Along with the countless homes and businesses washed away and damaged by Tropical Storm Helene, Western North Carolina’s farms took a brutal beating in the disaster. Though it’s too early for a full assessment of the 13,500 farms in WNC’s storm-impacted regions, a bird’s-eye view tells a story of vast devastation.
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Church creates welcoming hub after storm
In just a few short years, Pastors Sam and Erin Burleson at Covenant Community Church in the Reynolds community have created a true spiritual home for all local residents. I know this because of how they have responded in the aftermath of Helene. They set up washing machines and dryers, and portable showers, which were the exact services that were most needed at the time. I have seen families leaving the church grounds with food, water and personal care supplies, while so many people are out of work right now.
In generations past, the church was the center of the community. Pastor Sam and Pastor Erin have reached back into recent history to create a safe and welcoming place for all to be nourished.
Where is help for elderly public housing residents?
I am writing to inform the public of the dire public health situation present at public housing complexes in Asheville after Tropical Storm Helene. I have been working with a nonprofit to help flush toilets of elderly in our community, and many of them live in public housing. These people are facing so many unimaginable circumstances. At this writing (Tuesday, Oct. 15), the oxygen companies are not currently delivering the oxygen people need when they run out, and they cannot get to refill sites because it is almost impossible for these people to walk to the bus stop after being without oxygen for days or weeks.
There are people who usually have a nurse come in to dress their wounds or wrap their legs, but those nurses have been unable to get to them or are no longer with us. And many of these elders cannot lift a bucket to get water into their toilets, if they even have access to nonpotable water at all. I have seen people who had to sit in their own waste for days because no one was there to help them.
I thank God for the volunteers who have decided to take on this mission and help these people’s suffering, as well as EMS and the fire department. However, my question for the public and for the City of Asheville is: Why are volunteers, 2 1/2 weeks later, still the only force out in these communities helping these people? Why is the City of Asheville not addressing these issues? These people need help
beyond the capabilities of even the most well-meaning volunteers, and many of those volunteers are headed back to work this week. COVID has already begun to break out in these facilities, and I worry about other even worse illnesses beginning to spread.
— Kimberly McAninch Asheville
Editor’s note: Xpress reached out to the City of Asheville and the leadership of the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville for a response to the writer’s points. We received the following response from City spokesperson Samantha Booth: “The damage done by Helene extended deep into our community. While Housing Authority neighborhoods are not managed by the City, we remain in constant contact with their staff. The City of Asheville and our recovery partners are managing several operations to assist people in our community. Together, we arranged focused deliveries of critical supplies using our climate justice map as a guide. Deliveries consisted of bottled water and MREs (meals ready to eat). Some locations also received baby supplies, paper products, hygiene items, cleaning supplies and more. A number of neighborhoods, with emphasis on Housing Authority neighborhoods, were served through this focused effort. Asheville police, fire, National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have responded to numerous wellness checks throughout Asheville. The National Guard performed door-to-door wellness checks in neighborhoods managed by the Housing Authority. Wellness checks continue through the Asheville Fire Department. During
Witnessing the disaster unfold from afar
While Helene was visiting our home in Black Mountain, my husband and I were waking up in sunny Crested Butte, Colo. More than 1,600 miles away from Helene’s wrath, I was attending a work conference on the perfect fall day. The juxtaposition of the weather made my heart sick.
As the news rolled in that fateful Friday morning, conference attendees asked if our home was OK. “I don’t know,” I’d respond while stoically keeping it together. What we did know was that the situation looked horrific, the power was off, and our neighbors weren’t responding.
Existing in a world that is normal when your community is falling apart feels like it’s stretching your soul in opposite directions. Watching the videos and pictures brought me to tears. I felt grateful to not be there, and I felt guilty for not being there, as well as overwhelmed for the community and hopeful through the generosity of strangers.
While we bided our time in Colorado, waiting for the “right moment” to fly home, we bellied up to a bar in Winter Park and met a lovely family who had moved to the area from Georgia. They shared their condolences and experience surviving the 2020 East Troublesome Fire. Colorado’s second-largest wildfire ravaged nearly 200,000 acres over 48
days, taking down 555 structures in its path, including homes and dreams. They noted the kindness of strangers, survivor guilt — and how donations are great, but if you don’t have a home, there’s nowhere to store them. They talked about it through wide eyes and healing heart scars, reminding us that life will evolve and our communities will rebuild stronger.
Twelve days after Helene’s attack, we arrived home, shaken by the damage we witnessed on the drive but grateful to be back with our community to share the joys and burdens of rebuilding together.
— Olivia Ward Black Mountain
FEMA misinformation must stop
I am very annoyed at all of the deliberate misinformation that is being circulated in order to further a certain individual’s political ambitions and in total disregard for whom they harm.
No , the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not transfer money from disaster relief to migrant services. They are two separate congressional appropriations and cannot be commingled!
Stop the self-serving lies — FEMA seems to be doing an excellent job in the face of (now two) natural disasters.
— Brian Nolan Asheville
Democratic candidates offer know-how, experience
We have some great local candidates. Terri Wells has been serving the county and brings people together to get things done. Her back-
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Word of the week high tunnel
Similar to a greenhouse, a high tunnel is a hoop-shaped structure that is covered with fabric, plastic or polyethylene and is used to grow plants. In this week’s cover story, reporter Gina Smith speaks with several local farmers about the impact Tropical Storm Helene has had on their land, production and livelihood. Not surprisingly, high tunnels were among the many things destroyed by the storm. X
— Lauri Bailey Asheville
these checks, responders check the status of the individuals and connect them to resources.”
CARTOON BY RANDY MOLTON
ground in farming and education are a great combination for understanding our county. She has been and will be a great county commissioner.
Also we have Lindsey Prather, who is running for the state House. She has a lot of history being involved in education and supports public education, including early childhood education and quality child care that is more important than ever.
And Caleb Rudow, who has been representing and serving Western North Carolina for years and understands how to work within the government for the right reasons: health care, child care, public education and reproductive rights.
Also, for governor, Josh Stein, who has experience and a balanced approach that is needed in the chaos.
Then for state superintendent of public instruction, there is Mo Green, who has been working in education for North Carolina for years and knows what teachers, families and administrators need.
We need the Democratic, practical and logical approach to governing, including for climate change and the transition to an environmentally conscious policy that works on being prepared for chaotic events like our Hurricane Helene and also promotes clean and renewable energy, so we can move away from polluting fossil fuels that are reaching some scary tipping points.
It is convenient and easy to vote early. Go to [avl.mx/e85] to see where and when you can vote. Remember, you will need your ID.
We need to win this election locally and for the Kamala and Walz administration. The alternative is a mess.
For more information, see the candidates’ websites: Terri Wells [avl.mx/d98]; Lindsey Prather [avl.mx/e86]; Caleb Rudow [avl.mx/e87]; Mo Green [avl.mx/e88]; and Josh Stein [avl.mx/e89].
— Boone Guyton Alexander
Editor’s note: Guyton reports volunteering for Prather’s and Wells’ campaigns through the Democratic Party.
A look at Edwards and Rudow, post-Helene
Right after President Biden withdrew his candidacy and endorsed Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination for president, Chuck Edwards went online to demand that she “own” President Biden’s record, for which Edwards has such unearned contempt. Fair enough. Kamala Harris is campaigning to be the next president of the United States of America, and she should address the BidenHarris administration’s record, as well as her own record in a lifetime of public service.
We all know, however, that Rep. Edwards sees the Biden-Harris record only as all bad, in the extreme. While not perfect, the Biden-Harris record is filled with positive accomplishments, along with lots of unfinished business. Of course, any fair observer wants to know what candidate Harris’ policy, political and thoughtful proposals are for addressing the very real problems that America faces.
Unfortunately, in this presidential election moment, Rep. Edwards always fails to rise to the occasion by never “owning” Donald J. Trump’s lifetime record of infamy.
Give credit, however, where credit is due. Since Hurricane Helene, Rep. Edwards and his staff have performed a salutary service by providing comprehensive information about the situations and relief efforts in all 13 counties. Rep. Edwards has risen to this occasion and has used the unique platform he has as a member of Congress to be an integral part of the response and recovery efforts. He embodied a one-day profile in courage Oct. 8 by forcefully debunking the many lies, distortions and disinformation spread like
manure about the response efforts and particularly the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s activities, limits and centrality in those efforts.
Unfortunately, a few days later, Rep. Edwards lapsed into incoherence when avoiding reporters’ questions about Trump and Vance being the prime movers in spreading those destructive falsehoods. Rep. Edwards’ courage seemed to wane in the face of the presence of Christian nationalist House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose help Rep. Edwards needs in crafting legislation to support our region’s recovery.
Overall, Rep. Edwards has done well during this catastrophe. One hopes that he has moved out of the narrow confines of MAGA ideology, which labels the complex emergency coordination of local, state, federal and private sector organizations, however imperfect, as “socialism.” That Project 2025 ideology is intent on leaving every family for itself, calling that “freedom,” which would have yielded many, many more deaths and injuries and far greater suffering for every community in Western North Carolina, and would have more deeply hurt “we the people” of our region, state and nation.
It is fascinating how Rep. Edwards has discovered how essential government at all levels is to our country’s well-being, and how he has tempered his criticisms of FEMA, Gov. Cooper and even the Biden-Harris administration as “the whole of government” works in rough harmony to meet the needs of WNC. That lesson, of course, was well understood by Caleb Rudow before Helene required our public officials to work together as well as humanly possible.
Whether Rep. Edwards or Caleb Rudow wins in November, their roles and profiles will be greatly elevated by the long and difficult roads necessary to care for our communities and to implement our recovery and rebuilding. May they both be up to the task.
— Paul Weichselbaum Hendersonville
Editor’s note: Weichselbaum has donated to Caleb Rudow’s campaign to win the District 11 seat and believes he is up to the tasks and challenges he will face in Congress. A longer version of this letter will appear at mountainx.com.
Choose candidates who support public schools
Everything we want for public schools starts with electing the right leaders.
Our Republican-controlled state legislature and Supreme Court have been working diligently to dismantle public
education in favor of funding private school vouchers, used primarily by wealthy families for religious schools. Public School Strong endorses only qualified candidates who pledge to support fully funded and inclusive public education. We endorse and ask you to vote for the following candidates: Josh Stein, governor; Mo Green, superintendent of public instruction; Allison Riggs, state Supreme Court; Eric Ager, N.C. House District 114; Lindsey Prather, N.C. House District 115; Amanda Edwards, Buncombe County Board of Commissioners chair; Jennifer Horton, Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, District 1; Terri Wells, Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, District 2; Charles Martin, Buncombe County Board of Education, at-large seat; Greg Cheatham, Buncombe County Board of Education, District 2; and Amy Churchill, Buncombe County Board of Education, District 4
So, let’s get out to vote — for our students, for our public schools and for a better future.
—
Sharon Broussard Asheville
Connect the dots on storm, climate and war
In the midst of this tragic devastation, while we reach out to help
our neighbors and mourn all the losses, let us try to make sense of why this happened and think about how to manage to keep these types of storms from continuing or even getting worse.
Here’s the science. Hurricanes are getting stronger and stronger because the oceans are warming. The oceans are warming primarily because of fossil fuel consumption. What just happened to Western North Carolina is a direct result of the climate emergency.
And here’s a timely and crucial dot to connect. Wars are mostly for oil (and the power to control global oil resources). They also use enormous amounts of oil, making them a main cause of this emergency.
Another dot. Wars are fueled by those who profit from them, like the war industry contractors.
Local dot. Raytheon is the No. 2 war contractor in the world. Its local Pratt & Whitney plant makes engine components for fighter jets, like the F-16s and F-35s being used by Israel in its Gaza genocide, now in Lebanon, and imminently in Iran.
The connection is easy to see. This monstrous hurricane is the natural result of our society’s addiction to oil and its endless wars to feed our habits. We are in a vicious cycle of death and destruction.
It’s not too late to change our ways. We still have time to mitigate the increasing devastations of the climate emergency. But only if we stop making war and start getting serious about developing renewable energy sources instead.
Our governments — national, state and local — need to move our money in that direction. Companies like Pratt & Whitney should be paid to make windmills and high-speed trains, not war machines.
What is really needed is a widespread awakening to the truth that we are rapidly sowing the seeds of our own demise. Connecting the dots to see the big picture is the first step.
In the wake of Helene, we have seen such a beautiful coming together in our community — such compassion, generosity and cooperation. This same spirit, applied to all of humanity, is what will save us.
Truly, giving peace a chance is our only chance.
— Ken Jones Swannanoa
You can’t go home again
For all my life, Asheville, my hometown, has always been a sanctuary city for me ever since I enlisted in the Navy and left home. It was always a place where I could
go back to and visit and heal. To get off the road when I was hitching around the country, when I got out of the service, and when I got out of federal prison after a year inside for protesting against nuclear weapons.
When I got gentrified out of the East Village in New York City and after camping with Occupy D.C., I got a ride back home. After spending two years taking care of my stepfather, James Penley (former assistant superintendent of Asheville City Schools) and attending his funeral. And that time, I was back there after just reaching Mexico City and learning my mother, Pantha Penley (teacher at Hall Fletcher) had died and having to turn around and go back home, where I stayed with my stepfather and went insane from his dementia. Anyway, Asheville was a lifetime base camp, but I just realized it will absolutely never be the same or even close to what it was to me ever again in my lifetime. My condolences to those who lost loved ones and to those who are trying the best they can to put Asheville back together again. For me, Thomas Wolfe said it in his book, You Can’t Go Home Again , which I never will.
— John Penley Lake Havasu City, Ariz. X
CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN
Hot seat
BY GREG PARLIER
Editor’s note: This article was reported and written before Tropical Storm Helene.
Buncombe County’s top elected official — the chair of the Board of County Commissioners — is unknown to many residents, while other officeholders like Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer and Sheriff Quentin Miller achieve status closer to becoming a household name.
But the position, for the last eight years held by longtime public servant Brownie Newman, wields power over a larger cache of public funds — $626 million — than both mayor and sheriff. And as one of the few countywide elected positions, winning control of the gavel at 200 College St. takes a broad coalition of support.
This year, the race is shaping up to be hotly contested after Newman — who ran unopposed in 2020 — announced last fall that he was retiring from his 20-year career as an elected official. He previously served on Asheville City Council and as commissioner before becoming chair. Newman has thrown his support behind current commissioner Democrat Amanda Edwards Edwards says she seeks to maintain the commission’s focus on issues ranging from affordable housing to education.
Meanwhile, three-term former Sheriff and Democrat-turnedunaffiliated candidate Van Duncan looks to bring a different perspective to the all-Democratic board, pledging a “commonsense” approach to county budgeting. He said he joined this race at the request of residents and business owners concerned about
Race for chair of County Commission heats up
unchecked spending and a perception that crime was increasing.
There is plenty of support for Duncan, who gathered 8,200 signatures this spring to get on the general ballot as an unaffiliated candidate. As of June 30, he raised about $128,000. He says that number has climbed to about $170,000 as of Sept. 20. By comparison, Edwards had about $28,000 in her campaign coffers at the end of June, a number that she says has grown to more than $65,000 as of Sept. 16. (Third-quarter reports will be available Oct. 29 at avl.mx/azd, according to county spokesperson Kassi Day.)
But Edwards is calling out Duncan for taking a $125,000 early retirement incentive from the corruption-riddled ex-County Manager Wanda Greene in 2016. Edwards says the payment brings Duncan’s ethics into question.
Duncan insists the payment he took was legal and that he knew nothing of Greene’s improper dealings during his tenure.
THE CONTROVERSY
During Greene’s tenure as county manager, millions in taxpayer money was shuffled into the bank accounts of her family and friends within the county government using insurance or retirement tricks to shield the transactions. (Greene pleaded guilty to several federal charges and served two years in prison.) Duncan insists, and an FBI investigation found, that he knew nothing of her criminal dealings and had a less-than-friendly relationship with the top county government official during much of their overlap at the county.
“For most of my career … we had a very contentious relationship,” he says.
Nonetheless, his acceptance from Greene of an “early retirement incentive” also called a “retention incentive” on the 2016 agreement document with his signature, looks fishy, Edwards contends. The incentive program was designed to retain employees who were otherwise eligible to retire, according to a county explainer on the program from 2017. Before serving as sheriff, Duncan worked as a patrol officer in the Weaverville and Asheville police departments, then as a patrol deputy for the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office in 1998, then rose through the ranks.
Of 10 recipients of the bonus, according to reporting by the Citizen Times in 2017, Duncan is the only elected official who took the payment,
EXPERIENCE: Commissioner Amanda Edwards, pictured, says candidates should have experience serving on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners before they become chair. Photo courtesy of Edwards
which is the bit Edwards points to as most suspect.
“I certainly am not going to speak for anyone’s personal ethics in how they make decisions. What I will tell you is I believe an elected official should not take a retention retirement bonus to complete a term. Elected officials are accountable to the voters, not to the county manager,” she says.
Duncan insists that several lawyers, including County Attorney
FUNDRAISER: Ex-Sheriff Van Duncan, pictured, has far outpaced his opponent, Commissioner Amanda Edwards, in fundraising. As of Sept. 20, he says he has raised about $170,000 compared to Edwards’ $65,000. Photo courtesy of Duncan
Michael Frue, say he’s on solid legal ground collecting the bonus. Frue retired in September, says county spokesperson Lillian Govus, and wasn’t available to speak about the incentive program.
Duncan’s term was set to end at the end of 2018, and the incentive, initially designed to be paid out over about three years upon retirement, required that Duncan not retire until at least Nov. 1 of that year. He says he announced he wouldn’t seek reelection and would serve until the end of his term shortly after signing the early retirement incentive paperwork and never viewed the payout as a retention bonus.
Duncan says he supported Edwards and even endorsed her initial run for county commissioner in 2018. Her insinuation that he is “corrupt” has been a “hard pill to swallow,” he admits.
“I think anybody that looks at my time span as sheriff, I would hope to think they saw me as a truthful, honest leader,” he says.
AS FOR THE ISSUES
As in most elections, the economy is a top issue for voters. In Buncombe, where the cost of living is high for North Carolina, Edwards says she is focused on attracting high-paying jobs and increasing the supply of affordable housing.
She points to county incentives given to local companies like Poppy’s Popcorn looking to grow and add well-paying jobs in the area.
As for affordable housing, Edwards is buoyant about the county’s recent success leveraging general obligation bond funds passed by voters in 2022 to increase housing stock. The county has allocated $30 million of the $40 million in bond funds, including mixed-use projects on Ferry Road and Coxe Avenue on county-owned land.
“That’s the kind of investment that it will take to make sure that we are doing our part on housing,” she says.
While Newman has offered full-throated support for another round of bonds for affordable housing, neither candidate running to replace him has done so.
“Right now I am in favor of monitoring and ensuring the effective oversight of those bonds, [ensuring] they are creating the promised housing before we start conversations about the next housing bond,” Edwards says.
Duncan, meanwhile, is adamantly opposed to the idea.
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not another [general obligation] bond for affordable housing.”
He argues that asking taxpayers to shoulder another $40 million bond a couple years after taxes have gone up would be too much to ask.
“I think people are struggling right now. I couldn’t understand how they wouldn’t be. I think it’s been way harder on everybody, even for those of us that I would consider middle class,” he says.
EDUCATION FUNDING
Part of the reason taxes have gone up in each of the last two budget cycles is because of dire funding requests from the county’s two public school districts.
Edwards, who is executive director of the Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Foundation, doesn’t hold back in pointing directly to the N.C. General Assembly in Raleigh when asked about education funding.
“County commissions are having to step up to fill gaps for what the General Assembly refuses to fund, so taxpayers are paying taxes in North Carolina that are supposed to fund public education, and yet our local property tax is also having to fund public education,” she says.
Duncan, like Edwards, supports ensuring teachers are making a living wage but suggested that the school districts could make better use of their funds.
“You can’t tell me, with a $440 million [general fund] budget that we can’t make some cuts, and when the commission kind of tightens down, I think we have to ask the schools without hurting our teachers and hurting teachers salaries,” he says.
Edwards says working with districts earlier in the budget cycle may ease the pain of their requests late in the fiscal year and said the county has taken the lead in hosting those talks, pointing to a joint meeting in August.
“We’re working much more closely with our school boards … so that our two school districts have a [better] understanding of how our funding and our budgeting process works,” she says.
PUBLIC SAFETY
For Duncan, issues surrounding public safety were a big reason he jumped in the race.
After some businesses complained in 2023 about increased vagrancy and break-ins to their businesses in downtown Asheville, a citizens group known as the Asheville Coalition for Public Safety asked Duncan to run for commission chair, he says.
He says there are better ways to address the increased presence
“send the right trained professional to the call.”
POLITICAL BACKING
While Duncan ran for chair on public safety issues, Edwards became commissioner in 2018 because of the county’s corruption issues during the Wanda Greene era.
“I ran for County Commission in 2018 to restore trust and accountability to Buncombe County government. It was the corruption, the fraud, the scandal involving county staff and elected officials that propelled me to run for office,” she says.
Duncan represents a different segment of Buncombe County. He has received donations from many local Republicans, including former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor and Mathew Burril, a former congressional candidate for North Carolina’s 11th District.
He insists that he has not tacked to the right, as some recent media reports have portrayed, but rather the world has changed around him. Edwards doesn’t buy that argument.
of homelessness in some areas of Asheville, including using the Buncombe County Jail’s Annex building to temporarily house those with nowhere else to go.
He also supports current Sheriff Miller’s co-responder program, which includes mental health professionals when responding to crimes, but Duncan argues that sometimes jail is the best answer.
“I think the commissioners working to identify and support mental health partners in doing what they do is an excellent answer, but there is a certain part of the population that commits crime; they can be dangerous. Mental health is not the driving issue,” he says.
Edwards says she has supported the co-responder program from its inception and thinks it’s vital to
“I’m not surprised that my opponent is receiving donations, particularly from members of our local Republican Party. And I think it says he is an unaffiliated independent in name only,” she says.
Duncan, meanwhile, would prefer to make the race about taxes and people’s tightening pocketbooks. He seeks to represent those scared of getting priced out of Buncombe County by rising property values.
“I think people are scared. I think they’re worried about the upcoming tax revaluation,” he says.
Editor’s note: At its Oct. 15 regular meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted 7-0 to delay the 2025 tax reappraisal deadline by a year to Jan. 1, 2026, to give the county more time to assess property damage from Tropical Storm Helene. X
TOP CHAIR: Commissioner Amanda Edwards and ex-Sheriff Van Duncan are vying to win the top seat on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, replacing longtime public servant Brownie Newman in next month’s general election. Xpress file photo
Constitutional tweak
‘Citizen-only voting’ referendum on NC ballot this fall
BY BROOKE RANDLE
In an election year when the presidential race consumes much of the focus and scrutiny, voters in North Carolina may be less aware of some of the other items on the ballot, including the “citizens-only voting” amendment to the N.C. Constitution.
The General Assembly has already passed House Bill 1074, which would change the wording of the state constitution to clarify who is allowed to vote in state and local elections, but it requires majority approval from voters
The N.C. Constitution currently reads: “Every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized, 18 years of age, and possessing the qualifications set out in this Article, shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people of the State, except as herein otherwise provided.”
The language outlined in the referendum would change it to: “Only a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age and possessing the qualifications set out in this Article, shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people of the State.”
Some local leaders say that the citizens-only voting amendment is necessary to prevent noncitizens from voting and to preserve election integrity. Opponents argue that the referendum is redundant and is solely meant to stoke fears about immigrants and the state’s election process.
WHO IS, AND ISN’T, ALLOWED TO VOTE
Federal law signed in 1996 prohibits noncitizens, including permanent legal residents, from voting in federal, state and most local elections. This means that people who are considered lawful permanent residents (also known as green card holders), hold a nonimmigrant work visa or are undocumented are generally not eligible to vote in elections. Naturalized citizens, however, are immigrants who have gained U.S. citizenship and therefore the right to vote.
Noncitizens who attempt to vote face deportation, fines, prison time, or could lose the ability to gain permanent residency or U.S. citizenship. However, the law that regulates voting at the federal level doesn’t stop
YOUR CHOICE: Some local leaders say that the citizens-only voting amendment is necessary to prevent noncitizens from voting and to preserve election integrity. Opponents argue that the referendum is redundant and is solely meant to stoke fears about immigrants and the state’s election process. Photo by Thomas
Calder
states or municipalities from allowing noncitizens to vote in local races, such as school boards or town councils. Certain municipalities in Maryland, California, Vermont and the District of Columbia allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
Though no city within North Carolina allows noncitizen voting, the idea still worries Doug Brown, chair of the Buncombe County GOP. He says that the potential of noncitizens voting could skew elections.
“Most state constitutions note that voting is for U.S. and state citizens, but many do not expressly ban noncitizen voting or include the words ’citizens only,’” says Brown. “There are currently an estimated 23 million noncitizens in the U.S. If only that same 6.4% voted in 2024, that would result in over 1.5 million unlawful votes — enough to swing election results in many states.”
(The latest report on undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. from the Department of Homeland Security estimates closer to 11 million as of January 2022, and studies from the Brennan Center for Justice show that noncitizen voting is rare.)
If approved, the referendum on this year’s ballot would make North Carolina one of seven states that
explicitly prohibit noncitizen voting in state and local elections.
STOKING FEARS
Should voters approve the referendum this fall, changing the state constitution would not impact who can and cannot vote in the state, says Ashley Moraguez, associate professor and co-chair of the political science department at UNC Asheville.
Moraguez notes that voting in North Carolina is regulated by not only the state constitution but also a state law that requires residents to register to vote and attest to their citizenship under penalty of a Class I felony. Voting in presidential and other federal elections would also remain unchanged.
“In practice, this amendment is not going to change the policy, whether it passes or fails,” says Moraguez. “All of those three things coupled together indicate that in federal, state and local elections in North Carolina, you already have to be a citizen to vote.”
But some local leaders say that merely having the amendment on the ballot could spark fears about undocumented immigrants and the state election process and could sow doubt in the minds of eligible immigrants.
“I think because of the language change, perhaps naturalized citizens might feel less confident in turning out to vote, or feel confused about what this might mean for them moving forward,” says Moraguez. “Even though it won’t affect or change things, I do fear that that language change might be interpreted that way.”
“The sole purpose of this amendment is to foster the Republicanspawned myth that noncitizens are voting in U.S. elections. They already cannot and do not,” adds Kathie Kline, the chair of the Buncombe County Democratic Party. “Rather than Republicans offering qualified candidates or promoting reasonable and helpful policies for working families, they resort to these misleading tactics to increase their turnout.”
While some local Democrats oppose the amendment, Moraguez points out that the ballot measure was approved with bipartisan support. Democratic Sen. Julie Mayfield, District 49, says that she voted for the measure to prevent the allegation from Republicans that Democrats were allowing noncitizens to vote.
She adds that the amendment is “purely political” and says that the measure wouldn’t have an impact on voting in the state.
[The amendment] irresponsibly stokes fear that noncitizens are currently voting, which they are not,“ Mayfield explains. ”That fear casts doubt on the election process, and it’s in the Republicans’ interest to foster that fear because it justifies their efforts at other ‘election integrity’ policies that are usually solutions in search of problems.“
“I think it’s just an optics issue,” says Moraguez. “It’s kind of a hard position to be in to vote against something that’s essentially already the policy.”
Democratic state Reps. Caleb Rudow, District 116, and Eric Ager, District 114, also voted in favor of the bill but did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Rudow is challenging U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-District 11, in the Nov. 5 election.
Moraguez notes that the most tangible impact of the referendum could be increased voter participation, particularly among conservative voters.
“From my vantage point as a political scientist, this seems like a pretty clear instance of messaging and trying to mobilize conservative voters in the state, though perhaps not exclusively. We know that immigration is a top issue for a lot of voters this year,” says Moraguez. “And while this is something that voters probably support, they may not be fully aware that this is already in our state constitution. And so this is a way to kind of play the issues they care about in the hopes of getting them to the polls.” X
A matter of trust
NC Trusted Elections Tour addresses voting laws and election security
BY JESSICA WAKEMAN
jwakeman@mountainx.com
Editor’s note: This article was reported and written before Tropical Storm Helene.
If you get dizzy keeping track of the number of races during election season, you’re not alone. From gubernatorial candidates to Asheville City Council candidates, there is a lot of homework for voters to do for the 2024 races.
This year, the League of Women Voters Asheville-Buncombe County is co-hosting the NC Trusted Elections Tour, a series of voter education events organized by the N.C. Democracy Resilience Network at The Carter Center. The tour came to Weaverville on Aug. 20 and featured Buncombe County Election Services Director Corrine Duncan and Buncombe County Board of Elections Chair Jake Quinn. They answered questions about the election process and new voting-related laws that residents may be encountering for the first time.
“We know that voters are often confused, and that can lead to uncertainty and distrust,” explains Jennifer Roberts of the Carter Center, who organized the N.C. Trusted Elections Tour with retired N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr. The tour is “using town halls to have the actual election directors, who run your elections, administer the ballots, count the ballots, secure the ballots … explain changes that happened, but also explain the safety and security of every ballot in North Carolina,” Roberts says.
READY TO VOTE: Jennifer Roberts, left, of the Carter Center is bringing the N.C. Trusted Elections Tour across the state to answer voters’ questions about voting laws and election security. The League of Women Voters of Asheville-Buncombe County President Suzanne Fisher, right, brought the tour to Weaverville on Aug. 20. Photos courtesy of Roberts and Fisher
Roberts and League of Women Voters of Asheville-Buncombe County President Suzanne Fisher spoke with Xpress about the election laws that voters should know, guarantees about ballot privacy and resources to learn more about candidates.
This interview has been condensed for length and edited for clarity.
Xpress: The Trusted Elections Tour is visiting 28 locations across the state until Election Day. What questions are people asking?
Jennifer Roberts: On college campuses, we see students come
What do you see causing confusion for voters this election cycle?
Suzanne Fisher: The need for voter ID. [Voters were required to show ID] in the primary, but a lot more people are going to be voting this fall, so it’s new to people.
Absentee ballots [are also confusing]. During the pandemic, you only needed one signature; now we’re back to [requiring] two signatures. You have to put a copy of your ID in a certain place and there are different envelopes and things. … If you’re [voting by] absentee now, the ballot has to be there on Election Day — there’s no more grace period.
JR: When we look at requirements for other states, [North Carolina has] the most restrictive ballot requirement for mail-in ballots, [requiring] two signatures and the photo ID, and you’ve got to put the address of your witnesses. And they actually check those addresses in many counties. They’re doing a pilot program on signature matching, so we are definitely secure.
— a lot of first-time presidential voters. Sometimes they’re from out of state. They need to understand what allows them to register in North Carolina, how they would do that, and how they can’t vote in two places, obviously. … If they’re living in North Carolina, and they want to vote here and they’re a resident here, then they can register.
They have a lot more questions than some of the older folks. The older folks may have more questions about the security [of ballot counting] and about recent changes in the law.
The concern that we heard on the election commission — which is 65 people from all across the state, left, right, center, Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated — the concern is that access is sometimes a challenge for voters in North Carolina.
(Editor’s note: In the wake of Tropical Storm Helene, a number of emergency measures have been approved by the N.C. State Board of Elections (NCSBE). As Carolina Public Press has reported, “Voters themselves can return absentee ballots in person on Election Day, while that
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was previously only allowed during early voting. They may return them to any county Board of Elections or the NCSBE by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, and those boards will deliver them to the correct Board of Elections by the day before the election canvass, where official results are tallied.” For more, visit avl.mx/e7z.)
Can you elaborate? What are the concerns about voter access during the 2024 election?
JR: In some smaller counties, there is only one early voting site. That could be at the Board of Elections [office], which could be a very far drive from some of the rural areas. So folks who don’t have transportation have a challenge. …. Many voters in North Carolina have some kind of disability — hearing, sight, physical, etc. Every polling site is supposed to have a curbside voting location. Again, in some places where it’s hard to get workers or the sites are hard to attain, that may not always happen.
And we also have seen early voting sites moved away from public transit. Sometimes they’ve been moved away from college campuses. Students don’t have cars. Those are some of the issues that we heard about.
Clearly, you can’t have early voting sites everywhere in your county. It costs a lot. But people are concerned that some of those hurdles are there, in addition to what we already talked about with absentee ballots and photo ID.
(Editor’s note: Following Tropical Storm Helene, the Buncombe County Board of Elections approved new times and locations for early voting. A full list of sites and times can be found at avl.mx/e80.)
Have you seen an increased anxiety about election security over the past decade or two?
JR: Much of that has been driven by political purposes and by candidates trying to get an advantage. There is no concrete evidence of widespread fraud, hacking or attempts to subvert elections. [North Carolina] had one incident in 2018 with the 9th Congressional District, where there was ballot harvesting. (According to the Associated Press, in 2018 a political operative in Bladen County was linked to absentee ballot fraud. In light of fraud allegations, the State Board of Elections refused to certify his victory.) That was caught, and they redid the entire election because the results were compromised.
I don’t know what ballot harvesting is — can you explain it?
JR: Ballot harvesting is when you get your campaign worker — which
is what happened in this case — to go to, say, an assisted living home and give all these people applications for absentee ballots [and change the votes to your preferred candidate or throw out ballots for the opposing candidate]. … Something happened in North Carolina, and people heard about it.
Some of the doubt started then. Some of it started in 2016. Some of it started with more use of electronic marketing devices. People just don’t trust machines.
Yeah, a skepticism about voting machines makes some sense to me.
JR: We’ve heard that a lot in these town halls. People are very happy that there’s a paper ballot backing up every single vote, and those ballots are stored. … If the website goes down, we still have the vote tallies and the vote results, because they’re on paper and they’re locked away.
Trust has decreased. Again, some of that is for political purposes with people who didn’t think they lost. … It’s interesting — in one of the counties we were in, there was a board of elections member who [told us], “I had this candidate one year who said, ‘I can’t believe I lost. I don’t understand it. Everybody I spoke to said they were voting for me!” [laughs]
Can anyone search online and find out who you voted for? Or is your vote private?
JR: People get confused because you can go to the state website and you can look up your name, and you can look up your party registration, and then it has all the times that you voted. Not how you voted. In a primary, it will say a Democratic primary, a Republican primary, but it will not say how you voted. … The private ballot, the secret ballot, is incredibly important. All the workers do an extra special job to keep that privacy.
Xpress published our 2024 voter guide on Oct. 9 with questionnaires from candidates in local races. But where can a voter learn more about the statewide races, such as for governor and superintendent of public instruction?
SF: Vote411.org. … You put in your name and address, and it gives you all the information about when you can vote. It links you to the State Board of Elections website. It’s one-stop shopping to get all of that information.
It is legal to bring in a paper copy of your ballot to the polling place. On Vote 411, once you make your decisions, you can print it out. Because there are a lot of races, and you don’t want to be confused if you’ve done your research.X
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Helene
County pushes out deadline for property reappraisals
At its Oct. 15 regular meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted 7-0 to delay the 2025 tax reappraisal deadline by a year to Jan. 1, 2026, to give the county more time to assess property damage from Tropical Storm Helene.
Because water was unavailable at 200 College Street in downtown Asheville, where the board usually meets, the meeting was held remotely.
“Our [entire] appraisal staff has pivoted from their typical reappraisal duties to damage assessments,” Eric Cregger , interim property assessor, told the board.
“Our team is currently in the data collection and the analysis phase of that process, and we’re going to be spending months … performing field visits, auditing permit data and damage data, and making sure we’re making appropriate adjustments on every parcel that’s been affected by the storm,” Cregger continued.
Cregger said it was too early for the assessment team to know how the storm would affect property market prices.
“For that we need time,” Cregger said.
The reappraisal updates all of Buncombe County’s property values to reflect fair market value.
The county derives 62% of its more than $440 million general fund from property taxes, which relies on the accurate assessment of thousands of properties. In December 2018, commissioners adopted a resolution to schedule the revaluation every four years starting Jan. 1, 2021.
The county kept the Jan. 1, 2025, deadline even after the board fired county Tax Assessor R. Keith Miller on Sept. 17 for what it deemed a conflict of interest after Miller bought a South Carolina condominium with an employee under his supervision. But the devastation wrought by Helene requires more time.
“Do we know at this point if moving the reappraisal process back 12 months is a sufficient period of time to do all of that assessment work, or is it something that we may not know until we get further into it?” board Chair Brownie Newman asked Cregger.
Cregger told the board that his staff did not yet know if one year would be enough time to finish storm damage assessments.
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“We do know that we have to start looking at it this year, and as we get through the year, we’ll see how that’s going. We will have this conversation again and readjust where we need to be,” Cregger said.
The resolution states that the county will resume its normal reappraisal schedule, which takes place every four years, starting Jan. 1, 2029.
In other news
• The board unanimously approved a budget amendment to establish an account for an anticipated $29 million FEMA award for Buncombe County. John Hudson , the county’s budget director, told the commissioners that more than half of the $29 million will go toward debris removal. The county has already spent $7 million from its general fund on recovery, which will be replaced with FEMA money, Lillian Govus, director of communications and public engagement, wrote in an email to Xpress.
• The board voted 7-0 to approve $1.7 million for a trash compactor for the Solid Waste Department.
• The board also approved a $1.2 million purchase agreement to buy three ambulances, payable in fiscal year 2026.
— Pat Moran X
REMOTE CONTROL: At a remote meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted to delay the 2025 tax reappraisal deadline until Jan. 1, 2026. Screen capture courtesy of Buncombe County
ACS backs off drilling wells, works to reopen schools Oct. 28
With water from Asheville’s water system now spreading throughout the city, Asheville City Schools (ACS) is retreating from its initial idea to drill wells at each school to expedite reopening.
Superintendent Maggie Fehrman told the Asheville City Board of Education at its meeting Oct. 14 that she still wants to explore drilling wells to increase the district’s resiliency but is shifting her focus to obtaining enough drinking water to reopen schools by Monday, Oct. 28.
“We’re very, very comfortable with saying we could definitely open by [Oct. 28],” she said. “Once schools are open, it is my recommendation that we move forward with adding wells on each campus so we can thoroughly examine all the various economic, health and safety variables.”
ACS is working with Buncombe County Schools (BCS) and area charter schools to obtain enough bottled drinking water to reopen all schools the same day, Fehrman noted.
Meanwhile, BCS announced Oct. 18 that its schools will open Friday, Oct. 25 (see page 14).
Fehrman also promised a 72-hour notice for families and staff before reopening, adding that the district meets daily with Buncombe County’s Incident Management Team and other public school leaders for updates on the municipal water system and the availability of bottled water.
When schools reopen, the district plans to operate on four-hour days, instead of the typical six-plushour school days, because of the quantity of bottled water recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
FEMA said school districts should provide one half-liter bottle of water per person every two hours. Fehrman proposed that high schools and middle schools be open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and elementary schools 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
The City of Asheville and Buncombe County will provide sufficient drinking water for all public schools for two weeks. After that, the districts will provide for themselves, with BCS delivering drinking water to all schools, Fehrman said. The calculation for water does not include any extracurricular activities for schools. When municipal water becomes suitable for drink-
ing, all these calculations change, Fehrman noted.
Initially, the district was looking into drilling wells at each school to expedite reopening and paid ClearWater Well Drilling of Hot Springs more than $30,000 to drill one at Hall Fletcher Elementary, according to spokesperson Kim Dechant. At a Buncombe County briefing meeting last week, Fehrman said wells would cost about $100,000 each but hoped FEMA would reimburse the district.
Fehrman said the district has gotten several different prices for wells, and she wants to be sure the district is being as financially responsible as possible in its pursuit of school wells.
“I still believe that wells are a good solution to prevent disruption of our schools in the future,” Fehrman said at the meeting. “I know there’s some concern about the pH of the water. Is it drinkable? Is it not drinkable? But I feel like it still is a really good option to use in the intermediate if the water main breaks or water
goes down somewhere so we can keep our students in the building,” she said, even if it’s only for flushing toilets and other nonpotable uses.
Water from any well meant for human consumption has to be tested, and the district is awaiting test results from Hall Fletcher, Dechant noted.
The initial idea for drilling wells for schools came after Mission Hospital drilled wells after Tropical Storm Helene, Dechant said.
Any expenditure at or above $90,000 has to be approved by the school board.
NO JOB TOO LARGE OR SMALL
— Greg Parlier X
DIG IN: Asheville City Schools is retreating from its idea of digging wells at each school to expedite reopening after Tropical Storm Helene. One well has already been dug, above, at Hall Fletcher Elementary. Photo by Pat Moran
Buncombe County Schools to reopen to students Oct. 25
Four weeks after Tropical Storm Helene ravaged Western North Carolina, the region’s largest school district is set to reopen to students on Friday, Oct. 25.
All 45 of the district’s schools now have nonpotable water, power and internet service, Buncombe County Schools (BCS) Superintendent Rob Jackson told the Board of Education at an emergency meeting Oct. 18.
“I am amazed at the work that’s been done in the last week. I can’t imagine being any more proud of the group of people that have worked to make this happen,” said board member Kim Plemmons
District schools will operate on a twohour delay from Friday, Oct. 25, through Friday, Nov. 1, partially to allow bus drivers to avoid transporting students in the dark. The district will return to regular school hours on Monday, Nov. 4, after daylight saving time ends on Sunday, Nov. 3. Thursday, Oct. 31, will no longer be an early-release day as planned at the beginning of the year.
BACK TO SCHOOL: The Buncombe County Schools district plans to open on a two-hour delay Friday, Oct. 25, after being closed for four weeks closed due to Tropical Storm Helene. Xpress file photo
Jackson asked teachers and all district staff, including bus drivers and nutrition workers, to return to work Wednesday, Oct. 23. If employees cannot return on that day based on personal circumstances, they should
reach out to their principal and the district will work with them on a caseby-case basis, Jackson said.
Two planning days without students will allow teachers to adjust their curriculum calendars and bus
drivers to learn new routes due to compromised and closed roads, Jackson noted. As always, the schools will provide free breakfast and lunch for all students, although Jackson acknowledged the menu will be different since many schools don’t have municipal drinking water.
BCS is leading the effort to bring bottled water to all area public schools, including Asheville City Schools and charters in Buncombe County, Jackson said. In BCS, 34,000 gallons of drinkable water are needed to supply the 36 schools that still don’t have potable water, Jackson said.
Board member Amy Churchill said she initially thought the district should wait to restart on Monday, Oct. 28, but acknowledged the value that a “no pressure” school day on Friday would have for students and staff that have been through so much in the aftermath of Helene.
— Greg Parlier X
Uprooted
BY GINA SMITH
Along with the countless homes and businesses washed away and damaged by Tropical Storm Helene, Western North Carolina’s farms took a brutal beating in the disaster. Confronted with the catastrophic loss of crops, infrastructure, markets — and even a resource as fundamental as topsoil — the local agriculture industry is doing its best to stay afloat after the floods.
Though it’s too early for a full assessment of the 13,500 farms in WNC’s storm-affected regions, a bird’s-eye view tells a story of vast devastation, says Andrea Ashby , director of public affairs for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
“[N.C.] Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler has flown over a number of areas that have been damaged, and he does anticipate there will be very major agricultural damage and losses,” says Ashby. “He said it is the worst hurricane damage he has ever seen as a lifelong North Carolinian.”
Ashby’s office is aware that farm fields near rivers were flooded and, in at least one area, the topsoil was eroded all the way to bedrock. She has received reports of nurseries, orchards, dairy farms and other operations either destroyed or with significant losses of products, equipment, fencing and other infrastructure.
The region’s supply of livestock feed and hay has also been decimated. “We anticipate there will be the need for hay and feed into the springtime,” says Ashby.
WATER, WIND AND MUD
Asheville-based nonprofit Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) is still compiling data about Helene’s impact on its network of about 850 Appalachian Grown-certified farms across Southern Appalachia, includ-
ing 23 WNC counties. But David Smiley, ASAP Local Food campaign program director, quickly ticks off a list of ways Helene’s flood waters, wind and landslides have disabled local farm businesses.
Farms tend to be located near rivers, streams and lakes for irrigation purposes and to allow access to
prime river-bottom soil, he points out. “Many of those water bodies reached historic flood levels, so many farms have just been completely wiped out or were severely, severely impacted,” he says.
As far as products go, there was the immediate loss of crops in flooded fields plus stored dairy, meat and other foods that went bad in refrigerators and freezers disconnected from power. But even growers whose harvests were spared are challenged to find markets for their items.
“We’re seeing a lot of parallels with the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Smiley. “So many Western North Carolina restaurants have closed down due to a lack of power and water, and that’s a huge market outlet for many farm businesses.”
Looking to the coming months, the destruction of certain common farm infrastructure items, such as “high tunnels” — long, plastic-covered greenhouses — will severely hobble farmers who rely on income from winter production.
“High tunnels were just obliterated pretty much across Western North Carolina,” says Smiley. “We’re creeping into that season where you need high tunnels to increase the temperature for crops so they can survive frost and grow through the winter, and that can be a big percentage of a farm’s business.”
The loss of fall leaf-season tourism also has long-term implications for the agriculture sector, he continues. “So many of our farms, especially in Henderson County, do massive u-pick operations, and it’s a really critical part of their business.”
GROUND-LEVEL LOSSES
Most farms in Henderson County — North Carolina’s largest apple-producing county — have been affected in some way by the disaster, says Rex
WEATHERING THE STORM: Black Mountain farmer Mary Carroll Dodd is pictured with her storm-damaged greenhouse. Destruction from wind, flooding and mudslides as well as market losses related to Tropical Storm Helene continue to impact WNC farmers. Photo by Cindy Kunst
“So many Western North Carolina restaurants have closed down due to a lack of power and water, and that’s a huge market outlet for many farm businesses.”
— David Smiley, ASAP
Local
Food campaign program director
McCall, president of the Blue Ridge Apple Growers Association.
Several local apple farms are starting to reopen to visitors, he says, especially along U.S. Route 64. But McCall’s family farm, Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard, has been unable to resume its usual fall u-pick activities, despite minimal crop losses, because its road is obstructed.
The family has pivoted to doing some off-site sales outside WNC and may extend its season into November and December to focus on holiday sales.
“In our part of the state, people are usually here this time of year looking at leaves, picking apples and visiting restaurants and hotels,” he says. “The economic impact for our area is just huge.”
Black Mountain farmer Mary Carroll Dodd shares McCall’s outlook on the loss of October agritourism. Dodd’s Red Scout Farm,
a certified organic, no-till vegetable and fruit operation, saw about 30% of its fields lost to flooding and had its greenhouse, fences, chicken coop and barn smashed by fallen trees.
Despite the overwhelming scale of destruction to WNC farms, she sees a glimmer of economic hope in the gradual reopening of local tailgate markets and restaurants. But Dodd remains deeply concerned about another issue her farm and others are facing: contamination or complete loss of topsoil.
“That’s one of the hardest things to lose because it’s something that people cultivate over such a long period of time to build up the soil biology and soil structure,” says Dodd, her voice breaking with emotion.
“When it washes away, you just can’t just replace it,” she continues. “You can rebuild a building, but you can’t just put out new soil like that.”
ASAP’s Smiley agrees that topsoil is possibly the biggest worry for farms that were flooded. “Healthy and productive topsoil is perhaps one of the greatest time and money investments for a farm,” he says. “For many farms, that was completely washed away, or with the toxins that were in some of the flood waters, it’s been replaced by soil you don’t know the health of.”
HELPFUL RESOURCES
On Oct. 8, Dodd attended the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action advocacy event at the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, D.C., to present White House and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials with stories she’d gathered from 10 storm-impacted WNC farmers.
“It was very emotional sharing all of the losses in our region,” she says. “However, I also feel like it was really important to share those stories so we can think creatively about solutions to provide safety nets for microfarms, both in urban and rural areas.”
In the short term, resources are becoming available to WNC farms through federal and state agencies and local organizations. North Carolina has activated its agriculture emergency response hotline for farmers with immediate needs, says Ashby. The state has also set up a nonemergency online disaster hay and livestock assistance portal to introduce farmers with emerging needs to donors with items to contribute.
The Buncombe County N.C. Cooperative Extension office has been providing hay, livestock feed, fencing materials and more to local growers and is encouraging impacted farmers to contact the 24-hour NC Farm Help Line at 844-325-3276.
The WNC Regional Livestock Center in Canton has been serving as a donation drop-off and distribution hub for farm needs such as feed, hay, fencing — even beekeeping supplies.
ASAP is accepting donations to support farmers and is curating documents on its website to connect growers with resources in three areas: production and recovery resources and technical assistance;
grants, loans and services; and newmarket outlets.
Services listed range from cold storage to free mental health care for farmers. Among the many disaster recovery grants on ASAP’s list is its own $500 immediate needs grant.
A similar opportunity from Asheville-based WNC Communities awards up to $10,000 to storm-damaged farm operations within the organization’s 20-county footprint, says WNC Communities Executive Director Jennifer Ferre. “I want farmers to just let us know what they need,” says Ferre. “We’ve raised nearly a million dollars in support.”
To assist farmers in completing their grant applications, WNC Communities is hosting support stations 10 a.m.-2 p.m. TuesdayFriday through Friday, Oct. 25, at its office at 594 Brevard Road as well as at the Buncombe, Henderson and Madison County Cooperative Extension offices.
Smiley says community members who want to help local farms beyond just buying WNC-grown products can do so directly through farm-specific GoFundMe campaigns and by donating to grower-support organizations like ASAP and WNC Communities. Donating to food-distribution nonprofits that source from local farmers, he notes, does double duty in providing income to farmers while also addressing hunger issues that will likely increase in the wake of the disaster.
Dodd says she believes WNC will continue to come together to develop creative solutions for its struggling farmers. “My hope is that we can see this precious farmland that’s left as the most valuable asset we have because if we don’t have farms, we are not able to feed our local communities,” she says.
North Carolina’s Agriculture Emergency Response hotline is 866645-9403. Post needs or donate via the N.C. Disaster hay and livestock assistance portal at avl.mx/e81.
To donate to ASAP and view its lists of resources, visit avl.mx/b0y. To donate to WNC Communities and learn more about its disaster grants, visit avl.mx/e82. Resources for apple growers and a list of Henderson County apple farms can be found at avl.mx/e84. X
FLOODED OUT: In the top photo, ASAP Appalachian Grown member Kevin Stump, co-owner of Stump Farms in Hendersonville, is pictured on Sept. 25 in his greenhouse. The bottom picture shows the same greenhouse on Oct. 14, more than two weeks after floodwaters destroyed the farm. Photos by Camilla Calnan
For this week’s issue, our staff has compiled a list of important information for readers to know in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene’s devastation. Please be aware that things are changing rapidly, and some of these listings may be out-of-date by the time you read this. If you know of any information that should be included in future issues, please email calendar@mountainx.com.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
Oktoberfest
This festival will feature German biers, a stein holding competition, pretzel toss and a costume contest. There will be a raffle to raise money for the River Arts District.
SA (10/26), 1pm, The Whale, 507 Haywood Rd
Mutual Aid Fest
There will be food, a kids tent, axe throwing, bonfires, fire spinners, a free store and more. All proceeds go to two families that lost both their homes and their businesses.
SA (10/26), noon, The Apocalypse Parlor, 21 Young Rd
Heavy Mountain Music & Beer Fest
Featuring an array of iconic artists and genre spanning acts, exclusive pours from the area’s finest breweries, and hair-raising visual installations to set the mood for the Southeast’s heaviest Halloween Party.
SA (10/26), 2pm, The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave
Black Mountain
HowlOWeen Pet
Parade & Costume Contest
Bring out your favorite furry friend in their most stylist Halloween costume for this contest.
SA (10/26), 3pm, Black Mountain Town Square
West Asheville Yoga Book Club
This book club is facilitated by Faye D’Avanza and Kim Drye and will feature the book When
Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön.
SU (10/27), 11:30am, West Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd
Eulogy Movie Night
Enjoy a 1996 slasher classic to kick off October. Special cocktail menu, popcorn and your favorite movie candy all available at the bar.
MO (10/28), 7:30pm, Eulogy Asheville, 10 Buxton Ave
A Divinely Lazrluvr
Halloween
Get ready to party like it’s 1985 during an unforgettable Halloween night with thrills, chills, and killer tunes. There will be a costume contest so dress to impress.
TH (10/31), 7pm, The Meadow at Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Hwy, Ste 200
Trunk or Treat
A free for all ages community event that will feature hot meals, a live DJ, a movie, candy, costumes, arts and crafts, face painting, pumpkin carving and more.
TH (10/31), 2pm, Target Asheville, 115 River Hills Rd
All Hallow’s Eve/ Samhain Purrrty
The cat lounge and shop will be open late with many family-friendly activities including a food truck, backyard bonfire, bobbing for apples, pumpkin carving contest, local vendors and more.
TH (10/31), 4pm, House of Black Cat Magic Co., 841 Haywood Rd
HELENE RESOURCE DIRECTORY
2nd Annual Boo Bash
A night of eerie excitement and hauntingly good fun with supernatural sounds of Sketoe’s Ghost. Dance the night away, sing your heart out and compete for the best costume in town.
TH (10/31), 6pm, The Main Event, 125 S. Main St, Hendersonville.
Halloween on Town Square
Enjoy free candy, toys and fun
Halloween items. Halloween costume donations will be accepted, contact recreation@tobm. org.
TH (10/31), 4pm, Black Mountain Town Square, 102 Montreat Rd
Treat Street
Carnival Trick & Treat with merchants, win fabulous prizes at the costume contest, play on inflatables, enjoy live music and dance.
MREs, food and bottled water are available. One case of water per family. Open till 7pm 211 S. French Broad Ave, Asheville
Beloved Asheville Donations are accepted. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 11am. Days and hours may vary. 32 Old Charlotte Hwy
Dssolvr
Distributing hot food, water, supplies. Monday through Friday, 10am.
63 N Lexington Ave
Poder Emma: El Mercadito
Providing food, diapers, water, first level medications and clothing. Open Wednesday through Friday, 1pm and Sunday, 12pm. 477 N. Louisiana Ave
ELECTION SEASON: Voters lined up outside UNCA Health & Counseling Center on the first day of early voting, Oct. 17. The site is one of 10 polling locations in Buncombe County. For information on where else to vote, as well as information on local races, visit avl.mx/e80. Early voting runs through Saturday, Nov. 2. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Photo by Thomas Calder
Linwood Crump
Shiloh Community Center
MREs, food and bottled water are available. One case of water per family. Open till 7pm 121 Shiloh Rd
Pack Square Park
Bring your own water container. 2 gallons per person/ day.
70 Court Plaza
12 Baskets Cafe
Food distribution and supplies intake. Open daily, 10am. 610 Haywood Rd
The Fresh Market
Distributing free bottled water. 944 Merrimon Ave
Rosettas
Free soup kitchen for the public.
68 N Lexington Ave
Harrah’s Cherokee Center
Front door is accepting small donations, 9am to 5pm.
87 Haywood St
Double Crown
A community-led distribution and intake location.
Open daily, 12pm to 5pm. 375 Haywood Rd
MANNA FoodBank Manna has set up a temporary donation and distribution site at WNC Farmers Market.
570 Brevard Rd
Fairview Elementary School
Buncombe County is distributing food, water, and supplies that will be available from noon until 4 p.m.
1355 Charlotte Highway, Fairview
Black Mountain
Ingles
Buncombe County is distributing food, water, and supplies that will be available from noon until 4 p.m.
550 NC-9, Black Mountain, 28711
Cane Middle Creek Middle
Buncombe County is distributing food, water, and supplies that will be available from noon until 4 p.m.
570 Lower Brush Creek Road, Fletcher
Woodland Baptist Church
Supplies available Monday through Friday, 8am. Donations
accepted Saturday, 9am and Sunday, 2pm.
545 Crabtree Rd, Waynesville
Jonathan Valley Elementary School
Supplies available Monday through Friday, 8am. Donations are accepted. 410 Hall Dr, Waynesville
Bethel Elementary School
Supplies available Monday through Friday. 8am. Donations are accepted.
4700 Old River Rd, Canton
Maggie Valley Pavilion
Supplies available Monday through Friday, 8am. Donations are accepted.
3987 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley
Reynolds Baptist Church
Supplies are available for pickup and distribution. Open daily, 9am.
520 Rose Hill Rd
Asheville YMCA
Distributing essential relief items to the public. Open daily, 10am.
30 Woodfin St, Asheville
Laurel Community Center
Distributing food, water and supplies.
4100 NC 212 Hwy, Marshall
Center Community Center
Food, supplies and water available.
Open daily, 8am. 1300 Grapevine Rd, Marshall
Ebbs Chapel Community Center
Food, supplies and water available. Days and hours vary.
281 Laurel Valley
Tranzmission Food
Pantry
Food items, nonfood supplies and water. Thursday through Saturday, 4pm.
Direct Message via Instagram for address.
Bounty and Soul
Latino
Food and supplies in Swannanoa. Open at 1pm. 216 Whitson Ave, Swannanoa
Swannanoa Library
Food and supplies in Swannanoa. Open at 1pm.
101 W Charleston Ave, Swannanoa
Bee Tree
Food and supplies in Swannanoa. Open at 2:30pm. 372 Tree Rd, Swannanoa
East Haven
Food and supplies in Swannanoa. Open at 4:45pm. 2244 US-70, Swannanoa
ANIMALS & PET SUPPLIES/ CARE
Asheville Veterinary Associates
Distributing dog food, cat food, litter, water and farm animal food.
50 New Leicester Highway.
Heart of the Foothills Animal Rescue
Providing essential pet supplies with the help of Best Friends Animal Society. Wednesday through Saturday, 11am.
380 US-221, Rutherfordton
Charlie’s Angels animal rescue
Distributing pet food. Open daily, 10am.
5526 Hendersonville Rd., Fletcher
Edneyville Elementary
Offering shelter for pets.
2875 Pace Rd
Yancey County Humane Society
Providing essential pet supplies with the help of Best Friends Animal Society. Open daily, 9am.
211 Kind Hearts Wy, Burnsville
Mitchell County
Animal Rescue
Dog and cat food available. Open Monday through Friday, 11am.
2492 Hwy 19E, Spruce Pine
First Baptist Church
Swannanoa
Offering dog and cat food, cat litter and veterinary care.
503 Park St
Grovemont Park
Offering dog and cat supplies as well as veterinary care.
251 Stonewall Ave, Swannonoa
Ingles Black Mountain
Distributing dog and cat food.
550 NC-9, Black Mountain
MedVet Asheville
An emergency and specialty veterinary hospital. Open daily, 7am.
677 Brevard Rd
Patton Ave Pets
Pet supplies for sale.
1388 Patton Ave
Wilson Farms
Site is accepting livestock supply donations.
1953 New House Road, Shelby
Heritage Farm Supply
No storage capacity. Drop-off/pick-up only.
1320 Jupiter Road, Weaverville
Upper Mountain Research Station
Site is accepting livestock supply donations.
8004 NC Highway 88 E, Laurel Springs
WNC Livestock Center
Site is accepting livestock supply donations.
474 Stock Drive, Canton
Mills River Research Station
Open for livestock supply donations
Monday through Friday, 8am. 455 Research Drive, Mills River
McDowell County Agriculture Center
Open for livestock supply donations
Monday through Friday, 9am and for distribution, 2pm.
188 Ag Services Dr, Marion
Beam FarmsResource Center
Open 24/4 as needed.
402 Clarence Henson Rd, Rutherfordton
Tryon International Indoor Complex
Open daily, 10am. 2676 John Shehan Rd, Mill Spring
Pisgah Brewing Co
Pet supplies will be distributed. Open Friday through Sunday, 2pm and Thursday, 4pm. 2948 US-70 in Black Mountain
PUBLIC SHOWER & LAUNDRY LOCATIONS
Alpha Fitness
Open to non-members for showers. Days vary, 9am. 2570 Asheville Hwy
AC Reynolds High School
Comfort care center with showers, laundy, charging stations and counseling services. Open 7am to 7pm. 1 Rocket Dr
AB Tech
Bring your own towel. No hot water available. Open 7am to 7pm. Between Coleman Building and McDowell House.
AG Center
Hot showers open to the public. Bring your own towel and shower products. 765 Boylston Hwy, Fletcher
Calvary Road Church, 2701 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley
Weaverville Laundromat
Open 24 hours. Coin only.
1 Central Ave
J & D Laundromat
ATM on site. Days vary, open 7am. 1899 Brevard Rd, Arden
Express Laundry
Open daily, 6am. 5838 Asheville Hwy, Hendersonville
Camp Grier
Open daily, 10am and 4pm. 985 Camp Grier Rd, Old Fort
First Baptist Church Check for hours and times.
63 N Main St, Weaverville
Ingles Black Mountain Hours and times vary. 550 NC-9
Reuter Family Branch YMCA
Open daily, 10am. 3 Town Square Blvd
Walmart Supercenter: Arden Free showers and laundry services. Open daily, 7am. 60 Airport Rd
West Asheville Truist Bank
Free mobile showers, laundry facilities and bathrooms.
Bring your own towel and flip flops. Open daily, 11am. 1343 Parkwood Rd
Walmart Supercenter: Asheville Free showers and laundry services. Open daily, 7am. 1636 Hendersonville Rd
Walmart Supercenter: Weaverville Free showers and laundry services. Open daily, 7am.
25 Northridge Commons Pkwy
Trinity Baptist Church
Hot showers and a mobile laundry service on campus. Open daily, 10am. 216 Shelburne Rd
Corpening Memorial YMCA
Free public showers with WiFi and charging. Open daily, 2pm.
348 Grace Corpening Dr, Marion
Maple Ridge Baptist Church Public showers, laundry and bathrooms. Open Monday through Wednesday, 10am.
133 Medford Branch Rd, Candler
Ingles: Swannanoa Hot showers. Open 7am.
2299 US-70, Swannanoa
BATHROOM LOCATIONS
The Flat Iron Hotel
Porta Potties for public use in front of the Flat Iron Hotel. 20 Battery Park Ave
Breakout Games
Porta Potties for public use in front of Breakout Games and the Restoration.
60 Patton Ave
Asheville Pinball Museum
Porta Potties for public use across from Harrah’s Cherokee Center. Page Avenue
Whole Foods
Market
Porta Potties and handwashing stations.
1856 Hendersonville Rd
Lunch & Learn
KNOWLEDGE IS ON THE MENU THURSDAY, NOV. 21ST FROM 11-1 PM
Rethinking retirement has never been easier. Come enjoy a presentation about Givens Gerber Park: a more affordable rental retirement option (55+) and enjoy lunch on us. Monthly fees are all-inclusive based on income. RSVP required.
The Orange Peel Porta Potties are stationed.
101 Biltmore Ave
Corpening Memorial YMCA Bathrooms are available. Open daily, 2pm.
348 Grace Corpening Dr, Marion
Walgreens: Merrimon Porta Potties and handwashing station. Open daily, 9am.
841 Merrimon Ave
Reuter Family
YMCA
Bathrooms are available. Open daily, 10am.
3 Town Square Blvd
Publix Super Market: Weaverville
Bathroom trailer by Wells Fargo. Open daily, 7am.
165 Weaver Blvd, Weaverville
Lowe’s Home Improvement Porta Potties and handwashing stations. Open Monday through Saturday,
6am and Sunday, 8am.
95 Smokey Park Hwy
Walgreens: Candler
Porta Potties and handwashing stations. Open daily, 9am.
41 Westridge Market Pl, Candler
Trust Bank: West Asheville Bathrooms, showers and laundry facilities. Open daily, 11am.
1342 Parkwood Rd
Asheville City Preschool Emergency Food Closet 4 Porta Potties and 2 handwashing stations by the main entrance.
441 Haywood Rd Grassroots Aid Partnership Bathrooms on Haywood Road across from the West Asheville Fire Station. 959 Haywood Rd
Maple Ridge Baptist Church Public showers, laundry and bathrooms. Open
Monday through Wednesday, 10am. 133 Medford Branch Rd, Candler
First United Methodist Church
Bathrooms and showers are available. Open daily, 10am.
566 S Haywood St, Waynesville
Asheville Farmstead School Public bathroom and public shower. Open daily, 10am. 218 Morgan Cove Rd, Candler
Woodfin Elementary School Porta Potties available. Open daily, 10am. 216 Shelburne Rd
The Car Park Porta Potty next to Downtown Books & News.
79 N Lexington Ave
Chick-fil-A: Merrimon Porta Potty stationed for patrons. 170 Merrimon Ave
The Orange Peel Porta potties are stationed behind The Orange Peel. Open to the public. Hours and time vary. 101 Biltmore Ave
PUBLIC SHELTER LOCATIONS
BUNCOMBE COUNTY
First Baptist Church 503 park St., Swannanoa WNC Agriculture Center
1301 Fanning Bridge Rd, Asheville NC
AB Tech: General Shelter 16 Fernihurst Dr Asheville, NC 28801
Veterans Restoration Quarters 1329 Tunnel Rd
HENDERSON COUNTY
Edneyville Elementary This shelter has bathroom facilities
and serves hot meals.
2875 Pace Rd, Hendersonville Athletics & Activity Center
708 S. Grove St, Hendersonville
HAYWOOD COUNTY
Haywood County Government Armory
285 Armory Dr, Clyde
MADISON COUNTY
Madison County Wellness Center 5738 US 25-70 Hwy, Marshall
MCDOWELL COUNTY
YMCA
348 Grace Corpenin Dr, Marion
PUBLIC MEDICAL LOCATIONS
A-B Tech On site medical help. 10 Genevieve Circle, Asheville
Old Gold’s Gym On site medical help. 1815 Hendersonville Rd, Asheville
Double Crown First aid medical tent is set up. Also a supplies distribution and intake location.
Open daily, 12pm to 5pm.
375 Haywood Rd
Mobile Medical Urgent Care Free medical care and clinic.
12 Florida Ave, Black Mountain Fast Med Urgent care and clinic with telehealth Available.
Open Monday through Sunday, 9am.
511 Smokey Park Hwy Fast Med Urgent care and clinic with telehealth Available.
Open Monday through Sunday, 9am. 835 Spartanburg Hwy, Hendersonville
Fast Med Urgent care and clinic with telehealth Available.
Open Monday through Sunday, 9am. 160 Hendersonville Rd
Pardee Hospital Pardee Hospital and the emergency department are open 24/7 for emergent medical care.
800 N. Justice St, Hendersonville
Pardee Blue MD: Asheville Hwy Pardee Hospital and the emergency department are open 24/7 for emergent medical care.
1409 Asheville Hwy, Brevard
Pardee Blue MD Pardee Hospital and the emergency department are open 24/7 for emergent medical care.
2775 Hendersonville Rd
Pardee Urgent Care: Fletcher Pardee Hospital and the emergency department are open 24/7 for emergent medical care.
2695 Hendersonville Rd. Arden
Pardee Urgent Care: Mills River Pardee Hospital and the emergency department are open 24/7 for emergent medical care.
3334 Boylston Hwy, Mills River
Pardee Urgent Care: Pisgah Dr. Pardee Hospital and the emergency department are open 24/7 for emergent medical care.
1824 Pisgah Dr, Hendersonville
Pardee Urgent Care: Hendersonville Pardee Hospital and the emergency department are open 24/7 for
emergent medical care.
212 Thompson St, Hendersonville Pardee BlueMD
Pardee Hospital and the emergency department are open 24/7 for emergent medical care.
2695 Hendersonville Rd, Arden Valley Hope Church: Medical Clinic
There’s a team of medics available to help with any health concerns. Monday through Friday, 9am.
115 Rockale Ave, Swannanoa
PHARMACY LOCATIONS
BUNCOMBE COUNTY
Ingles Markets Inc
Days and hours
vary. Contact (828)
298-3514. 1141 Tunnel Rd
Blue Ridge LTC Pharmacy
Days and hours vary. Contact (828)
298-7600.
1070 Tunnel Rd
Ingles Markets Inc
Days and hours vary. Contact (828) 667-9306.
151 Smokey Park Hwy
Ingles Markets Inc
Days and hours vary. Contact (828) 254-3496.
575 New Leicester Hwy
CVS Pharmacy
Days and hours vary. Contact (828) 252-2119.
320 New Leicester Hwy
Sam’s East, Inc.
Days and hours vary. Contact (828) 251-0372
645 Patton Avenue
CVS Pharmacy
Days and hours vary. Contact (828) 667-5457.
505 Smokey Park Hwy
Ingles Markets Inc
Days and hours vary. Contact (828) 665-0787.
863 Brevard Rd
Walgreen Co Days and hours vary. Contact (828) 771-0512.
578 New Leicester Hwy
Walgreen Co
Days and hours vary. Contact (828) 236-1519. 1124 Patton Ave
ENKA/CANDLER
Mahec Pharmacy
Open Monday through Friday, 8am.
25 Westridge Pl, Candler
HOT MEALS
Papa Johns: Fairview
Providing free pizzas while supplies last. Open daily, 12pm. 800 Fairview Rd
Bears BBQ Smokehouse
Open daily, 12pm. 135 Coxe Ave
Rosetta’s Kitchen & The Buchi Bar
Serving free vegetarian and vegan meals. Open daily, 12pm.
68 N Lexington Ave
Greenhill Store
Open daily, 12pm. 2751 US Hwy, 64/74A, Rutherfordton
Papa Johns: Merrimon
Papa John’s mobile kitchen will be providing free pizzas while supplies last.
Open daily, 11am. 825 Merrimon Ave
MannaFood Bank
Open daily, 12pm. 570 Brevard Rd
West Asheville
Ingles
Open daily, 3pm. 669 Haywood Rd
Tryon Equestrian Center
Open daily, 12pm. 4066 Pea Ridge Rd, Mill Spring
Roseland Community Center
Open daily, 12pm. 56 Peake St, Tryon
Wesley Grant Community Center
Open daily, 12pm. 285 Livingston St.
Black Mountain
Ingles
Open daily, 12pm. 550 NC-9, Black Mountain
Shiloh Community Center
Open daily 12pm. 121 Shiloh Rd
Grovemont Park
Open daily, 12pm. 251 Stonewall Ave, Swannonoa
Jukebox Junction
Open daily, 12pm. 3606 Pigeon Rd, Canton
Nesbitt Chapel
Open daily, 3pm. 12 Nesbitt Chapel Rd
Regina’s Westside
Hot meals till supplies run out. Days and hours vary. 1400 Patton Ave
Shanghai Dumpling House
Hot meals till supplies run out. Open daily, 12pm. 37 Biltmore Ave
12 Bones Smokehouse: South Asheville
Serving food for paying patrons. Open daily, 11am. 2350 Hendersonville Rd, Arden
Asheville Pizza: South Asheville
Serving food for paying patrons. Open daily, 3pm. 1850 Hendersonville Rd, Arden
Biscuit Head South: South Asheville
Serving food for paying patrons.
Open daily, 8am. 1994 Hendersonville Rd
Luella’s Bar-B-Que: South Asheville
Serving food for paying patrons. Open daily, 11am. 33 Town Square Blvd
Nine Mile Biltmore Park
Serving food for paying patrons. Open daily, 4pm. 33 Town Square Blvd
Voodoo Brewing
Serving food for paying patrons. Open daily, 12pm. 3578 Sweeten Creek Rd, Arden
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Volunteers Needed in Burnsville
The town of Burnsville needs helping hands. Volunteers can just show up at the address during the day to help. 52 Bald Creek School Rd, Burnsville
Volunteers Needed in Burnsville
Volunteers are needed to help sort clothing donations. Don’t have to sign up, just show up to Roses Discount
Store. Contact Tracie for any questions at (704) 297 5381.
120 Reservoir Rd, Burnsville
Volunteers Needed in Burnsville Helpers are needed to sort through clothing that will be donated to Burnsville School. 395 Burnsville Rd
World Central Kitchen
Still needs volunteers to help with cooking and other misc tasks. Register at avl.mx/ e7u.
West Yancey Fire Department
Volunteers are needed to help organize their distribution center and help folks with supply distribution. Come out as early as 8:30am.
6557 US-19, Burnsville
United Way of Asheville Buncombe
Find volunteer opportunities via avl.mx/e7x
ABBCM Warehouse
Volunteers are needed to help unload trucks, sort donations and assist with distributions of supplies. Monday through Friday, 9am. Contact (828) 259-5300 for more info.
1845 Brevard Rd
All Hands & Hearts
Looking for volunteers to help with debris removal and muck assistance. They will be operating for months. Contact (828) 712-6928.
Carrier Park
Cleanup Effort
Neighbors coming together to clean up their neighborhood. Must wear Personal Protective Equipment, boots and sling sleeves/ pants. Daily cleanup, 9:30am.
220 Amboy Rd
St. James Church Volunteers are needed to help with on-site supply distribution, starting at 1pm.
44 Hildebrand St
Given Estates
Seeking volunteers to ensure residents’ safety and well-being. To learn more or sign up, call us at
(828) 274-4800 or email: heleneinfo@ givensestates.org.
2360 Sweeten Creek Rd
Beloved Asheville
Help sort/organize goods, deliver supplies, and other miscellaneous work. Daily, 9:30am.
32 Old Charlotte Hwy
BUSINESS RE-OPENINGS
Grove Arcade
Retail shopping center and historic landmark has re-opened. Open daily, 10am.
1 Page Ave
Asheville Museum of Science
Open for normal business hours. Monday through Saturday, 10am, closed on Sunday.
The Grey Eagle Live music returns to The Grey Eagle.
185 Clingman Ave
One World West Live music returns to One World West.
520 Haywood Rd
Cinemark Bistro at The Carolina Asheville
Movie theater returns. Visit avl.mx/ e83 to see movie options and times.
1640 Hendersonville Rd
Voodoo Brewing Brewery and their food options return.
3578 Sweeten Creek Rd, Arden Highland Brewing Co. Craft brewery and their live music returns.
12 Old Charlotte Hwy, Ste 200
The Village Porch Re-opening with a limited menu.
51 N Merrimon Ave
The Barksdale Hot dogs and cocktails are back. Open daily, 1pm to 11pm till curfew is lifted.
42 Banks Ave
Shakey’s Popular queer bar reopens. Open daily, 4pm to 10pm till curfew is lifted.
38 N French Broad Ave
Sly Grog Lounge Asheville’s weirdest indoor-outdoor event space returns. Hours and shows vary.
271 Haywood St
Sierra Nevada Brewery and amphitheater re-open. Open daily, 11am.
100 Sierra Nevada Way, Fletcher
Old Europe Pastries Old-world coffee shop is open. 18 Broadway St
Shiloh & Gaines
Friendly neighborhood bar has opened its doors.
700 Hendersonville Rd
The Orange Peel Visit avl.mx/e8a for shows and times.
101 Biltmore Ave
Lazoom Room
Regular bar hours will be Tuesday through Saturday, 3pm to 9pm until further notice.
76 Biltmore Ave
Well Played Board games and a limited menu of sandwiches, snacks and desserts. Open Thursday through Sunday, 9am.
162 Coxe Ave
The River Arts District Brewing Company Brewery, live music and food on site.
13 Mystery St
The Whale: A Craft Beer Collective Craft brewery reopens.
507 Haywood Rd, St 10
Jettie Raes Walk-ins only with a limited menu. Open, 5pm.
143 Charlotte St
Vinnie’s
Enjoy a limited menu. Open, 4pm. 641 Merrimon Ave
Dssolvr
Will be open Thursday through Sunday, 3pm.
63 N Lexington Ave West Asheville Yoga
Open Monday through Friday, 9am, 10:30am and 5:30pm. Saturday and Sunday, 10am. 602 Haywood Rd
Eulogy
Live music returns. Visit avl.mx/d47 for shows and times.
10 Buxton Ave
Oklawaha Brewing Co. Brewery and live music returns.
147 1st Ave E, Hendersonville
Women BUSINESS IN ISSUE
A focus on businesses owned, run or otherwise indebted to the contributions of the strong women of our community.
Publishes Nov. 6
Contact us to reserve your ad space! advertise@ mountainx.com
WELLNESS
Helping hands
BY KATIE MYERS, BLUE RIDGE PUBLIC RADIO
news@bpr.org
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published Oct. 15 online at mountainx.com.
Disabled people are among the most vulnerable populations in a disaster. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, wheelchair users were left behind in evacuations.
In the initial days after Tropical Storm Helene impacted Western North Carolina, many people were unable to refrigerate their insulin or charge their oxygen tanks or couldn’t hike out or use chainsaws as others did to free themselves from their homes. Even in the relatively well-resourced urban environment of Asheville for the past two weeks, many elderly and disabled people have been living without consistent access to power and water, a serious problem that is only now beginning to fade as nonpotable water is trickling slowly back through the system, house by house.
Every day since Helene, volunteers with Asheville’s Flush Brigade gather at the parking lot of the Gold’s Gym on Fairview Road, disperse buckets and climb into water tank-laden trucks to check in on different apartment complexes in the city.
Some of them are filling water in massive totes from a group called Flush AVL, which operates out of Highland Brewing.
“We are focusing on low-income, high-density areas that cannot evacuate, don’t have the means to get
After Helene, disabled folks and seniors still vulnerable and in need of water in WNC
water for flushing their toilets to, you know, older communities, all the people who could get really sick and die if we don’t maintain some level of sanitation,” said Teresa, a volunteer with Flush AVL.
In Aston Tower, an 11-story public housing complex, volunteers hauled buckets over dirty floors and under dim lights, crowding together into elevators. There, people needed help flushing almost every day.
Volunteers, some of whom were nurses, expressed concern that the situation could breed diseases like dysentery. One described serious toilet overflow in multiple apartments. Another vomited from the smell.
Seniors, who are more likely to have chronic illnesses and medical devices, are also at risk in a disaster. At Arrowhead Apartments, a privately owned Asheville retirement home, generators were running some hallway lights, but otherwise the power was out as of this past Wednesday. Water pressure has improved, allowing residents access to nonpotable water, but it remains brown, unfit for dishwashing or showering.
Some, like Annie Harris, haven’t had enough water pressure to flush, and can’t haul it up from the donated tanks themselves.
“I can’t carry a big bucket,” she said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has resources for disabled disaster survivors, though reduction in related staffing in the agency has prompted criticism. Sherman Gillums Jr ., FEMA’s disability coordinator, is currently on the ground in Western North Carolina, trying to connect disabled disaster survivors with resources for their water, food and medical needs. He helps states, counties and cities think through their plans to resolve these problems.
“First of all, who do you have at the table informing you about what the needs will be?” Gillum said.
“And then we can move through all the … predictable areas of inequity. Communication. How are people getting updates? How do they find out about where they get water? Do we have enough people? Do we have enough sign language interpreters going out canvassing the neighborhood to make sure that people can effectively communicate their needs during the application process, so on and so forth?”
There are special provisions for disabled people within FEMA. Gillum says FEMA “pays for things like over the counter drugs, maybe somebody needs medication, access to water, or certain foods, special diets, to get through that first couple of weeks.”
People could also be eligible for rental assistance or repairing a home to a point of greater accessibility. More information from FEMA on assistance for survivors can be found at avl.mx/e8c.
To request help from Flush AVL to a high-density residential area, call 828-407-0216 or email flushavl@ gmail.com. X
AFTERMATH: A person carries bags of fresh water after filling up from a tanker at a distribution site in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Asheville.
Photo courtesy of BPR
FEMA DEBRIS REMOVAL GUIDELINES for Private Residential Properties
• City of Asheville regular curbside waste collection customers should download the AVL Collects app or sign up for sanitation alerts here: ashevillenc.gov/AVLcollects
• NO construction debris, concrete, or other bulky or hazardous items in carts.
• Roadway debris collection has begun in areas with critical infrastructure throughout the city and county.
• Do not block roadway. Ensure access for large trucks and emergency vehicles. There will be more than one pass for debris collection, so you don’t have to get it all out at once.
• The community can begin to place debris to the curb in the right of way.
• Debris should be SEPARATED at the curb according to the diagram.
• For more info, visit https://www.ashevillenc.gov/helene/debrisremoval/
Have a professional inspect your damaged property before attempting to clean up or repair any damage.
Wear protective gear and exercise caution during cleanup.
Check out FEMA safety guidelines for PPE and personal safety while cleaning up.
ARTS & CULTURE
‘Life support’
BY JUSTIN M c GUIRE
After a summer of sluggish sales, merchants in downtown Saluda were hoping to see tourists flock to town for leaf season. Fall, after all, is usually the busiest time of the year for the small city’s restaurants, outdoor businesses, specialty shops and art galleries.
But when Tropical Storm Helene struck Western North Carolina on Sept. 27, those hopes were dashed. As word of the devastation spread and Gov. Roy Cooper urged people to stay away from the region, cancellations started pouring in to the Orchard Inn, the Saluda Inn and other places.
“October’s the best month of the year for our businesses, and that’s gone,” says Lynn Casey, executive director of the Saluda Downtown Foundation. “Our Airbnbs should be full, every restaurant should be overflowing with people waiting in lines. It may be as bad in November and December, too. We just don’t know.”
Saluda is not the only WNC town facing uncertainty. Hendersonville and Brevard are among many other local communities that rely on fall tourism to fuel their economies. Business owners in the three cities know they were fortunate their downtowns were largely spared the physical damage that wreaked havoc in communities like Chimney Rock and Marshall. But they also know they are facing some tough challenges.
“If a business owner doesn’t have concerns, then they’re probably not doing it right,” says Mark Pavao, who, along with his wife, Kristen Pavao, owns Black Bear Coffee Co. locations in downtown Hendersonville and Fletcher. “Our business is our
EXCAVATING EXPERIENCE: A few days after a mudslide damaged Green River BBQ in Saluda, volunteers showed up to help dig out the restaurant. Photo courtesy of Thomas Haas
life support for our family, so there is a concern. However, we made it through COVID, and we’re going to make it through this too.”
The key, say business owners, will be community support. Nonprofit groups in Saluda and Brevard have already implemented grant programs to help small businesses weather the storm, while Hendersonville hopes to do something similar. It also will be important for residents to provide a steady flow of customers to establishments that normally would
be packed with tourists this time of year.
“We hope that we can encourage shopping by our locals because I think that we have an opportunity to play a critical role in helping,” says Nicole Bentley, executive director of Heart of Brevard, a nonprofit that promotes downtown economic activity. “I’m all about putting your money where your heart is.”
CASH INFUSION
While buildings in downtown Saluda emerged mostly unscathed from Helene, there was one notable exception. Green River BBQ, an institution since 1984, was badly damaged.
Trees fell on the roof and hit the exhaust hood for the kitchen, creating a hole that allowed rain to come through. Additionally, a mudslide on the hill behind the building knocked out the back wall and filled the restaurant with mud. The mudslide also damaged two sheds, a propane tank and a dumpster.
“Everyone in town was afraid that they would not come back after this,” Casey says.
But any thoughts of closing quickly evaporated when owners Thomas and Bri Haas saw the outpouring of community support for the beloved restaurant. A few days after the storm, supporters showed up with an excavator and a dump truck to start digging out. The original owner created a GoFundMe fundraiser with the goal of $30,000. People bought T-shirts, stickers and tap handles to offer financial support.
“While it’s only been ours for less than a year, it’s been the community’s for four decades,” says Thomas Haas, who bought Green River BBQ in January. “Everybody in town has a connection to it, whether it was their first job during high school or where they went after football games or where they went on a date. We owe it to everybody and ourselves to be open.”
Repairs will include replacing the back wall, roof, exhaust hood and dining room floor, Haas says. Additionally, the restaurant will have to build a retaining wall on the hill to avoid future mudslides. His goal is to reopen in December.
Meanwhile, the Saluda Downtown Foundation launched the Saluda Disaster Recovery Grant. In the first few weeks after Helene, the foundation contributed $10,000 to the fund and raised an additional $20,000. The fund is meant to give businesses an infusion of cash to make up for inventory loss, property damage and lost sales for the period of Sept. 26-Oct. 11.
Grants ranging from $250 to $5,000 have been distributed to about a dozen grateful businesses, Casey says. “I handed somebody a check for $250, and they acted like it was a million dollars because they just weren’t expecting it.”
Some business owners, though, have told Casey they don’t need the grants.
“A lot have said, ’Just give whatever money you get to the barbecue. They’re in bad shape.’”
OPEN FOR TOURISTS?
Within a week or so of Helene, many restaurants, breweries and shops in downtown Hendersonville had reopened. The city was even able to hold its monthly Rhythm & Brews concert series on Oct. 17.
But officials know things will hardly be business as usual for the foreseeable future.
For one thing, several businesses outside downtown suffered significant flood damage and are still closed. And no one knows for sure when tourists will feel comfortable returning to Henderson County’s popular apple orchards and other nearby attractions.
“We’re in the early phases of figuring out what the next month will look like and what the next six months and 12 months will look like in terms of tourism,” says Jamie Carpenter, downtown manager for the City of Hendersonville.
Like Saluda, downtown Hendersonville was counting on an October boost to help make up for slow summer sales. Carpenter thinks at least some of the tourist season can be salvaged.
“We’re fortunate right now to be accessible on Interstate 26 and Highway 25 from the upstate of South Carolina and from the Charlotte area,” she explains. “If people travel here smartly and respectfully, I think our downtown will be ready to see them, and we’ll definitely appreciate their support after this.”
In the meantime, money raised from the Oct. 17 Rhythm & Brews concert will be used to help struggling businesses. And Carpenter is working with the nonprofit Friends of Downtown Hendersonville to try to develop a grant program similar to the ones in Saluda and Brevard.
The Pavaos reopened the Hendersonville location of Black Bear Coffee Co. on Oct. 3. The Fletcher location, without power and water, remained closed until Oct. 14.
Mark Pavao says business owners he has talked to are more concerned at the moment with the well-being of their neighbors than they are about lost revenue. And he says he is optimistic that establishments will find a way to survive.
“It’s just how we pivot our thoughts about what October looks like, what the slow season looks like. Maybe we can do more [business] than we were planning on doing in November and December. It’s going to be rough, sure, but I’m not particularly nervous that we’re going to have to close the doors.”
’MUCH-NEEDED NORMALCY’
In 2020, Heart of Brevard and other nonprofits launched the Transylvania Tomorrow Small Business Emergency Relief Fund to help support Transylvania County establishments affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund raised and distributed $250,000 to more than 100 businesses and won an
TRANSYLVANIA TRADITION: Brevard will host a streamlined version of its annual Halloweenfest on Saturday, Oct. 26. “We felt that it was important for us to move forward with this,” says Nicole Bentley, executive director of Heart of Brevard. Photo of last year’s event courtesy of Heart of Brevard
N.C. Department of Commerce Best Economic Recovery Initiative Award.
But Transylvania Tomorrow had been dormant for several years when Helene hit.
“We woke up [after the storm], and there are folks milling about downtown without cell service,” Heart of Brevard’s Bentley recalls. “We knew
this was our opportunity to get this fund going again.”
The group hopes to raise $500,000 to award grants to small brick-andmortar businesses in the county. The grants can be used to address a variety of needs, including physical repairs or improvements, employee retention, business strategy and
development, promotions and establishing online platforms.
Plans are to keep Transylvania Tomorrow going permanently this time.
The primary fundraiser for the program will be a benefit concert held in conjunction with Brevard’s annual Halloweenfest downtown on Saturday, Oct. 26. The concert will feature local acts as well as the Travis Book Band and headliners Steep Canyon Rangers.
Because volunteers are needed for more important tasks in the region right now, the streamlined Halloweenfest will not offer some of its usual events, like the costume contest, the pet parade and bobbing for apples.
“We’re Transylvania County, so Halloweenfest is our longest-running event,” Bentley says. “We certainly wanted to make sure that we strike the right tone. We acknowledge everything that’s going on with recovery efforts, but we also want to provide a space for our community to come together and support one another and enjoy a little bit of Halloween spirit — and maybe have a little bit of much-needed normalcy.”
Helicopters and hot meals
Restaurateur Jamie McDonald partners with World Central Kitchen on the South Slope
BY GINA SMITH
Amid the destruction and desolation left behind by Tropical Storm Helene, a spot on the South Slope has emerged as a hive of positive activity. It even has a bit of a festival feel.
Just a day after the storm passed, Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ on Coxe Avenue reopened — not as a restaurant, but as a hub for World Central Kitchen (WCK), celebrity chef José Andres’ international humanitarian meal distribution organization.
Around tents and folding tables lining the street in front of Bear’s, swarms of volunteers in black WCK T-shirts mill about on various missions, while vehicles bearing the organization’s frying pan logo come and go, picking up and taking away large, insulated crates
of meals. Overhead, a helicopter hovers, ready to land on the temporary helipad behind the restaurant to carry meals to hard-to-reach rural communities.
On the sidewalk near Bear’s and the Funkatorium, dozens of people line up for black to-go boxes of free, hot food and bottled water. Many congregate at tables under canopies to eat together, sharing news and stories, as a local band plays on a small stage nearby.
Though several Asheville restaurants — C ú rate, Copper Crown, Botiwalla, Chai Pani, Rhubarb and others— have worked with WCK to prepare meals, Bear’s is serving as the city’s downtown hub for both preparation and distribution. Bear’s co-owner Jamie McDonald took a short break from the hubbub on an afternoon in early October to chat with Xpress about his restaurant’s role in the operation.
Mountain Xpress: How did Bear’s Smokehouse become a site for World Central Kitchen?
Jamie McDonald: I started working with World Central Kitchen in my free time when the war in Ukraine started. I volunteered with them there, and since then, I’ve been in Turkey with them after the earthquakes, with them after the earthquake in Morocco and after the earthquake in Acapulco. So I knew them. They contacted me as soon as this happened and said, “Hey, we know you have a restaurant there. How capable is it to support the operations?”
You’re delivering meals throughout the area from a helicopter pad behind your restaurant?
Yeah. The first day that showed up, the staff was like, “What is going on?” But it’s great. Today we’ll pump out like 25,000 meals or so from this location. It starts early, but we have a good crew, and thankfully we’re blessed with such a great local population. We’ve been inundated with just people wanting to help.
How many people do you have volunteering each day at Bear’s?
If I had to estimate, I’d say 80-100 a day between distribution and helping us cook and helping us package. It’s a huge operation.
Do you know how long you and Bear’s Smokehouse will be doing this?
MEAL CENTRAL: Jamie McDonald, co-owner of Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ on the South Slope, invited World Central Kitchen to use the restaurant to prepare and distribute 25,000 meals a day. Photo by Thomas Calder
I figure it’s going to last at least three weeks, but it all depends on when water comes back and infrastructure starts getting back in place. Then, usually, from a World Central Kitchen standpoint, they start to pull back because people can start supporting themselves.
How does it feel to be working with World Central Kitchen right here in Asheville?
Like I said, I’ve traveled all around the world with them doing this. I never would have thought in a million years I’d be doing this at home. It’s very surreal.
Though Bear’s has been so busy with its World Central Kitchen work, the business has not been operating since the storm due to lack of water. Have you thought about what’s next for the restaurant?
Yeah, that’s a whole other conversation. But for now, it’s just take it a day at a time, help as many people as you can. And I figure, it’s karma: You do good things for others, good things will happen. A lot of people down here are going to need it; it’s going to be a long recovery for the area. X
Capturing the performance
BY BILL KOPP
Editor’s note: This article was written prior to Tropical Storm Helene.
In early August, Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters released their latest album, The Ones That Stay. After a high-profile slot at the AVLFest, the Asheville group was off to tour the United Kingdom, their fourth tour there, but the first since the pandemic. With that tour concluded, for now Platt is settling back into a quieter routine, focused more on home, family — and more songwriting.
That straightforward, emotionally resonant songwriting is at the heart of The Ones That Stay. The immediacy of Platt’s lyrics is well served by uncluttered yet appealing arrangements featuring bassist Rick Cooper, Evan Martin on drums, pedal steel player Matt Smith and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Williams. To capture that blend, the group employed an old-fashioned method that has fallen out of widespread use.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
One virtue of modern recording technology is the ability to record each instrumental and vocal part individually, piecing the parts together into a seamless whole. But something can be lost in the process; the end product risks taking on a sterile, too-polished quality that can detract from its authenticity.
With that in mind, for The Ones That Stay, singer, songwriter and guitarist Platt made the decision to track “live” in the studio. Working with co-producers Scott McMicken and Greg Cartwright, Platt and her bandmates focused more on an audio vérité aesthetic than a technically flawless one.
“To me, there’s often something that gets lost in translation in the studio,” Platt says, “when you’re trying to get everything spot-on pitchwise, rhythmwise.” With a goal of combining the living, breathing vibe of a concert performance with the sonic quality of a recording studio, the musicians gathered in one room, without separation, to record the album’s 12 songs. “We tried to capture the performance rather than trying to make a ‘correct’ record,” Platt says.
Adding to the spontaneous, realtime character of the music, the Honeycutters made a point of not playing the songs onstage before the sessions; that approach brought a freshness to the way each musician tackled his or her parts. And as the finished product demonstrates, the sessions came together brilliantly. “We’ve been playing together so long that it’s like family,” Platt says. That “family” provides musical support for Platt’s lyrics, always a highlight of her work with the Honeycutters.
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Some songwriters draw upon personal experience for their lyrics; the results can be starkly confessional. Others write with an eye toward universal themes; the danger there is that there’s not always something new to be said about well-worn topics. Yet many of the most effective lyricists navigate a path that takes the best from each of those approaches. That’s often Platt’s favored method.
“There’s always some kernel of my personal experience or emotion in the songs,” she says. “I’m not usually comfortable writing from a purely autobiographical place.” Platt explains that an event in her own life — or an observed event in the life of someone else — will often serve as the spark of an idea.
“I’ll hear a story from somebody else,” Platt says. “I’ll think, ‘That’s never happened to me, but I can relate
to it because of the core emotion.’ And I’ll write from there.”
That method of songwriting brings with it a kind of freedom because it allows Platt — when she wishes to do so — to dig deeply into the kinds of emotion-filled topics that she might not feel comfortable sharing in the first person. And built into that approach is a kind of universality that’s achieved without specifically aiming for it. Platt values those qualities both in her own songwriting and in the work of artists whose music she enjoys.
“As a listener, if something really confessional is handed to me on a platter — ‘This is exactly what I was thinking and feeling when I wrote this song’ — then I have more trouble connecting to it,” she explains. “That’s how I digest other people’s art. And when I’m writing, I don’t want to paint such a complete picture that I’m painting out the listener’s own experience.”
As opposed to writing with a specific album project in mind, Platt says that in a real sense, she’s always, always writing. She’ll collect lyrical or thematic ideas and save them for when the time is right. “I’m always taking notes,” she says.
And when she finds an opportunity to sit down and strum her guitar (“an extremely rare moment these days,” she admits) she’ll refer to those notes. “I’ll start to go over my stash of napkins, journal pages, phone memos and whathave-you,” Platt says.
FROM THE HEART: Amanda Anne Platt’s straightforward, emotionally resonant songwriting is at the heart of The Ones That Stay, her latest album with the Honeycutters. Photo by Eliza Bell
CLUBLAND
CHICAGO POP DUO: On Thursday, Oct. 24, Eulogy hosts indie pop duo Finom, co-fronted by Chicago’s Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, starting at 8 p.m. The pair will showcase music from their new album, Not God, and will be joined by another Chicago-based band, Moontype. Photo courtesy of Anna Claire Barlow
For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23
EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY
Bless Your Heart
Trivia w/Harmon, 7pm
EULOGY
Dale Hollow (country), 8pm
FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY
Saylor Brothers & Friends (jamgrass), 6pm
JACK OF THE WOOD PUB
Old Time Jam, 5pm
OKLAWAHA
BREWING CO.
Bluegrass Jam w/ Derek McCoy & Friends, 6pm
SHILOH & GAINES
Trivia Wednesdays, 7pm
SOVEREIGN KAVA
Poetry Open Mic, 8pm
THE GREY EAGLE
Nick Shoulders & The Okay Crawdad w/Jack Studder (surf-rock, Cajun, blues), 8pm
THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO.
Well-Crafted Music w/ Matt Smith, 6pm
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24
BATTERY PARK BOOK
EXCHANGE
Mike Kenton & Jim Tanner (jazz), 5:30pm
EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY
Karaoke Night w/KJ Marcula, 8pm
EULOGY
Finom w/Moontype (alt-indie, rock), 8pm
FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY
Jerry's Dead (Grateful Dead & JGB Tribute), 6pm
JACK OF THE WOOD PUB
Bluegrass Jam w/ Drew Matulich, 7pm
ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC
HALL
Isaac Hadden's Thursday Throwdown, 9pm
SHILOH & GAINES
Karaoke Night, 8pm
SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO.
Ben Balmer (Americana, folk, blues), 5:30pm
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25
EULOGY
Heavy Mountain Pre-Party w/Pelican (post-rock, metal), 9pm
SIERRA NEVADA
BREWING CO.
Ashley Heath (Americana, blues), 5:30pm
SHILOH & GAINES
Burnt Reputation (rock), 9pm
THE GREY EAGLE
The Local Honeys (folk, country), 9:30pm
THE ORANGE PEEL
Dirtwire w/Kr3ture & The Spookliights (electronic, swamptronica), 8pm
THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Lyric (R&B, funk), 6pm
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26
BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 6pm
EULOGY
Heavy Mountain After Party w/Secret Shame & All Hell (post-rock, metal), 10pm
JACK OF THE WOOD PUB
Nobody’s Darling String Band, 4pm
SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO.
Ka-Pow (jazz, funk, blues), 2pm
THE GREY EAGLE
Chris Knight w/Mic Harrison & The High Score (country), 8pm
THE OUTPOST
The Tillers w/The Montvales, Clara Blyth & Frances Eliza (punk, folk), 5pm
THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO.
Dirty Dead (Grateful Dead tribute), 2pm
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27
FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY
Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 3pm
ONE WORLD BREWING WEST
Mashup Mondays w/ JLloyd, 8pm
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29
ASHEVILLE MUSIC
HALL
Tuesday Night Funk Jam, 10pm
FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY
Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm
OKLAWAHA
BREWING CO.
Team Trivia, 7pm
ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC
HALL
The Funktion Secret Session, 10pm
ONE WORLD
BREWING WEST
The Grateful Family Band Tuesdays (Grateful Dead tribute), 6pm
SOVEREIGN KAVA
JACK OF THE WOOD PUB
Traditional Irish Music Session, 3:30pm
ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL
Shakedown Sunday w/Ghost in the Graveyard, 9pm
SOVEREIGN REMEDIES ShooBees (jazz, blues), 11am
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28
JACK OF THE WOOD PUB
Quizzo! Pub Trivia w/Jason Mencer, 7:30pm
OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Takes All Kinds
Open Mic Nights, 7pm
Tuesday Night Open Jam, 8pm
THE ORANGE PEEL
Dylan Gossett w/ James Tucker (country, folk), 8pm
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30
EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY
Bless Your Heart Trivia w/Harmon, 7pm
EULOGY
Teenage Halloween w/Teens in Trouble (pop, indie-rock, emo-punk), 8pm
FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY
Saylor Brothers & Friends (jamgrass), 6pm
THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO.
Well-Crafted Music w/ Matt Smith, 6pm
LOOKING AHEAD
Both in its sound and lyrical content, Platt’s music has much in common with classic country. And she has no problem with that label being applied to her work. “I’m certainly not offended by it,” she says with a chuckle. “When I first started writing, I was very into classic country and old-time music. And I wasn’t all that sure of myself as a songwriter… or as a human being.”
In those days, she admits, she felt she was hiding behind a genre label. “When I listen to early recordings of myself, I feel like I was singing with a very strong Southern accent. I was trying to sound like a Southerner and a ‘country singer.’”
Having lived in Asheville for more than 20 years, New York-born Platt observes that if anything, she has more of a Southern accent today than she did back then. In her music, though, her singing style is more natural than on her early albums, not at all forced or flecked with artifice. “I’m more comfortable with myself,” she says. “I just sound how I sound.”
That sense of becoming more comfortable in one’s own skin makes itself known in both the music that Platt writes and records with the Honeycutters and in her approach to the whole business of music.
“We put out our first album, Irene, in 2009,” Platt says. “And it did reasonably well, better than expected. It had a reach beyond Asheville.” But she says that as a result of that modest success, when the time came to make a follow-up record, she was “gripped with fear” that it could never be as good as the first.
“I found that instead of thinking about what I was trying to express, I would think about how people might hear it: ‘How will this be received?’” With hindsight, Platt believes that such thoughts dilute the artistry of making music. “The lesson there,” she concludes, “is to separate those things and to try to remember why I started writing songs to begin with.”
The Honeycutters’ recent run of dates in the U.K. marked the band’s first tour there in more than four years. “It was the nicest thing,” Platt says. “We reconnected with friends over there; it felt a little bit like coming home.” With the U.K. tour concluded, Platt is back home with her family.
And save for a likely holiday-themed hometown show later this year — a long-standing Honeycutters tradition — Platt doesn’t have much planned for the near future. “Having two little kids now, it’s easier to sit close to home,” she says. But one thing is for sure: Amanda Anne Platt will keep writing songs. X
FREEWILL ASTROLOGY
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Secrets and hidden agendas have been preventing you from getting an accurate picture of what’s actually happening. But you now have the power to uncover them. I hope you will also consider the following bold moves: 1. Seek insights that could be the key to your future sexiness. 2. Change an aspect of your life you’ve always wanted to change but have never been able to. 3. Find out how far you can safely go in exploring the undersides of things. 4. Help your allies in ways that will ultimately inspire them to help you.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): From the early 1910s to the late 1920s, silent films were the only kind of films that were made. The proper technology wasn’t available to pair sounds with images. “Talking pictures,” or “talkies,” finally came into prominence in the 1930s. Sadly, the majority of silent films, some of which were fine works of art, were poorly preserved or only exist now in second- or third-generation copies. I’m meditating on this situation as a metaphor for your life, Taurus. Are there parts of your history that seem lost, erased, or unavailable? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to try to recover them. Remembering and reviving your past can be a potent healing agent.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): An old proverb tells us, “You must run toward the future and catch it. It is not coming to meet you, but is fleeing from you, escaping into the unknown.” This adage isn’t true for you at all right now, Gemini. In fact, the future is dashing toward you from all directions. It is not shy or evasive, but is eager to embrace you and is full of welcoming energy. How should you respond? I recommend you make yourself very grounded. Root yourself firmly in an understanding of who you are and what you want. Show the future clearly which parts of it you really want and which parts are uninteresting to you.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Early in his musical career, Cancerian innovator Harry Partch played traditional instruments and composed a regular string quartet. But by age 29, he was inventing and building novel instruments that had never before been used. Among the materials he used in constructing his Zymo-Xyl, Eucal Blossom, and Chromelodeon were tree branches, light bulbs, and wine bottles. I’m inviting you to enter into a Harry Partch phase of your cycle, Cancerian. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to express your unique genius—whether that’s in your art, your business, your personal life, or any other sphere where you love to express your authentic self.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Life’s unpredictable flow will bring you interesting new blessings if you revamp your fundamentals. Listen closely, Leo, because this is a subtle turn of events: A whole slew of good fortune will arrive if you joyfully initiate creative shifts in your approaches to talking, walking, exercising, eating, sleeping, meditating, and having fun. These aren’t necessarily earth-shaking transformations. They may be as delicate and nuanced as the following: 1. adding amusing words to your vocabulary; 2. playfully hopping and skipping as you stroll along; 3. sampling new cuisines; 4. keeping a notebook or recorder by your bed to capture your dreams; 5. trying novel ways to open your mind and heart; 6. seeking fresh pleasures that surprise you.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In an old Irish folk tale, the fairies give a queen a crystal cauldron with special properties. If anyone speaks three falsehoods in its presence, it cracks into three fragments. If someone utters three hearty truths while standing near it, the three pieces unite again. According to my metaphorical reading of your current destiny, Virgo, you are now in the vicinity of the broken cauldron. You have expressed one restorative truth, and need to proclaim two more. Be gently brave and bold as you provide the healing words.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Let’s review the highlights of the recent months. First, you expanded your perspective, blew your mind, and raised your consciousness. That was fabulous! Next, you wandered around half-dazed and thoroughly enchanted, pleased with your new freedom and spaciousness. That, too, was fantastic! Then, you luxuriously indulged in the sheer enjoyment of your whimsical explorations and experimentations. Again, that was marvelous! Now you’re ready to spend time integrating all the teachings and epiphanies that have surged into your life in recent months. This might be less exciting, but it’s equally important.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): As a teenager, I loved the music of Jefferson Airplane. I recall sitting on the couch in my New Jersey home and listening to their albums over and over again. Years later, I was performing on stage at a San Francisco nightclub with my band, World Entertainment War. In the audience was Paul Kantner, a founding member of Jefferson Airplane. After the show, he came backstage and introduced himself. He said he wanted his current band, Jefferson Starship, to cover two of my band’s songs on his future album. Which he did. I suspect you will soon experience a comparable version of my story, Scorpio. Your past will show up bearing a gift for your future. A seed planted long ago will finally blossom.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): My horoscopes are directed toward individuals, not groups. Yet it’s impossible to provide oracles about your personal destiny without considering the collective influences that affect you. Every day, you are impacted by the culture you live in. For instance, you encounter news media that present propaganda as information and regard cynicism as a sign of intellectual vigor. You live on a planet where the climate is rapidly changing, endangering your stability and security. You are not a narrow-minded bigot who doles out hatred toward those who are unlike you, but you may have to deal with such people. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because now is an excellent time to take an inventory of the world’s negative influences—and initiate aggressive measures to protect yourself from them. Even further, I hope you will cultivate and embody positive alternatives.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I suspect you will be extra attractive, appealing, and engaging in the coming weeks. You may also be especially convincing, influential, and inspirational. What do you plan to do with all this potency? How will you wield your flair? Here’s what I hope: You will dispense blessings everywhere you go. You will nurture the collective health and highest good of groups and communities you are part of. PS: In unexpected ways, being unselfish will generate wonderful selfish benefits.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Do you fantasize about being a masterful manager of your world? Have you imagined the joy of being the supreme sovereign of your holy destiny? Do you love the idea of rebelling against anyone who imagines they have the right to tell you what you should do and who you are? If you answered yes to those questions, I have excellent news, Aquarius: You are now primed to take exciting steps to further the goals I described. Here’s a helpful tip: Re-dedicate yourself to the fulfillment of your two deepest desires. Swear an oath to that intention.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The Liberation Season is here. How can you take maximum advantage of the emancipatory energies? Here are suggestions: 1. Plan adventures to frontier zones. 2. Sing and dance in the wilderness. 3. Experiment with fun and pleasure that are outside your usual repertoire. 4. Investigate what it would mean for you to be on the vanguard of your field. 5. Expand your understandings of sexuality. 6. Venture out on a pilgrimage. 7. Give yourself permission to fantasize extravagantly. 8. Consider engaging in a smart gamble. 8. Ramble, wander, and explore.
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MIND, BODY, SPIRIT
HEALTH & FITNESS
QIGONG DOWNTOWN W/ ALLEN QiGong Tuesdays 10-11am at Asia House 119 Coxe Ave, downtown over the Alternative Clinic. Qigong is Chinese exercise for health and well-being. Open to all levels cost is $15. 216-6646 allenhavatar@gmail.com
FOR MUSICIANS
MUSICIANS’ BULLETIN
WANTED: BANDMATES FOR ROCK/METAL Possible limited practice space. Bass, drums, other. Equipment necessary. Chevelle, Tool, Måneskin, Clutch, Paramore, Pantera, not Ghost. Text Lee W. (828) 335-0930
edited by Joel Fagliano
ACROSS
1 When les Jeux Olympiques de Paris took place
4 Jewelry fastener
9 Like the watches in Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory”
13 Lawless princess
15 Meal with matzo
16 Roughly 75% of Russia is in it
17 House of worship at the top of 67-Across
20 Largest arboreal mammal, informally
21 Head honcho at a barbecue
22 Unfilled space
24 Half of a Dashiell Hammett detective couple
25 Subreddit overseer, for short
26 24th and final letters
31 Gum ball, say
34 Chests
38 Reference
39 Disney daughter of King Triton
41 Gave it one’s all
43 Cutesy term for a swap
45 Region of ancient Greece
46 ___ Basil, singer of the 1982 hit “Mickey”
47 Source of saffron
49 Color similar to hazelnut
50 Fabric sample
52 Govt. agency that investigates, among other things, arson
54 TV personality Kotb
57 Beethoven’s Third
61 Classic comedy that often plays during holiday movie marathons
66 Black-and-white predators
67 Architectural attraction in Rome depicted by this puzzle’s grid?
70 Posteriors 71 Father 72 Mother ___
73 Heart vessel support 74 Louse egg
1 Sing the praises of 2 ___ firma
3 Pioneering 1940s computer
4 Winter hrs. in Winnipeg
5 Go for a rebound, perhaps
6 Extra ingredient
7 Make sure of
8 Flower on a proverbial “path”
9 Its capital is Vientiane
10 Contradictory contraction
11 Small arachnid 12 Kings or queens, say 14 Per ___ 18 Dishonorable 19 Palindromic term of address
23
29 Bright spots? 30 Car with a three-box design 31 Bulb measures
