Mountain Xpress 08.26.20

OUR 27TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 27 NO. 4 AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

Asheville braces for wave of evictions

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Can air filtration systems limit virus transmission?

THEY’RE COMING Real Estate ISSUE

Climate change drives homebuyers to WNC MOUNTAINX.COM

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C ONTENT S

NEWS

NEWS

FEATURES 8 BOOM CITY Pandemic hasn’t cooled Asheville’s red-hot real estate market

12 PUT OUT Community members prepare for coming wave of evictions

PAGE 22 THEY’RE COMING Climate migrants may well be the newest category of transplants flocking to Western North Carolina. In this week’s special Real Estate issue, Xpress looks at that possibility, as well as exploring our booming real estate market, a projected surge of evictions, how homeowners are rethinking their cooking spaces and more.

COVER PHOTO Getty Images

WELLNESS

FEATURE

COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick 18 ‘OF VITAL CONCERN’ Real estate interests raise funds to establish Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 1926

4 LETTERS 4 CARTOON: MOLTON 7 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN 8 NEWS 16 BUNCOMBE BEAT

20 AIRING ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION Owners install filtration systems to limit potential COVID-19 spread

18 ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES 19 COMMUNITY CALENDAR 20 WELLNESS 22 GREEN SCENE

FOOD

24 FOOD 24 KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL Homeowners rethink cooking spaces during pandemic

26 BEER SCOUT 28 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 32 A&E ROUNDUP 34 CLUBLAND

A&E

36 MOVIES 28 CATCHY SYNTH-WAVE AND COSMIC, FUNKY JAZZ Orgatroid and Adi the Monk release new albums

38 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 38 CLASSIFIEDS 39 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

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MANAGING EDITOR: Virginia Daffron OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose ASSISTANT EDITOR: Daniel Walton STAFF REPORTERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Laura Hackett, Molly Horak, Daniel Walton COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Madeline Forwerck MOVIE SECTION HOSTS: Edwin Arnaudin, Bruce Steele CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Barrett, Leslie Boyd, Bill Kopp, Cindy Kunst, Alli Marshall, Brooke Randle, Gina Smith, Luke Van Hine, Kay West ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick MEMBERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR: Laura Hackett MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Sara Brecht, David Furr, Brian Palmieri, Tiffany Wagner OPERATIONS MANAGER: Able Allen INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES & WEB: Bowman Kelley BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler-Tanner ADMINISTRATION, BILLING, HR: Able Allen, Lauren Andrews DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS: Gary Alston, Russell Badger, Clyde Hipps, Joan Jordan, Angelo Sant Maria, Desiree Davis, Charlotte Rosen, Carl & Debbie Schweiger, David Weiss

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OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

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I have been noticing a startling trend in the news these past couple of weeks.

There seems to be only one broadcasted line on the reopening of the university system. I think it would do much good to take a more open analysis on the reopening of the UNC system, since there are many merits to the reopening of universities.

It is no secret that the age group of 18- to 24-year-olds is the most likely to contract and spread the coronavirus.

However, I think most people have a one-sided view on the campus situation.

I am a student at UNC Asheville, and I have witnessed firsthand the prompt measures that the university has taken to ensure our safety.

The university requires the wearing of masks in order to stifle the spread of any outbreaks; the university does not allow guests from outside of campus to come into any residential facilities; the university has a quarantine ward for any people infected, on top of regular random temperature checks and enforced 6-foot social distancing. Breaking these rules is grounds for expulsion, which is something that has been carried out on a number of occasions already.

Having been through downtown Asheville recently, I can say without a doubt that being a resident on the university campus is many times more safe than being a member of the general population with none of these protections and enforcements.

The final thing that bothers me about this anti-reopening push is that, so far, all of the reported incidents which have gained statewide attention, such as the fraternity parties at Chapel Hill, East Carolina University and Appalachian State University, and the Granville Towers infections, have all been outside of campus, where the university system has no power.

With nearly 2 ½ million active cases in the country and rising, why on Earth would it be a good idea to let 100,000 to 200,000 students from an area of relatively enforceable safety into the very unsafe general population?

— Jeremiah Blake Asheville

Now that you’re here, it’s time to help out I had to do a double take after reading Roy Parvin’s tone-deaf “Why We Moved to Asheville in the Middle of the Pandemic” submission to COVID Conversations [Aug. 12, Xpress]. Surely it was satire. I’m hoping the editors have

MOUNTAINX.COM

C AR T O O N B Y RA N D Y MO L T O N the good sense to take it down. Why are we glorifying a rich tourist visiting once, then “forking over well over half a million dollars” for a house in Asheville?

Mr. Parvin, I’m assuming your Realtor didn’t clue you in, so I will. Asheville residents struggle to buy houses here because of stagnant wages, under- and unemployment, and ballooning home prices due to folks from other places buying homes “sight unseen.” I’m sorry to tell you, but you are part of the problem. Many of us are renting and/or commuting from outside the city if we have the privilege of a reliable vehicle.

Here’s a “key insider tip on fitting in”: Don’t openly brag about contributing to the affordable housing crisis in Asheville. I’m hoping your “plot waiting to happen” includes using your privilege to advocate for affordable housing.

Welcome to Asheville.

— Jordan Perry Barnardsville Editor’s note: Thank you for your feedback. The essay also struck a nerve among many online commenters. Xpress continues to cover issues related to affordable housing and the real estate boom, including two articles in this issue: “Put Out: Community Members Prepare for Coming Wave of Evictions” and “Boom City: Pandemic Hasn’t Cooled Asheville’s Red-hot Real Estate Market.” At the same time, we remain committed to reflecting the totality of our community, from those who are vulnerable and struggling to others with access to more resources and opportunities. As we have for the past 26 years, we still believe that hearing from one another and entering into dialogue is

the best and perhaps only way to build a healthier, more vibrant community.

Davis will bring honesty and integrity to Congress My generation was raised not to discuss politics — not with neighbors, not at church and not in the workplace. The pendulum has swung the other way; now suddenly, everyone is on one side or the other. Left or right. Blue or red. Where is that middle spot where so many of us want to return? That place where honesty and integrity are a priority?

In 2020, the 11th Congressional District has an opportunity it has not seen since 2012. The lines have been redrawn; all of 16 counties are together again. Our next congressman will be a native son.

Moe Davis dedicates his life to service to others. Fresh out of public high school, he earned a degree in criminal justice from our own Appalachian State.

He went on to pursue his first law degree (J.D.). Moe looks through a wide lens, and he saw the opportunity to serve our country in the United States Air Force for 25 years, retiring at the rank of colonel. In service beyond the military, Moe Davis was a national security expert for Congress, a law professor and judge with the U.S. Department of Labor. Whatever voters want to know appears on his website: [avl.mx/81g].

I am concerned about the future of the region my ancestors settled.

Whether you are a native or newcomer, Republican or Democrat, the residents of the 11th District deserve someone

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

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OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

who will put the integrity of the U.S. Constitution and the interests of the people of Western North Carolina first. Moe Davis has plans for our future — yours and mine. He plans to work to improve the lives of all the people of N.C. 11.

If honesty and integrity are important to you, join me and vote for Moe Davis for Congress on Nov. 3.

— Deborah Lewis-Smith Asheville Editor’s note: The writer reports that she is a volunteer with Moe Davis for Congress.

A new prescription: health care for all!

On Aug. 27, 2019, the Asheville City Council made a proclamation in support of Improved Medicare for All. No one foresaw the COVID-19 pandemic, a condition that has now made Medicare for All a much more urgent issue.

In accepting that proclamation, I outlined the tenets of HR 1384, the Improved Medicare for All bill that was introduced to Congress by Rep. Pramila Jayapal in March 2019. She was surrounded by National Nurses United that day, the same union that our Mission Hospital nurses are seeking to join.

The tenets are: • Everyone is issued a universal health card when they are born that expires when they die.

• The single-payer plan creates one national entity that pays for health care in the U.S., eliminating the chaos of the private insurers and

complexity of the bureaucracy that consumes 30% of our health care dollar.

• The right to choose your own health care providers is preserved.

• Copays, deductibles, premiums and all other out-of-pocket costs are abolished with a modest increase in personal taxes that are predictable every year. Drug prices, diagnostic testing, hospital stays and medical equipment prices are all negotiated and standardized.

• Employers are no longer providers of health care insurance, so that they can manage their budgets without factoring in runaway health care costs (including cities and municipalities, like Asheville).

• Since all individuals have their own health coverage, people are free to change jobs, move to different locales and be entrepreneurs without concern about their health care coverage. (Asheville entrepreneurs, I am talking to you!)

• Physicians have their documentation/billing issues streamlined and minimized, getting back to the business of taking care of patients.

As a physician, I saw how important that “golden ticket” known as the Medicare card was for my patients.

Everyone has a need for this “golden ticket,” especially in this time of COVID-19.

It’s time for this new prescription.

— Ellen Kaczmarek, M.D. Asheville

Wadsworth would put conservation first I recently attended a virtual town hall with Jenna Wadsworth, who is running as the Democratic candidate for state commissioner of agriculture and was very impressed by her intelligence, her understanding of the issues affecting farming and food production in our state, and her ideas for addressing these challenging issues. Next, I checked out her website: www.jennawadsworth.com and liked what I read! She is a breath of fresh air for our state, clearly up to facing our fiercest challenges.

I am convinced that people concerned about climate change and environmental integrity, local food resiliency, support for family farmers, getting away from destructive factory farming, equity and social justice, particularly in our food systems, will be excited about supporting Jenna.

Commissioners of agriculture and their work may not be something many people know or care about, but I have learned of its importance and influence on issues I care deeply about. The current commissioner, Steve Troxler, does not believe climate change is real and takes money from big agriculture.

According to Jenna, small farmers (of which she is one) know that the climate is changing, growing seasons are unpredictable and that new, innovative “best practices,” putting conservation first, need to be implemented.

Jenna has pledged to not take contributions from corporations and fossil fuel industries, including Duke Energy.

Check out this exciting and visionary candidate and encourage all your voting friends, acquaintances and networks to vote for her, too!

— Anne Craig Asheville Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Troxler’s office for a response to a summary of the writer’s points but received none for publication.

Ask Burr and Tillis what they’ll do about Trump Have the last 3 1/2 years of Donald Trump’s behavior made us so numb that we are willing to allow him to continue with his abuse of power? He has openly admitted that he will hold up the postal funding to impede the ballot collection in November. Actions such as this can lead a country to turn into a dictatorship. When a person like Donald Trump stays in power, it is even more difficult to unseat him or her.

Please contact U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis and ask what is going to be done about this abuse of power. I wonder if Thom Tillis and Richard Burr would like to go down in history as the senators who let our country to lose its valued form of government.

— Diane A-Akert Leicester

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C AR T O O N B Y B R E N T B R O W N

Contact legislators to support renewable energy “I can’t wait for things to get back to normal again” is a common phrase that is thrown around these days during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Truth be told, if our nation doesn’t use its power to make the changeover to clean, green and renewable energy, we will never get “normal” back. Climate change is currently in effect, and the use of nonrenewable energy sources plays a major role in that. Coal combustion and petroleum production are some of the biggest culprits in our country that create greenhouse gas emissions, the leading cause of climate change.

It is important to note that along with climate change comes multiple health risks, such as increased rates of cardiovascular and respiratory disease due to higher temperatures and higher pollution rates.

The good news? North Carolina has the natural resources available to provide renewable energy and combat climate change in order to provide a more sustainable and healthy environment.

Environment North Carolina is currently working toward that goal in its 100% Renewable campaign. This is a call to action for the citizens of North Carolina to contact their legislators and demand a necessary change

to support 100% renewable energy by 2050. Every voice counts and plays a critical role in supporting a clean and healthy environment for ourselves and future generations.

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting us right now, but if we don’t make this switch over to clean and renewable energy, then climate change will continue to affect us in the future.

— Kristin Komoroski Raleigh

Keep community in mind when publishing articles Upon reading the article posted titled, “Why We Moved to Asheville in the Middle of a Pandemic,” [Aug. 12, Xpress] by Roy Parvin, I feel appalled and embarrassed. So many people in WNC are struggling with housing, and to share in a cavalier manner that these former Californians dropped $500,000plus on a house in the middle of another Great Depression is blatantly disrespectful to those living in Asheville.

Actual community members in Asheville read your newspaper — it’s not just tourists. Please keep our community in mind when approving articles for publishing. This article was a thoughtless, classist, rude piece of writing.

In the midst of the movement for Black lives, a pandemic where tens of millions of people are out of work, political corruption and turmoil, as well as the looming and increasingly real threat of climate change, we really need to be aware of what we are sharing with the broader public. Parvin’s article is not relevant to most people’s experience living in Asheville at this time.

I’m unsure of the politics — if Roy is a new sponsor of your newspaper or if he was one of the few people who submitted to the COVID Conversations article segment idea. Regardless, please, please be more thoughtful of your article choices.

— Amelia Stamsta Asheville Editor’s note: Thank you for your feedback. Mr. Parvin’s piece was a community contribution, and it fit the parameters of the COVID Conversations feature.

While we do have a new membership program to raise money to sustain Xpress’ operations — and we appreciate all donations — that program does not offer an inside track to publication.

Please see our response to another letter about Mr. Parvin’s essay, “Now That You’re Here, It’s Time to Help Out” in this section for more information about how we approached the publication of this piece. X MOUNTAINX.COM

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

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NEWS

Boom city

Pandemic hasn’t cooled Asheville’s red-hot real estate market

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Prior to COVID-19, Ford Willis of Town and Mountain Realty dealt almost exclusively with regionally based clients.

“I’m from Western North Carolina,” he explains. “So the vast majority of my business has come from my local network.” But over the last few months, he continues, “I have had almost all out-ofstate buyers.”

Some are relocating here for work; others have settled on Buncombe County as their retirement destination. But a number of his new clients, Willis reveals, are in search of “a little more breathing room” in response to the pandemic. Coming from places like San Francisco, Atlanta, Raleigh and Washington, D.C., these people are leaving densely populated cities behind yet are able to maintain their higher salaries via remote work in such industries as technology and finance.

“We think the real estate market here is quite expensive, which it is,” says Willis.

Research by the Charlotte-based Canopy Realtor Association backs up that assessment: In July, the median sale price for a home in Asheville was $341,000, up 2.4% from the same month last year. The average sale price was $410,012, a 3% increase. Buncombe County as a whole showed slightly lower figures but bigger increases: a median sale price of $329,575, up 7.4% from last year, and an average sale price of $388,315, a 7% jump.

But for buyers from San Francisco, Willis points out, “They’re spending half as much as they would in California and getting twice the house.”

Amid record high unemployment and continuing pandemic-related uncertainties, Willis and other local experts believe this influx of outsiders is a major factor in the city’s current real estate boom.

In July, pending home sales in Asheville increased by 40.1% compared with last year, the Canopy data shows.

And the average length of time a property stayed on the market dropped sharply, from 66 to 47 days. And while new listings are up slightly for both Buncombe and for the multicounty Asheville metro area, inventory remains low both within the city limits and across the county, with sharp declines throughout most of 2020.

Due to the shortage of available properties, local agents say many buyers are looking beyond Buncombe to neighboring counties such as Haywood, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania.

Homes are somewhat cheaper in the first three, though all four counties are now

MOUNTAINX.COM

Real Estate ISSUE

GOING LIKE HOTCAKES: In July, pending home sales in Asheville increased by 40.1% compared with last year, according to Canopy Realtor Association. And the average length of time a property stayed on the market dropped from 66 to 47 days. Photo by Thomas Calder experiencing similar spikes in both sales and home prices.

Looking ahead, a key question remains: How long will this boom last?

notes Davis, underwriters are now requiring two years of tax returns, a yearto-date profit and loss statement and an update on the buyer’s current workflow 10 days prior to closing.

HIGHER RISK, TIGHTER RULES

Those soaring numbers are part of Asheville’s larger COVID-19 real estate narrative, stresses Linda Youngblood, senior loan officer at Movement Mortgage. Initially deemed nonessential workers under the state’s “stay home, stay safe” mandate, real estate agents saw a precipitous drop in business in the latter half of March. But mere weeks later, after the industry had been reclassified as essential, “The real estate market went gangbusters,” Youngblood explains.

Low mortgage rates, which are currently hovering around 3.18%, are a key reason for the boom, she points out.

“There’s an inverse relationship between the market and mortgage rates: The more uncertainty there is in the market, the better the mortgage interest rates get.”

At the same time, continuing concern about high unemployment numbers and homeowners’ desire to take advantage of those low rates by refinancing have led to “slower turnaround times for appraisers, attorneys and underwriters,” says Lynn Davis, a loan officer at Alcova Mortgage.

That’s especially true for buyers who are self-employed. For these applicants,

BABIES AND BEARS: These days, real estate agent Ford Willis handles most of his business calls from his North Asheville home. Willis often steps outside when speaking with clients to avoid potential disruptions by his infant daughter. And he’s discovered that his backyard is a popular thoroughfare for bears, much to the excitement of the family dog. “He loses it when that happens,” Willis says with a laugh. Photo courtesy of Town and Mountain Realty

“All these extra layers of risk have been put in because of COVID.” — Linda Youngblood, Movement Mortgage Homebuyers who’ve experienced work furloughs during the pandemic also face more stringent regulations. In those cases, underwriters are requiring two 30-day pay stubs, reflecting both preand post-furlough earnings. A letter of explanation about an individual’s temporary unemployment is also part of the new process.

“All these extra layers of risk have been put in because of COVID,” Youngblood explains. “And that’s been hard, to ask for all these things that we’ve literally never had to ask for before.”

NAVIGATING STRESS

With so many additional hurdles to clear, agents and lenders alike strongly advise potential buyers to get their ducks in a row before getting attached to a particular property. Because in Asheville, the real estate market waits for no credit report.

Sherrie Puffer, operating principal at Keller Williams Asheville, says she received multiple offers on her Fairview home the first weekend it was listed in July. “As a seller, it’s nice,” she says.

“But as a Realtor, I prefer a little more balanced market.”

The reason is simple, she explains.

When demand is as high as it is right now and inventory is this low, the stakes intensify for interested homebuyers. Part of an agent’s job, she notes, is to mitigate clients’ anxiety. Add a pandemic to the mix and real estate professionals end up wearing a lot of different hats on any given day.

“We joke that we took a side job as therapists,” says Steph Cochran of Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty. “The pandemic has caused us to realize we need to keep a cool head and be an anchor to help guide clients through the process.”

Along with managing stress levels, agents must also navigate new pandemic guidelines. In the early days of COVID19, Puffer reveals, her company teamed up with several other local real estate agencies to develop shared health and safety standards. Masks and social distancing are required, showing a property to multiple clients at the same time is prohibited, and all interested buyers must fill out a disclosure form before entering a home. The form includes questions about health symptoms as well as any potential exposure to the virus that the person may have had — a particularly relevant point considering the number of out-of-state buyers arriving from such

hot spots as Houston, New York City and South Florida.

And meanwhile, notes Cochran, sellers always have the right to cancel a showing if they feel it poses a health risk, regardless of what the disclosure form says.

ADJUSTMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES These safety measures, though, have challenged agents to find creative approaches to their work. Before COVID19, for example, they typically chauffeured clients from property to property, creating additional face time with buyers and a chance to share relevant information about the area. But these days, they caravan, with agents providing guided cellphone tours as they move between showings.

Lenders, too, have had to adjust. In the early days of the pandemic, Davis recalls, clients were signing documents on the hoods of cars. And Youngblood, who was used to in-person meetings and social gatherings, has had to rely on digital platforms to stay connected.

At the same time, agents say sellers are now more readily embracing previously underutilized technologies. “The majority of listings that are up now come with virtual walk-throughs,” notes Cochran.

“Before, that wasn’t always the case.”

The Matterport platform, which offers prospective buyers a 3D tour of the home,

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CONTINUES ON PAGE 10

Give me a call or drop me a line. I am proud to say that I have been voted one of the best in our beautiful area for 8 years in a row.

I am a full service Realtor who puts your expectations and needs first.

Serving Buncombe County and the surrounding areas for over 20 years.

Be Well and stay safe!

CONCERN FOR LOCALS: With the average price of Asheville homes increasing due to high demand and low inventory, mortgage lender Lynn Davis worries that locals won’t be able to compete with out-of-town buyers equipped with remote work and higher salaries. Photo courtesy of Davis

Sona Merlin Real Estate Broker (828) 216-7908 www.sonamerlin.com sona@sonamerlin.com MOUNTAINX.COM

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

OUTSIDE INTEREST: Real estate agent Steph Cochran estimates that about 70% of her current clients are from out of town. In the coming months, she predicts, “I think that number is going to grow.” Photo courtesy of Cochran “used to come along with higher-end listings for the most part,” says Willis.

“But now I’m seeing them all the time.”

These features, he emphasizes, aren’t meant to replace an in-person walkthrough. They simply enable interested buyers — particularly those coming from out of state — to preview properties on the cheap and from the safety of their home, reducing the total number of in-person visits they might otherwise require.

Both agents, though, note that in recent months, some clients have put in offers without ever setting foot inside the property. “It’s not something I generally recommend,” cautions Willis. “I think you only get the real perception of the home when you go to visit it. But I understand the need at this time, with how competitive the market is.”

For Cochran, the decision to buy sight unseen comes down to the level of familiarity and trust between agent and client.

In her case, she explains, “I’d been working with the buyer for a while, so I knew the lens they were looking through. If it had been a new client, I would have had some discomfort, because I just wouldn’t have known their lens well enough to recommend that we go ahead with it.”

BREATHING ROOM

Meghan Carroll, who moved here from Raleigh, recently bought her first house, a three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath property in MOUNTAINX.COM

Arden. Like many new arrivals, she came with job in hand, continuing her work as a scheduler for a landscaping company with markets throughout the Southeast.

Having worked remotely since the onset of COVID-19, Carroll says the one-bedroom apartment she’d been renting made one thing clear: Her new home had to include room for an office. “When you’re crammed up in a little spot, you can’t transition between work mode and house mode,” she explains. “Having a little more space helps with that.”

Buyers who, like Carroll, work remotely often share that concern. Cochran, however, says her clients tend to care more about a property’s proximity to trails and greenways than about specific interior features. “People looking at this area are usually outdoors people,” she says. “So they want access to outdoor space.”

Current homeowners, notes Willis, are also showing increased interest in upgrading their personal outdoor space.

“We’re seeing trends in usable and enjoyable outdoor commodities” such as pools and spas, he reports. “And it makes total sense, considering the amount of time people are now spending at home.”

UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Despite the current boom, real estate agents are divided about the market’s short-term prospects. Willis points out that the last two months have seen yearover-year gains in pending contracts.

“That’s typically a sign for more activity down the line,” he explains.

But over at Keller Williams Asheville, Puffer says she’s hearing from her agents that both sellers and buyers, nervous about the upcoming election, are starting to postpone decisions until after November.

In a normal real estate cycle, she continues, “The region’s market does start to slow down after the leaf season.”

However, says Puffer, “These aren’t normal times, so I don’t want to make any wild predictions.”

Meanwhile, back at Mosaic, Cochran echoes the advice that company owner Mike Figura shared during a recent Zoom conference call with his agents.

“He suggested we not try to read the tea leaves too closely,” she reveals. “Because there are so many things in play that we’re just unaware of, long term.” X

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

MOUNTAINX.COM

It’s the calm before the housing crisis storm. And when it hits, says Robin Merrell, a managing attorney at Pisgah Legal Services who oversees housing cases, it’s going to be ugly.

The warnings are flooding in, in the form of desperate phone calls. Ashevillebased Pisgah Legal Services is fielding

over 1,000 calls a week, half of which are eviction-related, Merrell says.

There are calls from people who have lost their jobs completely. Some have experienced temporary job loss, but don’t have enough savings to catch up on missed rent. Others were unable to qualify for unemployment benefits or did not not receive a federal stimulus check.

Many more say that even with assistance, it’s not enough.

The looming eviction crisis has threatened renters for months, teasing tenants with temporary relief measures that end just when cash-strapped residents need them the most. What’s coming could be unlike anything Merrell has witnessed, she warns, worse than the housing collapse in 2008, worse than the Great Depression.

The latest projections from the National Low Income Housing Coalition predict that 30 million to 40 million Americans will lose their housing in the next several months. In North Carolina, up to 42% of households are at risk of eviction.

“This will be the largest housing crisis the nation has ever seen,” Merrell predicts. “And if that happens, then those of us alive will spend the rest of our lives dealing with the consequences. And a lot of people will go through really horrible experiences that potentially could have been avoided.”

STABLE, FOR NOW

The mounting crisis comes at no surprise, Merrell says. In March, as the economic realities of the COVID-19 pandemic were settling in, Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order prohibiting new eviction proceedings for residential and commercial tenants for nonpayment. The order was set to expire on June 1, but just days before courts prepared to resume hearing eviction cases, N.C. Chief Justice Cheri Beasley issued a new order to stay all pending evictions until June 21.

Concurrently, federal stimulus funding released under the CARES Act halted evictions from properties backed by a federal mortgage; that protection, however, expired on July 24. Landlords are required to give renters 30 days’ notice before an eviction case is filed in court.

Thus, the first wave of filings related to properties with government-held mortgages could come at the end of August.

Since the statewide stay on evictions ended on June 21, 121 evictions have been filed in Buncombe County’s Superior Civil Court, as of Aug. 11: Five were filed in June, 90 were filed in July, and 26 were filed in the first two weeks of August. Steven Cogburn, Buncombe’s clerk of court, says he expects to see the numbers rise when the Asheville Housing Authority begins filing eviction notices at the end of the month.

In the same seven-week time span, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department served 42 writs of possession — the documents issued after a landlord wins an eviction case in court — says Aaron Sarver, spokesperson for the department. Eight of the official notices were recalled or canceled by the plaintiff, he added.

Last year, the sheriff’s office served 62 writs of possession in July and 54 in August, Sarver adds. In 2018, the department served 65 notices in June, 50 in July and 42 in August.

According to documents provided by the Buncombe County small claims court, 1,794 evictions were filed during the 2019-20 fiscal year, 2,205 evictions were filed in 2018-19, and 2,185 were filed in 2017-18.

WE KNOW ASHEVILLE!

“EVERYONE IS STRUGGLING”

The 2008 housing crisis was largely driven by foreclosures, and homeowners who lost their homes were typically able to become renters, Merrell explains.

Now, renters are the ones losing their homes, leaving fewer options.

When renters are unable to pay their landlords, landlords can’t pay their mortgages, and the cycle deepens, she notes.

According to a regional housing needs assessment commissioned for the city of Asheville by Bowen National Research and updated in March, approximately 46% of county renters — more than 17,000 households — are cost burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their income on housing.

In a statement on behalf of the Apartment Association of Western North Carolina, spokesperson Bryan Holladay says landlords are also feeling financial pressures. Many housing providers operate as “mom and pop” operations and rely on rent payments to cover mortgage payments, property taxes and insurance, he says.

Some industry analysts suggest that rental housing vacancy rates are increasing because existing tenants are moving to less expensive areas, notes Brian Huskey, the city of Asheville’s community development analyst and homelessness lead. Landlords may be less likely to evict when vacancy rates remain high and may be more willing to work out a payment plan with existing tenants to avoid expensive court fees and lost revenue from empty units.

Rental rates for properties owned by the Asheville Housing Authority are income-based, meaning administrators can lower a tenant’s rent to 30% of their new income, explains David Nash, Housing Authority director. Unless it’s an “egregious situation,” he says, most nonpayment cases are worked out before an eviction is filed. Tenants are allowed three eviction filings in a 12-month period; if they trigger a fourth filing, the Housing Authority follows through with the eviction, he says.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 14

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“We certainly understand the enhanced risk associated with people becoming homeless at this point in time, and we’re going to make an effort to avoid that in every possible case,” Nash says.

The federal eviction moratorium bought the Housing Authority more time to talk to tenants and work out payment plans. Right now, the biggest challenge is getting more local landlords to accept housing vouchers — at any one time, there are over 1,000 people on the waiting list to apply for housing assistance, Nash notes.

“The best we can tell people is to put their name on a waiting list, and hopefully within a year or two, we might be able to get to them.”

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

WHERE TO NEXT?

The COVID-19 pandemic adds an extra layer of complexity for individuals facing eviction: It may not be safe for people to go to homeless shelters or stay with family if they lose their housing, Merrell explains. In “normal times,” evictions have severe effects on children’s progress in schools, she says, and with remote learning, those difficulties are going to become greater.

MOUNTAINX.COM

“It really bleeds over, not just into the eviction, but has ripple effects for the entire community,” she says.

It’s crucial that organizations do all they can to keep people housed, explains Debbie Alford, housing placement manager at Homeward Bound. An eviction remains on a tenant’s record for seven years, becoming a barrier to securing housing in the future. If someone has exhausted all options and a landlord is preparing to file for summary ejectment in court, she urges the tenant to leave before official eviction proceedings begin.

Merrell, however, counsels clients to stay put as long as they can. People facing eviction should not voluntarily move out until they’ve talked with the team at Pisgah Legal Services. “Being homeless is far worse than having an eviction on your record,” she says. “And quite frankly, if people can’t get a pass for being evicted right now, when can they ever?”

To stave off the possibility of eviction, she recommends reaching out to local groups to seek rental assistance and any other available resources. Both Homeward Bound and Pisgah Legal have rental assistance programs to help at-risk individuals catch up on rent and utility payments; the city of Asheville has allocated roughly $400,000 of fed-

eral Community Development Block Grant funding to the two nonprofits for eviction protection and short-term rental assistance.

The city of Asheville has also received $430,000 in federal emergency solutions grant funding distributed by the state to address housing stability activities and crisis response. Prevention is a key piece in the city’s strategy to end homelessness, Huskey says, and in the coming weeks, he expects the city to receive an additional $800,000 from the same funding source to continue this ongoing effort during the pandemic.

The situation is frightening, Merrell says. She keeps going by trying to find hope in the situation — and to recognize that if nothing else, the conversation has been elevated in a way that’s new.

“Resources are coming from the CARES Act, from local and state government, and we’ve never had that before,” she says. “I think that a lot of people get caught up in blaming poor people for being poor,” she continues. “Right now, a lot of people have lost their employment through no fault of their own, and I think there’s more compassion for people right now than there typically is. And that’s a really good thing.” X

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MOUNTAINX.COM

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

15

BUNCOMBE BEAT

Vance Monument Task Force gets to work Downtown Asheville’s Vance Monument was dedicated in 1898, decades before anyone on the joint city-Buncombe County Vance Monument Task Force was born.

The obelisk’s fate now stands in the group’s hands, and at its first meeting on Aug. 20, member Ben Scales suggested his colleagues should take the long view in their work. “I believe that what happens at the Vance site will have historical ramifications that will outlive us all,” he said.

But the task force has limited time to reach that long-lasting conclusion.

Per the joint city and county resolution that established the group, a “recommendation regarding the removal and/or repurposing of the Vance Monument” must be delivered to Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners within three months of Aug. 4, when the final members were appointed.

Local governments established the task force in response to widespread

16

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

protests calling for racial justice earlier this year. In addition to concerns about disparities in policing and economic opportunity for Black communities, demonstrators also objected to the downtown memorial for North Carolina’s Confederate Gov. Zebulon Vance, a slave owner and avowed racist. For now, the monument is wrapped in a black plastic shroud intended to “reduce its impact on the community and to reduce the risk of harm it presents in its current state,” according to the city-county resolution.

Task force members unanimously appointed Oralene Simmons, a venerable civil rights leader and founder of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County, and Antanette Mosley, a fifth-generation Asheville native and attorney, to serve as co-chairs. The group plans to meet weekly and gather extensive community input regarding the monument, as well as consult with other

MOUNTAINX.COM

governmental advisory boards such as the African American Heritage Commission, Human Relations Commission of Asheville and Public Art and Cultural Commission.

Asheville City Attorney Brad Branham noted that the task force’s final recommendation must fall within the legal framework of North Carolina’s Cultural History Artifact Management and Patriotism Act, approved by the General Assembly in 2015. He said the law placed strict limits on what could be done with publicly owned “objects of remembrance” such as the Vance Monument.

(No such limits applied to two other downtown Confederate monuments, owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, that were removed in July.)

The group essentially has three options, Branham continued. The monument could be relocated, but only to a “place of similar prominence” within the same jurisdiction,

likely to be interpreted as Asheville city limits. “[Pack Square] sets a pretty high bar for relocation,” he said.

“You can’t move it to Montana.”

State law also allows monuments to be altered through renaming or the addition of contextual plaques. But permanent removal can only occur if a government official deems the monument a threat to public safety — a condition, Branham suggested, that may already have been satisfied through the very resolutions that established the task force.

Whatever the group’s final decision, said Simmons, the obelisk should not remain in its current state. “My ancestors were enslaved, and that caused me to take a closer look at the Vance Monument,” she said, recalling her experiences in the segregated Asheville of the 1950s and ’60s. “I would like to be a part of shaping the history and making a change so that others will not have to have that same feeling that I had as a child.”

— Daniel Walton With additional reporting by Molly Horak X

One Buncombe Fund distributes over $1.3M Local governments and area residents have teamed up to offer a substantial helping hand for Buncombe County during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Kit Cramer, chair of the Buncombe County Service Foundation, the One Buncombe Fund has disbursed more than $1.3 million in individual grants and low-interest business loans to county residents since being established in late March.

During an Aug. 18 presentation to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, Cramer said 1,048 households had received over $453,000 in emergency assistance from the fund for necessities such as housing, utilities and transportation.

Nearly $853,000 had been loaned to 92 area businesses to help them weather the coronavirus’s economic impacts, contributing to the retention of 674 jobs.

“We were meeting on a regular basis to talk about how we could react effectively to the massive number of workers who were laid off through no fault of their own and the number of small businesses who were facing immediate loss of income because of COVID-19,” Cramer recalled about early conversations with county staff and commissioners. “We were looking for something we could do to help meet that need immediately, and One Buncombe was that solution.”

Cramer also thanked community members for their generosity, noting that over $1 million of the fund had come from individual donations, corporate sponsorships and grants.

The remainder came from government allocations: Buncombe County

SPREADING THE WEALTH: Residents of all but one Buncombe County ZIP code, 28753, received assistance for housing, utilities and other needs from the One Buncombe Fund. Most of the 28753 ZIP code is in Madison County. Graphic courtesy of Buncombe County contributed $200,000, while the city of Asheville gave $100,000.

Awards from the fund were made with an eye toward racial equity, added Cramer. Black residents, who make up about 6.3% of the county population, received 12.5% of the individual assistance grants; minority-owned firms, which comprise roughly 10% of Buncombe businesses, got 29% of the loans.

The names of specific business loan recipients, however, were not

made public. As previously reported by Xpress (see “On the money,”

managed by the nonprofit Mountain BizWorks, the details of loan decisions and awards are not subject to government transparency rules.

One loan recipient did address the commission to express her gratitude for the funding. Pam Granger Gale, owner of Asheville-based art teaching business Majik Studios, said the stress she’d experienced as an entrepreneur during the early days of the pandemic was “nothing like I have felt — ever.”

“When I received the One Buncombe Fund loan, one major piece of the puzzle was filled, and my anxiety levels subsided,” Granger Gale continued. “I was able to breathe knowing that while I could not have in-person classes, I had the financial support I needed to pay rent, utilities and insurance on my studio space.”

Business owners will begin repaying their loans in the fall, Cramer said. That money will then be recirculated into the community according to its greatest needs, with potential uses including additional business loans and individual grants to help prevent evictions.

Although the One Buncombe Fund is no longer actively fundraising, Cramer noted, donations are still being accepted at OneBuncombe.org.

May 13), because the program is

Why I support Xpress:

— Daniel Walton X

“Mountain Xpress is essential to the spirit and culture of Asheville.

Invaluable!!!”

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Join Geoff and become a member at SupportMountainX.com

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

17

ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES

FEA T U RE S

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

‘Of vital concern’ On Dec. 3, 1925, The Asheville Citizen featured an announcement from the Asheville Real Estate Board, declaring its support for the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

At the time, 17 national parks existed in the United States, but only one — Acadia on the coast of Maine — stood east of the Mississippi River.

The Asheville Real Estate Board’s decision to back the movement had little to do with conservation. “Real Estate values in Western North Carolina are directly dependent on the increase of population, and the coming of tourists to this section,” the board’s statement read. “This question of real estate values is of vital concern to every property owner, and every resident, not only of Asheville and Buncombe County, but all the mountain section of the state.”

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the board continued, “would attract millions of tourists to Western North Carolina[.]”

Unlike the existing national parks, which were carved out of federal land, Great Smoky Mountains National Park required the purchasing of more than 6,600 privately owned properties. In order for the plans to move forward, Tennessee and North Carolina were tasked with raising the project’s first $1 million ($14.6 million in today’s dollar)

by April 5, 1926.

In North Carolina, Buncombe County shouldered the greatest burden, responsible for raising $250,000 of the $500,000 minimum requirement (with $600,000 being the overall goal for each state).

No potential donor was overlooked.

“School children in all sections of Buncombe County responded to the call of last week for contributions to the fund for the purchase of the Great Smoky

Real estate interests raise funds to establish Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 1926 Real Estate ISSUE

COMMUNITY BUY-IN: In 1926, Buncombe County was responsible for raising $250,000 as part of a federal prerequisite for the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville Mountains,” The Sunday Citizen wrote on Jan. 17, 1926. According to the article, the seven participating schools raised $77.30. “The donations came in pennies, nickels, dimes, and in some cases pupils gave as much as a dollar, and thereby became donors to the national park fund and received certificates to that effect.”

In the following week’s edition, The Sunday Citizen reported that Buncombe County had already secured $202,500.

Unfortunately, surrounding counties showed far less enthusiasm. As a result, North Carolina fell $65,000 short upon the April 5 deadline.

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

MOUNTAINX.COM

“Inquiries have been sent to officials in Washington and to park authorities in Asheville as to why several counties in Western North Carolina have oversubscribed and others have not subscribed at all to the movement,” The Asheville Citizen informed readers on April 8, 1926. “Burke and McDowell counties have been singled out as examples of this delinquency.”

Despite these failures, the article continued, counties were granted a few additional days to raise required funds.

By April 10, The Asheville Citizen reported that the Hendersonville

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Real Estate Board “voted unanimous approval of the park and raised the Hendersonville quota from $25,000 to $40,000.” Meanwhile, Franklin County — one of the few eastern counties to participate in the effort — announced its $10,000 quota would be met within three days.

While the future looked promising, the same article reported how state Sen. Mark Squires, chairman of the North Carolina commission, expressed that “he was exceedingly embarrassed at the delinquency of North Carolina in the raising of the fund[.]”

Five days later, with the state’s quota met, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. A month later, on May 22, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge signed into law the formation and administration of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

However, according to the 2006 Encyclopedia of North Carolina, published by the University of North Carolina Press, Coolidge’s signature was merely the start of another long process.

The official establishment and administration of the park would not begin until Tennessee and North Carolina purchased and signed over 150,000 acres to the federal government. On top of that, an additional 150,000 acres would be required before any development of the park commenced.

The two states did not meet these stipulations until 1934. An additional six years would pass before President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s dedication of Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Sept. 2, 1940.

Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original documents. X

COMMUNITY CALENDAR AUG. 26-SEPT. 4, 2020 For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar.

For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, ext.

137. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, ext. 320.

In-Person Events = Shaded All other events are virtual

MUSIC & DANCE

LITERARY

Arbor Evening Featuring roots duo Seth & Sara.

TH (8/27), 8:30pm, NC Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way

Haywood Library: Book Chat Open conversation with staff.

WE (8/26), 6pm, avl.mx/7kq

StarTribe Ecstatic Dance Donations benefit the Prama Institute.

FR (9/4), 6pm, Pack Square Park, 121 College St

Malaprop's Author Discussion Deborah J. Cohan presents Welcome to Wherever We Are. WE (8/26), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7xm

The Jupiter String Quartet & Pianist Michael Brown Presented by Asheville Chamber Music Series.

FR (9/4), 7:30pm, Registration required, By donation, avl.mx/80a

ART What Are Little Girls Made Of? Exhibition opening reception with painter Connie Bostic. Learn more on Page 32.

WE (8/26), 6pm, Flood Gallery, 850 Blue Ridge Rd, Black Mountain How to Wisely Purchase Art Talk on art as a financial asset by curator Caroline Taylor.

TH (8/27), 10am, Free, Atelier Maison, 121 Sweeten Creek Rd

Stay Home & Write(rs) Group Community writing session hosted by Firestorm.

WE (8/26), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7r8 Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance: Reader Meet Writer Heather Bell Adams presents The Good Luck Stone.

TH (8/27), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7xn Independent Bookstore Day at Malaprop's Author discussions, drawing classes and an ambassador showcase.

SA (8/29), 1pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/80p

Slow Art Friday: Solitude Discussion led by touring docent Hank Bovee at Asheville Art Museum.

FR (8/28), 12pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7z1

Malaprop's Book Launch Maia Toll presents The Illustrated Crystallary: Guidance & Rituals from 36 Magical Gems & Minerals.

MO (8/31), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/80q

Museum on the Plaza Outdoor exhibitions, art talks, pop-up store and scavenger hunt.

SA (8/29), 11am-3pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Fairview Library: Inspired

by Robert Burns Celebration with poetry and music.

MO (8/31), 7:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/80u

AIGA WatchStack: Group Talk & Signal Buzz Graphic design networking.

TU (9/1), 5:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7dr

Malaprop's Book Launch Adrienne Young presents Fable.

TU (9/1), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/80r

Slow Art Friday: Labor of Love Discussion led by master docent Sarah Reincke at Asheville Art Museum.

FR (9/4), 12pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/807 First Friday Art Walks Open galleries.

FR (9/4), 5pm, Free, Biltmore Ave/College St

WILD (Women in Lively Discussion) Book Club Southern Lady Code: Essays by Helen Ellis.

TU (9/1), 6:30pm, Battery Park Book Exchange, 1 Page Ave Malaprop's Book Launch Jennie Liu presents Like Spilled Water.

WE (9/2), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/80s

BENEFITS First Words of Hope Luncheon Proceeds benefit St. Gerard House.

WE (8/26), 12pm, By donation, 620 Oakland St, Hendersonville Change NC: 57 Years of Dreaming Tribute to Martin Luther King and back-to-school donation drive.

FR (8/28), 2pm, Unity Park, 8 Sorrells St, Canton

FILM Movies in the Parking Lot: The Lion King Directions: avl.mx/7xs.

TH (8/27), 7pm, Free, A-B Tech, 340 Victoria Rd Drive-in Movie: Footloose SA (8/29), 7pm, $25/ carload, Lake Logan, 25 Wormy Chestnut Ln, Canton

CIVICS & ACTIVISM Women for Women Voting Event How to vote early, volunteer and advocate in WNC. WE (8/26), 12pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/81l Asheville Multimodal Transportation Commission General meeting.

WE (8/26), 3pm, avl.mx/7xi Justice Matters Tour of Pisgah Legal Program on civil legal aid as an anti-poverty tool.

TH (8/27), 12pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7ur Addressing Racial Inequities in the Criminal Justice System OLLI webinar with city officials and legal experts.

TH (8/27), 3pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7z3 Democratic Women of Buncombe County Meeting Talk on voting with the WNC Social Justice Advocacy Guide.

TH (8/27), 6:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/80e Planting Seeds for Animal Rights Briefing and demonstration.

SA (8/29), 12pm, Vance Monument, 1 Pack Square Care4Carolina Forum COVID-19 and the health insurance coverage gap in WNC. WE (9/2), 11:30am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/81m Asheville Affordable Housing Advisory Committee General meeting.

TH (9/3), 9:30am, avl.mx/80w Folkmoot Cultural Crash Course: 2020 Election

Lecture by Dr. Chris Cooper.

TH (9/3), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7qn

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY The Business of Craft Beverage A-B Tech webinar with speakers from local breweries and distilleries.

TH (8/27), 3pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/81r New Ways to Market & Protect Your Business w/ Google BRCC webinar with Gary Heisey.

TH (8/27), 5:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/81s Financial Planning for Starting a Business Webinar by A-B Tech.

TH (8/29), 10am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/81u How to Fully Fund Your Nonprofit Overhead Webinar by Haywood Small Business Center.

TU (9/1), 10am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/80j Incredible Towns Business Network General meeting.

WE (9/2), 11am, Registration required, Free avl.mx/7g8 Using Shopify to Build an Online Business BRCC webinar with Aaron Wesley Means.

TH (9/3), 5pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/81t

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS Haywood Library: Animal Bones Identification & Exploration Learn to recognize key characteristics in creatures of the region.

WE (8/26), 9am, Free, avl.mx/80t Leadership Asheville Summer Buzz Breakfast Discussion on the upcoming election and the pandemic.

WE (8/26), 9am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/761 Black Mountain College: An Invisible Revolution Discussion on the life and work of R. Buckminster Fuller.

TH (8/27), 1pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7z4 Spanish Conversation Group For adults.

TH (8/27), 5pm, Free, avl.mx/7c6 SVM: The Negro Motorist Green Book The history of African American travel in WNC with Lisa R. Withers.

TH (8/27), 6:30pm, $10, avl.mx/pruq

Blue Ridge Pride: Generation Plus Program for WNC’s LGBTQIA+ community 50 and older.

WE (9/2), 12pm, Free, avl.mx/81v

ECO & OUTDOOR How Houseplants Contribute to Air Quality Discussion and plant review by Sean Sullivan of Living Stone.

WE (8/26), 10am, Free, Atelier Maison, 121 Sweeten Creek Rd Lunch & Learn: Great American Outdoors Act Presentation by Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.

WE (8/26), 12pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/80d Pop up 5k in the Park WE (8/26), 6pm, $10, Fletcher Park, 300 Old Cane Creek Rd, Fletcher Restoring the Central Asheville Watershed Q&A session with RiverLink.

TH (8/27), 10am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7z7 Environmental Injustice: Race, Class & Climate Change Talk by William Barber III of The Climate Reality Project.

TH (9/3), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/806

WEEKLY MARKETS

• Locally Grown on the Green. 3-6pm, 35 Hwy 64, Cashiers • Jackson County Farmers Market. 3:30-6:30pm, Innovation Station, 40 Depot St, Dillsboro Thursdays • ASAP Farmers Market at A-B Tech. 9am-12pm, 340 Victoria Rd • Flat Rock Farmers Market. 3-6pm, 1790 Greenville Hwy, Hendersonville • Enka-Candler Tailgate Market. 3:30-6:30pm, 70 Pisgah Hwy, Candler Fridays • Marion Tailgate Market.

10am-3pm, 67 W Henderson St, Marion Saturdays • North Asheville Tailgate Market. 8am-12pm, UNC Asheville, Lot C • Hendersonville Farmers Market. 8am-1pm, 650 Maple St, Hendersonville • Yancey County Farmers Market.

8:30am-12:30pm,10 S Main St, Burnsville • ASAP Farmers Market at A-B Tech. 9am-12pm, 340 Victoria Rd • Black Mountain Tailgate Market. 9am-12pm, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain • Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market.

9am-12pm, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville

FOOD & BEER

Tuesdays • West Asheville Tailgate Market. 3:30-6:30pm, 718 Haywood Rd Wednesdays • Asheville City Market South. 12-3pm, Biltmore Park Town Square • Weaverville Farmers Market. 2:30-6pm,17 Merrimon Ave, Weaverville • RAD Farmers Market.

3-6pm, Pleb Urban Winery, 289 Lyman St

Middle Eastern-Southern Fusion Pop-up Street food and comfort fare by Sweet Southern Funk.

WE (8/26), 4pm, Baba Nahm, 1 Page Ave Front Porch Food Busking Smoked pork taco pop-up with Chef Eden of HomeGrown.

FR (8/28), 4:30pm, Cascade Lounge, 219 Amboy Rd

CECILIA JOHNSON Attorney at Law

Open Door To-Go Free drive-thru meals.

FR (8/28), 5pm, Sylva First UMC, 77 Jackson St, Sylva Yacht Rock Brunch feat.

DJ Kipper Menu by Foothills Butcher Bar. SU (8/30), 11am, Hi-Wire Brewing, 2A Huntsman Place MANNA Express Free grocery items for neighbors in need.

FR (9/4), 12pm, Beacon of Hope, 120 Cavalry Dr, Marshall

FESTIVALS & FAIRS The Booth Fairy's Traveling Trunk Show Vintage pop-up.

FR (8/28), 12pm, Ambrose West, 312 Haywood Rd Junk-O-Rama Vintage Market Antique pop-up.

SA (8/29), 11am, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd Crafts After Dark: Night Market Handmade items from local crafters.

WE (9/2), 5pm, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd Festival at the Farm Apple picking, food trucks and craft vendors.

FR (9/4), 9am-6pm, Creasman Farms, 280 Bent Arrow Ln, Hendersonville

WELLNESS Alzheimer’s Association Workshop Effective communication strategies.

TH (8/27), 2pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/81o Intro to Medicare: Understanding the Puzzle How to avoid penalties and save money.

TH (8/27), 2pm, Registration required, Free, coabc.org Tranzmission: Nonbinary Support Meeting Questions: info@ tranzmission.org.

TH (8/27), 6:30pm, avl.mx/80y

Yoga on the Plaza All ages and abilities.

Register: avl.mx/7zz.

SA (8/29), 10am, $8, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square WNCAP: Overdose Awareness Day Virtual vigil with speakers.

SU (8/30), 4pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7zu Henderson County Night of Hope Overdose awareness vigil with speakers.

MO (8/31), 6pm, 1 Historic Courthouse Square, Hendersonville Steady Collective Syringe Access Outreach Free educational material, naloxone, syringes and supplies.

TU (9/1), 2pm, Firestorm Bookstore Co-op, 610 Haywood Rd First Contact Ministries: Recovery Support Meeting TH (9/3), 6:30pm, avl.mx/7ko

KIDS Be Red Cross Ready Workshop for teens.

WE (8/26), 2pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/80o Miss Malaprop’s Storytime Ages 3-9.

WE (9/2), 10am, Free, avl.mx/73b

SPIRITUALITY Getting Ahead in a JustGettin'-By World Community problem solving workshop.

TH (8/27), 5:45pm, Foster Church, 375 Hendersonville Rd Jewish Power Hour Led by Rabbi Susskind.

TH (8/27), 6pm, chabadasheville.org

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MOUNTAINX.COM

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

19

WELLNESS

Airing on the side of caution Owners install filtration systems to limit potential COVID-19 spread

BY MOLLY HORAK mhorak@mountainx.com Judith Lyons-Picard was diligent as she prepared to reopen her Candler business, The Lyons Mane Salon, at the end of May. She stocked up on personal protective equipment. She purchased disinfectants to use on the salon’s surfaces. And then she got to thinking: Was there a way to not only disinfect surfaces, but to disinfect the air?

Her close friend and local orthodontist Tim Scanlon told her about a new air sanitation system he had recently installed in his three Western North Carolina offices. Intrigued, Lyons-Picard forked over $1,500 to add an ionizing device to the salon’s heating and cooling unit.

“It was a no-brainer for me,” LyonsPicard says. “The vast majority of the people who come into my business fall into what one would consider a high-risk category for COVID-19. And as a business owner, I don’t want people to be afraid to come into my business.”

Despite a lack of definitive evidence that COVID-19 can spread through heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, residential and commercial property owners are increasingly looking for ways to preemptively protect themselves and their customers from potential airborne transmission. “It helps make everyone feel more comfortable,” LyonsPicard says.

INCREASED DEMAND

COVID-19 is primarily transmitted through droplets spread by speaking, coughing or sneezing, according to the most recent set of guidelines released by the World Health Organization. Emerging research suggests that some cases of the coronavirus result from airborne transmission, which occurs when small virus particles linger in the air — and drift farther than the 6 feet of distance health officials recommend to limit contagion.

Despite isolated anecdotal occurrences, including infections traced to a restaurant in China and a choir practice in Washington, there is no strong evidence to suggest that well-maintained air conditioning, ventilation or other type of climate control systems contribute to the spread of COVID-19, according to a joint report released in May by the WHO, the World Meteorological 20

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

Real Estate ISSUE

coils, killing any viruses or bacteria before the particles can enter the airstream. The systems are effective at killing “what it can see directly,” notes Travis Hyatt, heating and cooling service division manager for MB Haynes Corp. UV purification systems typically run about $400-$600 for residential spaces; costs rise for commercial application.

Thicker air filters with a higher minimum efficiency reporting value, or MERV, can also help trap smaller particles before they make their way into an HVAC system — but the recommended filters with a MERV rating of 13 or higher create a drag on air systems and can cause damage to the equipment, Gentry cautions. These filters should be changed at least once a month.

BREATHE RIGHT: Peter Montague, co-owner of downtown restaurant Zambra, decided to install an S400 air purification unit complete with a HEPA filter and UV light to kill and remove viruses from the air inside the restaurant. “I want my staff and customers to feel safe,” he says. Photo courtesy of Montague Organization’s Joint Office for Climate and Health and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

To limit viral spread, the group recommends cleaning air systems and ducts regularly and making sure rooms are well ventilated, in addition to preventive measures like wearing a face covering, social distancing and disinfecting surfaces on a regular basis. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests increasing ventilation with outdoor air as well as air filtration, using a portable air cleaner and continuously running an HVAC system to increase air flow.

Nonetheless, the demand for various types of air filtration systems has significantly increased since North Carolina reported its first COVID-19 case in March, says Duane Gentry, president of the Gentry Service Group. The number of residential installment inquiries his company has received for the systems has

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doubled, he said, and commercial installation requests have “gone up tenfold.”

According to Gentry, three methods for filtering viruses and other particulate matter from the air are being widely deployed: ionizers, ultraviolet lights and specialized air filters.

Ionizers send an electrical charge to molecules in the air, killing viruses and bacteria. The electrically charged ions cause particles to clump together and settle on surfaces, instead of entering a ventilation system. These ionizing systems work well in larger spaces, Gentry says, and generally cost $1,200 to $1,500 for residential uses.

He estimates that Gentry Service Group has installed 75-100 ionizers in residential properties and 10-20 in commercial spaces each month since March.

Ultraviolet lights are mounted inside a heating and cooling system, where they shine concentrated light on the system’s

INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS

Air filtration isn’t a new topic for hospitals, which have long focused on ways to mitigate the spread of infectious particles within their facilities. With the onset of COVID-19, AdventHealth Hendersonville installed a negative air flow intake area using air scrubbers with HEPA filtration to exhaust the air, explains Victoria Dunkle, hospital spokesperson.

Pardee UNC Health Care in Hendersonville utilizes more than 40 different air systems in its main hospital alone, says Kris Peters, Pardee’s vice president of support services and systems integration. The hospital uses MERV-15 and above for all filtration; so far, the facility hasn’t installed any new systems in light of the pandemic.

School systems have also been calling about added filtration methods, Hyatt says. But because schools have so many heating and air conditioning units — and are often operating on a fixed budget — determining a cost-effective solution can be a challenge.

The air filters at all 42 Buncombe County schools were changed before students and staff returned to the classroom, said Tony Baldwin, Buncombe County Schools superintendent, at an Aug. 13 press conference. Asheville City Schools contracted with a private HVAC engineering group to analyze all its air-handling systems and installed MERV-13 air filters in all units, added Shane Cassida, Asheville City Schools assistant superintendent for auxiliary services, at the same press conference.

“I think all of us have to be cognizant that our buildings are all different structures and ages,” Baldwin said. “Those systems, likewise, present challenges. So we’re looking at what we can consistently do across the entire district, and these are the measures we can take this fall.”

BUSINESSES ADAPT

Peter Montague, co-owner of the downtown restaurant Zambra, was visiting family in Florida when he ran into an old friend who distributes air purification systems to hospitals around the country. After talking, Montague decided to install one of the S400 air purification units — which uses a HEPA filter and UV light to kill and remove viruses — in his restaurant, as well as an ionizer in his HVAC unit. Montague now sells the S400 air purification units on the side.

“I think overall, people are happy to see businesses going the extra mile to do anything to show that they care, that they are going above and beyond to make sure the guests and staff are safe — especially indoors,” Montague says. “A significant portion of our business is indoors, and I

want my staff and the people that come in to feel safe.”

Orthodontist Tim Scanlon of TS Orthodontics decided to install a MERV13 filter, an ionization unit and a UV purifier in each of his three office locations in late May. In total, the cost for the equipment came in at close to $40,000, he says, but the payoff is the peace of mind that comes with knowing those who enter his practice are breathing clean air..

When Robert Tipsword, owner of Zia Taqueria, contemplated installing new air filtration systems, the decision came down to two concerns: the length of COVID-19 exposure, which early research by the Center for Evidence-Based Medicine shows can determine how sick a person gets and the number of people who could be infected by one exposure.

An ionization system claiming to be 97% effective in stopping the spread of COVID-19 was installed inside the restaurant the week of Aug. 17, Tipsword says.

“As far as if that’s 100% true, I just don’t know — it seems like we’re all searching for the truth these days,” he says. “But we’re just trying to do the best we can and go the safest route we can and do everything in our power to make everyone feel as comfortable as possible.” X

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MOUNTAINX.COM

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

21

GREEN SCENE

Head for the hills

Climate migration could bring influx to WNC

BY DANIEL WALTON dwalton@mountainx.com For two years running, John Haynes has been among the top five solo real estate agents of the more than 400 Asheville-area agents affiliated with Keller Williams. In 2019, he personally brokered property sales of well over $12 million.

Given those numbers, one might expect Haynes to specialize in selling Biltmore Forest mansions or chic condos in downtown Asheville. But the focus of his brand, Retreat Realty, sits far from the urban core: Instead, the agent deals mainly in the rural parts of Western North Carolina, featuring “homesteads, off-grid, retreats and prepper properties.”

The majority of his clients, Haynes reports, come from outside WNC. Many of them hail from populous coastal states such as Florida, New Jersey and Texas.

And many of them say their decision to move is driven by upticks in destructive weather and higher tides, challenges the federal Environmental Protection Agency has tied to climate change.

“Folks are really starting to get weary of the pattern of hurricanes and extreme weather and are looking for more stable environments such as Western North Carolina,” Haynes explains. “I hear folks talk about rising sea levels, what their property’s going to look like 10 years from now and the ability to get insurance on their homes in these floodprone and hurricane-plagued areas.”

While Retreat Realty specifically markets to clients looking to ride out an uncertain future, Bob Turner says customers are voicing similar worries to real estate agents throughout WNC. Last year, The Laurel of Asheville columnist

Real Estate ISSUE

RIVERSIDE RETREAT: Olivette Riverside Community and Farm in Woodfin appealed to Ken Kahn not just for its lifestyle of sustainable food and creativity, but also for its climate-resilient location in Western North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Olivette and director of Arden-based Creekside Farm Education Center reached out to over 1,500 real estate professionals in Buncombe and Henderson counties, asking if they’d ever had a client cite climate risk as a reason for moving to the area. Of more than 90 respondents, over 95% said climate had come up in their consultations.

Turner argues that real estate agents represent an “early warning system” for climate migration. What those professionals are flagging as a market trend now, he argues, could herald a much larger shift as climate impacts continue.

“If Miami does go underwater, big chunks of it, we’re talking about millions of people having to relocate,” Turner says, referencing the coastal Florida city that’s largely situated within a few

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feet of current sea level. “That creates stresses on those regions where they’re relocating to — for instance, Asheville.”

HOT DESTINATION

Hard data on how many relocations are driven by climate is difficult to find.

The nation’s largest questionnaire to ask about migration, the American Community Survey conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau, doesn’t gather information about the reasons for a household’s move.

However, many of the counties identified by that survey as among the biggest sources of new Buncombe County residents align with the vulnerable coastal regions flagged by area real estate agents as home to climate-conscious clients. Just 14 counties outside of North Carolina had more than 100 people move to Buncombe between 2013 and 2017. Five of those were in Florida, one in New York and one along the California coast.

And scientific models of future migration also identify WNC as a potential draw for domestic climate migrants. A 2017 study published in Nature Climate Change used tax filing data to determine current migration trends within the U.S., then projected how those trends would be accelerated if sea levels rose 1.8 meters (about 6 feet) by 2100.

Based on those assumptions, the Asheville metropolitan statistical area — Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson

and Madison counties — could gain an extra 24,400 residents through 2100 due to sea level rise alone. That boost would put Asheville in the top 5% of over 900 MSAs by projected population change and represents a more than 5% increase over the current population of about 463,000.

Jim Fox, the former director of UNC Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center, emphasizes that future projections of population based on climate change should be taken with a grain of salt. Current migration patterns, he says, reflect a complex mix of climate concerns and other factors that are likely to change over time.

“The boomers are bringing their dollars with them and are looking to retire in peace,” Fox says about many new residents of WNC. “The whole boomer generation and the way they think are also a dying breed, and so to be able to say that subsequent generations are going to be making decisions the same way is a very dangerous assumption.”

Nevertheless, Fox says the Nature Climate Change study’s ballpark estimate for climate-driven migration to the Asheville MSA is “probably reasonable.” He notes that the region has long been a refuge for those seeking respite from inhospitable areas — Flat Rock in Henderson County, he points out, was originally established in the early 1800s as a retreat from the blistering summer heat of the coast for wealthy Southerners.

HAVE CASH, WILL TRAVEL

Fox suggests that Flat Rock’s example has particular relevance for modern WNC. While popular discussions of climate migration often focus on poor residents of developing countries, he says, climate-driven arrivals to this region are more likely to be well-off transplants from inside the U.S. “We have a unique type of climate refugee, and that’s people who bring resources with them,” Fox explains.

“They have the ability to relocate and buy a house and they’re not having to live off of the dole.”

One such transplant is Ken Kahn, an online toy store owner who moved with his wife, Joanne Kalp, from the Boston area to Woodfin’s Olivette Riverside Community and Farm in 2018. The only home currently listed for sale on the community’s website is priced at $739,000, with a semiannual homeowners association fee of $1,050.

Olivette’s vision of life centered on sustainable food and creativity was a major attraction, Kahn says. But as he and Kalp went through a “process of elimination” about possible places to move, WNC’s climate resilience pushed the community ahead of other options such as New York’s Hudson River Valley, the Berkshires of western Massachusetts or Santa Fe, N.M. “We had both read reports that indicated that, probably in the next 50 years, things west of the Mississippi were going to start to turn very desertlike and things east of Mississippi were likely to be kind of wet,” explains Kahn.

“Although we love Cape Cod. … I would look at my friends who were buying oceanfront property as a retirement plan and say, ‘I think you all are crazy.’”

Haynes acknowledges that most of Retreat Realty’s out-of-state clients also “tend to be of the wealthier clientele.”

He says about half of those customers are buying properties not as a permanent residence but as a “fallback position” that can serve as a vacation home or rental opportunity until conditions elsewhere deteriorate.

But all of his clients, Haynes continues, are looking for properties with reliable water, mild seasons and good soil for agriculture and livestock: the type of land that can sustain a family through difficult times. “In the back of their mind, they are thinking that in 5 years, 10 years, however long it is, we may be forced out of where we are to come up here,” he says.

The paired influx of people and money, Fox says, is already having consequences for the region. Those moving from areas with higher property values — the median home prices on Zillow for both New York City and San Diego, two

areas identified as sources of significant Buncombe County migration by the American Community Survey, are over twice that for Asheville — can pay more for homes than can many locals, thereby driving up the cost of housing.

TOO MUCH LOVE?

Beyond the challenge migration poses to affordability, Fox worries that continued growth could eventually make Asheville’s population less resilient to the impacts of climate change. As existing housing stock in the area’s flatlands gets bought up, developers are more likely to build on forested mountainsides, which he says are susceptible to landslides and wildfires.

Both of those disasters, notes Kenneth Kunkel, are likely to grow more common throughout WNC due to shifts in climate. A scientist with N.C. State University’s Asheville-based N.C. Institute for Climate Studies, he spearheaded the N.C. Climate Science Report published in May at the behest of Gov. Roy Cooper.

Kunkel expects a regional increase in landslides due to climate-driven changes in precipitation. When storms happen, he explains, they’ll be more likely to bring heavy rain due to higher overall humidity. “And when it rains here, it immediately flows down,” he adds, due to the area’s rugged topography.

Meanwhile, the region’s droughts will take place against a backdrop of higher overall temperatures, creating a greater danger for wildfires. “Vegetative matter will dry out faster, so we can hit a point where fire conditions are critical sooner,” Kunkel says.

Fox says the NEMAC team has been in conversation with area municipalities about climate migration and ways to mitigate the hazards of growth. The group helped the city of Asheville develop its Climate Resilience Assessment and a resource guide for residents, both of which discuss strategies for wildfires and landslides. And in Polk County, local leaders reached out after major landslides in 2018 killed several residents and knocked out a main road.

Still, Fox says, the relatively long time scale of climate change’s impacts can make it difficult for governments to treat the problem as urgent. “It does take some of these pain points for people to get to that point of the conversation,” he admits.

“You can understand why we as a society are having difficulty with this, because it is asking us to change our view of normal, and then to change,” he continues. “We as a species do not like to change.” X

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MOUNTAINX.COM

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

23

FOOD

Kitchen confidential

Homeowners rethink cooking spaces during pandemic

BY KAY WEST kwest@mountainx.com More storage. Walk-in pantries.

Beverage centers replacing built-in desks, which are transitioning to dedicated home offices. Secondary prep areas and more room between counters to accommodate multiple cooks. With less dining out and more cooking in, local contractors say these are the primary upgrades clients are requesting as they undertake kitchen remodels, which have seen a significant uptick since stay-at-home orders went into effect this spring.

“People have been spending a lot of time at home,” says John Judd. Jr. co-owner with his father of Judd Builders in Arden. “They’re seeing things that need to be done to accommodate not just how they’re living now but anticipating that things may stay this way for a while.”

Brian Ponder, owner of Ponder Renovations, agrees. “With people spending more time at home and more time in the kitchen, it became clear to people what needed fixing and what needed improving. In many cases that’s all the way to a complete overhaul,” he says.

“The money they are not spending to go out to eat, on entertainment or to travel, they’re putting into their house.”

An additional driver, Judd adds, is low housing inventory. “People are purchasing homes that don’t have everything that was on their wish list with the intent of remodeling to get the things they want.”

PAYING THE PRICE

Achieving kitchen nirvana is neither cheap nor easy. Judd says the two most frequently asked questions his company receives from potential clients are how much will it cost and how long will it take.

Judd Builders’ website offers a fiscal reality check as determined by a 2019 report

by Remodeling Magazine. In Asheville, the average cost of a minor kitchen renovation is $21,491, which does not include layout changes or moving plumbing or electrical. The average for a major mid-

24

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

Real Estate ISSUE

ROOM TO GROW: A kitchen remodel in Arden by Judd Builders knocked down walls and added a large island with a secondary prep space to accommodate multiple cooks. Photo by Ryan Theede range renovation climbs to $63,608; for a major upscale kitchen remodel, expect to shell out just shy of $127,000.

“Pretty much every trade involved in building a home is involved in remodeling a kitchen,” Judd explains. “Plumbing, electrical, mechanical and in some cases, framing.”

Which is why, he says, kitchen remodels are not advised for DIYers, no matter your skill level or how intensely you’ve scrutinized YouTube tutorials. “Trying to remodel your own kitchen is a good way to get into a lot of trouble,” Ponder warns. “It’s a lot to take on, and you may end up spending more money in the long run. Better to have an expert come in who knows what they’re doing and where to start.”

Judd recommends starting with an assessment of the project to include experi-

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enced estimates of cost and time involved.

“People watch too much HGTV,” he says with a laugh. “What Chip and Joanna are doing in Waco, Texas, is not realistic for timeline or pricing in Asheville.”

He follows what he calls the Six P mantra: Prior, proper planning prevents poor performance. This is especially important when it comes to demoing the existing space, a dramatic stage people are always eager to start. “Before demo, you’ll need to select and order everything.

With COVID, delivery times are really stretching,” Judd says. “You don’t want a two-week time lapse while we’re waiting on cabinets to come in. and the client is wondering why nothing is happening and they still don’t have a kitchen.”

NO KITCHEN, NO PROBLEM?

Another big decision homeowners need to make before sledgehammering those hideous counters and ripping down the outdated cabinets is how they will manage without their kitchen.

“When we’re doing extensive remodels, we highly recommend that if they are able, residents relocate,” says Judd.

“When they don’t, what we see is, the first

week, they’re meeting you at the door with coffee for the crew. Week two, they want to know when you’re leaving and what’s taking so long.”

If moving out of your own home is not an option, adjustments can be made to accommodate the construction zone.

Melissa DeLong, manager designer at PLATT, a full-service architecture, construction and interior design firm in Brevard, has a fully informed view of the exciting and challenging process, as a designer who is currently in the midst of a remodel at her own home.

“I’ve worked in kitchen and bath design since 2011, and it’s fun to see all the changes since I started,” she says. “Even before this big event of 2020, people were becoming more aware and invested in how they like to eat and how they source their food. With that comes conversations about cooking and food storage, which has become even more relevant and important now.”

An avid cook, DeLong and her husband moved into their 1960s home in December and realized pretty quickly that as much as she loved the original design elements, the kitchen wasn’t working for her. Though the plumbing did not move, everything else has been demolished and removed, including the vintage range, site-built cabinetry and four layers of flooring.

She says she is making do with plenty of fresh produce from the garden, an Instant Pot and an induction hob, which, she explains, is basically a free-standing burner and the gateway to the induction stove they have opted for to settle the great gas versus electric divide.

“Gas or electric is always a challenging conversation,” she says. “We encourage people to think outside their comfort zone and consider induction. It is an extremely easy cleanup, you can choose the heat level with a finger touch, it is immediate and more energy efficient. They have been around since the ’80s but never caught on here. People fell in love with them in Europe and Asia, and they’re making a bit of a comeback here as they become more affordable. Personally, as well as in our firm, we are big fans.”

The biggest challenge for homeowners who have decided to remodel may be fitting into contractors’ schedules. “We have been very busy through this,” says Ponder. “As long as people are staying at home, we’re happy to help them create the environment that works best for them.” X

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

25

BEER SCOUT

by Edwin Arnaudin | earnaudin@mountainx.com

Rare Jordan Archetype head brewer follows her own path to top spot

BOSS TALK: Erin Jordan, center, is the new head brewer at Archetype Brewing and has the full support of co-owner Steven Anan, left, and founder Brad Casanova. “She’s a quick thinker with excellent communication skills and a compassion that’s infectious,” Casanova says. “She’s been a huge part of our collective success.” Photo by Corina Casanova Erin Jordan is a testament to the adage that hard work and determination pay off.

Three years after being hired for her first job in the brewing industry, she’s been promoted to the head brewer position at Archetype Brewing.

Former head brewer Steven Anan has moved back to his native Florida but remains a company co-owner and resource to his former assistant brewer and the other two members of the production team.

“I am extremely grateful and fortunate that I have an amazing teacher and mentor in Steven. He really took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. He was patient with me and taught me everything that he knows 26

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— and he let me fail all along the way,” Jordan says. “I just went full steam ahead. I absorbed everything I can, and I read a lot and I’ll research and pick other people’s brains. I’m always looking for ways to improve and do it better.”

Jordan is Asheville’s first female head brewer since Leah Tyrell left UpCountry Brewing Co. in April 2018 to start Silver Spruce Brewing in Traverse City, Mich. Prior to Tyrell, that honor belonged to Hollie Stephenson, who moved from Highland Brewing Co. to the head brewer position at Guinness’ Open Gate Brewery and Barrel House in Baltimore in 2017.

“I wish Erin all the best,” Stephenson says. “It is always particularly exciting and inspiring to hear about women moving up in brewing departments.

She is fortunate to be surrounded by the strong community of women in Asheville.”

STORY OF A BOOMERANG

A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Jordan moved with her family to Asheville at the age of 10 and graduated from T.C. Roberson High School. She then played varsity soccer at UNC Chapel Hill, earned a degree in psychology and kinesiology and moved to Texas to take time off and make sure she truly wanted to attend grad school and study exercise physiology with a focus on breast cancer rehabilitation.

During that time, her interests shifted slightly, and med school became the new goal, leading to a well-paying position with a Medicare risk management firm.

But while she was there, Jordan became disenchanted with the U.S. health care system and her “soul-sucking” job. She became a certified yoga instructor and also worked for environmental nonprofit at a rock climbing gym, then moved back to Asheville in 2015 — “I like to say I’m kind of a boomerang,” she says — and managed Medea’s Real Food Cafe on Long Shoals Road. When that business suddenly closed, a store regular-turned-friend asked her what she planned to do next.

“I had built their food fermentation and juice programs, and I had been homebrewing and wanted to pursue something more. So I told him, ‘I want to get into craft beer,’” Jordan says. “And he was like, ‘Well, funny enough, I actually know somebody that’s starting a brewery in West Asheville. I know how hard you work and I know enough about you. I’ll put your name forward and let you do all the rest.’”

The friend put Jordan in touch with Archetype founder Brad Casanova, and she got to see the brewery “when it was a dirt floor.” Hired as the business’s second employee, Jordan worked under Anan’s tutelage, primarily as a cellerman with Josh Jiles as the third member of the team, being what she calls “Jack and Jane of all trades.” When Jiles took a brewing job at Highland, Jordan was pushed into the hot portion of making beer much faster than she expected.

But with Anan’s help, she was able to expand her skill set in a short period of time and now feels prepared to

handle the array of responsibilities that being a head brewer entails.

“It’s everything from macro to micro. It’s conception of what your vision is, what you want to execute, securing ingredients to make that vision happen, managing vendors and accounts and a staff, and [standard operating procedures] and always having a critical eye to tweak not only recipes but our SOPs,” she says. “[It’s] making sure that the glass that’s on your table is the best representation of us.”

TRAILBLAZERS UNITE

In her new role, working alongside fresh assistant brewer hire Nate Mizner (formerly of Denver’s Great Divide Brewing Co.), Jordan plans to continue making what she calls “stellar beer” and would love to expand Archetype’s barrel program.

She’s been “dabbling in sours” and expanding the brewery’s mixed-culture offerings, building on her love for working with Brett and its “range of flavor characteristics.” Additionally, she hopes to grow Archetype’s lagering program — “At the end of the day, that’s what I want to drink,” she says — as well as encourage more women to join her ranks.

“The history of beer started with women. And then, of course, over time with industrialization and the fact that you’re having to lift so much weight and you’re around dangerous chemicals and hot liquids, it’s definitely morphed into a much more male-dominated industry,” Jordan says.

“Any woman that wants to be creative, that loves science and doesn’t want to go to the gym but wants to get her workout at work — I welcome any woman into the ranks. I want more women to be a part of this collective.

It’s important, and we have different

palates than men do, and I think, as a collective whole, we just make beer better because we can offer something different.”

As for potential hurdles preventing women from entering the industry, Jordan notes that she got to where she is without going through a formal brewing school, which she feels is valuable but not the only avenue.

Instead, she educated herself to compensate for the lack of institutional training — a route that she feels is accessible to motivated women and harkens back to the days before brewing programs, when people transformed their passions into careers.

“You’ve almost got to go to the roots and go to those major universities when people are starting to decide what they want to do with their life.

And be like, ‘Hey, did you know you don’t just have to do a keg stand to enjoy beer. You can also make it for a living,’” she says, but is quick to note that the fun yet often glorified job is very labor intensive and involves a lot of cleaning. “If you’re really interested, come talk to me, wash some kegs, try and do some volunteer work to see what it’s really like and then put in the work.” X

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27

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Catchy synth-wave and cosmic, funky jazz Orgatroid and Adi the Monk release new albums

BY BILL KOPP bill@musoscribe.com Even a pandemic can’t stop music.

Large social gatherings remain out of the question, but recording continues — and two Asheville acts are among the latest to release new collections.

Electronica group Orgatroid debuts its Future Youth EP, while Adi the Monk celebrates the release of Soul of the Earth.

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Electronic music is sometimes unfairly characterized as cold, sterile and lacking in emotion. But the music of Orgatroid — the duo of Jason Daniello and Jeffrey Richards — is none of those things. Created almost completely from electronic elements, the compositions on the band’s debut

UNSTOPPABLE: With the release of their new albums, Orgatroid (composed of Jason Daniello, left, and Jeffrey Richards) and Adi the Monk, right, are doing their part to keep Asheville’s music scene thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic. Orgatroid photo by Chela Whiteman. Adi the Monk photo by Sadie Culberson.

EP, Future Youth (out Friday, Aug. 28), benefit from the very nonelectronic backgrounds of the pair of musicians who make it.

Multi-instrumentalist Richards played with the late, great Vic Chesnutt, and was later the drummer in Albuquerque-based alt-country band Hazeldine. He first met Daniello in New Mexico in 1995, and they played together for a time with singer, songwriter, guitarist and Chimayó holy man Armando Ortega.

Daniello, who relocated to Asheville from Albuquerque in 2006, has long played as both a solo musician and as a leader or member of Asheville rock bands, including Broomstars and Jason and the Argonauts. But his primary instrument is guitar.

The two reconnected after Richards moved to Asheville in 2009. Since then, he’s played in a number of bands with Daniello, usually on drums, guitar or bass — only occasionally dabbling on keys. “But Jason started building up his little collection of keyboards,” he recalls. “So when we were practicing, I just started playing them, and I was like, ‘Damn, I actually have a knack for this!’” The more time he spent with the electronic instruments, the less mystifying they seemed.

Both musicians were keenly interested in pursuing a creative path substantially different from their previous

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projects. Launched in 2014, Orgatroid — a neologism combining “organic” and “android” — relies on modular and keyboard-based synthesizers, sequencers and loops as its primary sonic elements.

In some ways, Orgatroid’s music harks back to ’80s new wave and ’90s darkwave, but more modern elements combine with the analog textures to make something that doesn’t feel tied to any particular style or era. “I think it’s our own thing, and it has elements of everything,” Daniello says, though he admits an appreciation for dreamy trip-hop/chillwave acts like Massive Attack and Air. Richards concurs, yet his wildly eclectic tastes cover most every style.

He’s as likely to rave about an old, obscure Middle Eastern folk recording as he is to talk about a Van der Graaf Generator LP. “I’m really into a lot of Italo-disco as well,” he adds. “I weird Jason out sometimes,” he says with a laugh. “But we meet in the middle.”

There’s nothing middle-of-the-road, however, about Orgatroid’s songs. The lush sonic landscapes sometimes feature pulsing beats; other times, the sounds are more airy and ethereal. But their consistently unifying elements are sturdy melodic lines and an emotionally evocative vibe. Daniello likens the collaborative creative process to

sculpture. “You’re subtracting bits from the palette of the sound,” he says.

Richards — also an abstract painter — compares Orgatroid’s music to what he creates on an actual canvas.

“However ill-defined it is, it is something, and then you run with that something,” he says. And eventually, “it starts evoking something a little more thing-ish. And you follow the path to it.”

Depending on the song, that path may be well-defined, or it may be blurry — and the strange and often impressionistic videos made to accompany the songs emphasize the otherworldly feel of Orgatroid’s music. “We want each song to tell a story,” Daniello says with a smile. “But we don’t necessarily know what that story is all the time.”

Richards describes the listener reaction he hopes for: “I don’t know where it’s going, but I’m going to go there with them.” orgatroid.com

THE COSMIC THREAD

Asheville’s music community features an impressive number of distinct personalities. But it’s probably safe to say that only one has a personal history that includes a period spent as a Vaishnava monk. Ādi Puruṣa Das performs and records as Adi the Monk, making instrumental music that — on the surface, at least — has little to do with his devotional practices. But as showcased on Soul of the Earth, his fourth and latest release, his jazz/funk/ blues instrumentals are informed by his time in Nepal and India. He will celebrate the album’s release with a socially distanced lawn concert at Isis Music Hall on Saturday, Aug. 29, at 6:30 p.m.

Though 2019’s Soul of the City Streets featured saxophonist Bobby Sax, Adi played all of the instruments on his debut EP and self-titled release. And many of his live performances around Asheville — whether at venues or on downtown sidewalks — were solo affairs as well. Soul of the Earth was made using a similar approach, but was created with the idea that the songs would be played live by a trio.

“I’ve just been waiting for an opportunity, really, to put the Himalaya Soul Trio together and to start a group of my own,” he says.

The trio format — featuring bassist Jhon Bellizia and drummer Perry Lavin — brings an energy to the music that builds upon the approach of Adi’s previous releases, including his self-ti-

tled debut full-length album from 2018.

He says that having a band makes the music “more dynamic, because you have the elements of the personalities and tastes of all of the members all mixed together on the palette.”

Adi says that, for him, playing alone is a sort of prayer or meditation: “It’s a lot like talking to yourself.” He characterizes the experience of leading a trio as “more like being in a conversation.

There are so many more elements every time you add a new musician.”

Even though he name-checks Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix among his favorite artists, neither of those influences nor many others manifest themselves in an overt way in his original music. “I wouldn’t say that I’ve put a whole lot of time into imbibing or trying to mimic any particular artist’s style,” he says. But he does acknowledge that both jazz great Wes Montgomery and Howlin’ Wolf sideman Hubert Sumlin have influenced his approach on the guitar.

Echoes of Montgomery’s guitar tone show up across Soul of the Earth’s eight tracks. But Adi prefers to chart his own musical path. “What’s really important [to me] is to be able to express myself through the music,” he says. “So, I’ve really never been one too much for trying to imitate another sound. My thing is making my own music and just enjoying whatever comes out naturally.”

The song titles on the new album suggest a contemplative mindset: “The Cosmic Thread,” “Way of the Ancients” and “The Art of Letting Go” are representative examples. But Adi isn’t explicitly conveying philosophy within the compositions. “I generally name the songs after they’re written, and I usually pick the name based on the type of feeling or sentiment or thought that it awakens within me,” he says. “I certainly don’t expect it to have the same effect on everyone.”

Even so, Adi’s background as a monk does color the music he makes. “My motivation for doing anything is affected by my spiritual path, and the time that I spent pursuing deeper understanding of that spiritual nature,” he says. “The way that I do what I do, the reasons why I play music, my expectations from playing music, and my drive behind playing music — those are all directly influenced by my spirituality, which is still very much a part of my everyday life. My spiritual practice is not something that I left behind in the temple many years ago.” adithemonk.com X

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

29

A&E

The analog advantage

Area board game cafés adapt to keep customers entertained On a Wednesday afternoon in late April, just over a month into the COVID19 pandemic, downtown Asheville appeared to return to its usual bustle.

Vehicles clogged Patton Avenue and College Street, prompting surprise delays for motorists who’d become accustomed to the newly noncongested metro area.

The cause of this sudden flurry of automobile activity? Well Played Board Game Café, whose giveaway of 100 surplus titles from its collection brought Wall Street and surrounding roads to a standstill for over an hour.

“That was a crazy day,” says Well Played co-owner Kevan Frazier, who made last-minute adjustments when interest on the giveaway’s Facebook event page far exceeded expectations.

“We had stickers, and I reached out to several friends in the business community — everything from Buchi to the farmers market — and they all gave us stuff to give away. And so when all got said and done, we gave out stuff to more than 300 different cars and turned away another 40 that we finally were like, ‘We’re out of everything!’”

With many businesses still closed, those that have reopened operating at reduced capacities, and many people choosing to remain at home whenever possible, it’s oddly appropriate that this temporary influx of urban normalcy was caused by an analog form of entertainment. Frazier notes that board games have had a resurgence for the past 15-plus years and thinks that much of this popularity stems from them being “a separation from the digital.”

As communications have increasingly shifted to Zoom and other elec-

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD: Well Played Board Game Café gamemaster Tanner Johnson is the point man for the business’s new game rental program. Customers can borrow games for five days at a time. Photo by Edwin Arnaudin tronic platforms during the pandemic, making in-person connections all the more meaningful, Well Played is tapping into that communal desire with its new board game rental program. The endeavor allows customers to borrow any of the café’s more than 500 different titles and numerous jigsaw puzzles for a five-day loan. Rental costs are $5 or $10, based on game value, and offerings

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can be renewed for an additional fiveday period. Food and drinks may also be ordered.

Customers reserve the games or puzzles online, pull into the pickup lane in front of the café during business hours and, while wearing a mask, meet fellow masked gamemaster Tanner Johnson at the front door. Once returned, games are removed from the library for a minimum of 24 hours, during which they’re sanitized with what Frazier says is the same type of commercial ozone generator used by hospitals. Though customers can play rented games on the patio’s tables, the take-home option aims to provide a responsible substitute for Well Played’s in-house experience.

“Our entire concept is about a lot of people gathered around very closely with each other, all touching the same thing over and over. It’s not a good recipe for a pandemic,” Frazier says.

“We do think that if we were open back inside, we would have takers. But we just, at this point, don’t feel we can do that in a reasonable, safe way.”

While Well Played has the advantage of an established clientele to tap into,

Jan and Kurt Darnell, owners of The Kingmaker’s Draft on South Main Street in downtown Hendersonville, were just getting started and all set to launch their first business in March. The café offers 300-350 games, plus alcoholic beverages, coffee and light food options. To work out inevitable kinks and improve their services, the couple planned to invite friends, family members and fellow local entrepreneurs for a series of soft openings, gradually ramping up for an official start at the end of the month or early April. Then the pandemic hit.

“During the first phase, we just completely shut down. We’d go in and unbox games, maybe pour ourselves a drink and get some coffee, just to keep ourselves in the place,” Kurt says.

“Then Phase 2 hit, and there was some concern of how we actually fit in to that, because there isn’t really anything there talking about board game parlors.

We kept hearing on one side, ‘Well, you serve this amount of food, so you could be considered a restaurant — go ahead and open.’ On the other side, we were hearing a lot of, ‘No, you’re kind of an indoor recreation, more along the lines of a pool hall or a bowling alley or an arcade.’”

New to the industry, the Darnells looked to Well Played as well as The Sideboard in Wilmington to see how they responded to each reopening phase. When Gov. Roy Cooper extended Phase 2 for five weeks through Sept.

11, the couple decided to start hosting small groups of no more than 10 people and follow a quarantine and cleaning procedure similar to that of Well Played. “[Customers] basically get the place to themselves right now,” Jan says. “We just felt like that was a better approach to it, not just because we want to open, but we still want to make sure we maintain that respect for what’s going on right now.”

The option has proved a welcome one for Hendersonville residents, including a group of friends that hadn’t been out for anything social since mid-March, but had their anxieties quelled by the Darnells’ commitment to safety. Such feedback has given the business owners confidence to stick with the smallgroup plan for the time being and wait until Phase 3 to fully open, at which point they hope to be a balm for even more people.

“It’s creating that social engagement that you wouldn’t otherwise get around TV or video games — and, in fact, that’s pretty much the entire reason why we set up the place,” Kurt says. “It provides an almost forced way of interacting with other people that they might have been missing while stuck inside.”

— Edwin Arnaudin X

MOUNTAINX.COM

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

31

A&E ROUNDUP

by Edwin Arnaudin | earnaudin@mountainx.com

Bostic celebrates new book, Flood Gallery show A book and show honoring Fairviewbased artist Connie Bostic pose the titular question What Are Little Girls Made Of? The first is a publication

by The Black Mountain Press, featuring Bostic’s paintings and drawings, along with quotes on the subject by Bostic, Jolene Mechanic and “other strong women nationwide.” It will be available starting Wednesday, Aug. 26.

The second is an exhibit at the Flood Gallery in Black Mountain, spotlighting the creations featured in the book with which it shares its name. The show launches with a socially distanced, mask-required opening reception on Saturday, Aug. 29, 6-9 p.m., and will be on display through Oct. 31.

“This work has to do with growing up and the expectations one learns to deal with as a young girl,” Bostic says. “I always preferred ‘Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails’ over ‘Sugar and spice and all things nice.’” floodgallery.org

The honest tooth

Asheville resident Brandon Frisby welcomes the publication of his debut children’s book, A Gator Took My Toothbrush, on Tuesday, Sept. 8. His collaboration with illustrator Wes Wheeler follows the adventures of an 32

Audio visual

For its 13th edition, Music Video Asheville is going digital. Submissions for the annual showcase of local artists’ music videos are being accepted through Monday, Aug. 31, at 11:59 p.m., and the ceremony will stream live via IamAVL — which has taken over management of the event from MVA founder Kelly Denson — on Oct. 21. The Judge’s Choice winner will receive a $500 cash prize, while the People’s Choice winner will be awarded studio time at Echo Mountain Recording Studios.

“IamAVL is well-equipped to transition this Asheville staple into the virtual space,” says business co-founder Josh Blake. “Our team is excited to produce this annual tradition for an online audience, while maintaining the sense of joy, creativity and community that MVA has always fostered.” iamavl. com/music-video-asheville

corns to go, plus candy and beverages.

Sales will be conducted at the theater entrance, and patrons are asked to wear a mask and practice social distancing when in line and while ordering. Regular pricing applies, and regular payment is accepted, including gift cards, GoLocal cards and Asheville Movie Guys’ coupons from virtual events. fineartstheatre.com

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

DOUBLY GOOD: Fairview-based artist Connie Bostic’s paintings and drawings will be featured in a new book and exhibit, starting in late August. Photo by Lindsay Bostic imaginative child who doesn’t want to take a bath, brush his teeth and go to bed.

“I decided to write it because I love reading to my two children — [who are] 4 and 1 [years old] — and have read probably 1,000 children’s books at this point,” says Frisby, who has a master’s in English with a concentration in creative writing from East Carolina University. “While I never imagined I’d become a published children’s author, I consider it one of the most fulfilling accomplishments of my life as a writer and as a dad.” brandonfrisby.com

MOUNTAINX.COM

Snack service

During the temporary closure of Asheville’s independent movie theaters, cinephiles have been able to keep up with new indie/art releases via a steady slate of digital offerings courtesy of the Fine Arts Theatre and Grail Moviehouse. But for viewers who believe that no moviegoing experience is complete without a fresh bag of popcorn, a sense of emptiness has lingered — until now.

On Friday, Aug. 28, 5-8 p.m., patrons can swing by the Fine Arts and purchase small, medium and large pop-

Look homeward, young writer

As part of the celebration of Thomas Wolfe’s 120th birthday in October, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial is currently accepting entries for the 2020 “Telling Our Tales” Student Writing Competition. For the latest installment, students are invited to submit an original work of fiction inspired by reading Part 4 of Wolfe’s novella, The Lost Boy, in which the author returns to St. Louis — where his mother had operated a boardinghouse — and rediscovers his surviving memories from childhood.

First-, second- and third-place winners will be chosen from three age groups: grades 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12.

Submissions must be emailed or postmarked by Saturday, Oct. 10, at 5 p.m.

Winners will be notified via phone on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and cash awards will be given to each recipient. The novella chapter, competition guidelines, submission form, lesson plan and writing prompts are available online. avl.mx/81k

How bazaar

The Grove Arcade Makers Market is currently accepting vendor applications. The outdoor bazaar features 12 stalls filled by artisans who sell their crafts directly to the public on the Battery Park end of the historic building. The $50 application fee is being waived through Monday, Aug. 31. Rental rates for the five-hour slots are $10-15 Monday-Thursday, $20 on Fridays and $15-40 on weekends. grovearcade.com/makers-market X

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WHITESIDE BREWING CO. Doug Ramsay (jazz, soul), 5:30pm

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ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Dead Friday (Grateful Dead tribute), 5:30pm MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Big Ivy Project (acoustic duo), 6pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Consider the Source (progressive), 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ Zoe & Cloyd (bluegrass), 6:30pm THE GREY EAGLE Patio Show w/ Father Son Picnic (rock), 6:30pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Mr Jimmy's Birthday Bash & Big City Blues Jam, 7pm BABE'S PIZZA & TREATS Monica & Scott (acoustic duo), 7pm LAZY HIKER BREWING Woolybooger & The Ragtime Drifters (mountain blues), 7pm SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Trio de Janeiro (funk, rock), 7pm THE BARRELHOUSE Ben Phantom (solo multi-instrumentalist), 7pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Paul Edelman (solo acoustic), 8pm

SATURDAY, AUGUST 29 SAINT PAUL MOUNTAIN VINEYARDS Laura & Tim (blues, rock), 3pm RIVERSIDE RHAPSODY BEER COMPANY 1st Anniversary Party w/ Rooster (Americana, folk), 5pm BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 6pm

GENRE BENDER: Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ben Phantom wants each of his shows to be one-of-a-kind. Blending bluegrass and jazz with pop and rap, he leaves room to improvise and lets the crowd’s energy set the pace. He will play a solo set at The Barrelhouse AVL Friday, Aug. 28, 7 p.m. Photo by Andy McMillan THE GREY EAGLE Patio Show w/ Jeff Santiago & Los Gatos (rock, funk), 6:30pm ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ Adi the Monk & Himalaya Soul Trio (jazz, blues), 6:30pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Live from the Loading Dock: Hard Rocket (rock ‘n roll), 7pm DRY FALLS BREWING CO. 28 Pages (rock), 8pm WILD WING CAFE Karaoke Night, 9:30pm THE SOCIAL Karaoke Show w/ Billy Masters, 10pm

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 MILLS RIVER BREWING CO. Dirty Dawg (Grateful Dead tribute), 2pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Dreads for Brains (psychedelic reggae), 6pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 2pm

FROG LEVEL BREWING CO. Tyson Leamon (solo acoustic), 6:30pm

FBO AT HOMINY CREEK Modern Strangers (jangle pop), 4pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Shakedown Sunday w/ Drip A Silver (Grateful Dead tribute), 4:30pm RIVERSIDE RHAPSODY BEER COMPANY Drinkin’ & Thinkin’ Trivia, 5pm 185 KING STREET Open Electric Jam, 6pm TRISKELION BREWERY JC & the Boomerang Band (Irish trad, folk), 6pm THE GREY EAGLE Patio Show w/ Shaken Nature (psychedelic), 6:30pm ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ The John Henrys (jazz), 6:30pm ICONIC KITCHEN & DRINKS UniHorn (funk), 7pm

MONDAY, AUGUST 31 ARCHETYPE BREWING Old Time Jam w/ Banjo Mitch McConnell, 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Nerdy Talk Trivia, 6pm

OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Mountain Music Mondays (open jam), 6pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. It Takes All Kinds Open Mic Night, 7pm THE CASUAL PINT Team Trivia, 7pm

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Team Trivia Tuesday, 6pm TRISKELION BREWERY The Blue Ridge Pistols (rock, blues), 6pm HOMEPLACE BEER CO. Christy Lynn Band (country, rock), 7pm 185 KING STREET Travis Book & Friends (country), 7pm LAZY HIKER BREWING Karaoke w/ Joel, 7pm

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic w/ Thomas Yon, 7pm 185 KING STREET Team Trivia & Games, 7pm SOVEREIGN KAVA Poetry Open Mic, 8:30pm THE PAPER MILL LOUNGE Karaoke X, 9pm THE SOCIAL Karaoke w/ Lyric, 10pm

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 LAZY HIKER BREWING Open Jam, 5pm TRISKELION BREWERY Irish Session (traditional Celtic music), 6:30pm ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ the Alien Music Club Jazz Quartet, 6:30pm 185 KING STREET Acoustic Jam in the Garden, 7pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Gunslinging Parrots (Phish tribute), 8pm BALSAM FALLS BREWING CO. Open Mic Night, 8pm

MOUNTAINX.COM

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

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MOVIE REVIEWS THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS

Hosted by the Asheville Movie Guys EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com HHHHH

BRUCE STEELE bcsteele@gmail.com

H PICK OF THE WEEK H

point act as tourists, sneaking them into a luxury hotel for a swim and a $10 slice of cake.

Though witnessing the youngsters’ squalid existence is challenging, it’s still beautiful to see such proud people make the most of the hand they’re dealt. From the abandoned plant that once processed sugar for Coca-Cola to the American mafioso-owned and -operated hotel, and from the outdated yet beautiful vintage American automobiles to the horsedrawn carriages made from used car parts, Epicentro gives us an uninhibited glimpse of the real Cuba.

REVIEWED BY ANTHONYE SMITH RIVBL3P@GMAIL.COM

Epicentro HHHH DIRECTOR: Hubert Sauper PLAYERS: Oona Chaplin DOCUMENTARY NOT RATED Cigars, 1950s American muscle cars and poverty-stricken barrios fuel this compelling documentary by Oscarnominated Austrian filmmaker Hubert Sauper (Darwin’s Nightmare). Written, directed and filmed by Sauper — who also serves as its narrator and co-editor — Epicentro takes a deep dive into the current state of Cuba and explores the lingering effects of Spanish and American occupation and influence more than a century later.

With handheld camera in tow, our guide descends upon Havana and captures a side of the city not found on postcards. Far removed from the glitz and glamour of tourist attractions, Sauper explores the downtrodden lifeblood of the nation’s capital with a particular focus on its children — passionate preteens with a profound sense of country and culture, as well as the history that created both.

“Cuba was the beginning of the new world,” Sauper notes. “The epicenter of the slave trade, colonization and the globalization of power.” This solemn early narration effectively establishes the film’s sorrowful tone and transports viewers to a forgotten past. Wittingly connecting the birth of cinema with the Cuban War for Independence (1895-98) — including discussions that the sinking of the USS Maine, which brought the U.S. into the 36

Anthonye Smith

= MAX RATING

AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

conflict, might have been fabricated using the new technology — Sauper highlights the importance of film in Cuban culture.

Throughout the documentary, impoverished children are seen watching movies, and their transformative experiences even inspire a few of the youngsters to proclaim their plans to pursue acting as a means of improving their future.

But despite an otherwise impressive scope and vision, Sauper oddly fails to convey the impact and importance of the Cuban Revolution (1953-59). His hasty handling of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, prominent figures who altered the landscape of modern day Cuba, is a significant drawback. Aside from a tribute that Sauper shows citizens paying to Castro upon his death, nothing is said about his political achievements, and all Guevara gets is a brief mention and scattered stills of art displaying his image.

Random passersby offering aimless dialogue somehow receive more screen time.

The eschewing of these famous names, however, is consistent with the film’s admirable commitment to the common man. With the exception of a cheerful cameo from part-Cuban actor Oona Chaplin (“Game of Thrones”), there are no Hollywood stars in Epicentro — a fitting choice that enhances the film’s spotlight on Cubans living in their element as well as the ravaging aftereffects of colonialism and international interference. Maintaining the innocence of youth throughout the film’s 100-plus minutes, Sauper even has his tiny subjects at one

MOUNTAINX.COM

Driven to Abstraction HHS

DIRECTOR: Daria Price PLAYERS: Michael Shnayerson, Patricia Cohen, Judd Tully DOCUMENTARY RATED PG I love a good art-forgery scandal, and this is the cream of the crop: Dozens of fakes sold for tens of millions of dollars through a single, legendary New York City gallery over the course of 16 years. All the forgeries — alleged to be by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and others — were painted by one artist in a garage in Queens, then passed off by a con artist as part of a remarkable collection by a mysterious European collector who had purchased them all from the artists themselves (thus the lack of any paper trail to authenticate them).

In Daria Price’s documentary, the story is well told by an eloquent, enthusiastic and diverse cast of mostly art world journalists, plus a lawyer or two. Many of the interview subjects had direct access to the key players in the scandal — art dealer Ann Freedman, of the 150-yearold Knoedler gallery in Manhattan; Glafira Rosales, the woman who sold Knoedler the paintings; and the many rich dupes who paid millions to buy them.

Unfortunately, none of these key figures is actually interviewed by Price.

Driven to Abstraction still captures the amazing scope and intricacies of the fraud, but it’s like attending a cocktail party in which a number of smart, ingratiating people are recounting stories they heard at another cocktail party, to which you were not invited. And — who knew

Kristina Guckenberger

there were so many articulate people of so many different ages and backgrounds, all orbiting the New York art world as observers and experts? It’s quite an array of talking heads, mostly against neutral, probably green-screen backgrounds.

Driven to Abstraction is a low-budget affair, with crude computer graphics and a few news video clips of the actual people the filmmaker was unable to talk to. Turns out, this film has a rival with better access: Made You Look, a 2020 documentary feature by Canadian Barry Avrich, hasn’t yet been seen in the U.S. but includes interviews with Freedman (the art dealer) and some of her (cheated) clients and other primary sources.

But Price has beaten Avrish to the U.S. streaming market with her well-reported but largely secondhand work. Still, if you love an art scam yarn as much as I do, you’ll want to see both films. Price’s is an appetizer — it’s enjoyable and well constructed and will leave you longing for a main course.

REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM

Made in Bangladesh HS

DIRECTOR: Rubaiyat Hossain PLAYERS: Rikita Nandini Shimu, Novera Rahman, Parvin Paru FOREIGN FILM/DRAMA NOT RATED A thoroughly dissatisfying experience, Made in Bangladesh is filled with immense promise but misses the mark so completely that it might as well not have been made at all.

Writer/director Rubaiyat Hossain’s drama begins with the buzzing of ceaseless sewing machines, followed by a wailing fire alarm and plumes of thick smoke. With a panic-stricken workforce frantically attempting to exit the burning building, the blood, sweat and very real tears that go into that $7.99 H&M shirt we all love so much are put on full display. In the aftermath of this garment factory fire, we’re introduced to Shimu (Rikita Nandini Shimu), a 23-year-old laborer who tirelessly toils away with her fellow all-female workforce, sewing up to 1,500 shirts a day in a brutally unsafe Bengali sweatshop.

With a husband out of work and no immediate family nearby, Shimu is forced to work in hazardous conditions

for meager wages just to survive. Her colleagues are all similarly struggling, but she seems to be on the verge of a breakthrough. After learning that her co-worker and friend died in the fire, Shimu is approached by a journalist and human rights activist who encourages her to create a labor union. The catch is, she must do so in secret and with the help of her hesitant colleagues, as the consequences for unionizing are swift, severe and even dangerous. Still, Shimu embarks on a quest for justice for her friend, herself and all the Bengali women who are just like her.

Made in Bangladesh makes it clear that in this society, there are drastic downsides to being a woman of any status: Marriage provides social and financial security, but wives are often expected to be modest, and many are encouraged not to work or be independent of their husbands. In contrast, being single provides significant social freedoms but heavy financial instability and harsh societal judgments. This systemic inequity is perhaps the most interesting facet of the film, and for this reason, during the scenes in which it’s referenced, I found myself surprisingly engaged.

However, Hossain glosses over the specifics of this hardship far too quickly to garner any genuine empathy from viewers. The largely cursory exploration of Shimu’s battle feels like an overly simplified blueprint of how to fight the powers that be and little else. There’s a clear connection to the feminist fight of Norma Rae in both content and aspiration, but Made in Bangladesh never feels nuanced or inspirational enough to connect with its predecessor. The story has massive potential to unpack the pervasive inhumane practices currently facing factory workers around the world, though this attempt seems to merely skim the surface.

Read the full review at mountainx.com/movies/reviews REVIEWED BY KRISTINA GUCKENBERGER KRISTINA.GUCKENBERGER@GMAIL.COM

Never Too Late HHS DIRECTOR: Mark Lamprell PLAYERS: James Cromwell, Jacki Weaver, Shane Jacobson COMEDY/DRAMA RATED PG For movie lovers who have gone too long without another remake of Going in Style, Australia has a film for you. It’s a sort of comic twist on Da 5 Bloods, except these four Vietnam War veterans are all locked in a nursing home that they’re plotting to escape. Like the Spike Lee movie, however, they do have a young

sidekick of Vietnamese heritage, a teenager named Elliott who’s the son of the facility’s humorless chief, known only as Lin. The star here is American actor James Cromwell, playing Jack Bronson, who has managed to get himself stuck in the old folks’ home in order to find his longlost love, former Australian Army nurse Norma (Jacki Weaver). But Norma, who has early dementia, is quickly dragged away to a memory care facility. That brings on Jack’s escape plan, aided by his three former buddies from Vietnam, who just happen all to be in this same small institution.

To the credit of the three writers listed for this oddly conceived story, nothing goes as planned, and the humor is mild but amiable. The actors, especially Cromwell, are appealing and committed to keeping this shaky craft on course.

Further kudos are earned by not skimping on the dark side of aging, even if that leads to one bit with a stolen corpse.

Director Mark Lamprell (who co-wrote Babe: Pig in the City) has no style to speak of, but at least he doesn’t oversentimentalize the material. It’s all kind of sketchy, in both senses of the word, and Lamprell films the sketchiness with prime-time TV adequacy.

The movie has its virtues, including a running gag with a World War II veteran who’s frail as toothpicks but mean as a junkyard dog, plus a satisfying finale when each of the veterans achieves some long-held goal. If such simple pleasures are enough, then Never Too Late could brighten your evening for 90 minutes or so.

Now playing at Flat Rock Cinema REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM

Vinyl Nation HHHS DIRECTORS: Christopher Boone and Kevin Smokler PLAYERS: John Vanderslice, Laura Balance, Ben Blackwell DOCUMENTARY NOT RATED On the heels of At the Video Store comes Vinyl Nation, another love letter to a niche corner of the entertainment industry.

But unlike its amateurish, directionless and occasionally confounding predecessor, this music format documentary by Christopher Boone and Kevin Smokler is a far more vibrant, insightful, professional and purposeful exploration that benefits from spotlighting a significantly more prosperous business sector — yet does so with similar structural flaws as its movie rental counterpart.

Opening with the thrill of Record Store Day at Mills Record Co. in Kansas City, Mo., the film offers an engaging mix of the history of vinyl records, plus insights from industry members and partners, along with an excessive amount of personal reflections by fans of analog music.

Among their overly widespread subtopics, Boone and Smokler investigate how records are made and pressed, nicely demystifying the process, and passionately chronicle vinyl’s unique rise and fall in popularity since it first became commercially available in 1930.

Their interviews with factory owners, rabid collectors, indie record label executives, journalists, DJs and Instagram celebrities are consistently well lit and meaningfully edited with a playful range of camera angles and zooms that foster a strong connection to the person speaking.

Sadly, Vinyl Nation doesn’t visit Asheville, but the filmmakers check in

AVAILABLE VIA FINEARTSTHEATRE.COM (FA) GRAILMOVIEHOUSE.COM (GM) 2020 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour (NR) HHH (GM) A Girl Missing (NR) HHH (GM) Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly (NR) HHHS (GM) Amulet (R) HHHH (GM) At the Video Store (NR) HHHHS (GM) Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint (NR) HHHS (FA) The Booksellers (NR) HHHS(FA) Coup 53 (NR) HHHHH (GM) Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine (NR) HHHH (GM) Days of the Whale (NR) HHHS(GM) Desert One (NR) HHHH (FA, GM) Driven to Abstraction (PG) HHS(FA) Epicentro (NR) HHHH (Pick of the Week) (GM) Fantastic Fungi (NR) HHHH (FA) The Fight (PG-13) HHHH (FA, GM) Flannery (NR) HHHH (FA) Fourteen (NR) HHHH (FA) Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind (NR) HHHS (GM) Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful (NR) HHH (FA) The Hottest August (NR) H (FA) I Used to Go Here (NR) HHHHS (GM) John Lewis: Good Trouble (PG) HHHH (FA, GM) Made in Bangladesh (NR) HS(GM) My Dog Stupid (NR) HHHH (FA) Out Stealing Horses (NR) HHHHS (FA, GM) Papicha (NR) HHH (FA) Proud (NR) HHH (FA) Rebuilding Paradise (PG-13) HHHS (GM) Represent (NR) HHH (GM) River City Drumbeat (NR) HHHHS (GM) Someone, Somewhere (NR) HHHH (FA) Starting at Zero (NR) H (FA) The Surrogate (NR) HHHHS (FA) The Times of Bill Cunningham (NR) HHHHS (FA) The Tobacconist (NR) HHHS (FA) Vinyl Nation (NR) HHHS (GM) Vitalina Varela (NR) HHHHS (FA) You Never Had It: An Evening with Bukowski (NR) HHHS (GM)

with Chris Livengood from WinstonSalem’s Ember Audio + Design and Merge Records co-founder (and Superchunk bassist) Laura Ballance in Durham, who prove to be two of its most well-spoken participants.

Toss in memorable audiophile and record store depictions from such films as Boogie Nights, Ghost World and, of course, High Fidelity, plus discussions about the various shortcomings of the format and the white male-dominated industry subsets that continue to support it, and the documentary is on a compelling, well-informed roll for just over an hour.

But like an album that dilutes its strong start with frustrating back-end filler, Vinyl Nation’s winning approach runs out of steam, becomes little more than a string of enthusiasts gushing and starts sounding like, well, a broken record.

In its repetitive B-side, an occasional fun and/or sweet anecdote arises, but new substantial insights are all but absent.

Still, these heartfelt, often emotional reflections foster an appreciation for the format and music in general, making it all but impossible to resist heading to one’s turntable and dropping the needle on a cherished album after the credits roll.

REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes, “Some stuff can be fixed, some stuff can’t be. Deciding which is which is part of maturing.” I offer this meditation as your assignment in the coming weeks, Aries. You are in a phase when you’ll be wise to make various corrections and adjustments. But you should keep in mind that you don’t have unlimited time and energy to do so. And that’s OK, because some glitches can’t be repaired, and others aren’t fully worthy of your passionate intensity. You really should choose to focus on the few specific acts of mending and healing that will serve you best in the long run.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice,” wrote author F. Scott Fitzgerald. This is true even between the same two people in an intimate alliance with each other. The love that you and your spouse or friend or close relative or collaborator exchanged a month ago isn’t the same as it is now. It can’t be identical, because then it wouldn’t be vibrant, robust love, which needs to ceaselessly transform in order to be vibrant and robust. This is always true, of course, but will be an especially potent meditation for you during the next four weeks.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): As a professional writer, novelist Thomas Wolfe trained himself to have keen perceptions that enabled him to penetrate below surface appearances. And yet he wrote, “I have to see a thing a thousand times before I see it once.” In other words, it was hard even for him, a highly trained observer, to get a deep and accurate read of what was going on. It required a long time and many attempts — and rarely occurred for him on the first look. Even if you’re not a writer, Gemini, I recommend his approach for you in the coming weeks. You will attune yourself to current cosmic rhythms — and thus be more likely to receive their full help and blessings — if you deepen and refine the way you use your senses.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): It’s sometimes tempting for you to seek stability and safety by remaining just the way you are. When life pushes you to jump in and enjoy its wild ride, you may imagine it’s wise to refrain — to retreat to your sanctuary and cultivate the strength that comes from being staunch and steadfast and solid. Sometimes that approach does indeed work for you. I’m not implying it’s wrong or bad. But in the coming weeks, I think your strategy should be different. The advice I’ll offer you comes from Cancerian author and aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh: “Only in growth, reform and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work,” says author Sister Mary Lauretta. Have you been making progress in accomplishing that goal, Leo? According to my astrological analysis, fate has been offering and will continue to offer you the chance to either find work that you’ll love better than the work you’re doing, or else discover how to feel more love and excitement for your existing work. Why not intensify your efforts to cooperate with fate?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Self-love is also remembering to let others love you. Come out of hiding.” Poet Irisa Yardenah wrote that advice, and now I’m passing it on to you, just in time for a phase when you will benefit from it most. I mean, it’s always good counsel for you to Virgos to heed. But it will be especially crucial in the coming weeks, when you’ll have extra potential to bloom in response to love. And one of the best ways to ensure this extra potential is fulfilled is to make yourself thoroughly available to be appreciated, understood and cared for.

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AUG. 26 - SEPT. 1, 2020

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran poet Wallace Stevens wrote that if you want to be original, you must “have the courage to be an amateur.” I agree!

And that’s an important theme for you right now, since you’re entering a phase when your original ideas will be crucial to your growth. So listen up, Libra: If you want to stimulate your creatively to the max, adopt the fresh-eyed attitude of a rookie or a novice. Forget what you think you know about everything. Make yourself as innocently curious and eager as possible. Your imaginative insights and innovations will flow in abundance to the degree that you free yourself from the obligation to be serious and sober and professional. And keep in mind that Stevens said you need courage to act this way.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “As idiotic as optimism can sometimes seem, it has a weird habit of paying off,” writes author Michael Lewis.

According to my analysis, the coming weeks will provide you with ample evidence that proves his hypothesis — on one condition, that is: You will have to cultivate and express a thoughtful kind of optimism. Is that possible? Do you have the audacity to maintain intelligent buoyancy and discerning positivity, even in the face of those who might try to gaslight you into feeling stupid for being buoyant and positive? I think you do.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Author Rebecca Solnit writes, “The things we want are transformative, and we don’t know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation.” Her statement is especially apropos for you right now.

The experiences you’re yearning for will indeed change you significantly if you get them — even though those changes will be different from what your conscious mind thinks they’ll be. But don’t worry. Your higher self — the eternal part of you that knows just what you need — is fully aware of the beneficial transformations that will come your way when you get what you yearn for.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): At age 22, future pioneer of science Isaac Newton got his college degree just as the Great Plague peaked in 1665.

As a safety precaution, he proceeded to quarantine himself for many months. During that time of being sealed away, he made spectacular discoveries about optics, gravity and calculus — in dramatic contrast to his years as a student, when his work had been relatively undistinguished. I’m not predicting that your experiences of the 2020 pandemic will prove to be as fruitful as those of your fellow Capricorn, Isaac Newton. But of all the signs in the zodiac, I do think your output could be most Newton-like. And the coming weeks will be a good time for you to redouble your efforts to generate redemption amidst the chaos.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The rapper named Viper has released over 1,000 albums. In 2014 alone, he created 347. His most popular work is You’ll Cowards Don’t Even Smoke Crack, which has received over three million views on Youtube.

According to The Chicago Reader, one of Viper’s most appealing features is his “blatant disregard for grammar.” I should also mention that he regards himself as the second Christ and uses the nickname “Black Jesus.” So what does any of this have to do with you? Well, I’m recommending that you be as prolific, in your own field, as he is in his. I’m also inviting you to experiment with having a fun-loving disregard for grammar and other noncritical rules. And I would love to see you temporarily adopt some of his over-the-top braggadocio.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “If you don’t ask the right question, every answer seems wrong,” says singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco. I suspect you may have experienced a version of that predicament in recent weeks, Pisces. That’s the bad news. The good news is that I expect you will finally formulate the right questions very soon. They will most likely be quite different from the wrong and irrelevant questions you’ve been posing. In fact, the best way to find the revelatory questions will be to renounce and dismiss all the questions you have been asking up until now.

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MANUFACTURING FACILITY IN BREVARD NC NOW HIRING! TVS now hiring for multiple positions including positions in production, administration, management and programs! All shifts are currently available. Full time positions are eligible for company 401k contribution, life insurance, paid time off/holidays, medical, dental, and vision benefits. Please visit the TVS website www.tvsinc. org for more information and the application process. Applications are also available on site.

SKILLED LABOR/ TRADES FLOORING INSTALLERS WANTED ~ CARPET & HARD SURFACES ~ HIRING NOW IN THE ASHEVILLE AND FRANKLIN AREAS Hiring Flooring Installer and Crews that wants consistent work. We are a Nationwide company that installs flooring for a big box store (Carpet,

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SALES/ MARKETING BURIAL BEER CO. POSITION AVAILABLE: MARKET MANAGER Market Manager We are looking for an enthusiastic person who loves connecting with people. This candidate will focus on bringing the brand to life, from the best taprooms and bottle shops in the state to the trendiest restaurants and bars as well as establishing and nurturing relationships with key influencers & business partners spreading affinity and enthusiasm for Burial Beer and Visuals Labels. hr@burialbeer.com www.burialbeer.com

RESTAURANT/ FOOD GREEN TEA SUSHI NOW HIRING Looking for experienced servers and hosts. Please call 828-318-6002 or email Greenteasushi88@yahoo.com

HUMAN SERVICES ALL SOULS COUNSELING CENTER (ASCC) IS LOOKING TO HIRE A PERSON FOR DEVELOPMENT with an understanding and passionate about quality mental health care. The Development position is responsible for the day-to-day oversight and management of Fund Development at All Souls Counseling, a non-profit center. Experiences needed: writing reports, newsletters, development, philanthropy, public relations, event planning, computer literacy, and an understanding of donor perfect. The position will be 10 hours per week. Please read the full description on our website at: allsoulscounseling. org Please apply at: Search@ allsoulscounseling.org

and time management skills are required. The Associate Coordinator of Intake will provide support to survivors of trauma at the Buncombe County Family Justice Center and by phone. This position will also supervise and support a team of Intake Specialists. Qualified candidates will have a commitment to survivor empowerment, gender equity, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion. Duties include communication of highly detailed information to people in crisis, database entry, reporting on grant outcomes, and coordination of services among multiple providers.

This position holds rotating on-call responsibilities including night/ weekend availability. Candidates with a Bachelor’s degree, management experience, and 2 years of experience in the field is preferred.

Helpmate is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Fluency in Spanish is strongly desired and will be incentivized in pay scale. Diverse candidates encouraged to apply.

Email resume and cover letter to hiring@helpmateonline.org with the job title in the subject line by 9am Sept 3rd. Applicants lacking both cover letter and resume will not be considered.

PROFESSIONAL/ MANAGEMENT WESTERN WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTER DIRECTOR Program director – A full-time (40 hours per week) employee whose time is dedicated 100 percent to managing the day-to-day operations of the WBC. The program director’s responsibilities include but are not limited to: • Ensuring that WBC program and services are delivered in accordance with the program announcement, notice of award, regulations and statute. • Ensuring that the WBC is compliant with the program announcement, notice of award, regulations, statute and OMB circulars. • Ensuring that all communications from the Office of Women’s Business Ownership are provided to the appropriate parties of the WBC. Submit Resume with salary requirements and three references in care of: WWBC Director Job Posting NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE kjorgenson@ carolinasmallbusiness.org www. carolinasmallbusiness.org

CAREER TRAINING

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HELPMATE ASSOCIATE COORDINATOR OF INTAKE Helpmate, Inc., a domestic violence agency in Asheville, North Carolina, seeks to hire a full-time Associate Coordinator of Intake. Strong communication, organizational,

ENTRY LEVEL DATA ANALYST Join our fast paced, fun, and collaborative team! We value creative problem solving, good communication and the importance of work/life balance. Our team is comprised of professionals from diverse backgrounds with a range of degrees and past work experience. https://careers. smartrecruiters.com/Verisk

BUYING OLD PAPER MONEY 10 yrs WNC/ETN notes, bonds, maps, currency etc.

Member SPMC, NCNA, SCNA, TNS

msg/ txt 865-207-8994 or email papermoneybuy@gmail.com

COMPUTER/ TECHNICAL

RETAIL ASHEVILLE HABITAT PART TIME RESTORE ASSOCIATE Asheville ReStore located at Meadow Road is looking for a Part Time Associate; The schedule is Tues, Thur, Fri and Sat 9:30am to 5:00pm, $13.65hr.

Visit https://www.ashevillehabitat.org/careers for detailed job

description. Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity is a Living Wage, Equal Opportunity Employer, and a Drug Free Workplace.

SERVICES CAREGIVERS COMPANION • CAREGIVER • LIVE-IN Alzheimer's experienced.

• Heart failure and bed sore care.

• Hospice reference letter. • Nonsmoker, with cat, seeks live-in position. • References. • Arnold, (828) 273-2922.

COMPUTER COMPUTER ISSUES? GEEKS ON SITE provides FREE diagnosis REMOTELY 24/7 SERVICE DURING COVID19. No home visit necessary. $40 OFF with coupon 86407! Restrictions apply. 866939-0093

FINANCIAL AUTO INSURANCE STARTING AT $49/ MONTH! Call for your fee rate comparison to see how much you can save! Call: 855-569-1909.

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HOME IMPROVEMENT HANDY MAN HIRE A HUSBAND • HANDYMAN SERVICES Since 1993. Multiple skill sets. Reliable, trustworthy, quality results. Insured. References and estimates available. Stephen Houpis, (828) 280-2254.

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1 Accumulated, with “up” SERIOUSLY INJURED IN AN AUTO ACCIDENT? Let us fight for you! Our network has recovered millions for clients! Call today for a FREE consultation! 1-866-9912581 (AAN CAN)

LEGAL NOTICES BOY SCOUT COMPENSATION FUND Anyone that was inappropriately touched by a Scout leader deserves justice and financial compensation! Victims may be eligible for a significant cash settlement.

Time to file is limited. Call Now! 844-896-8216 (AAN CAN) NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE NORTH CAROLINA, MADISON COUNTY Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Lora D. Cody, dated August 28, 2009, recorded on August 31, 2009 in Book 487, Page 493 of the Madison County Public Registry conveying certain real property in Madison County to MTNBK, LTD, Trustee, for the benefit of Carolina First Bank.

Default having been made of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidencing said default having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthouse where the property is located, or the usual and customary location at the county courthouse for conducting the sale on September 8, 2020, at 12:00 PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following described property situated in Madison County, North Carolina, to wit: LYING AND BEING in No. 3 Township, Madison County, North Carolina adjoining the right of way of Highway 213 and being more particularly

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6 Asked earnestly 10 ___ War (18991902) 14 Muscat resident

15 Org. that supported the Lovings in Loving v. Virginia

described as follows: BEGINNING on an iron pipe set (no. 5 rebar) in the southeastern edge of the right of way of Highway 213 and in a common corner of property now or formerly owned by John O. Tilson as described in a deed recorded in the Madison County, North Carolina Registry in Deed Book 119, Page 435, said iron pipe is located N 58 07 59 E. 4.75 feet from a State Right of Way Monument, and run thence from the beginning point herein established and with the southeastern edge of the right of way of Highway 213, N 58 07 59 E 308.92 feet to an iron pipe set in the southeastern edge of said right of way of Highway 213 and in a common corner of property now or formerly owned

by Simon E. Lipsky and wife, Carol K. Lipsky, as described in a deed recorded in the Madison County, North Carolina Registry in Deed Book 172, Page 725, which said iron pipe is located S 58 07 59 W 248.29 feet from a State Right of Way Monument; thence leaving the right of way of said Highway 213 and running with the line of said property now or formerly owned by Lipsky, S 28 53 56 E 21.86 feet to a point in the center of small branch; thence leaving said branch and continuing with the line of said property now or formerly owned by Lipsky as follows: S 50 15 00 E 21.83 feet to an existing 3/4 inch iron pipe with pinched top; S 50 15 00 E 81.45 feet to an existing 1/2 inch iron pipe with pinched top; S 26 03 00 E 96.07 feet to an existing 1/2 inch iron pipe with pinched top; S 02 50 00 W 92.83 feet to an existing 1/2 inch iron pipe with pinched top; S 03 02 00 E 141.96 feet to an existing 1/2 inch iron pipe with pinched top; S 35 30 00 E 120.79 feet to an existing 1/2 inch iron pipe with pinched top; S 69 48 00 E 255.60 feet to an existing 3/4 inch iron pipe with pinched top at dry spring; N 59 28 00 E 68.04 feet

to an existing 3/4 inch iron pipe with pinched top 4 poles above said spring; thence continuing with the line of said property now or formerly owned by Lipsky, S 09 20 00 E 393.33 feet to an existing 3/4 inch iron pipe with pinched top in a common corner of property now or formerly owned by Arthur Thomason as described in a deed recorded in the Madison County, North Carolina Registry in Deed Book 93, Page1, which said iron pipe is located S 69 43 09 W 159.87 feet from an existing 3/4 inch iron pipe with pinched top; thence running with the line of said property now or formerly owned

by Thomason and with a fence, S 24 06 04 W 483.28 feet to an existing 3/4 inch iron water pipe in a common corner of property now or formerly owned by Harry H. Ledford as described in deed recorded in the Madison County, North Carolina Registry in Deed Book 124, Page 682, said iron water pipe being located at the terminus of the 4th call described in said deed recorded in said Registry in Deed Book 124, Page 682; thence running with the line of said property now or formerly owned

by Ledford and with a fence, N 42 57 38 W 326.50 feet to an iron pipe set (No. 5 Rebar) in common corner of property now or formerly owned

by John O. Tilson as described in said deed recorded in the Madison County, North Carolina Registry in Deed Book 119, Page 435; thence running with the line of said property now or formerly owned by Tilson and with a fence as follows: N 18 37 38 W 755.92 feet to a 36-inch dead white oak; N 32 04 49 W 317.37 feet crossing said small branch to the point of BEGINNING, containing 10.917 acres, more or less. Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record. Said property is commonly known as 10.91 Acres Cascade Street Off Highway 213, Mars Hill,

edited by Will Shortz 16 Humerus attachment 17 Six-time All-Star for the Arizona Diamondbacks (2013-18) 20 “Shut … up!,” in a text 21 Java, for one: Abbr.

22 Flummoxed 23 Taraji P. ___, star of “Hidden Figures” 26 Word with twist or tongue 27 “Moonbeam,” for a flashlight, e.g.

32 Compound containing an NH2 group, informally 33 Shirts and blouses 34 Yule quaff 36 Some hosp. workers 37 Circe turned Odysseus’ men into these, in the “Odyssey” 39 “Little” fellow of old comics 40 Spike in movie rentals?

41 Part of a wineglass NC 28754; Parcel ID: 9747-54-0192 A cash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, payable to Bell Carrington Price & Gregg, PLLC, will be required at the time of the sale. Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts are immediately due and owing. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax and THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS WHERE IS.” There are no representations of warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to any and all superior liens, including taxes and special assessments. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are Lora D. Cody. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 45-21.29, in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may, after receiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement,

No. 0722 42 Kingdom of horsemen in “The Lord of the Rings” 43 “Are you as jazzed as I am?”

47 Alley ___ 48 “Enough already!”

49 Class for baseball’s Albuquerque Isotopes 53 ___ Records (British label) 54 Univ. paper graders, maybe 57 People are protected when they’re in it 60 Aide: Abbr.

61 Man of the cloth?

62 Rich dessert 63 Some sorority chapters 64 Yemen’s capital 65 Start

DOWN 1 Cops, in slang 2 One leading the faithful in prayer 3 Some creases on the face the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination [N.C. Gen. Stat. § 45-21.16(b)(2)]. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy. Bell Carrington & Price, PLLC, Substitute Trustee ___ _______________________________, Attorney Aaron Seagroves, NCSB No. 50979 W. Harris, NCSB No. 48633 5550 77 Center Drive, Suite 100 Charlotte, NC 28217 PHONE: 980-201-3840 File No.: 19-42983 RECENTLY DIAGNOSED WITH LUNG CANCER AND 60+ YEARS OLD? Call now! You and your family may be entitled to a SIGNIFICANT CASH AWARD. Call 844-269-1881 today. Free Consultation. No Risk. (AAN CAN)

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT COUNSELING SERVICES ASTRO-COUNSELING Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer

puzzle by Peter A. Collins 4 Photo blowup: Abbr.

5 Start, as a meal 6 Ghostly shade 7 Like some TV screens, for short 8 Who sings “Let It Go” in “Frozen” 9 Aid in some makeshift repairs 10 Cause of a limp, maybe 11 Mixture 12 Some rushers, in football 13 “Dagnabbit!”

18 Greek peak southeast of Olympus 19 Bits of forensic evidence 24 Start of a German count 25 WSJ competitor 27 Shopping ___ 28 Louvre Pyramid architect 29 Rocker Bon Jovi 30 Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan each pitched 12 of these uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Stellar Counseling Services.

Christy Gunther, MA, LCMHC. (828) 258-3229.

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31 For whom “time and tide wait,” in a saying 35 Pagoda instrument 37 Per diem payments, e.g.

38 Like the monsoon season 39 “Me? Uh-uh!”

41 Crept quietly 42 Castigate 44 Apartment restriction

45 Onetime Nissan S.U.V. 46 Spanish for “how” 49 Ivan or Peter, e.g.

50 Overly hasty 51 “Given that …”

52 Reebok competitor 55 Pay (up) 56 Leave in 58 B+, e.g.

59 Part of many a three-day weekend: Abbr.

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

G A L A S

L U I G I

A T E A T

E T D S H I P E A M P L I E O K R G A B I D A C O G

M M O O E R U D E S S I S P A T E A S E T H X B U Y A R L S A A H V C O A A L I N D S I E A T M

U N T R O R L T A S P H E A A R S T H H O O L O R I T O E E D R R A S N

C A N C A A L R S M E W L I A L L A Y S L

A S A N A

B A S I N

S P A N X

C A M P E R V A N

D R E S S C O D E

S T Y T S L O T

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