Jackson County sees visitor spending increase Page 13
CONTENTS
On the Cover:
On the heels of the FDA’s decision to reject a study on the psychedelic drug MDMA’s use in treating PTSD, proponents for clinical use of the substance have voiced their frustration with the ruling. In Haywood County, one of the few psychologists in the country who was authorized to use the drug for treatment is particularly dismayed by the government’s dismissal of the study. (Page 6)
News
Sylva revisits panhandling ordinance..............................................................................4 Pactiv seeks to change environmental permit for Canton papermill ..................5 Ahead of new book, Gary Carden reflects on a lifetime of storytelling..............8 Sylva approves Economic Development Advisory Committee............................10 COVID mounts unforeseen summer surge..............................................................11 Haywood TDA’s destination master plan focuses on the future ........................12 Jackson County visitor spending up 3.4% to $468 million..................................13
Opinion
A&E
Sam Grisman Project to play Earl Scruggs Fest....................................................16
Bluegrass legend to play Cataloochee Ranch........................................................20
Outdoors
Behind the scenes at Winding Stair Farm & Nursery............................................22
Up Moses Creek: This is the world..............................................................................26
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Ingles Nutrition Notes
written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath
PCOS (POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME) AND SWEET SNACKS
Question: I have PCOS but really crave sweets like baked goods. What are some things I could eat?
Answer: The issue with many baked goods is that they are low in you couldn’t limit eating.
Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN
Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian
@InglesDietitian
Leah McGrath - Dietitian
Sylva revisits panhandling ordinance
BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER
New changes are being proposed to Sylva’s panhandling ordinance, and although a public hearing is not required for the Sylva Town Board to amend the ordinance that governs its streets and sidewalks, the town will hold a public hearing on the proposed changes next month after one board member urged the town to do so.
“At the last meeting, we discovered that we may not be required to have a public hearing about this, but I think we should have a public hearing since we’re talking about a substantive change to the ordinance,” said Board Member Brad Waldrop during the Aug. 8 Sylva Town Board meeting. “Typically, we do have public hearings for ordinances, and I believe this is a rather substantive change and we should have a public hearing.”
The “panhandling ordinance,” also referred to as a solicitation ordinance, is a set of regulations within chapter 30 of the Town of Sylva Code of Ordinances that concerns streets and sidewalks.
This issue has been a topic of interest for the town for almost two years now. The board first considered a proposal to address panhandling in November 2022 but ultimately decided against it after a majority of the board and several members of the public spoke out in opposition to the measure.
However, after Mayor Johnny Phillips was elected in November 2023, he brought the topic of panhandling back before the board in January of this year and directed staff to create a draft ordinance for review.
That ordinance passed by split vote with board members Brad Waldrop and thenboard member Natalie Newman opposing the measure. A few months later, Newman resigned from her position on the town board and told Blue Ridge Public Radio, “we recently had the vote on panhandling where to me it really felt like we were attacking our unhoused population in this town.”
police chief, who shall have full authority to decide and render a decision. Further appeal of the decision by the police chief shall be made to the town manager, who shall have final authority over the matter.
WHAT’S CHANGING?
Revisions to the ordinance would also make it unlawful for any person to solicit or beg within 20 feet of the edge of the pavement or top of the curb of U.S. Highway Business 23, which will include Main and Mill streets, Highway 107 and Grindstaff Cove Road. The ordinance refers to these three areas as “high traffic zones.”
The proposed revisions would also prohibit “standing, sitting or lying upon highways or streets prohibited,” and says that no person shall “willfully stand, sit, or lie upon the highway or street in such a manner as to impede the regular flow of traffic.” Violation of this section is a class two misdemeanor pursuant to § 20-174.1.
Additionally, proposed changes to the penalty portion of the ordinance would allow the chief of police to “dismiss the violation and fine if the appellant provides proof of a good faith effort to obtain assistance to address any underlying factors related to unemployment, homelessness, mental health, or substance abuse that might relate to the person’s ability to comply with the local ordinance.”
Another proposed addition to the penalty section says that the third offense within a 12-month period will constitute a class three misdemeanor.
At the Aug. 8 meeting, four people spoke during public comment in opposition to the proposed changes to the ordinance, including 2023 candidate for town board Luther Jones.
The version of the ordinance that passed in February prohibits anyone from soliciting or begging by accosting another, or forcing oneself upon the company of another; within 20 feet of any financial institution; 10 feet of any bus stop or other transportation hub; 20 feet of any commercial establishment that is open for business; while the person being solicited is standing in line waiting to be admitted to a commercial establishment; by touching the person being solicited without that person’s consent; by blocking the path of a person being solicited or blocking the entrance or exit to any building or vehicle; following the person who has been solicited after that person has declined the request or walked away; by or with the use of threatening, profane or abusive language, during the solicitation or following an unsuccessful solicitation; by or with the use of any gesture or act intended to cause a reasonable person to be fearful of the solicitor or feel compelled to accede to the solicitation; and during nighttime hours from dusk to dawn.
As already outlined in North Carolina General Statutes, the ordinance states it is unlawful to solicit or beg while intoxicated, by using false or misleading information, or by indicating that the solicitor or any member of their family suffers from a physical or mental disability when such information is false.
Violation of the ordinance is punishable by a $50 fine. It is a civil ordinance, so there is no possibility of arrest if a person is only in violation of the ordinance. Appeals or protests of the fine can be made in writing or in person within 30 days of issuance to the Sylva
“When you passed the original ordinance, I agreed with it, I supported you on it. I do not support you or agree with you on these changes,” Jones said. “We’re not solving the problem, you’re simply pushing it out of the way, making sure that we don’t see the indigent people, the people that need help, people who are homeless, you’re simply putting them in a closet, cutting out the light and saying, if we don’t see them, then we don’t have to worry about them.”
Jones and other speakers also voiced concerns about giving the chief of police the authority to dismiss or uphold the violation and ensuing penalty.
“What you’re doing is you’re putting judicial power in the hands of a police officer, and a police officer is not supposed to have those judicial powers,” said Jones.
The proposed changes to the ordinance had originally been on the Aug. 8 agenda for approval, and after Mayor Phillips introduced the agenda item, Board Member Blitz Estridge made a motion to accept the proposed changes as written.
However, Waldrop asked Estridge to revoke his motion so that the board could hold a public hearing on the topic.
“We’ve already had a public hearing on the solicitation ordinance, this is a change,” said Phillips. “But if you all want to have one anyway just for the fun of it, we can do that.”
“Just to clarify, I wouldn’t say it’s for the fun of it, so much as to talk about a substantive change,” Waldrop responded. “If we’re going to make a rather substantive change, it would seem appropriate to have a public hearing because it’s nearing a very different ordinance.”
The board unanimously agreed to hold a public hearing on the proposed changes to the solicitation ordinance at its Sept. 12 meeting.
Downtown Sylva. Hannah McLeod photo
Pactiv seeks to change environmental permit for Canton mill
BY KYLE P ERROTTI
N EWS E DITOR
Pactiv Evergreen has filed a request with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to make “major” modifications to the discharge permit for its wastewater treatment facility in Canton.
Since Pactiv shut down its Canton papermill in June of last year, the plant has been operational to treat the town’s sewage but was no longer involved in treating wastewater from the papermaking process. It has since been the subject of multiple NCDEQ notices of violation for exceeding fecal coliform limits in the plant’s effluent.
Fecal coliform is a group of bacteria that includes disease-causing species such as E.coli. While most coliform bacteria do not cause disease, some strains of E.coli cause serious illness. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, swimming, diving or wading in water contaminated with fecal bacteria can result in diarrhea, vomiting, respiratory illness and other health problems. Skin, ear, eye, sinus and wound infections can also be caused by contact with contaminated water. In the case of Canton, it has also created a noticeable odor that has been strong at times this summer.
In an email to The Smoky Mountain News, NCDEQ Spokesperson
tions and the associated flow reduction of the flow limit to 4.9 million gallons per day. Basically, it reduces the frequency and number of locations for testing the effluent while also eliminating certain special conditions.
“The mill’s permit had a condition requiring a Best Management Plan related to leaks and spills of spent pulping, liquor, turpentine or soap from process areas,” Oleniacz said in the email. “The special condition was a federal requirement for pulp and paper production, but it is no longer necessary since production was discontinued. The permit included dioxin monitoring because pulp and paper plants can emit dioxin as a byproduct, but monitoring for dioxin is no longer necessary now that industrial operations have shut down.”
The wastewater treatment plant has been the subject of frequent news reports.
Canton’s wastewater treatment plant isn’t processing the same volume as it did when Pactiv Evergreen’s paper mill was operational. File photo
Laura Oleniacz said that DWR staff noted that when the mill was operational, the town treated its wastewater with chlorine before reaching the plant, but that municipal wastewater was also mixed with and diluted by the industrial wastewater.
“The high pH of the industrial waste likely played a role in treating the fecal coliform, Oleniacz said in the email. “The plant adjusted chlorination of the town’s untreated wastewater after the mill ceased operations, according to staff, and Pactiv Evergreen has not received additional fecal coliform limit violations since November. More specific questions should be directed to PactivEvergreen and the town.”
In a document filed late last month, the company sought to alter the permit to reflect the changes that came with the mill shutdown. The changes include the removal of monitoring for several compounds associated with paper mill opera-
Since at least 1964, Pactiv has treated the town’s wastewater for almost no cost while the mill was operational. An agreement in place since then stipulates that Pactiv must continue to treat Canton’s wastewater for two years after any shutdown scheduled to end in March of next year.
Although there have been negotiations between Pactiv and the town, it isn’t yet known what the wastewater treatment plant’s future is or what the town may do when it comes to treating its sewage.
There is a public comment period running through the end of August for the proposed permit changes. To make an appointment to review the document, call 828.296.4500. Public comments can be either mailed to Wastewater Permitting, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC, 27699-1617 or emailed to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov. Please include “Canton Mill” in the email’s subject line.
As veterans with PTSD continue to die by suicide, FDA demands do-over for MDMA trials
P OLITICS E DITOR
Flying in the face of stats from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that say veterans continue to commit suicide at higher rates than non-veterans, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week declined to approve MDMA, a psychedelic compound, as a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder.
Policymakers have been aware of the problem of veteran suicide since at least the late 1950s, but stunning statistics beginning in the mid-1990s, shortly after U.S. military intervention in Iraq, brought the issue out of the shadows.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 6.2% of Americans are considered veterans. Recent data from a 2023 VA report shows that between 6,000 and 6,700 veterans took their own lives each year between 2001 and 2021, about 16.4 each day. A widely-cited 2013 VA report put the number at 22 per day, but other studies suppose it could be as high as 44.
The 2023 report says that for 2021, the most recent data available suggests it’s 17.5 per day, compared to 109 per day among non-veterans — some of whom also experience PTSD for non-combat reasons, like sexual trauma or severe disruption to relationships with family or friends. The link between PTSD and suicide is well documented.
The FDA, for now, has decided that doing nothing about it remains the best course of action.
“There’s only two drugs that are currently approved by the FDA to treat PTSD, and they’re both antidepressants,” said Dr. Raymond Turpin, a Waynesville-based psychologist and researcher who’s worked in the field for decades and conducted an expanded access program authorized by the FDA. “Anybody that’s ever had PTSD knows that depression is often a secondary effect of having PTSD, but these medicines don’t begin to touch the symptoms of PTSD. They don’t do anything for the intrusive memories, the nightmares, the flashbacks, the anxiety. They’re just very ineffective.”
Pphysical and emotional effects as well as auditory and visual hallucinations.
The pharmaceutical industry began studying and synthesizing psychedelics over a century ago, hoping to harness their potent effects for commercial use.
In 1938, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman synthesized LSD, and five years later experienced its effects on what is now known as “Bicycle Day,” marking the dawn of the modern psychedelic age. In the early 1960s, Dr. Calvin Stevens developed ketamine, a crucial anesthetic during the Vietnam War
from deployment to Iraq in 2006, Lubecky was taking up to 42 prescription pills a day, but they clearly weren’t working. That’s when he happened upon a phase-two trial by the Mithoefers and received the treatment that he says changed — or saved — his life a decade ago.
The way Turpin explains it, when someone experiences an overwhelming, emotional psychological experience, sometimes the trauma isn’t properly processed by the brain; it gets stuck in the wrong place and continues to fester, producing the symptoms usually associated with PTSD — depression, fear and hypervigilance, among others.
to conduct the first phase one study on the physiological and psychological effects of MDMA.
Adverse effects, like elevated pulse and blood pressure, are well-tolerated in healthy volunteers, and Turpin said that evidence from the legal period showed MDMA could have some use in treating PTSD.
Paxil and Zoloft remain the only FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of PTSD, but their effectiveness is low because they treat the symptoms of PTSD just enough to allow for people struggling with the diagnosis to operate in the real world and don’t address the underlying problem. MDMA, Turpin said, temporarily shuts down the brain’s “fire alarm,” the amygdalae, allowing the prefrontal cortex to process the trauma the way it should have in the first place.
Lubecky took his first dose of MDMA in November 2014, under the supervision of therapists. Usually, three dosing sessions will take place over several months, during which patients engage in therapy. After the sessions are complete, further use of MDMA by the patient is not anticipated.
He described his session as pleasant, called the results “a miracle” and considers himself fully healed from the effects
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, Lubecky’s been working in the war-torn country of Ukraine as a medic and humanitarian, on and off, for months at a time, within just a few miles of the eastern front. His most recent trip, a few weeks ago,
“I saw far worse — more dead bodies, more blood, more injuries, more shelling — more than I did the entire year I was in Iraq, and I still have no nightmares, none of that,” he told The Smoky Mountain News Aug. 11. “I’m totally fine. Which I kind of don’t understand myself.”
Tsychedelic compounds induce dramatically altered states of consciousness. Evidence exists of peyote and psilocybin use in religious and spiritual ceremonies over thousands of years, but recreational users have also
Dr. Michael Mithoefer and his wife Annie, a registered nurse, conducted an important phase two study testing that theory. Turpin told The Smoky Mountain News in 2022 that the results were strong, but a veteran named Jonathan Lubecky gave a gripping account of what, exactly, MDMA therapy did for him.
he Pearl Psychedelic Institute in Waynesville, run by Turpin, was one of just two sites across the nation conducting expanded access research under the purview of MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
Expanded access is an FDA program also known as compassionate use. When a drug gets through the later stages of the regulatory approval process and is demonstrated to be safe and likely more effective than existing treatments, the FDA will grant certain trained providers the ability to offer
Dr. Raymond Turpin. File photo
the treatment even though it’s not yet approved.
“I’ve been studying psychedelics since the mid-1980s, and there’s an enormous amount of research from the 1950s and 1960s that demonstrates the potential efficacy of these types of medicines,” Turpin said. “I’ve been following the MDMA studies for almost 30 years, and I have the privilege of having treated four people with this method, and I’ve been treating PTSD for probably 30 years using conventional methods. I think this is just a potential game changer.”
The FDA allowed only 50 people to receive the expanded treatment, 46 of them at Sunstone Therapies in Rockville, Maryland, and four at the Pearl Psychedelic Institute.
Turpin said that the youngest of his four patients was in his 50s, the oldest, in his 70s. All had suffered from chronic, severe PTSD for decades.
“At the end of our five-month protocol, none of them qualified for a PTSD diagnosis anymore,” said Turpin.
By Lubecky’s count, roughly 200 patients have gone through phase-three trials.
“You look at phase three results, 70% are in remission,” he said. “I have eight years of solid documentation from the VA saying I had PTSD. I also have my VA record, which states that I’m in remission.”
If that wasn’t true, Lubecky said, he wouldn’t be able to do the dangerous work he does in Ukraine.
the same chance to heal that I was given.”
The advisory committee then twice voted overwhelmingly against MDMA as a treatment for PTSD.
The vote on whether they considered the treatment effective was 9-2 against. The vote on whether they felt the benefits outweighed the risks was 10-1 against.
The votes, nonbinding recommendations to the FDA, were based at least in part on what the committee considered problems with the clinical trials, including the difficulty in blinding the trials due to the acute effects of the drug being easily observable to those who’ve taken it, which could result in expectation bias.
Lykos responded to the advisory committee’s initial votes by stressing the efficacy and safety of the novel treatment’s integration with psychotherapy. Perhaps most damning was Lykos’ assertion that it had “aligned” with the FDA in a 2017 special protocol assessment on “a variety of bias minimization measures in the study design” — the very “bias” cited by the advisory committee and the FDA as a reason the
requested that Lykos conduct an additional Phase 3 trial to further study the safety and efficacy of midomafetamine,” Lykos wrote. “Lykos plans to request a meeting with the FDA to ask for reconsideration of the decision and to further discuss the agency’s recommendations for a resubmission seeking regulatory approval for midomafetamine capsules.”
Lykos, however, blasted both the structure and the conduct of the advisory committee, saying it didn’t consist of enough subject matter experts, something Lykos says the FDA itself acknowledged through the establishment of a public input portal meant to learn how the advisory committee process could be improved.
The ruling leaves two pathways for Lykos — urge the FDA in that meeting to reconsider its decision or conduct the additional phase three trials requested by the FDA.
“If the FDA does not alter or reconsider their decision and they are going to require Lycos to move forward with an entirely new phase three study and then have to submit an entirely new, revised NDA, I think we’re
A day-long meeting of the FDA’s psychopharmacologic drugs advisory committee on June 4 began with Lykos Therapeutics, the public benefit corporation founded by MAPS that submitted what’s called a “new drug” application (NDA) for midomafetamine, presenting its case — that the treatment demonstrated statistically significant, clinically meaningful improvement in patients lasting six months or more. The results were consistent over time across different studies.
“This is a novel combination of limited exposure to drugs, which catalyzes psychological intervention,” said Berra Yazar-Klosinski, chief scientific officer for Lykos, at the meeting. “MDMA in combination with psychological intervention provides an effective, welltolerated acute treatment for PTSD.”
Lubecky was one of many who spoke during the subsequent public comment session of the meeting.
“Yesterday, I wandered among the marble tombstones of Arlington, visiting friends — some lost to age, accidents, combat and a lot to suicide,” he said. “One of those markers should have my name on it. I am testifying today because I want all my brothers and sisters, all human beings, to be allowed
treatment should not be approved.
Regardless, the votes prompted backlash from veterans’ groups.
“Here we have this treatment that’s potentially effective at treating PTSD — more so than anything we have right now — and I think there’s a real anger and frustration in the veteran community, particularly about the fact that, this government that they went and fought for is not going to potentially allow them to have access to a treatment that could heal them and their families,” Turpin said.
Days ahead of the final FDA decision, 80 members of Congress sent a bi-partisan letter to President Joe Biden on Aug. 2 in support of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. The only name on it from North Carolina was Rep. David Rouzer (R-Wilmington).
On Aug. 8, the FDA sided with the advisory committee and rejected Lykos’ NDA. Lykos subsequently issued a news release addressing the ruling and acknowledging that the FDA’s concerns echoed those raised by the advisory committee.
“The FDA communicated that it had completed its review of the NDA and determined that it could not be approved based on data submitted to date. The FDA has
“I’ve been studying psychedelics since the mid-1980s, and there’s an enormous amount of research from the 1950s and 1960s that
demonstrates the potential efficacy of these types of medicines.”
— Dr. Raymond Turpin
looking at years,” said Turpin. “My guess would be probably we’d be looking at a minimum of three years and tens of millions of dollars. I can’t remember, but I think the phase three studies cost like $70 million.”
Funding for another phase-three study would have to come from philanthropic or foundational sources, Turpin said, because pharmaceutical companies haven’t contributed any money to the research thus far and likely won’t moving forward; there’s considerable speculation from proponents of the treatment that medicines requiring a patient to take only a few doses aren’t necessarily appealing to large pharmaceutical companies and their shareholders.
Lubecky doesn’t think the meeting will result in a different outcome; however, he does think the FDA will offer suggestions to Lykos as to how it should proceed with a new phase three trial.
But after years of research and trials, can those suggestions be trusted?
“The question I have is, the FDA was heavily involved in protocol design and they just rejected [the NDA] at least on its face, and they said it was because of protocol design,” Lubecky said. “So why should anybody trust what the FDA says they want?”
Of parched corn and rank strangers
So I walk into Gary Carden’s room in the ICU and the first thing he says to me in his sonorous growl is, “OK newspaperman, take this down. I want you to turn this into a story.” It wasn’t a surprise coming from the 89-yearold Carden, a recipient of North Carolina’s highest award for literature who’d suffered a heart attack the night before. I hadn’t intended to interview him that day; I’d only stopped in to see how he was doing and drop off a poster we’d printed for his upcoming Aug. 20 book signing in Sylva because I thought it might lift his spirits. He loves that kind of thing. He has one at home framed above his bed near his books. I didn’t know if he’d be awake or even in the mood to talk as I opened the door, but by God, the man was singing songs to his nurses when he wasn’t giving them a hard time or dramatically conveying the mountain lore of a vanishing culture that had constituted the meat of his decades-long career as an award-winning author, distinguished playwright, accomplished painter, first-rate storyteller and average singer. One of his favorite songs, he’s told me approximately 14 times, is “Rank F
Legendary Western North Carolina storyteller Gary Carden has a new book coming Aug. 20. Cory Vaillancourt photo
Want to go?
Celebrate the long-awaited release of a collection of biographical mountain tales, “Stories I lived to Tell: an Appalachian Memoir” (UNC Press, 152 pages) from legendary storyteller and Jackson County native Gary Carden, featuring an introduction from Emmy awardwinning filmmaker and author Neal Hutcheson. Copies will be available for purchase at the
stranger,” a mournful gospel tune composed in 1942 but most closely associated with a 1960 release by American music legends The Stanley Brothers. The lyrics lay bare feelings of both worldly and spiritual alienation — recurring themes in Carden’s work born of his unusual biography.
“I wandered again, to my home in the mountains, where in youth’s early dawn, I was happy and free,” Carden sang to the bemused annoyance of the woman checking his blood sugar. “I looked for my friends, but I never could find them. I found they were all rank strangers to me.”
The soliloquy he wanted me to take down and turn into a story was, in its own way, a personal redoubt of those themes. As with any good Carden yarn, it reveals a strongly rooted sense of place — a sense of this place — whether that be a darkened Main Street movie theater is his native Sylva or some dusty fairgrounds smoldering on a humid Southern Appalachian summer day.
event. Hutcheson will be on hand to sign them. Due to recent health issues, Carden’s attendance remains tentative. Light refreshments. No reservations. Free. Sponsored by City Lights Bookstore and The Smoky Mountain News. Learn more about the book at uncpress.org.
Time: 6 p.m.
Date: Tuesday, Aug. 20
Location: Community room, Jackson County Library, 310 Keener St., Sylva
sons, and you’re graded or respected in relation to whether you have a big family and you have a lot of children. I had none of those and it always worked to my disadvantage.
The odd kid from Rhodes Cove who buried himself in comic books, nickel matinees, radio serials and Shakespeare has spent his life surrounded by the rank strangers he’s enthralled with his artisanal craft as the world around him grows less and less recognizable. But to paraphrase a Nirvana song from late last century, Gary found his friends — they’re in his head. Abner, the wild monkey of the Smokies. Lash LaRue. Sergeant Preston of the Royal Mounties and his Wonder Dog, King. The Puke Buzzard. King William and Queen Luella, rulers of the Kingdom of the Happy Land.
I take “sterile” in his instance as a metaphor; his whole life, Gary indeed seemed strange (“queer” or “quare” in the local dialect) compared to those around him, including the grandfather who raised
“In a way, I did have children, because my writing is my children. It may not account to much. I brag a bit and I can talk loud and people listen, but I’m satisfied. I know I’m coming to the end of what it is I’m going to do. I don’t have children — but I have friends, and I have stories.”
— Gary Carden
When I was about 23 or 24, I went with my grandmother to a family reunion in Macon County, and there were the Shepards and the Gibsons and the Hearsts and a tremendous number of people and at one point in the thing, they brought out the family tree and set it up on my great granny’s porch. It’s grotesque. It’s incredible. Every limb is some family, and the little buds are their children. Of course, I went over to look at me, and I was just a little stub. Since I didn’t have any children, there was nothing there. There was an old mountain woman standing there next to me, and she looked at my grandmother — and they’ll do this, they’ll ask you anything — and she says, “How come Gary Neil ain’t got no youngins?”
My granny said, “Well, I guess it’s because somebody parched his corn.”
I’ve always had my corn parched, you know. I’m an orphan. I’ve never had children. I never had a family of any kind. I had lost both my father and mother when I was young, and I was plainly aware that everywhere I went, I felt that somebody had parched my corn.
It means that I’m sterile. If you parch corn, you can’t plant it, it won’t grow anything and so that’s pretty much what I was. The big thing in mountain culture is to have a son, or several
him and didn’t understand how a man made money by reading books, writing stories and acting in plays. A man made money with his hands, in the tannery or driving an Esso truck or sometimes with little more than a shovel and some gumption — not by borrowing money from a bank to go to a school. The absence of a large brood must’ve been the final inkling for some that Gary, being born of bad blood and all, may just be a metaphorically sterile Jasper, possessed only of parched corn and rank strangers.
Carden, however, isn’t through with his story.
From his hospital bed, he talked of his desire to podcast, to write biographies of nursing home residents, to write a monthly column, to attend his upcoming book signing, to keep telling stories. But he being no little stub after all also talked of his substantial issue.
In a way, I did have children, because my writing is my children. It may not account to much. I brag a bit and I can talk loud and people listen, but I’m satisfied. I know I’m coming to the end of what it is I’m going to do. I don’t have children — but I have friends, and I have stories.
Sylva approves Economic Development Advisory Committee
BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER
Last week, the Sylva Town Board approved rules and procedures for the new Economic Development Advisory Committee, an advisory committee to the Economic Development Director and to the Sylva Town Board of Commissioners.
“We’ve got a great number of successful business owners here that are really what make our town,” Mayor Johnny Phillips has said. “I just think this is a way to give folks a voice. I think they can be a help to us.”
Phillips originally proposed the committee — a fivemember board made up of business owners who do not live in the Town of Sylva, who own a business in Sylva not within the Main street corridor — bringing the idea to the table at the June 13 meeting.
“It gives business owners that do not live in the city limits a way to have a voice with our town in a way that isn’t just paying taxes,” Phillips said at the time.
The rules and procedures set out for the Economic Development Advisory Committee say that it exists to promote, retain and enhance economic development throughout the Town of Sylva. The committee’s mission is to grow the town’s tax base by attracting and retaining quality jobs, soliciting new business and development compatible with the assets and values of Sylva, promoting Sylva’s business image, assisting in the expansion of existing companies and enhancing Sylva’s overall quality of life.
Its duties will include identifying and assessing business development opportunities and recommending policy posi-
tions on economic development matters to the Town of Sylva Economic Development Director and the town board.
In the fiscal year 2023-24 budget, Sylva commissioners approved a one-cent tax increase to pay for a full-time economic development director position. This transitioned the Main Street Sylva Association director from part-time to fulltime, with expanded responsibilities, and was one of the board’s top budget priorities.
Other responsibilities of the committee will include prioritizing business development needs and projects according to Town of Sylva priorities, conducting research and providing input on business development program policy decisions and considering ongoing economic development initiatives in progress by partners such as Jackson County Economic Development, Southwestern Commission, Mountain West Partnership and local Small Business Centers.
including the chairman and vice chairman, will be appointed for three-year terms. The other two members will be appointed for a one-year term so that moving forward, committee members will have staggered terms.
In addition to the five voting members of the committee, there will be two non-voting members, a regional economic development appointee and a small business center appointee.
During the Aug. 8 meeting when the board was asked to approve the rules and procedures, Board Member Mary Gelbaugh asked the mayor to provide an example of what the Economic Development Advisory Committee might be voting on.
Each of the five members of the committee will be appointed by the Sylva Town Board, and the committee members will select their own chairman and vice-chairman. The chairman will preside at all meetings and hearings of the committee and the Town of Sylva Economic Development Director will serve as staff to the committee, responsible for sending meeting notices and reporting minutes.
Of those original five appointed for the committee, three,
“They have only recommending authority to this board and they would have to agree on what they want to make as a recommendation do us,” Phillips said. “For example, the committee might review some ordinance we have that might hinder development, or that might make development worse or easier. They may want to make a recommendation to the board that we consider reviewing this ordinance, for this particular reason — business-minded people that would look for things like that to bring to us.”
Gelbaugh expressed concern that there may be some overlap between responsibilities of the planning board and the Economic Development Advisory Committee because the planning board is tasked with similar responsibilities and makes recommendations to the Sylva Town Board.
While Phillips notes that overlap was possible, he said that “there’s nobody on the planning board looking for things that are hindering development.”
The board unanimously approved the rules and procedures for the new town committee.
COVID mounts unforeseen summer surge
BY KYLE P ERROTTI
N EWS E DITOR
After a spring lull, the coronavirus has returned with a vengenance, leading to a surge in Western North Carolina that experts didn’t expect.
During one of his YouTube videos updating people in the region about the status of COVID and other contagious viruses, Haywood County Medical Director Dr. Mark Jaben said that officials were hopeful in the spring of a possibly mild summer when it comes to COVID cases.
Officials have noted an unexpected spike in COVID cases in
deaths, and as far as he knows, hospitals have handled the increase in COVID patients well.
While experts didn’t exactly expect this big of a wave, Jaben had a few theories as to why we’re seeing the current surge. First, with summer comes not only more vacation travel, but also more events where people are inside where there’s air conditioning — and more people. It’s known at this point that the virus spreads better indoors, especially if there’s poor ventilation.
“Be careful going into crowded spaces,”
“We had three months this spring with very few cases and very few hospitalizations,” he said.
After a brief uptick in mid-June, cases really picked up in the last month or so. This is abnormal for this time of year. Each summer since the pandemic began has seen a smaller wave than the corresponding winter, and each summer’s wave had been smaller than the previous summer. That is not the case this year, as Jaben said that the wave is about the same size as the one the region saw during the winter and certainly more than any other summer.
“This vaccine will be effective against variants we’re now seeing ... the only way to know it’s not COVID is to test.”
— Dr. Mark Jaben, Haywood County Medical Director
In addition, hospitalizations are now about to the same level as the winter, with most folks who are admitted between the ages of 40 and 90. Jaben did note that there has not been a corresponding increase in
Jaben said, adding that properly wearing a mask — especiall an N-95 or KN-95 — is best when in doubt, especially as it further protects people who are immunocompromised and thus susceptible to more serious infection.
In addition, Jaben said that the “immune wall” from prior infections and vaccinations is likely wearing off, and to make matters worse, less than 20% of people are up to date on their vaccinations. Making matters evenworse, the virus has continued to mutate, and the latest variant is better able to avoid the body’s immune defenses.
Jaben recommended a few things. First, for those who haven’t received the vaccine or the latest booster, it’s not too late — better late than never. Also, Jaben offered a reminder that the latest booster should be available within a month or so, and those who are up to date on their boosters should be able to receive it as soon as it’s available.
“This vaccine will be effective against variants we’re now seeing,” he said.
Finally, Jaben said that it remains difficult in most cases to differentiate COVID symptoms from symptoms of other illnesses or even allergies.
“The only way to know it’s not COVID is to test,” he said, adding that free tests are available at the Haywood County Health and Human Services office.
Western North Carolina. Stock photo
Haywood TDA’s destination master plan focuses on the future
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR
realize the resources available, especially in the outdoor recreation realm.
T“You’ve got this amazing water-based recreation environment right here, but it’s just not been activated,” Nichols said.
ourism remains a critically important component of Western North Carolina’s economy. To ensure it remains strong well into the future, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority is fine-tuning a forthcoming destination master plan that focuses on underutilized assets and what visitors seem to really want — authenticity.
“Visitors don’t want us to change,” said Don Anderson, of Destination Consultants International, during an Aug. 6 presentation of the TDA’s draft destination master plan at Haywood Community College in Clyde.
Anderson, responsible for brand strategy, is one of several consultants who contributed to the plan. Mitch Nichols of Nichols Tourism Group and Bobby Chappelle of Travel Impact Services were also on the project team, focusing on the plan itself.
Work began on the plan late last year under the purview of a 17-member steering committee. Consultants gathered input from 78 stakeholders in all five Haywood County communities along with more than 80 members of the public who participated in the first community input session back in March. Specialized workshops were held with public land officials, emergency response managers, outdoor recreation stakeholders and the TDA’s marketing committee. Input surveys were completed by 96 travel media entities, 1,100 past and potential visitors, more than 300 Haywood County stakeholders and 26 elected officials.
An aspirational draft vision statement, looking a decade down the road, expresses the desire for Haywood County to be “renowned as the authentic destination in the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains” that offers “diverse, year-round experiences” that preserve both the natural and cultural heritage that make Western North Carolina such a unique destination.
The plan contains four strategic pillars focused on supporting stewardship of the county as a destination.
Strengthening brand awareness helps maintain a strong base of high-value visitors that spend more money in the county than an average visitor, bolstering year-round income for workers and businesses.
Enhancing the TDA’s evolution into an organization that advocates for a more resilient tourism economy ensures that the industry is inclusive, equitable and benefits the entire community.
Preserving natural resources and promoting Southern Appalachian culture, which is perhaps Haywood County’s biggest selling point, keeps visitors coming back.
Diversifying product offerings not only benefits locals but also leads to a stronger property tax base.
The plan spends a lot of time examining this last point — Haywood’s tourism infrastructure is somewhat dated and doesn’t fully
Nichols was referring to the Pigeon River, newly liberated from the decades of abuse and pollution suffered at the hands of paper mill owners — most recently, Pactiv Evergreen — in Canton.
Since the mill closed last June, the river has experienced a remarkable rejuvenation in a short period of time. Fish populations “exploded” shortly after the mill closed, and the environmental violations that became commonplace under Pactiv — more than 20 in two years — have stopped, for now.
The tiny but centrally located town of Clyde stands to benefit more than most communities, as it sits at the confluence of several important existing or proposed assets, including the river, Haywood County’s greenway, River’s Edge Park and the Hellbender Trail. New canoe put-in spots and possibly a riverside amphitheater would boost access to and enjoyment of what‘s currently an overlooked gem in the heart of the county.
But the entire county could benefit from a critically-neglected segment of assets that don’t yet exist, namely indoor activities that help keep families entertained and out of the rain that can pop up almost anywhere in this temperate rainforest at a moment’s notice. Indoor rock climbing walls, bowling alleys and children’s museums were specifically mentioned, and since they don’t yet exist, the TDA appears eager to court those types of businesses.
One final area of focus demonstrating the TDA’s long-term view of Haywood County also involves the mill and its redevelopment — tourism planners want to ensure a visitor perspective is included in whatever happens on the 185-acre mill site. Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers has expressed a desire for some sort of outdoor recreational component to the redevelopment, but it’s largely out of his hands; a private entity has executed a letter of intent to buy the parcel from Pactiv, but the deal is still in the due diligence phase and isn’t guaranteed to result in a sale.
Local leaders are eager for the parcel, which once provided roughly 1,000 jobs, to return to productive use. Until it does, tourism will play a more critical role in the county’s economy.
According to the TDA, 42 cents of every dollar spent in Haywood County during 2023 came from visitors. Some of that eventually makes its way into local government budgets. TDA Executive Director Corrina Ruffieux said that number for 2023 was more than $13.1 million. Without it, property taxes would have to increase in order to maintain the same level of services currently performed by local governments.
The plan, which is still in draft status, will be finalized in the coming weeks and presented to the TDA’s board in September.
Visitor spending Increases by 3.4 percent to $468 million in Jackson County
Domestic and international visitors to and within Jackson County spent $468 million in 2023, an increase of 3.4% from 2022. The data comes from an annual study commissioned by VisitNC, a unit of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.
“Tourism’s significant economic impact highlights its essential role in bolstering local businesses, generating jobs and improving the quality of life for our residents,” said Nick Breedlove, Executive Director of Jackson County Tourism Development Authority. “This year, we celebrated the completion of the first project funded by tourism dollars to directly benefit our community—the Bridge Park enhancements in partnership with the Town of Sylva. This is just the beginning, and we look forward to seeing more initiatives like this in the future.”
Here are some of the highlights of the study:
• The travel and tourism industry directly employs more than 2,470 in Jackson County.
• Total payroll generated by the tourism industry in Jackson County was $121.6 million.
• State tax revenue generated in Jackson County totaled $15.3 million through state sales and excise taxes, and taxes on personal and corporate income. About $15.3 million in local taxes were generated from occupancy, sales and property tax revenue from travel-generated and travel-supported businesses.
Breedlove said. “Sustainable tourism is a top priority for us. We’ve focused on attracting quality visitors during times when our small businesses need revenue the most, while also working to reduce visitation during peak periods. Additionally, we’re addressing the impacts of tourism by funding master plans, trail maintenance, river cleanups, and other initiatives aimed at preserving our natural resources.” Learn more at http://www.discoverjacksonnc.com/outdoors/sustainability/.
• Tourism spending in Jackson County reached $468 million, ranking it second in Western North Carolina, just behind Buncombe County. This figure surpasses that of all 16 nearby WNC counties, including neighboring counties.
“With growing popularity comes greater responsibility,”
on North Carolina Counties 2023,” which can be accessed at partners.visitnc.com/economic-impact-studies. The study was prepared for Visit North Carolina by Tourism Economics. Statewide, visitor spending in 2023 rose 6.9% to reach a record $35.6 billion. Direct tourism employment increased 4.8% to 227,224.
“The new study underscores the importance of tourism to
every county in North Carolina,” said Wit Tuttell, executive director of Visit NC. “There’s a lot of competition for travelers’ time and money, and we owe our success to everything from the state’s scenic beauty and outdoor adventure to our mix of tradition and innovation and our welcoming spirit. Those qualities might be hard to measure, but we can follow the trail to a measurable impact on our workforce, our businesses and our tax base. We look forward to continued success.”
Here are some statewide facts from the study:
• Total spending by domestic and international visitors in North Carolina reached $35.6 billion in 2023. That sum represents a 6.9% increase over 2022 expenditures.
• Domestic travelers spent a record $34.6 billion in 2023. Spending was up 6.8% from $32.4 billion in 2022.
• International travelers spent $997 million in 2023, up 9.5% from the previous year.
• Visitors to North Carolina generated nearly $4.5 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2023. The total represents a 5.8% increase from 2022.
• State tax receipts from visitor spending rose 5.6% to $1.3 billion in 2023.
• Local tax receipts grew 5.4% to $1.2 billion.
• Direct tourism employment in North Carolina increased 4.8% to 227,224.
• Direct tourism payroll increased 6.6% to nearly $9.3 billion.
• Visitors spend more than $97 million per day in North Carolina. That spending adds $7.1 million per day to state and local tax revenues (about $3.7 million in state taxes and $3.4 million in local taxes).
• Each North Carolina household saved $518 on average in state and local taxes as a direct result of visitor spending in the state. Savings per capita averaged $239.
• Each North Carolina household saved $518 on average in state and local taxes as a direct result of visitor spending in the state. Savings per capita averaged $239.
• North Carolina hosted about 43 million visitors in 2023.
Downtown Sylva. File photo
Leave nature to tend to itself
To the Editor:
Thank you Gwen Landt and the Edith Allen Wildlife Sanctuary for caring for animals in need. We leave our field/meadow alone so deer can bed down and does can safely raise their fawns. As conveyed in the article, understanding the relationship between a doe and her fawn is important. She will find a safe place for it, then leave the fawn for long periods of time to get nourishment only to come back hours later to feed and move it. Anyone who thinks this fawn has been abandoned is mistaken. A doe will not roam far from her fawn and while you may not see her, she is always keeping an eye on it. Please do not try to extricate a fawn from its mother.
I agree there are cases when an animal needs help, but knowing if/when human intervention is appropriate is essential. Mrs. Landt pointed out that most of the injuries to fawns are the result of human action.
So, what can we do to minimize the number of animals in need of rehabilitation? It’s simple actually — the best thing we can do is not bush hog fields during the timeframe animals heavily use these areas to raise their young. Animals need nature as it is. The most insightful information I’ve come across is in a subsection of a book chapter on fields/meadows titled “Benign Neglect,” namely — leave nature anlone. Nature knows best how to take care of itself. It does not need our help (i.e., however well-intentioned, we often make things worse). Not only is a field/meadow full of beautiful native grasses, flowers and milkweed, it is also home to a multitude of animals (butterflies, bees, spiders, sparrows, field mice, moles, rabbits, ground nesting birds, deer) all of whom depend on each other and, like us, should not be simply trying to survive but should have the opportunity to thrive.
K. Otto, Clyde
Don’t be a puppet to another’s will
To
the Editor:
In a recent editorial a Western North Carolina minister says he doesn’t understand why some North Carolinians, who profess to be Christians, vote for a man who demonstrates again and again, that he respects no Christian principles. The simple answer is, they are Christians in name only. But a deeper reason is that possibly their minds have been manipulated. Western North Carolinians are basically honest and friendly people. But, why then can they back a politician who is the opposite?
The mind is a wonderful gift for humanity. We can use it to solve problems and invent new things, which we have done for centuries.
LETTERS
But it can easily be controlled. The mind is like the breath. We do not usually think about breathing as much as breathing simply takes place. Of course, we can hold our breath but quickly the body begins breathing again. The mind is like that too. We can use our minds to figure out things, but mostly thoughts come and go all day long without our input. Some people even have trouble going to sleep at night; their minds remain active and don’t let them. In other words, we can control our minds, but mostly our minds control us. Or other people can control our minds.
As Evita Echol (and many, many others) have pointed out, “Until you realize how easy it is for you to be manipulated, you remain the puppet of someone else’s game.”
The world produces people who are excellent at controlling other people’s minds. In other words, they are “master manipulators.” One such manipulator was Adolf Hitler, who managed to manipulate an entire society to do things they normally wouldn’t think of doing.
ue working for the American people and accomplishing your goals. I do believe your presidency has been one the most productive and beneficial in our country’s history. You led us out of the COVID pandemic with the strongest rebound in the world shown by
ones who feel enlightened and often think those who don’t get it are spiritually blind. I have heard it said that people who can’t find God are like a thieves who can’t find a policeman. We all have questions and we, with our pea brains, wouldn’t understand it all if God
Another more recent example is the riots of January 6 at our capitol. People were killed and property destroyed. When interviewed, several of those involved said things like, “I don’t know what made me do that.” “That ain’t who I am.” “I guess I just got carried away by the moment.” An explanation is that their minds were controlled by a master manipulator. The curious, but sad, fact is that it was the manipulated who faced jail time and heavy fines, while the manipulator went free.
Aren’t you tired of being a robot in someone else’s drama? Then buck up your courage. Stand strong for your principles rather than being a puppet of someone else’s game.
Paul Strop Waynesville
A thank you to Joe Biden
To the Editor:
You have done something rare in American politics putting the needs of the country above your own by ending your run for a second term. I agree with your statement, “I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future all merited a second term, but nothing can come in the way of saving democracy. That includes personal ambition.”
When I first heard that you were stopping your campaign, I was relieved, but then quickly I was sad that you will not be able to contin-
higher growth, lower unemployment and lower inflation than any other industrial nation, while avoiding a predicted recession. Today America is in its strongest position over China in years. Our economy is driving the world’s growth and we are stronger militarily than we have been in years, making us the envy of our friends and enemies. You renewed our global partnerships, strengthening NATO and supporting Ukraine.
These concrete accomplishments are important, but also vitally important is the tone you have set for the nation. These days, it is easy to question whether we still believe in honesty, decency, respect, justice and democracy. You have modeled those for us. Thank you, Joe Biden, and Godspeed.
Al Brady Highlands
The wisdom of the First Amendment
To the Editor:
I am still trying to figure out Dave Webster’s motive for telling your readers about his personal journey and I would like to know what his comments have to do with the First Amendment. Sounds like he is trying to defend his non-belief in the Bible. Because a person accepts the Word doesn’t mean he is ignorant, brainwashed or not enlightened. So funny.
Christians who believe in the Bible are the
sat us down and talked to us one on one. For the skeptics like Dave, I would recommend three good books, “Evidence Demands a Verdict,” “More Than a Carpenter” or “Answers to Tough Questions” by Josh McDowell.
McDowell was a college professor who mocked his fellow professors who believed the Bible. He was so exasperated with them that he set out to study the matter in order to prove his colleagues were wrong. The result was he became a Christian and is now a noted author and speaker and leader in the area of apologetics. I know brilliant people from all walks of life and all nationalities who believe the Bible. Many have become martyrs of the faith. They believe they have truly been enlightened. We face division in our nation. Those who believe in the Bible and use it for the basis of their moral compass and truth and those who don’t. When there isn’t an accepted moral basis by society then everyone does what is right in his own eyes to gratify self. The result is millions of opinions. A true Christian goes to the Bible to see what God says is right and what is wrong. Christians know the book is not a list of do’s and don’ts to make our life miserable, but is a guide book from the Father to keep us out of trouble and show us how to live life to the fullest. My faith supports the First Amendment. No one can dictate matters of the heart. On that, Dave and I agree.
Dayna Austin Waynesville
Mission in the Rain
ABSam Grisman Project to play Earl Scruggs Fest
Wwanted to start his band, aptly titled the Sam Grisman Project (SGP), he had one simple goal in mind.
“I’ve always wanted to play bass in a great band full of my friends,” Grisman said. “And I’ve been a bass player in many bands over the years, but never had much creative input regarding what material was being played.”
Formed in Grisman’s native California, the ensemble is a melodic crossroads of Americana, bluegrass, folk and indie stylings — all of which anchored by the searing tubthumping bass notes flowing out of Grisman’s fingertips.
“I don’t have much room or time in my life to be anyone but my unabashed self,” Grisman said. “And I have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for sharing music and building community with folks who are positive and focused on sharing that positivity — we just want to play great music and have a great time.”
Grisman took deep inspiration for not only the SGP, but also what he wants and desires within a life spent immersing in the ancient act that is creating and performing music, from his father, legendary mandolinist David “Dawg” Grisman — the founder of what’s come to be known as “Dawg Music,” this intricate, innovative blend of bluegrass, folk and jazz textures.
“I really do feel like one of the luckiest people on the planet when I reflect on my almost comically musically-privileged childhood,”
kid growing up in Mill Valley, California, he would often watch his father jam out in the family’s living room with David’s dear friend and longtime collaborator, the late Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.
“Many of these early memories are of my dad and Jerry working on some of their favorite familiar material of all kinds,”
Grisman said. “I wanted to start a project that was reverent to the spirit of the musical friendship of Dawg and Jerry and a band that could do that material justice but also could go in any direction we pleased.”
Grisman conjured the SGP into fruition during the summer of 2022, with touring beginning in early 2023. Diving headlong into the endless rabbit hole of traditional bluegrass, folk, blues, country and roots numbers, SGP also pays homage to Old & In the Way, the shortlived 1970s acoustic supergroup.
“It’s also been a special treat to get to explore different corners of these catalogs of material with so many different musi-
Want to go?
songs but also bring so much of themselves to
At the core of SGP is a keen knowledge, appreciation and approach to the “high, lonesome sound” that is bluegrass music. So just what is it about bluegrass — whether sonically, emotionally, spiritually or otherwise — that really sets it apart from other genres?
“Bluegrass songs can be simple yet aphoristic, and that’s something that has always resonated with me,” Grisman said. “Bluegrass is a completely unpretentious music, and its pioneers — Bill Monroe, Ralph & Carter Stanley, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Red Allen, Jim & Jesse and The Osborne Brothers, to name a few — all brought fearless individuali-
ty and comfortable creativity to their catalogs of music.”
That haunting, moreover soothing, tone and emotional connectivity at the heart of bluegrass and acoustic music is something SGP chases each chance it gets to hop up onstage — somewhere, anywhere, anytime, anyplace — and just see where the music, more so the moment, takes them and the audience.
“Although it can be challenging, I love playing completely acoustically. There’s nothing quite like it. You’re completely vulnerable,” Grisman said. “There is something special about any idiom that can be experienced by both the audience and the musicians without any sort of amplification or electricity; you [can] really hear the intricacies and tonal qualities of all of the instruments in the room.”
Quickly making a name for itself on the national touring circuit, SGP remains on this whirlwind trajectory of passion and purpose — this ever-growing music family of sights and sounds.
“I suppose each musician or performer has their own role. I feel mine is to play the bass and constantly strive to curate a quality evening of music that demonstrates some of the awesome healing, humbling, teaching, connecting power that songs can have,” Grisman said. “I will try to leave my ears and heart open so that I can hear as many great songs as I can possibly encounter whilst here on earth — learn my favorite ones and share them with whoever is willing to listen.”
The seemingly never-ending tour dates and miles ticking away along the highways and backroads of America are a continual spark of inspiration and invigoration for the SGP.
“Everywhere is a little different, and everyone brings something new to the potluck. I love connecting with new friends at each of these shows and learning about where people’s passion for these songs comes from,” Grisman said. “There are people of all ages, backgrounds, shapes, sizes, colors and creeds who come together and commune with each other over this music that we are lucky enough to honor and it is an awesome privilege to get to participate in a community that celebrates kindness and individuality.”
The annual Earl Scruggs Music Festival will be held Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring. Headliners will include Old Crow Medicine Show, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Tanya Tucker, Peter Rowan & Sam Grisman Project, Lindsay Lou, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Steeldrivers, The Earls of Leicester, Mighty Poplar, Pony Bradshaw, Darrell Scott’s String Band and much more. For more information, a full schedule of artists and/or to purchase tickets, go to earlscruggsmusicfest.com.
The Sam Grisman Project will play Tryon Sept. 1.
Sam Grisman (center). File photos
This must be the place
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
‘And if your cans are redhot and you can’t hold them in your hands, just use good old railroad gloves, that’s all’
Getting out of bed Sunday morning, I moseyed over to the kitchen and readied the things needed for a delicious breakfast on a lazy, hazy day of midsummer. Coffee (with whip cream). Eggs. Red peppers. Onions. Fresh loaf of bread. Cast iron skillet. Slice. Dice. Crack. Mix accordingly. Two plates for her (Sarah) and I. Eat with gusto.
And as I was slicing and dicing the peppers and onions, tossing the contents onto the hot skillet, soon to crack the eggs into the beautiful concoction, my mind started drifting to a clip I came across while scrolling through Instagram earlier.
It was before Sarah was awake. I was alone in the silence of a peaceful moment in our humble abode apartment in downtown Waynesville. Before the hustle and bustle of Russ Avenue in motion in real time. Before the rest of society awakens into another day. It was comedian and existentialist philosopher Duncan Trussell, a voice of the modern era who intrigues me greatly and also puts my restless soul at ease with his purposely simple, yet effective words about the “here and now.”
In the clip, he goes, “You don’t need to evolve. Actually, the evolution is just realizing where you’re at right now is perfect. That’s the evolution. It’s letting go of the fantasy of some future, better version of you and loving yourself right now. Instead of crucifying yourself on what you should be or could be. This is perfect. Not just the nice parts of you — the whole spectrum is great.”
With all the running around that I’ve been doing this summer (and for years on end now), either on assignment or merely in search of what adventures lie just beyond the horizon, it’s nice to not be in a hurry today, to sit and enjoy this breakfast, this moment with Sarah. Plans are in the works to grill out and play cards later with some dear friends in town, folks I’ve missed a lot, especially when I’m out and about roaming this vast country of ours.
While the ingredients simmered in the skillet and I took another sip of the coffee (with whip cream), I couldn’t help but think of this poem I wrote one quiet, lonely morning, in this same humble abode apartment in Waynesville, when I was yearning for the next step, perhaps subsequent chapter of my life to emerge and unfold. As I tracked down the poem, it dawned on me that I
wrote it almost 10 years ago exactly, when I was envisioning what the future may be.
“Rolling over in the morning bed
You rub my aching back
Chatter over who will make the coffee
Who will let the Labradors out to pee?
I relent with a smile and get up
Stretching, I look out onto the field of dew
The hardwood floors are cool under warmed toes
Of simple dreams and minds finally at ease
They roam the backyard looking for the spot
I roam the kitchen looking for the pot
French roast in favorite chipped mugs
One labeled ‘Garrett’
Ah, Seattle, someday I will return
And look for the proper edition
One labeled ‘Garret’
Handing you the warm darkness
I relent with a smile and lie down
Where were you when I was in the cold
Motel room in Gallup
Cramped loveseat in Deadwood
Damp tent in Newport
Smelly backseat in Salt Lake City
Dusty sleeping bag in Reno
Hurried rest area in Worcester
Silent guest room in Chattanooga?
I relent with a smile and turn to you
Your eyes, I now call home.”
(GKW 10/21/2014)
I remember that person from 10 years ago. It’s still me, obviously. But, at the same time, I’ve grown and aged, whether physically or emotionally. Each year in passing is like getting an eye exam and receiving a new pair of lenses, where things come into focus more since the last exam, the last pair of glasses received.
And, like clockwork in this serendipitous universe of ours, I find my interactions and happenstance moments amid this Sunday morning all connected somehow, especially when I wander over to my bookshelf and browse the Jack Kerouac section. Eternally filling the top row of the shelf, my collection of his works are now mostly beat up copies of the classics — “On the Road,” “The Dharma Bums, “Big Sur” — and numerous other titles of his extensive writings.
All of those Kerouac books were new when I first purchased them many years ago, when I would take off on my next road trip to somewhere, anywhere, only to peel back the pages with each passing mile on the highways and backroads of America. Eventually returning home, the fresh book spine and white pages now cracked and yellowed with experience and passing time, the book owner (me) overflowing with gratitude.
Flipping through “The Dharma Bums,” the pages were crinkled and dog-eared. A book that’s been in my travel bags for countless wanderings and ponderings. Soon, I came across a forgotten poem of mine, which I wrote on the inside of the blank
HOT PICKS
1
Beloved Western North Carolina storyteller and folklorist Gary Carden will celebrate the release of his new book, “Stories I Lived to Tell: An Appalachian Memoir,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at the Jackson County Public Library Community Room in Sylva.
2
The “An Appalachian Evening” series will continue with a performance by The Kruger Brothers at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, in Lynn L. Shields Auditorium at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville.
3
A special production of “Inherit the Wind” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16-17, 22-24 and 2 p.m. Aug. 18 and 25 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
4
The Haywood Community Band (HCB) will host its “Summer Fun” concert at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, at the Calvary Road Baptist Church in Maggie Valley.
5
The annual “Concerts on the Creek” music series will feature indie/soul rockers Shane Meade & The Sound at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva.
back cover of the book. It states I wrote the poem on Sept. 18, 2020, while sitting at The Copper Whiskey Bar & Grill in Bozeman, Montana. I was 35 at the time.
“I could throw a football from one side of this bar to the other
It would be a justified heave of athleticism and creative merit
Bozeman, Montana, and writing on the back page of this book
A wrinkled and yellow book I’ve owned since college
Where dreams were formed that I’m still chasing
At 35 (now) and at 21 (then) and counting
The stereo speakers over the bar blare music
By bands I’ve interviewed (some of which I now call friends)
22 years old and starting a newspaper gig as a rookie journalist
2008 and small paychecks, small apartments
And an old pickup to complete the job
35 years old and small apartments
And an old pickup to complete the job
But the paychecks are bigger (slightly)
Big enough to buy a dozen footballs to throw
Across this cowboy bourbon bar
To order the farm-to-table beef-n-bacon burger
And Angel’s Envy on the rocks (big ice ball)
Without a care in doing so
For the bill will be paid with the written word
Maybe someday these words, too.”
Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.
Porch 40 returns to the stage
‘An Appalachian Evening’
The “An Appalachian Evening” series will continue with a performance by The Kruger Brothers at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, in Lynn L. Shields Auditorium at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville.
Since their formal introduction to American audiences in 1997, The Kruger Brothers’ remarkable discipline, creativity and their ability to infuse classical music into folk music has resulted in a unique sound that has made them a fixture within the world of acoustic music.
In their ever-expanding body of work — featuring Swiss brothers Jens Kruger (banjo and vocals) and Uwe Kruger (guitar and lead vocals), and Joel Landsberg (bass and vocals) — The Kruger Brothers personify the spirit of exploration and innovation that forms the core of the American musical tradition. Their original music is crafted around their discerning taste — the result unpretentious, cultivated and delightfully fresh.
Tickets are $30 for adults, $10 for students grade K-12. Dinner will also be available for purchase in the Schoolhouse Cafe starting at 6 p.m.
For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.479.3364 or go to stecoahvalleycenter.com.
After an extended hiatus, one of Western North Carolina’s most popular rock acts, Porch 40, will host a special performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Lazy Hiker Brewing outpost in downtown Sylva.
When you place the Jackson County ensemble’s melodies against the likes of Elvis Costello, Dave Matthews Band and Maroon 5, you can precisely see and hear the similar sonic blueprints Porch 40 is working with.
“We’ve always strived to be a mixed bag stylistically and we’ve been getting more comfortable pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone,” Porch 40 bassist Carter McDevitt told The Smoky Mountain News in 2019. “We’ve never been afraid to try new genres, new sounds and new song structures. We love what we do and we’re not tired of experimenting with it.”
Admission is $10 at the door. Special guest Positive Mental Attitude (rock/reggae) will open the show. For more information, call 828.349.2337 or go to lazyhikerbrewing.com.
Ready for ‘Summer Fun’?
The Haywood Community Band (HCB) will host its “Summer Fun” concert at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, at the Calvary Road Baptist Church in Maggie Valley.
Other show dates at the Calvary Road Baptist Church include the “Scares & Legends” 6:30 p.m. Sept. 15.
There will also be HCB performances at 4 p.m. Aug. 25 at Stuart Auditorium in Lake Junaluska (“All Summer Long”) and 4 p.m. Oct. 20 at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville (“Frightacular”).
All shows are free and open to the public. Donations encouraged, with proceeds helping support music camps and college scholarships for students.
For more information, please visit haywoodcommunityband.com.
Cashiers gets the blues
Americana/folk singer-songwriter
Woolybooger will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at Whiteside Brewing in Cashiers.
Dubbed “music to grow your hair out to,” the Murphy musician, whose real name is Gavin Graves, is well-regarded in this region for his mix of blues and roots music into a unique Southern Appalachian tone. Free and open to the public. 828.743.6000 or whitesidebrewing.com.
‘Concerts on the Creek’
The Town of Sylva, Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department and Jackson County Chamber of Commerce are proud to present the 15th season of the annual “Concerts on the Creek” music series.
Indie/soul rockers Shane Meade & The Sound will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. Hailing from Elkins, West Virginia, Meade is a self-taught late bloomer who borrowed an old guitar from his father. He began playing and writing songs in the summer of 2000 before relocating to Florida, eventually leaving the corporate world and pursuing music full-time in 2005.
“Concerts on the Creek” are held every Friday night from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Everyone is encouraged to bring a chair or blanket. These events are free, but donations are encouraged. Dogs must be on a leash. No smoking, vaping, coolers or tents are allowed. There will be food trucks on site for this event.
For more information, call the chamber at 828.586.2155, visit mountainlovers.com/concerts-on-the-creek or go to the “Concerts on the Creek” Facebook page.
Kruger Brothers will play Robbinsville Aug. 17. File photo
Shane Meade. File photo
Woolybooger. File photo
Porch 40 will play Sylva Aug. 24. File photo
Haywood Community Band will play Maggie Valley Aug. 18. File photo
On the beat
shows begin at 6 p.m. 866.526.8008 / oldedwardshospitality.com/orchardsessions.
• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will host Steady Hand String Band Aug. 16 and Southern Highland Band Aug. 23 at Town Square on Main Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.
• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Tuesdays Jazz Series w/We Three Swing at 5:30 p.m. each week, Different Light Aug. 16, Texas Peat Aug. 17, Kevin Dolan & Paul Koptak 3 p.m. Aug. 18, Color Machine Aug. 22, 81 Drifters Aug. 23, Tricia Ann Band Aug. 24 and Syrrup 3 p.m. Aug. 25. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 / froglevelbrewing.com.
• Frog Quarters (Franklin) will host live music from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays w/Jim Corbett (singer-songwriter) Aug. 17 and Barry Roma (oldies) Aug. 24. Free and open to the public. Located at 573 East Main St. 828.369.8488 / littletennessee.org.
• Groovin’ on the Green (Cashiers) will host Martin & Kelly Aug. 16 and Pretty Little Goat (Americana/ bluegrass) Aug. 30. Shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. villagegreencashiersnc.com/concerts.
• Happ’s Place (Glenville) will host Blue Jazz (blues/jazz) Aug. 16, Dillon & Company Aug. 17, Doug Ramsey (singer-songwriter/karaoke) Aug. 19, Kayla McKinney Aug. 22, Alamo Band Aug. 23, Rock Holler Aug. 24 and Doug Ramsey (singer-songwriter/karaoke) Aug. 26. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.742.5700 / happsplace.com.
• Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host “One Night With The King: A Tribute To Elvis” 7:30 p.m. Aug. 24. caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.
acclaimed Haywood County bluegrass group Balsam Range, Nicholson now spends his time recording, writing new songs and performing, either solo or with his popular band. Admission is $35 per person. For tickets and reservations, go to cataloocheeranch.com/ranch-events/live-music.
• Highlander Mountain House (Highlands) will host “Blues & Brews” on Thursday evenings, “Sunday Bluegrass Residency” from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Caleb Caudle & The Sweet Critters (Americana/folk) 8:30 p.m. Aug. 29 ($25 per person). 828.526.2590 / highlandermountainhouse.com.
• Highlands Performing Arts Center will host Chi-Town (Chicago tribute/classic rock) 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15. 828.526.9047 / highlandsperformingarts.com.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Bryan & Al (yacht rock/acoustic) Aug. 16, Shane Meade & The Sound (rock/soul) Aug. 17, Karaoke w/ Spoon Aug. 23 and Lewandahl Duo (Motown/ R&B) Aug. 24. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 / lazyhikerbrewing.com.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host “Music Bingo” 6:30 p.m. Mondays, The Remnants (rock) Aug. 16, Lewandahl Duo (Motown/R&B) Aug. 23 and “Lazy Hiker Sylva Outpost Fifth Anniversary Party” w/Porch 40 (rock/funk) & Positive Mental Attitude (rock/reggae) Aug. 24 ($10 cover). All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 / lazyhikerbrewing.com.
• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host a “Community Music Jam” 6 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month and Celtic Road (Irish/Scottish) 7 p.m. Aug. 25. Free and open to the public. All musicians and music lovers are welcome. 828.488.3030 / fontanalib.org.
• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host “Open Mic Night” w/Frank Lee every
Wednesday, Scott James Stambaugh (singersongwriter) Aug. 16, Terry Haughton (singersongwriter) 5 p.m. Aug. 18, The Dirty French Broads (Americana) Aug. 24 and Mountain Gypsy (Americana) 5 p.m. Aug. 25. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 / mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.
• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host Whitney Monge (singer-songwriter) 5 p.m. Aug. 16, The Get Right Band (rock/soul) 5 p.m. Aug. 23, The Lefties 1 p.m. Aug. 24 and Whitewater Bluegrass Co. (Americana/bluegrass) 5 p.m. Aug. 24. Free and open to the public. 828.785.5082 / noc.com.
• Peacock Performing Arts Center (Hayesville) will host “Peace Of Woodstock” (classic rock) 7:30 p.m. Aug. 17 ($46.50 adults, $41.50 seniors/students/military, $12.50 ages 8 and under). All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.389.ARTS / thepeacocknc.org.
• Pickin’ In The Park (Canton) will host Hill Country (band) & J Creek Cloggers (dancers) Aug. 16 and Misty Mountain (band) & Green Valley (cloggers) Aug. 23. Shows are 6-9 p.m. at the Canton Rec Park located at 77 Penland. Free and open to the public. cantonnc.com/pickin-in-the-park.
• Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Macon County Line (country/southern rock) Aug. 24. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo in downtown. Free and open to the public. franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html.
• Pub 319 (Waynesville) will host Lauren Southers (singer-songwriter) Aug. 15, The Two Armadillos
Thursday of the month, The Kruger Brothers (Americana/bluegrass) Aug. 17 ($30 adults, $10 students) and Samantha Snyder (Americana/ folk) Aug. 24 ($18 adults, $10 students). All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.479.3364 / stecoahvalleycenter.com.
• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Blue (Americana) Aug. 15 (free), Dirty South Band Aug. 16 (free), Topper Aug. 17, Mountain Gypsy (Americana) Aug. 22 (free), Macon County Line Aug. 23 and Lori & The Freighshakers (classic rock/country gold) Aug. 24. All shows are $5 at the door unless otherwise noted and begin at 8 p.m. 828.538.2488 / unpluggedpub.com.
• Valley Cigar & Wine Co. (Waynesville) will host Rene Russell (Americana) 2 p.m. Aug. 17, Dick Dickerson (acoustic/rock) 2 p.m. Aug. 18 and Amos Jackson (Motown) 5:30 p.m. Aug. 23. Free and open to the public. 828.944.0686 / valleycigarandwineco.com.
• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host JR Williams (Americana) Aug. 16, Woolybooger (folk/blues) Aug. 17, Karen Clardy (singersongwriter) Aug. 23 and Shane Meade (singersongwriter) Aug. 24. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.743.6000 / whitesidebrewing.com.
• Find more at smokymountainnews.com/arts
On the street
• Grumpy Bear Campground & RV Park (Bryson City) will host a “Native American Show” 6 p.m. on Saturdays. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. 828.788.2095 or grumpybearcampground.com.
Darren Nicholson will play Maggie Valley Aug. 17. File photo
Experience ‘Textures’ at Haywood Arts
The Haywood County Arts Council’s (HCAC) latest exhibit, “Textures,” will run through Sept. 1 at the HCAC gallery on Main Street in downtown Waynesville.
Showcasing a rich tapestry of artistic mediums including ceramics, woodwork, felt, mosaic, fabric, macrame, collage and more, this diversified exhibition promises to have something for every art enthusiast.
• “August Makers Market” will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, in The Lineside at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Local arts/crafts vendors and more. Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.
• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host “ArtWorks” at 1 p.m. every second Thursday of the month, with the next workshop being Aug. 8. Come create your own masterpiece. The materials for art works are supplied and participants are welcome to bring ideas and supplies to share with each other. Free and open to the public. To register, please call the library at 828.488.3030 or email vroberson@fontanalib.org.
• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host a “Summer Artisan Market” from noon to 5 p.m. the second Saturday of the month (May-September). Free and open to the public. noc.com.
• “Art & Artisan Walk” will be held from 5-8 p.m. every third Thursday of the month (MayDecember) in Bryson City. Stroll the streets in the evening and discover handcrafted items, artwork, jewelry, pottery, antiques and more. Look for the yellow and blue balloons identifying participating businesses hosting artists. greatsmokies.com.
• “Art After Dark” will be held from 6-9 p.m. each first Friday of the month (May-December) in downtown Waynesville. Main Street trans-
For more information, go to haywoodarts.org.
Macon Library art display, fundraiser
There will be a special showcase of the Grace Johnson art collection and a fundraiser reception for the Friends of the Library from 4-6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.
Johnson spent much of her retirement
forms into an evening of art, live music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open later for local residents and visitors alike. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, go to downtownwaynesville.com.
• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host an adult arts and crafts program at 1 p.m. every second Thursday of the month. Ages 16 and up. Space is limited to 10 participants. Free and open to the public. To register, call 828.488.3030 or email vroberson@fontanalib.org.
• CRE828 (Waynesville) will offer a selection of art classes and workshops at its studio located at 1283 Asheville Road. Workshops will include art journaling, watercoloring, mixed media, acrylic painting and more. For a full list of classes, go to cre828.com. For more information on CRE828, email dawn@cre828.com or call 828.283.0523.
• Gallery Zella (Bryson City) will be hosting an array of artist receptions, exhibits and showcases. The gallery is open from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. For more information, go to galleryzella.com or call 517.881.0959.
• Waynesville Photography Club meets at 7 p.m. every third Monday each month on the second floor of the Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center in Clyde. The club is a nonprofit organization that exists for the enjoyment of photography and the improvement of one’s skills. They welcome photographers of all skill levels to
HART to present ‘Inherit the Wind’
A special production of “Inherit the Wind” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16-17, 22-24 and 2 p.m. Aug. 18 and 25 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
years volunteering with the Friends of the Library. Her family is exhibiting some of the art she collected throughout her career, which took her to Vietnam, Korea, Germany, Grenada and Iran, as well as numerous stateside locations.
The art will be on display throughout the month of August and available for bidding to raise funds for the Friends of the Library. Refreshments will be served at the fundraiser reception.
For more information, 828.524.3600 or fontanalib.org.
share ideas and images at the monthly meetings. For more information, email waynesvillephotoclub@charter.net or follow them on Facebook: Waynesville Photography Club.
• Haywood County Arts Council (Waynesville) will offer a wide-range of classes, events and activities for artisans, locals and visitors. The HCAC gallery is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. For more information and a full schedule, go to haywoodarts.org.
• Jackson County Green Energy Park (Dillsboro) will be offering a slew of classes, events and activities for artisans, locals and visitors. For more information and a full schedule, go to jcgep.org.
• Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center (Bryson City) will host an array of workshops for adults and kids. For more information on the upcoming classes and/or to signup, go to southwesterncc.edu/scclocations/swain-center.
• Dogwood Crafters in Dillsboro will offer a selection of upcoming art classes and workshops. For more information and a full schedule of activities, or call 828.586.2248 or go to dogwoodcrafters.com/classes.
• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center (Franklin) will host semi-regular arts and crafts workshops. For more information, go to coweeschool.org/events.
On the table ALSO:
• “Rivers & Brews” small town craft brewers festival will be held Aug. 23-24 at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the Nantahala Gorge. Live music, food and craft beer. For more information, a full schedule of events and ticket pricing, go to noc.com/events/rivers-and-brews.
• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host a craft beer tasting with SweetWater Brewing from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23. Free and open to the public. 828.246.9320 / blueridgebeerhub.com.
• “Mater Fest” will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. The event celebrates the tomato harvest with live music, vendors, dreamwhips, food trucks, watermelon eating contest, bounce houses, and other activities. For more information, email hotheadevents@gmail.com.
• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. For more information on upcoming events, wine tastings and special dinners, go to waynesvillewine.com.
• “Take A Flight” with four new wines every Friday and Saturdays at the Bryson City Wine Market. Select from a gourmet selection of charcuterie to enjoy with your wines. Educational classes and other events are also available. For more information, call 828.538.0420.
• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. There will also be a special “Beer Train” on select dates. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or go to gsmr.com.
• Highlands Performing Arts Center will host semi-regular stage productions on the weekends. For more information, a full schedule of events and/or to purchase tickets, go to highlandsperformingarts.com. On the stage
“Inherit the Wind” is a gripping courtroom drama that delves into the historic 1925 Scopes trial with a battle of wits, exploring the clash between tradition and progress in a small-town that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Tickets start at $18 and up, with group discounts available. To purchase tickets, call the HART Box Office at 828.456.6322 or go to harttheatre.org. HART Box Office hours are TuesdayFriday from noon to 5 p.m. HART is located at 250 Pigeon St. in Waynesville.
• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host a stage production of “On A Dream & A Wish: A Royal Celebration” 7 p.m. Aug. 23-24. Come dressed as your favorite hero or princess and join in the opening parade, festivities and a dance party finale. This event will take place outdoors. Patrons are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets. Concessions will be available. In the event of rain, this event will be moved indoors. Presented by The Overlook Theatre Company. Admission is $12. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 866.273.4615 or go to smokymountainarts.com.
• Peacock Performing Arts Center (Hayesville) will host semi-regular stage productions on the weekends. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays unless otherwise noted. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to thepeacocknc.org or call 828.389.ARTS.
‘An Imaginative Proclivity’: Gary Carden and “Stories I Lived to Tell”
In “Stories I Lived to Tell: An Appalachian Memoir” (The University of North Carolina Press, 2024, 152 pages), 89year-old storyteller and writer Gary Carden spends much of his time revisiting his youth and childhood. At one point, reminiscing about the years he spent in Sylva Elementary School, Carden writes of his best friend of the time, Charley K., and how they wound up together because of what their teachers described as their “imaginative proclivity,” which was “teachers’ talk for saying that we were weird in the same way.”
gious fanatic. I had a hero!”
Enticed by a girl he had a crush on, nineyear-old Carden became a member of the Methodist Youth Fellowship. “So, against all odds,” he writes, “a runty little fellow who lived in Rhodes Cove with his grandparents became Jack Frost in the Christmas Pageant at the town church.” On that stage he discov-
After his father was murdered by a drunkard and his mother left home when Carden was two, he was raised by his paternal grandparents. Like his teachers, they also thought of him as a “quare young’en.” Often, too, they urged him to fight his “bad blood,” the genes he’d inherited from his mother and her side of the family.
In the 43 stories in Carden’s book, we see again and again how his grandparents, other relatives, and neighbors might have seen him as an unusual child. He reads comic books and lets them take his imagination worlds away. He watches movies and then acts them out, swinging from a rope in the barn and shouting like Tarzan, or later, trying to become Rudolph Valentino, mimicking the Hollywood star’s pouty lips and even learning to tango. “I was seventeen years old and I thought I was seeing magic,” he writes, remembering the time he saw the movie “Valentino” in 1952. “I guess I was a prime candidate to become a devoted fan, and so it was. I emerged from the Ritz like some reli-
ered he liked being the center of attention. When the play was over, his newfound fame faded until Betsy, the girl of his affections, asked him to tell tales from the movie Westerns he’d seen.
“And so it began,” says Carden, “I learned to tell stories to my classmates, acting out all of the exciting parts…like when Lash was ambushed by some gunfighter hid in the jack pines, or when he stood off an Indian raid with nothing but his whip. When my classmates cheered, I knew that I had found my place.”
• Todd May will share his new book, “Should We Go Extinct? A Philosophical Dilemma for Our Unbearable Times,” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, at Ciaty Lights Bookstore in Sylva. These days it’s harder than ever to watch TV, scroll social media or even just sit at home looking out of the window without contemplating the question at the heart of May’s latest work. Free and open to the public. 828.586.9499 or citylightsnc.com.
ALSO:
• Les Brown will read from his new poetry collection, “A Coming of Storms,” at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. Much of his writing is inspired by his growing up on a valley farm in northern McDowell County. His poetry has been published by journals such as Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Main Street Rag, and Still: The Journal. Brown is also a Pushcart Nominee and winner of the Poet Laureate Award of the NCPS. Free and open to the public. 828.586.9499 or citylightsnc.com.
• Storyteller and folklorist Gary Carden will celebrate the release of his new book, “Stories I Lived to Tell: An Appalachian Memoir,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at the Jackson County Public Library Community Room in Sylva. Carden will be signing books at the conclusion of the event. City Lights Bookstore will be selling books before and after the event. To pre-order a copy, call City Lights at 828.586.9499 or email more@citylightsnc.com.
In addition to his sketches of boyhood and adventures and people he knew, “Stories I Lived to Tell” also gives readers a feeling for life in mid-century rural and small-town America. He also slips bits of Appalachian history into this tapestry of tales, like his account of the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a settlement of former slaves which prospered for several decades after the Civil War near Tuxedo, North Carolina, and which fell victim to the coming of the railroad and its own success. And as we become acquainted with his broad knowledge of literature and film, we realize that this acclaimed storyteller possesses talents hidden behind his reputation as a raconteur of Appalachia. Concealed as well in this collection of tales are some precepts and tutorials for parents and our culture at large, some advice on raising children so casually tucked away that I’m not sure even Carden or his publishers were aware of them. All that storytelling he heard from family members as an adolescent, all the movies he watched and the comic books he read, all his imaginative free play, all the time he spent outside in the woods and fields: add these together, and you have the exact formula for bringing up healthy children that psychologists and writers like Jonathan Haidt in “The Anxious Generation” find missing in childhood today.
Though I am 15 years younger than Carden, my own boyhood in the small town of Boonville, North Carolina, bears a strong resemblance to his descriptions of his life near Sylva. The only electronic screen in our house was the television. School and weather permitting, we spent hours every day romping around the town and in the woods, unregulated by adults and acting out movies we’d seen like “Moby Dick” or “The Alamo.”
Like Carden, my friends and I sometimes did dumb things, like blowing up now-banned M-80s unsupervised, or trying out homemade parachutes from a tree.
These were the streams and rivers that filled the seas of our imaginations.
Like his other books, “Stories I Lived to Tell” demonstrates Carden’s love for what William Faulkner once called “my own little postage stamp of native soil.” This love combined with his talents and imagination explains his decades-long success as a storyteller and as an ambassador of Appalachia.
As some older people I knew long ago in Boonville might have said, “You’ve done yourself proud, Mr. Carden.”
Thank you, Gary, for the gifts you’ve given the rest of us.
(Jeff Minick reviews books and has written four of his own: two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust On Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning As I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” minick0301@gmail.com.)
Writer Jeff Minick
Outdoors
What lies beneath
acre property of natural beauty, one filled with endless species of flowers and plants, this wondrous piece of earth welcoming the public with open arms — Winding Stair Farm & Nursery.
“If you want to make a difference, come with me,” Winding Stair General Manager Amanda Chappell said in a playful tone. “Let’s just go wander out there — I’ll show you.”
To preface, there’s many moving parts when it comes to Winding Stair. First, you have the nursery, with the retail space taking up five acres. The remaining four acres is the Valley Farm component, which cultivates certified naturally grown produce for sale at local farmers markets and area restaurants.
To note, Winding Stair was formerly the Spring Valley Nursery, a longtime beloved community business. The property’s current owners, Stacy Bredendieck and Greg Mullins, acquired the original nursery and transformed it into Winding Stair in 2017.
Behind the scenes at Winding Stair Farm & Nursery
It’s a great community place,’” Chappell said. “And, at the same time they purchased the nursery, they were also developing the Mountain Farm location.”
The five-acre Mountain Farm is located on West Old Murphy Road in Franklin. Besides raising sheep and chickens, it grows produce (squash, onions, cucumbers) to
of tomatoes, watermelons, peppers, lettuces, beans, potatoes and more. Recently, the Mountain Farm added its own grist mill.
Aside from that, there’s also the Winding Stair Farm Campground that’s connected to the Mountain Farm property. Located just off U.S. 64 near the Winding Stair Gap crossing of the Appalachian Trail,
Closed Sunday. For more information, call 828.369.9778.
As well, the Winding Stair Farm Campground is located at 7984 West Old Murphy Road in Franklin. For more information, call 828.283.4182 or email bookings@windingstairfarm.com.
To learn more, click on windingstairfarm.com.
the nine-acre property includes primitive camping and glamping options.
Before it was redeveloped by Bredendieck and Mullins, the property was formerly known as Rainbow Springs Campground, which was famously noted in Bill Bryson’s bestselling book, “A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail.”
“It’s this magical getaway,” Chappell said of the camp- F
Located in Franklin, the Winding Stair Farm & Nursery is home to a bevy of native plants and seemingly whatever else one might need for their homes, gardens and/or landscaping needs. Garret K. Woodward photos
But, beyond everything that Winding Stair is about, and also looking to do moving forward, the biggest underlying theme within the ethos of the business itself is one key word — education.
Alongside training its employees in the ways and means of running a nursery and/or farm, all with sincere hopes of those folks someday heading out into the world to plant their own roots, literally and figuratively, Winding Stair also aims to have continual programming throughout the year at the Valley Farm.
“We like to think of the farm as an incubator place for people where you can learn in this garden,” Chappell said.
From children’s workshops to teaching customers about the importance of native plants when one considers what they may or may not want to do with their property, the emphasis is squarely placed on responsible gardening in your own backyard.
“We’ll teach classes about elements in garden design, where people learn about how to plant a tree or what plants work best on a steep bank,” Chappell said. “But the answers that they’ll learn is with a native plant solution in mind.”
So, why native plants? Why must that be taken into consideration?
And for Chappell, one of the great joys of life is simply walking out of her office and immediately into the vast landscape of the nursery. It’s in that time and space where she observes butterflies swirling around the flowers and songbirds radiating nature’s melodies from high up in the trees cradling the property.
From children’s workshops to teaching customers about the importance of native plants when one considers what they may or may not want to do with their property, the emphasis is squarely placed on responsible gardening in your own backyard.
“‘Plant a garden for the planet’ is basically the way we talk about it,” Chappell said. “When you get that blank canvas [for a garden or landscape], let’s think about growing for the planet and not just for aesthetics. If you want the [native] pollinators, you need those [native] plants.”
“If I’m going to get away from my computer and walk around, that’s where I go — the native plant section,” Chappell said. “I’ll just go out there and fluff or clean the plants. And I’m very happy. There’s a reason ‘soul’ and ‘soil’ sound the same — being out here
annual
Saturday, Aug.
local
the day, vendors and live music by Rachel
and
be held from 11 a.m.
There will also be activities through-
from noon to 3 p.m. The Taqueria El Machete food truck will also be onsite from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free face painting with Franklin’s Painted Wonders will be from noon to 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. For more information and a full schedule of activities, go to windingstairfarm.com/nursery/events.
The fourth
“Family Fun Day: Playing with Pollinators” event will
to 3 p.m.
24, at the Winding Stair Farm & Nursery in Franklin. Visitors can interact with
nature buffs
experts.
out
Bellavance
Amanda Chappell. Garret K. Woodward photo
Winding Stair Farm & Nursery.
Garret K. Woodward photo
EcoFair comes to Waynesville
Come out to Grace Church in the Mountains of Waynesville Saturday, Aug. 17 for the Creation Care EcoFair, the theme of which is best practices for a healthy habitat.
Leading the event will be Rebecca Wall, a native landscaper.
The day begins at 9:30 a.m. with environmental exhibits under the tent and children’s nature arts and crafts. At 10:30 a.m., there will be a presentation on native landscaping. The day will wrap up from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with a Q&A with Wall.
Smokies Life welcomes new CEO Jacqueline Harp
Smokies Life, a nonprofit partner to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, announces Jacqueline Harp as its new chief executive officer. After a national search, Harp was selected and approved by the board of directors and will begin as CEO on Sept. 11, 2024. She assumes the role following the retirement of Laurel Rematore, whose strong leadership of more than eight years fostered an environment for Smokies Life retail, wholesale, membership and publishing programs to flourish, enriching the visitor experience for millions.
Harp joins Smokies Life after nearly 18 years with REI Co-op in various roles, most recently as its regional director for the southeastern United States, supporting retail locations in East Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. She brings to her new role extensive experience in the outdoor industry, proven strategic leadership skills, a strong operational management background and deep commitment to partnership development and community engagement. A nature and outdoor enthusiast who has completed the Southern Appalachian Naturalist Certificate Program at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, Harp is a lifelong advocate for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She also serves on the board of Nashville-based TennGreen Land Conservancy and is board chair of Chattanooga-based Lookout Mountain Conservancy. Smokies Life retained Potrero Group, a national strategy and executive search firm, to facilitate the CEO search. For more information on Potrero Group, visit PotreroGroup.com.
Cherokee hosts Qualla Country fishing tournament
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is welcoming anglers to the Qualla Country Fishing Tournament.
With a $15 entry fee and a two-day fishing permit ($17), covering both tournament days, anglers will be competing for a share of $20,000 in the pristine freestone streams of Cherokee (excluding the 2.2 miles of catch-and-release waters).
Tagged fish will be specially stocked for this event, and they can be redeemed for cash prizes at the Natural Resources Enforcement Office, 517 Sequoyah Trail, across the street from Cherokee Welcome Center off U.S. 441. Prize redemption hours are from 2-4 p.m. each tournament day, with a final tag turn-in time of 4 p.m. on day two.
The tournament will offer anglers a share of cash prizes. Donated photo
Register anywhere fishing licenses are sold or at fishcherokee.com by Friday, Aug. 23. Fishing hours are one hour before sunrise and end one hour after sunset each day. Open to all ages and for all legal fishing methods.
Fisheries & Wildlife Management reserves the right to cancel, reschedule, or amend any tournament or event due to catastrophes, pandemics, states of emergency, adverse weather, etc.
Want to fly fish?
Join Haywood County Recreation in Waynesville for a series of fly fishing expeditions, during which anglers of all skill levels can learn skills from local guides. Adult expeditions will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Aug. 20 and 27 and 8-10 a.m. Aug. 24 and 31. Kids/family expeditions will be available Thursdays from 3:30-5 p.m.
NPS recruiting trail crew volunteers, campground hosts and Clingman’s Dome rovers
Great Smoky Mountains National Park managers are recruiting volunteers for a variety of positions across the park. Opportunities include helping the trail crew rehabilitate two trails, serving as a campground host and providing information to visitors at Clingman’s Dome.
• TRAILS VOLUNTEERS:
Trails volunteers are needed every Wednesday at Ramsey Cascades Trail and every Thursday at Little Cataloochee Trail, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. now through September 2024.
Trails volunteers will perform a range of trail maintenance work, like installing drainage features, rehabilitating trail surfaces, constructing raised trail segments and removing brush. All trails volunteers must be able to hike at least three miles and safely perform strenuous and often difficult manual labor. Volunteers should be comfortable lifting heavy objects and using hand tools like shovels, rakes, axes and loppers.
The park will supply all safety gear, tools and equipment needed for the projects. Volunteers will need to wear long pants and sturdy, close-toed footwear and bring a day pack with food, water, rainwear and personal gear for the day. Volunteers must register in advance. Contact Trails and Facilities Volunteer Coordinator Adam Monroe by email (adam_monroe@nps.gov) or phone 828.497.1949 to sign up.
• CLINGMAN’S DOME ROVERS:
Clingman’s Dome rovers work closely with the NPS to accomplish the mission of informing and educating the public about Great Smoky Mountains National Park, particularly Clingman’s Dome, also known as Kuwohi. Rovers will provide visitors with accurate information about the natural and cultural history of the park, recreational and educational opportunities, area attractions and nearby trails. Rovers will be needed four hours per week.
Email Julie Flores (julie_flores@nps.gov) for more information.
• CAMPGROUND HOSTS:
Campground hosts are needed in campgrounds on the North Carolina side of the park. These opportunities require one to two months of service. A campground host’s primary duty is to assist rangers with operation of the campground and surrounding area in a manner that protects park resources and promotes a safe, enjoyable visitor experience. Campground host volunteers stay in the campground in their own RV or camper. Hosts keep rangers advised on conditions within the campground including vacancy status, problem visitors, illness or injury to visitors, hazardous conditions, weather conditions, wildlife observations and maintenance and supply needs.
Email Jackie Duhon (jackie_duhon@nps.gov) for more information about how to become a campground host.
Learn about Hellbenders with Highlands Biological Foundation
The Highlands Biological Foundation is hosting its final Zahner Conservation Lecture of the season. Lori Williams, a Wildlife Diversity Biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), will present “All About Hellbenders!”
Williams will introduce the audience to one of the most unique Appalachian treasures, the Eastern Hellbender. Her talk will cover the life history, ecology and habitat of these fascinating creatures, as well as the threats they face and the conservation
efforts underway in North Carolina to protect them. Attendees will be treated to captivating underwater video clips of hellbenders in their natural habitat and will get to meet Rocky, NCWRC’s resident species ambassador — a live hellbender.
The event will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15.
Volunteers are needed to perform a range of trail maintenance work. Donated photo
Hellbenders are an Appalachian treasure. Lori Williams photo
Up Moses Creek
BY B URT KORNEGAY
This is the world!
Like some mountain man who’s happy in his holler, I’m happy to live up Moses Creek. It’s the right place to read, write and ramble in the woods around our house — the 3Rs of retirement for me. But sometimes, days having passed, and wondering how the water flows, I’ll drive down the creek to the Tuckasegee River, where the valley opens up and traffic rushes past, and looking around, I’ll think, “So, this is the world!”
So it was one morning this summer when, canoe on my truck, I drove on down to that part of the world called the Lumber River, in eastern North Carolina. I went to make a river trip. It’s my fourth R of retirement and one thing Moses Creek lacks.
Launching on the Lumber, I followed it through cypress swamps and mossy shade. I camped on the riverbank nights, bathed in the cool water, and, every morning, pushed off to the music of a thousand birds.
I heard piping titmice on the Lumber, trumpeting wrens, white-eyed vireos and parula warblers who ended every trill with an exclamatory “zip!” I heard pulsing cardinals, laughing pileated and churring red-bellied woodpeckers, the “sweet-sweet-sweet” of prothonotary warblers and bluebirds crying “poor me,” while thrushes warbled their wood notes wild, and towhees whistled, “Tow-Wheeee!” Day after day, I glided down a tree-lined concert hall waving my paddle like a baton, while an avian orchestral choir turned the Lumber into song.
Following the Lumber to its confluence with the Little Pee Dee, in South Carolina, I took out there at a landing named “Fork Retch,” then drove home.
I made my living for 30 years as a wilderness canoe guide — and I still love to pull on the paddle for days. But now that I’m in my 70s, I’ve learned that once a river trip is over, and I’ve taken out at some “Fork Retch,” it’s become depressingly easy to sink into a tired, dull lethargy that’s hard to shake. Becky calls it my “zombie” state.
So, first morning home from the Lumber, I walked into the woods to hear the dawn chorus. It’s a Moses Creek music that, I hoped, would keep the dread zombie at bay. But what I heard was the spare “chipburr” of a scarlet tanager, a hooded warbler’s single “tick,” and the downward slur of a wood pewee—dry, detached sounds that only served to heighten the prevailing silence.
lesson to teach me.
I began to hear it in, “Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.” The line rings boldly, and it comes to life with wordplay. The play is in the “sound.” The word refers to the bird’s chant coming through the trees. But Frost also plays on another meaning of “sound” entirely: solid. After all, if a tree trunk is “solid,” by definition it is “sound,” and if it’s sound, it’s solid. Picking up on Frost’s humor, I heard him tease still one more meaning out of the word — that of health and wholeness. He suggests that the bird’s song is Lazarus-like. It makes “solid tree trunks” hale and whole — “sound again” — as if brought back to life.
From what I know about trees, the power Frost attributes to the ovenbird’s voice is miraculous. To see what I mean, try to make a tree trunk make a sound. Go ahead, yell at one. It will stand there dense, silent. Whack it with a stick and what do you hear? A dull thud.
But Frost’s good humor is the mischief in me, and I think, you CAN make a tree trunk sound, if you whack an “unsound” one, a trunk that’s hollow. Every kid with a stick knows this.
“He says that leaves are old, and that for flowers, Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten. He says the early petal-fall is past, When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers On sunny days a moment overcast . . .”
The bird’s song of midsummer decline and loss closes with:
“And comes that other fall we name the fall. He says the highway dust hangs over all.”
The ovenbird’s darkening imagery is deepened by an undertone: “petal-fall . . . fall . . . fall . . . over all.” Full stop.
Frost ends:
“The bird would cease and be as other birds, But that he knows in singing not to sing. The question that he frames in all but words Is what to make of a diminished thing.”
“Other birds” sing in the bloom of spring, but Frost’s ovenbird sings on — into an oven-like season, asking “The question . . . what to make of a diminished thing.” That is, what to make of an old world come to
Reading those lines again, I wondered: Frost is a poet who’s famous for sticking with plain, everyday words; and true to form, he repeatedly uses “He says” in telling what the ovenbird sings about. So, why doesn’t he follow through and have the bird simply “ask” the question? Why say he “frames” it?
Mulling the word over, I saw that “frames” echoes with meanings. To carefully compose something is one: as in, the Founding Fathers “framed” our Constitution. Likewise, the ovenbird “frames” his song. For another, artists “frame” their works to set them off. Just so, the ovenbird “frames” his all-important question.
Not even an ovenbird sang “Loud,” to quote Robert Frost, although he says they do midsummer. It’s in his sonnet “The Oven Bird.” Ovenbirds made Moses Creek ring in the spring. But in mid-July? I didn’t hear a chirrup.
Back from the silent woods, let down, sensing the zombie at my back, I opened up Frost and, not having heard an ovenbird, listened to the one in his sonnet:
“There is a singer everyone has heard, Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird, Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.”
Birders call the ovenbird a voice in the woods. And “Loud” is an apt description of it. The bird chants, “Teach! TEach! TEAch! TEACh! TEACH!” Frost’s ovenbird, I discovered, had a
Every woodpecker, too. I hear now through the window a pileated woodpecker drumming loudly on a hollow tree, as if to say, “Right on!”
We have two hollow sassafras snags standing side by side in the woods, and when I play my hiking stick between them, they reverberate like tom-toms. Hollow trees are the original drums.
But wood has sleeping in it more than percussive sounds — as all musicians know. In wood they wake a symphony. What is an acoustic guitar without its “sound box”? What are flutes, clarinets and oboes but “woodwinds”? The heart and soul of a piano is its “sounding board.” Ditto for all of the stringed instruments. Take wood away from an orchestra and all that’s left is a triangle, cymbals and brass.
But back to “The Oven Bird.” Following the bold, playful way Frost starts his sonnet, I was surprised to hear what his bird sings about:
But it’s with the plain, workaday meaning of “frames” that I heard the line come to life. “Frames” is a building term, used in construction. Who frames things? Well, carpenters do — out of wood. And out of wood skilled workers frame an orchestra of melodious instruments. In his ordinary use of “frames,” I heard Frost rounding the sonnet back to its playful start, where the ovenbird “makes the solid tree trunks sound again,” as if the bird has framed their silent wood into his instrument.
That’s when the poem’s lesson came home. The ovenbird is not on a despairing search for meaning in an old, dusty world. Just as the bird “makes the solid tree trunks sound again,” so, when he “frames” his crucial question, the bird already is making something of that world — his reviving song. Likewise, in his words about the bird, Frost the bard frames something, too: his own poignant, resonant sonnet. It’s a song “everyone has heard.”
Hearing it, I was back up Moses Creek again and began to write.
(Burt and Becky Kornegay live in Jackson County. Up Moses Creek comes out the second Wednesday of each month.)
Morning campsites on the Lumber River were full of light and sound. Burt Kornegay photo
MarketPlace information:
The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 copies across 500 locations in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, including the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. Visit www.wncmarketplace.com to place your ad!
Rates:
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• $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with 1.1+ million circulation. (Limit 25 words or less)
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Note: Highlighted ads automatically generate a border so if you’re placing an ad online and select a highlight color, the “add border” feature will not be available on the screen.
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Ben McLain Burns (aka Ben M. Burns, Ben Burns) Nov 14 2024
Home Goods
ANSWERS ON PAGE 25
SUDOKU
Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!
