Chamber President and CEO Charles Hardin Talks Helene Recovery and Upcoming Retirement
STORY BY KATHERINE KIM
Blowing Rock Chamber President and CEO Charles Hardin never imagined his last few months with the Chamber would be heavy with the weight of Hurricane Helene’s devastation. He had planned to retire from his 20-plus-year career with the Chamber on a high note, but nature had other plans.
While Blowing Rock and much of Boone were spared from Helene’s wrath, the devastation felt in neighboring western counties weighs on Charles’s mind. The Chamber has worked to oversee, organize, and support efforts in Avery County and parts of Mitchell County. This includes supporting donation sites and sponsoring groups that operate donation efforts, including Samaritan’s Purse, which is headquartered in Blowing Rock.
“We’ve been working with our local officials, emergency management, and with news outlets to manage any relief efforts we can,” Charles said. “We volunteer, we help load and unload trucks, and we do whatever we can to help.”
The Chamber assisted in coordinating delivery efforts with World Central Kitchen (WCK), a disaster response organization that brings food to those in need after natural disasters. During the first few weeks after Helene hit, WCK used a local soccer field as a helicopter staging site for incoming food deliveries.
For Charles, retirement left his mind completely in the weeks after Helene. Emergency meetings and calls with other Chambers, state departments, and even the Governor filled each day, and he wanted to be a part of the recovery efforts and support the community as long as he needed to. In his role, responding to a disaster like this is very different than responding to something like the pandemic. He says this disaster was ten times worse than COVID, mainly due to its timing.
When the pandemic hit in mid-March of 2020, businesses were impacted, but because much of the economy is seasonal and relies on visitors in the fall, businesses had time to change their operational plans. Masks could be worn, and people could visit by the time fall rolled around. Helene, however, hit the state right at the start of October, coinciding with the true kickoff of Boone’s seasonal economy.
“October is the biggest month up here, in terms of tourism, which is much of our economy,” Charles said. “These businesses rely on visitors and have to plan financially to get through to the following spring. We have six months of prosperous times, and then six months of slow business. If you don’t store all your nuts in October, it will be tough to get through to spring.”
For Charles, this is one of his biggest concerns. He’s been urging businesses to adjust their business models as much as possible and to take advantage of the assistance the Chamber and other services can provide. He suggests business owners and operators look to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for support but urges them to remember that many of these programs are still loans, not grants. Many businesses received SBA loans during COVID-19, so they should consider the financial impact of another loan.
“The next wave of this is economic recovery, and that’s where the Chamber will step in more because those are our businesses out there,” Charles said.
Though Helene is a defining moment in Charles’ career, he hasn’t let the storm change his plans to retire. Even before the storm, the Chamber’s search committee had been preparing to find someone to fill Charles’s shoes. So far, nearly 60 applications have been submitted, and it will take someone special to take the reins for this next chapter.
Charles was named President of the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce in 2004, but his journey to becoming Chamber president and CEO didn’t start there. Charles spent many years in the corporate world, at one point managing nearly 45 restaurants and 1,500 employees throughout the United States. But in 1994, he found himself wanting to own and operate his own business, so he and his wife opened a restaurant in Blowing Rock called The Parkway Cafe.
The next wave of this is economic recovery, and that’s where the Chamber will step in more because those are our businesses out there.
- CHARLES HARDIN
“It was a great career move,” Charles said. “We did well. The restaurant was there for 15 years. During that time, we also built our home here and sent our son to college.”
Parkway Cafe served an array of American foods, including homemade soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, and homemade desserts. But during this time, Charles had a building desire to be more involved with the community. He joined the Chamber Board and served in this role for nearly 10 years before finding his way to the title of executive director. In 2017, his title was updated and expanded to “President and CEO” by the Board.
Charles remembers much of his very first day as President and CEO, a cold day in February. He began to look into the infrastructure within the Chamber, working with a much smaller budget and team back then. He says it was “a bit lonely” in the role at first, but over time, he built a stronger support system that would help him and others begin to evolve the Chamber into what it is today.
In his early Chamber years, Charles helped establish a newsletter to help keep the community up-to-date with what was happening within the Chamber. He also spent time recruiting Board members and building a stronger influence within the community. Other changes included the evolution of the Chamber’s role as both the Visitor’s Center and Tourism Office, and in 2017, the Chamber bought the building it now lives in.
“The founder of our Chamber built this house in 1902,” Charles said. “We’ve put a lot of money and work into the building to be a presence in town. It’s the perfect location for the Chamber.”
Some of Charles’s favorite memories include the many events the Chamber has hosted or participated in. One particular memory was at a Blue Ridge Wine and Food Festival event. The Chamber had set up a huge tent for the event the next day. It
Our
businesses work more together than they used to, that’s been one of the things that we’ve really tried to get them to do. To recognize that we’re not competing with each other; our Blowing Rock community competes with communities elsewhere. We all have to work together here.
- CHARLES HARDIN
poured rain all night, and the tent formed a huge bubble of water—gallons and gallons of water—that had to be drained. One swimming pool pump and a crane later, the water was eventually drained out and the tent was fixed.
“That was a real crisis day,” Charles laughed. “We worked as a team and got it done, but it was touch and go.”
Another few favorite memories of Charles’s was when the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce won the “Chamber of the Year” title in both 2016 and 2020, followed by when he was named the North Carolina Chamber Executive of the Year in 2019. He also shared how much pride he felt when he was awarded the Dan Meyer Community Partnership Award by the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce in September of this year.
“It was a high point for me to be recognized that way, across counties,” Charles said.
Charles feels that he’s grown during his time in this role, but so has the community around him. In particular, he sees businesses working together as one in ways he didn’t see in his early days.
“Our businesses work more together than they used to, that’s been one of the things that we’ve really tried to get them to do,” Charles said. “To recognize that we’re not competing with each other; our Blowing Rock community competes with communities elsewhere. We all have to work together here.”
Other highlights include working to build the Village Foundation and coordinating town events like Art in the Park, Symphony by the Lake, Winterfest, and more. But one of his biggest accomplishments over the past two decades is the foundation of the Economic Development Council. It works in tandem with the Village Foundation, looking at the community's needs to improve business. It helps raise funds to complete local projects or meet the needs of the community where it can.
“It’s a bit of a complicated process, but I can say that’s one of the things I helped to set up,” Charles said.
He also discussed how the community at large has changed during his time with the Chamber, saying though the population in
Blowing Rock hasn’t grown as much as people might think, the businesses in town have been crucial to the rise in visitor numbers over the years.
“As far as population growth year-round, it’s about the same,” Charles said. “What we’re seeing—more hotels and visitors—is what came out of COVID: two or three years of extremely great business. People saw [the mountains] as a safe place from COVID,
and they came here seeking safety from the city.”
After the first year of COVID, people had the bug to travel, but they didn’t feel safe enough to get on planes just yet. Tourism has cooled down in the four years since the pandemic began, but Charles says it’s still better than it was before COVID. The Blowing Rock area only has about 1300 year-round residents, but that number swells to 8000 with seasonal residents and an
additional 2000 more on weekends during peak tourism months.
From supporting businesses in Blowing Rock to advocating for project funding and organizing town events, there’s a lot to be done by the Chamber President and CEO. Charles offered some advice for the next person in this role, and to community leaders in general:
“The best advice we can give in a small town like this is to keep everyone working together,” Charles said. “It sounds simple,
The best advice we can give in a small town like this is to keep everyone working together. It sounds simple, but…we have to work together to grow. When we separate out into groups, we fragment. We get so much more done when we have one voice.
- CHARLES HARDIN
but…we have to work together to grow. When we separate out into groups, we fragment. We get so much more done when we have one voice.”
After he retires in December, Charles says he has no plans to disappear. He lives two blocks from the office, and he will be here to support the community and Chamber in a consultantstyle role. He will remain involved in many areas of the Chamber, taking on the title of President of the Village Foundation come January and continuing to help with yearly events. He is also excited to become the President of the Rotary Club starting next July, a role he has wanted to be in but couldn’t do while he served in his current position.
“My other plans are hopefully to play a little more golf,” Charles laughed.
As luck would have it, his wife plans to retire on the same day from a career
as an administrator at Appalachian State University. It’s safe to say that celebration ensues, with plans to do a little traveling to visit their son who lives in Atlanta. Charles is excited also to have more time to garden and volunteer with his church.
Overall, Charles feels blessed to have served in this role for 21 years. He feels like he’s come full circle, from having his business in Blowing Rock to being involved with the Chamber and now retiring from the role. He emphasized that his success was not a solo effort; he couldn’t have done it without the wonderful volunteers, Board members, and community support he has always had.
“I want to make sure that everybody understands this is not one person, this is a community,” he said. “Anybody in a leadership role like this stands on the shoulders of other leaders. We have had unbelievable volunteers [and Board members] that I have leaned on.”
Reflecting on his time, Charles added one last notion of thanks. “I always look at the Chamber of Commerce in a community as a kind of glue that binds everybody together. I am extremely thankful for having had the opportunity to help shape Blowing Rock’s future here.” t
