Volume 13 • Issue 2 October/November 2017
John & Faye
Cooper
And The Mast Store
Woolly Worm Turns 40 Fay’s Store In Linville The King Bee’s Journey Down Home In Elk Park Where The Past Is Present October / November 2017
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linvilleridge.com | 828.898.5151 Home and community information, including pricing, included features, terms, availability and amenities, are subject to change, prior sale or withdrawal at any time without notice or obligation. Drawings, photographs, renderings, video, scale models, square footages, floor plans, elevations, features, colors and sizes are approximate for presentation purposes only and may vary from the homes as built. Home prices refer to the base price of the house and do not include options or premiums, unless otherwise indicated for a specific home. Nothing on our website should be construed as legal, accounting or tax advice. Sotheby’s International Realty® and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered service marks used with permission. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity.
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Sotheby’s International Realty® and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered service marks used with permission. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity. Property information herein is derived from various sources including, but not limited to, county records and multiple listing services, and may include approximations. October / November 2017 High Country Magazine 3 All information is deemed accurate.
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October / November 2017
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High Country Magazine
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C O N T E N T S Saviors of Mast General Store John and Faye Cooper are beloved in Valle Crucis and beyond. After buying and restoring the Mast General Store, the Coopers created a successful enterprise – and along the way gave back tremendously to many communities.
Jim’s Legacy
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This fall’s Woolly Worm Festival will be the first without Jim Morton. While Jim is no longer with us, the Banner Elk festival he founded in 1977 celebrates its 40th anniversary.
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Merchants of Old “Like jumping through a wormhole into the past” and “a dying breed” – those are descriptions of Fay’s Store in Linville, which Paul and Fay Hughes opened in 1951.
The Sweet Life There’s no Walmart in Elk Park. But there is a Dollar General. In fact, the Dollar General is likely the biggest change to Elk Park since the historic flood washed away the Tweetsie Railroad in 1940.
Rockin’ the Blues in Appalachia The King Bees are an Ashe County product. In the early ‘80s, they left for the juke joints down South and have since returned to host the annual New River Blues Festival in Grassy Creek.
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on the cover
54 Lynn Willis
– With the Coopers standing in front of both Valle Crucis farmland and the original Mast General Store, Lynn Willis shot multiple locations for this cover. Residing in the High Country for 20-plus years, Willis is a graphic designer, photographer and owner of High South Creative. He produces inspirational, creative imagery and functional design while delivering exceptional service. He specializes in fine art landscape photography of the High Country, wall art for people’s mountain homes and outdoor location portrait sessions for families, individuals, engagements and bridals. Website: www.LynnWillis.com. 6
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READER SERVICES ABOUT US
The first High Country Press newspaper was published on May 5, 2005, and the first issue of High Country Magazine went to press in fall 2005. In March of 2012 the newspaper made the transformation to an online newspaper at our new website: www.HCPress.com. Our new “webpaper� is still packed with information that we present and package in easy-to-read formats with visually appealing layouts. Our magazine represents our shared love of our history, our landscape and our people. It celebrates our pioneers, our lifestyles, our differences and the remarkable advantages we enjoy living in the mountains. Our guiding principles are twofold: quality journalism makes a difference and customer care at every level is of the greatest importance. Our offices are located in Boone, and our doors are always open to welcome visitors.
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ADVERTISING & MARKETING
Our magazine is a wonderful way for businesses to advertise to our readers. Our magazines tend to stay around for a long time, on coffee tables and bed stands, and shared with family and friends. To find out about advertising, call our offices at 828264-2262.
BACK ISSUES
Back issues of our magazines are available from our office for $5 per issue. Some issues are already sold out and are no longer available.
Barns with a View, Richard Oversmith
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography and page reprints are available for purchase. For sizing, prices and usage terms, please call our office. Some photos may not be available and some restrictions may apply.
FREELANCE OPPORTUNITIES
Writers and photographers may send queries and samples to the editor at hcmag@highcountrypress.com.
Contact us at:
High Country Press/Magazine P.O. Box 152 1600 Highway 105 Boone, NC 28607 www.hcpress.com info@highcountrypress.com 828-264-2262
Wild Trees, Ward Nichols
DUWFHOODURQOLQH FRP _ +Z\ %DQQHU (ON 1RUWK &DUROLQD October / November 2017
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FRO M T HE PUB L ISH ER
A Publication Of High Country Press Publications Editor & Publisher Ken Ketchie Art Director Debbie Carter Advertising Director Jeffrey Green
Visiting a Couple of Country Stores
C
Ken Ketchie
ountry stores are the theme of this month’s issue of High Country Magazine. While we didn’t set out with this in mind, that’s how things turned out with stories about John and Faye Cooper, Elk Park and Fay’s Store in Linville. In today’s world of chain stores and online shopping, we forget that there are still some of the Real McCoys out there – as I discovered when photo assignments took me inside two country stores I’d never set foot into before. With camera in hand, I set out to find Fay’s Store in Linville. It’s down a side road off Hwy. 221, near the Tartan Restaurant. I recognized the building. The fading red-letter sign above the entrance doesn’t really give you much of a clue about what’s inside, and the worn looks of the exterior made me wonder if was actually open to the public. But as I came to learn, it’s a place full of life and memories and is still a hub for many who live in the Linville area. Walking through the door you see an immense space that looks like you stepped back in time 50 years. When you start walking around, you notice it’s filled with all this interesting stuff. Some of the merchandise is new and some of the goods have collected dust over the years. Basically, the store has a little bit of everything. Originally called the Linville General Store, Fay and Paul Hughes, both of whom are in their late 80’s, have run it for 42 years now. It was a pleasure getting to know them and their store, which was more like a museum from a different era. My next stop was to Brinkley Hardware in the Town of Elk Park. It’s another neat place I’ve driven by many times before. The store is located on Main Street in the same location it’s been since about 1910. Once again, I had no idea what I was about to find walking through that front door. But let me tell you, for anyone who loves hardware stores, this place literally takes your breath away. As Steve Brinkley would tell me – as I’m sure he’s said a million times – if we don’t have it you probably don’t need it! And he’s not kidding . . . from every kind of nut and bolt, tools and gadgets, kids toys, appliances, and rocking chairs and on and on and on, right down to cooper bins for making apple butter and molasses. Unbelievable! And Steve, who is in his 70’s and a fourth-generation owner, can take you right to what you’re looking for. What fascinating discoveries these places were for me. As we have all become caught up in our fast-paced, ultra-convenient, cookie-cutter surroundings, it was nice to slow down, take a breath of fresh air and take in a bygone era that’s somehow managed to survive. 8
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Contributing Writers Jesse Wood Katie Benfield Jan Todd Davin Underwood Kate Herman
Contributing Photographers Frederica Georgia Todd Bush Lynn Willis
High Country Magazine is produced by the staff and contributors of High Country Press Publications, which serves Watauga and Avery counties of North Carolina
HIGH COUNTRY MAGAZINE P.O. Box 152, Boone, NC 28607 828-264-2262 Follow our magazine online where each issue is presented in a flip-through format. Check it out at:
HighCountryMagazine.com Reproduction or use in whole or part of the contents of this magazine without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Issues are FREE throughout the High Country. © 2017 by High Country Press. All Rights Reserved.
WE SUPPORT
SHOP LOCAL
October / November 2017
High Country Magazine
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Calendar of Events OCTOBER 2017
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Homecoming Comedy Show ft. Chris D’Elia, The Schaefer Center, theschaefercenter.org
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Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market, downtown Blowing Rock, blowingrock.com/farmersmarket
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Theatreworks USA’s production of “Click, Clack, Moo” The Schaefer Center, theschaefercenter.org
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First Friday Art Crawl, downtown Boone, downtownboonenc.com
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TajMo: The Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ Band, The Schaefer Center, theschaefercenter.org
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Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
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HOMECOMING: Appalachian State Football v. New Mexico, ASU, Kidd Brewer Stadium, appstatesports.com
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Art in the Park, downtown Blowing Rock, lowingrock.com/artinthepark
Town Halloween Celebration, Beech Mountain, townofbeechmountain.com
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Leaf-Lookers’ Hayride, Beech Mountain, townofbeechmountain.com
Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
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Boone Heritage Festival, Hickory Ridge Living History Museum, booneheritagefestival.com
Blowing Rock Halloween Festival, downtown Blowing Rock, blowingrock.com/halloween
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Boone Heritage Festival, Hickory Ridge Living History Museum, booneheritagefestival.com
Beary Scary Halloween, Grandfather Mountain, grandfathermountain.com
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Sugar Mountain Job Fair, Sugar Mountain, skisugar.com
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Boone BOO, downtown Boone, downtownboonenc.com
VALLE COUNTRY FAIR, VALLE CRUCIS, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21
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Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market, downtown Blowing Rock, blowingrock.com/farmersmarket
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Coffee with the Curator, featuring “Romare Bearden” BRAHM, blowingrockmuseum.org
NOVEMBER 2017
13-22
20th Annual Preseason Sale, Appalachian Ski Mtn., appskimtn.com
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First Friday Art Crawl, downtown Boone, downtownboonenc.com
24th Annual Todd New River Festival, Railroad Grade Road, Todd, toddruritan.org
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Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
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Oktoberfest, Sugar Mountain Resort, skisugar.com
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Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
Appalachian State Football v. Georgia Southern, ASU, Kidd Brewer Stadium, appstatesports.com
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Valle Country Fair, Valle Crucis, vallecountryfair.org
Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
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Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
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Crowder: The American Prodigal Tour 2017, The Schaefer Center, theschaefercenter.org
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family weekend: Appalachian State Football v. Coastal Carolina, ASU, Kidd Brewer Stadium, appstatesports.com
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Us The Duo, The Schaefer Center, theschaefercenter.org
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Laura Boosinger & Josh Goforth In Concert, T The Jones House, Downtown Boone, joneshouse.org
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Woolly Worm Festival, downtown Banner Elk, woollyworm.com
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Christmas in the Park and Lighting of the Town, downtown Blowing Rock, 828-295-5222
Ailey II: The Next Generation of Dance, The Schaefer Center, theschaefercenter.org
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Holiday Market, Beech Mountain, Buckeye Recration Center, beechrecreation.org
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High Country Magazine
October / November 2017
DON’T FORGET
EVENTS
Tweetsie’s Ghost Train Friday and Saturday Nights | Ghosts and ghouls abound at Tweetsie’s Ghost Train Halloween Festival. Daytime visitors can still enjoy everything they know and love about the park, and can expect the unexpected when the sun sets and the Halloween Festival comes to life. Ride the Ghost Train, which runs every half hour, and follow monster hunters as they try to uncover rumors of terrifying creatures that roam these mountains. The festival features fun that’s safe for all ages. Tickets are limited, so get yours online now! For more information, visit www.Tweetsie.com or call 877-893-3874. All aboard!
Sept. 22 Oct. 28
Oktoberfest Sugar Mountain is hosting their 27th annual Oktoberfest on October 14-15. Each day the festivities will occur from 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. The festival has live music, food, and endless barrels to quench festival goers thirst. The live bands featured this year include the Harbour Towne Fest Band and Valle Crucis Middle School’s Band. German food and American food will be offered at the festival. Oktoberfest encourages families to bring their kids. Kids entertainment is provided at Oktoberfest’s Children’s Fun Center. “The children’s fun center includes hay rides, corn hole, pumpkin bowling, water balloon tossing, play time with Sugar and Sweetie Bear, and an array of bounce houses.� There will be a Barvarian costume contest, and all are welcome to compete in their Barvarian outfits. Charlift rides from Sugar Mountain’s base to peak are available and provide incredible, breath-taking views that are unique to Sugar Mountain. Okfoberfest takes place rain or shine, when it is windy, and even through the snow! Admission and parking is free, as well as complimentary shuttle services. Vendors are encouraged to participate, and volunteers are welcomed to join in the Octoberfest presentation. Call 828-898-4521 for more information.
Oct. 14-15
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October / November 2017
High Country Magazine
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mountain
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Local Artist To Design Watauga Veterans Memorial Groundbreaking to start early 2018 in downtown Boone next to Town Hall
I
n September, the Watauga County Veterans Memorial design contest committee chose Banner Elk native Suzie Hallier to build the memorial next to town hall in downtown Boone. This project – sponsored by the High Country Chapter of Military Officers Association of America, the Town of Boone and Watauga County – is especially meaningful to Hallier because her late father, Richard Hallier, served in the U.S. Marine Corp. She said her father’s service and that of his fellow Marines continues to be an inspiration and that she is honored and humbled to be able to create such a meaningful piece. “I know that it is a great responsibility to help our community remember those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” Suzie said. Influential in Suzie’s development as an artist, Richard passed away in 2010. A renowned sculptor, Richard and family moved to the Boone area in 1981. Richard began creating art with the late Wayne Trapp, another famous High Country artist, in Foscoe and later opened his own art studio in Boone. This is where Suzie acted as an “unofficial studio assistant” and where she “learned so much” working along side her father. This early exposure to the art world led her to obtain a BFA from UNC-Asheville in studio art. She currently works full-time in the medical field while juggling artistic endeavors. After her father passed away, Suzie said she lost inspiration to create and decided to give up sculpting as she sculpted primarily with her dad, who built the Yosef statue on the App State campus, among many works that span the globe. But in 2011, the passion to sculpt was rekindled whenever someone approached Suzie about
A rendering of the Suzie Hallier’s memorial design. Aside from the elliptical main wall, the memorial will also include two kneeling walls on opposite sides.
Members of the Watauga Veterans Memorial Committee (including Boone Town Manager John Ward, Col. Ben Covington, Lindsay Miller of the Turchin Center, LtCol George Brudzinski, Council Members Loretta Clawson and Jeannine Underdown Collins and Boone Mayor Rennie Brantz) stand with sculptor Suzie Hallier. 12
High Country Magazine
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Banner Elk native Suzie Hallier holds up a model of her winning proposal, “Time and Honor,” inside Boone’s Town Hall.
sculpting a piece of art that her father had originally planned to create before he passed away. This collector had previously commissioned several works from her father. “I agreed to that project and found that using my fathers tools was cathartic and helped me to feel a closeness to him that I thought had been lost,” Suzie said. Hallier’s proposal, “Time and Honor,” is elliptical and peaks in height at 8 feet. Constructed of stainless steel and Core-TEN materials, its design is “meant to draw the viewers into a reflective state.” George Brudzinski of High Country Chapter MOAA said Hallier’s design was chosen for a variety of factors, including simplicity, harmony with downtown Boone and Suzie’s flexibility with her proposal. “The other two [finalists] were great and all had their special quality. In Suzie’s case and the piece of art, we saw the ability to add to it and Suzie was very receptive in adding the kneeling walls, “Brudzinski said. The two kneeling walls on opposite sides of the memorial will have plaques representing each conflict involving the U.S., starting with the Revolutionary War. Groundbreaking for the memorial is set for early 2018 and the project should be complete next summer. Town staff is working with Suzie on the design of the space around the memorial including lighting and landscaping. The High Country Chapter of the MOAA is still accepting donations to reach its $250,000 fundraising goal. For more information click to www.hccmoaa.org or find the organization on Facebook. By Jesse Wood
October / November 2017
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Cornett-Deal Christmas Tree Farm Featured in National Media Campaign
sharpened the tools. Undereople all over the counneath the millhouse, and utitry will learn about the lizing the same water wheel, Cornett-Deal Christwas a sawmill to cut lummas Tree Farm, located in the ber. In the same valley was Mountain Dale community a blacksmith shop. Over the of Watauga County, because years, they harvested timbers of a national media campaign and used the cleared fields to being produced by the Christplant tobacco and corn and mas Tree Promotion Board. then family gardens. In September, a video Today, he said the Christcrew visited five farms in the mas trees provide the ability United States: one in Illinois, to maintain the property as Washington, New York and farmland instead of developtwo in North Carolina, Cline ing the land with an onslaught Church Nursery in Fleetof townhouses, condos and wood and Cornett’s Carolina The Cornett-Deal Christmas Tree Farm is located in the Mountain Dale Trees in Watauga. community. Diane Deal runs the choose-and-cut operation, while her brother, summer homes. “We keep the beauty of the This campaign is focused Dale, (shown) runs the wholesale operation, Cornett’s Carolina Trees. mountains in tact,” Dale said. at reaching millennials “Once developed, it can never through social media. The be reclaimed as farmland. Part Christmas Tree Promotion of the reason people come to Board is funded through the these mountains is the beauty federal commodity checkoff of the hillsides.” program, and the goal of Both Dale and Diane said the board is to promote the that being able to work with fresh-cut industry over artififamily is among the highlights cial trees. of working the Cornett-Deal The land of the CornettChristmas Tree Farm. “We Deal Christmas Tree farm has are looking at four soon to been in the Cornett family for be five generations that have generations. Diane Cornett been involved in the ChristDeal purchased a farm that mas tree industry,” Diane had originally been owned said. “The fifth-generation by her ancestors. Her greatbaby has not been born yet, great-grandfather, Jack Corbut he’s on the way” nett, settled in the Mountain tion, Cornett’s Christmas Trees. Along Dale also mentioned the Dale community at the turn with his family land, Dale leases land ability to work outdoors and the renewable of the century. In 1979, Diane’s father, Clint, planted from nine other farms, about 100 acres in nature of farming as to what he enjoys about the first Christmas trees on family land. all, to harvest 12,000 wholesale Christ- working in the Christmas tree industry.. “It’s a sustainable, renewable product Since then, several generations of the mas trees each year. “We’ve lived in this one valley for gen- that can continue for generations,” Dale Cornett family has been involved in the erations,” Dale said, describing the area said. Christmas tree industry. For more information, contact the Diane operates the choose-and-cut over the years as a self-sustaining mounCornett-Deal Christmas Tree Farm at 828farm, complete with hayrides, a craft tain community. He noted years ago, there was a mill- 964-6322 or click to www.cornettcarolishop, hot chocolate and tree bundling/ house where the corn, buckwheat and natrees.com. loading, while Dale Cornett, Diane’s wheat were ground. A grinding wheel By Jesse Wood brother, operates the wholesale opera14
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October / November 2017
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Aceto and Rice Continue To Expand Realty and Property Services at Blue Ridge Realty
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hen the economy collapsed nearly 10 years ago, Todd Rice and Bill Aceto decided to diversify from real estate sales and into property management by establishing Blue Ridge Professional Property Services (BRPPS). They also currently own Blue Ridge Realty & Investments (BRRI). In early 2014, John Rice, who developed Yonahlossee and Sunalei Preserve, passed on the ownership of the company to his son, Todd, and Aceto. Under their leadership, both companies have grown considerably in recent years. From the Boone realty office on N.C. 105 with several agents, Rice and Aceto have expanded into surrounding towns and now have 35 agents in the High Country and five full-time staff members on the realty side. They realty offices in Banner Elk in 2014, West Jefferson in 2015 and Blowing Rock in the spring of 2017. There’s also a Linville office. “We are currently No. 1 in High Country MLS listings. More people trust us to list their property than anyone else, and we are currently top 2 in sales,” Aceto said. This summer, they moved the property management company out of the Boone realty office and into the old Boone Bike Touring building across from The Standard development on U.S. 321 in Boone. From just three employees, BRPPS has since grown to 27 employees in the new location. BRPPS includes subsidiaries Boone High Country Rentals for long-term rentals; High Country Resort Rentals for vacation rentals; and another division for managing property owners and homeowners associations. “This is almost a 10 year run and it’s taken that long to build, but we did it just to diversify through the economic cycles we encounter with real estate,” Rice said. “We are the most diverse real estate company out there from what we have to offer in Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk and West Jefferson and
BANNER ELK OFFICE Left to Right - Todd Rice, Karen Cleghorn, Malinda Boren, Linda Cramblit, Tracy Simms, John Heinlein, Sarah Rolling, Jonathan Lehman. Not pictured: Riley Pudney, Mary Nell Fryou
BLOWING ROCK OFFICE Left to Right - Todd Rice, Charles Taylor, Holly Meyers, Jeanne Robinson, Margaret Gilleskie, Courtney Carroll, Tim Gentry. Not pictured: Hanse Kohler, Judy Hunt WEST JEFFERSON OFFICE Left to Right Jim Lewis, Ray Derrick, Jenny McLain, Alaina Gordon
Property Management Left to right - Wesley Berry, Bill Aceto, Hunter Trombetta, Jimmy Miller, Heidi Houser, Lynn Campbell (no longer with us), Marilyn Stone (no longer with us), Billy Haymore, Charles Wilson, Jordan Steady, Todd Rice, Caroline Miller, Lily Suarez, Thomas Steele, Rachel Hall, John Thompson, Kris Woodard, Wes Howarth, Lainey Edmisten, Scott Bullock, Jennifer Davis. Not pictured: Ashley Daughtry, Jason Coggins, Adam Robinson, Diana Perez, Christopher Weiland, Stephanie White, Jodi McCall, Sharon Reed 16
High Country Magazine
October / November 2017
all the way to property management.� They are, in the words of Rice and Aceto, a “one-stop shop� if you are looking to buy, rent or sell property. They can help you out with an investment property, commercial development, a second home, a primary residence, vacation or year-round rentals, etc. Rice noted that realtors are more important than ever in making these transactions a “smoother process� by utilizing their knowledge and relationships in dealing with the home inspections, coordinating appraisers, BOONE OFFICE conducting the steps of closing and everything Back - John Thomas, Bill Aceto, Todd Rice, David Cook, Dusty Washburn, Chris Eller, Brett else that goes in transacting property. Baldwin, Don Williams Rice and Aceto said they’ve embraced techFront Lainey Edmisten, Jennifer Davis, Susan Huitt, Rick Goodwin, Jen Thomas, Irene nology and can conduct an entire real estate Sawyer (behind Jen), Alaina Gordon, Jenny McLain transaction without meeting in person. For property services division, they offer online payments and tenant portals for work order nated to Santa’s Toy Box and the local Habitat for Humanity and requests. Also to keep up with the changing landscapes within the Humane Society nonprofits. This holiday season, the office that industry, staff undergoes weekly training. is “leading the charge� on Dec. 1 gets to pick the charity that the Unlike another realty franchise that has a few more agents or company will donate to next. another unnamed property management company with multiple “We are here to be of help and provide a service to the local offices that are incorporated off the mountain, Aceto said that community,� Rice said. “If you are looking to rent, buy or sell Blue Ridge Realty & Investments and Blue Ridge Professional or need help in any kind of real estate, we offer a wide scope of Property Services are locally owned. services.� They also invest back into the community. Agents and staff For more info, click to www.blueridgerealty.net or www.brmembers serve with the Kiwanis, Rotary, Chambers and other ppservices.com. organizations doing good work in the community. They’ve doBy Jesse Wood
The Consignment Cottage Warehouse
“From Classic Traditional To Unique Eclectic...and Everything In Between...� 1FSTIJOH 4U /FXMBOE /$ 0QFO 8JOUFS 5IVST 4BU r 4VNNFS 8FE 4BU UIFDPOTJHONFOUDPUUBHFXBSFIPVTF DPN October / November 2017
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Free from corporate America, the Coopers re-opened the Mast General Store in 1980.
The
C oopers
of Valle Crucis
Giving Back to the Valley and Beyond
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nually to charitable causes ohn and Faye Cooper, By Jesse Wood and offers employees a who brought the Mast benefit package that few General Store back to other local employers and life nearly 40 years ago, no retailers likely match. celebrated their 50th wedPlus, they’ve served on the ding anniversary in March. boards of countless orgaThis past summer, they renizations with the goal of ceived a couple of awards, helping others. The comthe inaugural Stanback mon thread in the CooConservation Leadership pers’ generosity is improvAward from the Blue Ridge ing the quality of life for Conservancy and North the people and communiCarolina’s highest civilian ties where Mast General honor, the Order of the Stores exist. Long Leaf Pine, from Gov. As Cullie Tarleton, Roy Cooper. Blowing Rock resident In 1979, the Coopers and former representative saved the original Mast The Mast General Store in the early ‘80s in the N.C. House, wrote General Store in Valle in nominating the Coopers Crucis. The store dates back to the late 1800s. When the Coopers bought the store, it for the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, “They are without a doubt, was closed, falling apart and in need of a savior. They cleaned the most giving, charitable, caring and involved couple in the High Country. They are the it up and made repairs. But ones thought of first when they made sure to retain its there is a need, a cause or a old-time charm. Since those job to be done.” early days, the Coopers Tartleton then rattled off an exhaustive list of humanitarian, opened several other Mast General Stores across the Southeast, education-related and community-driven initiatives and nonprofrevitalizing downtown districts along the way. While their business acumen is certain, the Coopers’ altruism is its that John and Faye, who have also been active at Holy Cross well established, too. The employee-owned company budgets an- Church for the past 37 years, have supported or spearheaded. 18
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October / November 2017
Now semi-retired, John and Faye Cooper stand behind the counter of the Mast General Store. PHOTO BY Heather Wagoner
The Coopers pose in front of the original store in Valle Crucis on their 25th anniversary of owning the store in 2004.
The Coopers in front of the store in Valle Crucis in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s vehicles. October / November 2017
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Faye and John Cooper were “humbled and surprised” at Gov. Roy Cooper (no relation) awarding them the Long Leaf Pine in August 2017
The Coopers at their 50th wedding anniversary in March 2017 at the Turchin Center
“They are without a doubt, the most giving, charitable, caring and involved couple in the High Country.” Former N.C. Rep. Cullie Tarleton, on Faye and John Cooper “Anytime there is a need for leadership, vision, financial support and involvement, John and Faye are always there,” Tarleton wrote. “If ever there was a dynamic duo in the High Country, it’s John and Faye Cooper and both are highly deserving of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.”
Q
John and Faye first met at the University of South Florida in the mid ‘60s. John was a junior and Faye, a freshman. A blind date between the two had been arranged for a particular party, but Faye declined. “I don’t go on blind dates,” she said. The future couple ended up at the same party anyway with different dates. They met, hit it off and a friendship began. The next summer, John sent Faye a birthday card in June, and Faye returned his overtures in July. “We corresponded over the summer and
John Cooper’s 1967 graduation from University of South Florida, where Faye and John met. They married prior to his graduation. 20
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John (left) in St. Petersburg, Fla, and Faye in Winter Haven, Fla., when they were just about toddlers.
Faye ran the St. Peters Cathedral Bookstore in St. Petersburg, Fla. This picture was taken in 1978 started dating after that. Literally after saying ‘I don’t go on blind dates’ and then meeting and seeing John at the party, I thought that might have been an error of judgment,” Faye laughed. Following college, they moved between St. Petersburg, Cocoa and Winter Park, Fla., as John worked at a few corporations: Montgomery Ward, St. Petersburg Times and Allstate. In addition to being a stay-at-home mom for the early years, Faye worked with a team of school photographers, the telephone company, GTE, and an episcopal cathedral bookstore. That said, little did the Coopers know that their collective experience at these different jobs, where they gained skills in management, retail, advertising, sales, customer service, small business logistics, etc., would prime them for re-opening the historic Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, N.C. Working in one of those corporate offices in Florida with John was another local businessman This is probably what the Coopers looked like when they arrived in the High Country. in the High Country, John Rice, founder of Blue Faye worked as a school photographer and before they moved here, Ridge Realty and Investments. They shared an ofthe head photographer made a studio portrait of the family in 1979-80. fice together, even a phone for a while, in Tampa while selling commercial insurance. They also developing communities like taught little league and socialized together. Yonahlossee Resort and later Sunalei Preserve, while John “We both had an interest in this area. If you live in Florida, and Faye purchased the Mast General Store in 1979. The couple everybody visits the mountains, and so if you are going to keep up was in their early 30’s then. Rice noted that John and Faye’s with the Joneses, you have to visit the mountains,” Rice said. “We skills, experience and personalities complimented each other came up specifically to look at the Mast General Store and buy well. He described the Coopers as good people. “Honest, deit together. John was still very interested, but we were afraid it pendable and steady,” Rice said. “I think they both know how wouldn’t support two families, which sounds like a joke today.” to have a good time, which makes them socially enjoyable, and Rice decided to go into real estate, where he fared all right, both work hard.” October / November 2017
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The Mast General Store in the early 80s
“I said to my mother, ‘I knew somebody should save it, I didn’t necessarily know it would be us.’ We could just see it deteriorating, and we were concerned about it.” Faye Cooper, on the Mast General Store
Realtor John Rice was one of Faye (shown) and John’s first customers when they re-opened the store. Rice and the Coopers both moved up here from Florida at about the same time.
This was picture was for a Mountain Times ad for the Mast General Store in 1985 with Faye, John, John-John, Lisa and their dog Banner showing off the store’s new ice cream freezer and clothing. 22
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While some people like Faye’s parents thought buying the Mast General Store was absurd because of its condition, Rice didn’t think so. But he did note the risk. “It was risky for sure. They had children, responsibilities, and we both came up here with very little money,” Rice said. “But I don’t think it was an unreasonable risk.” When the Coopers moved to the High Country to open the Mast General Store with their 11-year-old daughter, Lisa, and 12-year-old son, John-John, they spent two days on the road with a U-Haul, carrying all of their furniture and possessions. Once they arrived in Valle Crucis, reality set in real quick. The building was “decrepit,” Faye recalled. Windows were broken; the paint was peeling. Beverages and food
An ad from the fall of 1988 shows the Mast Store advertising style featuring hand-drawn product depictions.
The lure of the Mast General Store has been its retained old-time charm. The creaky floors, chestnut walls and old signs take you back in time each visit. exploded all over the place during its two years of vacancy. “We opened the doors to unload our furniture and it was cobwebs and all this other stuff. I looked at John Cooper and said, ‘What have we done?’” Faye said, drawing a giant question mark in the air. Immediately, they built an apartment in the attic of the store. That first year, they also utilized the second floor as living space. “We kind of expanded into rooms and grew a little bit every year,” John said. “It was quite an experience.” A few years down the road, John and Faye felt like they could afford to build a home, so they moved out of the store, built in the late 1800s. Upon opening, the Coopers received encouragement and support from members of the High Country. Alfred Adams, the late
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The History of the Mast Store The first rooms of the Mast General Store were built and opened as The Taylor General Store by Henry Taylor in 1883. In 1897, Taylor sold half interest in the store to W.W. Mast. The store was known as the Taylor and Mast General Store up until 1913, when Mast purchased the remainder of the store. The operation passed to W.W.’s son Howard Wellington Mast (shown sitting with his wife, Anne in 1981). The store left the Mast family in the ‘70s, and the Coopers saved it when they purchased it in 1979.
“When I was kid, a whole group of people, whether the stove was going or not, would be sitting beside the stove talking, spitting tobacco juice, playing checkers or whatever. That doesn’t happen much. All the old-timers want to see that time back but all the old timers are getting gone,” said Allen Mast, who works at the original store and is the great-grandson of W.W. Mast, who first bought shares of the store in 1897. banker, made an appointment to eat lunch at the Mast General Store on the first day it opened and declared that he wanted to be the Mast General Store’s bank, Faye recalled. “That was one thing that was sweet and we received a beautifully written letter from [Cheap] Joe Miller thanking us for saving the old store,” Faye said. After the first year in business, the Coopers realized they were going to survive. Heading into Labor Day in 1982, the Coopers bought what is now known as the Mast Store Annex, located two-tenths of a mile down the road from the original 24
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store. The annex was added out of necessity. A bridge replacement nearby blocked traffic to the original store for nearly two months. Plus, the store was becoming crowded, and this addition allowed them to expand into clothing and outdoor gear. Then in 1984, the Mast General Store started hearing from folks all around the country. Unbeknownst to the Coopers, Charles Kuralt, a CBS reporter and anchor originally from North Carolina, was working on a syndicated travel column and chose the Mast General Store to be the first destination. In the first two lines, he uttered the
October / November 2017
now-famous phrase: “Where should I send you to know the Soul of the South. I think I’ll send you to the Mast General Store.” The story ran in the country’s biggest papers during the next few years. By the late ‘80s, the Mast General Store’s expansion extended outside the valley, although that wasn’t the initial vision. They planned to operate the stores in Valle Crucis and run a mail-order catalogue – kind of like how L.L. Bean initially operated in Maine for many years. The catalogue venture lasted for several years but never really took off. About the time they
“They’ve always put family first. Family and community and church. They were always available even when they got a little bit bigger. They were very focused on making sure they didn’t lose us in the process while they were doing everything else.” Lisa Cooper, on her parents, John and Faye stopped producing the catalogue, merchants in downtown Boone asked the Coopers to open a Mast General Store in the old Hunt’s Department Store. This request came in 1987 during a time when the Boone Mall was drawing business away from the downtown area. Noticing the success in Valle Crucis and Boone, other communities started to inquire about the Mast General Store operating in their downtown district. Waynesville was the next town to come calling. That was in 1991, and this trend of opening a new store in a historic building every four years continued. Stores later opened in Hendersonville, Asheville, Greenville, S.C., Knoxville, Tenn., Columbia, S.C., and Winston-Salem, most recently in 2015. The Mast General Store has been called a “downtown savior” and history has shown that whenever one of its stores opens up, visitors come out the woodwork and a cluster of other stores pop up nearby. The Mast General Store has been so adept at revitalizing downtown districts that local governments began offering significant incentive packages to further entice the company to operate in their towns. While the brick-and-mortar retail apocalypse continues, the Mast General Store’s business just keeps humming. The recession was just a little bump in the road – as revenues declined slightly for a couple years during the worst of the Great Recession, and last year, business grew double-digit percentage points. The reason for the Mast General Store’s success harks back to why John Cooper was so fascinated with the store initially. During his first visit in the ‘70s, Cooper bought a pair of shoes, which he recalled didn’t fit, and he wasn’t “terribly impressed” with the customer service or merchandise in stock. (By this time, the Mast family had sold the store to an Atlanta doctor and professor in Boone.) “But I had the sense I wanted to carry something back and that store was too unique to not do that,” Cooper said. “I think that’s what makes our business so successful is the ex-
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Greenville
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Waynesville
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Boone
Annex - Valle Crucis
Mast Store Locations In the late ‘80s, the Mast General Store expanded outside of Valle Crucis by moving into the old Hunt’s Department store in downtown Boone. Thereafter about every four years, they opened new stores in historic districts in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee – helping to revitalize each downtown along the way.
Valle Crucis 26
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Columbia, SC
“The only reason we currently look for a profit is because we are an employeestock ownership program and we want our employees’ [benefit] to increase. Early on, we wanted to take care of everybody working with us and then do what we could do within the community.” Faye Cooper perience, and people want something from that oftentimes, so they buy.” When you walk in the original store, the floor still creaks and the chestnut walls remain. The old signs still hang throughout the store. Cooper recalled these signs being a topic during a visit from Howard W. Mast, whose father bought half-interest in the Mast General Store in 1897 and the remainder in 1913 from Henry Taylor. “Mr. Mast came into the store and said, he’d saved all those signs. People wanted to buy the signs but he said, ‘It wouldn’t feel like a country store if I sold those signs.’ So that’s why we’ve tried to leave it the way we found it and make improvements,” Cooper said. Plus, he joked, “It wasn’t too hard [to keep the old-time essence]. We didn’t make too many changes.” Aside from revitalizing districts with Mast General Store’s throwback approach, the Coopers have instilled a culture that empowers their employees and aims at improving the quality of life in the communities they operate in and beyond. As Faye said, “The ability to have a nice life and the quality of life is very important.” The company has been employeeowned since the ‘90s. Today, about 280 full-time employees own shares in the company. The company’s private stock is issued as a retirement package. All of the more than 500-plus employees receive benefits that probably no other retailers can claim these days. Heck, other employers, far and wide, likely have a tough time matching what Mast General Store offers. Profit sharing and other types of bonuses are constant. They offer a $1,000 wellness benefit and pay employees to travel to work if they walk, bike or carpool – pretty much any method that takes
Lisa Cooper Takes The Reins Lisa Cooper (pictured last year) first started working in the Mast General Store for 25 cents an hour. She and her late brother, John-John, were 11 and 12 whenever they moved into the attic of the old store in 1979. They helped clean the place up and figured out all the combinations of the Post Office boxes in the store. She eventually worked her way up through the company as a buyer. Today, she’s the president of Mast General Store.
vehicles off the road. “The only reason we currently look for a profit is because we are an employeestock ownership program and we want our employees’ [benefit] to increase,” Faye said. “Early on, we wanted to take care of everybody working with us and then do what we could do within the community.” These days, the company strives to budget about 1 percent of its sales per year to charitable causes pertaining to health
and human services, land conservation, the arts and education. Employees are paid to volunteer at any nonprofit of their choosing for up to 8 hours annually. Each year, the company holds a Land Trust Day, where it donates 20 percent of the day’s sales to conservation organizations in each store’s area. In September, they hold a Friends’ Day. This year, 10 percent of sales in North Carolina stores benefitted the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and other states
had their own trail projects supported. Most of the employees also support the United Way through payroll deduction for automatic giving. After Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, Faye said that employees immediately pondered how they could help support those impacted. “Different people in different businesses choose to give back in different ways, and we just feel blessed that the community of our Mast family – which is what we
BEFORE October / November 2017
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EXPERIENCE ART Community members were grateful whenever the Coopers persuaded the U.S. Postal Service to re-open the Valle Crucis Post Office, which is why a true Valle Crucis address still exists. The Coopers operated it for $1 per year in the early days.
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call all the people we work with – feel very strongly about the environment and helping people,” Faye said. Perhaps, the Coopers impact is felt most in Valle Crucis. They’ve donated a 22-acre farm in the historic district to the Blue Ridge Conservancy, so it will forever remain agricultural and recreational land. They led the effort to designate the area as the state’s first rural historic district. This is part of the reason why there’s a beautiful and popular recreational park in Valle Crucis instead of a trailer park, which was on the table in the ‘80s. They contributed time, money and property for the devel-
opment of this park on the banks of the Watauga River. The Coopers also saved the Valle Crucis address. The post office closed with the store, and without a post office in the valley, there could be no true Valle Crucis address. The Coopers persuaded the U.S. Postal Service to bring it back by operating it for a meager $1 per year, a fee that has since modestly increased. In addition to the original store and annex, the Mast General Store’s support facility is located in Valle Crucis, off of Dutch Creek Road, where the company has in-house human resources personnel,
The Mast General Store hosts an “anniversary day” where employees celebrating their 5, 10, 15 or 30-plus year anniversaries are honored. The above photo is from 2016.
In the mid ‘80s, Deverie Mast Turnbull, shopkeeper and artist who drew the pen and ink drawings in the MGS catalogues and ads, and Greta Hollar, currently head mercantile buyer at MGS, stand behind the counter at the original store. 28
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Grandkids (Above) John and Faye Cooper stand with their grandchildren, Madison Leigh Martin, 17, Hunter Martin, 21, and J ustin Cooper Martin, 25, at their 50th wedding anniversary at the Turchin Center in March. (Right) Coopers press apples for cider with their grandchildren in 2004. accountants, buyers and pricers, maintenance staff, craftsmen for its fixtures, graphic designers, communications, marketers, leadership executives, e-commerce, distribution logistics and much more. In Valle Crucis – not counting the stores outside the valley – the Mast General Store employs 176 part-time and full-time workers in Valle Crucis. That’s astounding when you consider that the Valle’s population isn’t all that much bigger. Plus, you could argue their destination store indirectly supports jobs at the other establishments in the valley. Two individuals that work in the original store are direct descendants of the Mast family, sister and brother Jeanne Mast Winkler and Allen Mast. Their greatgrandfather W.W. Mast is the Mast family member who first bought into the store in the late 1800s. Their grandfather and father ran the store, too. Although some would like to see the old days return, when there was no traffic and you knew all of your neighbors, both Jeanne and Allen said that everyone takes pride in the success that the Mast General Store has exhibited over the years, spreading the Mast name across the Southeast and serving as a sort of hub in the Valle Crucis community. Both had nothing but great things to say about the Coopers and the impact they’ve had in 30
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the community. “They are wonderful. Yes, when they first came here they were outsiders because they didn’t live here. But they’ve just acclimated. You could not have better bosses, better friends. They’ve helped the community to a huge degree, and from day one, they’ve put employees first and that’s how we treat the customers. It is very family oriented, and a very good place to be,” Winkler said. The Coopers daughter, Lisa, said that family has always taken precedent with her parents – their family and those of others. Along with hard work, Lisa said that this was probably the biggest reflection on growing up in the store, where she first started working for 25 cents per hour at the age of 11. “They’ve always put family first. Family and community and church,” Lisa said. “They were always available even when they got a little bit bigger. They were very focused on making sure they didn’t lose us in the process while they were doing everything else.” oday, John and Faye are semi-retired, although they stay in touch with the Mast General Store family. About 10 years ago, the Coopers started transitioning out of the day-to-day operations with a leadership team of seven team members, includ-
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ing their daughter, Lisa, making the day-today business decisions. Just a little over a year ago, Lisa earned the title of president of Mast General Store. This past May, the Coopers sold their home in Valle Crucis and moved to downtown Boone, a short walk away from where John is spearheading the historic Appalachian Theatre restoration project on King Street. They still stay in touch with employees and help out if needed. Faye continues to write birthday cards or sympathy cards for those within or close to their “Mast family.� When this ritual came up in our interview, Faye mentioned her late son, John E. Cooper III, who died in a car crash at the age of 22 in 1989, and how there are hundreds of more employees to write these days. “We’ve been touched by so many different things through the years. We have a real strong appreciation for folks who are going through hard times,� Faye said. “I laughingly say it was easy when it was only 8 people working here. Now, it’s 520-some people. But I love it, and I don’t want to give that up.� As they settle into retirement, the Coopers remain active in the community. They attend concerts on the Jones House lawn and in the Valle Crucis Community Park. You see them at benefits for good causes, and they are still supporting nonprofit organizations such the Women’s Fund of the Blue Ridge, the Hunger & Health Coalition, Blue Ridge Conservancy, Hospitality House and OASIS and serving on the Western Youth Network Advisory Board. “We have our cute little cottage,� Faye said, “and are just really enjoying these years when it’s time for us to begin to downsize and simplify our lives.� t
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Forty, Famous Fabulous
&
The Woolly Worm Festival By Jan Todd
W
here can you see people, from all walks of life, age three to ninety-three, jumping up and down and hollerin’ for caterpillars on a string? Nowhere other than the annual Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk. This year’s festival promises to be the best one yet, as it celebrates its fortieth anniversary and honors and remembers two very special people who have been instrumental in the history and success of the festival. At last year’s festival, 75-year-old Roy Krege, known as “Mr. Woolly Worm,” announced his retirement from years of promoting the festival and acting as emcee of the races. Then, Jim Morton, founder of the Woolly Worm Festival, passed away suddenly in April of this year. The Woolly Worm Festival concept in itself is unique, but what has contributed most to its success has been the dedication and personalities of Morton, Krege, and the many others who have volunteered their time and talents over the years. Jim Morton was the son of Hugh Morton, who owned Grandfather Mountain and established the park as one of the state’s leading tourist attractions. Jim served as chairman of the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, was an accomplished photographer, conservationist, and advocate for Banner Elk and Avery County. He played basketball in high school and at UNC Chapel Hill, and some of his former teammates were lifelong friends. A worm, a race, an institution. The Woolly Worm Festival has brought fame and fun to the town of Banner Elk since 1978. Roy Krege (left) announced the races and generated publicity for the festival for 38 years, until his retirement last year. 32
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In the early years, Jim Morton, founder of the Woolly Worm Festival, stands in front of the first race board in the late 1970s that had only eight lanes. Each year the festival’s attendance grew. The current board races 25 worms at a time. “There were always a lot of woolly worms around in the The idea for the Woolly Worm festival was conceived among these friends. Tommy Burleson, native of Avery County and close fall, and there was folklore that woolly worms could predict the friend of the Morton family, remembers spending hours with weather. Around that time, my old biology professor from ApJim, sitting on the rocks at Grandfather Mountain, gazing at the palachian had done a study to see if there was any truth to that. stars, and batting around ideas. “I used to work at Grandfather That had been in the local news, so Jim picked up on that idea,” Mountain with Jim,” he said. “We’d be up there every morning, Baughman continued. Then, as Tommy Burleson checking on Mildred the Bear, recalled, Jim and friends were then working the gate. After sitting around one evening, the park closed, we’d check watching a couple of woolly out on the campgrounds, then worms crawl up stalks of milkjust hang out.” weed. “We started wondering Kinney Baughman, anwhich would make it up to the other friend of Jim’s, added, top first. It was like a light went “Jim had gone to a planning off in Jim’s head. He said, “Hey, meeting in Banner Elk, and he we could race these things!” proposed that the town have Jim had a lot of his dad in him. an annual event of some type, He was very creative. He knew to generate publicity for the he could make an event out of merchants. It was during the something like this.” mid ’70’s, and lots of towns The actual mechanics of started having festivals. For inthe race took some time to forstance, my hometown is Wagmulate. Baughman described, ner, South Carolina, and the “What is the best way to race town down the road from us The 40th Anniversary Woolly Worm Festival honors “Mr. Woolly Worm” a woolly worm? We tried all had a festival called the ChitRoy Krege, and commemorates founder Jim Morton. kinds of things. We tried putlin Strut. People would go and The artist Nancy Morrison designed this year’s poster with ting them in a box, setting up eat chitlins. Then not far from the assistance of her daughter Danica Goodman, a graphic artist. lanes, but they’d just crawl all there, Springfield had a Frog Jumping Contest. That’s the kind of thing towns were doing back over the place. They wouldn’t go in a straight line. We puzzled over then. So Jim decided that Banner Elk needed to have a festival. this for awhile! Jim was obsessed with it. Then one day we were out in the yard, and one of us got a blade of grass, and put the woolly Then the question was, what to build a festival around?” October / November 2017
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Tommy Burleson and Roy Krege have officiated the Woolly Worm races since the early years. Tommy’s 7’2” frame provides his unique ability to capture an “eye level” finish to the races. real popular up there. So at the first Woolly Worm Festival, we made funnel cakes, just using a regular frying pan, and away we went.” As the Kiwanis Club joined forces with the Avery Chamber, Krege became more involved in the festival the second year. “I told Jim we needed to put a little more excitement in the event,” said Krege. And thus began his role that evolved into “Mr. Woolly Worm.” Over the years, Krege developed his character as the face of the Woolly Worm Festival, the official spokesperson, woolly worm expert and advocate. In the weeks leading up to the festival each year, Krege would be seen on TV shows, in elementary school assemblies, wandering through area restaurants and shopping centers, garbed in his trademark outfit. Wearing pink pants loaded with decals, a yellow jacket and glowing orange hat covered in woolly worms, orange shoes that made the glorious Autumn leaves seem pale in comparison, and a necklace holding a small cage with several of the live caterpillars, Krege turned heads all over the High Country. “I’m a nut,” Krege admitted. “I thought the outfit ought to be colorful, so I came up with Roy Krege in his trademark “Mr. the pink pants. At the time, my daughter was Woolly Worm” garb. Each year, working at Don Iverson’s shirt shop, The Pink Don Iverson at The Pink Gorilla Gorilla, and she made me a shirt with these difSouvenir Shirts in Banner Elk ferent decals on it, and it was rather noteworthy. produces a new look for the race officials, as well as official t-shirts Iverson ended up as the official shirt maker for the festival, and he makes a different one each for sale at the festival.
worm on the blade of grass, and that worm crawled right up it. That’s when we decided to try racing the worms up a string.” Baughman continued, “A guy named Sid Bartholemew designed and built the first board. It was 4’ by 8’, and had five strings. Sid was quite a character, and a very, very talented artist. He ended up moving to California where he became a set designer. He worked on the sets for Pee Wee Herman’s Playhouse, the movie “Dumb and Dumber,” “Shallow Hal,” and several other movies.” In fact, he even won an Emmy for his work in the late 1980’s. Once the racing component was determined, Jim Morton approached the Avery County Chamber about the festival, and they took over the planning of the event. The first one was held in the gymnasium at Lees McRae, and about fifty worms were raced that year.
Mr. Woolly Worm
One of the food vendors in attendance that first year was Roy Krege and his wife, Marion. Krege was a member of the Kiwanis Club in Banner Elk, an organization that serves the needs of children through local service projects and fundraising. To raise money for the Kiwanis Club, the Kreges were making funnel cakes at the inaugural event. Krege recalled, “Funnel cakes were not something seen around here at that time. We used to run a camp up in Pennsylvania, in the Pocono Mountains, and the funnel cakes were 34
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October / November 2017
After the first few years, festival founder Jim Morton stepped out of the spotlight on stage to his favored position behind the camera, where he recorded festival highlights each year. Last year local photographer Todd Bush was photographing the festival and captured a few pictures of Jim photographing the action and winners of the final races. It would be Jim’s last Woolly Worm Festival as he died unexpectedly of a heart attack in the Spring of 2017. This years festival honors his memory and contributions to the festival. year. My favorite pair of pants had a big decal on the tail end, and I’d always give a big a bow to show that off. I think I had more pictures taken of my backside than my frontside. I guess I should be embarrassed about that,” he laughed. “I’ve had a lot of fun,” Krege reminisced. “For the weeks before the festival I’d go to different restaurants, dressed up like Mr. Woolly Worm, and I’d have three woolly worms with me. I’d go from table to table talking about these things, and most people didn’t have a problem at all, but sometimes you’ll get people pretty
“squirmish”, and I’d immediately back away from them and tell them that these critters had been certified by the health department, and had all of their shots, that sort of thing. It’s amazing how much people enjoyed that.” “I got kicked out of one restaurant in Boone. The assistant manager was there, and came up and told me I couldn’t be in there, even though I’d been doing it for years. I explained that the owner had always welcomed me there, but the young guy was insistent so I left. He was doing right, he was doing his job. But then late, late that
night, I got a phone call from that guy, and he was almost crying. He was apologizing to me, and had obviously heard from the owner. I got a good laugh, and whenever I go in there to eat now, I still see him, and we have fun talking about the time he kicked me out of the restaurant.” During his talks and presentations, Krege often had live woolly worms crawling on him. He used to allow a few to wander on him while announcing the races onstage at the festival. “I’d have six or eight worms crawling on my shirt, on my head and face. But one day I was announcing
The Woolly Worm festival, held on the grounds in front of the Historic Banner Elk Elementary School, features 200 craft vendors, 30 food vendors, inflatables for the kids, a music stage, and the world-famous worm race board. October / November 2017
High Country Magazine
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Jim Morton started a publicity tradition during the first years of the festival by having people pose with woolly worms on their faces and hands. Later he would have photographers visit schools to epitomize the spirit of the Woolly Worm festival with photos of children “wearing” the critters on their faces and arms. These photos have been used in publicity shots for the festival over the years. the race and talking like crazy, and I bit down and realized that a woolly worm had crawled into my mouth. So that was the end of that woolly worm, and that was the last time I had worms crawling on me while I was announcing a race!” “Mr. Woolly Worm” helped bring national, and even worldwide exposure to The Woolly Worm Festival and the little town of Banner Elk. Krege said, “We got a lot of publicity from Channel 5 over in Johnson City, and then more tv stations started covering the event, bringing their weather trucks over. Mostly we’ve been on regional shows, but we were on the Today 36
High Country Magazine
Show several years back.” He explained, “My daughter and I went trouncing down the street in New York, wearing the Woolly Worm garb. It’s kinda interesting, in New York, no matter what you have on or what you don’t have on, people don’t pay much attention, just figure you’re another screwball walking down the street. But we did get the attention of the Today Show crew, so we were able to talk about Banner Elk and the festival, and got some publicity for our area.” “Then Paul Harvey did a “Rest of the Story” segment on the festival. He was one of the greats,” said Krege. “Terry Chappell,
October / November 2017
a local guy from Banner Elk, became a Harlem Globetrotter referee, and toured the world with them. He was in Istanbul, Turkey, and on the radio he heard about the racing of the woolly worms in the United States in Banner Elk. Terry was really excited and called to tell me about it.” “We’ve also had the British Broadcasting Company here, and they did two different tapings of the Woolly Worm festival. One of those years, there was a guy from Britain who was going to Duke University, and he happened to be the big winner of the race that year. You’d think we faked it, but we had nothing to do with it!” ex-
People use different techniques to try and speed their worms up the string, including clapping, blowing, and animated verbal encouragement. Once the winner is verified and tested by a local veterinarian, the weather prediction is announced and the winner is awarded $1,000. claimed Krege.
A Worm is a Worm, Except When It’s Not
Everywhere he goes, Krege educates people about the woolly worm. In fact, they aren’t actually worms. They’re caterpillars, the larval form of the Pyrrharctia Isabella, and they transform into a Tiger
Moth. Also known as a “woolly bear,” these caterpillars are hatched in warm weather, and spend their winters under bark or inside crevices in logs or rocks. In the spring, the woolly worms spin their cocoons and emerge as full grown moths. “The woolly worm is the only insect that we know of that has thirteen distinct body sections,” said Krege. “There are 52 weeks
in the year, four seasons, and each season has thirteen weeks. So when you see these worms stretched out, the different sections are different colors, and we can use those to predict the weather, week by week.” “The first week of winter is at the worm’s head, and the last week is his tail. If the band is solid black, that means we’ll have ice or natural snow during
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Tommy Burleson loves interacting with the people during the Woolly Worm races. ““The festival exemplifies family values, and provides families an opportunity to spend time together and have a good time. This is something people will remember all of their lives,” he said. that week. If it is nice, dark, chocolate brown, that is very cold, Off to the Races twenty degrees and lower, good for making snow. If it is light Jim Morton officiated the first Woolly Worm race. His friends brown, that is normal winter weather for Tommy Burleson and Kinney Baughman, us. Light brown means that in the morninvolved in the early planning stages, both ing you’ll have frost on your car, and by missed the first few festivals. Baughman, 10:00 in the morning, it’ll be warming an Appalachian State graduate, was in up and you’ll have a nice day. Then at Europe playing professional basketball 5:30 or 6:00 you need to be finding your for Belgium. Burleson, an Avery County coat, your scarf, your gloves, and wrap native, played on the Olympic Basketball up. We want to have a lot of dark brown team in 1972, the year with the controand black so we’ll have a lot of snow for versial final match against Russia. Burleour ski season.” son was a member of the N.C. State chamCan the worms really predict the pionship team in 1974, and was playing weather? Krege answered, “My latest figin the NBA during the early years of the ures say we’re about 87% accurate over festival. the 39 years. I challenge any weather When Baughman returned from Euforecaster, including those with million rope, he joined Morton at the Woolly dollar computer systems, to match the Worm festival as “Director of Races.” accuracy of nature, with what the Woolly Baughman, who is 6’8”, explained, “I was Worm says.” tall, so I could pick the worms off at the The theory behind the Woolly Worm top of the strings. I did it for a couple of race is that the healthiest worm, judged years, then Tommy Burleson took over.” by its speed, is the best representative of These towering judges became a tradeTommy Burleson graced the cover of Sports the species to predict the upcoming winmark at the Woolly Worm races. Roy ter weather. Every worm is a bit differ- Illustrated when his NC State team captured the Krege said, “Tommy Burleson is 7’2” tall. National Championship in 1974. ent, yielding a variety of forecasts, so the When he is standing on the back of the “People at the festival love having their picture stripes of the race winner are deemed to flatbed truck where we race the worms, he taken with Tommy,” said Roy Krege be the authority. 38
High Country Magazine
October / November 2017
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High Country Magazine
is the only one that can see straight on to the finish line. He has a unique perspective. A lot of times we have worms that are close as they can be, hair over hair and neck over neck, and Tommy is watching closely to see which one is the winner.” “People love seeing Tommy at the festival,” Krege added. “He still loves to talk about basketball, and everyone likes to have their pictures made with him.” Burleson has served at the festival since his return to Avery County in the early 1980’s. “Jim asked me to help out, and I was happy to do it,” he said. “The festival exemplifies family values, and provides families an opportunity to spend time together and have a good time. The money from the festival goes to good causes, strong local programs helping people. Plus, I just enjoy doing it.” Burleson described the set-up of the race. There are twenty-five strings on the current race board, and worms are raced in heats. On Saturday, the first day of the festival, there are usually between fifty and sixty heats. Winners come back in late afternoon for the semi-final and final races. “The strings are 32” long for warm weather, and they’re set high up so that the audience can see. I call the unit of measurements “worlongs” instead of “furlongs.” A furlong is an eighth of a mile, and a worlong is 4 inches. So we race ‘em for 8 worlongs. We tried a furlong, but that was just too long,” Burleson joked. He continued, “When the sun is out and it is warm, the worms move much quicker.
October / November 2017
When the weather is cold, we go down to a 22” track.” Burleson had some advice for racers. “What you want to do is get the worm warmed up in your hand just before the race. I’ve seen people blow on the worm in their hand, to keep it warm. Then when they put it on the string, the worm is active and its little feet are moving.” Krege added to the advice. “You want to make sure your worm is comfortable. Worms have a natural defense mechanism. When they feel threatened, they ball up. So sometimes, if a person just picks up the worm out of its cage and tries to put it on the string, it’ll ball up and fall right off. So they need to be warmed up a bit. Let ‘em crawl around the rim of a cup, or up your arm. I mean, if I’m in bed asleep, so to speak, I don’t want to get right up and run a race. The woolly worm is the same way.” The secret for a smooth launch? “After you’ve warmed up the worm, stretch him out a bit, and make sure his head is going up in the right direction,” said Krege. “There are always some people who put their worm on the string upside down!” he laughed. Krege added, “A lot of people will blow on the worm to get them started. Blowing on the worm has become quite an art. You have to blow them on the back end, but don’t blow too hard, or they’ll fall off the string. People have even started bringing straws. Some people will have long straws and puff their worms all the way to the top!” Judges watch the contestants carefully
The Woolly Worm caterpillar, the larval form of the Pyrrharctia Isabella, is destined to become the Tiger Moth. It is the only insect known to have 13 distinct sections, which are “read� by Woolly Worm Weather experts to correspond to the 13 weeks of winter. throughout the race. After the race begins, people are not allowed to touch the worm, the string, or the board. “We used to have people get excited and bang their fists on the board, but that would send some of the worms flying,� said Burleson. Once the final race is complete, the winning worm is examined by a veterinarian before being declared the official winner. Krege elaborated, “We want to make sure to make sure that no bodily damage has been done to the worm. Some people wanted to shave the worm, kind of like a swimmer who shaves in order to move through the water faster. We don’t allow that. We do a small urinalysis to make sure there are no illegal steroids or stimulants.� After the examination, the prize money is awarded and the winning worm is read for the weather forecast. In addition to acting as an official race judge, Tommy Burleson has taken over “reading� the worm. “Charles VonCanon was the first Grand Marshal of the race, and he used to do the readings. He taught me how, so I’m doing that now,� said Burleson. Charles VonCanon was mayor of Banner Elk for twenty-eight years, and a direct descendent of one of the founding members of the town.
Each year children gather woolly worm caterpillars to sell at the festival. Racers are welcome to bring their own, or purchase on-site for the races.
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High Country Magazine
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for sale, to keep the woolly Of course, there are worms safe and happy as many funny and touching they accompany their people stories about the festival enjoying the festival. over the years. After all, a worm race is involved. Tommy Burleson rememMore than Just a Race bered one race when there The worm races are defiwas one worm way ahead of nitely the highlight of the the others. “The guy racing Festival. Kinney Baughman the worm looked back at his commented, “You haven’t friends, salivating, all ready experienced excitement in to win his thousand dolthe raw until you’ve seen lars, then he turned around thousands of people screamand accidentally flicked the ing and yelling and jumping string and the worm went up and down for a worm flying over his shoulder!” to crawl faster. It’s its own Krege told another story. unique form of excitement.” “Charles VonCanon used to This is one of the reasons tell about one young boy that the festival was voted that raced his worm all the one of the top ten best festiway to the finals. Just before vals in the nation, according the final race, the boy said a to Krege. little prayer. Then his worm The top prize on Saturtook off like crazy, and was day is $1,000, with the windoing great. Back then, we ning worm having the honor had just two worms in the of forecasting the weather. final race. Then all of a sudOn Sunday, the top prize for den, the boy’s worm just the individual competition is stopped. We went up and $500. In addition, there is a asked him what was hapcorporate worm race, where pening, and the boy said he local businesses enter their The 40th anniversary Woolly Worm Festival poster, designed by Nancy didn’t know, but he really woolly worms to compete Morrison and Danica Goodman, promotes this year’s event scheduled needed to win this race, befor a trophy to display, and Saturday, October 21 - Sunday, October 22. cause his mother was very bragging rights for the year. sick and not expected to live Melynda Pepple, Execuup and down, trying to pronounce all much longer. So the boy said a little prayer of these tongue twister names. It can get tive Director of the Avery County Chamagain, and that worm just took off and pretty funny.” ber of Commerce and main coordinator of won.” Krege still gets choked up when he Some people will bring their other the festival, said that the other big draws remembers that race. worms to the festival, while others will to the festival are the craft vendors, food, buy them on-site. “There was one year music and entertainment. “The craft porAll in the Name that, two or three days before the festival, tion is a juried event,” she said, “with One tradition that has existed since we hadn’t seen but a dozen worms around. all of the items handmade. We have two the beginning of the festival is naming That happens some years,” said Krege. “So hundred vendors, offering everything the worms. Contestants often name their what we did that year, we put a “bounty” from fine to rustic woodworking, furniworms after Nascar drivers, racehorses, out for worms, saying we’d pay a dollar ture, quilts, scarves, handbags, wreaths athletes, celebrities, or politicians. apiece for worms. Then what happened, and decor, jewelry, pottery, glass, beeswax Kinney Baughman said, “I remember we had so many people bring worms candles, stone work, bear carvings, paintone year, Jim was being interviewed about that we had to call in security, the Sugar ers. We’ll have people making their crafts the festival. It was the year that Hurricane Mountain police, to come to the Chamber on site, wood carvings, glass blowing, that Hugo came through the area. The reporter office. It was getting scary. People were kind of thing. The vendors come from all asked if Jim could offer any advice for suc- bringing all kinds of worms, and wanted over the United States.” “We’ll have 30 food vendors. This year cess during the race. Jim answered, “Just us to buy them, but we just couldn’t buy we’ll have Captain Jim’s Seafood, our first don’t name your worm “Hugo.” Ironically, that many!” the winner that year was named Hugo.” Now, the Chamber will buy up to 1500 seafood vendor, plus of course all of the “We do try to keep the names respect- worms, for a dollar apiece, with each seller typical festival food, kettle corn, barbecue, ful,” said Roy Krege. “Some people will limited to 25. The Chamber collects these hot dogs, apple fritters, funnel cakes, all give their worms long names, about 4 worms on Fridays, when the vendors check that yummy stuff. Auntie Ruth’s Doughwords or so, and that gets hard for the in. The worms are then given to the elemen- nuts are huge, and they always have a long announcers, especially when the worms tary school PTO to sell at the festival for a line. We also let non-profits, like the Boy are getting near the finish line and there dollar each, to raise money for their orga- Scouts and Girl Scouts, come in and cook, are some neck and neck. We’re running nization. “Critter cages” are also available and raise money for their organization.” 42
High Country Magazine
October / November 2017
Throughout the day, musicians and performers take the stage in the food section of the festival. “We’ll have cloggers, an Elvis impersonator, bluegrass, music of all types. On Sunday morning, we always have some great gospel singers,� said Pepple. This year, the festival will honor Roy Krege and remember Jim Morton. A Woolly Worm Festival historical booklet is being written, and will be available at the festival. The “Three Worm-a-teers,� Adam Binder, who has served as “Mr. Woolly Worm in Training� for several years, plus Jason DeWitt and Shawn Strickland, will take the stage to fill the shoes of Roy Krege. Will the shoes be orange? That is yet to be determined. “They’ll have their own look,� said Krege. “I don’t know what they’ll come up with, but it will be fun to watch.� The Three Worm-a-Teers will travel the area prior to the festival, promoting the event on television and elsewhere. They’ll do educational programs at the schools, as volunteers for Kiwanis, traveling to Charlotte, Hickory, Johnson City, and Winston-Salem. Pepple emphasized that all of the money raised goes back into the community, into schools, non-profit organizations, and tourism. After the festival, organizations can go on-line and apply for grants for worthwhile projects. Perhaps it is the altruistic motives that have attracted so many amazing people to be a part of the Woolly Worm Festival over the years. Roy Krege reflected, “I’m thankful that the festival is in good hands, and will continue to be a great success. When you’re able to touch all the lives of people attending the festival, and then you’re able to turn all of the proceeds over to very worthwhile causes, helping people go to college, helping reading programs, giving every kid in the county free books to read, stuff like that, you say, “Wow.� “To be able to touch so many lives is fabulous,� he concluded. “One of my heartfelt verses is that if you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be a servant to all. If all of us could treat one another in that manner, what a difference that would make. God don’t make no junk. Everybody and anybody we meet is special, and if you make them feel special, well you’ll feel special yourself.� t Want to go? The 40th Anniversary Woolly Worm Festival will be held October 21-22 in Banner Elk. Gates open at 9am on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $6 for Adults, $4 for Children aged 6-12, and free for kids 5 and under. Tickets may be purchased online or at the gate.
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Ashe Civic Center November 17-19, 2017 Friday & Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm
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Reserved seat tickets available by calling 336-846-2787 October / November 2017
High Country Magazine
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Fay's Store
BESSIE Fay Hughes A Linville Landmark From The Past
S
tepping into Paul and Fay Hughes’ Store is like taking a DeLorean time machine into the past. Crossing the threshold, the modern world of smart cars and electronic devices is left behind as a time lost is suddenly revived. It is clad with hardwood floors, worn and creaky from years of use and lined to the ceiling with wooden shelves that are adorned with the new and the old, from moonshine stills to pottery. Known as Fay’s Store, the long narrow building is the quintessential general store and has always been such. Ed Loven built it and it was then the “Loven Store,” but had remained empty for years after about 1940, up until it became C.H. Hughes’ Store. Merchantry is a big part of Paul’s family history, as his dad was 44
High Country Magazine
October / November 2017
Columbus “Lum” Hughes, whose original general store was located on the side of Pixie Mountain and is still standing in Linville. Having been moved from it’s original location to make way for the Linville Bypass, the building now houses Webb Rock Shop and lies in between the Tartan Restaurant and Fay’s Store. Paul and Fay have owned and operated Fay’s for almost half a century and have been married for even longer, since 1951. And because it was cheaper to have the sign changed from “C.H. Hughes” to “Fay’s Store,” the store got its name and she has been the cover girl ever since. Growing up in “tatertown” as she called it, Fay was born and raised in Speer, just below Plumtree where her dad worked for the Tar Heel
Fay Hughes
Story by Davin Underwood • Photography by Ken Ketchie Mica Company; the Plumtree and Cranberry areas were famous for their mica deposits. She was one of nine children and moved from the lower end of Avery County up to Linville to work in a restaurant. Hers is the first face you see upon entering the store, whether she is at the front counter or not. On a support beam in the bend of the u-shaped counter hangs a painting of the entrance of the store with Fay leaning on the counter ready to great a newcomer or jovially scorn a friend. Maintaining such a long and reliable relationship with the community has made Paul and Fay famous. For forty-two years, they have strengthened old friendships and welcomed new ones, providing a yearly stop for visitors and an important convenience for the locals. Since Fay’s was the only store in Linville that had groceries, clothes, and household items, they were a one-stop shop for people to get most anything they needed. “…You see, this was the grocery store,” exclaimed Fay. The freezer
and coolers were next to the support posts in the middle of the store, where customers could find “Birdseye frozen products, milk, any kind of cheese you want, and vegetables, like lettuce, maters, and cucumbers,” Paul said. And just like any grocery store, Fay’s had a meat market, in the back left corner of the store, where Fay, herself, would cut and grind meats; they had a large cooler where they would hang the whole meats before Fay would process them. There was a sandwich counter, too. Fay served sandwiches to the workers who wanted a good, cheap lunch. These Wonder bread style sandwiches consisted of meat and cheese, that being enough to sustain the workers through the rest of their day. Paul explained how the older store merchants would offer a dime’s worth of meat or cheese for the workhands. “I’ve seen them ole work hands sit down and have a big ole lump of cheese, a pack of soda crackers, and a Pepsi cola, then they’d go work another five hours… and that’s all in the world Paul Hughes they’d need,” he said. The October / November 2017
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Paul and Fay were 21 years old when they married 66 years ago in Linville. meat market is gone now and Fay no longer makes the sandwiches, as she is retired from the store, but they are still being made, served hot or cold. I had a fried bologna and cheese on my visit and it was delicious and satisfying, just what a workhand would need for lunch. Three years ago Fay passed on the torch to her daughter Paula, who has grown up in and around her father’s store, just like Paul grew up around his father’s store. Paula slings sandwiches everyday, except Saturday and Sunday when she says, “[she] needs a break.” Beloved by the locals as a social and informational hub, Paula regaled a story of a man named Bill Garland, who
once said, “This is the only place in the country you can get a bologna and cheese sandwich, get called a SOB, and come back the next day for another sandwich.” She does her best to provide a filling lunch for whoever comes looking for one. Along with bologna and cheese, there is ham, corned beef, lunchmeat, and cheese. She has mayonnaise and mustard, if desired, and offers a slice of tomato when they are in season. She says, “If all else fails, I can make a peanut butter sandwich… and jelly if I have it.” But, groceries and sandwiches were not the only things available at Fay’s, as with all general stores, tools, household goods, and clothes were also there. And
the store still carries a good selection of “the best Wisconsin socks available” and their back room is well stocked with boots and a wide selection of Carhartt clothing. “We sell quite a bit of Carhartt… my dad sold it in his store when I was a young-un, he carried the overalls with a little heart shaped buckle on the top strap… I bet those would be worth a lot of money, if you could find a pair of those now,” Paul said as we were walking through the narrow isle of colorful, folded Carhartt sweatshirts. He was sold out of fishing boots and plans to order more in the spring when business picks up again. There was and still is an excellent se-
Folks show up everyday at Fay’s Store to pick up a few items, grab a sandwich or just hang out and listen to Paul tell his stories. 46
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Fay served sandwiches for forty years and has retired from the store, but her daughter Paula is carrying on the family tradition. Here she is in her kitchen, and leaned up against her counter, just like in the painting of Fay at the front of the store. The sandwich counter is in the back, where Fay once butchered sides of beef for the meat market. Paula is making the same workhand sandwiches that Fay has made since she and Paul opened their doors in 1975. lection of top-of-the-line fly-fishing tackle as long as he and Fay have been married. lions, of knots. They learned to tie flies available. Paul loves to fish and his exper- He wanted to learn how to tie his own together, practicing the art alongside one tise in fly-fishing and tying flies is sought flies because “you couldn’t buy a good fly another and are known to produce some after by any fisherman, experienced or nowhere in the world,” he said. Born one of the best hand-tied flies in the counnot, looking for the best lures or where day apart in 1929, Fay is older than Paul; try. The right front corner of the store is stocked with hundreds, the best fishing holes are. Because of his popularity, “This is the only place in the country you can maybe even thousands, of hand-tied flies, all made by Fay’s Store has become a destination stop for them get a bologna and cheese sandwich, get called a either Paul or Fay, who according to Paul, “Is one of to find quality poles, boots SOB, and come back the next day for another the best fly tiers there are and waders, area maps, nets, and, of course, hand sandwich.” As told by long time customer Bill Garland in the country.” In an attempt at pretied flies. Paul has been practicing fly-fishing his whole life, gain- they were twenty-one years old when they serving the art, Paul has taught Paula how ing interest in the sport in his youth and tied the first knot; now, after 66 years, to tie as well, making her learn the harder having been honing his fly tying craft for they have tied thousands, perhaps, mil- ones first because “if you’re going to be a
Paul’s in the store most days showing up when he wants to and leaving when he is ready. . October / November 2017
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The wooden shelves at Fay’s Store are still full of all kinds of merchandise with a mixture of new products along with some items that have been there a long while.
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There have been many general stores in the history of Linville. C.H. Ricksecker owned a general store in Linville in the early years before the 1920’s, prompting other stores to open later. Merchants like “old man” Ed Loven and J.J. Hampton also operated stores that helped the locals get the things they needed. fly tier, you have to start with the rough ones, the ones you have so much trouble with,” he would say to her. She always wanted to work her way up to the harder ones for fear of wasting material, but Paul did not care. He wanted her to be good at it. “I tie a lot of wolly boogers… I have a vice at home,” Paula said. Keeping the craft alive within the walls of Fay’s Store and sharing their knowledge has helped them to keep the store open for forty-two years. “We’ve done good, we’ve made a good living…the fishing stuff has done it… [Paul] has a pretty good business with anglers from Land Harbor, Grandfather, Linville Ridge, and Elk River,” Fay told me. “They are a dying breed,” said John John, a regular and friend to the store and to Paul and Fay, and a fly fishing enthusiast himself, who had stopped by with a fresh dove wing for Paul to cure for his flies. Amidst the treasures within the store, there are cured bird wings in jars. A bit grim on discovery, one soon realizes the science project. And on the shelves behind the glass case of flies are stacks of old boot boxes in which filed neatly away are hundreds of plastic bags containing hackle. Essential to tying realistic and effective flies is the hackle, or the plumage of the neck or saddle of fowl. They best resemble a real insect when tied, game bird skins like partridge, rooster, pheasant, quail, and woodcock being good ones to use. One of the most notable items of curiosity decorating the shelves and store front of Fay’s is a large collection of Burlon B. Craig pottery. “You are looking at the most valuablest pottery they are in this country,” Paul said when asked about the multitude of glazed jugs, some with faces on them and
Maintaining such a long and reliable relationship with the community has made Paul and Fay famous. For forty-two years, they have strengthened old friendships and welcomed new ones, and have provided a yearly stop for visitors and an important convenience for the locals. some with snakes wrapping around them. Burlon Craig, who is most widely known for his face jugs, was a potter from Lincoln County, NC and when he was living, was the last active folk potter in North Carolina producing pottery in the traditional ways. Originating in Africa, the face jugs were used by the tribes there to ward off evil spirits from the graves of their dead. Burlon adopted the native image to his own work and style in the North Carolina piedmont where the Catawba River Valley has supplied potters with good, quality clay for hundreds of years. For more then fifty years, Burlon created a variety of stoneware from digging his own clay, mixing it, making his own glazes from crushed glass, and firing them in an underground, wood fired kiln, known as a groundhog kiln. With over a hundred pieces of pottery in the store, most of which are B.B. Craig, Craig’s son, or his grandson, Paul and Fay’s collection is akin to a museum’s. But, more intriguing than the pottery itself, is
Paul has a collection of stills at the store for mostly display but he has been know to sell one ever once in a while. Some of the stills date back 50 years or more.
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Burlon B. Craig was a potter from the Catawba River Valley and his pottery is highly collectible as it is made in the old, tradition of the potter making his or her own clay and glazes. Craig used a groundhog kiln to fire his pottery and is known for his face and snake jugs, which he adopted from African burial rituals. Paul and Fay have been in the pottery business for many years and have acquired quite the collection. These are just a couple of the many face jugs at Fay’s Store in Linville.
the story of how Paul and Fay got into the pottery business. A summer visitor from Houston, Texas came to Paul and told him “to buy every piece of Burlon Craig pottery you can get a hold of, I want it all…so, Christmas came around and I seen a sign in the Charlotte Observer for a collection of Burlon Craig’s pottery in Gastonia for sale…so, I get on the phone and ask him if he still got it and said I’d be down there this afternoon, to hold it, that I might be interested in buying it all,” Paul said. Paul drove to Gastonia immediately and ended up buying the entire collection of pottery and brought it back to the store. And when the man from Houston came back in the spring, he took what he wanted of the collection, leaving Paul and Fay with the rest.
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Paul has since then tracked down other collections through auctions and estate sales, managing to gather up quite an impressive library of Burlon’s pottery, he was able to snatch up a few pieces of Burlon’s son’s and grandson’s pottery, too, which are just as rare. In the early North Carolina wilderness, the inaccessibility of the area allowed merchants like the Hughes’ to open general stores that allowed people to buy the things they needed. There have been many general stores in the history of Linville. C.H. Ricksecker owned a general store in the early years before the 1920’s, prompting other stores to open later. Merchants like “old man” Ed Loven and J.J. Hampton also operated stores that helped the
Paul is a fly-fishing expert, gaining interest in the sport in his youth and having been honing his fly tying craft for as long as he and Fay have been married. He has a pretty good business with anglers from Land Harbor, Grandfather, Linville Ridge, and Elk River.” Paul’s expertise in fly-fishing and tying flies is sought after by many, looking for the best lures or where the best fishing holes are. Fay’s Store has become a destination stop to find quality poles, boots and waders, area maps, nets, and, of course, hand tied flies.
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Three years ago Fay passed on the torch of minding the kitchen to her daughter Paula, who has grown up in and around her father’s store, just like Paul grew up around his father’s store. Paula slings sandwiches everyday, except Saturday and Sunday when she says, “she needs a break.” locals get the things they needed. Hampton also had a meat market, and gristmill providing corn mill, and buckwheat flour. Becoming accustomed to the yearly rise and fall of business as the summer visitor’s came and went, they were sure to secure summer business by catering as much as possible to the summer residents’ refined tastes and eagerness to experience the great outdoors. The stores’ wooden shelves were laden with various instruments of mountain living that not only peeked visitors’ interest, but were also needed by the locals. Fay’s Store is just the same today as those were then, although downsized now, she and Paul have seen it in it’s prime, and have now taken a step back from the forefront of this popu-
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General stores always had a place to gather for conversation, so the locals could learn the goings-on of not only their town, but of other towns as well. Just beside the kitchen, there is a circle of various chairs, some recliners and a row of theater type seats, where you can sit, have a sandwich, and chat with friends. Here is a Fay a few years ago, having a sit down, the row of chairs in the same place among the circle. Photo by Alesia Foster
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lar general store. But Fay is a living legend. “Everybody knows Fay,” said Alesia Foster, local and long time friend of Paul and Fay, and my foot in the door at Fay’s Store. And along with Paul being renowned as an expert angler, he is visited in the store by anybody curious or well adept in the sport, so Paul and the elusive Fay maintain regular visits to store. The Carhartt brand clothing, the moonshine stills hiding about the store in various places, the hand woven baskets, the very large cast iron cauldron tucked in a corner, out of harms way, the many fishing poles and one-of-a-kind hand tied flies, the face and snake jugs, the candy, and, of course, the sandwiches, make Fay’s Store a real gem of the High Country. t
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Elk Park Is Home Those Who Live and Work There Cherish Its Old Time Community Feel
W
By Katie Benfield
hen I first moved to Elk Park, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never even heard of the place. The first time I drove to my new home was the first time I ever stepped foot in Elk Park. I’ll admit, I was nervous. I didn’t see a Walmart anywhere in sight. My phone service completely cut out the further into the tiny town I got. I passed by the Elk Park Mini Market, the Dollar General, Main St. and the two restaurants of Elk Park and thought I had been transported back into the sixties. I didn’t think I liked it very much, especially since I had lived within walking distance of a Walmart for the past three years. However, the first time I popped into the Elk Park Mini Market for a cup of coffee before work in the morning when I was running late and the first time I got my haircut by Skylar at Rockin’ Locks Beauty Salon and the first time I sat down at Sissy’s Ole Country House and tried the sweat tea, I knew that this was home. Elk Park may not have a lot of what other towns and cities have – like a Walmart; let me tell you, that was a hard obstacle to overcome – but it has so much more than any other town or city has. It has family, it has heart and it has a community of people who wave at you when they don’t even know you, who hold the door open for you when they see you approaching from twenty feet away, who laugh and joke with you as if they have known you their whole lives, who help wrangle your dogs up when they escape from the fence and who love and cherish Elk Park as if it has been, and always will be, home sweet home. I never expected to learn anything more about Elk Park than what was just on the surface. Moving in on day one, I thought it was just another town that was too small for chain restaurants with a population that was less than my graduating class in high school. I was wrong, though. Elk Park has so much history, so much life and so much in its buildings and roads to teach us about the foundation of Avery County and the people who built the town that started it all. 54
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The Elk Park Mini Market, owned by Pam Jennings, has everything you could need, including the town’s best coffee!
Sissy’s Ole County House provides a warm, welcoming, country atmosphere for residents and visitors alike.
Getting a haircut at Skylar Tipton’s Rockin’ Locks Beauty Salon is more than just getting a haircut – it’s hanging out with friends as Skylar treats each client like family.
Once A Booming Town Avery County’s First Town Flourished During The Early Railroad Days The year was 1882. The East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, also known to us locals as Tweetsie, was up and running, hauling all sorts of things like lumber, flora, herbs, iron ore, barrels of chestnuts, turkeys, farm products, tanned hides and so much more, including people. The train began its route in Johnson City, TN and wound its way from TN to Elk Park, NC, a midpoint between Johnson City and Cranberry. “Our main road through the town, Highway 19E, is the exact road that Tweetsie used to take where the old railroad tracks were,” Jane Smith, owner of Main Street Antiques, said. “Elk Park was the hub of the county when Tweetsie ran through here.” What is Elk Park, though? My thoughts exactly when I first heard of the place. There’s no quick and easy answer, but back when it became an incorporated town in 1885, Elk Park was created to serve as an area where community members in Avery County could participate in commerce that was outside of the control of the Cranberry Iron Ore Company. However, it grew to be something much more than just an area for commerce and trade. Elk Park was a booming town, situated almost right on the border of NC and TN, which provided travelers with a place to stay, a welcoming community and good food. Three hotels were erected, as well as three livery stables, a drug store, a hardware and grocery store and even a jailhouse. Before Newland was constructed and chosen to be the county seat in 1911, Elk Park served as the county seat with court held in an old weatherboard building. Unfortunately, due to a fire in 1910, all weatherboard buildings in the town were completely destroyed. Fortunately, though, there were
Old Photos from collections of Joe Eller – photographed by Cy Crumley and others.
Elk Park in 1910. Businesses were still forming, but both the population and the town were thriving.
When the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (Tweetsie) was running, the route went right down Highway 19E, the main road in Elk Park today.
The Brinkley Store was stationed right beside the Citizens Bank, which A.P. Brinkley (one of the Brinkley brothers) was president of. October / November 2017
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Pictured are Will Crumley, founder of Gay Ola Bottling Company, and Scot Dean in 1905 in front of the Gay Ola Bottling Company, a bottling company that produced and bottled soda in Elk Park.
The Brinkley Family wasn’t just made up of businessmen. It also contained a member, S.G. Brinkley, who was said to have the longest beard in the world and would charge anyone a dime to see it.
plenty of buildings left untouched, and the town continued to flourish while Tweetsie came through, bringing goods and people from all over Tennessee and North Carolina. “It wasn’t a big thing to have the train
come through and stop here,” Steve Brinkley, third-generation owner of Brinkley Hardware and native of Elk Park, said. “It made Elk Park what it was though, and soon after it stopped coming when the tracks were destroyed by the flood, Elk Park kind of dissolved.” Tweetsie was disbanded and the railroad service ended in 1950 after a terrible flood wiped out most of the railroad tracks. It was decided that it wasn’t worth fixing, and that was the end of Tweetsie. However, according to Brinkley,
Tweetsie had a stop in Elk Park during its many years that allowed people to transport products, as well as enabled people to travel across East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. 56
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while it was still running the train helped transform Elk Park into a mecca for travelers and tourists, and a mecca it became indeed.
A Town of Firsts Elk Park, known throughout Avery County as one of the smallest towns in the county, was actually a town of firsts during the hay-day of Tweetsie and Avery County’s formation. What we know as the current Avery County High School, located in Newland, isn’t actually the first high school
The stop at Tweetsie was right on Main Street, allowing easy access for passengers and business people who were loading or unloading products.
to have ever been opened in the county. The first high school was built in Elk Park and opened in 1911 with a total of 6 pupils and 3 teachers by the names of W.W. Stedman, Miss Jessie Miggs and Miss Stella Francum. Although the school doesn’t exist as a functioning educational building today, there was a time when it provided education for children whose homes were in Elk Park. Mr. W.M. Francum served as principle and superintendent. In his geography class, students learned that the Earth was flat. If one were to travel deeper into Elk Park, eventually they would find that only the main and most used roads are paved. The others are gravel and dirt, transporting travelers back to when Avery County had no roads to travel on. However, before the paving of roads in Avery County, Elk Park had one of the first roads in the county. When Avery County was formed, there were quite literally no paved roads anywhere. The few roads that were in use were only about the size of a rough horse trail – definitely not enough for travelers coming and going. However, there was a privately built toll road that ran from Elk Park to Banner Elk in the mid-1890s. Unfortunately, this road required all travelers who accessed it to pay a toll. People rapidly became unhappy with this arrangement, complained and when Avery County was formed, the toll road was purchased from the private owners and made into an accessible, public road. Even that isn’t the most impressive first that Elk Park was known for. Take a minute, a couple of seconds even, to look at the magazine that’s in front of you. Run your fingers over the pages, pay close attention to the sizing of the letters, to the ink printed on the page. Printing has come a long way and, believe it or not, the first printing of the Avery Advocate, a newspaper that no longer exists, took place in Elk Park. The publisher was a man by the name of W.B. Dunn, and while printing is done mainly digitally now, back then Dunn and his companions set the print all by hand. This wasn’t the only media that found its first in Elk Park. Surprisingly, the first television that came to Avery County found its home in Elk Park. In July of 1949, Mr. Grady Brewer of Brewer’s Radio Service in Elk Park bought a television and set it up in his store. He invited the public to come to his store in the afternoon to see it in operation. However, the TV only picked up one station – WBTV in Charlotte.
The Citizens Bank was the only bank in Elk Park during the time and closed after the Great Depression. Back during its hay-day, citizens of Elk Park could open an account with the bank for $1.00
Pictured left to right : Nan Thomas, Nola Guinn, Jessie Burleson, Cis Ollis, Dena Hicks, Sara Hicks, Nell Teaster, Nannie Haggie, Ellen Bell, Jane Dugger, Myra Holtsclaw, Chanie Cable, Bessie Woodie, Mable Edwards, Ellen Johnson and Lillie Hicks. The sewing factory in Elk Park was located right beside of the jewelry store during a time when Elk Park’s Main Street was a happening place to be for businesses and Elk Parkians.
What Shall We Do Today? The TV in Brewer’s Radio Service was just one part of the entertainment in Elk Park. Back in the day, the Elk Park Theatre operated for many years, eventually being purchased by Theron Dellinger before moving into the ownership of Jane Smith, current resident of Elk Park and owner of Main Street Antiques. Although the theatre isn’t in working order anymore, the building is still there on Main St. with the name of the theatre painted on the windows of the door, reminding those within the town of the past when it was once a hopping place for people in Elk Park to spend
The Elk Park Baseball Team was said to have been fairly good at baseball and played neighboring baseball teams on Sundays. October / November 2017
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Main Street in Elk Park has always been a staple within the community, especially with Brinkley Hardware having been around since the early 1900s and continuing through today.
their days. “It sat about 100 people, and it was small,” Steve Brinkley, of Brinkley Hardware, said. “It was nice to ride my bike into town and go to the movies when I was 11, 12, 13 years old.” According to Brinkley, the movie theatre would play 20-minute serials every Saturday. “You would go back every week to find out what was going to happen next,” Brinkley said. “It’d be like Batman or the Three Stooges or something like that.” The movie theatre would play a news reel, a serial and then a double feature, which would be something like a cowboy movie or Tarzan. Even people who weren’t alive during the running of the movie theatre still think about it and its presence in the town. “They used to have a haunted house at the old movie theatre building,” Skylar Tipton, owner of Rockin’ Locks inside the Elk Park Mini Market, said. “It was a functioning movie theatre back in the day, and that’s pretty cool. I wish we could still have that.” However, going to the movies wasn’t the only thing for people to do around Elk Park. Along with the movie theatre and Brewer’s television, a newspaper article announced that Elk Park had a baseball team that played neighboring communities on Sunday afternoons. Apparently, according to the scores that were printed, Elk Park had quite a team.
Booming Business
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The Dearmin Coal and Ice Company produced coal and ice for the various residents in Elk Park. Each block of ice weighed closed to 300 pounds.
and commerce opportunities into Elk Park, providing it with the economy to continuously build, produce and grow businesses throughout the town. Ones who were to visit Elk Park today may be surprised to hear this, but at one point in time, Elk Park was the place to be. While Elk Park has changed a lot since the 1900s, it used to have multiple businesses providing residents and visitors with all they needed. There was a drug store that opened in 1912, as well as a furniture company, a sewing factory and a jewelry store. Not to mention, there was a flourishing bottling company by the
name of the Gay-Ola Bottling Company, which was actually located in Elk Park before the county was formed. It was started around 1905 by Will Crumley. All of the drinks were bottled in glass bottles and instead of being capped for closure, they were plugged with corks. “They produced a drink called GayOla, and they manufactured that drink right here in town,” Jane Smith, owner of Main St. Antiques, said. “Coca-Cola ended up suing them, claiming that they
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had stolen their recipes, and the Gay-Ola Bottling Company shut down after that.” That isn’t the only thing that ended up shutting down in Elk Park. Elk Park today has no bank in sight, but originally, there was a growing Citizens Bank through which citizens could open an account for only $1.00 back in the day. The Citizens Bank was located beside the first Brinkley Store, and while the exact date of the bank’s opening is unavailable, it can be estimated that it probably opened around 1903. The Elk Park Historical Society had a copy of the bank stock issues from 1930 which were signed by A.P. Brinkley, President. The bank closed during the Depression, meaning it remained open for almost 30 years, closing around 1930-1931. Hotels were scattered throughout the town, providing travelers and businessmen with the perfect place to stay while they were working and traveling with Tweetsie. One of the hotels was owned by W.C. Walsh, who happened to own most of the property in the town. The other hotel, named Tatum Hotel, was owned and built by Pink Tatum. However, a lot of the economy in Elk Park was built up by a man named James Madison Dearmin. J.M. Dearmin was a man with a vision for the town. He moved to Elk Park when he was only 18 years old with nothing to his name but a saw, a hammer and fifty dollars. Fortunuately, being a carpenter, there was plenty for Dearmin to do. Dearmin helped build some of the early homes in the town before moving on to bigger ventures. Living in Elk Park and
Parkview Hotel, proprietor being Mrs. E.P. Tatum, was one of the many hotels that were erected and flourishing during Elk Park’s prime time.
working as a carpenter allowed Dearmin to recognize the kind of business and commerce that was coming to Elk Park due to the railroad. He began planning and decided that the coal business would be a great opportunity for him due to the fact that Tweetsie came through the town daily. Thus, the Dearmin Coal Company was founded. As it grew and skyrocketed in success, Dearmin set his sights elsewhere. In 1924, Dearmin started an ice com-
The Elk Park Hotel was cherished by many, providing travelers and visitors with places to stay while also helping boost Elk Park’s economy while Tweetsie continued its run.
pany and the Dearmin Coal Company evolved into the Dearmin Coal and Ice Company. Although there was electricity in the area, most people didn’t own a refrigerator during this time. The Dearmin Coal and Ice Company provided citizens with blocks of ice that they could store in their ice boxes, which were basically the early version of the fridge. The ice company had the capacity to make 30 blocks of ice with each block weighing about 300 pounds.
“The ice plant made a lot of ice for people in our area,” Steve Brinkley said. “It made ice for the surrounding areas too, like Linville and Grandfather and places like that.” However, Dearmin ran into some bad luck in the 1940s when the 1940 flood wiped out most of the railroad tracks, placing his coal business in extreme danger. Dearmin was an entrepreneur though, and he started the Dearmin Freight Line in order to keep the business running.
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Brinkley Hardware — Over 115 Years Old Brinkley Hardware today sells everything you would need to repair something within your home or building. It offers hardware of all kinds, as well as other little things here and there. It is owned and operated by Steve Brinkley, the third generation of Brinkley men to take over the Brinkley business.
The Brinkley Brothers moved to Elk Park in the late 1800s and began the Brinkley Store, which is documented at beginning in 1903, a permanent fixture throughout the growth and lifetime of Elk Park.
What’s in a Name While Dearmin is a reoccurring name found throughout Elk Park’s history, an even more prominent name is that of Brinkley. Everyone in Elk Park knows about Brinkley Hardware, as do many throughout Avery County and even the High Country. However, the history of Brinkley Hardware is more than it may appear. The David Tull Brinkley family moved to Elk Park from the Little Switzerland area to open up the first Brinkley Store in Elk Park. “1903 is what is on all of my paperwork, but I know it was in working order before then,” Steve Brinkley, current owner of Brinkley Hardware, said. David Tull Brinkley, one of four brothers, owned and operated the Brinkley Store in Elk Park with his brother A.P. Brinkley in the early 1900s. It was a general mercantile store for the first forty years it was in operation, and it provided anything that carpenters, loggers, blacksmiths or other businessmen might need. Their slogan was that they “carried everything that a body needed to survive” and that included medicine, food, shoes, clothing, hardware, items for the farm and feed for the animals. David Tull Brinkley, also known as Tul60
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ley to his friends and family, even had a grist mill in the back of his house where he would grind cornmeal during the early years. “It started out as a general store, and
Steve Brinkley, third generation Brinkley, has lived here his whole life. Being a born and raised Elk Park native, Brinkley believes that Elk Park has the perfect community, both for children growing up and for adults who choose to make their lives here.
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we carried things like clothes, groceries, shoes, barrels of peanut butter and lard,” Steve Brinkley said. “They sold everything that you would need in the horseand-buggy day.” Also during the early years, most customers bartered for the items they needed, and many folks charged most everything they bought until the crops came in. When two of Tulley’s sons, twins Bob and Bill, started working the store when they were about 16 years old, they decided to make some changes around the shop. According to Steve Brinkley, it was after World War II when his father, Bill, and his uncle Bob, took over the store and decided to turn it into a hardware store. “People in our area didn’t have any running water and they didn’t have indoor plumbing,” Steve Brinkley said. “So, they decided to completely get rid of the clothes and groceries part of the store and started doing building materials and helping install things, like bathrooms and kitchens and running water.” After his sons took over the Brinkley Store, Tulley moved up the street and started The Give Up Store, which opened promptly at 5:30 a.m. every day for people that traveled down the mountain who might need something. It offered medicines, snacks, soft drinks, cigarettes and other items any traveler or resident may
Inside of Brinkley Hardware is something that would be seen in a dream. “You can find anything in there,” Skylar Tipton, owner of Rockin’ Locks Beauty Salon, said. “Even though we are all in this small town, Brinkley’s usually has just about everything.”
need. The store closed in the 1960s. On top of running the store, Bill Brinkley also built houses throughout Elk Park. “My father built about 25 houses, and when he built houses, he helped furnish them,” Steve Brinkley said, “so, the store started carrying furniture, living room
suits, light fixtures, anything that it would take to build a house.” Eventually, Bob Brinkley moved to Newland where he opened a Brinkley Ford Dealership and Bill Brinkley remained in Elk Park to pass the Brinkley Store business off to his own son, Steve Brinkley, who is the current owner and operator of
Brinkley Hardware in Elk Park. Although most of the Brinkley family members are associated with Brinkley Hardware, we wouldn’t dare forget about other members of the Brinkley line, such as Great Uncle Sam who had the longest beard in the world and charged anyone a dime to see it.
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Quentin Cooper, age 13 and current resident of Elk Park, is a junior volunteer firefighter for the Elk Park Fire Department. “He is kind of like our little security officer,” Jane Smith, owner of Main Street Antiques, said. “He wants to be a firefighter so badly.” Cooper, like Brinkley during his childhood days, rides his bike around town daily, bopping into stores and speaking to all the residents of the town. Although society has changed a lot since Brinkley’s childhood, the worry-free safety of Elk Park has remained the same for children like Cooper.
ELK PARK NOW
munity and appreciating the sense of unity, safety and security. A Lasting Legend “No one truly understands how great it is to grow up in a place where you don’t Brinkley Hardware is a staple in Elk have to worry about all of the things that Park’s community, having been there you do now,” Brinkley said. “We could go since the town was chartered and providinto town, go to the movies, be with our ing residents of the town with all of their friends and be in the creek all afternoon needs for over a hundred years. and camp out and never have to worry “Brinkley’s has been there my entire about anything.” life, and I love it,” Skylar Tipton, owner Amidst his worry-free days, Brinof Rockin’ Locks and native of Elk Park, kley always knew that said. “You can find anyhe wanted to follow his thing in there. Even grandfather’s and fathough we are all in this ther’s footsteps and take small town, Brinkley’s over the Brinkley Hardusually has just about ware store that the town everything.” of Elk Park has grown Steve Brinkley is the with for over a century. current owner of the “I always felt like I store, keeping Brinkley would be in this busiHardware in the family ness,” Brinkley said. name like his grandfa“Growing up, it was ther and father before really nice to have the him and continuing to hardware store.” treat customers with Now, the hardware helpful generosity. Brinkley Hardware remains in the same building that it began in over a century ago. store continues to proGrowing up in Elk With some renovations and updates, the store can continue to serve vide Elk Park with all Park, Steve Brinkley spent the public as best as possible. their basic hardware his entire life in the small needs, such as woodtown community where “It’s probably the greatest place on stoves, appliances, heaters, cement and his family founded a business that continearth for someone not to have concrete mortar mix, batteries, mattresses, box ues to make a name for itself. “I’ve taken over the store, and my and grass,” Brinkley said. “We played in springs, wood, molding, birdseed and so son, Robert Brinkley, came here a year the creek, we played in the woods, we much more. “We are really a place that you would ago,” Steve Brinkley said, “so that makes didn’t have to worry about all of the things come if you needed to repair something, it four generations of hardware, and we that city people have to worry about.” Brinkley was able to ride his bike into rather than if you needed to build someare still here.” The current Brinkley Hardware store town all the time and hang out with his thing,” Brinkley said. “Overall though, is located on Main St. in the same build- friends, spending time within the com- we’re kind of like a general store.” 62
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ing that it’s always been in with a couple of renovations and updates to serve the community the best that it can. “I’m 76 years old, and I’m working every day here,” Brinkley said, “but it’s a wonderful, wonderful small town.” The Brinkley family has been here for over a hundred years with both Steve Brinkley and his parents all having been born in Elk Park and spending their childhoods growing up in the small community.
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Skylar Tipton, owner of Rockin’ Locks Beauty Salon inside the Elk Park Mini Market, has lived here her entire life. After graduating and exploring the salon business for a bit, Tipton decided there was no better place to open a salon than right here in her hometown.
Even though Brinkley Hardware isn’t a chain business like Home Depot or Lowe’s, it is still a fixture in Elk Park that everyone visits and everyone knows about. “The only reason that the store is still here is because of the people. Of all the places they could go, people are still choosing to trade at Brinkley Hardware,� Steve Brinkley said. “That’s a great asset for the county and for us to be able to depend on people trading local.� This just goes to show how even a small community can have some of the biggest hearts and biggest connections with one another. Despite the low population of the town, the population is a great one overall. “The people make the town, and we’ve got great people here,� Steve Brinkley said. “They are all very humble, and they are what you would call good country people.�
There’s No Place Like Home Steve Brinkley isn’t the only one who has lived in Elk Park his whole life. Although Brinkley remembers the town during its hay-day, another Elk Park native holds just as much appreciation for the town, the locals and her business within the community. Skylar Tipton is 24 years old and has
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The Elk Park Mini Market offers any kind of food you can imagine, ranging from chips to candy. If you want it, the Mini Market probably has it.
Tipton’s family came into ownership of the Mini Market in the ‘80s. This is what it looked like in 1985, and even then, the Mini Market was the go-to for most residents within the community.
was all fun.” spent each of those years in the small burg, Tennessee in the 1980s. Tipton and her family’s involvement “They were just coming through the community of Elk Park. Her mother, Pam Jennings, owns the Elk Park Mini area and saw this store for sale and de- with the Mini Market provided the opMarket, the town’s go-to grocery and cided to buy it and get into the business,” portunity for her to meet and get to know Tipton said. “My mom was around 12 a majority of Elk Park as they all came convenience store. “Everybody knows everybody, every- years old when they moved here to run and went throughout the store. “The people who come in there every body goes to the same school, everybody the Mini Market.” day, I’ve seen them since I was knows everybody’s family, little,” Tipton said. “The same stuff like that,” Tipton said. people always come into the “What’s nice about everyone store and always have.” knowing everyone is that you This helped Tipton whenhave lots of friends.” ever she decided to open up a Living in Elk Park hasn’t hair salon in the extra space always been what Tipton inside the Mini Market. wanted. Growing up, she had Tipton attended cosmetolher eyes set on bigger things, ogy school and, upon nearing wanting to get out of the graduation, was searching her small town and experience brain for what she wanted to life elsewhere. do next. Her family offered “I was always thinking, her the space in the Mini Mar‘I want to get out of here, I ket, saying she could open up want to live in a bigger city, I her own salon and run her want to experience more than living this small town life’,” “It’s great here because I know everyone, and when I get to see them, it’s own business through that. “I was scared to do it right Tipton said. “As I got older, like extended family,” Tipton said. “Those are my people, and it makes it though, I realized how nice it even more special to me, having that deeper connection with all of them.” out of school in case I messed something up,” Tipton said, is, how I don’t have to worry Like her mom before her, Tipton grew “and I just wasn’t ready.” about as much crime as the cities have to So, she ventured out and began workput up with. You can really trust people up being involved with the Elk Park Mini Market, her mom taking over after her ing at another salon, but didn’t find much around here.” success with that. According to Tipton, Tipton’s family arrived in Elk Park grandparents. “It was cool, I loved growing up in it too was a new business with two new by happenstance. Her grandfather was involved in managing 7-Elevens, a chain the store,” Tipton said. “You know, there hair stylists, and they were unable to gas station and convenience store, when was candy, and as a kid, playing on the build up a clientele that would support her grandparents just happened to pass register and getting to ring people up the business. “Kayla, someone who works here in through Elk Park on their way to Gatlin- and get candy or whatever in there, that 64
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my salon with me now, was working with me at that time, as well, and I asked her if I started my own business if she would come with me, and she said yes,” Tipton said, “so I went to my mom, told her I was ready to do it, and we expanded the store.” Rockin’ Locks Beauty Salon has been up and running ever since then, having officially been in the Mini Market 3 years this coming November. “It was probably the best thing I could’ve done,” Tipton said. “We’ve been successful, more successful than I thought, and we’ve stayed busy. The business just keeps on growing.” Tipton’s clientele consists of mostly locals who have watched her grow up or know her through her mother, the owner of the Mini Market. “I’m definitely impressed with all the locals and everyone supporting my business so far,” Tipton said. “I think for this kind of business, it’s all about word of mouth and who knows who, and that kind of helped me out, people knowing my family around here.” Along with that, not only does Elk Park’s small community help continuously build Tipton’s clientele, but it also helps provide her with a more personal connection with her clients. “I make deeper connections with my clients here than I would if I was in some big city. It’s great here because I know everyone, and when I get to see them, it’s like extended family,” Tipton said. “Those are my people, and it makes it even more special to me, having that deeper connection with all of them.” Tipton acknowledges that while living in a bigger city may have been able to provide her with more money and a larger clientele, she wouldn’t want to be anywhere other than in Elk Park. “Here, I know people, and if I don’t know them, I get to know them, and that’s what I like about it,” Tipton said. “It’s not just about doing hair, it’s so much more than that. My clients become my family.” While Elk Park’s small community helps Tipton’s business, there is no denying that it is, in fact, a very small community. “Everybody is nice here, but there isn’t a lot to do,” Tipton said. “There’s two places to eat here, and I really do love it in this area, but here, there’s only one grocery store and you have to spend an extra hour there because you see everyone that you know.” According to Tipton, everyone in town knows her mom, and when they come in to get their haircuts, they’re always saying things like, “Oh, yeah, I know your mom” or “Your Pam’s daughter – I know her!” “It’s kind of cool knowing everybody. It’s
The Methodist Church was established in the late 1800s in a weatherboard building. It was rebuilt into the present brick building in 1912.
The First Baptist Church of Elk Park is located 107 Maple Street October / November 2017
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Hidden Treasure Antiques, owned by Sammie Jones, opened in 2012. The antique store provides space for about fifteen different vendors at a time to come and sell their antique and vintage items to the public Sammie Jones, owner of Hidden Treasure Antiques, is a resident of Newland but loves Elk Park just as much as if she was a resident there. Owning a business in Elk Park has allotted her the opportunity to get to know the community that she has come to adore..
nice to be around Elk Park, or even Newland, and see the same people,” Tipton said. “I really like that.” Of course, living in a small town comes with its own set of inconveniences, such as having to drive at least 35 minutes out of town to reach the closest Walmart. “It’s just part of living here,” Tipton said. “I drive to Johnson City about once a week. If I want a new pair of boots, I can’t just drive up the road and get a new pair of boots.” Driving to Tennessee is one of the easiest, and most common, ways for people in Elk Park to get the things that they need that aren’t available within the town. However, it isn’t as inconvenient as most people would think it would be. “I’ve grown up here, so I’m really used to it. Driving that far, you know, it’s whatever, I’m used to it,” Tipton said. “People who live in bigger cities are used to driving one minute down the road to go shop, but this is all I’ve known, so I’m just used to the idea of having to drive 30 minutes
to get to a store.” Although driving half an hour to get to a Walmart or a Target may seem outrageous for some people living outside of Elk Park, it’s a small price to pay for people who have found their homes in the small town. “Forming connections with people and everyone knowing everyone, that’s nice. It’s rewarding because people don’t have that everywhere,” Tipton said. “People here are always so nice. They hold the door open for you and tell you to have a good day, and people here will strike up a conversation with you just because, and that’s the best thing about this area.”
Elk Park’s Main Squeeze Along with the Elk Park Mini Market, Rockin’ Locks and Brinkley Hardware, residents of Elk Park are able to delve in the history of not only the town but of the nation in general through the various antique and vintage shops on Main St. Main St. offers a variety of shops, but
most of them pertain to the buying and selling antiques. Hidden Treasure Antiques, owned by Sammie Jones, has been in the area since 2012, although antique stores have been around Elk Park for the last twenty years. “I’ve always been interested in antiques and vintage things, and the previous owner decided to give the business up and I had the opportunity to take over,” Jones said. “I’ve always wanted to own my own store.” Owning an antique store of her own has provided Jones with interactions with people from all over the world, including people from Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. It’s hard to believe that people from other countries come across a tiny community like the one in Elk Park. “People find Elk Park, they find the High Country, and it’s just a wonderful place for them to stop in,” Jones said. “Whether they’re from somewhere else or from right here, we have wonderful customers, and I really enjoy them.”
Betty and Carol’s Place is one of the two restaurants within Elk Park’s town limits that provides residents with home-cooked food. Betty’s has a walk-up window for customers to place their order, as well as various benches and picnic tables to wait and eat at. 66
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Jane Smith, owner of Main Street Antiques, is a history buff, knowing all there is to know about the various historical aspects and occurrences in Elk Park. Although she wasn’t born or raised in Elk Park, she sees the small town as home and wants to learn as much as she can about it.
Hidden Treasure Antiques sells items like candles, glassware, soaps, unique and vintage items, furniture and all sorts of things. Jones rents out booths throughout the store to fifteen different vendors. Although Jones lives in Newland, running an antique store in Elk Park has given her the chance to fall in love with the small town. “Elk Park is just a unique, small town,” Jones said. “Other than the Dollar General, though, it hasn’t changed much. It kind of just all stays the same, and I think that’s probably what we like about it.” Lois Carter, who owns the Riversong Gift Shop with her husband Bruce Carter, shares these same sentiments about the community of Elk Park. “Elk Park is caught in a timewarp and is trying to bust out. There are some people who come to Elk park who want more for it, but then there are those who have been here who want it to remain the
same,” Carter said. “I think some of the local people want and like new ideas and new products, but they don’t want the change.” Carter lives in Elk Park, running an antique store with her husband on Main St. They started their business in 201l by making maple syrup. Soon after this, Carter began making jewelry and other craft items and started playing with the idea of adding these crafts to the store. “I did pottery, a little bit of leather, jewelry, some stained glass, and my husband does woodwork,” Carter said, “so, in the process of retiring and getting involved in all of these crafts, I needed an outlet to sell my product.” So, Carter found a building for rent, and it worked for awhile, and people were very interested in the store, but eventually, the store wasn’t getting return customers. Due to her Montessori training, Carter was asked to tutor local students.
Carolina Beer and Tobacco, owned by Joe Eller, is on the outskirts of town as one takes 19E toward Tennessee. 68
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The antique stores on Main Street are jam packed with various vintage and antique items, as well as other fun knick-knacks and decorations. According to Jane Smith, the more antique stores that are in Elk Park the better.
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She was initially just having them come to her store, where she would tutor them, but the business wasn’t working. “The parents asked me not to stop tutoring though, so I brought my business to my home and started putting my items online and selling them that way,” Carter said. Carter closed the physical Riversong store in 2016, but has remained selling online and has continued tutoring local students in the area out of her home. “It’s a happy place to be, and I’m really content here,” Carter said. “It’s a lovely, cozy, country setting with all of this natural beauty and the generousness of the people within the area.”
More Than Meets the Eye Jane Smith, owner of Main Street Antiques, has fallen more in love with Elk Park than perhaps anyone else in the area. “When I first moved here, my per-
The Municipal Park is located behind the Town Hall and is named for Lucille T. Winters who was mayor for 16 years from the mid 1970s until the early 1990s.
Main Street in today’s world continues to thrive as antique stores, such as Hidden Treasure Antiques and Main Street Antiques, and other businesses, like the Post Office and Brinkley Hardware, line the streets.
Main Street offers apartment buildings to residents in Elk Park. Location is perfect as it’s right in the thick of the town, as well as right across the street from the Mini Market. Could it get any better than that?
Elk Park is said to have been named for the amount of elk that were killed in the town back when it was forming. When residents see the statue of the elk as they drive into town, they know that they’re home.
Theatre Building : The theatre in Elk Park used to show all kinds of different serials and movies for residents of Elk Park, but it has been out of business for some time now. Jane Smith, owner of Main Street Antiques, currently owns the old building and plans to create something new with it.
The Elk River Falls is a 50’ waterfall located in Elk Park that helps bring in a lot of commerce and tourism to Elk Park. Although most people don’t know that Elk Park exists, a surprising amount of people are aware of the Elk River Falls, one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the area. October / November 2017
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The Elk Park Fire Department began in 1976 and has grown constantly since then. With 30 volunteers, along with junior firefighters, the Elk Park Fire Department is able to work quickly and efficiently in emergency situations. It has four fire apparatus, a brush truck and a QRV, with one of those being a new fire engine—Engine 3202.
The Elk Park Town Hall is located right near the new Dollar General and it provides all the information and planning that the town needs. The Mayor of Elk Park is John Boone
What would a town be without its Post Office? The Post Office is located on Main Street and offers residents P.O. Boxes, as well as a place for them to mail out and receive packages. 70
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ception of Elk Park was that it was a diamond in the rut that just hasn’t been polished yet,” Smith said. “I have a real passion for learning about Elk Park.” Smith has lived in Elk Park for the last thirty years after she married someone who had grown up in the area, and she has been in the antique business in Elk Park for the last twenty years. Recently, the old Elk Park movie theatre has come into her possession, and although she doesn’t have specific plans laid out quite yet, she does have ideas that she wants to implement in the future for the old building. “I want to keep up with the theatre theme, and I would like to do something with artist galleries and art studios,” Smith said, “and create some night life for Elk Park and some events in the evenings.” However, Smith’s passion remains in the history and community of Elk Park. “I’ve always loved Elk Park, and even though I wasn’t born or raised here, I just fell into the category of just being so interested about the history,” Smith said. “I just have a passion for it and seeing good things happen for it.” For Smith, living in Elk Park isn’t about the inconveniences of having to drive 30 minutes to the nearest Walmart or even about the new Dollar General the town got last year. It’s about finding the little things throughout the town that make it amazing, historical and worth talking about. According to Smith, Elk Park still has its old Tweetsie train depot. Although the first one burnt down, the second one is still in existence and was moved after the train was shut down. “Whenever they decided to do away with the railroad system, they hitched to the depot and drug it down Dark Hollow and now it sits on the corner of Davis and Bowman St. as a private residence,” Smith said. “To me, that’s the most wonderful thing in Elk Park’s history.” Smith also has a passion for antiques, having been a collector for years before she began her business on Main St. “I needed to raise the money to send my son to a music school in Atlanta, and that’s why I opened the store,” Smith said. “I had plenty of inventory, and I didn’t need to buy anything to get started. It was ready to go.” Smith sells objects from all over, including vintages and antiques. Some pertain to Elk Park’s history and some of it revolves around situations, occurrences or even movies that have taken place in Elk Park. For example, the 1974 movie Where the Lilies Bloom was filmed in Elk Park, focusing on a family of children in the Appalachian Mountains who are trying to survive the poverty that has fallen upon them. Smith has a lot of
Elk Park recently got a Dollar General right near Main Street, and it is the only chain business that the town has. “When you have a Dollar General, you know,” Steve Brinkley said, “you’re really sailing.”
memorabilia from this movie in her store on Main St. “You’ll recognize a lot of the scenery, and it was a big deal about Elk Park, that a movie was filmed here,” Smith said. “In fact, one of my friends had a speaking part in the movie and still gets a small royalty check whenever it plays.” Along with this, Smith has a section of the original Tweetsie Railroad track that she claims is one of her most prized possessions. “I have about a 12 foot section of the old Tweetsie Railroad train track,” Smith said, “and it came off of what we know as Stateline Hill.” Smith thinks a place like Elk Park,
with so much history and an amazing community, should have as many antiques and antique stores as possible. “The more shops we have, the better we can become because we aren’t in competition with each other,” Smith said. “Even though we are all in the same business of antiques, none of us are likely to have the same inventory.”
A Day in the Life A day in the life of Elk Park looks different for everyone. Some people get up and go to work at the Mini Market or the Dollar General or Sissy’s Ole County House. For all of us residents, we wake up to the sights and sounds of
a true mountain home – a sun peeking through the clouds as it rises over the distant mountains, trees rustling in the wind with their leaves dancing against one another, birds chirping, dogs barking, squirrels and chipmunks scuttling up and down trees. As I make my commute from my home in Elk Park to my job in Boone, I wind my way through the curvy roads of upper neighborhoods in Elk Park that take me across gravel, through the trees and past a variety of dogs who roam freely but have the whole town of Elk Park looking out for them. Rabbits race across the road and hide in the brush. I pass people sitting on their porches, enjoying the ever-brighten-
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ing morning sky, sipping their morning coffee from the Mini Market, talking to each other in a way that a lot of people nowadays don’t anymore. While Elk Park was once a booming town full of hotels, liveries, stores, businesses and all sorts of people, things kind of changed after the railroad left the area. However, that doesn’t mean that Elk Park has lost its heart, and it definitely hasn’t lost its beauty, its community and the atmosphere that keeps all of us around and loving every minute of it. Today, Elk Park is smaller, consisting of a main street full of antique shops, a hardware store and a post office. Trosly Farm, an organic farm owned by Kaci and Amos Nidiffer, is located at 95 Peter Harding Ln. in Elk Park. Along with this, the small town has the Elk Park Mini Market, Rockin’ Locks, two
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restaurants—Sissy’s Ole County House and Betty and Carol’s Place, located on Highway 19E on the way to Tennessee—a fire department and a Dollar General that just came around last year. “We have a Dollar General around here now, and that makes us all pretty happy,” said Jane Smith, owner and operator of Main Street Antiques, which happens to be located right across the street from the Dollar General. Most residents feel the same way about the Dollar General, the most modern store within the Elk Park city limits. “When you have a Dollar General, you know,” Steve Brinkley, owner of Brinkley Hardware, said, “you’re really sailing.” On top of the Dollar General, Elk Park is also home to the Elk River Falls, a beautiful, natural waterfall that attracts
October / November 2017
tourists from all over. “I’m so grateful that we have that here,” Smith said. “That’s reason enough to come to Elk Park.” According to Smith, part of a movie starring Josh Brolin was filmed at the Elk River Falls. The movie, The Legend of the White Tail Deer Hunter, is set to release in December of this year. “They were here about two years ago filming at the Falls,” Smith said. “If you go to the Falls, and you see the stairway down there, they built that to transport and carry their equipment while they were filming there.” The 50-foot waterfall provides beautiful scenery and also a place for locals and tourists to visit to swim and sunbathe on the rocks. Getting to the Falls isn’t difficult either as it is an easy five minute walk to the stunning waterfall. Swimming in the waterfall pool is fully acceptable, but due to recent injuries and deaths, it is strongly recommended that visitors of the waterfall do not jump off the top of the waterfall. What the future holds for Elk Park is unknown, but regardless of what comes and goes, the town will continue to thrive off of the community. With locals supporting local businesses and everyone knowing everyone, businesses are sure to flourish and people are sure to remain in this town where everyone is family. Residents, regardless of the size and isolation of Elk Park, love their home and their friends, family and neighbors. Although the town isn’t renowned throughout Avery County, the High Country and especially not the state, that doesn’t take away from the charm and the homey atmosphere of the town where everyone still says hello and asks how you’re doing when you pass them in the store. Elk Park is the representation of a time gone past, a time that society has left behind. The aspects of the nation that grandparents brag about and nostalgically think back upon manifest themselves right there in the town that rests almost on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. “I wouldn’t pick anywhere else in the world to live,” Steve Brinkley said. “This is a great little town.” t
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From the Blue Ridge to the Juke Joints
With the King Bees at the forefront, artists and fans show the love at the 15th annual New River Blues Festival in 2017.
The King Bees Celebrate 30 Years Story by Jesse Wood • Photography by Frederica Georgia 74
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Clockwise: Harmonica great ‘Chicago’ Bob Nelson featuring the King Bees with David Barbour on drums in 1989; Penny “Queen Bee” Zamagni with mentor and Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame member Bo Diddley in 1992; the King Bees at the Bluesin’ Lanaken Festival in Belgium with Otis Ward and Diamond Jim Green in 1995; and the King Bees with mentor and friend Jerry ‘Boogie’ McCain at the W.C. Handy Home and Museum in Muscle Shoals, Ala., in 1991. Etta Baker and Chick Willis
P
enny “Queen Bee” Zamagni and Rob “Hound Dog” Baskerville are known as the “White Kids on the Chitlin’ Circuit.” For years, that’s where this couple from lily-white Ashe County cut their musical teeth, studying under and backing up legendary blues musicians like Jerry ‘Boogie’ McCain out of northern Alabama, Big Jack Johnson in Clarksdale, Miss., and ‘Chicago’ Bob Nelson, who was born in Louisiana but received his nickname up North from Muddy Waters himself. October / November 2017
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Penny “Queen Bee” Zamagni and Rob “Hound Dog” Baskerville have hosted the New River Blues Festival on the banks of the river for 15 years. Ashe County is home for the couple.
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ited in the early days The husbandin search of the “realand-wife duo met deal” bluesmen offer in the High Country a setting to fascinating through the local mutales, as Baskerville and sic scene in the ‘80s. Zamagni described in a They both loved the chapter to Emily D. Edblues and fell in love with wards’ 2016 book, Bars, Blues each other, too. Around the and Booze: Stories from the Drink time they met in 1985, BaskerHouse. ville and Zamagni put away the records One of their first crazy ideas was to track and, being young and naïve enough, began cold calling some of their musical idols list- down Big Jack Johnson in Mississippi. They followed the leged in the CD liner endary musician notes. around as he drove “If we couldn’t an oil truck during find their telephone his day job. Afternumber, we’d drive wards, Johnson to Mississippi or took the couple to a Alabama. It was nameless juke joint nothing for us to in Helena, Miss., jump in a van and which had an exdrive to Mississippi posed industrial and chase people fan in the middle down and go placof the dance floor es, we probably had David Brewer, musician and sit-in just waiting to slice no business going,” drummer with The King Bees up a tipsy dancer, Baskerville said. which thankfully First impressions included some snickers or tests from never happened. In Florida, there was a now-defunct the elder bluesmen. But after recognizing the couple’s dedication, fascination and respect nightclub located in an old Negro Leagues baseball clubhouse. for authentic blues The historic baseball music, these musicians field still existed next took the young couto the club. Located ple under their wings. off of a bumpy, dirt Pretty soon, Baskerroad in Tallahassee, ville and Zamagni’s Dave’s CC Club was phone began ringing. a “beautiful, heartfelt, “Some of them were soulful idea,” Baskgetting on in age and erville told Edwards, were elderly, but they even if they didn’t alwere still down there ways get paid or know playing juke joints. when a neighborhood It was so cool,” Zamusician was going to magni recalled. “We takeover a set. started to meet these Then there was a folks in our art and pool hall in a seedy trade, you know, and side of Athens, Ga., got to be friends with with a one-armed, a lot of people. As we harmonica-playing sounded better, we bouncer. That felstarted getting calls to low turned out to be back them up on the Neal Pattman, who road.” the King Bees ended The venues visRob Baskerville trusty guitar
“You have to look no further than the front row of the New River Blues Festival to discern that the King Bees are able to bring together a lot of different people. I think that’s a real skill.”
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The King Bees are rock stars in Europe, where people generally know more about American folk music than Americans. This past summer they toured Sweden and were treated great by the Swedish. In yesteryears, the King Bees (left) play at The Folk Club in Milan, Italy in 1996 and in Hengelo, Holland in 1995 with Martin Henderson on drums.
Shrimp City Slim Reviews King Bees’ Pollenatin’ Record
R
eleased in 1999, The King Bees released Pollenatin’ featuring Jerry “Boogie” McCain, “Chicago” Bob Nelson, Roy Roberts and Neal Pattman. In the liner notes, Shrimp City Slim, a musician and producer based in Charleston, S.C., wrote the following: “Fresh from the piney wilds of North Carolina, here they are … the King Bees, for over nine years one of the Tarheel State’s hardest working blues and roots units, ready to put a slip in your backbone and a twitch in your dancing shoes. This time around, be sure … they pollenatin’! The King Bees made their big opening statement with ‘Boggie Buzz,’ their 1995 disc also on Tramp, fat with greasy blues and boogie and fueled by the everpudkish blues harp of the acclaimed Jerry ‘Boogie’ McCain. Two European tours helped open an overseas market for them and all indications are that the sky is the limit. Jerry McCain is back, brilliantly, with the Bees this time around, as are their other blues gurus: harpmaster ‘Chicago’ Bob Nelson, fellow Carolinian guitarslinger Roy Roberts and Neal ‘Big Daddy’ Pattman, whose gutbucket ‘Prisoner Blues’ is a highlight on this record. The Bees cut their teeth backing and touring with these veterans and now with ‘Pollenatin,’ they cavort symbiotically and equally with their heroes on an even dozen rockin’ gems. Queen Bee Zamagni has apparently been hard at work at her songwriting. Her nine tunes smack of blues creativity and help to present the band in a number of settings. Check out the retro/futuristic bent of ‘Stuck in a Groove’ 78
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or the sashaying rhumba of ‘Plenty Big Love.’ ‘Poisonous’ is as mean as it has to be and ‘A Little Light’ almost brings a bit of church onto the album. ‘It’s Tight’ sure enough is and ‘Run Your Reputation Down’ already has me looking for the city limits of my own little town! One collaboration with Hound Dog, a slice of Bessie, and Big Daddy’s romp make for a blues domino effect that will kick your fanny and leave you smilin’. For this project, the band has also enlisted two seasoned drummers and a pair of intuitive keyboard players … great arrangements abound throughout. As for all that ferocious guitar playing on ‘Pollenatin’, look no further than the man himself, Hound Dog Baskerville, who arrives with a trailerload of hot licks and vintage tone. Hound Dog’s passionate but daredevilish fretwork on this album will surely move him further into the ranks of blues guitar heroism … just watch yourself around those showers of sparks flying from his solos! Maybe what I like and respect the most about the King Bees is that they have so lovingly embraced the blues in all its traditional power and creative potential. Paying tribute to the roots is one thing, but moving the form forward is something else indeed. In the hands of players like the Bees, the future of the blues is … as my grandpappy used to say, ‘snug as a bug in a rug.’ If the King Bees ever buzz into your town, catch ‘em alive. In the meantime, what you got here is a party in a box. Move back the furniture, invite the neighbors over and get ready to have some fun with the King Bees … believe you me, they pollenatin’.”
Aside from the backwater locales, the King Bees have played prestigious concert halls like the Lincoln Center in New York City, festivals throughout the U.S. and venues all across Europe. up befriending and later played gigs with and on albums together. Once, Pattman visited Rob and Penny’s home in the High Country in the ‘90s, the elder bluesman had to be coaxed inside. Born in the 1920s, Pattman was afraid because he’d never spent the night in a white person’s home before. “It’s not just about the bandstand,” Baskerville said. “The people who we mentored with had obstacles that I could never imagine and yet they are the ones who were able to get through the racism and discrimination and have incredibly positive attitudes and be fabulous at their craft. To think, some of these people went through some things no one should have to go through, and they used music to transcend all of it.” Aside from the backwater locales, the King Bees have played prestigious concert halls like the Lincoln Center in New York City, festivals throughout
Penny “Queen Bee” Zamagni jams with Roy Roberts at the New River Blues Festival. Roberts, who has played in Ashe County several times and has known the King Bees for two decades, has toured with some wesome musicians over the years: Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, Dee Clark, Stevie Wonder and Eddie Floyd, who was part of The Falcons with Wilson Pickett in The Falcons before there was the Motown Sound.
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Ike Woods of Ike and Val Woods gets the crowd on their feet at a recent New River Blues Festival on the banks of the New River. the U.S. and venues all across Europe, where fans treat the King Bees like rock stars and in some respects are more knowledgeable about American roots music than Americans. Whether backing up blues legends or headlining a show themselves, the King Bees have been pleasing crowds for 30 years. After so many years on the road, the King Bees have certainly settled down somewhat from a grueling touring schedule, but they still play plenty of shows. This past summer – before putting on another blues festival in Ashe County – the King Bees toured Sweden, where they were again well received in Europe. They also headlined the Oxford Blues Festival in Mississippi and performed at the Library Bar in Macon, Ga., famous for being the first place the Allman Brothers gigged. The King Bees officially formed in 1987, and over the years, they’ve toured and/or sat in with some of the blues greats like Bo Diddley, Tinsley Ellis, Neal Pattman, Chuck Willis, Billy Branch, Carey Bell, Nappy Brown, Mojo Buford, Thomas ‘Guitar’ Gable, Sam Carr, Frank Frost, Charlie Bristol, Lazy Lester, Ronnie Earl, and, of course, the aforemen80
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The audience enjoys some blues music on a pretty day in the mountains. For the past 15 years, the King Bees and Donovan Murray have brought world-class blues to Appalachia with this festival that’s held on the grounds of the River House Inn, a bed and breakfast, in Grassy Creek, Ashe County.
October / November 2017
tioned Big Jack Johnson, Jerry ‘Boogie’ McCain, Neil Pattman and ‘Chicago’ Bob Nelson. In 2005, the King Bees were especially honored to be apart of B.B. King’s 80th Birthday Tour. “They have shared the stage with some household names,” said David Brewer, a musician who has backed up the King Bees on drums for the past decade in the High Country, “and they’ve certainly been schooled by some of the real nitty-gritty blues and folk people to have ever taken the stage.” Brewer, who plays in several popular bands in the High Country and organizes the up-and-coming Carolina Ramble and Reunion in Bethel each September, said he admires Penny and Rob for not only making the extra effort to find those bluesmen down South in the age before the internet but also maintaining excellence after all these years. He cited a musician’s mantra, “you’re only as good as your last show,” and noted that the King Bees haven’t been resting on their laurels – even if they’ve earned that right. “The King Bees are still hard at it 30 years later,” Brewer said. “They run just as hard after it now as they always have,
and I have immense respect for that.” Brewer mentioned that whether intentional or unintentional, the King Bees have a unifying aspect to their shows, which he said, “You have to look no further than the front row of the New River Blues Festival to discern that the King Bees are able to bring together a lot of different people. I think that’s a real skill,” Brewer said. “Pound for pound, no one is really more entertaining than them when they do their thing.”
Bringing the Chitlin’ Circuit to Ashe County
C hristmas magic is found
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In an effort to recognize the elder bluesmen and blueswomen who mentored the King Bees over the years and to pay homage to blues musicians that came before them, Zamagni and Baskerville created the New River Blues Festival with Donovan Murray in Ashe County. But there was also another goal: to introduce this part of Appalachia to world-class blues. It’s no secret that this part of the country isn’t very diverse. In fact, less than one percent of the population of Ashe County is black, making this an unlikely set-
Make the trek to the Boone & Blowing Rock area in Watauga County to hand pick your family Christmas tree. Many farms offer hayrides, farm animals, cookies and cocoa, and even Christmas Shops where wreaths and roping are also available. Visit the Choose and Cut Capital this season, and start your own family tradition.
To find a farm, visit: wataugachristmastrees.org or call 828.264.3061 October / November 2017
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Best Yet, 15th New River Blues Fest The same year the King Bees celebrated their 30th anniversary, the New River Blues Festival they founded in Ashe County celebrated its 15th anniversary. A two-sided coin, the festival both introduced blues artists to a white contingent in Ashe County and also pays respects to elder blues musicians who paved the way. Speaking after the festival, Penny “Queen” Zamagni said, “There was such a great turnout and all the artists were completely on their game and sounded great. It was the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the festival and 30th for the King Bees. Old time friends from long ago and new friends, too, came out. I think all of that coalesced to make it the best we’ve had so far.”
Caption: The following performed at the 15th annual New River Blues Fest in September 2017: (Top, from left): Lakota John, Donald Ceasar Bluz Emperor, Johnny Rawls, Sandra Hall (Bottom, from left): Ike Woods, Val Woods, Rob “Hound Dog” Baskerville, Penny “Queen Bee” Zamagni ting to host southern blues legends and luminaries. “The festival started as our way to pay our respects for that and bring them to where we live and introduce them to people who might not be that familiar with dedicated African-American blues – and they’ve loved it and wanted more,” Baskerville said. “It’s been a blessing that these elders, many of whom have passed, have taken us under their wing and recognized our respect and dedication to the music. 82
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It’s been an education for us to have these legendary people share their talents and insights with us and the opportunity to tour with them and get to know them has been a real blessing.” Zamagni added, “We just created the New River Blues Festival to let our friends hear this great music and [to showcase] our friends playing the blues for 50 years or more and to enjoy the beautiful scenic mountains and make new friends. It really means a lot to us. Each year that goes by,
October / November 2017
we are more gratified that people respond so strongly to the music and the artists and the basic vibe of bringing people together through music.” The very first New River Blues Festival featured Etta Baker, born in 1913 in Caldwell County and whose field recordings are said to have influenced Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal. Subsequent festivals have featured Carey Bell, Jerry “Boogie” McCain, Chicago ‘Bob’ Nelson, Nappy Brown, Howard Colbert, Neal Pattman and Chick
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One thing that the King Bees have learned over the years is showmanship. Compared to mastering an instrument and singing, which clearly Rob and Penny have accomplished, entertaining the crowd is another skill in and of itself. A dash of flair that the band usually employs is Rob’s ability to play guitar with a random objet. Here is an excerpt to a past story that David Brewer, a musician that sits in with King Bees, wrote in High Country Magazine in 2009: “Along the banks of the New River, Todd residents, The King Bees, are working a small but appreciative crowd. While Penny “Queen Bee” Zamagni holds down the groove with [me] the drummer, Rob “Hound Dog” Baskerville demonstrates one of his most tried and true tricks—playing guitar with objects submitted by members of the audience. A flip-flop? No problem. A hat? Sure. A bottle cap? No sweat. It’s a trick he’s employed at hundreds of shows with thousands of objects and it’s always a crowd pleaser.”
From juke joints, concert halls and European festivals, the King Bees have played in every type of venue you can imagine over the past 30 years. They’ve done headlining the gigs themselves and backing up legendary blues musicians. 84
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Willis – all legendary blues musicians that have since passed away. One blues great that’s still living and who has played the New River Blues Festival a few times is guitarist Roy Roberts. He has known Rob and Penny for two decades and called the New River Blues Festival a “nice little festival.” In the early ‘60s at the age of 18, Roberts moved to Greensboro to live with his uncle and soon realized he wanted to be a professional musician. Within a couple years, he was backing up major artists that came through town. He went on the road with the late, great Solomon Burke and picked up touring gigs with other greats like Otis Redding, Dee Clark, Stevie Wonder (when he was known as ‘Little’ Stevie Wonder) and Eddie Floyd, who played with Wilson Pickett in The Falcons, forerunners to the Motown Sound. He also fronted his band, The Roy Roberts Experience and released a record on Nina Simone’s NinaAndy label. “Oh, I like [the New River Blues Festival] man. It’s great,” Roberts said. “They’ve always done a great job, and it’s always been great to work with them.” Baskerville said Roberts has been a mentor not only on guitar but also on how to be a professional entertainer over the years. Roberts joked, “Yeah. He’s been stealing my licks for years and covering up his hands, so I can’t steal his.” Just like the King Bees and the New River Blues Festival in Grassy Creek have proved for years, Roberts said that music is capable of bringing folks together, folks who might have different backgrounds and cultures. “Well, there’s so much craziness going on this day and time with people. It’s just ridiculous, but usually music is the type of thing that can draw people together. It always has. Whether your black or white, it don’t matter,” Roberts said. “Music just seems like it can draw people together.” Baskerville credits the success and longevity of both the festival and the King Bees to their dedication to southern roots music and to Penny’s dedication to their fans. After being on stage for hours with her bass and wearing out her superb voice, Penny will take the time to talk and get to know fans that have supported the band. “It never ceases to amaze me,” he said. That’s not all, though, that amazes Baskerville after all these years. For one, a festival dedicated to authentic blues music continues to thrive in bluegrass country after 15 years, and two, this husband-and-wife band is still together 30 years later. Not bad for a couple white kids who stepped away from the record player and went down South in search of the heart and soul of the blues. t
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Parting Shot...
By
Lonnie Webster
321 Widening is Finally Finished … Well Just About
T
he U.S. 321 widening project through Blowing Rock feels as if it’s been an eternity. Though the entire project isn’t finished, the final inch of asphalt was put down this summer along what’s known as the “town section,” from the Tanger Outlets to the furniture gallery. Construction began more than five years ago and within about a year the original contractor went bankrupt. Design modifications and winter weather delayed construction by at least one year, and when excavating for the road widening, underground utilities and retaining walls, crews ran into what the N.C. Department of Transportation described as unforeseeable infrastructure problems and difficult rock. In time, frustration boiled over for citizens and business owners as project extensions were granted and previous completion deadlines became void. At a Blowing Rock Civic Association-sponsored meeting with the NCDOT, former Councilman Dan Phillips expressed, “The general feeling by citizens is ‘I don’t care what the excuses are.’ The Chesapeake Bay Bridge was built in 42 months.” That meeting was held more than two years ago when construction was entering its 40th month. Originally, the entire U.S. 321 widening project was set to be complete in October 2015 with the Blowing Rock portion to be done by April 2014. Numerous extensions were granted after Maymead took over the contract initially given to Taylor & Murphy. At that meeting in 2015, the concern that the project would last into 2018 was voiced. That’s technically turning out to be true, according to a project update at the annual State of the 88
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Town meeting in Blowing Rock by Kipp Turner of Maymead. Turner mentioned that final road markings and permanent signage would be complete soon for the town section. He also noted that the NCDOT recently decided to add a new traffic signal at the South Main Street intersection with the highway. Turner noted that the installation of light poles and landscaping along U.S. 321 aren’t officially part of the widening project, which was originally contracted for $66.4 million but has run up to $71.8 million as of Aug. 31. The installation of light poles and landscaping are in the works. As for the non-town section that extends to Blackberry Road, Turner said that crews are pushing to be in a four-lane pattern by the end of the year throughout the entire stretch. Though he cautioned that the final layer of asphalt for the “mountain” section will likely occur in the spring because of temperature requirements. Either way, the finish line is in sight. Soon, all the delays, orange cones and frustration will be just a memory. Mayor J.B. Lawrence recalled that this widening project “almost tore the town apart” when it was initially broached in 1990. “This has been a long journey and one I am happy to see the end arrive,” Lawrence said. “I think it looks great. For all the naysayers in the beginning, I don’t think the town has shriveled up and died since we began construction. I think it’s going to be a great thing for the town and High Country to have two major thoroughfares, east and south, being four lane.” By Jesse Wood
JEANS / LEATHER and CUSTOM JACKETS / BOOTS / MUCH MORE Introducing Our New Line of Boots
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WATSONATTA WESTERN WORLD 8 ,JOH 4USFFU t %PXOUPXO #PPOF t t XXX CPPOFCPPUT DPN October / November 2017
High Country Magazine
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High Country Magazine
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October / November 2017