High Country Magazine | Vol 6 Issue 4 | February/March 2011

Volume 6 • Issue 4 February / March 2011

SNOW CREAM The Yummy Winter Treat Made With A Little Help From Mother Nature

APPALACHIAN ICE CLIMBING GET OUT WHILE THE GETTING’S GOOD WINTER’S SMALL ARMY THE SNOW PLOWS LOWELL HAYES AN ARTIST’S VOICE FOR CHANGING LANDSCAPES

ALSO INSIDE :

DIVERSITY CELEBRATION • BOONE BOWLING • southern skiing FACING 50

DI A N N E DAVA N T & A S S O C I AT E S Excellence By Design Since 1979

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B

High Country Magazine

Februar y / March 2011

Sugar Mountain Resort 1009 Sugar Mountain Drive Sugar Mountain, NC 28604 828-898-4521

SkiSugar .com Februar y / March 2011

High Country Magazine

1

Olde

A ntiques on howArd

est. 1919

Sundries

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When you get serious about wanting superior, knowledgeable service in buying or selling real estate in our beautiful High Country, then contact Banner Elk’s oldest full time brokerage firm. Put 31 years experience in our local real estate market to work for you!

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High Country Magazine

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31

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Februar y / March 2011

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16 C O N T E N T S

16

Ice Climbing

24

Artist Lowell Hayes

32

Winter’s Small Army

40

Boone Bowling Center

48

Diversity Celebration

53

4

It can be daunting and dangerous, but the planning and natural circumstances required for ice climbing make it one of the most satisfying and fulfilling of outdoor adventures. Read about the conditions and tools needed and the prime locations for this sport.

24

From the TVA dam that buried his childhood home under water to the vanishing hemlocks that will undoubtedly transform ecosystems, much of artist Lowell Hayes’ work has dealt with changing Appalachian landscapes.

Through his mixed media paintings, Hayes is both advocate and explorer.

These past two winters have all of us thankful for the people who drive the snow plows. Boone’s Public Works director responsible for snow removal shares information about the equipment, time and efforts necessary to keep local streets clear and business moving as usual.

32

Bowling is the number one participation sport in the United States, and for High Country residents interested in the activity, the Boone Bowling Center makes it easy for people to try their hand at that perfect 300 score. From leagues to lessons, bowling is something anyone can do—just take 91-year-old Vilas resident Gilbert Williams, for example.

Around 30 different cultures are celebrated and explored as part of the 10th anniversary of Appalachian State University’s Diversity Celebration, an annual event to emphasize diversity as a vital part of living and working in a global society.

40

Looking Ahead to Skiing’s 50th

on the cover

In a challenge to area movers and shakers, writer and outdoor enthusiast Randy Johnson reminds us that 2012 will be the 50th anniversary of ski resorts in the High Country.

Let’s start planning a regional celebration and let the nation know what Southern skiing is all about.

Local photographer James Fay took this photograph

High Country Magazine

Februar y / March 2011

of a perfect bowl of snow cream. He has shot photos everywhere from NFL football games to inside the White House. James is a co-owner of Flying Rooster Photography, shooting weddings, sports, music, food and portraiture. To get in touch with James or to see more of his work, click to www.FlyingRooster.net.

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. We publish the newspaper weekly and currently publish the magazine seven times a year. Both are free, and we distribute the newspaper and magazine in Watauga and Avery counties. Our newspaper is packed with information that we present and package in easy-to-read formats with visually appealing layouts.

The 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 downtown Boone, and our doors are always open to welcome visitors.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

We are now offering subscriptions to High Country Magazine. A one-year subscription for seven issues costs $40, and we will mail issues to subscribers as soon as they arrive at our offices from the printer. To subscribe, call our offices at 828-264-2262.

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.

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.

ADVERTISING

Obtain information about advertising in our publications from our sales representatives by calling 828-264-2262 or emailing us at sales@highcountrypress.com.

Contact us at:

High Country Press/Magazine P.O. Box 152 130 North Depot Street Boone, NC 28607 www.highcountrypress.com info@highcountrypress.com 828-264-2262 Februar y / March 2011

High Country Magazine

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FROM T H E PUB L ISH ER

A Publication Of High Country Press Editor & Publisher Ken Ketchie Creative Director Courtney Cooper Senior Graphic Artist Tim Salt Prepress Color Technician Patrick Pitzer Ken Ketchie

Say It Ain’t So, Ray . . .

W

hew…who knew? Two years in a row! We got walloped again this year with winter weather in December and January with record snows and cold. And you know whose fault it is? Ray Russell. Yep, that guy from Ray’s Weather Center.com.

So far, up through the middle of February, we’ve had 57.5 inches of snow in Boone—and 120.5 inches has blanketed Beech. That’s getting close to the 83.5 inches of snow we had in Boone last season and only 17 inches from the 137.1 inches that Beech recorded. So much for “it can’t happen two years in a row.”

And this is the funny part: I like the way we all seemed to have blamed this second coming of a wicked winter on Ray—everyone’s favorite weatherman. After all, heading into this winter, Ray was assuring us in his 10th annual Fearless Forecast that it was to be a normal winter with perhaps even slightly milder temperatures than normal. So after last year, this was sounding pretty good.

But then the snows started the first week in December and didn’t let up. And that was when Ray started getting the blame…Ray this, Ray that. By January 13, Ray had even thrown in the towel with his forecast—burying it in a pile of snow out behind his garage, as he reported on his Facebook page, “with as much dignity as he could muster, the Old Man gathered up the sad remains of his shattered Fearless Forecast. Later that night, alone in the backyard, he buried it next to the garage.”

It really must be tough to be a weatherman. Folks depend on the forecasts for their planning. When forecasters get it wrong, people have a tendency to get upset. And around here, that means Ray’s name usually comes up in the weather conversation.

Ray Russell’s made quite a name for himself here in the High Country. For 10 years, he has been giving us the weather and built a prospering Internet business around his hobby that has turned into a full-blown enterprise. Ray’s name has become synonymous with weather, and everyone likes to talk about the weather. And that means a lot of people visit Ray’s website everyday—and many times during a day. In fact, this January, Ray’s website had the most visits ever, delivering 7,116,852 web pages during the month—a 19 percent increase over the previous record month. Looking back, that’s a tremendous increase from the 60,000 web pages that were viewed during his first February online in 2000.

As for his forecasting, Ray’s usually right. For the nine previous Fearless Winter Forecasts, Ray claims the grades of four As, three Bs, one C and only one F. Not bad at all.

So is blaming Ray a case of “shooting the messenger?” You know it is! We’re lucky to have Ray around with his entertaining and insightful weather forecasts.

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High Country Magazine

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Associate Editor Anna Oakes Advertising Sales Beverly Giles Contributing Writers Anne Baker Sally Treadwell Eric Crews Peter Morris

Contributing Photograhers James Fay Peter Morris Frederica Georgia Lynn Willis

High Country Magazine is produced by the staff and contributors of High Country Press newspaper, 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. © 2011 by High Country Press. All Rights Reserved.

Februar y / March 2011

High Country Magazine

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Calendarof Events Calendar # 1

FEBRUARY 2011 23-27

ASU Theatre: The Other Shore, Valborg Theatre, ASU,

6

6

24

24-27

What’s Cooking: Food for the Soul, Laurel Springs Baptist Church, Deep Gap, 828-262-1330 Oliver!, Benton Hall, 300 D Street, North Wilkesboro,

6

Lees-McRae Performing Arts: A Lie of the Mind,

11

26

Under Armour Rail Jam, Beech Tree Lodge,

www.3rdrailjam.com

26 26

Ladies Park Night, women have the terrain park all to

themselves, Appalachian Ski Mtn., 828-295-7828

Coffee House Talent Night, West Jefferson Methodist

13 17

27

28

Sugar Bear’s Birthday Celebration, March 6

Recess Wreck Less Rail Jam, Appalachian Ski Mtn.,

828-295-7828

Luck o’ the Lassie Fundraiser, Best Cellar and Inn at Ragged Gardens, Blowing Rock, 828-262-7557

Church Hensley Hall, 336-846-2787

American Tapestry,

combining music and art in a uniquely American way, Ashe Arts Center, West Jefferson, 336-846-2787

Hayes Auditorium, Lees-McRae College, Banner Elk, 828-898-8709

Sugar Bear’s Birthday Celebration, Sugar Mountain

Resort, 828-898-4521

336-838-7529 25-27

Richard T. Trundy Memorial Sugar Cup Competition,

giant slalom competition with proceeds benefiting American Cancer Society, Sugar Mountain Resort, 828-898-4521

828-262-3063

Boardercross Series Race, Beech Mountain Resort,

828-387-2011

Shred for the Cup: Rail Jam,

Appalachian Ski Mtn., 828-295-7828

“The Ugly Duckling,” Heritage Hall, Mountain City, Tenn., 423-727-7444

MARCH 2011

2

Russian National Ballet, Farthing Auditorium, ASU, 828-262-4046

2

2-3

8

4 4

Russian National Ballet, March 2

Corey Smith, musician blending blues, country and

Southern rock, Legends, ASU, 828-262-3030

19

PearlDamour with Shawn Hall: How to Build a Forest,

Valborg Theatre, ASU, 828-262-3028

Fresh Friday Jam Session, Appalachian Ski Mtn.,

23-26

828-295-7828

20

Easter Egg Hunt, Sugar Mountain Resort, 828-898-4521 Appalachian Dance Ensemble, Farthing Auditorium, ASU, 828-262-3063

Downtown Boone Art Crawl, downtown Boone galleries and businesses, 828-262-4532

High Country Magazine

Shred for the Cup: Slopestyle Finals, Appalachian Ski

Mtn., 828-295-7828

Februar y / March 2011

25-26

Draw-A-Thon, second annual event celebrates and promotes drawing, creativity, spontaneity and artistic collaboration, Turchin Center, ASU, 828-262-3017

26-27

Meltdown Games, Appalachian Ski Mtn., 828-295-7828

DON’T FORGET

EVENTS

Downtown Boone Art Crawl

March 4 and April 2

This monthly stroll through downtown Boone affords a welcome escape from the confines of the home during these especially-restless final months of winter. See old friends, eat dinner at local restaurants, spend a couple hours shopping, and of course, take in new exhibitions of art at downtown galleries and studios. The Art Crawl is always held on the first Friday evening of the month.

Easter Egg Hunt on the Slopes One of the most unique Easter egg hunts around takes place at Sugar Mountain Resort on Sunday, March 20, where kids can join Sugar Bear and Sweetie Bear on the slopes in search of prize-filled eggs. A lucky skier or snowboarder could find the egg containing a 2011-2012 Sugar Mountain season pass or the egg containing a $100 Scott gift card. The Easter egg hunt is for kids 12 and under only.

SUNDAY March 20

Spring Handmade Market A semiannual event at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in downtown Boone, the Boone Handmade Market features art, fashion, jewelry, pottery and anything handmade featuring artists and crafters of the High Country. The spring market will take place on Sunday, March 27.

SUNDAY March 27

Februar y / March 2011

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David Montgomery Lecture, March 29

Hypnotist Jim Wand, April 7

MARCH 2011

27 28 29

8

Spring Handmade Market, Turchin Center, ASU,

828-262-3017

8-10

Cantabile: The London Quartet, Ashe Civic Center,

West Jefferson, 336-846-2787

David Montgomery Lecture: Soils and the Sustainability of Civilizations, Farthing Auditorium,

9

Spring Fest, West Jefferson School Gym, free,

9

Easter Egg Festival and Hunt, Memorial Park,

2-3

6

14-16

Downtown Boone Art Crawl, downtown Boone galleries and businesses, 828-262-4532 Appalachian Young People’s Theatre: Drum Song of Africa, I.G. Greer Studio Theatre, ASU, 828-262-3063 828-295-4636

7

14-17

Rosen Installation Celebration Weekend, ASU campus, Blue Ridge Wine & Food Festival, Blowing Rock, 828-295-7851

15

Shooting Stars Talent Show, Farthing Auditorium, ASU, 828-268-1273

16

Diversity Celebration, Plemmons Student Union, ASU,

Artifacts Yard Sale, West Jefferson School gym,

336-846-2787

18

Terry Tempest Williams, Conservationist and Nature Writer, Broyhill Inn Powers Hall, ASU, 828-262-2683

22

Newland Car Show, downtown Newland, 828-260-3205

Hypnotist Jim Wand, Farthing Auditorium, ASU, 828-262-4046

ASU Theatre: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Valborg Theatre, ASU, 828-262-3063 828-262-3017

Trout Derby, American Legion Hall, Blowing Rock,

828-262-2144

336-846-2787

downtown Blowing Rock, 828-295-5222

APRIL 2011 1-3

Lees-McRae Performing Arts: Beguiled Again,

Hayes Auditorium, Lees-McRae College, Banner Elk, 828-898-8709

13-17

1

Acoustic Africa, Farthing Auditorium, ASU,

828-262-4046

ASU, 828-262-2683

Terry Tempest Williams, April 18

Acoustic Africa, April 8 10

High Country Magazine

Februar y / March 2011

DON’T FORGET

EVENTS

Blowing Rock Trout Derby The opening of trout season always begins with the annual Trout Derby in Blowing Rock, a two-day fishing event with headquarters at the American Legion Hall downtown.

This year’s derby takes place Saturday and Sunday, April 2 and 3. Prizes are awarded for the biggest fish caught in separate age categories. Trout must be taken from Watauga County public trout waters.

APRIL 2 and 3

ining 5 Star D he Prices without t al in a Casu re!

Atmosphe ining All Day D

970 Rivers Street • 828-264-7772 • w w w. c a f e p o r t o fi n o . n e t

Shooting Stars Talent Show FRIDAY

April 15

Find out if your neighbor is going to be the next national superstar at the Watauga Education Foundation’s annual Shooting Stars talent show, held at Farthing Auditorium on Friday, April 15. The night of diverse entertainment— including dancing, singing, acting and more—is a fundraiser for the important programs of the foundation.

Blue Ridge Wine & Food Festival The Blue Ridge Wine & Food Festival keeps getting bigger and bigger, as the festival expands to five days in 2011. Taking place from Wednesday to Sunday, April 13 to 17, the Blowing Rock festival features wine tastings, winemakers’ dinners, cooking classes, wine seminars, entertainment, champagne brunches and the final rounds of the Fire of the Rock Chef Challenge, an “Iron Chef”-style competition.

APRIL 13 to 17

Serving

Lunch & Dinner

Restaurant, 828-898-TXLA (8952)

Open 11:30 am daily - Located in the Center of Village Shoppes One block from the stoplight in Banner Elk Februar y / March 2011

High Country Magazine

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mountain

echoes

Insider tips, fascinating facts, conversation starters and fun stuff to do

Blue Ridge Wine & Food Festival April 13 to 17

W

ine and food lovers should mark their

be available for tasting from North Carolina

calendars for the Blue Ridge Wine &

wineries, as well as vineyards around the globe.

Food Festival, held in downtown Blowing Rock 4Wednesday to Sunday, April 13 to 17.

Catch the two Fire on the Rock Chef Challenge Semifinal rounds as well on Saturday,

The festival will open on Wednesday with a

held at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at the Hayes

taste of Australia, so kick off your time in Blow-

Performing Arts Center. The “Iron Chef” style

ing Rock with your mate and come to Chetola

cooking competition features some of the

2011 Schedule of Events

Resort at 6:00 p.m. for food, wine and fun.

area’s best chefs, so don’t miss this culinary

Wednesday, April 13

Following opening night, Thursday and Fri-

battle on stage.

Finishing out Saturday eve-

day will feature festival favorites:

• Uncork the Festival—Australian food and wine at Chetola Resort, 6:00 p.m.

wine seminars and cooking class-

ning will be a Vintage Murder

es, held across town in several

Mystery, an Ensemble Stage

• Downtown activities and shopping all day

different locations. Seminars in-

benefit event held at 10:00 p.m.

• Cooking classes & wine seminars, times vary

clude Wine, Food & Spice Pairing,

at Crippen’s Country Inn & Res-

• Winemaker dinners in the evening

Wine & Cheese, Wine & Chocolate,

taurant. This interactive event will

• Bartenders Brawl

Values From Around the World,

feature dessert and wine tastings.

Saki & Sushi and the Best Wines

The festival will wrap up on Sun-

You’ve Never Heard Of. Classes

day with champagne brunches at

include the Art of Garnish: Fruit &

local restaurants and the Fire on

Vegetable Carving.

the Rock Final in the Hayes Performing Arts Center at 2:00 p.m.

Plan a downtown lunch or shopping around your classes of choice. For dinner on

Other events throughout the festival

Thursday and Friday, visit local restaurants as

include a free gallery stroll downtown, live

they pair up with wineries to present multi-

musical performances at several popular area

course dinners. Friday will also feature a Festi-

restaurants and a Bartenders Brawl at local bars

val Meet & Greet, where attendees can join VIPs

during the evening on Friday and Saturday,

in the Grand Tasting tent downtown from 3:00

where you can watch the best bartenders in

to 5:00 p.m. You will have the chance to meet

town create new drinks on the spot and then

winemakers, cookbook authors, food critics

purchase samples to try them out.

Thursday, April 14

Friday, April 15 • Downtown activities and shopping all day • Cooking classes & wine seminars, times vary • Winemaker dinners in the evening • Meet & Greet on Maple Street, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

• Gallery Stroll downtown from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.

• Bartenders Brawl • Late night music and entertainment around town Saturday, April 16 • Downtown activities and shopping all day • Grand Wine Tasting on Maple Street, noon to 4:00 p.m.

• Fire on the Rock Chef Semifinals at the Hayes Performing Arts Center, 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

• Vintage Murder Mystery at Crippen’s, 10:00 p.m.

Ticket prices vary, so be sure to click to

and more.

The Grand Tasting—the pinnacle of the festival—will happen Saturday on Maple Street

www.blueridgewinefestival.com or call 828-

• Late night music and entertainment around town

295-7851 for more information.

from noon to 4:00 p.m. Hundreds of wines will

By Anne Baker Sunday, April 17 • Champagne brunches • Fire on the Rock Finale at the Hayes Performing Arts Center, 2:00 p.m.

12

High Country Magazine

Februar y / March 2011

mountain

How to Make Snow Cream

I

f your Mom didn’t teach you how to

Snow Cream with Eggs*

make snow cream as a kid or you don’t

Eggs

remember how, here are a couple of variations. For the freshest snow, place a large, clean bowl outside to collect the flakes during a snowstorm.

Snow Ice Cream 8 cups snow 1 can sweetened condensed milk

echoes

Milk or cream Vanilla Fresh, clean snow Beat 2 eggs in a large bowl. Add 2 cups milk or cream, 1 1/2 cups sugar and 3 tablespoons vanilla. Mix together and add enough fresh, clean snow to create the proper consis-

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

tency. Serve in a dish or ice cream cone.

Place snow or shaved ice into a large

*Food safety experts advise against using raw eggs

bowl. Pour condensed milk over and add

in any food product that will not be cooked because

vanilla. Mix to combine. Serve immediately

of the danger of salmonella bacteria present in raw

in bowls.

eggs.

By Anna Oakes

EXPERIENCE THE LUXURY OF LEATHER .

Wesley Hall VISIT OUR SHOWROOM THURS-SAT OR BY APPOINTMENT • 828-898-6110 • TOLL -F REE: 1-866-561-5858 V ILLAGE OF S UGAR M OUNTAIN • BANNER ELK, N ORTH C AROLINA Located in the Village of Sugar Mountain, on Hwy 184. Turn at the entrance of Sugar Mountain Ski Resort onto Sugar Mtn Drive, second right onto Dick Trundy Lane, first building on the left.

Februar y / March 2011

www.maplesleather.com High Country Magazine

13

mountain

echoes

Robert Plant Is Coming to MerleFest The singer has led a productive, successful career after fronting one of the greatest rock bands in history.

R

ecently, MerleFest announced that it has added Robert Plant and the Band of Joy to the lineup of its 2011 festival, taking

place Thursday to Sunday, April 28 to May 1, on the campus of Wilkes Community College. Band of Joy is Plant’s new project with Americana stalwarts Patty Griffin, Darrell Scott, Byron House, Buddy Miller and Marco Giovino. Most famous for his years as the leader singer of British rock band Led Zeppelin, Plant continues to have a fruitful musical career.

1967

Plant left home, left college and turned professional

1968

Following Bonham’s death, the members of Led Zeppelin part ways

Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Plant form Led Zeppelin

1980

1994

Ensemble Stage Company

T

Plant reunites with Jimmy Page to record “MTV Unplugged.” The sessions yield new material for Page and Plant’s No Quarter project, a blend of North African, Egyptian and New Wave folk roots sounds

1966

he Ensemble Stage Company has been busy during its first two years producing

The company has presented holiday variety shows at Christmas, game shows and music concerts at Blowing Rock’s Winterfest in

year-round, from comedies to radio plays to

January and a sold-out murder mystery dinner

game shows to mur-

show at Crippen’s

der mystery dinner

as part of the Blue

theatre.

Ridge Wine and Food Festival in April. The

For its efforts, the

group also holds

Blowing Rock Cham-

staged and informal

ber of Commerce

play readings.

recently presented

One goal of the

the company with its

acting company has been a desire to be community-driven, which is reflected on its web-

The company, based in Blowing Rock, formed late in summer 2009 and shortly after produced a staged radio play, War of the Worlds, at the Blowing Rock School Auditorium.

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High Country Magazine

2010 Plant revives the Band of Joy name for a collaboration with Patty Griffin, Darrell Scott, Byron House, Buddy Miller and Marco Giovino. Band of Joy is released in September

Heard of ‘em? Well, you should have.

a broad range of live theatrical presentations

2010 Award for Cultural Enrichment.

Plant and bluegrass artist Alison Krauss release Raising Sand, which wins five Grammy awards, including Album of the Year

The members of Led Zeppelin are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Plant makes his solo debut with the album Pictures at Eleven

Plant forms Band of Joy with John Bonham

2007

1995

1982

site, where patrons can sometimes vote on the types of performances they would like to see.

A lot is planned for the future. In February,

Februar y / March 2011

Ensemble Stage won the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce 2010 Cultural Enrichment Award.

March and April the company will present acting classes for children and adults, as well as informal play readings. An interactive murder mystery dinner will again take place as part of this year’s Blue Ridge Wine and Food Festival in April, and the company will produce staged plays this summer. Summer theatre camps for children are also planned. For more info about Ensemble Stage Company, call 828-919-6196 or click to www.ensemblestage.com.

By Anna Oakes

mountain

echoes

Fire on the Rock Turns Up the Heat This Winter

F

ire on the Rock is back—giving High Country

a six-course meal while deciding which chefs should

residents another taste of competition dining at

advance to the next round. Each dish must incorporate what Crippen calls a “secret ingredient,” challenging

its best.

the chefs to get creative with their culinary skills.

Jimmy Crippen, owner of Crippen’s Country Inn & Restaurant, dreamed up the event six years ago, giv-

After the preliminary rounds, the final four

ing area chefs a chance to battle for culinary recogni-

chefs—and then the final two—will battle head-to-

tion and a $2,500 grand prize.

head on stage at the Hayes Performing Arts Center on Saturday and Sunday, April 16 and 17, during the Blue

“I wanted to bring ‘Iron Chef’ off the television

Ridge Wine & Food Festival in Blowing Rock.Chefs

and into the dining room,” Crippen said. “Instead of

will have one hour to impress area food critics who

watching judges eat the food and listening to their

will score each dish. Be sure to get your tickets for the

opinions, let’s all eat food ourselves and give our own

finals now, as many preliminary rounds sold out in

opinions. It becomes an entirely interactive competition judged by the diners.”

Crippen’s Country Inn, located at 239 Sunset Drive in Blowing Rock, hosts the 10 preliminary elimination rounds, and then the quarterfinals, each Tuesday and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in February and March.

For $39, plus tax, tip and beverage, diners can enjoy

February. Click to www.blueridgewinefestival.com for Jason Jarrell of Rowland’s crafted this pan-seared sea scallop with red curry

tickets for this live culinary show.

For more information about Fire on the Rock, or

during a Fire on the Rock preliminary

for reservations for the remaining preliminary and

battle in early February.

quarterfinal rounds, call Crippen’s Country Inn at 828295-3487 or click to www.fireontherock.com.

By Anne Baker

Februar y / March 2011

High Country Magazine

15

Jasyn Klamborowski climbs White Fang (WI3) at Big Lost Cove Cliffs in the Pisgah National Forest.

Opposite Page: (top) After establishing secure feet, Griffin Dodd places an ice screw to protect his lead climb of a frozen waterfall in the Wilson Creek area. (bottom) Pace Cooper ice bouldering on a small waterfall between Blowing Rock and Linville.

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High Country Magazine

Februar y / March 2011

Februar y / March 2011

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W

hen it comes to ice climbing in the Southeast, very few people here realize the potential. The hundreds of waterfalls, steep mountain creeks, and trickling cascades that draw tourists to the area every summer are the very same sources of water that become some of the best ice climbs in the entire Southeast when the conditions are right.

The formation of ice is a finicky thing.

For the perfect conditions to form, several factors must coincide. According to Ron Funderburke, an avid ice climber and the head climbing guide for Fox Mountain Guides, the ideal setup for ice to form comes when a moderately cold winter season follows a particularly wet autumn. The temperature should be very cold at night but rise to around freezing in the daytime to allow for the moisture in the ground to begin to drip down the rock face, thereby causing the ice formation to continue to grow. But if the air warms too much during the day, even up to tempera-

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High Country Magazine

tures around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the ice formation could begin to melt and collapse, leaving nothing more than a pile of shattered ice at the base of the climb.

Unlike rock climbing, in which the climbs are static, permanent routes up largely unchanging rock formations, ice climbing is a very unique sport. By its nature, ice is an ephemeral element, and the rapid changes that can occur in just one warm day mandate that ice climbers get out while the conditions are good in order to make the most of the short window of opportunities in the area.

For David Frye, an experienced ice climber who lives in Boone, getting prepared for the season in advance pays off big time. To get ready for the winter season, Frye spends time in the spring scouting various locations that he hopes would be climbable during the winter months, and the early work has paid off over the past few years.

ski top -rope climbs rie Williams-Klamborow

Februar y / March 2011

“Last year, I bought a guide to North Carolina waterfalls and spent the spring hiking out to different spots, scoping out north-facing waterfalls and trying to figure out which ones would be best,” Frye said. “When that last cold snap came in January of last year, everything froze and I was able to get on almost everything I had been scoping out.” The increasingly thick ice formations that have formed in the last two years has allowed Frye and other ice climbers in the region the rare opportunity to repeat some of the area’s many routes that are rarely climbed.

“Routes that I’ve been chasing for six or seven years froze up last year, and because of that we’ve been able to climb all kinds of routes that we weren’t sure would ever be climbable. Some of the ice has been way bigger than I’ve ever seen.”

But for those who don’t have the time to get out and explore potential ice routes

k, just beyond Rock" at Doughton Par along the seeping "Ice e Ridge Parkway. a closed gate on the Blu

Jon Jones fiddles in another ice screw during the first ascent of Don Gice in the Wilson Creek area below Grandfather Mountain.

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High Country Magazine

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The ice climbing mantra "keep the heels low" in action! Boots, gaiters and crampons, in that order, encompass the footwear category.

In addition to standard rock climbing equipment, the staples of ice climbing are boots, crampons, ice tools and ice screws. Gear photo by product photographer Heather Wagoner.

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High Country Magazine

Februar y / March 2011

in advance, one of the easiest ways to experience the sport and to get maximum enjoyment out of the experience is to hire a guide. Most guides have years of experience and are able to choose the right locations to ensure that the climbing conditions will be at their best. At the same time, when the conditions for ice climbing are right (meaning cold), the guide’s experience can often make the selected climb go faster, smoother and safer; in turn keeping the client moving, warm and having fun.

“It’s really easy to get cold when you are sitting at a belay for an hour,” Funderburke explained. “With a guide you can be sure that you’ll be moving fast and that you’ll spend the majority of your day climbing.”

While continual movement keeps a climber’s heart rate up and helps to keep him or her warm, the proper clothing and gear goes a long way in helping to keep climbers warm and safe. Mix frigid temps with occasional dripping water that happens when ice begins to melt, and the likelihood of an improperly dressed climber catching hypothermia or even frostbite goes up pretty quickly. In recent years, the advent of waterproof jackets and pants

specifically designed to be both warm and waterproof have helped climbers battle the unsavory combination of frigid temps and icy water.

“It really helps for beginner ice climbers to have the proper gear,” Funderburke said. “Having the proper gear and a good, solid partner can make all the difference in having an enjoyable day, versus being cold and miserable.”

Part of having the proper gear means maintaining an almost razor-like sharpness to the ice axes and crampons (shoe attachments) that climbers use in order to climb up nearly vertical ice. Before he begins each climb, Funderburke inspects his gear and uses a metal file to sharpen the points on his crampons and jagged teeth of his ice axe to make certain that they are as sharp as possible. Depending on the climb and type of terrain it ascends,

Jaysn Klamborowski utilizing the concepts of early season ice climbing in the Southeast— nighttime

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Roadside action just before Carver's Gap on Roan Mountain.

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High Country Magazine

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Ron Funderburke, head climbing guide for Fox Mountain Guides, leading a freestanding pillar of ice in western North Carolina. Photos this page by Dominic Smith

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High Country Magazine

Februar y / March 2011

Funderburke determines how many ice screws he’ll need to place on the route and racks them onto his climbing harness.

Prior to starting the climb, Funderburke ties into the rope, talks to his climbing partner about what to expect on the route and then begins to climb.

He begins by swinging the ice axe into the ice with a hammer-like motion. Each swing creates a barrage of falling ice chunks as his axe collides with the frozen wall and deflects. After a few unsuccessful swings of the axe, Funderburke sinks the axe into the ice, and it sticks firmly, making a satisfying thud, evidence that Funderburke has achieved a solid placement with his axe.

He grips the curved handle of the ice axe and begins to pull himself up. As he does he kicks his crampons into the ice column, and the jagged metal spikes that protrude from the front of his boots stick firmly into the ice. His other arm reaches as high as it can and swings his other axe into the wall, and the process continues on with Funderburke making slow, steady progress in the challenge. Once he achieves a certain height above the ground and gains a solid stance in a good position on the wall,

he takes the time to place an ice screw, a six-inch-long screw that is about an inch in diameter that will protect him from hitting the ground should he slip and fall. On this particular climb, a 50-foot-tall vertical wall of thick ice, Funderburke takes his time climbing, stopping along the way to place six screws for protection, and reaches the top of the wall after about 20 minutes, scrambling up into the snowy woods.

When he returns to the ground a few minutes later, Funderburke explains how the climb felt: “I got really pumped,” he says, meaning that his forearms were exhausted (“pumped” is a term climber’s used to explain the exhaustion that comes in the form of lactic acid buildup following a long climb). It’s nearing the end of a long day, and the previous routes are clearly taking their toll on his endurance.

“Ice climbing is a demanding sport,” Funderburke explains as he unties from the rope and takes off his crampons. “It takes a lot of exertion to swing an ice axe all day and at the end of the day, if you can barely swing the tool, then that’s a good sign that you’ve had a good day.”

At the end of the long day, after hav-

ing spent more than seven hours outside in the sub-freezing conditions, Funderburke and his climbing partner are ready to call it a day. As he packs his bag and gets ready to hike to a different location, Funderburke elaborates on what makes for a good day of ice climbing.

“At the end of a good ice climbing day, the biggest thing I feel is gratitude and satisfaction. It’s a special thing, to catch good ice,” he says. “I have to have a day off of work, the ice has to be good and I have to have a good partner. If all those circumstances come to pass, I feel damned near euphoric about the whole thing.”

The two climbers make the descent back toward their car by clambering down the steep, snow-covered creek bed that leads down toward the comforts of home and away from the cold and unforgiving world of ice-covered cliffs and frozen waterfalls. In the end, getting out and enjoying the physically challenging aspect of ice climbing is important to Funderburke, but getting back home safely to his family is the most important part of the day, and that is something that Funderburke always remembers.

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High Country Magazine

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Grief and

Story by Sally Treadwell Photography by Frederica Georgia

Celebration

Lowell Hayes’ new exhibition at the Turchin Center is more than a rich meditation on the beauty of our imperiled hemlock trees. It’s everything the artist is.

T

hey rise out of half-memory and dream—mythical, silent, vast. Vanished.

Appalachia’s giant chestnut trees now live only through sepia images, quaint as a bustle or flour sack apron. The blight that devastated some three billion trees has become a mere lesson in biology; the incalculable loss to our forests goes barely noticed by those of us born since the last old-growth American chestnut faltered and fell, 70, 80 years ago.

And now our hemlocks are going the same way.

But artist Lowell Hayes is fighting this century’s threat to our ecosystem with the best weapon he has: a seductive series of explorations of the Eastern hemlock that will hook you into the forest and make you say, ah yes, I never looked at it that way. Or, I’d forgotten the silence. Let me sit here a moment and go into that winter silence.

Or, dear God. We’re going to lose this?

“Even,” he says, “if someone comes out of the Turchin saying oh, I could really make some nice furniture out of those trees, that’s OK. Just don’t ignore them.”

It’s certainly pretty hard to ignore Lowell’s constructions. They’re huge.

Working with a sure eye he’s used bark from felled hemlocks, leaves, twigs, moss, and, of course, his well-used paintbrushes, to create towering bas-relief works that evoke an almost spiritual response in the viewer.

While it might seem ironic to go into

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by distant vistas or a helter-skelter of kids and dogs, you look, really look, and connect. Lowell’s intense, ongoing investigations—that’s his name for his series work, investigations—are intended to open the viewer up; “to reach out and grab you both aesthetically and emotionally. To make that emotional connection.”

Drowned Landscapes

Lowell’s hemlock series begins with boards or stretched or unstretched canvas; he uses sketches, photos and notes to plan the design as he builds up the base colors. Then he adds the textures, working from the background out with the deepest, most dramatic textures in the foreground. Screws and staples hold the bark until the gel or glue sets. The result is a stunningly realistic, yet enhanced, vision of hemlock stands.

an urban gallery to look at nature, seeing hemlocks through Lowell’s sharply focused mixed-media lens is a slap in the head. Instead of being distracted

Februar y / March 2011

It’s hardly surprising that Lowell should be so moved by the impending loss of the hemlock to the sap-sucking hemlock woolly adelgid, or HWA. His life, after all, began with loss of place.

He was born in 1936 on his grandparents’ farm in Butler, Tenn., and then the TVA came along and drowned it, just a dozen years later. While he doesn’t resent the sacrifice of his hometown to Watauga Lake and the resulting jobs and power supply, the experience stung a kernel of loss into his being.

The lake, though, gave him something back. He was “discovered” (he laughs at that) when curator Barbara Shissler Nosanow chose his work “A TVA Commonplace” for a 1981 exhibition titled More than Land or Sky: Art from Appalachia at what’s now the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The exhibition circulated for several years, with the four-sided “Commonplace” as its signature work.

On one side of a hollow-core birch panel, described in fabric and paint, is

Visit the Turchin Center until March 19 to view the complete collection of Lowell Hayes’ The Hemlocks!

The Hemlocks! Grief and Celebration.

Februar y / March 2011

High Country Magazine

25

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the farm as he remembers it. The fibres that thread trees onto the hills behind the farm loop over the top of the panel to create those same trees on a mirror hillside; this time they look down onto raw red clay edging the new lake and the ghost farm, barely visible beneath the surface of the water. “It is the same place,” he wrote for the exhibition catalogue, “I am the same person. It is no more the place it was than I am the person I was.”

He says now, “I’ve been a post-modernist since I was a child, even though I wasn’t aware of it at the time. Everything is called into question; there is no one truth—just truths that change and grow as we live our lives.”

But of course there was a great deal that happened before and between the drowning and the depiction of the drowning. All that, too, went into the spirit behind the hemlock series.

We could start with his grandmothers. One was a quilter and welcomed him into her treasured world of texture and pattern; the other called him her Preacher and instilled in him such a strong sense of the church as his des-

tiny that he was taking on church leadership roles by the age of 12. And the farm gave him a sense of the woods; of the textures and patterns of nature, glorious as quilting scraps as he ran and scrambled across the landscape.

So that aesthetic experience was always there, even without formal art classes. “Nobody in my experience could paint. In college I took my first real art classes, and by today’s standards even those were pretty laughable.” He was the first on either side of his family to go to college and reveled in the experience. First he earned an undergraduate degree at Lynchburg College, and then he followed up with a BD from the University of Chicago, where he studied art criticism as well as theology. That combination of intellectual curiosity and visual appreciation stayed with him as he moved through eight years of giving back to the church that had paid for his education, working as a pastor and then as the director of two urban housing programs in Pittsburgh. And as his own truths changed he became a christian with a small c, and the politics of that

“Coming home to the hills I came to appreciate what I never did as a child: how mountain people make do for themselves. And I used that.”

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High Country Magazine

Februar y / March 2011

Lowell’s mixed media pieces and freestanding screens focus on the everyday drama of Appalachia.

Clockwise from top left: Passion (Holy Week) Pigeon Roost, Doe 1, Garden Wall, This Instant.

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last job finally caused him to abandon the city. “I’d had no idea how political my job would be. I literally dropped out and went back to the land.”

Home to Appalachia

Traveling across the country, looking for the ideal place to settle, Lowell and his wife Kaaren and their two baby girls finally reached Watauga County—not more than 30 miles from his birthplace.

“Emotionally, it was like, YES…a magnetic pull. Coming back here with my sensibilities sharpened, I was blown away. I was just overwhelmed by the tragedy of what was happening here with development. I didn’t come here to be an artist; I came here to get my family away from the city and politics…But being here, being in the outdoors, caused an upwelling of desire to participate in nature by making art.”

He’d emerged from college as an antiartist, an anti-architect. He used house paint, wall-board, and lumber scraps to create bricolage—a post-modern art form characterized by using whatever comes to hand—in those days when all givens were being turned upside down. “I wasn’t drawn to buying art supplies from stores,” he says dryly. “That was part of the establishment. I made things out of stuff that people would throw away.”

He snickers. “Of course, that softened over time. Now I use lots of expensive

supplies!—but my work is still grounded in bricolage and rusticity.”

It was also informed by his heritage.

“Coming home to the hills I came to appreciate what I never did as a child: how mountain people make do for themselves.

And I used that.”

He experimented with architecture, in 1972 producing Lowell’s Illustrated Shelter Thinkbook.

“I designed houses that reflected emerging green values, trying to relate the outdoors to the indoors and create a natural environment. Most houses just aren’t designed with your spiritual wellbeing in mind.”

Lowell and Kaaren’s own home in Valle Crucis, begun in 1973, is a fascinating and ongoing process. It’s all about their values. The footprint is small, and much of it was constructed with recycled and found materials. Creek-smoothed rocks are stair treads and whole tree trunks, most from the property—hemlock, walnut, locust— serve as supports; the house is a walk in the woods rather than a simple structure.

Tall windows give light and space, and in the surrounding woods the hemlocks’ graceful poetry make you understand the tragedy of their inevitable near-disappearance from our mountainsides. Lowell and Kaaren have saved as many as they can on their acreage, even using new, cheaper methods to bring back to life a couple they’d initially had to let go.

Lowell with one of his earliest works, a political piece called “Aunt Rhoda” (pronounced Rhodie in the mountains). Aunt Rhoda was a woman who’d sit out on her porch on Highway 105, a giant rig parked by her house, watching bloated American cars go by during the fuel crisis of the ‘70s. And then one day her house was gone, swallowed up by the widening of Highway 105 to accommodate more and more bloated cars.

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Lowell and his wife, Kaaren, built their house according to their values— incorporating discarded building materials, using trees cut from their land as supports, creating big windows to blur the line between inside and out.

Will the Real Gallery Please Stand Up?

But back to the ‘70s. Lowell set about creating a local arts community along with a group of like-minded friends and a whole generation of students and young professors. “They were a very dynamic community,” he says. “It was an intense time.”

In 1974, he found a job teaching art at ASU’s Watauga College. He also bracketed hitchhiking stories with news about the area’s rapidly developing art scene for his weekly column, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Watauga County,’ published in the fledgling Sundown Times newspaper.

And then there was the gallery. With talented local artists Steve Ferguson, Irmaly, Greg Smith and Marlene Mountain, he founded Will the Real Gallery

Februar y / March 2011

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Please Stand Up!—a gallery housed on the walls of the local food co-op in the Wilcox building on Howard Street. The running costs were low and largely supported by the exhibitors and the community, which gave the group an almost unprecedented freedom to show surprising and often controversial work.

“We had the first feminist shows, the first gay pride shows there…some erotic art…we were an advocacy gallery,” Lowell notes, emphasizing that they never subscribed to the shock-for-shock’s sake school of thought—they just advocated for their values and for each other’s work. One of their own, Marlene, became very well known for her English-language haikus.

“Marlene described herself as an “angry radical feminist,” and she was primarily a poet, but she did some absolutely outrageous visuals. When the National Endowment for the Arts published a directory of “alternative spaces,” we were the only one included that was not in a major city.”

The group put on a special exhibit at ASU’s Catherine Smith Gallery for Nosanow, who was searching out work to be part of More than Land or Sky: Art from

Four jubilant Appalachian artists, including Lowell (far right), celebrate their inclusion in a groundbreaking exhibition of Appalachian art. The show sought to explore the ways in which place and home influences artists; and also to debunk stereotypes about Appalachia. Appalachia was far more than time-honored crafts, explained the curator—these artists were sophisticated, individual, non-doctrinaire.

Appalachia. Playwright Edward Albee was so intrigued by that exhibit that he took the time to visit Will the Real Gallery Please Stand Up! too. And when the food co-op closed its doors, the gallery continued on in various spaces right up until 2000—as the Back Door, as the Nominator, and finally as the Hard to Find Gallery at Lowell’s own home. When finances were tight they’d have a fundraiser; Lowell particularly remembers Jim McMillan’s highly successful sale of found objects. “He had a gift, a real gift for finding things that people were attracted to.”

From Kilns to Boardrooms

Meanwhile, Lowell kept painting.

Although his work can now be found in museums, boardrooms and private collections, his very first show was held in the kilns—literally—of famed Iron Mountain Stoneware during its annual Mother’s Day sale. His early work was often political; he experimented with pop art, interactive art and photorealism as well as bricolage.

Ultimately he developed his highly distinctive bas-relief style, focusing mainly

So what’s the problem?

A

single tiny hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) will rapidly multiply into 90,000 adelgids within a year, says Blue Ridge Parkway ecologist Dr. Chris Ulrey. Each adelgid attaches itself to the hemlock at the base of a needle and starts sucking the life out of the tree, meanwhile producing wax that looks like blobs of cotton wool to the naked eye. That wax conceals eggs that will be spread to other trees by feeding birds. An infested tree—and they’re almost all infested, or soon will be—will die within perhaps five years if untreated.

According to Chris, “We’re going to lose about 90 percent of the trees, maybe more. When the chestnut died, other species filled that ecological niche to a great extent, but nothing can replace the hemlock. This will cause a major ecological ripple. It will hurt stream quality, both because hemlocks regulate the temperature of streams and because of debris that is falling in streams. There are neo-tropical birds like warblers that nest only in hemlocks, and our ecology will be damaged in many ways that we don’t yet understand.”

So if you’re a birdwatcher, a fisherman, a photographer, a hunter, a hiker, someone who just enjoys beautiful views, someone who doesn’t like out-of-control forest fires fed by dead timber, —OK, whoever you are—this is going to affect you.

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Our generation can’t even imagine that chestnuts like these were once common. Our hemlocks, “God’s greatest air conditioning system,” could disappear in the same way. Photo courtesy of the Forest History Society, Durham NC.

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Februar y / March 2011

“Life as we know it depends on

the biome; and one aspect of that threat is the loss of the hemlocks.”

The Hemlocks! The Hemlocks!

Grief and Celebration will be at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts until March 19, 2011. Call 828-262-3017 for opening hours.

Learn more at the Turchin’s Visiting Arts Lecture series Wednesday, March 2, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Making Art Nowadays: A conversation with Lowell Hayes about current art theories and his techniques.

Thursday, March 17, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

The Bug and the Tree: Join Lowell Hayes, journalist Sam Calhoun (read his excellent series about HWA at highcountrypress.com) and arborist Lear Powell at the Turchin to learn more about HWA, new and effective treatments, and what you can do to help.

on landscapes with a view to banishing tired sentimentality and instead exploring emotional connections.

“I left out the outrage and satire and bitter irony,” he says, “and just concentrated on nature as if it were still itself, as it was before we raped it.”

At times his style is almost impressionistic. Gesturing towards a waterfall painting, he notes that “there’s just enough there to set it up in your mind’s eye, to be expressive; an investigation of that visual experience.” At other times, symbology and material are key. “For a painting about the Watauga River, I incorporated newspaper articles about the filth of the river. I don’t try to hide how I create the effects; sometimes I deliberately leave areas crude and unfinished.”

For now, he’s shelved more political works, considering them selfindulgent at this point in his life and the world. He mostly concentrates on series work—waterfalls, hemlocks, nudes. “Whatever the subject, I want to really get into it, really explore it.”

He’s planning for more work in the hemlock series and envisions an everevolving exhibition that he hopes will travel around the country. So he’ll continue to clamber over the hillsides in search of the few still-living hemlocks, Tsuga canadensis and the rarer Tsuga caroliniana, and look for fresh viewpoints among the old-growth trees at Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest.

What you can do

E

ducate yourself and check trees on your property. You can treat your hemlocks yourself at a cost of roughly $20 each, depending on size. Predatory beetles are being introduced to the area, but pesticides or organic alternatives must be used now to help trees live until there are sufficient expensive and hard-to-breed beetles out there.

Donate—to the Blue Ridge Parkway, to the Friends of the BRP, to the Nature Conservancy; pretty much any Eastern nonprofit land management organization. You must earmark your donation specifically for hemlock treatment.

I ask Lowell what he’d hate to find left out of this article. Typically, it’s not some prestigious sale or show or magazine cover.

“Once we watched man landing on the moon and turning back to look at the earth,” he says, “it was no longer possible for any responsible, informed human being to be ignorant of the viability of life. Up until that time, the earth had seemed infinite, and our resources had seemed infinite. But art isn’t important; jobs aren’t important, children and marriage aren’t important; EXCEPT in the context of the biosphere—it’s absolutely basic. I’m deeply moved by the threat to the biome. Life as we know it depends on the biome; and one aspect of that threat is the loss of the hemlocks.”

So he’ll keep painting. And he’ll keep advocating though his painting, always both the Preacher and the Aesthete.

“When you put together things that other people have thrown out,” said assemblage artist Louise Nevelson, once upon a time, “you’re really bringing them to life—a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created.”

Lowell does have a gift for giving further spiritual life to all that discarded bark and moss and twig material.

But are we really going to keep throwing away the hemlocks?

w

Volunteer. The process of treating trees chemically is extremely labor-intensive. Go to friendsbrp.org or contact Chris at 828-271-4779 ext. 271 Where to see old-growth hemlocks locally The Blue Ridge Parkway’s Bob Cherry recommends a visit to the Sims Pond and Trout Lake hiking trails to experience old-growth hemlocks and the surrounding eco-systems that will be damaged if they die. A dot painted near the base of the tree will identify treated hemlocks. Further afield, he says, visit the spectacular Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest.

If you want to grasp the extent of the damage, says Ulrey, just go to Linville Falls and look down.

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Februar y / March 2011

High Country Magazine

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Winter’s

Small Army of Unsung Heroes

Story & Photography by Peter W. Morris

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Februar y / March 2011

W

inter is one quirky season in the High Country. Tens of thousands of spring/summer/autumn visitors have retreated back from whence they came…AKA those lands of eternal warmth. The color of fall has fallen, wood smoke has joined early morning frosts, and everybody, it seems, checks out various weather forecasts before they even indulge in that first cup of coffee.

“Early morning showers will turn to snow flurries as winds increase and temperatures drop into the low 20s by late afternoon. Tonight blizzard conditions will inundate the High Country, with upwards of a foot of snow near the Tennessee line and amounts ranging from 4 to 8 inches in the lowlands and 12 to 18 inches along mountain ridges. Wind gusts will reach 45 miles per hour, creating dangerous wind chills and treacherous driving conditions,” one local weather guru might tell us a day or two before the north wind blows.

People who call the High Country home year-round know what to expect: snow/sleet/freezing rain and all accompanying weather-borne frustrations beginning in late October and lasting, sometimes, even into April.

Fortunately, most of the really bad winter weather patterns strike Boone and surrounding communities between the first of December and the last of February. It’s a time when you bundle up as best you can, keep snow shovels and window scrapers handy, purchase studded snow tires or all season radials (both best on four-wheel drives) and load the trunk with cinder blocks and kitty litter…for weight and traction, respectively.

Another sign of heavy snow in the High Country comes with the small army of snow plow operators who work 12-hour shifts in a wide variety of plow-laden machinery, from sidewalk-sized mini-plows to the behemoths with giant plows attached to their fronts and salt-spreaders and brine tanks on their rear. These stalwarts of winter mayhem begin their tasks well before the first flakes fall, preparing the streets for the snow, ice and slush to come.

“Boone has seven plow trucks with salt spreaders, three plow trucks with salt brine tanks, one grader, one loader backhoe, two one-ton trucks with snow

Februar y / March 2011

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These vehicles struggle to move forward due to snow and ice on N.C. Highway 105’s “Rock Crusher Hill.”

plows and spreaders, seven tractors with blades and spreaders, two skid steers and three snow blowers,” noted Blake Brown, Public Works director for the Town of Boone. “Our street department

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has 14 men split into 12-hour shifts,” he added. “Facilities Maintenance has 11-sidewalk pushers, and Fleet Maintenance has four mechanics.”

In all, the Town of Boone plows 42

Februar y / March 2011

miles of streets within the Boone limits or, as Brown noted, “84 miles of lane miles,” which translates into plowing both sides of the streets during their operations. The town also handles snow

Dennis Braswell loads salt into a Town of Boone snow plow. Last winter, the Town of Boone used 2,100 tons of salt and 730 tons of slag on municipal streets and sidewalks.

removal in 12 maintained parking lots.

What’s it all cost for the Town of Boone? The overtime was the biggest factor during the winter of 2009-2010, when operators and others put in over $150,000 worth. The cost of the common rock salt (milled from around the Great Lakes) was $217,000, with slag (crushed rock) at $13,000. In all, last winter’s use of salt totaled 2,100 tons, with 730 tons of slag. As of early January this year, the Town of Boone had already used 800 tons of salt and 450 tons of slag.

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) maintains all state highways throughout Watauga County, with local communities and many individuals with snow plow-equipped vehicles handling duties for shopping centers and other businesses.

The NCDOT, according to K.K.

Whittington, the DOT’s maintenance engineer, has 16 snow plows with inbody salt spreaders, three push trucks, one motor grader and, working with the assistance of contract drivers, 12 trucks with plows and spreaders and four motor graders. In all, the NCDOT plows 560 miles of Watauga County roads, which breaks up to 97 miles of primary routes, 355 miles of secondary paved roads and 108 miles of unpaved roads.

Figures were not available for the NCDOT’s snow removal operations last winter.

Of course, the High Country wasn’t always as prepared in the past, when the winter storms kept people “on the farm” for weeks at a time in Watauga County’s fondly remembered “good ol’ days.”

“I know from stories that I hear that snow storms of years past were difficult,” smiled Brown. “Many years ago, the Town of Boone had only a backhoe and a dump truck, with the men sitting Februar y / March 2011

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By the Numbers 42 miles of streets within Boone town limits of overtime pay for Boone snow $150,000 cost plow operators in 2009-10 winter 2,100 tons salt used in Boone in 2009-10 winter 730 tons slag used in Boone in 2009-10 winter of Watauga County roads 560 miles plowed by NCDOT 36

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on the tailgates and spreading sand on the streets by hand using a shovel. In 1974, the town bought its first 4-by-4 dump truck and put a sander on it and a snow blade,” he explained. “Back then, they used backhoes and two dump trucks to push and haul snow, with the operators later having to shovel the sidewalks by hand. The equipment we use today is a credit to the town managers and town councils of today and the past, which has allowed us to purchase good equipment and proper clothing for the winter elements.”

Brown, who’s been with the Town of Boone for 25 years, oversees functions of the Public Works Department, which includes operations ranging from the town’s traffic signals and street markings to its parks and cemeteries to fleet maintenance, sanitation and recycling.

While some might see the removal of snow from the streets and highways of Boone a somewhat easy task—given the quality equipment, heated compartments, AM/FM radios and backup cameras in the trucks—such is not the case.

There are, for instance, cars stuck in the roads or illegally parked in snow removal lanes, winter whiteouts and acres of shifting snow.

“My message to the motoring public would be to not park in the streets or right-of-ways; don’t plow your driveway snow into or across streets; and do not park in the emergency snow routes during the times set…College Street to Water Street on both sides and Depot and Queen Streets on both sides,” said Brown. “And please, do not put your mailboxes up on the pavement, as we try our best not to hit them but, when all is said and done, there are going to be a few that do get hit.”

As many locals and lifelong residents of the High Country have noted, there have been dramatic changes in winter weather even for as short a period as the last 20 years. Winters before the 1990s were often brutal in their intensity, with blizzards routine and snow depths measured by yardsticks. Then, from the mid90s until perhaps 2008, winters became less severe. Fast forward to the winters of 2009 to 2011, and the storms are again approaching legendary status.

Might it be global warming?

“I have to be careful how I address this so that I do not offend others or make myself look like an expert on global warming,” explains Brown. “I believe

The Town of Boone’s snow plow operators include, from left (front) Rick Harmon, Justin Dancy, Dennis Braswell, Rick Pennel and Sheldon Coffey; and (back) William Johnson, Brad Vines, Dale Rominger, Glenn Shook and Darrell Reece.

“I am here to tell you that it was an eerie feeling to be going down a street hearing trees (and power lines) breaking and snapping all around you.”

Blake Brown, Boone Public Works director

Left: Mike Essick, left, is a NCDOT snow plow operator, while Jeff Berry, right, contracts with the NCDOT. They are pictured at Carriage Square on N.C. Highway 105, in Boone. Right: Blake Brown is the director of the Town of Boone Public Works Department, which oversees snow removal.

that the world has a cycle it revolves around, and I believe that man has caused some problems with the carbon footprints we have today, but this planet we call Earth has a way of cleansing it-

self and making things right. Yes, we see warming, but we are also seeing lower temperatures over the years. This is why I feel the Earth is revolving into another cycle,” he elaborated. “We as citizens

need to be stewards of our planet, but I believe global warming is mainly hype.”

Given the pleasures and perils of “pushing snow” in the High Country, each operator has his (there are no female

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Equally important to clearing snow on roadways is clearing snow on sidewalks for pedestrians. These two plows work together to clean snow from around the Boone Fire Department so that firefighters can respond to calls as quickly as possible.

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plow operators at present) own “war story” of interesting events and situations encountered. “One of our operators, now retired, was pushing snow in one neighborhood and called on the radio that a white horse was blocking the road,” recalled Brown. “Well, of course, we thought that he was losing it, that is, until the supervisor on shift went to check on him and, sure enough, there was a white horse that had gotten out of his fence and was on the road. We then got hold of the farmer, with all of us having a good laugh at the horse’s expense.”

Not all of Brown’s stories are humorous, such as the year before last, during the Christmas ice storm that ravaged the High Country, causing mayhem countywide.

“As the guys were out pushing ice and salting that morning, we found that they were also having to push trees out of the way to get to the roads. So we started putting a second man in the trucks with a chain saw so that they could cut themselves into the streets and then back out again. I am here to tell you that it was an eerie feeling to be going down a street hearing trees (and power lines) breaking and snapping all around you.”

In addition to the snow plow operators and other crews that keep winter operations going smoothly, there are others of note: “The other unsung heroes are the women that take the (snow removal) calls and direct them to superintendents; the fleet mechanics that keep the equipment running when times are tough; and members of the water and sewer departments who provide dedicated help during the winter storms.” Brown also expressed his thanks to the men and women who make up the Boone Police and Fire Departments for their “dedication and help with clearing roads so that we may do our job.”

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Story by Anne Baker • Photography by James Fay

Living in the

Fast Lane

Boone Bowling Center and a Lifelong Pastime

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W

ii Bowling has nothing on the real thing. Sure, you can bowl in the comfort of your own home—barefoot, if you like—but when it comes down to it, nothing can compare to donning the classic footwear, grabbing that colorful ball and stepping up to the foul line on that shiny wooden floor. Whether you’re young or old, a social bowler or a professional, bowling is a sport that should be down most anyone’s alley, so to speak.

The High Country is home to the Boone Bowling Center, located at 261 Boone Heights Drive, owned and operated by Mario Perret-Gentil.

Originally from Curaçao, an island in the Caribbean, Mario took over ownership of the center in 1984 when it was only a year and a half old. As the face of the place for almost three decades, he has been around when 6-year-olds started bowling Februar y / March 2011

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“I like the people that I bowl with and it’s good exercise. At my age, it’s about the only recreational activity that I can participate in.”

Gilbert Williams, 91

at the center and has watched them continue the sport today in their late 20s.

“To me, it’s seeing—especially with kids—how they come in and they can barely hang onto a ball, and then seeing them reach milestones and win tournaments and scholarships,” Mario said. “I think that’s my most rewarding thing: seeing them grow in the sport. I also enjoy seeing generations coming back.”

Mario has made it easy for High Country families, individuals and visitors alike to have a place where they can have fun.

The 16-lane center is open seven days a 42

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week. Weekends are the busiest time for the center: Fridays feature glow-in-thedark bowling, and on Saturdays, patrons can enjoy cosmic bowling, complete with disco balls, fog machines and black lights.

“We’re clean, well maintained and we have the latest equipment lane-wise and scoring-wise,” Mario said on what sets him apart from other bowling alleys. “We also have a pro shop where we drill balls and fix balls.”

Then and Now Bowling has a long history, and de-

The busiest time for the Boone Bowling Center is on weekends, when the alley hosts glow-inthe-dark bowling on Friday evenings and cosmic bowling on Saturdays, featuring black lights, disco balls and fog machines.

tails like ball weights and pin dimensions didn’t always have a standard.

In the 1930s, British anthropologist Sir Flinders Petrie discovered a collection of objects in a child’s grave in Egypt that appeared to be used for a crude form of bowling. If this is correct, bowling could trace its ancestry to 3200 BC. Early evidence from 1366 points to the popularity of bowling in England, when it was allegedly outlawed by King Edward III to keep his troops focused on archery practice. English, Dutch and German settlers most likely carried their bowling variations to America, and the sport is mentioned in American literature by Washington Irving in 1819, when Rip Van Winkle awakens to the sound of “crashing ninepins.”

By the late 1800s, bowling could be found in states such as New York, Ohio and Illinois. There was no consistency in the sport, however, until the American Bowling Congress was founded on September 9, 1895, at Beethoven Hall in New York City. Standardization followed soon after, and major national competitions started to become popular.

Technology was a big help in the advancement of bowling: in 1951, the American Machine and Foundry Company purchased patents to Gottfried Schmidt’s automatic pinspotter, and by late 1952, production model pinspotters were set to replace “pinboys.”

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Although bowling alley equipment found behind the scenes is now electronic, Boone Bowling Center owner Mario Perret-Gentil recalls a time when he was a “pinboy,� meaning it was up to him to pick up the pins and put them back after someone had bowled.

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Bowling Lingo

L

earn the lingo that is common on the lanes! Here’s a quick guide to terms and phrases that might come in handy as you’re working toward that perfect bowling score. Address: The bowler’s stance before beginning the approach.

Approach: How the bowler gets to the foul line; or, the space extending back from the foul line used to make the steps and delivery. Bagger: A string of strikes; i.e., five bagger is five in a row. Count: Usually the number of pins knocked down in the next frame that applies to a spare or a strike. Deuce: A game of 200 or more. Fill Ball: The ball thrown after a spare in the 10th frame. Foul Line: The line that separates the approach area from the beginning of the playing surface. Frame: A game of bowling is divided into 10 frames, and in each frame, there are two chances to knock down all the pins, except in the 10th frame. Open Frame: A frame having neither a spare nor strike. Open Bowling: Bowling for the fun of it, as opposed to competing in league or tournament play. Perfect

Game: A game of all strikes—12 strikes in a row—resulting in the maximum score of 300. Pocket: The desirable location for the ball to hit the pins to maximize strike potential, which is generally the area between the 1-3 pins (right hand player) or the 1-2 pins (left hand player). This is the target for the first ball in a frame. Six Pack: Six strikes in a row. Sleeper: A rear pin that is not

easily seen because of a pin directly in front of it. Spare: To knock down the remaining pins standing left after the first throw with the second throw. Split: Various combination of pins standing after a first throw where one or more pins have been knocked down creating a space between standing pins and thus a harder spare. Turkey: Three consecutive strikes.

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The Strength Behind Your Security

A longtime bowler for almost 50 years, Mario can recount his own experience as a pinboy: “I did that in my young days,” he said. “I used to pick up pins and put them back.”

The American Bowling Congress merged with the other bowling organizations like the Women’s International Bowling Congress, the Young American Bowling Alliance and USA Bowling to form the United States Bowling Congress in 2005, and now, the USBC is the national governing body for bowling as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee.

According to the latest USBC statistics, 71 million people bowled at least once in 2009, making bowling the number one participation sport in the United States.

Finding a League

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The Boone Bowling Center is home to five different leagues for those who are serious about bowling: men’s league on Monday nights, senior league on Tuesday mornings, mixed church league on Tuesday evenings, adult league on Friday mornings and a youth league on Saturday mornings. Leagues at the center usually have about 12 teams in each, with the teams consisting of four to six people per team.

Mario advises those who want to become involved in a league to first come the night you want to bowl based on what leagues are playing.

“Usually they will pick you up, and you can feel around to both different teams and feel which one you like to bowl with best,” Mario said. “If you’re decent and pretty good, they will hook you right up and add you on to the team.” All of the Boone Bowling Center’s leagues are sanctioned, meaning they are recognized by the USBC. Participants have to pay membership dues of $19 a year to the national organization before they join, but there’s no fee at the Boone Bowling Center itself.

League play is not only a good, affordable social activity; it also gives participants a chance to reach a goal.

“They want to achieve certain things,” Mario said. “For example, this guy’s been trying for at least 28 years trying to get his 800 series. He’s had about 14 300 games, but has never reached the 800 series. Some of them are just trying for their first 300 game.”

Gilbert Williams—a 91-year-old Vilas resident who participates in the cen-

Mario Perret-Gentil became the owner of the Boone Bowling Center in 1984, when the alley was only a year and a half old, after moving to Boone from Curaçao.

ter’s Tuesday morning senior league— is one of those still attempting to bowl that perfect score.

Gilbert has been bowling for 80 years: he began at age 11, when he lived in Maine and played candlepin bowling.

This variation of the 10-pin sport is popular in New England as well as the Canadian Maritime provinces, and each player uses three balls per frame and the balls are much smaller and do not have holes. The pins are also smaller, and when they are knocked over, they are not cleared between play, making it more difficult to score points in candlepin bowling than in 10-pin bowling.

Despite his eight decades of experience, Gilbert said at the beginning of our conversation that he wasn’t a good bowler; however, when it was his turn, he immediately bowled a strike and followed that frame’s success with a spare.

“It must be luck,” he said, and shrugged.

Gilbert has bowled at the Boone Bowling Center for almost 15 years, and as he’s participated in a couple of the leagues at the center, he’s met many other bowlers who have become his friends.

“I like the people that I bowl with, and it’s good exercise,” he said. “At my age, it’s about the only recreational activity that I can participate in.” Although Gilbert couldn’t quite give me an answer about why he kept up with bowling over the past 80 years—“I can’t put it into words, I guess,”—as he continued to bowl a couple of strikes and a few spares throughout the morning, he shared high fives and jokes with those around him.

This, perhaps, is why so many begin bowling and stick with it: it’s not always about the coveted 12 strikes in a row, but more about the friendships, the laughter and the memories.

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“I think that’s my most rewarding thing: seeing [kids] grow in the sport. I also enjoy seeing generations coming back.”

Mario Perret-Gentil, owner of Boone Bowling Center

Boone Bowling Center is open Mondays through Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. and Sundays from 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. Rates begin at $3.75 a lane.

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THE DIVERSIT Y CELEBRATION Story by Anna Oakes

Celebratory, Educational Event at ASU Marks 10 Years

I

t’s unknown, really, just how many cultures exist in our world. And, in spite of common stereotypes and broad generalizations that exist about the region, the High Country itself is home to many different cultures and ways of life—we can’t all be a bunch of bluegrass-loving Scots-Irish descendants.

Every spring, Appalachian State University dedicates a day, sometimes a week, to cultural differences—celebrating them, increasing awareness about them, learning about them—with the annual Diversity Celebration, which engages all of the senses through musical and dance performances, readings, food tastings, craft making, workshops, displays, exhibits and more.

The 10th anniversary of the Diversity Celebration takes place this year on Wednesday, April 6, at ASU’s Plemmons Student Union, and everything is free. In its first decade, the Diversity Celebration’s attendance has grown from several hundred to several thousand, and the multicultural festival, which features more than 30 performances and presentations and 18 craft and family activities, takes a full year of planning and community support to pull off.

Histor y of the Celebration

According to Terri Lockwood, one of the co-chairs of this year’s Diversity Celebration, the event was the brainchild of a graduate student in ASU’s Equity Office. Amy Hathcock, who was wheelchair-bound, was sensitive to the needs of individuals across all spectrums, Lockwood said, and she envisioned a celebration for sharing different cultures with the campus community.

The first Diversity Celebration was held on April 22, 2002, cosponsored by the Equity Office and the Office of Multicultural Student Development. In the first year, the event featured displays, programs and performances from 21 clubs, organizations, units, departments and individuals on campus, with several community groups also represented. Approximately 400 people enjoyed dancing, music, storytelling, food, games, prizes and informational displays in two rooms in the student union.

“The first event was so successful, everybody took to it,” Lockwood said. “We could tell that this was something that the campus community and the community at large needed.”

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“Appalachian values diversity, not as a programmatic add-on, but as an integral part of learning to live and work in a global society.”

Susan King, university program specialist in the Equity Office

Clockwise from top: Grandfather Mountain Highlanders; People of the Planet Soccer Tournament participants; poet Lisa Kwong; Kike, Miguel y Janiah; Bill Averbach of Carolina Klezmer Project and Bam-Jazz; The Butterpats; Three Graces Entertainment

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M

ake plans to attend the 10th annual Diversity Celebration at ASU, an event open to campus and community members. All events take place in Plemmons Student Union, located on the east side of campus close to Belk Library. For the most up-to-date schedule, click to www.celebration.appstate.edu.

Plemmons First Floor Cascades Café 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. Dollar Brothers Band 5:00 to 5:45 p.m. Mariachi Mexico 2000 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. Carolina Klezmer Project 6:45 to 7:15 p.m. Bam-Jazz 7:45 to 8:00 p.m. Traditional Indian and Persion dance 8:00 to 8:15 p.m. H2O Hip Hop Oasis Crossroads Coffee House 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. Jack Tales with Orville Hicks 3:45 to 4:15 p.m. Jack Tales with Orville Hicks 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. The Butterpats 5:45 to 6:15 p.m. Free Grass 6:45 to 7:30 p.m. Kike, Miguel y Janiah 8:00 to 8:45 p.m. Amantha Mill Bluegrass Grandfather Ballroom 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. Foods of the World • Pri Pri Chicken Wings - Portuguese/ African • Pao de Oueijo - Brazilian Cheese Bread • Kabak Mucveri - Turkish Zucchini Fritters • Fresco de Pina y Arroz- Nicaraguan Pineapple Beverage with Rice • Mexican Wedding Cookies Multicultural Center 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Let’s Hold Hands Project with Susan L. Roth 6:00 to 6:45 p.m. TBA 7:15 to 8:45 p.m. TBA Roan Mountain Room 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. Elkland Art Center 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Classical Guitar Recital 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. TBA 7:00 to 7:45 p.m. TBA 7:30 to 8:15 p.m. Appalachian Group Ballad Singing Workshop Summit Trail Solarium 3:00 to 3:45 p.m. Walker Calhoun and the Raven Rock Dancers 4:00 to 4:45 p.m. Davidson River Taiko 5:00 to 5:45 p.m. Grandfather Mountain Highlanders Pipe Band 6:15 to 7:00 p.m. Three Graces Entertainment World Dances 7:15 to 8:00 p.m. Lost Jewels of the Ghawazee Belly Dance and Middle Eastern Dance 8:15 to 9:00 p.m. ASU Gospel Choir Schedule continued on page 52 Parking information on page 52 50

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On April 8, 2003, the second Diversity Celebration was held—it’s theme was “The More You Know, the More You Grow—Water the Garden.” An estimated 1,500 individuals came to the event in its second year.

“Each year it just kept growing and growing until we just took over the whole student union,” Lockwood noted.

In 2006, the Unity Festival joined the Diversity Celebration.

First held in 1992, the Unity Festival is a community development project founded by Watauga County citizens to raise the level of diversity acceptance in the county. The first Unity Festival was held in response to Ku Klux Klan marches in Boone and Blowing Rock. Since joining the Diversity Celebration, the Unity Festival has become the hub of family-friendly entertainment for the event.

The Diversity Celebration Planning Committee formed in fall 2002 after the first celebration and is a diverse organization comprised of staff, faculty, students and local community members.

“It’s a yearlong planning process,” Lockwood said. “We take one month off after the celebration. The next month, we’re back at it again.”

Lockwood said the committee expects around 3,500 people to attend this year. As the event has grown, so has participation from the general public. Not just an event for the college, the Diversity Celebration welcomes community members from the Boone area and beyond, including area elementary school students.

“It’s a great opportunity to build connections with the community,” Lockwood said.

“We could tell that this was something that the campus community and the community at large needed.”

Terri Lockwood, Diversity Celebration co-chair

This Year ’s Events

The schedule for April 6 includes performances by bluegrass bands, a Mexican mariachi group, a bagpipe band, a belly dance troupe, a Japanese drumming ensemble and a gospel choir. Performances also include the cultures of Persia, India, hip hop, Beech Mountain jack tales, Judaism, Latin America, Brazil and Appalachia.

Not all of the events at the Diversity Celebration are merely for spectators—many invite you to learn and participate. In the Linville Falls room of the student union, workshops include traditional Appalachian dancing and capoeira, a Brazilian martial art.

The Unity Festival, located in the Blue Ridge Ballroom, features numerous hands-on activities throughout the duration of the Diversity Celebration, including Aboriginal face painting, Appalachian butter making, chopsticks, Hindi language and music, mountain toy making, Spanish games, Indian clothing, African masks, Mehendi hand painting and more.

Always popular is the Foods of the World room, located

5th Annual People of the Planet Soccer Tournament Sunday, April 3

T

he game of soccer, known as football in most parts of the world, has been a unifying force across the globe. On Sunday, April 3, children and adults from many countries will unite for the fifth annual People of the Planet Soccer Tournament at Kidd Brewer Stadium, a part of the Diversity Celebration. Admission is free.

Dr. Rahman Tashakkori, a faculty member in the Computer Science Department at ASU, had a dream of bringing people from all over to world to play soccer together in a tournament. As a result, the People of the Planet Soccer Tournament has become a permanent part of the annual Diversity Celebration at ASU. The tournament will begin with player introductions at 8:45 a.m., followed by the first adult match at 9:00 a.m. A second adult match will be played at 10:25 a.m. The afternoon adult matches will be played at 3:00 and 4:45 p.m. Children’s games begin at noon.

Adult teams will be comprised of faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members representing many foreign

Pictured are scenes from the second annual People of the Planet Soccer Tournament, held at Kidd Brewer Stadium in 2008.

countries. Youth teams in several age groups will have an opportunity to play.

The U6 (ages 5, 6), U8 (ages 7, 8), U10 (ages 9, 10) and U12 (ages 11, 12) boys and girls teams are comprised of players from the Watauga Parks and Recreation and High Country Soccer Association teams.

Elementary and middle school students are

invited to register to play on one of the youth (U6 to U12) teams, and to carry small flags of the representing countries and walk with the players to the field before each game.

The deadline for registering is Thursday, March 31. All players participating in the event will receive a jersey and a medallion that are made for the event. For more information, contact Dr. Rahman Tashakkori, tournament coordinator, at 828- 262-7009 or rt@cs.appstate.edu.

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High Country Magazine

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Parking

Schedule continued from page 50

Community members who utilize the Rivers Street parking deck may request a free parking pass at the Diversity Celebration.

Other free parking is available in the Rivers Street bike lanes and in the Library parking deck after 3:00 p.m. and elsewhere on campus after 5:00 p.m.

Plemmons Second Floor Blue Ridge Ballroom 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. Unity Festival • Aboriginal face painting • Appalachian Butter Making • Chopsticks • Hindi Language and Music • Listen to the Wind • Mountain Toy Making

• Spanish Games • Try on Indian Clothing • Vision Arrows • African Masks • Chinese New Year • French Language Games

• Knotted Bedspreads • Mehendi Hand Painting • Pakistani Pennies for Peace • Spinning • Unity Weave • Words of Peace

Linville Falls Room 3:00 to 3:45 p.m. Boone Scottish Country Dancers 4:00 to 4:45 p.m. TBA 5:00 to 5:45 p.m. Brazilian Martial art, Capoeira, Gabrielle Motta-Passajou 6:00 to 6:45 p.m. TBA 7:00 to 7:45 p.m. TBA 8:00 to 8:45 p.m. TBA

in Grandfather Ballroom. Dan MacDonald, ASU’s executive chef, creates the menu of international fare. This year, the tentative menu includes piri piri chicken wings, a Portuguese and African dish; pao de oueijo, Brazilian cheese bread; kabak mucveri, which are Turkish zucchini fritters; fresca de pina y arroz, a Nicaraguan pineapple beverage; and Mexican wedding cookies.

“The annual Diversity Celebration is at its heart a community-building, educational and cultural experience for learners of all ages,” said Susan King, university program specialist in the Equity Office and a former co-chair of the Diversity Celebration Planning Committee, in 2007. “Its eclectic sweep of offerings rewards curiosity, deepens perspective and nourishes body, mind and soul. Appalachian values diversity, not as a programmatic add-on, but as an integral part of learning to live and work in a global society.”

Suppor t

Support for the Diversity Celebration at ASU comes from a number of on-campus and off-campus groups. While several departments on campus provide an allocation to the Diversity Celebration, the event relies on fundraising and donations as well.

“There’s been a core group of folks in the campus and community who provide some seed gifts,” said Patrick Setzer, cochair of the Diversity Celebration and head of the subcommittee for fundraising, advertising and publicity. “We’ve had people in the community associated with the university or friends of the university who truly believe in the Diversity Celebration and what it means to the campus and the community.”

For more information about supporting the Diversity Celebration in the future, click to www.celebration.appstate.edu or contact Setzer in the Alumni Affairs office at 828-262-3002.

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2011 Let’s Hold Hands Project

T

his year, the Appalachian State University Multicultural Center, in conjunction with the 10th Annual Diversity Celebration, invites campus and community members to hold hands.

Hold hands, you ask? Why yes, answers Susan Roth who, along with renowned activist Greg Mortenson, co-authored a children’s book called Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg. In writing Listen to the Wind, Ms. Roth created paper dolls out of recycled materials to represent the characters in the book. It was the beginning of the Let’s Hold Hands project.

Let’s Hold Hands is a community-based project in which participants are invited to create a paper doll replica of their person. The idea is that the doll, hands outstretched, will “hold hands” with other dolls from around the world.

Creators of dolls can upload their doll to the Let’s Hold Hands

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website, where it is displayed in community with paper dolls from all over the world.

This year, as part of the Diversity Celebration, the Multicultural Center has invited Susan Roth to campus.

On April 6 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., campus and community members can join the author in the Multicultural Center to create their own doll, hear Susan speak, and have their own copies of Listen to the Wind signed.

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A HalfCentury

Story by Randy Johnson

of High Country Skiing

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mega-anniversary is coming—and like most of the anniversaries in our lives—it’s time to show the love! The High Country’s ski industry does more than enrich the culture of the Boone area. Like warm weather tourism—skiing plays a key role in our economy—but are the

Ski Beech, the 1960s.

Can it really be almost 50 years ago that the Blowing Rock Ski Lodge opened to rave reviews and brought skiing to the Boone area?

Thanks to our local ski areas and winter sports businesses, there is a night-and-day difference between winter business activity in the High Country of 2011 and what it was in 1961.

When the ski lodge, now known as Appalachian Ski Mountain, opened in December 1962, “There was one motel open in the winter in Blowing Rock,” says Brad Moretz.

“All the rest closed their shutters! Today, we realize skiing turned a major corner for the High Country—tourism became a yearround business.”

Now the area’s November to March ski season delivers a significant amount of the year’s occupancy tax revenue to local towns—81 percent in the Village of Sugar Mountain, 72 percent in the town of Beech Mountain, 50 percent in Banner Elk. “Ski season provides a critical bridge to having a year-round tourism economy,” said Dave Belin of RRC Associates, the Boulder, Colo., researchers who authored the NC Ski Areas Association’s recent Economic Impact Study of the 2009-2010 ski season.

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Left, Jim Cottrell, founder of the French-Swiss Ski College, looks on as iconic Olympic skier Jean-Claude Killy answers a reporter’s question at Appalachian Ski Mountain in 1972. Right, the main men at Appalachian Ski Mountain—Grady Moretz (right) and son Brad (left). The duo have “played a key role in the development of the ski industry,” say Tracy Brown of the Blowing Rock TDA. One of App’s terrain parks lies behind.

That research showed that North Carolina received $146 million in total economic impact at six resorts. The bulk of that, perhaps $120 million, flows from the Boone area’s three ski areas, the most sophisticated and popular in the state.

That economic impact includes a “ripple effect” of dollars flowing beyond the slopes to restaurants, shops, hotels and motels.

“Skiing is critical for North Carolina,” says Wit Tuttell, director of tourism marketing for the state. “People drive to ski here, so skiers spend money all over North Carolina as they eat, sleep and drive their way to the slopes.

Beyond that—when tourism is year round, and that’s what skiing does for the mountains—it has true impact on the economy.”

For offbeat evidence of the ski industry’s impact, look at the Christmas tree industry. Whether or not a car with a ski rack ever pulls into a local tree farmer’s field, the High Country ships millions of dollars in Fraser fir and other Christmas trees all over the country as a successful agricultural crop. Nevertheless, the growing choose and cut side of the business—up 10 percent in Watauga County from 2008 to 2009—is “agriculture” impacted directly by early ski season tourist traffic. Just that 10 percent increase represents $40,000 in direct additional tax dollars to Watauga County—a figure expanded further by 54

High Country Magazine

indirect tax income from dining and lodging by choose and cut customers.

The irony: Even the agriculture economy benefits from the area’s reputation as a ski destination. And the winter travelers we see so focused on skiing—not an inexpensive sport—often come back in summer. It’s safe to say that some summer visitors hear about the area in the first place based on its status as a ski region.

The net result is that, unlike warm weather tourism, skiing may have more impact on the economy than most people think—and be less appreciated for it. Now is the time to change that.

Time to Celebrate?

It may be Appalachian’s 50th anniversary, but it could be an areawide celebration of our local slopes and the particular, surprising brand of local ski culture that has grown up around them.

The idea that the High Country could garner great publicity from the anniversary may fit nicely with the state of North Carolina’s plans. “Cataloochee was the state’s first ski area,” opening in December 1961, and Appalachian opened in December 1962, “so the state will play this as a year long 50th anniversary,” says Wit Tuttell.

“We’ll focus attention on Cataloochee in 2011, and on to Appalachian in 2012. Like the Parkway 75th, we want to promote everyone and skiing is a

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region-wide industry.”

That opportunity may seem focused on two resorts, but, “The 50th anniversary of Appalachian occurs in a new context of growing competition for skiers with the state of West Virginia,” says Wright Tilley of the Watauga County Tourism Development Authority. “In effect we have the opportunity to make this an area-wide anniversary—the birth of High Country skiing.”

Cataloochee will surely celebrate, but as a single resort in a largely summer-focused tourism area, the possibilities for publicity may be limited—at least compared with the High Country, where the state’s biggest ski areas cluster among diverse resort towns, and winter sports options range from cross country skiing to hiking.

It certainly can be argued that, with a cooperative approach, Appalachian’s anniversary could provide the entire High Country with a priceless opportunity to step ahead of the regional ski competition.

The heritage of Southern skiing is a stirring story, and it’s amazing how much of it can be claimed by the High Country.

Deep Roots

The High Country’s ski region status runs deep. As early as the 1930s, Lees-McRae College students had made skis in a shop class and were schussing the meadow slopes above Banner Elk on

Beech Mountain. The Depression-era Works Progress Administration guide to North Carolina showed a photo of the early skiers (at about the same time that the first rope tows were bringing skiing to New England).

The big snows of 1960 had an impact. Cataloochee opened the weekend before Christmas in 1961, and Boone area civic leaders already had their sites set on developing winter tourism. The Blowing Rock Ski Lodge got its start with that effort and opened in December 1962.

When Hound Ears became the Boone area’s second slope in 1964, it had the state’s first chairlift. LeesMcRae students and faculty again figured in an informal ski site in Banner Elk with the installation of a rope tow on the Andrews farm in 1965.

Hawksnest opened in 1966, then Beech came next, in 1967, and more visibility came with the opening of such a big ski area. The Carolina Caribbean plan to pair the ski area with a Caribbean resort was a story in itself, as was the Land of Oz theme park.

Sugar debuted in 1969. The state’s greatest vertical drop was an instant draw.

Then tiny Mill Ridge, the last High Country ski area, opened in 1970.

The early heyday of Boone area skiing hit with the renaming of the Blowing Rock Ski Lodge as Appalachian Ski Mountain under the innovative ownership of the Moretz family. The debut of the French-Swiss Ski College followed in the late 1960s, with the classic story of how Jim Cottrell and Jack Lester helped invent the Southern ski market with aggressive, innovative instruction programs and outlandish promotions.

Lester enticed the Green Berets to French-Swiss Ski College—and then came Jean-Claude Killy. Believe it or not, Killy’s movie Snow Job premiered in Boone—and Killy attended. Ultimately, Cottrell played a national role in the Special Olympics movement after the launch of the Southeastern games in 1976. He authored the program’s ski instruction manual and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver visited Appalachian in 1982.

The Snow Carnival of the South attracted attention then faded—as the local industry faced resort bankruptcies in the 1970s. Despite a string of warm

The Snow Carnival of the South was a major local event from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.

Today, area towns and ski resorts host a variety of successful winter events. Could celebrating a half-century of High Country skiing up the ante in competition with West Virginia’s slopes?

They’ve Come a Long Way Baby...

Skiing in the South has gone from “a curiosity to an industry,” says Brad Moretz.

Let’s count the whys and ways local skiing has risen to national significance.

Bully grooms our steepest slopes with a cable winch. Appalachian’s new Park Bully sets terrain park features and shapes the snow around them.

Snowmaking The South helped establish the fledgling snowmaking technology, employing it within years of its invention. But the real story is more recent.

With now leading-edge snowmaking systems, ski seasons start earlier, open more terrain faster, end later, with higher quality and with more consistent snow than was once imaginable.

Lifts Today’s lifts are faster, more comfortable, and more easily slowed down and sped up to address a skier’s lift skills. Conveyor lifts make it easier than ever for toddlers to head uphill without rope tow tangles.

Slope Grooming Remember boilerplate slopes of “skier-groomed” moguls? Once nonexistent, grooming is now state-ofthe-art. High-tech tillers make easily carved corduroy out of hard-pack.

Sugar’s high-tech “winch cat” Pisten winters, the ski resorts were winning converts and customers—they “went under” financially because of plummeting real estate sales.

Mill Ridge and Hound Ears ultimately couldn’t compete with the “big slopes.” Today, Hawksnest’s slopes sit quiet, but tubing runs and ziplines play a key role in the area’s winter sports scene.

Ski Equipment “Skis used to be like early Fords,” Brad Moretz says. “You could have anything you wanted as long as it was one thing.” High Country skiers today can rent a wide variety of skis, snowboards and other “slope devices”—all aimed at an individual’s own needs and desires. It’s never been easier to learn and enjoy a slope sport.

Time to Plan

The heritage of High Country skiing makes a great story—and Appalachian’s anniversary gives the area a chance to tell it.

Moretz says the resort plans to start the celebration next year with the slope’s 50th season, then carry the festivities into the following winter, when the 50th anniversary of the opening date arrives in December 2012. That gives the area time to plan.

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“Appalachian is our neighborhood ski area,” says Blowing Rock Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Tracy Brown, “but we’d be remiss if we didn’t see the potential for this to be an area-wide opportunity. It would be important to pull all the local destination marketing organizations together, see what the vision may be, and set aside the resources needed to achieve a unified promotion.”

Photo by Randy Johnson

Plan what?

What would a worthy celebration of High Country skiing look like? Even a quick survey of options is provocative.

Jean Claude-Killy is 68. How exciting would it be to see him back in the Boone area, skiing the area’s slopes, perhaps hosting a re-premiere of his film, along with the latest Warren Miller ski movies?

Glen Plake, the famous extreme skier with the mohawk haircut, appeared at Ski Beech in the early 1990s, and today he’s resurgent as the spokesperson for the annual National Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month. Invite him!

Imagine 2010 Olympic gold medalist Bode Miller challenging the best ski club racers in the region to a slalom in the High Country? How much buzz would Shaun White create riding the features at Appalachian’s terrain parks?

With Appalachian’s Special Olympics status, how about a visit by Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger?

The Weather Channel team is close by in Atlanta. Stage slopeside broadcasts by the TWC’s avid skier Jim Cantore.

The area could consider some great contests. “50 prizes to celebrate 50 years.” “Win a chance to ski with a legend: Jean-Claude Killy.”

National visibility is the key—even if the publicity only positions the High Country as the place to ski in the South.

The possibilities recall the heyday of the Snow Carnival of the South. The High Country hasn’t celebrated winter like that in a very long time.

With local skiing reaching the halfcentury mark—we may just have another opportunity.

Photo by James Fay

w

Randy Johnson’s book Southern Snow: The Winter Guide to Dixie is due out next year in a new edition featuring Southern ski history.

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Glen Plake, top, gazes out over the High Country. Remember the “no jumping” rules at local slopes? Boy, have times changed! Today, the sky’s the limit. “Our industry is able to respond and lead the market,” says Brad Moretz at Appalachian, home to three popular terrain parks.

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Februar y / March 2011