swooped overhead—the small falcon was likely looking for Palm Warblers. I even saw three Pectoral Sandpipers who had been on their way from breeding grounds in northern Canada to wintering grounds in South America. They had stopped for the day to feast on the thousands of earthworms forced out of the ground by the flooding. There had never been a sighting of Pectoral Sandpipers at Valle Crucis Park before that day.
We actually get lots of shorebirds passing over the mountains during migration. If you draw a line on a map from the tundras of northcentral Canada where many species of shorebirds breed down to the coast of Florida, that line goes right over these mountains. We just don’t normally get to see them, since they fly through overnight and seldom stop. When big storms flood mowed fields however, they create a temporary habitat much more suitable for sandpipers and plovers. They use their incredible sense of smell to detect the change, and in some cases large numbers of shorebirds congregate in temporarily flooded fields. The sod farms along Hooper Lane outside Hendersonville is one of the more famous stops for shorebirds in the mountains.
I noticed lots of warblers over the next few days foraging on or near the ground. These little songbirds are typically spotted flitting through the treetops, but the storm knocked lots of insects and caterpillars to the ground, and the birds quickly adapted their normal foraging techniques to the new conditions. The storm also coincided with the arrival of our overwintering sparrows, and they love the big tangles of branches, leaves, and other detritus that collected against large tree trunks during the flooding. It has created a perfect hiding place for sparrows and these snags are often full of seeds that were swept down by the floods. One such snag along the Boone Greenway had at least eight different species of sparrows seen coming in and out of it, including rare species for the area like a Lark Sparrow and a Clay-colored Sparrow. The Lark Sparrow is a striking little bird with bold harlequin markings of orange, black, and white across its face like war paint. The Clay-colored Sparrow is much drabber looking, resembling the abundant Chipping Sparrows but with a little more white on the face and a brownish rump.
The one constant in nature is change. Helene changed a lot of things here in these mountains, but the natural areas are able to bounce back from the destruction with amazing speed. Fallen trees open the canopy for new growth to spring up in newly available sunlight, while the downed trunks decompose into rich new soil as they provide habitat for beetles, grubs, salamanders and more. Ripped up root balls have created new shelters for Black Bears and other mammals who hibernate. The mountains look very different than they did before the storm, but life continues and even thrives in the transition. By observing nature, we humans can take inspiration.
Paul Laurent has been a birder and nature lover for as long as he can remember. He is the Naturalist for Valle Crucis Community Park, and owns and operates a small birding tour company called Epic Nature Tours. He also leads tours for Ventures Birding.
Photos: Pectoral Sandpiper, by Andreas Trepte; Lark Sparrow by ADJ82. commons. wikimedia.org
L to R: Lark Sparrow, Pectoral Sandpiper
pbobbins@wealthenhancement com knewton@wealthenhancement com
The Art and Science of Snowflakes
By Tamara S. Randolph
Did You Know?
The largest snow crystals, up to 5 mm in diameter, are the “Fernlike Stellar Dendrites.” Photo (top) by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht
On their journey to the ground, some snowflakes become coated with liquid droplets, commonly known as “graupel.” (middle photo)
Snowflake Morphology graphic by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, snowcrystals.com and weather.gov
The official snow season kicked off in earnest on November 22, with an average of five inches falling in parts of the High Country over a two-day period. For most residents and visitors in our area, the “white stuff” is a welcome sight—it means scenic beauty, optimal ski conditions, and lots of outdoor play time (think snowball fights, snowmen making, igloo building, sledding, and snowshoeing)!
But a blanket of fresh fallen snow deserves a closer look. If you are a keen observer, you’ll be able to see the beautiful forms of snowflakes with the naked eye. Catching some flakes on a black glove or mitten will make it even easier to view the structure of each unique snowflake before it melts. Magnify a snowflake for an even bigger “Wow!”
How does nature create these works of art?
It’s all about crystals. Crystallization, in simple terms, is the process where molecules in a liquid or gas arrange themselves into a well-defined, repeating pattern, forming solid crystals. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), snowflakes form when water vapor (a gas) travels through the air and condenses on a particle, becoming a solid. From there, a slow-growing ice crystal develops—what we know as a snowflake. What makes a snowflake different from just any frozen water droplet is that it forms slowly, and it grows in a cloud.
Depending on how the water vapor condenses, a snowflake can take on two basic structures: a facet structure, or a branching structure. While we know that no two snowflakes are identical, they are all similar in that every snowflake has what we call “six-fold radial symmetry.” A facet structure may look more like a hexagonal crystal plate, prism or column, similar to a common quartz crystal; branching structures make up the stereotypical snowflakes that we sometimes draw or cut from paper — these branching snowflakes are known as “dendrites.” In nature, all branching snowflakes have six branches, and some branches may have additional facets or plate structures forming on them—both the facet and branching processes can occur at the same time.
Ultimately, a snowflake continues to transform as it travels through different temperatures, air currents, and moisture levels in a cloud. Because these conditions will vary for any given snowflake as it falls from the sky, every snowflake will be unique.
This winter, take look at “snow” in a new light, and be amazed by nature’s creativity, complexity and beauty—even in its most minute forms.
Bucking Stereotypes to Become Heavyweights on the National Stage
By Emily Webb
Deepin the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina lies one of the Southeast’s best-kept secrets. While the southern states are likely the last place most Americans associate with skiing and snowboarding, those who know return to the High Country year after year to enjoy the world-class winter sports available at the Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain and Appalachian Ski Mtn. ski resorts.
For the ski and snowboard team at Lees-McRae College, this perception that the southeast can’t possibly produce talented winter sport athletes is one of their biggest advantages. Their competitors may not take them seriously when the team first shows up to competitions, but at the end of the weekend they know that Lees-McRae is a force to be reckoned with.
Head Coach Aaron Maas recalled a moment last year when Lees-McRae (900 students) came in first in a national championship race, sharing the podium with University of Wisconsin-Madison (50,000 students) and UCLA (48,000 students).
“Some of their classrooms have more students than our entire college, and here we are beating them on a national stage,” Maas said. “I get so much joy out of that, and I know our student-athletes do too.”
Lees-McRae students have always had a love for skiing: one of the first clubs founded in the college’s early days was a ski club. Interest in the sport has risen and fallen over the years, with the most previous iteration fizzling out in 2000 after the coach left. In 2016, competitive snow-
boarder and seasoned instructor Aaron Maas was tapped to bring back the sport.
Although it was reformed as a club sport, and initially had only four athletes, Maas treated the role and the team like it was varsity. He emphasized discipline and professionalism, encouraging the students to take responsibility for raising funds for the team and representing the college at national events. The team reviews video film every night during practice and works on specific techniques.
“They look at it from the mindset of wanting to be a serious competitor, whether it’s at practice or competitions,” Maas said. “Ultimately they just want to get better, day in and day out on the snow, and they do.”
The approach paid off: members of the team qualified for nationals in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and the team has won a combined 10 national titles, with 25 more podium finishes. In addition, Maas was named the 2024 U.S. Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association Coach of the Year—one of the few snowboard coaches to receive the honor.
In 2024, following their long string of successes, the ski and snowboard team became the college’s newest varsity sport, a goal Maas has been working toward since the club team was revitalized. With the elevation comes additional funding, the ability to hire an assistant coach, and, for Maas, further confirmation that Lees-McRae is the team to beat on the national scale.
Although the High Country might
not have the name recognition in the sport of bigger ski towns, in many ways it’s the best place to learn how to excel in ski and snowboard.
“The mountains may not be as big, but they’re big enough,” Maas said. “We have ample room to practice everything we do. And it takes less time to get back to the top.”
The surrounding environment, as well as the ethos of Lees-McRae, provides additional benefits to the athletes. Western North Carolina rarely sees the consistent powder of Colorado or Utah, so studentathletes get used to practicing in less-thanperfect conditions and on many kinds of terrain. Then, when it comes time to compete, they are prepared for anything, which puts them at an advantage against their competitors.
“At Lake Placid, there was a coach complaining to officials that it was completely unsafe, that the course was too icy, that their female team couldn’t compete. And here’s my female team standing there like ‘What’s the problem? This looks fine, this looks like an average Thursday at Beech Mountain, let’s go!’” Maas said. “And it’s that confidence going into it that provides them an edge.”
According to Maas, most of the students who come to Lees-McRae to compete are interested in all aspects of outdoor adventure, with many of them choosing the school because they wanted to live in
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western North Carolina. In the off-season, the athletes are hiking, mountain biking, backpacking, rock climbing—all of which serve as valuable cross training.
Coming from a small school, in a small town, has made it especially important to engage with the community. Lees-McRae has a classroom at Beech Mountain Resort where students in the Outdoor Recreation Management or Ski Industry Business and Instruction programs can take classes, then immediately hit the slopes.
“Beech Mountain goes out of their way to support the team,” Maas said.
Many students work at the resort in various capacities and assist with the weekly Adult Race League events. Having an established training ground and the opportunity to get an inside look at ski resort operations benefit the student-athletes both in their sport and professionally. Maas estimates that half of the team are Outdoor Recreation Management majors, with several others studying Business Administration. Lees-McRae also offers a Ski Industry Business and Instruction minor, so for students who pursue that career, their experience on the team and at the resort will essentially secure their futures.
“If you can graduate from Lees-McRae College, hopefully with a national title in ski or snowboard, and an Outdoor Recreation Management or business major and a ski industry minor, it’s like, what ski town would you like to live in?” Maas said. “If you have a ski industry minor, and a prospective employer sees that but also sees you were a four-year skiier or snowboarder in college, and that this is what you want to do and where you want to live for the rest of your life, you’re hired.”
Along with Beech Mountain, which is the team’s top sponsor, many other community members and alumni have been fervent supporters of the team since day one. Ski and snowboard are expensive sports, but local businesses have contributed funds and offered equipment discounts to help defray the costs.
With the 2025 season here, Maas is anticipating even bigger success for his team. His goal is to ensure that once he retires from coaching, the team will have the momentum and record of success to persist.
For other schools competing in ski and snowboard, they may not have heard of Lees-McRae going into the competition, but they will certainly know them after.
How One Local Business Is Making a Difference after Hurricane Helene
FollowingAshley Galleher as she weaves around an obstacle course of donated boxes of food, cases of water, bags of pet food and endless supplies of cleaning products, is like a workout at the gym.
Galleher, a Watauga County native and new business owner of Zionville Ramp Company (ZRC), located on the NC/TN border, was getting ready to celebrate a year of offering a safe and controlled environment for young people of all ages in the sport of skateboarding when Hurricane Helene slammed into western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Ironically, “shredding” is a slang term that skateboarders use to describe the actual act of skateboarding. Shredding is exactly what the storm did to the land and communities of the High Country.
Galleher’s large warehouse used for skateboarding was luckily unscathed in the storm and it offered three things that were critical in the first days of recovery: a large facility, plenty of parking and proximity to a main highway.
As the muddied waters receded, the sheer amount of destruction became evident; it was obvious that the mountain communities were in dire need of help. And help came.
“We set up a table with food and water and by the end of the first day, pickup trucks of supplies were arriving in our parking lot,” says Galleher of a core group of people including friend and skateboard mom, Valentine Cranford Reilly.
“Within 48 hours the entire warehouse was full and we were getting tractor-trailer loads of goods. There were military helicopters landing in the field across the road, and they were bringing us supplies—generators from the army—private helicopters bringing everything from cat and dog food to cleaning supplies. Anything and everything!” Galleher shouts excitedly over a truck that just pulled into the parking lot.
Galleher pauses mid-sentence as a family approaches the volunteer tables. She immediately communicates in Spanish, asking the needs and how many in their household. “A four-person box,” she interprets to volunteers assembling boxes of food and household goods. As Galleher turns around a gentleman is asking for a razor. Another needs cat food. She spins around and finds someone to help.
Zionville Ramp Company, currently serving as the State Line Resource Station and Rural Distribution Center, is where Galleher spends most of her time. She has
quite a bit of experience in the non-profit world but never imagined her business as ground zero for the recovery efforts serving the surrounding areas of eastern Tennessee, and Ashe County and Watauga County in North Carolina.
“I know how to do this but I didn’t envision this,” says Galleher. “Having grown up here and having a lot of non-profit jobs, it made it easier to connect resources. My first thought was let’s just try to store it all. I got scaffolding from Boone Rent-all. Even before the storm they supported my business and the owner said ‘how can I help?’ We got some porta-johns, scaffolding for shelves and storage containers for overflow.”
The resource center is one of the most organized operations in the area serving two states. People come to us and say ‘my neighbor needs this’ or ‘needs that.’ If we can take care of our own community, then the ripple effect can be felt. I say just show up and help. If you can show up here and help our agency we will put you to work,” says Galleher. “We have a needs list and a resources list that we are cross-referencing every day. When we are able to match a need to a resource, we joke that we ought to be able to ring a bell!”
In the early days monetary donations started coming in that the resource center felt uncomfortable funneling through private Venmo accounts. After reaching out to a local non-profit called Mountain Mermaids Collective, the center created a fund called “Brittany’s Fund” in memory of a friend, Brittany Robinson, who perished in the storm. Now donations are made directly to the fund with all monies going straight into grants to meet specific needs.
“There are a lot of people who are just beginning to voice their own needs who spent the first months volunteering,” says Valentine Cranford Reilly, who works alongside Galleher at the resource center. “We have 25 to 50 new people each day with people who have tears in their eyes and say ‘I need a mop because I’m trying to get the mud off my floors,’ or trying to find a place to live.”
Cranford Reilly reiterates that as we move further past the disaster, the more people who had significant damage but didn’t lose everything are realizing that no one is coming to the rescue as volunteers are waning and this polarization is happening.
“We feel the need to stay open as long
as we can—financially, physically and emotionally—for those who haven’t been able to ask for help yet. Mountain people are strong people, and asking for help is hard, but every day there are people who come through and say ‘this is my first time coming here and it’s been hard to ask for help.’ There is a lot of good happening but there was a lot of miscommunication and missed connections in the early recovery effort and our goal is to try our absolute best to minimize that and stay open long enough for those people who wake up one day and say ‘I can’t do this by myself,’” adds Cranford Reilly.
Alongside their grant program there is a list for skilled tradesmen and contractors off the mountain who want to come on the weekends and complete a job. “Our goal is to get licensed, bonded and insured workers that won’t cause more problems for these people. Some even want to provide the lumber, which is huge,” says Cranford Reilly.
The current biggest call to action is donations of gift cards to businesses like Lowes Hardware, local grocery stores, or monetary donations to the Stateline
How to Support ZRC . . .
Many folks have asked how they can support ZRC as they continue to do community relief work by running State Line Resource Station and Rural Distribution Center. Paying for future skateboarding now is one BIG way to help. They are offering a deeply discounted 2025 year-long membership for only $299—and memberships can be gifted to anyone! ZRC will be open with regular hours after the holidays. Don’t skate, yet still want to support them? Shop their online store to make a straight donation, or check out other ways to support ZRC long-term. “The only way to fail is to give up, and we will never, ever give up!” zrcskate.com/shop
Resource Center so they can continue to help people throughout the winter months.
“Donate money, come and volunteer, donate resources so we can rebuild this community,” urges Galleher. “Everyone says y’all are going to close because you are changing things.’ No. We are changing so we can keep going. We are changing so we don’t have to close. Because I don’t quit. And I won’t quit until this community is in a better place.”
Galleher says while she sees the operation continuing through the winter, she also wants to revert part of the warehouse back into skateboarding because the kids need a sense of normalcy too. As she is once again sprinting through the parking lot, speaking of the love for her skateboarders and community, we are interrupted by a good Samaritan calling her phone, wanting to help pay the mortgage on her business. “By all means, take that call!” I shout ahead to Galleher. “Your bell is ringing!”
To help support Helene Victims you can donate monetarily at statelineresourcestation.org or mtnmermaids.org. To donate items or volunteer contact ZRC at zrcskate.volunteer@gmail.com.
SmileOn ADG Fundraiser at Dewey’s Bakery
The Adam Davis Galleher Memorial Fund began in January of 2013 after the sudden passing of Adam Galleher, Ashley Galleher’s 26-yearold brother. As of this year, SmileOn ADG has awarded over $180,000 in grants, scholarships, and charitable gifts in areas that Adam was passionate about. SmileOn ADG has partnered again with DEWEY’S Bakery Holiday Store at Shoppes on the Parkway in Blowing Rock for their annual fundraiser. Now through Christmas Eve, shop for your holiday sweets and support a great cause! Learn more at smlieonadg.org.
Photos, clockwise from top left: Zionville Ramp Company, photo by Eddyline Creative; Shop Kitty lends a helping paw; skater at ZRC, photo by Eddyline Creative; volunteers build a bridge; relief supplies from the good people of Nebraska; State Line volunteers; Valentine and Ashley, photo by Alan Garvick; World Central Kitchen Comes to State Line
The Starfish Story
An old man had a habit of early morning walks on the beach. One day, after a storm, he saw a human figure in the distance moving like a dancer.
As he came closer, he saw that it was a young woman and she said she was not dancing, but was reaching down to the sand, picking up starfish and very gently throwing them into the ocean.
“Young lady,” he asked, “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”
“The sun is up, and the tide is going out, and if I do not throw them in they will die,” she replied.
“But young lady, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it? You cannot possibly make a difference.”
The young woman listened politely, paused and then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea past the breaking waves saying, “It makes a difference for that one.”
—adapted from the original written by Loren Eiseley
Clean Water—the Most Basic of Needs
Quenching your thirst. Washing your dishes and laundry. Taking a shower or bath. Flushing a toilet. For most us, accessing clean water any time of the day, any day of the week, is as easy as lifting a handle or pushing a button. Yet, the reality—as Hurricane Helene has shown us—is that all water systems can be vulnerable, even in a country that enjoys one of the world’s most reliable and safest supplies of water.
During several weeks in October, many of us in western NC experienced what billions of people all over the planet face every day—the challenge of getting the clean water required for our everyday needs. According to Wine to Water (WTW), a global nonprofit based in Boone, NC, “780 million people live without access to clean drinking water.” Wine to Water is well known for their work all over the world “to preserve life and dignity through the power of clean water,” and since the organization’s founding in 2004, they have helped over two million people in 55 countries gain access to safe, clean water.
And that includes people right here in western North Carolina.
Following Helene, Wine to Water’s disaster response teams worked in communities between Asheville and Boone to provide free water filtration systems. When Banner Elk’s water treatment plant was left compromised and inoperable after excessive flooding, WTW representatives, including founder and president Doc Hendley, headed to the small town and supplied every family in need with a water filter. Their special filtration system operates off the same high-efficiency membrane technology as kidney dialysis, which removes 99.99% of bacteria and contaminants. Each filter is able to clean more than 400 gallons of water per day and lasts 10 years or longer. What’s more, it’s super easy to use. The gravity fed filter is attached to a 5-gallon bucket, or single bottle, filled with water from nearly any available water source, no matter how impure. Once filtered, the water is ready to drink.
That filter technology used here in our region is being applied all over the world as the demand for clean water continues to grow. From Nepal, to the Dominican Republic, to the Amazon, to Tanzania and Nepal, WTW works with local partners to address a specific community’s water issues, with a focus on water access, filtration, sanitation, and hygiene education.
According to the WTW team, “The root cause of global poverty can be linked to the lack of clean, sustainable water solutions.” But, they note, when a population has access to clean water, so many things can change for them. “First and foremost, time in healthcare facilities from waterborne illnesses is drastically eliminated, clearing time for education, businesses, and community investment, and reducing
By Tamara S. Randolph
health costs.” They add, “Regularly, women and children walk for hours to collect water. When those women and children don’t have to devote so much time to this need, they can dedicate more time to economic development, education, and more.”
Some of Wine to Water’s solutions in areas of the world with limited clean water resources involve building customized, sustainable water systems and processes to get water closer to where people live and go to school. These systems might include drilling boreholes; harvesting spring water; using reservoir tanks with solar-powered or electric water pumps; installing pipelines; creating tap stands or water kiosk stations; and, of course, providing filtration systems to make water safe to drink almost instantly, no matter the source.
WTW is also largely focused on education and training so that these efforts are long-lasting for the communities they serve. “We develop WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene) solutions in direct partnership with local leaders, creating impact beyond water. Our team works relentlessly to improve environmental sustainability, education, women’s empowerment, healthcare, and economic growth.”
This season, learn more about our earth’s freshwater resources and the ways in which organizations like Wine to Water are working toward a better world in which clean water is accessible to everyone.
Want to help support WTW’s mission? Beginning in early 2025, you can purchase one of their amazing DROP Filter™ water filters for yourself and at the same time help support clean water worldwide. Volunteer opportunities are also available. Visit wtw.org to learn more.
All photos courtesy
March 22 is World Water Day!
World Water Day, held on the 22nd of March every year since 1993, is an annual United Nations Observance focusing on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The day is dedicated to raising awareness of water-related issues that humans face in almost every country, including access to safe drinking water. un.org/en/observances/water-day
Wine to Water helps communities build water systems that bring clean water closer to where they live and go to school.
WTW Founder Doc Hendley demonstrates the use of a water filter for residents of Banner Elk following Hurricane Helene
of Wine to Water
Trail Reports: Winter ’24-‘25
By CML Staff
Winter is a wonderful season for exploring our forests, parks and trails, and opportunities abound! However, many public lands in western North Carolina, east Tennessee, and southwest Virginia experienced varying levels of damage, forcing closures in certain areas. This season, please be sure to research your destination prior to planning your outdoor excursion.
NC State Parks Reopen in Phases
As of mid-November, most western North Carolina state parks had reopened at least partially. In our area, Grandfather Mountain State Park, Elk Knob State Park, New River State Park and Lake James State Park are open, yet some trails and public spaces may still be closed. Mount Jefferson State Natural Area may partially reopen this season as well. However, three parks are slated for long-term closure: Chimney Rock, Mount Mitchell, and South Mountains state parks. It may take months to years before these parks can resume normal operations, as cleanup continues and dangers and hazards are addressed.
Before heading out on a winter adventure at our local NC State Parks, please visit ncparks.gov/closures.
Notes from the U.S. Forest Service
Hurricane Helene severely impacted the Grandfather Ranger District in Pisgah National Forest. The storm was particularly destructive to the many roads, bridges, and parking areas that provide access to the trails in the district. In late November, the Grandfather Ranger District reopened several roads and eighty-five miles of trails, lifting the area closure that had been in place since the storm. While access is now restored, visitors should remain cautious as some storm-related hazards, such as fallen debris or unstable conditions, may still be present.
To view the latest updates on roads and trail conditions in the Grandfather Ranger District, visit fs.usda.gov/detail/nfsnc/news-events/ and the G5 Trail Collective’s website at G5trailcollective.org/helene.
Virginia Creeper Updates
The historic Virginia Creeper trail in southwest Virginia has provided unforgettable experiences to hundreds of thousands of hikers and cyclists for almost four decades. The trail is the lifeblood of the small town of Damascus, VA, and one of the top economic drivers in the region.
During Helene, Damascus, which is the halfway point on the Creeper Trail, was particularly hard hit. The trail between Abingdon and Damascus has now reopened and you can help support the businesses of both towns by visiting this season.
However, 18 miles of the 34-mile Creeper Trail, from Damascus to Whitetop, have been devastated. Eighteen trestles along the trail were destroyed or washed away. Some sections of the trail itself no longer exist, reclaimed by the rushing, flooded creeks. Trailheads, access points, amenities and signage have been destroyed as well.
It will take time and significant funding to rebuild this large portion of the trail. To that end, the Virginia Creeper Trail Conservancy has launched its “Recovery Campaign” to augment as much funding as possible. “As we move together as a trail community into the recovery phase—strengthened, determined and committed—we look towards the rebuilding of the trail to create a sustainable future across the region.”
Learn more about the Virginia Creeper Trail Conservancy and how you can support their efforts at vacreepertrail.org. You can follow the progress of the Trail repairs at vctrecovery.com
Blue Ridge Conservancy Purchases Scenic Property Adjoining Jumpinoff Rock on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Blue Ridge Conservancy (BRC) recently purchased 121 acres of land in Ashe and Wilkes counties, located near the popular Jumpinoff Rock Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Bear Den Branch creek, a headwater stream of the Yadkin River, originates on the property, and is designated High Quality Water, Trout Water, WSII by the NC Division of Water Resources. The ridgeline acreage, skirted along the boundary by the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, will be added to the Parkway in the future.
“Blue Ridge Conservancy is committed to protecting scenic views and creating recreational opportunities along the Blue Ridge,” says Eric Hiegl, BRC’s Director of Land Protection. “Protecting this property assures that this beautiful view will exist for users of the Parkway and hikers along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail for decades to come.”
Located near mile 260.6 of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the land is entirely forested, with mixed deciduous trees and yellow pine. Funding for this project was provided by Fred and Alice Stanback.
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TRAIL REPORTS
Trestle 25 on the Virginia Creeper Trail. Photo by Christy Parker, courtesy of vctrecovery.com
TRAIL REPORTS
Also in Ashe County, Blue Ridge Conservancy recently protected 133 acres of mountain top land located between existing BRC conservation lands at Pond Mountain and Three Top Mountain. The property, known as “Ottaray,” includes the summit of Dove’s Knob at an elevation of 4,220 feet, and the headwaters of Mill Creek.
Ottaray boasts significant scenic benefit to the citizens of Ashe County, features diverse and varied habitat for multiple wildlife species, and high conservation values for water quality and agricultural use.
“We’re excited to share that our property, Ottaray, is now permanently protected. With all the rapid development and sprawl happening around us, stepping up and protecting this land was essential to our family,” stated landowners G Paul and Kyla Hess. “By working with Blue Ridge Conservancy to create a conservation easement, we’re preserving its natural beauty, wildlife habitat, and scenic views while contributing to environmental stewardship in the face of climate change.”
For more information on these and other recent conservation efforts, visit blueridgeconservancy.org.
Winter Hiking Guide
Winter hiking offers crystal clear views, fewer people on the trails, and plenty of peace and quiet. And it’s worth braving the chill to make your way to one of the area’s waterfalls that transform into wondrous works of icy art during the winter season. Due to ongoing repairs in some of our area’s parks, please check websites and FB pages for any special notices.
In Blowing Rock, Glen Burney Falls Trail is less than two miles long and offers several mini falls along the way that make for good photographs.
Blue Ridge Parkway has many trails to explore: Moses H. Cone Memorial Park Trails at Milepost 294 near Blowing Rock include 25 miles of historic carriage roads that are now wide, gravel trails. Three top hiking picks are: Flat Top Road Trail, about a six-mile hike from Flat Top Manor; Bass Lake Trail, an easy eight-tenths of a mile loop that takes you around the lake that is accessed from the Bass Lake entrance on U.S. 221 just outside downtown Blowing Rock; and Rich Mountain, about a five-mile roundtrip hike from Shulls Mill Road.
Julian Price Memorial Park at Milepost 296.7 is a majestic 4,200 acres at the foot of Grandfather Mountain. The park lies directly adjacent to Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. Price Lake Trail at Milepost 297 is a 2.5-mile loop trail that is mostly flat with plenty of lake vistas. Green
Knob/Sims Pond Trail, inside Julian Price Memorial Park, is a 2.4-mile loop trail by a pond and cascades, and through a highland pasture. Boone Fork Trail, another loop trail in Julian Price Memorial Park, is five miles, taking you by many small waterfalls and through rhododendron tunnels. Tanawha Trail stretches 13.5 miles from Julian Price Memorial Park to Beacon Heights and parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway on Grandfather Mountain. The many accesses from the parkway let hikers choose as long a section as they like. Marked with white blazes, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST) runs jointly with Tanawha Trail. The MST stretches from Clingmans Dome in Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the NC coast. Rough Ridge at Milepost 302.8 is actually a part of the larger 13.5-mile Tanawha Trail, but it is also a popular trail in its own right. Beacon Heights Overlook Trail at Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 305.2 near Linville is a short hike along the Blue Ridge Parkway to a stone summit with big views, especially nice for picnics. Flat Rock Nature Trail at Milepost 308.3 is a mostly flat, ¾-mile loop that offers panoramic views from a “stone mountain” as you walk across the smooth rock summit. Linville Falls at Milepost 316 is the most popular waterfall in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is a spectacular, three-tiered waterfall plunging into Linville Gorge, the “Grand Canyon of the Southern Appalachians.” The Falls Trail distance is 1.6 miles round trip and easy. The Gorge Trail distance is 1.4 miles round trip and strenuous. The Plunge Basin Trail is a one-mile round trip and moderate.
Grandfather Mountain, the privately owned nonprofit nature park near Linville, offers access to 12 miles of premier hiking trails, some of which venture into the adjacent Grandfather Mountain State Park. The nature park offers access to 11 trails varying in difficulty from a gentle walk in the woods to a rigorous trek across rugged peaks. In-park trails include the Woods Walk, Black Rock Nature Trail and Bridge Trail. The nature park also provides access to backcountry trails within Grandfather Mountain State Park. Along the Grandfather Trail, a very strenuous trail that runs from the mountain’s Hiker Parking Lot out 2.4 miles to Calloway Peak, hikers use in-place cables and ladders for extra steep sections and at times are traversing the ridgeline of the mountain. If guests plan on hiking the backcountry trails, they’re asked to fill out hiking permits before setting out. These permits also give the hiker contact information to utilize if needed. Profile Trail is a 3.6-mile strenuous trail inside Grandfather Mountain State Park that takes you up the side of Grandfather Mountain to Calloway Gap. The trailhead to access the Profile Trail is located at 4198 NC Highway 105 North.
Ottaray, photo by G Paul Hess, courtesy of Blue Ridge Conservancy
Hiking the AT, Roan Mountain
Williams Park in Sugar Mountain is a wooded 14-acre boulderfield forest with three short hiking trails that follow a cascading stream.
Beech Mountain Trails offer hikers of all ages and skill levels a number of options: Emerald Outback features more than eight miles of outstanding trails near the mountain’s summit. Upper Pond Creek Trail is Beech Mountain’s favorite trail with an easy one-mile hike and 15 different educational stations. Wild Iris Trail is an easy 2.5-mile woodland trail with only a moderate elevation change. A trail for all seasons, Wild Iris is perfect for hiking and biking as well as cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Lower Pond Creek Trail is a one-mile moderate to strenuous trail that offers some of Beech Mountain’s greatest natural beauty.
Elk Knob Summit Trail in Todd is 1.9 miles to one of the highest peaks of the Appalachians.
Otter Falls Trail in Seven Devils is a short 6/10-mile trail to a 25-foot waterfall.
Crab Orchard Falls Trail in Valle Crucis is a 1.5-mile roundtrip hike that takes you to the beautiful Crab Orchard Falls waterfall. Access to the trail is behind the Valle Crucis Conference Center.
Elk River Falls Trail in Elk Park is a short half-mile hike that leads you to a 50-foot waterfall cascading over a cliff. (Note: bridge work is still underway, and trail may not be accessible)
Waterfalls Park in Newland is a small roadside park on NC Highway 194 across from Ingle’s grocery store with a 50-foot multi-tier waterfall for easy enjoyment for all, including picnic tables and a short trail.
Big & Little Lost Cove Cliff Trails near Newland are two sections of Lost Cove Cliffs in Pisgah National Forest and in the Wilson Creek Wild and Scenic River Area. You can hike to both Big Lost Cove Cliffs and Little Lost Cove Cliffs with this 5.5-mile trail combo.
Hawksbill Mountain Trail in Burke County is a 1.5-mile roundtrip hike to the summit of Hawksbill Mountain offering panoramic views of the canyon of Linville Gorge Wilderness Area with the valley floor and Linville River 2,000 feet below you.
Parts of the Appalachian Trail run along the NC, TN and VA borders with popular access points on Roan Mountain (at the NC/TN state line) and in Damascus, VA.
Aerial view of Mount Mitchell State Park post Hurricane Helene, courtesy of North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
U.S. Forest Service Closures Map, Grandfather Ranger District, following Helene
Hiking on Beech Mountain
The High Country’s Scenic Highways
North Carolina was once known as the “Good Roads State.” A tremendous amount of work in the early 1900s went into making North Carolina accessible. This allowed farm produce to be transported farther and opened the state up to more tourism. There were, however, no interstate systems or numbering systems. In 1912, Carl G. Fisher came up with the idea of a coast-tocoast hard-surface highway. He originally called it the Coast-toCoast Rock Highway. A year later, the newly christened “Lincoln Memorial Highway” opened. This was the first attempt to map and mark a road across America.
There were proposals for seven “great national roads,” all originating from Washington, D.C. These were the Washington Memorial Highway, Roosevelt Memorial Highway, Lincoln Memorial Highway, Great National Memorial Highway, Jefferson Memorial Highway, Monroe Memorial Highway, and the Lee Memorial Highway. None of these proposed routes was constructed of new roads. Instead, they would string together existing highways, providing markers and maps to help drivers navigate. Roads could be moved once better routes were available.
The High Country of western North Carolina was not the beneficiary of any of these national highways. Yet there were efforts to mark roadways or construct new roads across the area.
One of the earliest was the Crest of the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was the vision of Joseph Pratt, North Carolina’s Geological and Economic Director. Leading the Good Roads movement in North Carolina, Pratt envisioned a scenic toll road from Whitetop Mountain, near Marion Virginia, all the way south to Tallulah Falls, Georgia, some 350 miles. The road would be twenty-four feet wide, with a sand or clay surface, and cost $5,000 per mile. Work began on the section between Altamont in Avery County and Gillespie Gap in Mitchell County in 1912. The United States’ entry into World War I brought the project to a close.
In 1912, the North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution began discussing marking the actual trail of Daniel Boone through North Carolina, all the way to Cumberland Gap. This was overseen by Winston-Salem’s Lucy Patterson. While not a true “memorial highway,” many of the roads that Boone used became the primary roads through the area. Six markers were erected in Watauga County: Cook’s Gap, Three Forks Baptist Church, the Watauga County Courthouse in Boone, Hodges Gap, Graveyard Gap, and Zionville. These markers bore a bronze plaque attached to a boulder.
By Michael C. Hardy
On the heels of the work of the Daughters of the American Revolution came The Boone Highway and Memorial Association. Led by J. Hampton Rich, this group was formally established in North Wilkesboro in October 1913. Originally, the Boone Trail Highway started in Salisbury, then passed through Mocksville, Yadkinville, and Wilkesboro before heading up the mountain to Boone. Then, the route continued west into Tennessee and Kentucky. Whereas the D.A.R. project was funded by the Daughters, Hamp Rich offered a membership certificate for those donating to the project. Some of the first members were Babe Ruth and Mike McNally. The first marker was placed in North Wilkesboro in 1917. These markers were often shaped like arrowheads, with a plaque bearing an image of Boone. Part of the metal from the markers came from the salvaged battleship USS Maine, sunk in Havana Harbor, precipitating the SpanishAmerican War in 1898. Local markers included ones in Blowing Rock, Sugar Grove, and Boone, dedicated in 1927; Linville in 1928; Jefferson and West Jefferson in 1929; and Newland and Banner Elk on unknown dates.
By the 1920s, Rich was dreaming of a transcontinental Daniel Boone Highway. Markers began to appear in places that Boone never visited, like Yellowstone Park in Wyoming; Newton, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; and, Los Angeles, California. The last marker was probably the one placed in Virginia Beach in 1937.
Another motor trail or memorial highway was proposed in the 1920s. This motor trail ran from Quebec, Canada, through New York and Pennsylvania, into Virginia, and then North Carolina. In North Carolina, the road passed through Jefferson, Boone, and Blowing Rock. From Blowing Rock, it followed the Yonahlossee Road, passing Grandfather Mountain, into Linville, and then farther south through Altamont. The route moved through South Carolina and Georgia, eventually ending in Miami, Florida. The trail was projected to pass through more than 300 towns. Hugh McRae was the impetus behind the Black Bear Trail. Morganton was the headquarters of the North Carolina office. By 1925, various representatives were visiting towns along the proposed route. Speaking to the Kiwanis in Asheville, McRae believed that after the route officially opened, “two cars a minute during the tourist season” would pass any given spot on the trail.
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The Daniel Boone Trail Marker on the Blue Ridge Parkway, August 1971. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service
The Boone Memorial Highway Marker in Sugar Grove. Photo by Michael C. Hardy
The proposed sign for the Black Bear Trail. Photo by Michael C. Hardy
Over time, the idea of memorial highways faded. The Great Depression, followed by World War II, brought the movement of tourists down to a trickle for over a decade. In 1931, the Yonahlossee Road became a state road, then a U.S. Highway. The markers the D.A.R. placed have been lost or stolen over the years.
Likewise, the Boone Highway markers have disappeared. All three Boone Highway markers in Avery County are gone. The Boone Highway markers in Blowing Rock and Sugar Grove survive, but those in West Jefferson, Jefferson, and Boone do not. Of the Daniel Boone Trail markers placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution, the marker in Zionville and Boone survive. The marker at Cook’s Gap was moved to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it was stolen. The marker at the Three Forks Baptist Church was moved to the Blue Ridge Parkway site in 1963 but was stolen sometime around 2002. It does not appear that the Black Bear Highway ever had markers, although one did appear on the brochures and maps.
None of these trails are really remembered these days. The Boone Trail marker plaque in Boone is tucked away in a courtyard. The Zionville marker is on private property. The Sugar Grove marker sits beside the Western Watauga Community Center, while the Blowing Rock marker is beside the Blowing Rock Museum. If you know where to look, you can still see traces of the Crest of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the woods near Gillespie Gap.
If you are looking for more information, please check out Randell Jones’s Trailing Daniel Boone: Daughters of the American Revolution Marking Daniel Boone’s Trail 19121915 (2012) and Everett Marshall’s Rich Man: Daniel Boone (2003).
The dedication of the Boone Memorial Highway Marker in Newland. (Avery County Historical Museum)
The Boone Memorial Highway Marker in front of Grace Hospital in Banner Elk. (Michael C. Hardy)
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A Heroic Month in the Life of Electrical Line Crews
By Steve
Itall began that dark and foreboding Thursday night, September 26, when an unending rampage of blinding rain and screaming winds first gave warning that this was to be a weather event far more serious than predicted or prepared for. This was to be a long-remembered and savage night when the whole world and thousands of lives across the region were turned upside down and inside out by Hurricane Helene.
“The initial indications from forecasters were that Helene’s major damage might occur more west of us than it actually did,” noted Mike Kincaid, Blue Ridge Energy’s Lenoir-based Director of Operations. “But, as the night progressed, up to 5,000 customers had lost power. And, by late morning, over 80 percent [of members] were without power,” said Kincaid.
Kincaid’s four-district territory includes much of Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Caldwell and a small portion of Avery and Wilkes counties. His true sense of the emerging calamity came late that Thursday. “I was in the office that afternoon and, by that night, the first signs of the hurricane outages were ringing the alarms,” said Kincaid…who begins his 36th year with Blue Ridge Energy as of January.
Over in Avery County and eastern Tennessee, the same nightmare was unfolding. “We’d had ten inches of heavy rain just the week before. So, the ground and waterways were already feeling the strain,” recalled 46-year-old Roan Mountain resident Shane
Heaton, Mountain Electric Cooperative’s (MEC) Construction & Operations Superintendent and 22-year employee based out of the Newland office. “It was around 3a.m. that Friday morning when the first few outages were called in. But, by late morning, everything was dark and unworkable till late Friday. Seven substations were down, including the TVA lines. At first, our crews were out there with no communications, no radios or cells.”
Serving App State and parts of Boone, New River Light & Power (NRLP) faced the same challenges. By 1 p.m. that Friday, September 27, nearly 6,300 of their customers had lost power.
Come mid-morning that Friday, once tame and picturesque meandering creeks all across the High Country had long-since overflowed their banks, becoming raging rivers that flooded city streets, neighborhoods, businesses, and restaurants; knocked out major intersection traffic signals; and washed away everything in their path. Torrents of mud-ladened flood waters had submerged bridges and roadways creating new lakes and rivers that were seen dragging cars, chunks of pavement, uprooted trees, and homes, all bobbing up and down and crashing into each other like children’s tub toys. It was like scenes from any number of apocalyptic natural disaster movies. Except this wasn’t a movie.
Some time that same Friday, the first sight of those long caravans of utility trucks
carrying line crews gave all of us a welcomed rush of hope during what seemed a nearly hopeless nightmare. They came like an advancing army to rescue those in peril. Trucks and line crews from Blue Ridge Energy, Mountain Electric Cooperative, and New River Light & Power filled passable streets, soon to be joined by electric companies from all across the region and beyond. They came streaming into towns, neighborhoods and remote rural communities. They came despite blinding rains, sometimes slushing along tire-deep through flooding waters, yet determined to reach those substations, downed poles, power lines, and desperate people.
They came…loaded down with huge rolls of cable, chainsaws, ladders, and bush axes followed by bucket trucks and excavators…all rushing in to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Their first priority? Restore power to essential services, hospitals and emergency care facilities, police stations, and primary grid centers.
“Our immediate task was to get main substations back on,” explained MEC’s Heaton. “The Cranberry substation feeds four other substations including Newland, Linville, Banner Elk and Sugar Mountain. So, we had to start there. And then there were the Roan and Beech mountain TVA substations which were also down. So, outages and damages were everywhere.
“The first four days out there were the hardest. Morning status review meetings,
York with Photos courtesy of Blue Ridge Energy and Mountain Electric Cooperative
eating lunch on the job, leaving home before the family got up and not getting home until after the family had long gone to bed for the night. It was unreal. All the damaged poles and crossarms had to be trucked in to each location, assembled on site and re-strung with lines and cables. Yet we’ve managed to rebuild our whole infrastructure over 30 days,” Heaton added.
Blue Ridge Energy employed the same type strategy. “The first protocol is always damage assessment and safety; employee and public safety,” noted Kincaid. “We have to analyze working conditions and identify what main power systems need immediate attention, and then get them repaired. We have what’s called a computerized SCADA system (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) with mapping on a computer screen that helps us to communicate with substations and identify those outages, plus generator-powered, battery packed twoway radios for crews in the field. SCADA can’t always tell us everything, so field crews still have to patrol lines for problem areas.
“Along with helicopter surveillance of damaged areas, we’ve also used drones to help cover wide areas with aerial views,” Kincaid added. “The drone pilots provided reports and downloaded drone footage to operations managers. In one case, a local volunteer’s drone was able to pull lines across a river to reach connecting poles. So, we’re definitely looking to beef up our drone technology.”
And, what about electric company customers? How did they respond when line crews first showed up? “Our first ray of hope came that Saturday afternoon after barely making it out over huge chunks of pavement that had been ripped up from the culvert over our creek,” said one rural Avery County family. “No power, no cell or internet, food spoiling in our refrigerator, no ice, no local grocery stores open, no well water, no gas stations, and the only open roads were to Tennessee. Elizabethton wasn’t accessible, so we were heading to Johnson City via Gap Creek Road bypass to buy some emergency supplies, food, batteries, candles and gas for our truck and generators.
“As we were heading out of Newland, here they came…a long string of electric company trucks coming towards us. That was one beautiful sight!” the family shared. “And, when we were driving back through Elk Park and Newland late that night, we were greeted with street lights and basic downtown lights back on. That gave us hope!”
Considering the extent of hurricane damage, the speed of electric power restoration was nothing short of miraculous. Following New River Light & Power’s repairs, NRLP’s General Manager, Matthew Makdad, posted, “The timely and effective restoration efforts in our service territory would not have been possible without the diligence of NRLP; Wilson, Lexington and
Washington crews; and the coordination of our joint-action agency, ElectriCities of NC.”
Mountain Electric Cooperative, Blue Ridge Energy, New River Light & Power, Duke Energy and all electric companies have been quick to turn their praise towards their line crews, local volunteers and community leaders. Both Shane Heaton and Mike Kincaid expressed the heartbreak they felt seeing the damage, lost homes and people in despair. Their common sentiment was to thank the public, churches and emergency services for the amazing compassion shown towards everyone affected by the storm. And that included expressing appreciation for all the line crew families who would bring them food during the day, and stay up waiting for them to come home late at night. As they see it, this is their job… and they will do whatever it takes to serve their co-op members.
Always among the first responders, these line crew super-heroes worked around the clock, day and night beyond the point of exhaustion to restore essential power and emergency communication services to the countless victims of the storm. As several social media posts proclaimed with bold headlines above photos of line crews perched atop storm-damaged utility poles, “The most important linemen are not in the NFL!” And that remains the unanimous sentiment all across western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
Working to Make Our Mountain Communities Better for One and All
By CML Staff
American Red Cross (Blue Ridge Chapter) in Boone is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in our area and beyond. 828-264-8226, redcross. org
AMOREM is a hospice and palliative care provider in Ashe, Burke, Caldwell, and Watauga counties, specializing in palliative medicine, hospice care, advanced cardiac care and grief support. 828-754-0101, amoremsupport. org
AMY Wellness Foundation, based in Spruce Pine, works collaboratively to find preventative, up-stream, and innovative solutions to alleviate health disparities to transform lives in Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey counties (AMY). 828-592-4082, amywellnessfoundation.org
Anne Ministries offers free and confidential pregnancy support services and recovery support services for those suffering from a past abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss in a Christ centered environment. 828742-1973, anneministries.com
Anne’s Kids gives all children the security and excitement of going to school fully prepared with all that they need, regardless of their circumstances. Working hand in hand with local schools they seek to bridge the gap for students with economic needs. anneskids. com
Appalachian Mountain Leadership uses adventure programming to foster and inspire servant leadership. 828-278-9499, amlnc.org
Appalachian Theatre of the High Country is a historic 629-seat, 1938 Art Deco theatre for live entertainment and film located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 828865-3000, apptheatre.org
Appalachian Voices is a leading force in Appalachia’s shift from fossil fuels to clean energy, healthy communities and 21st-century local economies. 828-2621500, appvoices.org
Ashe County Arts Council is committed to promoting the arts as a hallmark of an active, engaged community. 336-8462787, ashecountyarts.org
Ashe Food Pantry leads the fight to end hunger in the surrounding community by acquiring and distributing food to those who seek aid. Their vision is “No one should go hungry.” 336-846-7019, AsheFoodPantry.org
A Simple Gesture provides a simple, convenient way to help end hunger in the High Country. Supporters get a bag and fill up that bag every two months with non-perishable items; on a designated day their team picks up the bags. 828-262-1628, asimplegesturehc.org
Avery Association for Exceptional Citizens (Yellow Mountain) serves adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities living in Avery County. Yellow Mountain Enterprises is an adult day vocational program that operates under the umbrella of Avery Association for Exceptional Citizens and provides jobs that can be scaled to the unique abilities of their workers. 828-733-2944, yellowmountainenterprises.org
Avery Connect, an initiative of Elk Park United Methodist Church, empowers high school students of Avery County to thrive as community members by building relationships to support vocation exploration through tools, connections, and mentors. averyconnect.org
Avery Community Foundation, the local affiliate of North Carolina Community Foundation, brings together generous people and connects them to causes and organizations they care about, with a focus on inspiring last-
ing and meaningful philanthropy in the state’s rural communities. nccommunityfoundation. org/affiliate/avery-community-foundation
Banner Elk Book Exchange offers opportunities to bring books and exchange them for the same number of different books. In lieu of a book to exchange, patrons can make a small donation. An academic tutoring program and summer enrichment classes are also offered through the Book Exchange. bannerelkbookexchange.com
Banner Elk Fire & Rescue’s volunteer firefighters protect life and property in the communities of Banner Elk, Sugar Mountain, Elk River, Diamond Creek, Eagle’s Nest, Tynecastle, The Farm, Balm, and Lees-McRae College. 828898-4623, bannerelkfire.org
Blair Fraley Sales Store is the largest resale shop in the High Country, operated by Crossnore Communities for Children. Generous friends donate quality new and used goods, all to benefit the children in Crossnore Communities’ care. 828-733-4228, crossnore. org/blair-fraley-sales-store/
Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) promotes visual arts and history and celebrates the rich heritage of the mountains. Member support and donations allow BRAHM to offer quality programming, arts education, community outreach, and firstclass exhibitions. 828-295-9099, blowingrockmuseum.org
Blue Ridge Conservancy partners with landowners and local communities to permanently protect natural resources with agricultural, cultural, recreational, ecological and scenic value—the organization has protected over 25,000 acres in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey Counties. 828-264-2511, blueridgeconservancy.org
Blue Ridge Conservancy at Middle Fork Greenway
Blair Fraley Sales Store at Crossnore Communities
Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation creates a spirit of stewardship to address the challenges faced by this national treasure. With your help, the organization can ensure cultural and historical preservation, natural resource protection, and educational outreach now and for future generations. 336721-0260, brpfoundation.org
Blue Ridge Partnership for Children serves and supports the children, parents, and childcare providers of Avery, Mitchell and Yancey counties. 828-733-2899, blueridgechildren.org
Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA) helps build an equitable, sustainable High Country local food system by supporting producers and cultivating community connections that educate, inspire, and increase the demand for local food. BRWIA also operates The High Country Food Hub, a year-round online farmers’ market. 828-386-1537, brwia. org, highcountryfoodhub.org
Boone Area Lions Club, now in its 88th year of serving the community, provides vision and hearing screenings, supports those in need of eye exams and vision correction, and collects eyeglasses, hearing aids, and cell phones for distribution to those in need worldwide. e-clubhouse.org/sites/boonenc/
Casting Bread’s mission is to increase food security within the High Country. In their free, self-choice Market, people choose foods they want, rather than a pre-selected box. Meals served in the Café are prepared using food from the Market and seek to model healthy eating habits. 828-783-3510, increasefoodsecurity.org
Children’s Council of Watauga County works to build a strong foundation for children’s learning and development by strengthening families, the early childhood system, and the wider community. 828-262-5424, thechildrenscouncil.org
Our High Country region depends on a variety of non-profit organizations to serve and support the people, places, animals and environments that are most in need—and the needs are greater now more than ever in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. We have an abundance of effective organizations who rely on support from neighbors and businesses to realize their missions. Here is a list of just some of these noteworthy organizations— and our list keeps growing!
Community Care Clinic is a communitysupported medical clinic that provides free primary care, mental health and behavioral health services, select specialty services and health education to low income, uninsured persons. 828-265-8591, ccclinic.org
Crossnore Communities for Children creates healthy futures for children and families by providing a Christian sanctuary of hope and healing. 828-733-4305, crossnore. org
D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is a collaborative program in which local law enforcement and local schools join together to educate students about the personal and social consequences of substance abuse and violence. 828-733-6006, dare.org/ north-carolina/
Ensemble Stage Theatre is a professional theatre in Banner Elk dedicated to culturally enriching the lives of residents and visitors by providing a broad range of live, high quality theatrical presentations at an affordable price. 828-414-1844, ensemblestage.com
F.A.R.M. Cafe builds a healthy and inclusive community by providing high quality meals produced from local sources, served in a restaurant where everybody eats, regardless of means. 828-386-1000, farmcafe.org
Feeding Avery Families (FAF) in Avery County is dedicated to eliminating hunger by providing supplemental food assistance to those in need. Their mission is achieved through monetary and food donations, and a committed group of volunteers. 828-7838506, feedingaveryfamilies.org
Girls On The Run after-school program for 3rd-8th grade girls is centered around selfesteem enhancing lessons and uplifting workouts, based in Watauga, Ashe, Wilkes and Avery counties. 828-262-7557, gotr.appstate.edu
Grandfather Community Foundation is a foundation organized by members of Grandfather Golf & Country Club to provide emergency funds for team members, scholarships for Avery County High School students, and grant assistance for nonprofits serving Avery County. grandfathercommunityfoundation.org
Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation was established to preserve Grandfather Mountain, operate the nature park sustainably in the public interest, provide an exceptional experience for guests, and inspire them to be good stewards of the earth’s resources. 800-468-7325, grandfather.com/ support/non-profit-foundation/
Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with people in need to build and renovate decent, affordable housing in Avery County (828-733-1909, averycohfh.org), Watauga County (828-268-9545, wataugahabitat.org), and Ashe County (336-846-2525, ashehabitat.org).
Habitat for Humanity ReStores in Boone and Newland are nonprofit home improvement stores and donation centers that sell new and gently used furniture, appliances, home accessories, building materials and more to the public at a fraction of the retail price. habitat.org/restores
Hebron Colony has been helping men and women break the bondage of addiction through a Christ-centered approach to substance abuse treatment. 828-963-4842, hebroncolony.org
High Country Audubon Society encourages beginning birders and experts alike in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Watauga and Wilkes counties to enjoy birds and bird-watching and to engage in conservation, education, and research for the benefit of the birds of western NC. highcountryaudubon.org
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Banner Elk Book Exchange Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture
Crossnore Communities for Children
High Country Breast Cancer Foundation has an all-volunteer board where 100% of the money donated or raised goes to those in need who have been impacted by breast cancer in the NC High Country. 614-928-6544, highcountrybreastcancerfoundation.org
High Country Caregivers provides advocacy, support, and education for kinship caregivers and their families. 828-832-6366, highcountrycaregivers.com
High Country Charitable Foundation, Inc. has the mission of helping the Avery County, NC, community by providing for neighbors and animals in need. 828-8983810, highcountryfoundation.org
High Country Community Health provides quality, patient centered, culturally appropriate, affordable and compassionate dental care and medical services, with locations in Boone, Newland, Morganton, Elkin, and Valdese. highcountrycommunityhealth.com
High Country United Way serves Avery, Watauga, and Mitchell counties with the mission of uniting people and resources to improve lives in the High Country. High Country United Way also serves as the fiscal agent for donations in Ashe and Yancey counties. 828265-2111, highcountryunitedway.org
Holston Camp and Retreat Center in Banner Elk has hosted summer camps for kids since 1959. Now a year-round facility, today’s campers play together and explore creation, try new activities, build community, and develop physical, social, psychological, and spiritual skills. 844-465-7866, holstoncenter.org
Hospice and Home Care of the Blue Ridge in Spruce Pine provides exceptional care and services to individuals facing a lifelimiting illness, giving patients and their family members the support and education needed to understand their illness. 828-765-5677, hospiceblueridge.com
Hospitality House of NW North Carolina serves seven counties and helps those in crisis, poverty and homelessness rebuild their lives using housing, prevention, nutrition and myriad supportive programs and services. 828-264-1237, hosphouse.org
Humane Societies provide food, shelter, medical care and lots of love to the homeless animals as they work to find permanent, loving homes for them. Avery County 828733-9265, averyhumane.org; Watauga County 828-264-7865, wataugahumane.org; Ashe County 336-982-4297, ashehumanesociety. org; Mitchell County Animal Rescue 828-7656952, mitchellcountyanimalrescue.org
Hunger and Health Coalition’s mission is to be a resource for individuals and families within our community who are struggling to provide themselves with basic needs. 828262-1628, hungerandhealthcoalition.com
Johnson County Center for the Arts in Mountain City, TN, serves to empower the local community and bring residents and visitors together through teaching, encouraging and supporting a variety of artistic forms and experiences. 423-460-3313, jocoartcenter.org
Kiwanis Club of Banner Elk Foundation is dedicated to helping the youth in our community. Over the past 40 years the service organization has given out over a million dollars in grants to support organizations that focus on youth. bannerelkkiwanis.org
Lees-McRae Summer Theatre provides top quality, professional theatre in the Blue Ridge Mountains, specializing in big stage musicals including Broadway classics and newer hits, plus some outstanding original works. Their season runs from late June through early August. lmc.edu/community/ summer-theatre/
LIFE Village is dedicated to meeting the ongoing residential needs of adults with autism and related challenges. 828-406-2855, thelifevillage.net
Linville Central Rescue Squad is an allvolunteer rescue squad serving the people of Avery County by responding to accidents; medical emergencies; wilderness, mountain and water rescues; searches for lost or missing persons; and calls to assist county EMS and fire departments. 828-733-2346, linvillecentralrescue.org
Linville Volunteer Fire Dept. proudly serves and protects the citizens of Avery County through fire protection and emergency services. 828-733-2188, linvillevfd@gmail. com
Mediation & Restorative Justice Center works to reduce the physical, emotional, and financial harm caused by unresolved conflict, litigation, and incarceration by providing mediation, alternative sentencing, and other restorative processes that increase the respect, peace, productivity and safety in the communities served. 828-264-3040, mrjc.us
Medi Home Hospice/Health Hospice Care Charity, Inc., is a foundation created by Medical Services of America dedicated to improving quality of life for the terminally ill, their families, caregivers and friends. The Foundation works to raise awareness of hospice and provide funds to enrich the lives of hospice patients in need. 1-800-845-5850, msahealthcare.com/hospice-care
Mountain Alliance for Teens provides free service and adventure trips after school and on weekends for high school students. 828-263-1770, mountainalliance.org
Mountain Mermaids Collective supports the development of an inclusive, diverse, and sustainable arts community in Western North Carolina. mtnmermaids.org
Watauga Habitat for Humanity ReStore Yellow Mountain Enterprises in Newland Parade Western Youth Network
Mountain True & Watauga Riverkeeper are dedicated to protecting, preserving and restoring the Watauga and Elk River watersheds “because everyone has a right to clean water.” 828-406-2429, mountaintrue.org
NAMI High Country supports those living with mental illness as well as their families and loved ones. They strive to increase public understanding of mental disorders and give hope to those experiencing them. 828-2789293, namihighcountry.org
OASIS, Inc. (Opposing Abuse with Services, Information, and Shelter), founded in 1978, is dedicated to ending domestic violence and sexual assault in Watauga and Avery Counties. 828-264-1532, oasisinc.org
Parent to Parent Family Support Network provides free support, caring connections, information and hope to families who have a premature baby, a child with a disability, an emotional or behavioral challenge, a mental illness, a chronic health condition or to families who are grieving the death of a child. 828-262-6089, parent2parent.appstate.edu
Pisgah Legal Services pursues justice by providing legal assistance and advocacy to help low-income people in Western NC meet their basic needs and improve their lives. 800489-6144, pisgahlegal.org
Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary is one of the most successful, longest existing facilities for horses in the U.S. which seeks to provide as natural an environment for the horses as possible. 336-984-4252, horsesofproudspirit.org
Quiet Givers Inc. serves the people of Watauga, Ashe, and Avery counties in the NC High Country; the organization is a source for people to find out about specific needs in the community and help meet needs through creative ways in order to change the reality of local people who are genuinely struggling. quietgivers.org
Reaching Avery Ministry (RAM) has served Avery County for over thirty years through their Ram’s Rack Thrift Store and Emergency Food Pantry in Newland. 828-7335095, facebook.com/RAMsRackofNewland/
Resort Area Ministries is an ecumenical organization providing ministries/services to the residents of, and tourists to the High Country. The RAM’s Rack Thrift Shop in Boone provides financial support for RAM and also provides clothing at no charge to those in need working with other nonprofits. 828-2646605, facebook.com/resortareaministryRAM/ Samaritan’s Purse stands ready to respond at a moment’s notice whenever and wherever disaster strikes. They specialize in international disaster relief, meeting critical needs for victims of conflict, disaster, famine, and epidemics throughout the world. 828262-1980, samaritanspurse.org
Southern Sun Farm Sanctuary is a horse rescue located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC with the mission of providing a safe, secure place for abandoned, abused, neglected or unwanted equines; they also work to find them loving forever homes. 336-977-8966, southernsunfarm.com
Spirit Ride Therapeutic Riding Center is committed to helping children with disabilities and other health concerns achieve their full potential through equine related therapeutic and educational activities. 828278-7464, spiritridenc.org
The Appalachian Shrine Club, located in Boone, raises money for Shriner’s Children’s Hospitals. 100% of all funds and proceeds go directly to the hospital’s care centers. 828-4060871
The Children’s Playhouse in Boone engages children from birth to age eight through enriching, educational play while at
the same time supporting their parents and caregivers in the important job of raising children. 828-263-0011, goplayhouse.org
The Jason Project/ “The Grandfather Project” is a program for at-risk kids suffering from mental problems and/or drug addictions. The program also seeks to assist any special kids who are struggling with adversities, including family, school, or other personal problems or challenges. 828-765-6561
THRIVE Appalachia provides teens opportunities, connections, and hands-on learning experiences; they help youth explore their gifts and talents, cultivate new skills, and connect with exciting opportunities in highquality classes with professionals in their field. thriveappalachia.org
Tiny Together is a community workforce housing nonprofit which helps residents by providing workforce housing and community support. tinytogether.org
Volunteer Avery County finds resources to aid families and individuals who do not qualify for public assistance. VAC also matches volunteers with opportunities to help in the community. 828-737-0718, volunteeravery@ gmail.com, averycountync.gov
WAMY Community Action’s mission is to partner with communities and families to provide the disadvantaged the support and tools they need to become self-sufficient. 828-2642421, wamycommunityaction.org
Watauga Arts Council fosters a thriving, diverse, and vibrant creative community through arts advocacy, education, support, and inspiration. 828-264-1789, watauga-arts. org
Western Youth Network (WYN) is a relationship-focused resource for at-risk youth in the High Country. Through prevention and continued on next page
WAMY Community Action
The Children’s Playhouse
intervention programs, WYN specializes in providing youth with the tools they need to reach their potential and discover their place in our world. 828-264-5174, westernyouthnetwork.org
Williams YMCA of Avery County serves the community in the areas of Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility. The “Y” strives to help create a community where people have the opportunity to live healthy; all youth can be safe and reach their potential; and the elderly have support to live quality, independent lives. 828-737-5500, ymcaavery.com
Wine to Water is an international nonprofit organization committed to building a holistic, community-based model by supporting the life and dignity of all through the power of clean water. 828-355-9655, wtw.org
Women’s Fund of the Blue Ridge is a collective giving organization formed to make a positive impact on the lives of women and girls in the High Country through grant making, advocacy, and community building. 828-264-4002, womensfundoftheblueridge.org
If you know of a local nonprofit that serves our region and should be included in our annual guide, please email CML’s Managing Editor at tamara@seymourcc.net.
The not-for-profit Chambers of Commerce, Tourism Development Associations, and Visitors’ Centers in our region provide excellent information and support to visitors, residents and businesses in our communities.
Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce: blowingrockncchamber.com
Boone Chamber of Commerce: www.boonechamber.com
Burnsville-Yancey Chamber of Commerce: https://www.yanceychamber.com
Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce: www.caldwellchambernc.com
Johnson County, TN Chamber of Commerce: www.johnsoncountytn.org
Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce: mitchellcountychamber.org
Morganton Chamber of Commerce: www.downtownmorganton.com
Sugar Mountain TDA: seesugar.com
Wilkes County Chamber of Commerce: www.wilkeschamber.com
Avery Connect: Bringing Local Students and
Employers Together to Benefit the Community
By Karen Rieley
Launched in 2023, Avery Connect, in Elk Park, NC, is working to bring together rising junior and senior high school students in Avery County looking for jobs with local employers. The end result is a win-win for both. Promising young people receive general job and life-skills training in a paid internship to prepare them for well paid, successful, jobs that benefit the Avery County community.
“Nothing can prepare a young person for the ‘real world’ except the real world,” said Charley Dearmin, co-chair of Avery Connect and one of its volunteer mentors. Dearmin is an integrated systems designer for Mountain Heritage Systems Technologies in Newland.
“If we can ease [students] into a job with a guiding hand and attainable expectations, we can make this transition practicable, confident and probable. To watch the fearful and bewildered face at the initial meeting with their employer turn to a confident, bright smile by the end of the summer is awesome.”
Avery Connect, a Christian initiative of Elk Park United Methodist Church, held its first class in the summer of 2023 with two students as a pilot program. The program consists of a one-week Life Skills Course and a paid six-week summer employment in an area of each student’s interest. Each student is assigned to a volunteer mentor from the church.
Students learn about personal and team building skills, in addition to time, stress and financial management. They learn the importance of maintaining a safe and healthy work environment and create a resume for specific jobs in which they are interested.
After they complete the Life Skills Course, they are assigned to a local employer based on their area of interest. Nordic PC, Howell Construction, New Look Construction, Glen Davis Electric, Banner’s Cabinets, High Country Cabinets, High Country Home Care, Avery Humane Society, Trosly Farm and The Equestrian Center at Elk River Club have participated so far.
Addison Hoilman, 17 years old and a senior at Avery County High School, applied to Avery Connect and was assigned to Sara Masters, Avery Connect co-chair, as her mentor. Banner’s Cabinets agreed to provide an internship for her.
“The greatest joy I receive in volunteering with Avery Connect is to see these students grow in their confidence and to see them feel valued by others in our community. They just seem to stand taller and interact with more ease after completing the program,” Masters said.
“I thought it was a good thing to help the community and show the youth that there are opportunities locally,” said Joe Banner Jr., the third generation in his family to build custom homes and cabinets in the High Country. “Addison was interested in
architecture, so we had her do some drafting for us. One of our employees, Charles Elsaesser, helped her get set up so that she could produce floorplans and elevations.”
“The most valuable part of my work with Banner’s Cabinets was the experience I gained,” Hoilman said. “Without this job, I wouldn’t have fully appreciated the hard work and attention to detail that goes into cabinetry. It showed me an alternative career path if architecture doesn’t work out.”
Hoilman plans to go to Caldwell Community College in Boone for two years and hopes to transfer to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Kade Barnett, from Bakersville, NC, worked as a paid intern for John Hicks, the owner of New Look Construction, during the summer of 2023 and became an employee after he graduated from high school in spring 2024.
“My woodworking teacher, Nick Daniels, handed me their pamphlet telling me about how they could help with a job after high school in carpentry, which I was already interested in,” Barnett said. “John Hicks took a chance on me still in high school without any experience and still treated me great like everyone else he has working for him.”
Barnett added that Avery Connect and New Look Construction helped him with his communication skills. “The program continued on next page
Kade Barnett, Bradley Kennedy, and Charley Dearmin, photo by Sara Masters
Kade Johansen, who worked with Howell Construction
Joe Banner Jr. with Addison Hoilman at Banner’s Cabinets
Sara Masters with Addison Hoilman at Banner’s Cabinets
Charley Pucket, Student Anna Johnson, Sherry Hughes and Roger Sikorsky
Always Romance
By Estelle Brewer
“The bride, white of hair, is stooped over her cane Her faltering footsteps need guiding. While down the church aisle, with a wan toothless smile, The groom in a wheelchair comes riding. And who is this elderly couple you ask? You’ll find, when you have closely explored it, That here is that rare, most conservative pair, Who waited ‘til they could afford it.”
—Richard Willard Armour
Ah yes, contrary to the widely-held concept of romantic spring awakenings, the coldness and bleakness of winter point us to the warmth of love and the energizing effect of flirtations. As I face another Valentine’s Day and observe the loved ones around me and their reactions, I realize that romantic love does indeed come full circle.
Beginning with our first elementary school love notes, “Do you like me? Yes or No,” often delivered by a friend, we reach out to find love or “like.” As life progresses to those first middle school socials and dances, we are expected to navigate the treacherous terrain of crushes. “Everybody says that I should ask Joey to the spring dance.” The fact that it is only October is irrelevant. Lifelong romances are intended in sixth grade!
High School offers an entirely different set of romantic challenges. The classroom is often a safe place for flirting, an accepted practice even if the individuals involved are single. While group projects can be very frustrating, they can also be fertile ground for relationships or relationship changes. Then it is not, “Do you like me?” It is, “Will you be my project partner?”
A high schooler today must be very careful in negotiating a committed relationship because there is widespread social media to consider. One does not want to allow true feelings to be broadcast online until the time is right, if ever. Therefore, the “talking” concept was invented. If a high schooler says, “We are talking now,” that means this is a trial stage for building a relationship. By the time college romance rolls around, “talking” is still part of the scene as well as “hanging out.” The old days of being “pinned” with the accompanying fraternity serenades are long gone. Today’s college students are much more reluctant to make relationships public and permanent. Can you blame them in our online society? So we begin to return to the group party situation, much like in elementary school. There is safety and less vulnerability in numbers.
Next comes the ‘living together’ concept of romance—a trial marriage of sorts. While this was not an acceptable practice in my boomer youth, it is widely accepted now and seems to work very well. The couple plans a very romantic wedding after they have lived together for a while and may even ask for funds for their honeymoon as a wedding gift from their guests. (My mother, along with Emily Post, would be shocked!)
Romance in the next phase of life must be carefully nurtured due to career and family obligations. But it can still flourish when a couple chooses to institute date night or an anniversary trip. Making an intentional date to be with your-someone-special takes time and effort and commitment, just like in high school.
As we age we come full circle. As widows, widowers, or divorcees, we reach out tentatively to make romantic connections again. Perhaps a former romance is kindled at a class reunion. Or, romance may actually bloom from membership in a grief group. The days of oogling wellbuilt bodies in an athletic uniform or a dance outfit may be gone, but some senior citizens find socializing at the gym very convenient and desirable. Silver Sneakers could well be a dating app! But seniors are out of practice in the romance department. Insecurities surface again.
So, my friends, we end up right where we first started with romance. We send a friend request on Facebook. Will you be my friend? Not much different than “Do you like me? Yes or No.”
Long live romance!
gave me the opportunity to step out of my box and open up to new people,” he shared.
“We have had a total of 10 students participate since the program started two years ago. All 10 students successfully completed the program,” Masters explained. “Before we began the program, we assessed the needs in our community. Many of us had been significantly impacted as youth by adults outside our families that supported and guided us in navigating the path from adolescence towards adulthood. We wanted to provide this same support and guidance to our Avery County youth.”
Banner encourages other local employers to consider partnering with Avery Connect. “It’s important to remember that you’re dealing with kids and to judge expectations accordingly,” he said. Don’t just throw them into situations where they’re not gaining any experience.”
According to Hoilman, “It never hurts to give something a try, but it can hurt to miss out on something lifechanging by not trying at all. I’ve made so many new friends and connections through this experience. I hope anyone interested considers joining as well.”
Avery Connect is funded through grants and donations with all funds going directly into the program. Volunteers coordinate and support the program. NC Works has also supported the efforts of Avery Connect. Participating employers agree to pay their students a fair wage, and Avery Connect agrees to subsidize up to half of the wages students earn. To learn more about Avery Connect or apply to participate as a student or employer, visit averyconnect.org
Photos by Nikki Witt, Staff Photographer, The Conservation Fund, nwitt@conservationfund.org
Emerson Fransico-Alverez working with Nordic PC
Mountain Tough
By Jim Casada
AND WAYS
In the wake of the terrible devastation left by Hurricane Helene, arguably the worst climate disaster ever to strike the High Country in recorded history, hardy mountain folks are struggling mightily and many will continue to do so for years to come. In Helene’s aftermath, while commiserating with dear friends who suffered huge losses even as I dealt with appreciable damage on a personal level, several things have played through my mind. For example, a lifelong lady friend in Arden whose home suffered six-figure damage repeatedly urged me to put things in perspective while keeping firmly in mind that others were far worse off than she was. Similarly, observing the vast outpouring of donations, prayer, and local “we’ll manage to get through this” attitudes had an uplifting effect while exhibiting the character traits that have always made residents of the area a breed apart. Yet it took an exchange of e-mails with this magazine’s publisher to put exactly the right description before me. She nicely summed up matters with one word—TOUGH. Mountain folks are and ever have been just that— resilient, doggedly determined, and mentally strong. Those traits have enabled them to survive through the generations, and they will once again see them through this time of trouble into brighter, lighter days.
A celebrated early writer on Southern Appalachia, Emma Bell Miles, employs descriptions such as “mule-headed” and “stubborn” in her book, The Spirit of the Mountains, when writing about hill people Although published well over a century ago, the work is squarely on target when it comes to perception of traits that, while not always endearing, are most certainly enduring. Traditional mountain men and women may historically have been somewhat “sot” in their ways, but that perspective came in no small measure from sheer necessity. They lived independent lives that in turn required self-dependence. Interference in any aspect of their existence was, in essence, unwelcome. They might attend church faithfully and pay close heed to a preacher’s sermons, but if a minister went from general guidance and suggestions on how to live a Christian life to dictates involving the word “must,” things could go wrong in a hurry.
Similarly, government representatives on any level were generally unwelcome. Often government intrusion led to conflict, with laws connected to production of spirits being the example that has gained the greatest notoriety. That sort of outlook extended to pretty much
anything that interfered with life as mountain people wished to lead it.
In essence, they wanted to be left alone. They would listen but wouldn’t be told. Carefully tendered suggestions, such as those that might come from a county agent advising on some agricultural matter, were one thing; but let advice morph to “you must” or “you are required” and folks got their hackles up. Or, putting it another way, they might hear you but oftentimes weren’t going to listen. An old adage reflects this mountain mindset with great accuracy. It says “I can be led but I won’t be driven” or has variants such as “I might follow but I won’t be forced” or “I might be guided but I ain’t going to be ordered.” That way of thinking has long been commonplace on the regional scene.
After all, these were folks who grew or harvested from nature pretty much everything they needed, knew a hard way of life and didn’t mind the work it entailed, and to them true treasure involved being left to go their way as they saw fit. If anything, this sort of attitude strengthened in the heart of the 20th century. That was because of all the “takings” involved in creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Nantahala National Forest, Pisgah National Forest, and flooding of various lakes. Today pretty much everyone acknowledges these were positive developments, but that doesn’t mean they were done in the best way or with much if any sensitivity. It was easy, and to a considerable degree accurate, to view this removal of land from private ownership as nothing but unwanted interference.
Fierce determination to do things their way long pre-dated any big government interference in life. Mountain folks, mostly of Scots-Irish descent, brought with them a love of independence, resentment of government, and unwillingness to listen to anything they didn’t want to hear that was so deeply entrenched as to be almost impossible to remove. Hence their determination to follow no path except one of their own choosing. Mountain folks aren’t and never have been sheep. That hasn’t changed and likely never will, but Helene did necessitate a major shift in regional thinking. The hurricane’s impact was so cataclysmic that attitudinal adjustments became a stark necessity. Sheer “need” is at the forefront of ongoing recovery efforts. People of the High Country know how to deal with need.
They bring sayings I often heard as a boy squarely in play. One unvarying aspect of adult wisdom from my parents, both of whom were young adults during the Depression, focused on food. “Waste not, want not” topped the list. This usually applied to cleaning one’s plate and not making the mistake of taking a serving where your eyes got bigger than your tummy. Now, decades later, tens of thousands throughout the mountains again face situations where this kind of thinking is in the forefront.
So is my favorite saying, one including not only food but everything material in life. It runs: “Make do with what you’ve got. If you ain’t got it, do without.” There are various tidbits to be derived from this. One is the long-established tradition of adaptation on the part of mountain people. A handy fellow, and my paternal grandfather and especially my father fit that mold, could come up with some sort of jerry rigging to suit about any need when it came to repairs or constructing something. Neither of them ever threw anything—scrap wood, nails, jars, metal, and the like—away. “You never know when you might need something like this” was a constant refrain.
When it came to the “doing without” part of the equation, that was commonplace, there were always “needful things” that couldn’t be acquired. That was normally for one of two reasons—lack of money to buy store goods or it involved things that couldn’t be made or grown locally. Once more, because of Helene, we find ourselves in a do without situation. Then, and to my way of thinking the same will in time prove to be true in today’s maelstrom, it all boils down to living life as fully as possible and steadfast devotion to the concept of “God helps those who help themselves.”
That tried and true approach to life of living through self-reliance, often called the “Protestant ethic,” runs as a bright thread through the fabric of mountain life. The Protestant ethic looks on hard, honest work as something in which a man or woman can take pride. It is also viewed as a proper path to salvation and life in the hereafter. Other components of this perspective emphasize frugality, self-respect, and efficiency in the way an individual goes about living their life from day to day. That’s the Scots-Irish in us.
Had you broached this subject with me prior to the storm, my attitude likely would have been that with each passing mountain
generation, links to the Protestant ethic become a bit more remote and a bit less important. In old-time vernacular, I thought “the stock had about run out.” Today I would disagree. For all its shattering damage, there is at least one thing uplifting about Helene. It has shown that traditional bits of wisdom such as “God helps those who help themselves,” “Honest toil never hurt anyone,” “Lend a hand to your fellow man,” and “A worker is worth his salt” have not vanished.
Mind you, the same is true of an inherent distrust or at least suspicion of government; greater willingness to turn to faith and neighbors than some remote official entity. Yet alongside every critique of FEMA, every hint of disdain for “the man,” we have seen a widespread sense of self-worth, strength, sheer grit, and deeply rooted goodness emerge. That’s a bountiful blessing and therein lies what it means to be “mountain tough.” As my paternal grandfather used to remind me periodically, “this too will pass away.”
Historical photos retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov
Photo by Arther Rothstein
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Get to Know Blue Ridge Partnership for Children
Blue Ridge Partnership for Children (BRPFC) serves families, children and parents in Avery, Mitchell and Yancey counties. They offer resources, training sessions, and special events each year to support the development and early education of children in the region.
BRPFC is well known for the successful education initiatives they support and promote, including “The First 2,000 Days” initiative, which began in N.C. and has now expanded to other states and Canada. The first 2,000 days (five-anda-half years) of a person’s life represent the single most important time in their development. It’s when a baby’s brain is creating the connections for learning, and sets the path they will walk for the rest of their lives. BRPFC offers great programs like Play & Learn and Family Resource Libraries to stimulate young children’s curiosity, social skills, and critical early learning.
Blue Ridge Partnership for Children also provides families with access to the popular Imagination Library program created by Dolly Parton in 1995, in which children receive a FREE book in the mail every month from birth until their 5th birthday. There are currently more than 1,700 children across Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey counties who receive books each month. The books are mailed out by the Dollywood Foundation and arrive in families’ mailboxes.
Blue Ridge Partnership holds several fundraisers each year, including the popular AMY Wee Trade Consignment Sales to raise money to support the Imagination Library literacy program. AMY Wee Trade is an opportunity to pick up cool gear for your kids and grandkids without spending a huge amount of money, all while helping BRPFC provide local children with FREE books.
Families are invited to visit the BRPFC offices to check out toys and books from their Resource Libraries at: 392 East Main Street, Burnsville, NC 28174 (828-682-0047); and 215 Pineola Street, Newland, NC 28657 (828-733-2899). Learn more at blueridgechildren.org.
Central Rescue Squad Wins a New Land Rover Defender!
The Linville Central Rescue Squad in Linville, NC, recently won a major national award—the Defender Service Award—from Jaguar Land Rover North America. The company sponsors annual Service Awards in several categories, and Linville Central was this year’s winner in the Search, Rescue & Emergency Support Services category. The prize: a Land Rover Defender 130, plus $25,000 from Pelican Products to equip the vehicle to meet specialized rescue operations.
Having reached the semifinals, Squad members gathered for a potluck dinner on November 23 to watch via Zoom the awards ceremony in Carmel, California. When it was announced that they had won, members proudly cheered, hugged, and relished a moment together that was—for once—not under emergency circumstances.
The Squad worked tirelessly and courageously to help residents of Avery County deal with Hurricane Helene. The Swift Water team members began responding to calls and conducting evacuations well before the hurricane had fully arrived, and many members stayed on for 48 hours or more conducting rescues without being able to return to their homes for days. In accepting the award, Squad member Christopher Brown noted that the Squad had conducted 54 high water evacuations, 23 swift water rescues, 16 technical rescues, 75 emergency support missions, and over 1,000 welfare checks. Brown movingly described how efforts turned from rescue into recovery. The Squad spent 575 man-hours on K-9 missions to detect human remains along the North Toe River.
Brown gratefully acknowledged the assistance from rescue squads and fire departments from across the country. Those who came from areas outside our region were impressed with the resiliency and fortitude of local residents.
Squad members continue to spend countless hours assisting with cleanup and the distribution of supplies. In the early weeks following the storm, Land Rover Asheville loaned one of its vehicles to Linville Central, which helped Squad members maneuver around downed trees and over damaged roads to deliver generators, propane, tarps, Tyvek suits, and other supplies.
Accessing some of the remote areas of the county involves driving on rough, unpaved roads that many vehicles couldn’t access even before Hurricane Helene. The new Land Rover Defender will have a better ability to access these remote areas than the larger rescue trucks. Importantly, having the Defender also means that the Squad’s larger truck will be free to respond to other emergencies in the community, such as car accidents or medical events.
Squad members at Linville Central Rescue are unpaid volunteers and the organization relies on donations. As local first responders, they provide initial treatment and transportation for sick and injured persons. They rescue lost or injured hikers in remote areas. They are trained and accredited for mountain rescues, high-angle rock rescues, snow and ice rescues, wilderness searches, K-9 searches, vehicle extrication, and water rescues. Future donations will be used to upgrade communications equipment. Learn more at linville-centralrescue.org.
-Contributed by Graham Binder
Linville
Community & Local Business News
Explore Boone Opens New Visitors Center in Downtown Boone
The Watauga County and Boone Tourism Development Authorities (Explore Boone) recently announced the opening of their new office at 171 Grand Blvd in downtown Boone, NC. The facility officially opened its doors in early November, marking a significant milestone in the organization’s growth and continued commitment to promoting the Boone Area as a premier travel destination. The visitors center will be open Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. –4 p.m., excluding holidays.
Formerly the house of A.E. and Roberta Hodges, the new space is designed to foster collaboration, innovation and community engagement as Explore Boone advances its mission to showcase the region’s unique blend of natural beauty, outdoor adventure and cultural heritage.
“This new location represents an exciting chapter for Explore Boone, not only bringing us closer to the heart of downtown Boone but also allowing us to preserve a piece of the town’s history,” said Wright Tilley, Executive Director of the Watauga County and Boone Tourism Development Authorities. “The historic home dates back to around 1940 and offers the perfect venue for us to continue our mission of promoting this incredible destination while honoring its past. As we look to the future, we remain more committed than ever to supporting the community and ensuring Boone remains a top choice for travelers near and far.”
With this relocation, the Tourism Development Authorities are wellpositioned to continue elevating the visitor experience and strengthening their partnerships with local businesses, residents and tourism stakeholders.
The office will serve as the only visitors center in downtown Boone and a hub for Explore Boone’s ongoing marketing and promotional efforts, supporting the local tourism economy by attracting visitors year-round. The location’s proximity to the historic Jones House, a center for cultural activities in Boone, further exemplifies Explore Boone’s dedication to preserving and celebrating the town’s heritage. For more information, visit exploreboone.com.
Where Does All the Debris Go?
Debris piles along the roadways will be part of our landscape for months to come. Our local governments have been providing updates as to pick-up times for High Country residents—they ask for our patience as the process is long and arduous. CML received a first-hand account from John Ray, one of the many workers and volunteers involved with cleaning up and processing the tons of debris left behind in the wake of Helene.
“After the hurricane left us, the cleanup begins. Hurricanes are messy eaters. The remains of down trees and possessions and ruined houses are piled at the sides of the roads. They can’t stay there. They are a hazard to driving as well as hard on the eyes, no pleasure to look at, and there are a few companies that have come to clean them up.
The roads closest to the rivers, once they are opened up, have the most to haul away, followed by locations open to the wind, or with weak subsoil. Those are where the big trees fell, and a hefty white oak stump by the side of the road is too dangerous to leave there.
The debris comes in two kinds: mixed household and vegetative. The household debris gets shredded first, then it will probably be sorted. Floating separates woods and plastics from glass and metals; magnets can separate iron from non-Ferrous metals. Electric motors, copper wire—that stuff is worth money down in Johnson City.
The tree remains—from small, leafy branches up to 3-ft. diameter logs—get chipped into mulch. There is a lot of mulch. Larger trees, if left intact, will still go through the chipper, but they burn out the teeth too fast. So the large logs get split into two or four. Want to witness artistry? Watch a good track-hoe operator maneuver a log into place, set an outer bucket tooth on its center, raise the bucket four feet, drop it, and split the log with one strike. Some of the trees get booked to stove length, and they try to leave the obvious firewood. There will be a lot of stove wood around this year and next, when it has had a year to dry.”
Photo by John Ray
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The Bridge to Grandfather Vineyard & Winery
People who drive along Hwy 105 between Banner Elk and Boone, NC, have likely noticed the yellow sandwich boards directing Grandfather Vineyard customers to a special parking area. That’s because the bridge to access their tasting room was completely destroyed by the rising waters of the Watauga River during Hurricane Helene. Yet they were able to construct a temporary walking bridge to connect their overflow parking lot to their tasting room building, and reopened on October 24, about four weeks after the storm hit.
As they begin the process of rebuilding their primary vehicular bridge, they are seeking help from the greater community. “Our three-tiered sponsorship offers various ways to contribute toward rebuilding the Grandfather Vineyard bridge. You can sponsor a plank, a foundation beam, or a pillar—each at a different price point.”
As a thank you to donors, the Grandfather Vineyard wine makers are creating a special red and white wine coined The Bridge Blend. To learn more about sponsorships and to follow their progress, visit grandfathervineyard.com and facebook.com/GrandfatherVineyard/; email info@grandfathervineyards.com; or call 828-963-2400.
New Facilities for Children and Teens at Williams YMCA
In mid-September, the Williams YMCA celebrated the completion of the Hugh Chapman Early Learning Center with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, and at the same time held a Groundbreaking Ceremony for the future Carol and Glenn Arthur Youth Center, what will be known as the Y’s new “teen center.” Both spaces will allow the YMCA to expand services and programming to the youth and families of Avery County.
“We currently serve Kindergarten through fifth grade… with free after-school and summer programming for all of those families—hundreds of families and children, at no cost to them,” said Trey Oakley, CEO of the Williams YMCA. “In addition to the enrichment, the homework help, the mentoring that those kids receive every day, last year we served over 45,000 meals to kids within our programs.”
With the renovated Hugh Chapman Center and the new Arthur Youth Center, the Y will be able to care for even more young people, which benefits the entire community.
“[We asked] a number of our larger employers in Avery County, ‘What are the greatest needs you see in our county?’” Oakley recounted. “And two obvious things came up—workforce housing and affordable childcare. . . That’s where this project started.”
The Hugh Chapman Center will now serve two- to five-year-olds in Avery County with full-day daycare—Oakley estimates as many as 45 children daily—while the Arthur Youth Center will provide programming for third- to fifth-graders through summer day camps, and sixth- to eighthgraders with after school programs throughout the year.
The large crowd that gathered at the combined ceremony in September included county officials, YMCA staff, state Senator Ralph Hise, Janis Chapman (widow of the late Hugh Chapman), Diane Arthur (daughter of Carol and Glenn Arthur, and Trustee of the Arthur Family Foundation), and many community supporters. Oakley and other speakers recognized all the generous donors who played a role in these projects, as well as YMCA staff and local companies contributing to the projects.
Although Hurricane Helene has impacted the operational timelines for both projects, these two facilities, once opened, will bridge a sizeable gap in local childcare for families in our area. Find updates at ymcaavery.com and at facebook.com/williamsymcaavery/
In Recognition of CML Writers
Carolina Mountain Life is fortunate to have many wonderful writers contributing to our quarterly publication, and we would like to share with our readers some recent accolades and tributes.
Long-time features contributor Carol Lowe Timblin was awarded North Carolina Society of Historians Awards of Excellence for two articles that appeared in Carolina Mountain Life, including “William VonCanon’s Home Stood Below the Hanging Rock,” and “The Historic James Wilborn Whitehead Home.”
Ms. Timblin is renowned as a writer and consultant with more than 50 years of excellence in magazine and travel journalism. Passionate about Continued on next page
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historic preservation, Timblin has written, or contributed to, several books, and has penned numerous articles related to historic sites, including the two properties in Banner Elk, NC, that were featured in CML.
Jim Casada, who authors his column, “Wisdom & Ways,” in each of our quarterly issues, recently won first place in the magazine category of the S.C. Outdoor Press Association’s annual excellence in craft competition for his article, “The Grandfather Factor.” Casada has been a full-time freelance writer for a quarter of a century. In addition to being a CML columnist, he is a regular contributor to regional and national magazines, has a newspaper column, and has published more than 5,000 articles in his career. He is the author or editor of dozens of books and his work has garnered upwards of 200 awards. For more about Casada, visit his website at jimcasadaoutdoors.com
Curtis Smalling authored the “Birding” column in our magazine for nearly six years. He was recently appointed as executive director of Audubon North Carolina after a nationwide search, during which Smalling served as interim executive director.
In his new role, Smalling will lead all aspects of Audubon’s conservation and advocacy work in the state and guide the implementation of the organization’s new strategic vision, known as Flight Plan, aimed at reversing hemispheric bird population declines. “I appreciate all that everyone does for birds in their yards, gardens, churches, and communities. I also appreciate Carolina Mountain Life Magazine for giving me the opportunity for all those years to share in the work and the wonder of birds with CML readers.”
Finally, with sadness we say farewell to our Fishing columnist of more than a decade, Andrew “Andy” Corpening, who passed away in the fall. In addition to writing for CML, Corpening was a photojournalist, having won several statewide press photographer awards. He had also served as editor of the newspaper in Elizabeth City, NC, and for many years was the communications and marketing director at Sugar Mountain Ski Resort. Corpening enjoyed writing about skiing, real estate, and pet adoption, among other topics, but is probably best known for his fly fishing stories.
His fly fishing excursions found him fishing in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Montana, and even Spain. His CML column had a wide readership with all fly fishers, from both the beginner and novice to experienced anglers. We are extremely thankful to have had Andrew Corpening as part of the CML team for so many years, and he will be greatly missed by his friends in the High Country and beyond.
Helene Brought Angels to Our Door
By Donald Marriott
We had a visitor during breakfast
Not too long ago
She was not expected
Helene arrived unnoticed and unfriendly
She wanted everything
More than what we could give
A guest that I misjudged
Helene took more than breakfast when she was done
She took our security and memories
Leaving other possessions all over the streets
Like broken umbrellas scattered on the beach
Making any recovery seemingly out of reach
Until Angels disguised as neighbors, friends and family
Appeared at our door
Helene did not take everything
But she could not have taken anymore
Hurricane Helene brought destruction unlike anything this region has faced before. Homes were flooded and families found themselves without essentials as roads and neighborhoods lay in ruin. During these times of overwhelming need, our community stands together.
Blue Ridge Energy has established the Mountain Strong Helene Relief Fund — a dedicated resource to lift up our neighbors who lost so much to this storm. Through your generosity, we’ll help provide warmth this winter by assisting Blue Ridge Energy members with energy bills.
Join us in fueling our community’s recovery, one act of generosity at a time. We can rebuild and show that our resilience is just as strong as the mountains we call home.
Together, we are Mountain Strong.
• Online: BlueRidgeEnergy.com/HeleneRelief
• By Check: Make payable to The Members Foundation, mail to P.O. Box 112, Lenoir, NC 28645, or drop off at your district office.
• By Phone: Call 800-451-5474
Take
a Stroll Through Banner Elk
Banner Elk is a winter wonderland this time of year, and offers unlimited fun for visitors to the area. The town’s new Holiday Stroll Map highlights shops, restaurants and activities happening in the heart of Banner Elk. If you can’t be here to pick up your copy over the holidays, head to bannerelk.com, where you can download a map and access a list of Banner Elk restaurants and an events calendar by scanning a QR code. .
Celebrate on the Slopes!
As in past years, App Ski Mtn., Beech Mountain, and Sugar Mountain will ring in the New Year on Dec. 31 with fireworks, live music, food, and a variety of entertainment for the whole family. For details, visit appskimtn.com, skisugar.com and skibeech.com Photo: Fireworks, App Ski Mtn.
Artists Respond to Hurricane Helene
To acknowledge the many artists affected by Hurricane Helene, Mica Gallery in Bakersville, NC, is hosting a special exhibition, “Resilience: Artists Respond to Hurricane Helene,” January 10-February 28, 2025. The opening reception will be held Friday, January 10, from 5-7 p.m. Thirty-six artists in Western North Carolina are participating. Some of the artists have said this exhibition encouraged them to return to their studios. Others have used making art as a way of working through the trauma and devastation. Works range from ceramics to metal, sculpture to painting, photography to drawing, jewelry, and more.
Throughout the month of February, Mica Gallery will also hold a second annual “For the Love of Animals” sale to fundraise for the Mitchell County Animal Shelter. Mica is located at 37 N. Mitchell Avenue in Bakersville, NC, and online at micagallerync.com Pictured above: “Broken” by Kathryn McCarty, “Helene” by Jean McLaughlin
47th Annual Woolly Worm Race Results
While the Woolly Worm Festival could not take place in 2024 due to the hurricane, a ceremonial race was held, with first responders “racing” their chosen woolly worms. The first-place worm belonged to the Newland Fire Department! Each year, the winning woolly worm forecasts the upcoming winter weather based on the colors of its body segments. There are 13 body segments in a Woolly Worm and 13 weeks in the winter season. continued...
Each segment of the Woolly Worm corresponds to that week’s weather. Here we share the winning woolly worm’s coloration and prediction for this winter… Week 1 – Black: Snow and below-average temperatures; Weeks 2-4 – Fleck: Light snow or frost with colder-than-normal temps; Weeks 5-6 – Brown: Average temperatures; Weeks 7-8 – Fleck: Light snow or frost, with below-average temps; Weeks 9-10 – Brown: Average temperatures; Weeks 11-13 – Black: Snow and chilly, below-average temperatures.
Woollyworm.com
It’s Monumental
On a snowy afternoon in December, a standing-room-only crowd gathered at the Dan’l Boone Inn to hear remarks from award-winning authors, historians, and dignitaries, including representatives of local “first families” whose names adorn the area’s street signs, neighborhoods, and landmarks. Organizations present for the proceedings included the Daughters of the American Revolution, NC Daniel Boone Heritage Trail, Snow Masonic Lodge #363, Southern Appalachian Historical Association, Three Forks Baptist Church (established in 1790), and a direct descendant of Colonial Daniel Boone.
Moving outside in below freezing temperatures, THE BOONE HERITAGE MONUMENT, the creation of designer/sculptor Brenda Mauney Councill, was unveiled and dedicated. One of the inscriptions on the artwork reads, in part, as follows:
T“This monument stands to honor all of the early pioneer families whose courage, strength and hard work laid the foundation upon which the town of Boone was built. These early generations sustained the town’s prosperity by valuing family, faith, education, and culture. This heritage of values was passed on to future generations, who will hopefully continue along these historic paths in leading the Town of Boone into its future seasons.” Photo by Lonnie Webster
TMast General Store Makes a Mark Years from now, the High Country will have recovered from Helene. But some marks will be permanent. The simple visual above, on the exterior wall of the Mast General Store Annex in Valle Crucis (built in 1909), helps to remind us of the significance of past weather events, and provides perspective for when future events occur. (Helene is the highest mark, on the left.)
TBoth the original Mast General Store (built in the late 1800s) and the Mast Store Annex have endured more than a century of challenges. Yet today, Mast Store is still known as the “store that has everything.” You can purchase their “Mountain Strong” shirts and stickers at a Mast Store near you—$10 from the sale of each t-shirt and hoodie, and 50% of sticker sales will go directly to organizations helping people recover from Hurricane Helene. mastgeneralstore.com
Discover Alltrails.com
In addition to CML’s hiking guide in our Trail Reports column, you can find local trails to try by visiting a site dedicated to nothing but trails: Alltrails.com. Simply type in a destination, i.e. Boone, and it will tell you every trail, the fitness level for each trail, the distance of the trail, and whether it’s open or not.
Lees-McRae College Goes Green!
Lees-McRae College has been named to the 2025 Guide to Green Colleges, a sustainability-focused list that is assembled each year by The Princeton Review. The Guide to Green Colleges assesses sustainability initiatives and eco-friendly efforts at colleges and universities around the world, highlighting the institutions that perform well across more than 25 survey data points.
Higher education institutions from all over the world are featured in the Guide to Green Colleges and earn their spot by exhibiting their dedication to sustainability through exceptional programs, policies, and practices. In addition to being placed on the 2024 Guide to Green Colleges, Lees-McRae was recently recognized as a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly University (2024-2028)–both achievements exemplify the college’s commitment to sustainability. lmc.edu
Essential Rapid Repairs
Baptists on Mission responded in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene by setting up large feeding and recovery (mud out, tear out, chainsaw, etc.) operations in 14 locations in Western North Carolina. Volunteers helped with feeding; shower and laundry; chain saw teams; tarping roofs; mudding and tearing out homes; and more. The Essential Rapid Repairs (ERR) program provided the basics… insulation, flooring, sheetrock, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, a functional kitchen and bathroom. continued...
Their immediate goal: to get 1,000 families back into a warm, safe, secure, functioning home before the worst of winter. “Please know that we will have many opportunities to serve for many weeks, months and years to come.” Learn more at helenerebuild.org.
App State Accolades
The latest college rankings and recognitions of six national publications— including U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review and Forbes magazine— have one thing in common: All place App State among the best schools in the nation, and the Southeast, for 2024–25.
“These latest accolades reflect the commitment and dedicated efforts of our faculty and staff in fostering student success through comprehensive support, including helping students graduate on time,” said App State Interim Chancellor Heather Norris. “We’re preparing Mountaineers to become the leaders and innovators of tomorrow.” Photo below by Wes Craig and Chase Reynolds, appstate.edu.
Have a “tidbit” you’d like to share with CML readers? Email our Managing Editor at tamara@seymourcc.net
Hibernating, Healing and Rebuilding
By Meisha Key
Inlate September, the force of Mother Nature, in the form of Hurricane Helene, swept through Western North Carolina, leaving a path of destruction and devastation. Lives were lost. Pets, livestock, and wild animals were lost. Homes were lost. Identities were lost.
This catastrophic event caused substantial infrastructure, water and sewer damage. Towns were destroyed and people were without water, power, or a connection with the outside world for days, if not weeks. Some even months. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Figure 1), the basic needs (physiological and safety) of many residents in this region were literally swept away.
How can we heal and rebuild from such an event of this magnitude?
HEALING is a highly personal process, and the steps vary based on individual needs, experiences, and type of loss. The multifaceted process involves addressing the mind, body, emotions, and spirit, with each step providing an opportunity to invite and embody peace. The state of our mind profoundly influences every other aspect of our well-being. Acceptance and presence are two pivotal actions to initiate healing of the mind.
What does this mean?
Accepting what is. In Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, he writes, “Whenever tragic loss occurs, you either resist or you yield… Yielding means inner acceptance of what is. You are open to life. Resistance is an inner contradiction, a hardening of the shell of the ego. You are closed.”
Tolle continues to explain “…ego is identification with form.” When the things you identified with, that gave you a sense of self, are taken away, it can lead to a collapse of the ego. This collapse creates an opening
for you to explore a new dimension of consciousness.
“When there is nothing to identify with anymore, who are you?”
Presencing can bring the highest future possibility into the now, blending senses and presence. Can you find an appreciation for what the cold, dark days of the season have to offer? Winter is a time of hibernating for all living things. In nature, that is a dormant state. A plant is alive but not actively growing. For us, we can be inactive or indoors for an extended period, with an opportunity to reflect and grow. It’s a quiet time. A time to slow down, to be still, and meet yourself where you are. Practicing mindfulness can reshape thought patterns and enhance mental clarity.
During hibernation time, we can physically repair the body through rest and utilize such therapies as acupuncture and massage. Journaling and self-reflection can help in processing and understanding emotions. Finding a way to release emotions, which may include a ritual of dancing, chanting, or burning items in a fire pit, can also be helpful. Spiritually, prayer and meditation, as well as reevaluating your personal values and beliefs, can lead to the dimension of consciousness Tolle was referring to. “Who are you?”
Other aspects of healing that support long-term well-being involve Social and Relational, Behavioral, Environmental, and Intellectual and Creative Healing. Examples of healing within these aspects are building networks of supportive relationships, resolving conflicts, creating new routines, finding healthier coping strategies, spending time in nature, and learning new skills to foster resilience. Integrating all aspects of healing expands the holistic and sustainable path to overall wellness.
Maslow also identified psychological needs (belongingness and self-esteem) that build upon safety and security. When safety is threatened, individuals, relationships, and communities can fall apart. Egos and relationships become fragile, with some even being lost. What was endearing after Helene is how people came together supporting one another through devastation and collective grief with an open heart. Helping others is yet another way to heal, by rediscovering hope and cultivating a sense of purpose.
REBUILDING a strong foundation is essential for stability, resilience, and achieving one’s full potential in any endeavor, whether it’s a personal goal, a home, a business, a relationship, or a community. You might ask yourself: “What do I want to create and rebuild from the ground up? What does it look like, smell like, feel like? Who am I rebuilding for? Am I aligning my actions with my values?”
Ask intentional, growth provoking questions. Tap into your heart. Find clarity in what’s important to you and how you want to rebuild a strong foundation for your future. Give yourself permission to hibernate and heal alongside nature, appreciating what the season has to offer. As your healing unfolds, plant the seeds for the renewal and beauty of spring.
Meisha Key is a Personal and Professional Development Coach, Facilitator, Certified Life Coach, and NLP Practitioner. MeishaKey.com
Pyramid Graphic: Figure 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. simplypsychology.org
HIBERNATE WITH INSIGHT TIMER!
Insight Timer (insighttimer.com) is a free app with healing sound bath music and guided meditations to help with sleep, anxiety, self-esteem, sadness, joy, productivity, manifesting, and spirituality.
Hi, I’m Dr. Derrick Denman, DC., PA. Let me personally invite you to our office. We’re conveniently located at the Shops @ Shadowline near Harris Teeter. Feel free to stop in, allowing me to shake your hand and take a few minutes for a quick office tour! We enjoy introducing folks to our patients, who’ve benefitted from our services. Their testimonials offer hope and encouragement to others! Don’t suffer another day. There is a better way, and… We’re Here to Help!
Free Hot Meals Here
By LouAnn Morehouse
In the bleak early hours of Saturday, September 28, Scott Garland and Tim Heshke, co-owners of Stonewalls Restaurant, came down from their apartment above the restaurant to get a look at what Hurricane Helene had done to Banner Elk. A quick survey of their building revealed no serious damage aside from the lack of power and water, so Scott decided to take a walk around town. He didn’t get far. The water from nearby Shawneehaw Creek that usually flowed beneath a little bridge into the Elk River had become a raging torrent, over topping the bridge and undermining nearby houses and the roadway. The Elk River itself had swollen well above its banks, and the road into town was completely inundated. Shocked by the devastation, Scott hurried back to the restaurant.
When he got there, Tim was in the restaurant’s food truck, which had its own power and water, and was getting it organized to start cooking. The two owners were restaurateurs, after all. As Scott says, “Hospitality is in my blood.” The word restaurant comes from the root word meaning to renew oneself, to restore, and Scott and Tim understood all too well their role in the coming days. There was food that needed to be used and soon there would be hungry people and a whole lot of cleaning up to be done.
Shortly thereafter, members of the volunteer fire department walked up and inquired if there was anything to eat. They had been up for hours and hours, doing everything they could to respond to the dire situations that had occurred all the long day and night before.
Soon Lees-McRae College students from a couple streets away wandered into the parking lot, scared and hungry. Scott and Tim started cooking. Their neighbors
at the Banner Elk Café opened their freezers and larder to them, and starting making soup to add to the array. Eventually, most all of the Banner Elk restaurants were sending their stocks of fresh and frozen food over to be cooked up by the Stonewalls guys. It was a proper community effort.
As people started getting out of their houses to take a look at things, more of them joined the group. There was no power, no water, no cell service, and no immediate way in or out of town. But there was hot food and fellowship.
At about the same time a few miles and a lot of flood water away, Shannon Maness, general manager of the Banner Elk Best Western Mountain Inn, was realizing the extent of the damage and getting her resources marshaled. Aware that bad weather was in the forecast, Shannon had opted to spend the previous night at the hotel to head off any problems that might arise. She and the overnight staff had figured it would be a matter of keeping the doors tight and watching for leaks, then tidying up in the morning. Instead, they had spent the wee hours in the lobby with the assembled guests as the power went out and the storm raged. When the water from the Elk River began to threaten, they went into emergency mode, digging ditches to divert the flooding from the building.
As the grey light of morning revealed the extent of the damage all around them, Shannon turned to her food and beverage team from Gadabouts Catering. Like Scott and Tim, she knew immediately that the first order of business would be to restore people’s strength and courage, and that meant hot coffee and a fresh meal. She credits Gadabouts staffer, John Bunty, for his resourcefulness in figuring out how to get the coffee pot going despite the power
outage and lack of water. He took the ice from the coolers and heated it on the gas stove to get water boiling! After that, the Gadabouts crew went into action, making sandwiches and organizing meals from the stuff at hand.
In the days that followed people worked madly to clear roads through the devastation. At first they were only treacherous pathways, but those who could leave got out. Over in Linville Land Harbor, a community of some 1,700 homes, people who were departing brought the contents of their freezers and fridges to the community office and staff set up grills and camp stoves to cook for all. Writer Jonathan Ammons of The Guardian would later label this kind of emergency sharing “disaster dining,” a term that suggests it has some good qualities, and it does. Being able to feel restored by good food, a moment to sit and eat among kind people. It helps.
Generosity and kindness became the order of the day in the post-Helene region. In Avery County, many hands reached out to help, among them: the folks at Mountain Grounds Coffee and Tea Company saw to it that fresh coffee was delivered to crews clearing debris, churches jumped into action with homemade meals for distribution and pick-up, and the Eseeola Lodge in Linville took over hosting lunch for Avery Senior Center members, whose building was unusable. Within a few days, Jim Ward of the High Country Charitable Foundation had assembled a team to make meals all day at the Party Barn. For those in areas that were still impassable by vehicle, helicopters flew hot meals out from Elk River Club’s airport.
The Town of Banner Elk coordinated a community effort to create a resource center at the Historic Banner Elk School.
High Country Charitable Foundation serves hot meals at the Party Barn in Banner Elk, photo by LouAnn Morehouse P hoto by LouAnn Morehouse
Along with a massive assortment of donated household items and a staff of people to assist in filling out forms for assistance, the old school turned community center became a site for fresh hot meals donated by a wonderful array of local and off-mountain cooks who volunteered to bring it. One day it would be the crew from Diamond Creek Club and the next a couple who were avid barbecue chefs from Greensboro and just wanted to feed 500 people because that’s how they showed they cared. The aroma of good food and all those friendly faces gave an almost-holiday feeling to the busy spot.
Five days after Helene, a helicopter landed on the lawn in front of the Historic Banner Elk School. Cellular service had resumed by then thanks to the rapid deployment of temporary cell towers, so Mayor Brenda Lyerly had received word that hot meals were on the way by air from Boone, where World Central Kitchen had set up operations.
Brenda says they saw “a huge container,” an insulated box holding dozens of freshly made dinners unloaded from the helicopter. It was followed by yet more big boxes of dinners prepared by World Central Kitchen chefs and Boone restaurants together. And then none other than Chef Jose Andres stepped off to meet folks. Brenda says it was quite a surprise, they hadn’t expected to meet the man who has created a non-profit, non-governmental food relief agency operating world wide because he believes that food has the power to both nourish and give hope.
Brenda confirmed that Chef Andres was “a really nice guy,” who explained that World Central Kitchen had been setting up kitchens throughout the Helene disaster area, and he just wanted to drop in on Banner Elk to launch the collaboration
with the chefs from Stonewalls and Gadabouts. It was “perfect timing,” she adds, because the need for fresh, hot meals had expanded rapidly as relief workers were pouring into the area to aid and assist the disaster victims. A massive and well-organized effort, World Central Kitchen also brought in supplies of potable water, as did Wine to Water, a Boone-based nonprofit.
At that point, the Best Western was welcoming people whose homes had been made unlivable or impossible to reach. Some arrived via rescue helicopter. Shannon Maness says at one point there were 28 children staying at the hotel. Volunteers from Blue Ridge Partnership for Children and Child Life Disaster Relief lent a helping hand keeping kids engaged and content. It was a busy, cozy place with folks in the lobby and going to and fro to the dining room. Shannon says it got to where she thought of them as her hurricane family.
With the Best Western a natural site for World Central Kitchen-Avery, the Gadabouts chefs, and Chefs Scott and Tim with their Stonewalls team set about taking turns handling daily food service there. Scott Garland says in those first few days post disaster, they served 150 meals per day. When World Central Kitchen brought their resources, that number jumped to 1,200 meals every day. Hot food, and free. Brought to you by locals and come-from-aways because they knew you needed it.
The Free Meals signs became a common sight along Avery’s dusty, broken roads. Dine in or take out, the choice was yours. Truth to tell, it was pretty nice to get out of the mud and broken stuff and come sit at a table and eat a nice meal. Just like normal, almost.
Endings & Beginnings
Multiple years of living, collecting, storing and preserving can be washed away, either by a once-in-a-lifetime flood or with the final breath of a loved one.
It’s shocking to realize that after many decades of experiences, one’s life is summarized by a paragraph or two in the newspaper, maybe a school or wedding photo.
But with endings there can be new beginnings on the horizon.
A wise man one said: “Unless a seed dies and falls to the ground, there is no new life.” And in the unpredictability of wind and rain, the destination of that germinated seed remains a mystery. Keep watching and hoping.
And be well, Samantha
P hoto by LouAnn Morehouse
Mayor Brenda Lyerly and Chef Andres of World Central Kitchen, photo by Nancy Owen
Open All
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The High Country’s Best
Vacation Rentals
• One main lodge and three cabins with mountain views
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• Located in the heart of Sugar and Beech Mountains, with proximity to all High Country attractions
• Pet-friendly
• Lodging Property of the Year
The High Country’s Best Space for Gatherings
• Vacations, weddings, family reunions, church events, and business retreats
• Newly built barn with 1,700 sq. ft., and 18-ft. high ceilings
• Equipped with a complete catering kitchen
• Climate controlled barn
• 1,750 sq. ft. outdoor pavilion with fire pit
• Lodge and cabin rentals
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• Event Venue of the Year, 5 years running
Winter Restaurant Guide
n Casa Rustica 1348 NC-105
Boone, NC 28607
828.262.5128 | casarustica1981.com
“Casa Rustica fuses old-world Italian cuisine with the fresh flavors of the High Country. They’re called classics for a reason.”
n Gamekeeper Restaurant
3005 Shulls Mill Rd Boone, NC 28607
828.963.7400 | gamekeeper-nc.com
“This ain’t your momma’s meatloaf!! Antelope meatloaf grilled & glazed with sundried tomato barbeque sauce; complemented by GK staple ‘bleu cheese mac and cheese.’”
“We’ve been making and baking pizza for over 25 years. We have beers from around the world, cinema under the stars, hand crafted candies, fresh baked cookies, large flat screen TVs, full bar menu, polar golf, and an arcade. We are the place to eat, play and drink.”
n Cobo Sushi Bistro and Bar 161 W Howard Street Boone, NC 28607
828.386.1201 | cobosushi.com
“Co-Bang Shrimp Love.”
n Fred’s Backside Deli
501 Beech Mountain Pkwy Beech Mountain, NC 28604
828.387.4838 | fredsgeneral.com
“Fred’s Backside Deli serves breakfasts, sandwiches, homemade soups and salads, beverages, including beer and wine, and freshly made desserts.”
n Banner Elk Café, The Lodge and The Tavern
324 Shawneehaw Ave S Hwy 184 Banner Elk, NC 28604
828.898.4040 | bannerelkcafe.com
“The place to BE in downtown Banner Elk. Always something good being served up. Also serving pasta, salads, breakfast, coffee, fresh baked goods and more. Practically everything you need in one location.”
n Bayou Banner Elk
130 Main Street East, Village Shops Banner Elk, NC 28604
828.898.8952 bayoubannerelk.com
“Dip into your week with Bayou’s irresistible nachos!”
n Jack’s 128 Pecan
128 Pecan St SE Abingdon, VA 24210
276.698.3159 | 128pecan.com
Local, quirky, fun little restaurant with simple good food and friendly professional service. Serving lunch and dinner and carrying a full bar. French Onion Burger . . . Need we say more.”
n Gideon Ridge
202 Gideon Ridge Rd Blowing Rock, NC 28605
828.295.3644 | gideonridge.com
“Our menu will change week to week or day to day depending on climate and seasonal growth length. Here is a glimpse into Gideon’s Pork Ribeye: Root Vegetable Ratatouille, Smoked Ham Hock, Brussels, Turnip Velouté, Green Tomato Chow Chow, and Red Wine Reduction.”
n Bistro Roca
143 Wonderland Trail
Blowing Rock, NC 28605
828.295.4008 | bistroroca.com
“Bistro Roca serves inventive American Bistro cuisine. The chefs don’t mess around when it comes to creating something special.”
n Stonewalls
344 Shawneehaw Ave S Banner Elk, NC 28604
828.898.5550 | stonewallsrestaurant.com
“Try our classic Chicken Oscar with crab, asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce. Come see why we have been voted best Restaurant (overall) for the last 5 years.”
n Stick Boy Kitchen
211 Boone Heights Drive, Boone, NC 28607
828.265.4141 | stickboybread.com/kitchen
“At Stick Boy Kitchen you’re the boss, so create your own from a variety of options. We use allnatural meat on our sandwiches. Our dressings, spreads, cream cheeses, hummus, and other sides are made from scratch using quality ingredients. Rest assured, when we make food at the ‘Kitchen’ it’s just like you would make food at home in your kitchen.”
Sorrento’s Italian Bistro
140 Azalea Cir SE, Banner Elk, NC 28604
828.898.5214
bannerelkvillage.com/sorrentos-italian-bistro/
“At Sorrento’s Bistro, we offer it all. From our special pies, veal, clams, and more, we serve a variety of heartwarming meals.”
n Timberlake’s Restaurant and Headwaters Pub
185 Chetola Lake Dr Blowing Rock, NC 28605
828.295.5505 | chetola.com/dining-2
“It’s yucky outside, but warm and cozy in here! Come join us for dinner and a cocktail or a glass or wine!”
n Lost Province Brewing Company 130 N Depot Street Boone, NC 28607
828.265.3506 | lostprovince.com
“Are you team hot or regular fried chicken sandwich? Our Hot Fried Chicken Sandwich makes the perfect treat! We serve authentic and innovative craft beer and savory wood fired fare where pizza is always in season.”
n Williams Deli & Bakery
101 High Country Square #28
Banner Elk, NC 28604
828.898.2300 williamsdeliandbakery.com
“Come warm up with a cup of soup and the sandwich of the day all on fresh baked bread.”
n F.A.R.M. Cafe
617 W King St, Boone, NC 28607
828.386.1000 | farmcafe.org
“F.A.R.M. Cafe builds a healthy and inclusive community by providing high quality meals produced from local sources, served in a restaurant where everybody eats, regardless of means.”
n The Italian Restaurant 2855 Linville Falls Hwy Pineola, NC 28662
828.733.1401 | theitalianrestaurantnc.com
“Pizza dough, pizza sauce, Alfredo, and marinara sauces are prepared fresh daily in our kitchen, along with all of our pasta entrees, salads, and more, to maintain the freshness and quality of our food every day.”
Mix together the dressing ingredients and set aside.
To a medium pan add butter over medium heat, add panko, salt and pepper and toast until golden, about 5 minutes. Set aside
To a large bowl add kale and olive oil, massage.
To the kale add red cabbage, parmesan, Caesar dressing and panko bread crumbs. Toss to combine and enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
4 cups of milk (whole works best but any milk of your choice)
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup sugar
½ cup bittersweet chocolate chips
½ tsp vanilla
DIRECTIONS
Place milk, cocoa powder and sugar in a sauce pan. Heat over medium low heat, whisking frequently, until warm.
Add chocolate chips and whisk continuously until the chocolate chips melt and distribute evenly. Add vanilla. Top with your favorite marshmallows or whipped topping and indulge!
MEATBALLS INGREDIENTS
2 TBSP olive oil
2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
1 cup Italian style bread crumbs
½ cup freshly grated parmesan
½ cup ricotta
½ cup finely minced yellow onion
3 finely minced garlic cloves
¼ cup minced parsley
¼ cup minced basil
1 TBSP kosher salt
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
SAUCE INGREDIENTS
1 diced yellow onion
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
RICOTTA POLENTA INGREDIENTS
1 cup polenta
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups whole milk
1 cup ricotta
½ cup parmesan
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS:
MEATBALLS AND SAUCE
Gently combine the meatball ingredients (except the oil), in a large bowl. Be careful to not overwork.
Roll meatballs into 1 ½ inch balls.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat.
Brown each meatball in batches on each side. They will not be cooked through.
Remove from the pan and set aside.
Reserve drippings to create the sauce.
To the same pan add onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes, add garlic, tomatoes, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.
Add meatballs and simmer for 45 minutes.
RICOTTA POLENTA
In a saucepan, bring milk and chicken broth to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta, stirring continuously over low for about 5 minutes.
Turn off heat. Stir in ricotta, parmesan, salt, black pepper, and butter to combine.
MEATBALLS WITH RICOTTA POLENTA From CML’s Kitchen
Meagan Goheen
Made with love!
Cover and let stand for 1 minute; if it thickens too much thin with broth or milk.
