12Iss.24Vol.202217-23,AugustInformationOutdoorandArts,Entertainment,News,WeeklyforSourceCarolina’sNorthWesternwww.smokymountainnews.com Smokies adopts parking fee Page 4 Phony writ offers bounties for lawmakers Page 30
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmoky 2 CONTENTS On the Cover: A year after the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred caused catastrophic flooding in the Canton and Cruso areas, Haywood County residents continue to pick up the pieces and pull their lives together. (Page 22) Wendy and Chuck Rector sit among the boulders carried into their property by the flood. Garret K. Woodward photo News Smokies adopts parking fee..............................................................................................4 Laurel Ridge Country Club changes ownership........................................................5 Tribe, Caesars break ground on $650 million Virginia casino project................6 Phony writ offers bounties for national, state and local lawmakers......................7 After the Flood: Trying times, trauma, trepidation and triumph............................10 Haywood Schools still face deluge of flood repairs................................................14 Cruso man’s struggle to rebuild eased by community’s compassion..............18 Emergency managers work toward flood preparedness......................................20 A year after historic flood, Cruso family is still rebuilding......................................22 Education briefs..................................................................................................................27 Opinion A year later, there is still much to be done................................................................28 Back-to-school season is upon us................................................................................29 A&E Bardo Arts Center fall season announced................................................................30 Local author pens novel about pre-Depression Asheville......................................37 Outdoors Farmers recover from Fred amid inflation, weather worries..................................38 Help the Smokies map old homesites........................................................................41 STAFF E DITOR /PUBLISHER: Scott McLeod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . info@smokymountainnews.com ADVERTISING D IRECTOR: Greg Boothroyd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . greg@smokymountainnews.com ART D IRECTOR: Micah McClure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . micah@smokymountainnews.com D ESIGN & WEBSITE: Travis Bumgardner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . travis@smokymountainnews.com D ESIGN & PRODUCTION: Jessica Murray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jessica.m@smokymountainnews.com ADVERTISING SALES: Susanna Shetley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com Amanda Bradley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jc-ads@smokymountainnews.com Sophia Burleigh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sophia.b@smokymountainnews.com C LASSIFIEDS: Scott Collier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com N EWS E DITOR: Kyle Perrotti. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . kyle.p@smokymountainnews.com WRITING: Holly Kays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . holly@smokymountainnews.com Hannah McLeod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hannah@smokymountainnews.com Cory Vaillancourt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cory@smokymountainnews.com Garret K. Woodward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . garret@smokymountainnews.com ACCOUNTING & O FFICE MANAGER: Amanda Singletary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . smnbooks@smokymountainnews.com D ISTRIBUTION: Scott Collier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com C ONTRIBUTING: Jeff Minick (writing), Chris Cox (writing), George Ellison (writing), Don Hendershot (writing), Susanna Shetley (writing) CONTACT WAYNESVILLE | 144 Montgomery, Waynesville, NC 28786 P: 828.452.4251 | F: 828.452.3585 SYLVA | 629 West Main Street, Sylva, NC 28779 P: 828.631.4829 | F: 828.631.0789 I NFO & B ILLING | P.O. Box 629, Waynesville, NC 28786 Copyright 2022 by The Smoky Mountain News.™ Advertising copyright 2022 by The Smoky Mountain News.™ All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The Smoky Mountain News is available for free in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain and parts of Buncombe counties. Limit one copy per person. Additional copies may be purchased for $1, payable at the Smoky Mountain News office in advance. No person may, without prior written permission of The Smoky Mountain News, take more than one copy of each issue. S UBSCRIPTIONS SUBSCRIPTION: 1 YEAR $65 | 6 MONTHS $40 | 3 MONTHS $25 affairsoftheheartnc.com 26 Years Celebrating Come smell for yourself our Mountain Made GOATS MILK SOAPS Dr. Michael Brown bodybybtl.com828.456.2828·waynesvilledoctor.com 1088 Brown Ave. | Waynesville
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The park received 1,112 and 1,143 correspondences, respectively, on the backcountry and frontcountry camping increases, with each proposal garnering roughly 80% support from those who weighed in. The parking fee proposal, however, was far more controversial. Creating the park required evicting 1,200 families from their homes, and many of their descendants still live in the communities surrounding it. Many area residents think of the Smokies as their own local park, and because the terms of a 1951 deed transfer in combination with
Even assuming only 30% compliance when first enacted, the parking fee is expected to generate $10-$14 million based on 2021 visitation numbers. That’s a massive increase for a park that currently operates on about $25 million in federal funding, fees, concessions and donations. All the revenue will stay in the Smokies, and as mandated under the Federal Land Recreation Enhancement Act, 55% of those funds will go toward the park’s $246 million in deferred maintenance needs. Much of the remainder will fund staff positions that improve the visitor experience — especially law enforcement and maintenance positions.While the park has made its final decision on the fee, questions remain as to how the new policy will be implemented. Additional details will be announced this fall.
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■ Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will not have to pay for a parking tag. The park will provide free tags to the EBCI government, which will then distribute them to citizens.
tarting March 1, visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will no longer be completely free — a first for park history. This week, Superintendent Cassius Cash announced his final decision on the muchdebated Park it Forward parking tag program and camping fee increases, first proposed in April. After receiving 15,512 comments from 3,677 letters, the park will enact its originally proposed price structure — parking tags will cost $5 per day, $15 per week or $40 per year; backcountry camping fees will double from $4 per night to $8 per night, with a maximum of $40 per camper; and frontcountry camping fees will increase to a standardized $30 per night for primitive sites and $36 per night for sites with electri-
Smokies adopts parking fee OUTDOORS
Facts about the fee
“We feel that this park deserves just as much,” said Cash.
■ Each parking tag issued will be tied to a specific vehicle. Households with multiple cars will not be able to pass a single tag between those vehicles.
a 1992 federal law means the park can’t charge an entrance fee, they had understood it would remain free to use forever.
■ No parking tag will be required for cemetery visits, family reunions or decoration days. People visiting for those purposes can obtain a special use permit at no charge, which will double as a parking tag.
On a Saturday in July 2020, cars line both sides of Newfound Gap Road near the trailhead for Alum Cave Trail. NPS photo
Permits required starting March 1 BY HOLLY KAYS
■ Visitors will be able to purchase tags digitally, in person or using automated fee machines in the park. The Park also hopes to sell them at businesses outside the park.
■ Local residents will not have access to free or discounted parking passes. The park received special permission from Washington, D.C., to offer an annual pass for $40, targeted to local families.
■ Motorists driving through the Smokies or parking for less than 15 minutes will not need a tag. For more information, nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/2023-fees.htm.visit
Overall, the 3,677 people who commented on the parking fee proposal supported the idea more than they opposed it — 51% of comments were supportive, 34% were neutral and 15% opposed the proposal. However, among the 828 commenters from the park’s six neighboring counties in Tennessee and North Carolina, opinion split evenly— 25% opposed the proposal, 25% supported it and 50% were neutral. That opposition includes formal statements from all six county governments as well as a resolution from the N.C. House taketoolssureemployees,thismoveinspired“Butclear,”heardheardcommentswentthem40.6%thementers11.6%County,strongestRepresentatives.ofOppositionwasinSwainwhereonlyof138com-supportedproposalandopposedit.“Wewanttoletknowaswethroughthosethatwethem.WethemloudandsaidCash.thethingthatmetostillforwardwithisbasedonourmakingtheyhavethetheyneedtocareofthisprecious place and to make sure that this precious resource is going to be around for the nextOvergeneration.”thelastdecade, park visitation has increased by 57% to a record 14.1 million visits in 2021, even as inflation-adjusted federal funding has fallen, causing park staffing to decrease by 10% over the same period. Other parks double their resources through concessions, fees and donations.
cal hookups. Rates for daily rental of the Appalachian Clubhouse and Spence Cabin in Elkmont will be set at $300 and $200, respectively.“Ithinktoday is a very historic and exciting time for the park,” said Cash. “This park will be 100 years old in 12 years, and I am proud of the staff here, for us to explore and look at different ways of how we assure that these resources are going to be around for the next century of service.”
Many local insurance agents recommend that double-checking personal auto coverage if driving for this type of work.
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A look at Laurel Ridge Country Club’s 12th hole. The club has recently changed ownership.
W aynesville’s Laurel Ridge Country Club has changed ownership, with a new era beginning. Local businessman Thom Morgan purchased the club in early August, and according to a press release, he promises to continue the club’s “history of hospitality with a focus on guest experience that began with previous owners.”“Hewants the club to be an integral part of the community with support and endeavors,” the release reads. “LRCC’s previous golf professional, Duane Page, has returned as Director of Golf.”
Laurel Ridge Country Club changes ownership
Drivers need to make sure their insurance carrier is aware of the type of use of the vehicle and a proper endorsement should be added to the policy. This is especially important if the vehicle is financed and has a current lien on the title. If someone is involved in an accident without proper coverage, their claim can be denied, leaving them responsible for payment on a loan for a vehicle that is non-operational. Many insurance companies provide this endorsement at a reasonable cost. Avoiding a difficult situation can be easy by calling an insurance company or local agent and let them know the plan to use your vehicle for extra income. They can guide customers and make suggestions to be certain your personal insurance covers both the individual and the financial institution holding the car’s Mountaintitle.
Donated photo
Some rideshare or food delivery companies offer limited insurance coverage while a person actively driving with a passenger or on a delivery but not while driving between deliveries or on the way to pick-ups or after leaving drop-offs.
“LRCC members and staff share a unique sense of pride about the club and are optimistic about the future and the potential to grow the membership,” the release continues. Golf, sports and social membership levels are now available. Any previous members and new members will be offered significant incentives to join now under the new ownership.Established in 1986, Laurel Ridge recently celebrated 35 years as a year-round social hub for members and their guests, as well as a “cool summer destination” for part-time residents.”The club will maintain its semi-private status and welcomes the public to make a tee time for afternoon golf or dining reservations for the chef’s renowned Sunday Brunch buffets. For information or a tour, email info@laurelridgegolf.com.
Credit Union currently has seven branch offices located throughout Western North Carolina and serves anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Swain and Transylvania counties of North Carolina. For more information, please visit mountaincu.org.
Rideshare drivers, make sure you’re covered Driving for a rideshare or food delivery company can be a great way to earn extra money. However, in the event of an accident while driving for this type of work, people can find themselves in a difficult financial situation if you are not properly insured.
A t an Aug. 11 event that Principal Chief Richard Sneed said felt more like a pep rally than a ceremony, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians broke ground on a $650 million casino development in Danville, Virginia, in partnership with Caesars Entertainment.Thetribe,through EBCI Holdings LLC, will have a 49.5% stake in the project, as will Caesars. A business owner from the City of Danville will hold the remaining 1%, Sneed said. Once complete, Caesars Virginia will include a 500-room hotel and a gaming floor with more than 1,300 slots, 85 live table games, 24 electronic table games, a World Series of Poker poker room and a Caesars Sportsbook. The facility will also feature a full-service spa, pool bars and restaurants, a 2,500-seat live entertainment theater and 40,000 square feet of meeting and convention space.Caesars will manage operations at the facility, to be constructed on a 78-acre property located at 1100 West Main St. in Danville. Caesars Virginia bought it in December 2020 from Schoolfield Properties LLC for $5 million The project is an exciting and needed step toward diversifying the tribe’s revenue streams as more states approve expanded gaming and existing casinos in Cherokee and Murphy prepare to face competition, Sneed said.
“Knowing that those markets are emerging, this just continues to build our portfolio, our reputation in the gaming industry,” Sneed said of the Danville project. “And so that gives us the opportunity to participate in those markets as they emerge.”
The casino is expected to open in late 2024, “fingers crossed” that variables such as supply chain issues, labor shortages and inflation don’t delay the timeline, Sneed said.
In a special-called meeting Wednesday, April 13, Tribal Council approved a plan from EBCI Holdings, Inc., to bid on an opportunity to build two new out-of-state casinos, calling the endeavor “Project Thoroughbred.”
“Economic diversification” has been a buzzword in Cherokee for years as casino revenues have grown — as has the threat of competition. Last year, a new federal law ended the EBCI’s years-long fight to stop the Catawba Indian Nation from building a casino in Kings Mountain, and the Catawba are now operating a temporary facility on the site while they plan to build a permanent facility. This, along with increased interest from neighboring states in legalizing various types of gambling, has spurred tribal leadership to create multiple LLCs tasked with expanding the tribe’s revenue-generating enterprises.
Sneed said he’s not ready to give more information but that Project Thoroughbred is “moving along exactly how we wanted it to, and we’re excited about the potential.”
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER
202217-23,August newsNewsMountainSmoky 6
Tribe, Caesars break ground on $650 million Virginia casino project
Sneed said that 21 million people live within a three-hour drive of Danville, raising expectations that the casino will be quite lucrative once complete. Danville is a fourhour drive from Cherokee, just over the state line north of Greensboro, and will not directly compete with the Cherokee market, Sneed said. Its main feeder markets will be Raleigh, Durham and Greensboro — currently a “single-digit percentage” of Cherokee’s players come from those markets.
According to the resolution, if EBCI Holdings is selected as the winner, it will make a deposit from its own accounts of about $2.5 million. Then, the tribe will provide $25 million from its endowment and investment accounts — plus or minus 10% — “all or a portion of which will be contributed or otherwise invested, directly or indirectly, in the Project, which is calculated at this time to provide a 44% equity stake.”
EBCI Holdings was created in December 2020 to manage the tribe’s commercial gaming enterprises when Tribal Council approved purchase of the first such enterprise. The EBCI now owns the operations — though not the property — of Caesars Southern Indiana Casino, which it purchased for $250 million. With the one-year anniversary of the purchase coming up Aug. 19, Sneed said the property is performing “ahead of projections.”
The Danville project is Cherokee’s second attempt to open a casino in Virginia, which through a 2019 law opened the door to permit casinos in five cities. Cherokee had initially hoped to build a casino just outside Bristol, but the license was awarded to Hard Rock International instead. “Danville was the only city out of all the cities that were predetermined to receive a gaming license that actually did a competitive bid process,” Sneed said. “I believe there were seven respondents to the bid, and Caesars won the day.” The tribe had a right of first refusal to partner on the effort and chose to exercise that option, Sneed said. Tribal Council approved the Danville project in May 2021, when it voted 9-3 in favor of a resolution that was spare on specific information but discussed an undertaking dubbed “Project Commonwealth,” a partnership with a company with which the tribe had a “long-standing relationship” resulting in new gaming opportunities “within a certain proximity” of existing casinos in Cherokee andTheMurphy. resolution states that the partner company — Caesars — will manage the operation for at least five years, but EBCI Holdings will hold call rights to buy it out in five to seven years after it opens to the public. The project is to be wholly owned and operated by the tribe through EBCI Holdings. No dollar amount was included in the resolution, and Tribal Council discussed the resolution off-air prior to the vote. The tribe has another similar project in the works in Kentucky.
“We can’t sit back and play defense or wait to see what happens,” he said. “We have to be very proactive. And it’s just good business sense, to diversify and be a participant in those emerging markets.”
Officials from the EBCI and City of Danville break ground on the $650 million casino project Aug. 11. EBCI photo A rendering shows what the facility might look like once completed. Donated image
It’s not yet certain what the revenues will fund. At the tribe’s existing casinos in North Carolina, half the profits enter the tribal budget while half are disbursed to tribal members in semi-annual per capital payments. Tribal Council will have to pass a written allocation plan specific to the Danville casino, which could include contributions to per capita, tribal programs or other uses.
Citing Department of Justice policy, Lynch declined to comment on whether or not an official investigation is underway, and on what the potential criminal activity she mentioned might be. When reached via email, Dever told SMN to “go away,” and said there was no criminal activity because “they are lawful writs from the Environmental Court regarding poison water.”
Accordingthem.to the database, nearly a thousand of these writs have been sent to public servants in 41 states and the District of Columbia since early April. Elected officials from all points along the political spectrum were targeted, including President Joe Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsome and Georgia Senate candidate Stacey Abrams on the left and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn on the right.Writs were sent to California and Florida the most, with 282 and 214 respectively, followed by Oregon’s 89. North Carolina ranked fourth with 62. More than half of them were directed to public figures with ties to Haywood County. All were sent beginning in late June, culminating in mid-July. District Attorney Ashley Welch and judges Donna Forga, Roy Wijewickrama and Kaleb Wingate were each sent one. Sheriff Greg Christopher and Chief Deputy Greg Haynes both got one. The entire Waynesville Board of Aldermen, along with Mayor Gary Caldwell and three of the town’s water/sewer/streets employees, were also on the Formerlist.
Waynesville Town Attorney Woody Griffin even had one sent his way.
emanating from a 2013 indictment issued by an “Independent Grand Jury of the people” that resulted in a judgement issued by the “U.S. Environmental District Court” — which is not a real court — the judgement makes several serious but unfounded allegations up to and including treason and also alleges the unlawful discharge of chemical and biological warfare agents into the nation’s water supply.OnAug. 9, The Smoky Mountain News was allowed by one recipient on the condition of anonymity to review the so-called “writ of execution” but was not permitted to copy, photograph or take notes regarding its contents.Awrit of execution has nothing to do with capital punishment, but everything to do with utilizing police power to satisfy a judgement issued by a real court.
Two were allegedly sent to Haywood County Commissioners, Jennifer Best and Kirk Kirkpatrick. Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers and his father, School Board Attorney Pat Smathers, were each allegedly sent one as was Chairman Chuck Francis and his entire eight-member school board. Elections Board Chairman Danny Davis and his wife, Ann, were included per the database, along with Haywood Regional Medical Center CEO Greg Caples and Chief Nursing Officer Susan Mahoney. One was allegedly sent to Sylva Mayor Lynda Sossamon, and to Brevard Mayor MaureenPublicCopelof.officials in Buncombe County weren’t overlooked, as the database also lists Sheriff Quentin Miller, two Buncombe water service employees, Asheville Mayor Esther Mannheimer, Asheville City Attorney Brad Branham and Judge Jacqueline Grant. In addition to sheriffs Miller and Christopher, Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin was also named in the database as a Furtherrecipient.afield,North Carolina Supreme Court Justices Anita Earls, Sam Ervin, Robin Hudson and Paul Newby were all supposedly sent copies, as was the vice chair of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.
Phony writ from sham court offers bounties for national, state and local lawmakers
“The deep states [sic] foundation is based on sewer revenue,” reads the PBI website, which can be traced back to an Illinois man named Tim Dever. According to LinkedIn and Facebook, Dever is a “CEO and freedom fighting cereal [sic] entrepreneur” and operates an arcade game sales, repair and rental company called Monkeys Arcades in a far western suburb of Chicago. The website accepts donations, sells PBI merch and offers a cryptocurrency called “Freedom Tokens.”
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR
Anyone who “serves” a writ qualifies for a $2,000 reward, according to the PBI. Instructions on how to “serve” the fictitious writs are also available on the site. The PBI maintains a database on its website of who’s purportedly been “served.”
InformationOfficeCountyHaywoodrecordsSMNresponsesameInvestigation.BureautoentirewardedthatthereceivedpreviouslyheconfirmedChristopherGregCounty12,morningCounty.Hendersonjudgewithnamed,judgesCharlotte-areaalmostandadozenwerealonganotherfromOntheofAug.HaywoodSheriffthathadindeedoneofwritsandhe’dfor-thematterontheFederalofLaterthatdayandintoanpublicrequest,Sheriff’sPublic
Neither the database nor the writ examined by SMN list the names of the persons who “served”
The case has caught the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cory Vaillancourt photo
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 7
M ore than three dozen Western North Carolina judges, elected officials and municipal employees have been “served” with a bogus judgement from an illegitimate court that offers rewards for their capture if they do not immediately satisfy the Supposedlyterms.
The official-looking writ examined by SMN demands payment of a $1 million fine and that the recipient surrender themself to a tribunal. Those who do not, the writ claims, will be subject to citizen’s arrest, for which a $20,000 bounty would be paid by “theAcourt.”similar but slightly different version of the writ can be found on a website run by a group called “The People’s Bureau of Investigation.”Boththesite and the writ feature vague references to sovereign citizens, the so-called “patriot movement,” globalists, “the deep state,” the “China virus,” the New World Order and debunked Qanon conspiracy theories.The four examples of the writ known to The Smoky Mountain News had all been delivered via fax, with at least one of them signed, “ThankQ.” The writ examined by SMN seems to be fixated on common public health practices as a tool of the deep state.
Several public officials from the town of Kenly
Shelley Lynch, a public affairs specialist with the FBI’s Charlotte division, told SMN hours later that the FBI has been in “regular contact” with elected officials in Haywood.
“While we cannot provide additional details,” Lynch wrote, “we want to remind the public the FBI takes seriously any allegation that individuals may engage in criminal activity against elected and appointed officials.”
Officer Christina Esmay said that HCSO would not provide a copy of the writ served to Christopher, and directed henceforth all communications on the matter to the FBI.
Camp Hope, a sprawling upriver retreat with overnight cabins and an event venue, saw almost $1 million in damage, including the access bridge to the campTheitself.town’s pool, itself underwater during the flooding, suffered almost $700,000 in damage.
The bleak financial situation, just numbers on a spreadsheet really, pales in comparison to the living color of the human tragedy that unfolded; Proctor said that for her, one of the most trying aspects of the whole experience is knowing that nearly everyone in the small, tight-knit mountain mill town was touched by the flooding in some way.
TRAUMA
It all started for Natasha Bright on the morning of Aug. 17 in her family’s cabin, several miles upstream from Canton and less than 150 feet from the usually tranquil east fork of the Pigeon River. After getting her kids off to school, bright munched on a sandwich and watched the rain fall.
“We have to operate and continue to offer all of the town services that we always offer, but yet rebuild at the same time,” said Walker. That’s led to cash flow concerns among town staff. If and when reimbursable grants come in, the town doesn’t have deep enough pockets to take on more than one project at a time.
According to engineering estimates, the Stamey Building sustained $5.2 million in damage and another $2 million in lost equipment. The firehouse behind town hall incurred $4 million but is miraculously still in operation.
After the Flood
“We have big dreams and we have ways of getting them done, but we’re not going to be able to get to that next phase where we’re truly sustainable without a larger influx of funds from either the state or the federal government.”Twoseparate direct allocations from the General Assembly totaling around $18 million — one for repairs to water and sewer infrastructure, the other, unrestricted — will help somewhat, but among the projects not yet funded are some of the most important, like a new town hall and a new police station.
The William G. Stamey Municipal Building on Park Street, for decades a busy administrative hub for the Town of Canton’s government, is now forlorn and eerily quiet.Water inundated the structure, which also houses the town’s police department. On the ground floor, workers have cleaned up the muck, removed furnishings and wall hangings, ripped out countertops and stripped the drywall from aluminum studs — giving the place an ironic aura of tidiness and sterility despite the warnings of toxic mold posted on the glass doors out Onfront.the second floor, the lobby outside the boardroom is strewn with boxes upon boxes of documents hurriedly salvaged from the silty waters of the Pigeon one year ago. The darkened boardroom isn’t much different.Just up the street, town government now operates out of a modular building, where Town Manager Nick Scheuer and CFO Natalie Walker are busily pouring over a “It’sspreadsheet.beensimplified a little bit,” Scheuer said. “I had some columns and things like that just to make it a little easier to digest, but this is sort of what we’ve been working off from the beginning.”
Now, one year after what’s become known as “The Green Pepper Flood” — fields were stripped of produce, which was then scattered downriver — many of Haywood ‘s civil institutions, leaders and residents are still struggling with the shock, the strain and the ominous foreshadowing the flood brought with it.
“You can feel the impact on your community. Now, it’s come to a day where it’s not as prevalent anymore,” Proctor said, “but it’s still there. And when you bring it up, the feeling that you get from people — it’s palpable. You can feel the pain. You can feel the stress. You can feel the challenges when they start to think about the possibility of something like that happening again.”
Hours earlier, Natasha Bright had been trapped atop a bunk bed in a barricaded bedroom with her dogs, her cats and her brother, watching the floodwaters from the furious Pigeon River rising through the floorboards beneath them, but after a long, cold, wet night the waters finally receded so with an armful of children’s clothing and mud squishing between her toes, Bright headed out of Cruso on foot into the pale sunshine looking for a shower.
However, the same grit and grace that saw this rural mountain community through the tragedy has also allowed it to see something else — small signs of triumph.
BY C ORY
TRYING TIMES
It was only the start of Bright’s journey back from last summer’s deadly flooding, but it also marked the start of Haywood County’s journey back from devastation to recovery and resiliency.
All told, Scheuer’s and Walker’s spreadsheet shows $21,325,551 in damage to town property. Insurance doesn’t even begin to cover the costs. Just over $4 million has been or will be recouped through settlements, but the town has taken a proactive role in applying for grants and for reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“What worries me, what keeps me awake at night, is how we’re going to be able to rebuild sustainably and ethically with our future in mind with the very little money that we have while sustaining the current infrastructure we have for water, sewer, roads and recreation,” said Kristina Proctor, a Canton alderwoman.
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What it all boils down to is a sad testament to the destructive power of water unbound.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Fred, which had come up from the Gulf of Mexico, were beginning to drop tremendous amounts of precipitation on Haywood County, which is shaped like a bowl with Canton near the bottom. Bright’s husband Kile left to Trying times, trauma, trepidation and triumph
The FEMA process is obviously long and complicated, but Scheuer reported to the Board of Aldermen on Aug. 11 that nearly 80% of the 20 projects referred to FEMA are in some stage of the approval process, with othersStill,pending.grantmoney that hasn’t yet arrived and the reimbursable nature of some projects mean that the town has to come out-of-pocket for the work. To date, Canton has received $3.1 million in flood damage compensation from all sources but has spent more than $4.5“Pre-flood,million. we had $4 million sitting in our checking account,” Scheuer said. “Right now, we’ve got $601,000.”Ofthe$21.3 million in damage, the town expects another $7.6 million in FEMA funding, leaving $9.6 million in unmet needs against an annual town budget of roughly $11 million.
VAILLANCOURT • P OLITICS E DITOR S EE F LOOD, PAGE 10
Across the street, the historic town-owned Colonial Theater took on $1.3 million in severe damage that makes town hall look like the Taj Mahal. The Armory, another town-owned building used for events and recreational programming, endured $1.5 million in damage.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 9 Boxes full of paperwork lie strewn about the second floor of Canton’s now-unused town hall. Cory Vaillancourt photo
“It can’t be remediated,” Bright said. “It has to be torn down.”
TREPIDATION
The next morning, Bright walked bravely out of Cruso, but that doesn’t mean she’s left the experiences of that day behind her. “Things get overwhelming really easily,” she said. “I mean, there’s some form of PTSD there somewhere.”
“I will say one thing that is really, really hard about flood insurance and your property claim is that you have to remember and list everything that you lost,” she said. “If you consider everything that you own, if it was gone, would you remember it all?” Even if you could, Bright said, it wouldn’t be easy.“It’s hard because you have built up all these memories and it’s not just the stuff,” she said. “Each thing is attached to something, to someone, to some memory and I think that was really difficult.”
Bright said she’d moved around a lot as a kid and felt that she’d finally found her “forever home” — a place for her kids to grow up and come back to, a place for her and her husband to grow old together. Days after the flood, Bright said that even if they could return to the cabin she would remain concerned about the possibility of putting her kids through a repeat of the experience. Now that that’s no longer even an option, Bright’s “forever home” produces its own flood of painful memories.
In May, flooding again threatened Canton during heavy rains, leaving some riverside businesses scrambling for sandbags to protect what hadn’t been destroyed already. Bright remembers checking social media and weather reports obsessively throughout the day.And it’s not the just weather that bothers her.“You know how when you go and get your car washed where you go in and it’s like sudsy and you’re sitting in your car? That freaks me out,” she said. “I think it’s just being surrounded by the noise and not having a way out.”Those triggers likely stem from the scene atop that bunk bed in the bedroom, but also extend to the cabin itself.
AFTER THE FLOOD F LOOD, CONTINUED FROM 8 S EE F LOOD, PAGE 12
BearWaters Brewing Company was one of those riverside businesses scrambling earlier this year as water from the Pigeon River again threatened to slip its banks and inundate the tap room’s basement. A year ago, the scene outside BearWaters was one of complete disarray. Kegs, everywhere. Mucky muck boots on an office desk. Boxes, barrels and pavers tossed about randomly. Fencing, gone. A shiny silver dollar, perhaps cast into the water somewhere with a wish or a prayer decades ago, again glistened proudly in the sun, finally withdrawn from its watery bank.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 10 pick up the kids around 2 p.m. By 3 p.m., Bright was growing more and more concerned about the situation, especially as the water from the East Fork of the Pigeon River was now sloshing against the underside of the bridge from U.S. 276 to her home on the opposite bank. She texted her husband, telling him that returning was not going to be possible. Then, a transformer blew. Then, the bridge was submerged. Then, water started seeping up through the cabin floor. Then it was lapping against the windowsills. It all happened so fast, she Gatheringsaid. her animals and her brother, Bright herded them from room to room until the only place left to go was a bedroom with a bunkThere,bed. they watched the water rise, inside and out, not knowing when it would stop, not knowing how high it would get, not knowing if they’d all drown there together in that cold dark bedroom, trapped.
Today, BearWaters Brewing shows almost no sign of the flooding from a year ago. Cory Vaillancourt photo
Instead, after the waters began to recede around 5 or 6 p.m., they waited all night for help that couldn’t come — roads were still flooded, washed out or blocked by landslides. Power was down. Cell phone towers were dead.Later Bright came to the realization that they’d all come very close to dying.
In the immediate aftermath of the flooding, the brewery became symbolic of recovery efforts, playing host to all manner of elected officials including Sen. Thom Tillis, Gov. Roy Cooper and multiple members of the General Assembly. It was also the site of at least one Kegs and brewing equipment were salvaged from the basement of BearWaters Brewing Company on Aug. 18, 2021. Cory Vaillancourt photo
“You can feel the impact on your community. Now, it’s come to a day where it’s not as prevalent anymore, but it’s still there. And when you bring it up, the feeling that you get from people — it’s palpable. You can feel the pain. You can feel the stress. You can feel the challenges when they start to think about the possibility of something like that happening again.”
— Kristina Proctor, Canton alderwoman
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In Canton, the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred produced what was supposedly a 500-year flood just 17 years after the town’s last 500-year flood. The flooding that occurred in 2004, after back-to-back hurricanes moved inland, gave the town an opportunity to build back smarter, which it did in many ways.
Aside from that, there’s little outside the realm of levees and dikes and retention ponds that can be done — massive and expensive earth-moving projects in a place where topography conspires with geology against humanity’s best-laid plans. As it turns out, the only real mitigation that would protect Haywood County and counties like it across the country may come from measures many times the scale of dams or earthworks.OnAug.10, Rogers and Smathers hosted a meeting at BearWaters with representatives of an organization called the American Flood Coalition.“TheAmerican Flood Coalition is, in my mind, the preeminent national think tank around flood resilience, sea level rise adaptation and advocating for resilience on both of those topics,” said Tony McEwen, the Carolinas director of the AFC. “I’m an advocate at the state legislative level in both states on behalf of these issues and our members.”
A month ago, Haywood Emergency Services told county commissioners that they’d secured a grant to install more rain gauges and water level indicators on the East Fork and elsewhere. The devices will have redundant power and communications systems and will tie into the state’s online flood monitoring system, called FIMAN.
Members of the AFC include a who’s who on the Hill of bi-partisan “federal champions” like Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rep. Charlie Crist (DFL) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmoky 12 muddy, muggy press conference, even as volunteers outside scrubbed away, cleaning bar equipment and Astoundingly,furniture.thebrewery reopened and resumed pouring its award-winning beers less than two months later. Today, it looks better than it ever has, and shows no obvious signs of the flooding that sullied it less than a year prior. But nobody’s pretending it won’t happen again.
on Spring Street. Cory Vaillancourt photo AFTER THE FLOOD F LOOD, CONTINUED FROM 11
“We’re here to work with local governments to make sure that their staff understand how to access those resources and how to proactively think about resilience,” McEwenFloodingsaid.is the most common, most costly natural disaster, according to the AFC. Since 2008, more than 70% of all presidential disaster declarations — like the one President Joe Biden issued for Haywood County last September — have come as the result of flooding.
The AFC pushes for increased federal funding and better public policy by engaging with communities like Canton and sharing best practices on rebuilding and on smart planning.Forevery dollar spent, $7 in future recovery costs can be saved, the group says.
At least some of that responsibility also falls to state and county government. The headwaters of the Pigeon, where some of the most catastrophic damage and all six deaths occurred, lie far outside and above the municipal boundaries of Canton. County government has spent the year much the same way Canton has, taking in and pumping out relatively large sums of money for projects, some of which aren’t yet complete.“If something similar happened again, here we are almost a year later and we still don’t have all the debris cleaned up and all the rivers cleaned up,” said Commissioner Brandon Rogers, who hails from the eastern part of the county where the damage was concentrated. “The paths of the river have changed. If we get another storm, God forbid, like we had a year ago it could be much worse. My concern and worry is these people that are in these homes, in these businesses — if they get flooded out again, I don’t know if they can make it.”
A nonprofit, the AFC is a nonpartisan coalition of federal, state and local elected officials, military leaders, academics, businesses and civic groups pushing for nationallevel solutions to exactly the type of flooding Canton experienced.
After first utilizing the United Steelworkers Union hall, Canton government now operates
Other coalition members include dozens of municipalities in Florida, Maryland, New York, South Carolina and Virginia — some, with beachside seats to the climate change crisis.In North Carolina, Smathers is a member, along with a smattering of other state and local leaders from across the state and across out of a modular structure
“From day one even until today, I have to be able to look people in the eyes that have lost homes, businesses and most importantly someone in their family, and let them know that we are making progress, that we’re doing all that we can to build back in a way that honors their families and in a way that protects us when the next storm hits,” said Zeb Smathers, Canton’s mayor. “I will never forget that phone call from the sheriff that evening that we were prepared to lose more than 60 people.”
N.C. Office of Budget Management Senior Construction Manager
Proctor said that Canton is a “poster child” for what a small town can be after a catastrophic climate change issue.
TRIUMPH
— Zeb Smathers, Canton mayor
A community effort called Helping Haywood reported raising around $1 million less than three months after the flood, some of which came from an October benefit concert held in Canton by Haywood County’s own bluegrass sensation, Balsam Range. But long after the music stopped and the waters receded, and as people like Bright continue their journey, the tiny blue-collar mountain mill town that just won’t stay down continues to look for the best way forward.
“I’m kind of an optimistic person anyway. I mean, I always think that everything is going to work out. It might take a while. It might not be exactly what I thought it was going to be or hoped it was going to be, but you know, we’ll be fine,” Bright said.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 13 Rob sold most of my home sites at myclosingsHedevelopment.madetheeasy,asalways. - Bill M. Rob Roland RESIDENTIAL • LAND • COMMERCIAL Owner/Broker 33robroland@gmail.com828-400-1923 I SELL HOMESNOTHOUSES “ ” the political spectrum. “North Carolina’s probably in the top two or three states in the country that has taken steps to invest not only in recovery, but resilience, which is what we advocate for,” McEwen said. “The state legislature, in their wisdom, in 2021 we worked with them to help put a very impressive package into place that they passed as a part of the budget, close to $800 million. A lot of those dollars went to recovery, but a lot of those dollars also went to resilience.”McEwancredited N.C. House Majority Leader John Bell (R-Wayne), N.C. Senate Majority Whip Jim Perry (R-Lenoir), Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Franklin) and Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood) for their support of the package.“Since I’ve been there [in the General Assembly] six years now, I’ve been a proponent of the rainy day fund and having money available for disaster,” Corbin said. “There’s no way you could have predicted that in disaster in Haywood County. I’ve worked with Rep. Pless and our counterparts in the eastern part of the state, senators Bell and Perry, because our two ends of state have been hit the Corbinworst.” said the funding appropriation was a bipartisan effort, and that he’d also worked with appropriations Chair Sen. Ralph Hise to get an unrestricted $8.3 million into the budget for Canton. McEwen also said that Rogers and Smathers had taken leadership positions on the issue, and that their input has been valuable.“I know the legislature; they’ve taken amazing steps. They’re interested in taking further steps,” McEwen said. “These tragedies are more and more frequent. They’re more and more severe. We need to make sure that Western North Carolina is listened to on these issues. What are we going to do to invest in our infrastructure, to change policies on the front end, to lessen the burden on the back end, and ultimately save lives and save property?”
Richard Trumper told Haywood commissioners that of the $44 million in state funding for home repair and reconstruction, private road and bridge repair, short term housing assistance and landlord assistance, only 54% had been claimed to date. During that same meeting, Haywood commissioners approved another $20,000 — reimbursable from North Carolina Emergency Management — from its contingency fund to assist with the setup of five campers for those still without homes. Bright and her family were fortunate to find a two-bedroom rental in Canton, with the dining room converted to a third bedroom. She’s still paying the mortgage on that cabin, and although she’s receiving rental assistance from FEMA, she’s still coming outof-pocket for part of the rent.
It’s too late to save Natasha Bright’s “forever home,” but as she and her family continue on their journey back from the flood, she reflects on where, exactly, she’s been since that day in Cruso. “It’s been long and at times really frustrating,” Bright said. “But I also know that we’ve been lucky to have good friends. We’re doing okayThenow.”region’s ongoing affordable housing crisis hasn’t made things any easier for the flood’s local refugees, although an $8 million disaster recovery grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could provide some relief in the future.“We were two steps or maybe even one step away from being homeless. We don’t have family here. We luckily have friends, but there was nothing to rent. Nothing at all,” Bright said. “My husband was in the shelter untilOnDecember.”Aug.15,
When asked if there was anything positive about the experience, everyone had pretty much the same response.
“As we sit here and we figure out what we want to be again, based on the rich history that we have as a paper mill town with a gritty spirit, we get to write our future,” she said. “And to me, that is the triumph that we’re building right now.”
“I will never forget that phone call from the sheriff that evening that we were prepared to lose more than 60 people.”
“It pulled our community together,” Rogers said. “It reminded me of a time when I was a kid, when people didn’t care what your party affiliation was, how much money you had in the bank, people were pulling together and helping one another.”
“Everybody’s going to be okay.” Bright isn’t the only one who’s found the silver lining in those storm clouds that caused The Green Pepper Flood.
Indeed, there was a point when county officials ran out of places to store the influx of donations that came in — clothes, non-perishables, personal hygiene products, water and the like.
“One school bus was stranded beyond a flooded bridge, all other buses were returned to schools; Central Haywood High School has some damage but we are hopeful it will be useable shortly after clearance; the Education Center adjacent to Central Haywood has been spared significant damage; Pisgah Memorial Stadium, as well as other athletic facilities in Canton and Waynesville, were damaged.” The full scope of the damage would become apparent over the next couple of days. School was canceled again on Thursday and Friday and the Board of Education scheduled a remote emergency meeting for Thursday night.
The rising sun painted an ugly scene at Pisgah High School’s Memorial Stadium. Greg Boothroyd photo
“In looking at the devastation, I was sickened because I knew that it would be many months, years down the road before we could get recovered,” Associate Superintendent Dr. Trevor Putnam told The Smoky Mountain News.An announcement from Nolte early that morning laid out the damage that could be seen with the naked eye.
Of course, this wasn’t the first time Haywood County Schools had dealt with serious flood damage, and for many, chilling memories resurfaced from the floods of 2004. “I was saddened of course, to learn of another flood that we were suffering,” said Board of Education Chairman Chuck Francis. “It was so vivid, the previous floods, and to know that this tragedy was going to impact people again … It was a shock, to be honest, I wasEstimatesshocked.”put the total dollar amount of damage to Haywood County School properties from Tropical Storm Fred at $10.5 million.
“Basically,completed.anorisestudy shows the impact your structures have on the flood in the floodway,” said Putnam. “How much water do these structures displace? And the reason that’s important is because it could potentially make the flood path larger or wider.”
In order to be approved for permitting to be included on flood maps, Haywood County Schools also had to prove that this structure existed prior to the creation of flood maps in the In1970s.1968, Congress passed the National Flood Insurance Act and created the National Flood Insurance Program. This act required that flood zones be established to define locations subject to a higher probability of flooding. Maps were created that showed the location of the 100-year floodplain, known as the Special Hazard Flood Areas. The first of these maps came out in 1973. HCS staff was able to procure old pictures that did show the stadium existing prior to the creation of flood maps in the 1970s. The only part that did not exist back then is what is now the home side set of bleachers. In order to obtain approval to keep the home set of bleachers, a hydrology study had to be completed that measured the surface area of the columns holding up the bleachers, and any footprint they have in the flood path.
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“Through a historical search, we could show that the football field and stadium had been there,” said Putnam. “The visitor’s side was grandfathered in. And because the obstruction to the flood path on the home side was not substantial, we were able to achieve the no rise certification. This allowed us to get a permit and the permit allowed those structures to be drawn in on a flood map.”
Pisgah Memorial Stadium’s field is in the process of repairs now. After an environmental review, it was determined that the gravel bed beneath the turf would have to be removed along with piping for drainage and fencing. There would also be some ancillary repairs needed for busting up concrete around the edge of the field.
“There was a big shortfall,” said Putnam. “So then what happens is, you determine all these costs and you begin to negotiate with FEMA.”FEMA requires each individual part of a project to be competitively bid, but in reality, a lot of the projects can’t be split up. According to Putnam, FEMA would like to see a bid for gravel, turf, fencing and other items all separate for the stadium project. But the same entity that installs the turf at the stadium will have to install the gravel beneath it in accordance with artificial grass protocols. The base for the fencing is set deep into the concrete that surrounds the field, which itself serves as a tightener and stabilizer for the turf.
E ven after the destruction from Tropical Storm Fred had been fully assessed and it was clear what repairs would be needed, the path to making that reconstruction happen was filled with obstacles. As it turned out, the Pisgah Memorial Stadium was not included on federal flood maps. This means that instead of the typical arduous process of waiting for a FEMA disaster declaration, getting FEMA to approve a funding amount for the repair of each damaged property and then finally getting to rebuild, there would be several more steps involved.Haywood County Schools would have to get a no-rise study done in order to obtain a permit for the stadium in the floodway to get it onto flood maps. Any project in a floodway must be analyzed by an engineer to determine whether or not it would increase flood heights before a permit can be issued. The community’s permit file had to have a record of the results of the analysis, which could be in the form of a no-rise certification.
T hat Thursday night, the school board held its emergency meeting and unanimously passed a motion to request emergency funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the North Carolina General Assembly and the governor related to damages from Tropical Storm Fred. It was decided that students would return to school Monday, Aug. 23, with the exception of those attending Central Haywood High School. Due to significant damage to the building, those students would begin remotePutnaminstruction.laidout the destruction for the board. The school system finance and technology departments would be relocated to the temporary Central Office, located in the old Central Elementary School. Central Haywood High School, Pisgah Memorial stadium and softball and baseball fields used by Pisgah High and Canton Middle School would all be unusable and in need of repair. As the path forward became clear, so too did one paramount need — a FEMA disaster declaration.“Weare also reaching out to Federal Officials regarding a FEMA disaster declaration,” said Nolte. “Without this declaration, we will not receive federal funding relief for costs related to clean-up, recovery and repairs. I want to thank county officials and Dr. Putnam for working on the FEMA disaster declaration.”
Haywood Schools still face deluge of flood repairs
“In working with FEMA and federal regulations, a permit is required,” said Putnam. “We did not exist on any federal flood maps.” When repairs were needed following flooding in 2004, money for restoration came from the North Carolina General Assembly, not from FEMA. This meant that the school system wasn’t required to meet all the standards that are necessary when rebuilding using money from FEMA. This time around, before any repairs could begin, no-rise studies had to be
BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER O n Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 17, 2021, the second day of the school year, Haywood County Schools Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte announced that school would be closed the following day. “Early and extensive flooding from Tropical Storm Fred” had damaged several roads used for bus routes, and there was uncertainty about scheduled food deliveries to the school system. It would be an optional workday for teachers, not a remote learning day for students. As that afternoon wore into evening, it became apparent that several students and staff in Haywood County Schools would not be able to return home. Roads were flooded, bridges were impassable, and some homes had already been lost. School officials stayed with those students overnight, all while making plans to reunite the students with parents the next day. On the morning of Aug. 18, the breadth of the damage was coming into focus. The school system would have to wait for authorization before cleaning or repairing indoor and outdoor facilities, but Haywood County Schools staff were out early that day taking stock of the destruction, trying to get a hold on what the rain had brought with it and what the swollen Pigeon River had left in its path.
“We ask for public patience as we work through the appropriate steps to reopen schools,” Nolte said that Wednesday morning. “We are so proud of our school community. As in the past, the community has responded to a crisis situation with hard work and determination. Thank you from the Haywood County Board of Education, our administration and staff.”
O
All these necessary repairs went into a request for proposal, and bids from contractors came in between $1.8 and $2.1 million. At first, FEMA offered the school system $1.3 million, minus whatever insurance coverage the school system would receive for the field. With a coverage of $427,000, the school system was left with $873,000 from FEMA.
The no-rise study was completed in early February, and the permitting needed to be included on the flood maps was issued in March.
nce all the work to get these structures onto the flood maps had been completed, Haywood County Schools could begin the process of getting money for projects from FEMA. This was another lengthy step in which the school system and FEMA went back and forth several times to finally settle on an amount to be paid.
Central Haywood High School weathered the most damage of any Haywood County Schools property, and now it appears unlikely it will be repaired at all. On an initial walkthrough with FEMA officials, they suggested seekingHowever,relocation.forFEMA to help pay relocation costs, necessary repairs to the building must exceed 50% of the total property value. If this is determined to be the case, HCS will have to apply for a separate FEMA program in which it will receive funding for construction of a new building. Initial quotes for repairs to the school building were estimated at $5,065,000.“Theonly thing FEMA will not pay for, if that is the case, is land for the relocation. That would be the responsibility of the school system,” said Putnam. “At this time, we’re waiting to see if we’re even eligible for relocation.”In the meantime, Central Haywood High School will have a new home in the old Central Elementary School building. Haywood County Schools Administration was using the building last school year as its central office building but was able to move into its new office building in June of this year. Beginning this school year, Central Haywood High School will occupy one wing of the building, and the HCS instructional technology department will occupy the other. The Haywood Community Learning Center will also move from its current location in Hazelwood to the old Central Elementary kindergarten“Diplomasbuilding.forHCLC are issued by Central Haywood High School, so it makes sense that they’re on the same campus and can share resources,” said Putnam. “It’s a lot more efficient.”
AFTER THE FLOOD
“It’s flooded several times,” said Francis. “Just since I’ve been on the board, the stadium’s gone underwater three times. Central Haywood High School and the Education Center have gone underwater as well.”
This time around, the school board is considering all its options, including the possibility of alternate locations for the properties that have been ravaged by floods multiple times. However, this daunting prospect is not considered lightly.
In 2004, the remnants of hurricanes Frances and Ivan barreled through Haywood County, leaving the school system with what was estimated at $2.4 million in damages. The destruction caused by that pair of storms was eerily similar to what transpired following Tropical Storm Fred. Central Haywood High School got hit the worst; those students had to move buildings and take classes in the old Hazelwood Elementary School. The second largest expense was Pisgah’s football stadium, which needed more than $400,000 in repairs. Like now, much of that cost back then involved replacing the drainage system under the field, as well as gravel and soil. The Education Center in Clyde, Pisgah softball and baseball fields and Canton Middle softball and baseball fields all sustained damage. At that time, the Board of Education agreed to try and find new land for Pisgah and Canton Middle softball and baseball fields.
“I think that we would want to weigh the risk benefit ratio of [relocation],” said Francis. “I understand that there’s a lot of local value in Memorial Stadium being where it is and there’s strong emotion there. That’s something that we need to weigh in the future to try to find something that would meet the specification of being something that would respect and honor the wishes of the people of Canton. I would proceed with extreme caution on relocation, at this point in time, of Memorial“WhenStadium.”youlook at the historical pattern of flooding, in my mind, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” said Putnam. “So I think it’s wise to consider alternate options.”
Whether or not relocation is the path the school board eventually decides to take, several factors will be different the next time flooding occurs.
“The next time this happens, there are a lot of things we will not have to go through,” said Putnam. “People who follow me won’t have to do a no-rise study, they won’t have to obtain permits, and they will not have to replace every piece of electrical instrumentation we have because it will have been taken out of the water level.”
The work has been ongoing at Pisgah Memorial Stadium since last year’s flood. During that time, teams have had to play home games at other venues. Allen Newland photo
T his isn’t the first time — or the last — the Pigeon River will flow beyond the confines of its usual path.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 15
“We had to convince them that these projects have been competitively bid, and these are the amounts that they can complete the work with,” said Putnam. “So even though it’s not an itemized competitive bid, it is a competitive bid for the entire project.” Even though work has already begun at the stadium, it will not be ready for play this football season. After all repairs have been completed on the field and the stadium, all utility boxes must be moved up and out of the floodway, even though they service buildings that are in the floodway. The plan for the Pisgah football program is to play two “home” games at Tuscola’s C.E. Weatherby Stadium, and all others on the road.Initial quotes for restoration of the Pisgah softball field were $846,666 and $1,319,982 for the Pisgah baseball field. Repairs to both fields began last week. Quotes for restoration of the Canton Middle softball field were $95,000 and $897,038 for the Canton Middle baseball field. Repairs to both fields also began last week. The Tuscola softball field sustained minor damage, estimated at $525.
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“He walked up in his flip flips through the woods carrying three days’ worth of food for everybody,” Wilson said. Wilson also spoke about his former neighbors, Natasha and Kile Bright (see “After the Flood,” pg. 9), who even amid their own struggles coming to grips with losing their home, rolled up their sleeves and helped him
Wilson recently got around to looking at footage from security cameras at his home captured the day he watched the bloated East Fork of the Pigeon River shoot through his house as he clung to a tree. Even without watching the footage of most of his animals getting washed away, Wilson was still emotional simply recalling the catastrophic damage caught on camera — cars, trees, buildings being washed downriver, an astonishing display of the destruction water can unleash. Wilson said that simply hearing the sounds of crashing trees and twisted metal associated with the disaster were enough to stir up some emotions.“That’ll bring you tears,” he said.
This image was captured by Ben Wilson (left) from the tree as flood water raged beneath him. Ben Wilson photo
Although Wilson’s home is still far from returning to how it was before the flood, there’s a deeper sense of joy he has found that was perhaps not even possible without the disaster — people can still love one another, they can still help a stranger in need. Along with receiving aid from fellow Cruso residents over the last year, Wilson has had Haywood County residents he’s never even met bring him everything he could need and want, from food and beer to simpleWilsoncompanionship.mentioneda few specifically. First, he spoke about Robert Riker and his family. Riker and Wilson’s friendship had only existed on social media prior to the flood.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 18
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PUTTING THE PIECES BACK TOGETHER Wilson said that the flood hit just a couple of months after he’d finally finished extensive renovations on his once dilapidated mountain home that sits nestled in the woods just across the river from the Laurel Bank Campground, where several lives were lost during the flood. Wilson said he had gotten some video of the raging river to post on social media and when he went out to his porch to upload it, the water surged; he saw a wall he said looked about four-feet tall. As Wilson watched large debris — including trees larger than the one he was in — pass by, he was afraid his might not hold and even had moments where he anticipated he’d not makeWhileit.
It’s clear upon meeting Wilson that he clings to optimism in any given situation. He said that as he held onto that tree, he achieved sudden clarity. In the grand scheme of things, so many things we get wrapped up in — a high electric bill, a partner forgetting to pick up some groceries, someone taking a good parking spot — those things suddenly wash away, and what’s left is a sudden appreciation. That feeling was only confirmed by the outpouring of support Wilson experienced in the last year.
AFTER THE FLOOD
Ben Wilson points out the spot in a tree (right) by his house where he held on during last year’s flood. Kyle Perrotti photo
Wilson will tell anyone that he feels fortunate to still have his life, but recovering has been a massive task that has required a ton of focus and more out-of-pocket money than he ever thought he’d have to spend. Now, as he puts his home and his life back together, there are constant reminders of the continuous struggle — from exposed electrical outlets to sparse furniture to floors that have been replaced but still not sanded or oiled.
By the time the water receded in early evening and he returned to the muddied ground below, he became aware of the widespreadWhatdevastation.hasfollowed has been a long string of repairs followed by new repairs as more issues are discovered — all of which have been hard to complete with a lack of resources and reliable contractors.
FINDING LOVE AND COMPASSION
BY KYLE P ERROTTI N EWS E DITOR B
Cruso man’s struggle to rebuild eased by community’s compassion
Wilson didn’t recall the fateful day in too great of detail, he remembered the one concern that ran through his mind on a loop as the water rushed beneath him.
One of the first items on the list was mold remediation.“Thatwas pretty horrible,” Wilson said. “It sat so long, and we had to wait for the adjuster. It took him a week or two just to release the property because around the same time, Louisiana got hit, and then New York and he was MIA. The mold was just up the walls. They eventually treated it twice with those expensive chemicals, and because I had to stay out, I just slept on the porch.”
“I thought I was gone,” he said. “I was worried if the kids would find the will. I saw the building left with my file cabinets and that panicked me. I asked myself ‘will that be in the cloud? Did I put it in the cloud? Is it even valuable in the cloud? It’s not notarized, but it still has to be good, right?’”
Delivered through the storm
NEW FLOODS, NEW WORRIES
“They were here every day, and that guy works 60 hours a week and has kids in school,” Wilson said. “He would come in after working at the mill. Sometimes, he would work until dark with flood lights. He cleaned, and he buried animals for me. He just did all kinds of stuff.” With all the help Wilson received, there’s one person who he was immediately drawn to — Tasha Tafelski. Tafelski would bring Wilson vegetables, as well as coffee from his favorite spot, the Coffee Cup Container. What began as a warm acquaintanceship blossomed into a valuable friendship and eventually a “I’dromance.callher and complain, and she just put up with my incessant babbling and then I was hooked,” he said. “I was always excited to see her, and then in January we got more flirty. At first, I just considered her my buddy I could call up when I was feeling off or just to talk about mundane things, but then we became more.”
“How freaking awesome are these people?” he said of the first responders. “It gives me chills just talking about it. They said they were trying to figure out how to get us out if they needed Followingto.”that flood and its disastrous predecessor, Wilson said there’s still no shortage of cleanup needed even beyond what’s needed to get his house in working order.
“I’ve been through floods; I’ve been through three hurricanes,” he said. “And I’ve never seen a community come together like this. I’m thankful to be where I am in a place where people will genuinely give you the shirt off their back. They’ll do anything if it means you can be dry and warm. I have never seen anything like that ever. It makes me proud, and I don’t think I could ever be anywhere else.”
Prior to the last flood, which changed the very path of the East Fork, there were large berms along the banks to keep the river at bay during storms. Those berms were washed away last year, which combined with the leftover debris has become a concern for Wilson and others still traumatized by last year’s disaster. Just a few months ago in May, amid more heavy rains, Wilson’s land flooded again.While neighbors fearing another catastrophe went elsewhere earlier that day in anticipation of potential flooding, Wilson wasn’t aware the river had come up as much as it did until he returned home that afternoon with Tafelski and her five-year-old son after picking him up from school. Normally, he would take his UTV across the river, but the water was too high and swift. Wilson took a risk and decided to test the waters. Once he determined it was passable on foot, he put Tafelski’s son on his shoulders and they all crossed.After arriving on the other side, they decided to get clothes and essentials, crossed back over, and stayed in a small cottage on the other side that Wilson rents out as an Air BNB. Although they felt safer on the other side, anxiety percolated among all of them.
“Now that the berm is gone, the river just runs right up through here,” Wilson said. “We were up every hour that night checking the river,” Tafelski said.
While the water level that night was threatening and Wilson saw large debris getting carried downstream, it ultimately paled in comparison to last year’s devastation. As scary as it was though, Wilson still had a reason to smile as he relayed the harrowing story. Several members of the Cruso Fire Department came to check on Wilson, Tafelski and her son, who they believed were still inside Wilson’s home, and didn’t leave until they were certain the trio was safe.
As difficult as the flood recovery has been, Ben Wilson was happy to meet Tasha Tafelski.
“It’s still a mess,” he said. “My son and I are still cleaning under the porch and finding debris, and we’d already cleaned that once. Since that berm’s not fixed, we’ll just keep having water run under the house.” But Wilson remains undeterred in the face of adversity and the sluggish recovery many have lamented since the flood. In the near future, Wilson, who has become a local social media sensation with tantalizing posts of his culinary creations, hopes to build a full outdoor kitchen. But for now, it’s one step at a time.When asked what he’d want to say to local folks about his ordeal and what he’s learned, his answer came quick.
Kyle Perrotti photo
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 19 get his home back to livable condition. Wilson mentioned Rodney and Kara Rogers, who would show up with their kids ready to help him whenever they could.
“It was a tremendous amount of rise in a rapid period of time, and the fall was just as quick,” Haywood Emergency Management Officer Zack Koonce said of the flood that swept from Cruso to Canton Aug. 17, 2021. “So we’re hoping that with the systems that will be in place we’re able to develop a window and a timeframe to be able to give citizens an action point to make the steps to evacuate.”
“The state’s also helping us with these projects, and so they’re hoping to build FIMAN out to be more of a bigger system than what it is right now,” he said. Further in the future, Koonce wants to see livestreamed cameras installed at key sites. This would help emergency managers better correlate gauge data to stream conditions while also giving residents a visual understanding of upstream flooding. Koonce and his team have found some cameras that would be up to the task but are still working on how best to transmit data. Then they’ll tackleNextfunding.time a big flood comes, Koonce wants Haywood County to have everything in place it needs to give residents time to escape. He thinks it’s an achievable — albeit difficult — goal. But Rob Young, director of Western Carolina University’s Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, isn’t so sure.
The county has secured a $175,000 grant from the N.C. Department of Public Safety to install four new rain gauges and seven new river gauges, as well as $1.525 million for three siren warning systems. The rain gauges will go in near the headwaters of major streams at High Top, Twelve O’Clock Top and Dicks Creek, while the river gauges will go in at Cruso, above Canton and possibly in the Upper Hominy/Asheville Highway corridor just east of Canton. The siren warning systems will be installed in Cruso, Lake Logan and Bethel.
In a mountainous region facing an acute housing shortage and a dearth of buildable land, keeping dwellings out of flooding-susceptible areas is difficult, especially since such events occur so infrequently in any given location. However, Koonce said, multiple programs are working to reduce residents’ vulnerability to future flooding in the wake of Tropical Storm Fred. There are 32 households in process for flood mitigation buyouts of their land, and others are enrolled in programs through FEMA Hazard Mitigation and the N.C. Office of State Budget Management
AFTER THE FLOOD Tropical Storm Fred triggered a mudslide along U.S. 276 near the Cruso Fire Department. Allen Newland photo
n the year since Tropical Storm Fred ravaged Western North Carolina, emergency managers have been busy working to ensure that next time a wall of water tears through Haywood County, it will exact a much lower cost to life and property.
“That wall of water came down the drainage so quickly that you’re almost never going to have much time to respond if you are in harm’s way,” he said. “I think it’s great to try and do what you can to provide some warning to folks, but at the end of the day, the only real solution is to not have people in harm’s way in a place where flash flooding can occur so rapidly and so dramatically.”
“We don’t know what we don’t know,” said Koonce. “So we’re hoping that once we get these systems put in place, we’re able to start analyzing the data and working with the National Weather Service to develop timeframes and windows on the predictability of this much rainfall fell on the ridgetop and it took this long for the river to rise to a certain point of action.”
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 20
When the next one comes Emergency managers work toward preparednessflood
BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS EDITOR I
The rain gauges will report live data — every time the bucket tips, it will send a signal and report accumulation down to hundredths of an inch. Meanwhile, the river gauges will use lasers to measure the water’s height, taking a reading every five minutes and making a report to the N.C. Flood Inundation and Alert Mapping Network every 15 minutes. With upgrades coming to FIMAN, that frequency may increase, Koonce said.
Dr.DawsonDennis Dr.DavisMaDr. PrzynoschRobert Dr.DelBeneRobertDr.BanksWilliam
Unlike Haywood, Jackson County did not have a deadly flood last year. And unlike Haywood, Jackson County has not secured any million-dollar grants to improve flood warnings. Dillard’s current focus is on getting as many residents as possible signed up for the county’s Code Red alert system, and on maintaining strong lines of communication with Duke Energy. The company operates five dams in the county, providing a barrier to downstream flooding. When heavy rain forces Duke to open the gates, it’s able to warn county EMS before releasing the water.
FACES OF HAYWOOD 828.456.3021
A flood-impacted property undergoes debris cleanup. Allen Newland photo
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“It’s not a perfect plan, but I do feel as comfortable as we can right now about what we have,” Dillard said. That said, North Carolina has been “very aggressive” about adding gauges to vulnerable locations since well before Tropical Storm Fred, said Josh Palmer, senior hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Greenville. Ever since Hurricanes Frances and Ivan hit in 2004, the state has prioritized adding gauges and building out FIMAN, the interactive webpage that displays readings and flood forecasts.
“If somebody asked me what to do with an extra million bucks or something like that, I think what I would do is map the vulnerability of all the watersheds in each county,” said “Vulnerability”Young.
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“Our goal is to do everything we absolutely can to get the messaging out to the people that need to get it in a timely fashion and as early as possible so they can take action to save their lives and their family’s lives and protect their property,” Palmer said.
Business support driven entities, like the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce ensure the proper education and resources are in place while putting like-minded entrepreneurs in the same room. This aids in ensuring not only positive business development in Haywood County, but as well a cohesive approach to community interaction.”
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should take into account not just FEMA flood maps, Young said, but other types of flood maps as well as information about the houses in those areas — their elevation, construction methods, who lives there, and the community’s social vulnerability.“This may sound a little bit crazy, but I would want to go door-to-door in the places we identify as being high vulnerability and just make sure people really understand,” Young said. “There are tons of people buying in here from out of state over the last couple years. People need to understand that if there’s a tropical system that parks over them and they’re in one of those places, they might want to stay with friends for the night.”
Courtney & Spencer Tetrault A XE & AWL LEATHERWORKS 41 Depot St., Waynesville to elevate their homes above flood level.
“Of course we can’t prevent flooding,” said Koonce. “We can’t prevent the amount of rainfall we get in the area and how fast it comes, but we can do everything we can to mitigate the Unfortunately,hazard.”said Young, the West Fork Pigeon is just one of hundreds of mountain streams in the Southern Appalachians that could swell to a deadly rage, given the right conditions. “It’s hard to imagine” outfitting each of them with the extensive instrumentation planned for southern Haywood County. Grant funding tends to be available for places that have already experienced a disaster, he said, not those merely at risk of one.
“As a result of that, the state has one of the best, if not the best, stream gauge networks in the country,” said Palmer. Still, there’s more to be done.
Young, Koonce and Dillard all stressed the importance of education and personal responsibility in preventing flood-related death and injury. No amount of preparation can stop a flash flood — so it’s vital that people who live in vulnerable areas understand the risk and know when it’s time to get out.
“We tend to be reactive rather than proactive when we talk about flood hazards in general,” he said. “Almost no buyouts happen in properties that have not been flooded. We tend to spend money putting instruments in places where we just had the big flood. We don’t go to all the watersheds that have not had the big flood yet and spend money putting instruments in those.” Case in point, perhaps, is neighboring Jackson County. As Tropical Storm Fred passed through the mountains, the heaviest rainfall dumped on the Transylvania/Jackson County line, where multiple rain gauges recorded more than 20 inches over 72 hours. The only reason Jackson didn’t see flooding on par with Cruso and Canton was that the rainclouds centered on the Eastern Continental Divide, splitting the deluge between two watersheds.
“If that storm would have been a little further east, it would have been Jackson County we were talking about instead of Haywood County,” said Jackson County Emergency Management Director Todd Dillard. “When those storms stop on top of these mountains, we have such huge areas with such large runoff, it’s really hard to predict.”
As the Rectors took whatever they could before vacating the house, the river had come through the front door and was now in the Wendy and Chuck Rector lost their entire home in Cruso during the historic flood of 2021, which overtook the small Haywood County community when a wall of water washed through the area. (Garret K. photos)
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 22 ‘We just held on’ A year stillCrusohistoricafterflood,familyisrebuilding
But, on Aug. 17, 2021, the daily reality of the Rectors was forever shattered and permanently shifted, both physically and emotionally. As Tropical Storm Fred roared into Western North Carolina that afternoon, over 14 inches of rain fell upon the mountain ridges surrounding the communities of Cruso and Bethel, the incessant water rolling down into streams and creeks along U.S. 276, ultimately dumping into the Pigeon River.
Consisting of three acres along the Pigeon River, the Rectors home is a stone’s throw from nearby U.S. 276, just over the bridge on Burnette Cove Road in the small, tightly-knit Haywood County mountain community of Cruso.“Everything that we had on this property was something we worked for, for over the last 30 years we’ve been together — this was our little slice of paradise,” Wendy said, gazing over at Chuck.
“People say to us, ‘Why don’t you just sell the land and get out of there?’” Wendy said.
The Rectors have lived on the property for the last 17 years. Wendy is a registered nurse at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde. Chuck owns a welding business. The couple is well-known and regarded in the area, with Wendy calling Cruso home her whole life. Together, they’ve raised three children on Burnette Cove — Madalyn, Chase and Chance. Before Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, the Rectors would start and end their days with the soothing sounds of the Pigeon River. On the property was a picturesque home, a large garage full of welding gear and work vehicles, a gazebo, hammock, fire pit, and other signs of your atypical mountain abode. There was also a kennel for the family’s four frolicking Labradors and two perfectly restored classic cars — a 1968 Plymouth GTX 400 and 1970 Chevrolet Nova Super Sport, the latter Chuck first acquired in high school.
“By 4:30 or 4:45 p.m. the water was cresting the [Burnette Cove] bridge. We have marks on this tree here 10 feet high from debris in the flood hitting it,” Chuck said, pointing to scars in the large tree providing shade over the Adirondack chairs. “At that point, we decided to see what we could get out of the house as quick as we could. Our neighbors were already running down to help us.”
Woodward
“I mean, what do you even think to grab in a moment like that?” Wendy said.
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR H anding an old red bandana back and forth to wipe away the tears emerging from their eyes, Wendy and Chuck Rector sit in two plastic Adirondack chairs on what was once a pristine property — a dream home of sorts, truth be told.
Folks from Burnette Cove were backing up trucks to the house in an effort to save whatever they could of the Rectors possessions. For Wendy, it was a race against time to retrieve the most important of items — family records and cherished photographs.
AFTER THE FLOOD
“But, this is our home. Our kids grew up here. We have wonderful memories here. Anybody who knows me, knows that I love that river — I’m in it every single day.”
“It was about three o’clock in the afternoon when the boys started calling me,” Wendy recalled with slight pause in her voice before continuing. “Chase was headed home from work and Chance was leaving [Pisgah High School]. They asked if we wanted them to check on everything. At that time, we weren’t super worried — the river has risen several times over the years.” Wendy told her sons to grab the patio furniture near the river. But, a minute later, they called back to say the furniture and the gazebo were already swept into the river. By the time Wendy and Chuck arrived, the water had breached the riverbank and was spilling across U.S. 276.
“Everything was just happening so fast, where you enter this fight-or-flight mode of survival. Seconds feel like minutes and everything is chaotic in that adrenaline rush of trying to do what you can to survive.”
“And, the water kept going over my head, where all I could hear was the rocks below me smashing into each other in the river — it was a horrible sound that I’ll never forget.”
“You could see people talking to you and yelling at you from the riverbank. But, you can’t hear what they’re saying — the water was so loud and deafening,” Wendy said.
“What’s really crazy? A few days before the flood, I was mowing the lawn and that branch hit me in the face. I told Wendy I was going to cut it down. But, for some reason, I forgot to do so,” Chuck said, shaking his head in awe of the ways and means of fate in this universe. “If she hadn’t grabbed that branch, she’d had been swept down the river and who knows what would have happened to her.” But, Wendy did grab the branch, this slim piece of a tree not much wider than a billiard cue to play pool with. As she held on for dear life, Chuck dove in after her, grabbing onto the branch and helping push her up to the trunk of the tree. Immediately after, Chase jumped in, with the trio now anchored in the tree, simply waiting for the rising water to recede.
“Chase is tall enough to where he’s kind of leaning towards me into the current, and holding my legs, because I could not get my legs back on the ground,” Wendy reminisced.
“And it was right then when this young lady — seemingly coming out of nowhere in the river — grabbed my arm.”
“It all happened so abruptly, with the worst part that last surge of water,” Chuck said. “But, we somehow made it to the riverbank. By the time we got out and walked back up the road, you could see the water receding
“They kept throwing the retrieval rope at us. I’m thinking, ‘Well, I hope they got this rope tied off,’ because there’s over 700 pounds on this one line right now,” Chuck added. “And that’s when the big surge happened.”
The anonymous woman was a friend of one of the Rectors neighbors on Burnette Cove. She was visiting the area, by chance, and had helped the Rectors in the scramble to grab anything worth saving in the floodwaters. Like Wendy, the woman got swept away by the river current and now found herself in a tree with the Rectors. Soon, a friend of Chase’s tried to assist, only to also get stuck in the tree. Five human beings hanging on in a battle between life and death, the eternal struggle of man versus nature. A handful of neighbors, a fireman and a highway patrol officer were now trying to get a rope tossed towards the tree.
With the retrieval rope now in Chuck’s hand, the quintet grabbed onto it tightly, slowly swinging themselves towards the riverbank. If any one of them let go, they’d be swept towards the bridge and shot downstream, most likely to their deaths with the suction of the water under the bridge and amount of large debris ricocheting from side to side in the violent waters.
With the home destroyed by the flood, the Rectors have been living in a camper RV since last October.
The “big surge” of water, the result of an enormous mudslide way up stream near the Cruso Community Center. The slide crashed into the Pigeon, causing the river to explode, ultimately busting open all of the debris that had collected and caused a dam-like scenario by that time — an estimated wall of water some 20 feet high or more rocketing through Cruso and Bethel.
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“It was very surreal. I did start feeling like we might die in this,” Wendy said. “And I looked over and saw Chance screaming for us [on the riverbank]. I just kept thinking, ‘Don’t let his family die in front of him. Lord, don’t let him see us die.’”
S EE H ELD ON, PAGE 24
“We’re fighting battles all the time. Battles over housing permits, permits for the trailer behind us here,” Chuck said, gesturing to the new mobile home behind the camper. “We’re not giving up. This is our home and we’re going to keep fighting.”
Since last October, the Rectors have been living in a camper RV a few yards away from the bombed-out rubble pit that used to be their brick-and-mortar house. It’s a cramped space for the family, with their “kitchen” being a folding table and grill underneath a tarp attached to a tree outside.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 24 — it was like someone pulled the plug in a bathtub.”Covered in bruises and shaking from the adrenaline rush — and also being in shock from the traumatic experience — the Rectors circled back to what was once their beloved home and extended property. The landscape before them looked like a warzone. The dream house was decimated. The garage full of gear and work vehicles completely gone. The formerly lush, green lawn now covered in countless boulders and big rocks. The 1968 Plymouth GTX 400 was dented all to hell from the rocks and debris hitting it relentlessly, with the 1970 Chevrolet Nova Super Sport now wrapped around a tree (where it still resides to this day). “But, we were alive. We survived. Our family and all four of our dogs made it out of the flood,” Wendy said. “We left and spent the night at [my father-in-law’s] house. Of course, we couldn’t sleep — how could you after something like that?” Returning to Burnette Cove the next morning, the long, arduous road to not only rebuilding their lives, but also a return to some semblance of normalcy, was now facing the Rectors. Where do you even begin to the pick up the pieces? Who do you call? What do you do in a time like this? How could this have“Whathappened?really stuck out to me that first day back was everyone in Cruso helping each other out,” Chuck said. “I remember we had neighbors showing up with no shoes and just their underwear on, just trying to help us. And our kids, they left to help other folks down the road who were as devastated as we were.”Now that the total size and scope of the Pigeon River flood came into focus, so did the cleanup efforts and process to receive possible funding to start over again. Although the Rectors didn’t have flood insurance, they do think it may have been a blessing in disguise, seeing as, according to them, sometimes the insurance can negate any efforts to garner federal funding and assistance.
“We didn’t have power and we didn’t have internet. We didn’t have any way to do things,” Wendy said. “But, we kept hoping for that federal declaration. We spent all this time trying to get our paperwork in order. And yet, I kept thinking about the older people around here going through the same thing — who was helping them?”
And if things couldn’t possibly get any worse, Wendy’s father fell gravely ill with COVID in Georgia right after the flood. Wendy left for Georgia on Aug. 29 to be at his bedside in the hospital. Before his untimely passing on Sept. 16, Wendy sat in the hospital, clicking the refresh button on the government websites, hoping for the day when her community would be declared a federal disaster area and she could proceed with filing her claims — that wait took 21 days.
In an extremely generous gift, the Biltmore Church donated the mobile home to the Rectors. As of press time, the family has yet to enter the trailer. Although the electric had been hooked up, a few final inspections needed before they can move in for the foreseeable future. “I keep saying the trailer is a mirage,” Chuck said. “We see every time we walk outside, but we can’t live in it yet.”
In terms of assistance, the Rectors received a less-than-desirable check from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), ultimately a drop in the bucket with what’s needed to properly rebuild. There was also a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan obtained, with several additional avenues being continually explored for funding. But, all-in-all, the road to recovery remains ongoing, even with other donations from several community organizations and local churches. The Rectors are frustrated, even almost a year after the flood, and for good reason. With heads held high, the couple is steadfast in finding solid footing in this new, unknown chapter of their existence.
Walking the Rectors’ property, the couple points out the ruins of what once was. They wander over to the rubble pit and talk in a humbled tone about their former dream house. Kicking around some of the rubble, Chuck picks up a muddy souvenir cup from a long-forgotten craft beer festival years ago in Canton, then finds a DVD of one of their kids’ favorite films under more dirt. Plans are already in the works to rebuild their dream house, with the foundation of the structure being the rocks flung onto the front lawn from the MakingPigeon.their way to the river, the Rectors carefully traverse the boulder field along the tranquil waters. The river is calm and consistent, at least for now, and in this moment — that mesmerizing sound of nature in motion in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
“It’s been a lot of red tape over the last year,” Wendy said. “A lot of phone calls and endless research, piles of paperwork and countless hours trying to get assistance and file claims — it’s been like a full-time job on top of my full-time job.”
H ELD ON, CONTINUED FROM 23 The boulders and rocks pushed by the flood of 2021
“You know, for a few months after the flood, the sound of the river, and whenever it would rain, would give me anxiety,” Wendy said. “But, this spring, I got into the river in April. It’s the earliest I’ve ever sat in the water. It was so cold, but I just had to get in the river as soon as I could. I had to put my ears under the water and listen — I had to make peace with what happened.” into what was once the front lawn of the
Rectors. (Garret K. Woodward photos)
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 25 71 North Main WaynesvilleStreetRE/MAX EXECUTIVE Real Experience. Real Service. Real Results. www.TheRealTeamNC.com828.452.3727
For two weeks this summer I got the chance to hop around northern Italy with my family. During the first week my god sister Eliza and I traveled from Genoa to Florence and then to Verona. The second week, the Sullivan clan went from Verona, up to the mountains in Val Gardena, down to Sirmione on the shores of Lake Garda, before returning to Venice to fly home. But for one magical night, all seven of us were in Verona together. We had dinner in an alley crisscrossed by string lights, where the tables were small and close together. The chef worked not only at making the food, but also taking orders, serving dishes and cleaning up at the end of the night. Sitting around that table, and countless others over the course of the trip I felt at once completely at ease and utterlyAfterfulfilled.dinner,and of course gelato, Loretta decided we needed to climb to the church overlooking the city. We were in sandals and dresses and it was a long, steep climb on equal parts narrow road and rocky trail. When we reached the top, the gates surrounding the church were locked. But the hillside in front of the magnificent building was filled with people sitting there in the dark gazing out at a sparkling Verona. From that vantage point the river flowed soundlessly around the glowing city like black silk. It’s a sight none of us will soon forget. Most of our days were filled with long walks through the sweltering city streets, broken up by the cool, still air of giant cathedrals built centuries past that seem to dot every neighborhood, or the air conditioned quiet of cavernous museums that play host to some of the great treasures of the art world. In Florence, we bustled through the crowded streets to see the remnants of the wealth and influence of the powerful Medici family. We gawked at the David, tiptoed across the marble floor of the private Medici chapel and admired the statues of dawn and dusk that adorn the tombs. We saw the nine bronze busts of Michelangelo himself and watched the summer solstice sunset from the Piazzale Michelangelo. Eliza discovered the best view of the famous Duomo from the tiny rooftop bar of a hostel where we listened to the excited recommendations of a group of Mexican college students who were there studying abroad. It was an afternoon neither of us will soon forget.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokynews 26 SPONSORED CONTENT Rumble is a weekly e-newsletter created by women, for women and about women. It is published by The Smoky Mountain News and delivered to your inbox each Thursday. The goal is to offer readers a beautifully curated email that will inspire and motivate women to live their best lives. By hearing the challenges and successes of other women, we hope you will find an opportunity to live, love, learn and grow in your own unique way. Graphic Designer Jessica Murray (from left), Digital Media Specialist Stefanee Sherman, Account Representative Sophia Burleigh, Staff Writer Susanna Shetley, and Staff Writer Hannah McLeod and Amanda Singletary (not pictured) The Team Subscribe: smokymountainnews.com/rumble Want to know more about newsletter advertising, sponsored content or advertising on this page email Susanna Shetley at susanna.b@smokymountainnews or call 828.452.4251 mountain mediauths We Won't Soon Forget HANNAH MCLEOD·
T he fact that it was after midnight, two members of our party had been traveling for most of the day and one had to begin her travels at 4:30 the next morning did nothing to stop us from ascending the mountain on the banks of the Adige River to the church that overlooks Verona. That’s just what it’s like to travel with Loretta — and all the women in my family — full of heedless wonder.
Music Director Terry Hooper currently serves as Adjunct Instructor of Voice at Young Harris College, where he has taught voice, piano and music appreciation, and as Adjunct Instructor of Voice at Truett-McConnell University in Cleveland, Georgia. He is also Minister of Music at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Hayesville, North Carolina. Mr. Hooper has an extensive history of performing and conducting vocal and choral music throughout the United States and Europe. For more information on how to become part of this community music group, visit mountaincommunitychorus.org or contact Terry Hooper at rterry.hooper@gmail.com.
Smoky Mountain News 27
Lake Junaluska to host Choir Music Weekend Lake Junaluska invites church choirs and individuals who love to sing sacred choral music to come together Oct. 14-16 for Choir Music Weekend. Join us for a joyous weekend to expand your musical repertoire, learn new vocal skills, and enjoy time for recreation and fellowship. During the event, experienced choral directors will teach eight anthems and lead workshops on topics from the basics of playing the ukulele to how to turn hymns into anthems for smaller choirs. A new workshop track is offered specifically for the church accompanist.
Auditions for new members begin at 6 p.m. on August 22 at Sharp Memorial Church, followed by the first rehearsal at 7 p.m. There is a $20 membership fee that covers the cost of music. The chorus welcomes all competent singers who have a willingness to practice and perform a variety of choral music. There is no need for new singers to prepare anything for the audition.
Rehearsals are held on Monday nights from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Sharp Memorial. Now in its 48th season, the chorus provides an artistic outlet for choral performers in the mountain communities of northeast Georgia, western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Many chorus members travel an hour or more to rehearsals.
“I am excited because there is so much opportunity for growth and expansion,” Caldwell said. “I want to create a high-end environment for clients to come relax, while also providing a service at a reasonableHighlandsrate.”Hair Studio is located at 121 Main St. and open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Mondays and Saturdays by appointment only.
Chorus group begins 48th season
Thedirector.fallconcert will be held on Nov. 18 and 19, which is earlier than in previous years. The earlier dates will allow a greater variety of styles and seasons for this concert, which historically has focused largely on music of the Christmas season. This year, there will be songs relating to the fall season and to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, as well as patriotic selections in honor of Veteran’s Day and an arrangement from a BroadwaySelectionsmusical.forthe concert will include the “Gloria” movement from Vivaldi’s Gloria; Randall Thompson’s “The Last Words of David”; two selections by noted English choral composer John Rutter – “For the Beauty of the Earth” and “Candlelight Carol”; and Holst’s “Christmas Day”.
Franklin Area Folk Festival kicks off
Hair Studio offers professional hair services to women, men and children. Owner Ashley Caldwell said she is excited to be part of the Highlands business community. She was surrounded by family and Highlands Chamber of Commerce/Visit Highlands, NC Executive Director Kaye McHan during the event.
The weekend takes place during peak leaf season in Western North Carolina, so attendees can enjoy the artistry of nature as they expand their choral knowledge. A program fee of $105 includes the anthem packet, worship and workshops. Also available are lodging packages that include two nights of lodging at The Terrace Hotel or Lambuth Inn at Lake Junaluska, six meals and program fees. To register or for more information, call 800.222.4930 or visit lakejunaluska.com/choirmusic.
“It will be a glorious reunion this fall as we gather to sing after a two-year hiatus,” said Ginger Wyrick, who serves on the Choir Music Weekend leadership team. “Don’t miss this opportunity for hearts and voices to unite in song, fellowship and worship.”
Choir Music Weekend is especially geared to the choral needs of small- and medium-sized choirs, but all are welcome to attend. The theme for this year’s event will be “Reflections of Christ – His Life and Mission.”
Celebrating all things Appalachian, this family-friendly festival features live heritage demonstrations, Appalachian crafts, jammin’ sessions that feature old-time mountain music and bluegrass, kids’ activities, food, textiles and more. Artisans inside Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center will exhibit Macon County’s rich heritage by teaching us about pottery, textiles, painting, old toys and local culture and history. By linking the future to the past, the Franklin Area Folk Festival they’llotherandingmoonshinin’,kneeatThesewaswhattorstionsthroughhands-onsponsorsactivitiesdemonstra-toallowvisi-toexperiencemountainlifelikeyearsago.folkslearnedtheirparents’woodcarving,weav-andspinning,allthemanyheritageskillsbedemonstrating.Someadditionalhighlights include special quilts on display, flint napping, woodworking, Border Collies’ demonstrations, bee keeping, weaving, old-time music and more. Performances of mountain music, gospel and bluegrass tunes exemplify a very important cultural heritage of Appalachia. J Creek Cloggers, sponsored by the Arts Council of Macon County and storytelling with Shelia Kay Adams, sponsored by Suminski Family Books, are sure to be crowd pleasers. In addition to performance stages inside and outside, festival-goers are encouraged to bring their instruments and join in during a jammin’ session.Once known as the quilting capital of the world, displays from the Smoky Mountain Quilter’s Guild and Cowee Quilters will help showcase this important heritage. Also, there will be vendors selling Appalachian crafts in addition to demonstrators with their goods available for purchase.Beginning at 10 a.m. at the Kids’ Activity Tent located mid-field, kids of all ages are encouraged to play old-fashioned lawn games such as egg races, sack races and tug-o-war. At designated times, kids can also make crafts or try their hand at weaving or butter churning. Additional kid-focused activities scattered around both inside and outside on the grounds include the Smoky Mtn. Quilter’s Guild Make-it/Take-it sewing item, corn shellin’, dancing jacks with fiddle music by Richard Tichich, Macon County 4-H crafts with exhibit of traditional toys and friendly goats, free books from Read-to-Me, face painting by Macon Faces and Henna, ornament making in the pottery room or weaving in the hall by Cowee textiles. Also, kids can take a step back in time and use a washboard to clean clothes, stop by the Civil War re-enactors Camp, or experiment with antique implements and old tools at the Back Porch for a heritage photo op.
Kornbread Kreek, seen here, will be among the performers at the Franklin Area Folk Festival. Donated photo
Community Almanac
Highlands Hair Studio celebrates opening Saturday, Aug. 13, the Highlands Chamber of Commerce hosted a traditional ribbon cutting ceremony to welcome Highlands Hair Studio to the community.Highlands
The Mountain Community Chorus is set to begin its 48th season on Aug. 22 with auditions for new singers at 6 p.m. and its first rehearsal for the fall concert at 7 p.m., both at Sharp Memorial United Methodist Church in Young Harris, Georgia. Terry Hooper returns to lead the chorus as its music
The 16th Annual Franklin Area Folk Festival, “A Celebration of Appalachian Heritage” will be held on Saturday, Aug. 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center. Nestled in Cowee West’s Mill Historic District at 51 Cowee School Drive in Franklin, the center is a unique showcase for demonstrating the everyday skills, crafts and music of our ancestors. And it is a free event!
One story kept repeating itself with frightening regularity: efforts to save cars and possessions were abandoned as the water came so fast and deep and powerful that it unleashed a primal instinct to just survive and save the lives of loved ones. Tragically, some didn’t make it, swept away in a maelstrom the likes of which few have ever witnessed. Already shellshocked after spending 30 minutes in Bethel, I drove up U.S. 276 and the wreckage only got worse. The valley forged by the East Fork of the Pigeon had homes, cars, outbuildings, boats, tools, furniture, toys and everything else out of place, all order seemingly gone. Huge boulders had been tossed around like they weighed nothing. Slabs of pavement from roads and driveways were stacked against splintered trees.
I heard tragic stories: a man swept from a truckbed by the water and acquaintances not knowing that morning if he had survived; campground refugees who feared for the lives of those they said were washed away while taking refuge in some sort of pavilion.
A year later, there is still much to be done
Letter writer had it all wrong To the Editor: Oh, good grief! The often-repeated exasperation by the cartoon character Charlie Brown came to mind upon reading the letter from a Waynesville reader on July 27. The writer seems to have everything backwards. Le Cossette claimed that Republicans were the saviors of the Constitution while Democrats were out to destroy the republic. Just the opposite is true. It is the Republican partisans loyal to Trump who not only tried to steal the 2020 election, but continue to work to destroy the democratic republic. The violent insurrection on January 6 was the last-ditch effort of a coup spanning months to overturn a legitimate election. The latest on the insurrection was that one of the rioters just got a sevenyear sentence for his actions in trying to stop the certification of the election. Republican efforts in a number of states seek to allow Republican majority state legislatures to determine the winner of the next election irrespective of who gets the most votes. Their attack on democracy is ongoing. The so-called conservative Republicans have invited autocrats like Orban of Hungary to speak at conservative events. Some in Congress even supported Putin until his aggression was viewed with such disfavor. Clearly a large segment of the Republican base favors autocratic rule. In contrast, Democrats are working to ensure that the principle of one-person-onevote survives the Republican attack on voting rights. Democrats have put forward a number of proposals to benefit the American public and to protect the planet from climate change. In contrast Republicans have only been interested in giving the wealthy more tax breaks.
Myrna Campbell, Chair Haywood County Democratic Party What to look for in a judge
OpinionSmoky Mountain News28
By now, the story of this flood is well known. More than two feet of rain came down in Cruso, even more in parts of Jackson and Transylvania counties. The Pigeon crested at 20 feet; its depth the days before the storm was two feet. As the river surged that afternoon and evening, the heavens oscillated between periods of torrential rain to sunshine and clear skies.
E
arlier this week, I had started writing a column about the progress made in the year since the flooding from Tropical Storm devastated parts of Haywood County. Then, as I started talking to our writers about the stories they were preparing for this week’s edition — one year after the flood — I could tell they had the recovery efforts well covered. So I trashed that column and decided to re-publish the experience I had when I went to cover the aftermath of the raging floodwaters that swept through Cruso, Bethel and Canton. I remember that morning vividly, how almost every one of the people who talked about their experience started out their conversations by shaking their heads, as if still in disbelief about what they had been through. Hell, as I wrote a year ago, I felt shell shocked just venturing into the aftermath on the morning after. There is still much work to be done, and our thoughts are with all whose lives were disrupted by this tragic natural disaster. The time stamp on the photo from my iPhone reads 7:29 a.m. It was Wednesday, Aug. 18, a mountain morning full of sunshine and a cool freshness that’s common after rain the day before. Turning onto Wells Road, which connects N.C. 215 and N.C. 110 in Bethel via a bridge across the Pigeon River, I got my first glimpse of the destruction that the river and the rain had wrought the previousOurnight.reporter
I do agree with the letter writer that this is one of the most significant political battles in our history. The only hope that the republic and the Constitution survive is to elect Democrats.
It’s hard to see now, but there is light at the end of this. There just has to be. (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com.)
To the Editor: Until 2018, judges in North Carolina had been non-partisan, after which the Republican legislature changed the law to require candidates for judges to declare party affiliation. Even though judges and justices are now partisan candidates, impartiality is still the cornerstone of their job. One way to understand impartiality is to look at their listing of endorsements and their written decisions. Are they endorsed by other judges or leaders from both parties? Do they show respect by listening? Do they write opinions that show they are following the law? Do they cite rulings and precedent? And, do they deliberate and apply the law equally? In the case of the N.C. Supreme Court, it is important to recognize the candidate’s experience in lower courts. Have they served on Superior Court or the Appellate Court? In the best case, a Supreme Court justice should have experience in either or both of the lower courts.On the N.C. Supreme Court, there are Republican justices that seem to vote as a partisan block. Since the last election, it has been noted that Republican justices have ruled as a unit and demonstrated a lack of independent thinking until they were called out on this by the Raleigh News and Observer last fall. Then, all of a sudden, they changed their tack and did not vote “in lock step” for one decision. Judges must be able to give assurance that justice is happening, not politics. KarenHighlandsHawk
I was headed out of Cruso by 9:30 a.m. Already, scores of people were at work, the parking lots of the Cruso VFD and the East Fork Baptist Church were packed, DOT workers were already repairing roads, volunteers showing up to do whatever they could. I drove out as roadblocks were being set up to monitor who went into the areas where the devastation was the worst.
Now the aftermath. Five souls lost, hundreds of lives upended, local governments, schools, churches and businesses trying to do what they can to help with this tragedy in the midst of a raging pandemic that just won’t go away.
LETTERS EditorMcLeodScott
Cory Vaillancourt had started texting our news staff late Tuesday evening, warning us that things were very bad in Cruso, Bethel, Clyde and Canton. We needed to hit the ground early Wednesday and start reporting on what’s now called the Great Flood of 2021. I wasn’t prepared for what I found. It was otherworldly. At 7:30 a.m. the river was still raging, the crops beaten down and the sun rising as mist hovered over the fields. Mud was all over the road and bridge on Wells Road, which is a good 20 feet above the Pigeon. Heading upriver on N.C. 110 the scenes just got worse. The workers at a rock yard right on the river were already onsite and cleaning up. The guys who run Accurate Auto Repair just across the street were also already trying to assess the damage. One, wearing a shirt from that business, said, like so many others, that “it just all happened so fast, it was a foot deep and then it was waist deep and rising.” I saw cornstalks on power lines 15 feet in the air across Max Thompson Road, mud several feet deep in low areas.
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As a child of educators and a former teacher myself, teachers are always on my mind in August. Today’s education profession is harder than ever. It is not an easy career physically, emotionally or financially, yet these individuals go back to their classrooms year after year. There can be only one reason for this. They truly love kids. Teachers impact our students in profound ways, far beyond maps and equations and dissecting sentences. Future astronauts, Olympians, composers, neurosurgeons and world-renown architects are sitting in classrooms learning from teachers, attending sports practices after school and marching with the Whenband. Ithink of the profound effects my boys’ teachers and coaches have had on them, I get emotional. Teachers are a significant component of every child’s village, and I hope they are valued by all as they shouldTimebe. isone of life’s most valuable treasures, and summer vacation offers our children and teens time to try new things, see novel places and figure out who they are as individuals. I hope the young people in your lives have had a wonderful break from school. As the buses start rolling and the bells start ringing, let’s collectively be with all of the students as they embark on new beginnings, but perhaps more importantly, let’s be sure to appreciate all the incredible teachers who, day in and day out, inspire our children. (Susanna Shetley is a writer, editor and digital media specialist with The Smoky Mountain News, Smoky Mountain Living and Mountain South Media. susanna.b@smokymountain-news.com.) ShetleySusanna
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I understand that all children do not have the means or people in their lives to have a full, robust summer vacation. This is why subsidized summer camps and programs like Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America are imperative. When I was teaching, it was obvious how a lack of life experience could negatively influence a students’ understanding of a written story. Both of my parents were educators, and so every year during the back-to-school season our house was abuzz with excitement, anxious preparation and a familial shift from slow and easy summertime mode to crazy and hectic school-year mode. My mom, sister and I would venture to Roses and elbow our way through the aisle to find a new backpack and that perfect Trapper Keeper. We would then visit the Asheville Mall to pick out that coveted first-day outfit. Now, I’m helping my kids check items off supply lists, get haircuts, pick out shoes and find a cute shirt that’s worthy of that all-important day. Although much has changed since I was a kid, the feelings surrounding a new school year remain the same. The elation over seeing all your friends, going to football games and getting to know your new teachers persists despite the world changing and evolving.
Columnist
Back-to-school season is upon us I n May my boys were counting down the days until school ended; now, they are counting down the days until school begins. It’s intriguing what summer vacation can do to a young mind. Numerous school systems across the country are opting for year-round schedules, but in my opinion, there is something forever magical about summer vacation. Logically, I understand why year-round school is successful and how it helps prevent the backslide in learning that fromoroccursinevitablyduringeightmoreweeksawayschool. Nonetheless,the sensations evoked by a slow-moving, humid summer are unparalleled. Hours upon hours for kids to play with neighbors, watch movies in the middle of the afternoon, shoot basketball in the driveway, take dogs on long walks, make handmade jewelry or sew, draw for hours on end, create imaginary worlds with forts and superhero figurines, or work jobs to earn money for a first car or a first date. The list goes on and one. Years ago when I was a middle school language arts teacher, I learned that life experience is a significant component of reading comprehension. It’s challenging for children and adolescents to fully understand a story in a textbook or novel when they have no connections. For instance, if a student is reading a descriptive scene about a beach, the neurons fire harder when the reader has been to a beach in real life and can vividly imagine the sounds of seagulls, the feeling of sand between the toes and the exhilaration of jumping waves. Their comprehension of the story is more meaningful. This is why travel, art, day trips, deep conversations and rich experiences are so important for young, developing minds. Last night I scrolled through all of our summer photos and, wow, what adventures our kids have had. From sports and overnight camps to Wilderness Trail and beach trips to days on the lake and simple evenings at home playing foursquare and board games to big adventures in places like D.C. and Boston, the kids’ minds have expanded and purposeful, long-lasting connections have been formed.
T
After forming Mariachi Sol de Mexico in 1981, Hernàndez charismatic arrangements and first-class musical direction led the group to instant and lasting success: playing in sold out halls from Madison Square Garden to Beijing, China and Pyongyang, NorthKnownKorea.as the “world’s premiere Mariachi group,” they gained the attention of the White House and have been invited to play for five U.S. presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama.
• The Bardo Arts Center will also host the 13th Annual Handmade Holiday Sale from noon to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17. The event features high-quality, handmade gifts created by WCU students, staff, and alumni. Items for sale include artwork, ceramics, sculpture, wearable accessories, and other handmade craft items.
BARDO ARTS CENTER
FALL SEASON ANNOUNCED
A&ESmoky Mountain News30
• A stage production of “The Nutcracker” featuring The Ballet Conservatory of Asheville will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, and 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10. Watch young Clara befriend a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and wages a battle against the evil Mouse King.
• Additionally, the exhibit “The Way I’m Wired: Artist Reflections on Neurodiversity” invites artists with a range of cognitive and emotional lived experiences to share how they learn, understand, and experience the world.
Mariachi Sol de México de José Hernàndez.
Since 2019, students have continued this curatorial work, focusing each year on a new area of the collection, which includes over 1,800 works in a wide range of media by artists of the Americas. Input from students brings a fresh perspective to the museum’s holdings and unlocks the potential for the museum to create a more diverse and inclusive collection.
• The BAC Performance Hall opens the Fall 2022 season with a boundary-pushing “Pilobolus: The Big Five-OH!” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. Audiences will have the opportunity to experience the worldrenowned modern dance company that has performed at events ranging from the Oscars and the Olympics and has appeared on television, in movies, and in advertisements.
• The Fine Art Museum is currently hosting “We Will Not be Silenced: Standing for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women.” This show brings a voice to the international Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement through the lens of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Comanche Nation, Lumbee, and other Native American artists.•The exhibition “When Was the Last Time You Saw a Miracle? Prints by Corita Kent” is also being showcased. It engages the viewer through visually innovative arrangements of quotations, everyday slogans, and biblical scripture.
• Mariachi Sol de México de José Hernàndez will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10. The Grammy-nominated band is fronted by fifth-generation Mariachi musician, Mastero Hernàndez, who is an internationally recognized musician, composer, and educator. He has recorded with respected names in the industry, including Selena, Vincente Fernandez, Luis Miquel, Bryan Adams, and the Beach Boys. While his family tree is rooted in the Mariachi musicians that hail from La Sierra del Tigre region of Jalisco, Hernàndez built on that foundation to grow Mariachi music in new territories, musical genres, and in the hearts of new audiences.
he Bardo Arts Center (BAC) at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee is excited to welcome patrons into its spaces for a dynamic series of events and exhibitions this fall.The WCU Fine Art Museum is now reopened to the public, filled with exhibits that expand perspectives of our shared humanity. On Thursday, Sept. 29, the Performance Hall’s season is set to start with modern dance company Pilobolus and continue with many more exciting acts that will ignite the cultural curiosity of the viewer.
• In celebration of the International Year of Glass, the museum is extending the summer exhibition “Cultivating Collections: Glass” for continued viewing. In this multi-year series, student researchers work closely with the museum’s curator to gather information about the artwork in the permanent collection and determine future collecting directions. The “Cultivating Collections” series began in 2019 with WCU students enrolled in Exhibition Practicum, an annual course designed to familiarize students with the intricacies of museum spaces. Students developed an exhibition from start to finish by interviewing artists, selecting works for display, and writing labels about the museum’s objects.
The Ballet Conservatory of Asheville (BCA) trains dancers to achieve their full potential by combining weekly technique classes, frequent master classes and multiple performance opportunities. Classes for children, teens and adults, and their celebrated pre-professional division include ballet, pointe, partnering, men’s class, tap, Broadway jazz, and modern are held at its headquarters in Asheville. To learn more about all the events listed above, click on arts.wcu.edu/explore.
Hernandez’s classical arrangements have led to them sharing the stage with symphony orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Rosa Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and Jalisco Symphony.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyarts&entertainment 31 Author Event AT THE FOLKMOOT FRIENDSHIP CENTER with author Dr. Bart Ehrman will be speaking about his books, Your Hometown Bookstore since 2007 Magazines & Newspapers 428 HAZELWOOD Ave. Waynesville • 456-6000 MON-FRI 9-5 | SAT 9-3 Tickets available at Blue Ridge Books & folkmoot.org $10 in advance • $15 at the door TUESDAY, AUGUST 23 DOORS OPEN 5:30 • EVENT STARTS 7PM
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S itting on a barstool at The Water’n Hole in Waynesville last Monday afternoon, I took a pull from the cold Budweiser bottle and let out a slight sigh. Stories and tales were being exchanged all along the bar counter about where folks were and what they were doing during “The Great Flood of 2021.” It’s wild to think the flood that ravaged the small mountain communities of Cruso, Bethel and Canton was a year ago this Wednesday. But, time rolls on, as it always does, and with the memories, for good or ill, either somewhere back there in the rearview mirror, or carefully placed on the shelves of your mind for safe keeping. Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. Trying to kick that week’s newspaper out the door and to the printer, dark clouds started to culminate over downtown Waynesville and greater Haywood County. Tropical Storm Fred was moving in, as the forecast said to prepare for heavy rains and possible flooding in the region. By that evening, as I plopped down onto the couch and began to find something to watch on Netflix, my smart phone kept dinging. It was the newsroom group text. Apparently, word was getting around town that there was a serious flooding problem in Cruso, Bethel and Canton. Reports were coming in from across Haywood County of extensive flooding, missing residents, houses destroyed, mud and debris everywhere. One source said downtown Canton was underwater and there was great fear as to how the flood would affect the paper mill and so forth. Our publisher, Scott McLeod, said it would be “all hands on deck,” as every reporter would be sent out into the field as soon as the sun came up on Wednesday morning. By 6 a.m. images were starting to surface and be shared around Western North Carolina of the unimaginable destruction of people, places and things in Cruso, Bethel and Canton. Over my 10 years at The Smoky Mountain News, I’ve made a lot of friends in those communities listed in the previous paragraph. Faces and interactions, memories andOfcamaraderie.which,Ireached out to a good friend to see how her family was doing. Her folks live in Cruso, though she’s in Asheville these days. She said their house was spared, but the same couldn’t be said for countless others Bynearby.midday Wednesday, she picked me up in downtown Waynesville and we motored down to Jukebox Junction. At the crossroads, a heavy police presence stood guard at the entry point into Cruso, the epicenter of the natural disaster. My friend flashed her license with a Cruso address and we were let through.Once we got past the gas station and meandered down towards the Pigeon River, the smell of mud and gasoline started to waft into the open car windows. Mud all over the roads, the fields and homes, as well as on any car or truck we drove by. The river was filled with debris. Broken windows, doors and walls torn from buildings. Farm tractors. Garbage barrels. Materials of any and all origins. And those thousands of green peppers ripped from nearby fields mere days before they were to be picked for the late summer harvest. Those damn peppers — a symbol forever chiseled into our collective memory. Further along U.S. 276, heading towards the Cruso Community Center, there were cars dumped up in trees on the riverbanks, a massive boulder in the middle of the road that had fallen from the cliff high above. By the time we reached the community center, we could see a mobile home smashed to pieces in the road, bridges washed away, and that enormous mudslide across U.S. 276, just narrowly missing a home several feet from where the mud and trees stopped. And yet, a year later, what I remember most were all of the people, whether known or unknown, coming together to help one another, trying desperately to find missing loved ones or to simply salvage what was left of their once normal lives just a day prior. A few days ago, when I wandered down to Cruso to do some interviews in preparation for this week’s rememberance, I found myself again drifting along the same route I took that fateful Wednesday morning with my friend. I kept comparing and contrasting what was in my memory and what was now the current reality in Cruso. The smell of mud and gasoline is no longer present. And so are the green peppers scattered all over the road, river, fields and front lawns. The emergency vehicles and rescuers returned home many months ago. Only recently have the countless RVs that were damaged have been removed from the campgrounds and riverbanks.
The 13th season of Concerts On The Creek will continue with SKA City (ska/pop) from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, at Bridge Park in Sylva.
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The “An Appalachian Evening” series will continue with Pretty Little Goat (Americana/folk) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville.
This must be the place BY GARRET K. WOODWARD HOT PICKS
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Pulling into the Cruso Community Center, I put the truck into park and got out to take a look around. There were still a couple of construction cranes next to the newlybuilt bridge. The riverbanks were still filled with innumerable trees ripped from their roots. And certain parts of the river still have debris that was either unreachable, too heavy to remove, or simply forgotten by the sands of time. The mobile home that was smashed up against the tree next to community center is long gone, with a new trailer now placed in its former location. The landslide a few houses down also remains, and probably forever will, with green grass slowly overtaking the dirt — a true sign of the passage of time. Getting back in the truck, I sat there for a brief second, just to listen. I didn’t hear any sirens, nor the voices of rescuers or flood victims. I didn’t hear construction vehicles or dump trucks. All there was, was silence, and the slight sound of the nearby Pigeon River continuing on in its ancient rhythm.
Ode to the flood, ode to Cruso, Bethel and Canton
The annual Franklin Area Folk Festival, “A Celebration of Appalachian Heritage,” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center.
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Poet and naturalist Brent Martin will present his new book, “George Masa’s Wild Vision,” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. The Cruso landslide. (Garret K. Woodward photo)
A stage production of “The Book of Will” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 19-20, 25-27 and at 2 p.m. Aug. 21 and 28 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
The Andrew Thelston Band will perform a special tribute show to Fleetwood Mac at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin. Throughout his exploration of these mountains, Thelston has remained a sponge of sorts, always soaking in the knowledge and wisdom of astute musicians.The culmination of these experiences and interactions remains the fire of intent within Thelston to hold steady and navigate his own course, which currently is The Andrew Thelston Band — a rock/soul ensemble of power and swagger.Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyarts&entertainment 32 On the beat
Pretty Little Goat.
The community jams offer a chance for musicians of all ages and levels of ability to share music they have learned over the years or learn old-time mountain songs. The music jams are offered to the public each first and third Thursday of the month — spring, summer, fall. This program received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts. 828.488.3030.
Fleetwood Mac tribute at Lazy Hiker
‘An Appalachian Evening’
The mountain dulcimer, also known as a fretted dulcimer or a lap dulcimer, is a uniquely American instrument. It evolved from the German scheitholz sometime in the early 1800s in Appalachia and was largely known only in this region until popularized more broadly in the 1950s. For more information, call Kathy Jaqua at 828.349.3930 or Don Selzer at 828.293.0074.
Bryson City community jam
Interested in learning the dulcimer?
A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, are invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. The jam is facilitated by Larry Barnett of the Sawmill Creek Porch Band.
Franklin Area Folk Festival
Celebrating all things Appalachian, this family-friendly festival features live heritage demonstrations, Appalachian crafts, SEBA jammin’ sessions of old-time mountain and bluegrass music, Civil War reenactors/camp, kids activities, food, textiles, and more. This free event is co-sponsored annually by the Folk Heritage Association of Macon County and the Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center, with support from the Franklin/Nantahala Tourism Development Committee and the Franklin Tourism Development Authority. For more information visit franklinfolkfestival.com or call 828.524.6564.
The 13th season of Concerts On The Creek will continue with SKA City (ska/pop) from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, at Bridge Park in EveryoneSylva.is encouraged to bring a chair or blanket. These events are free, but donations are encouraged. Dogs must be on a leash. No alcohol, smoking or coolers are allowed in the park. Food trucks will also be available. These concerts are organized and produced by the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, the Town of Sylva and the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department.Formoreinformation, call the chamber at 828.586.2155, visit mountainlovers.com or Concerts On The Creek’s Facebook page.
The Pic’ & Play Mountain Dulcimer Players will be resuming in-person jam sessions at the St. John’s Episcopal Church basement fellowship hall in Sylva. The group welcomes all beginners and experienced dulcimer players, including mountain (lap) dulcimer and hammered dulcimer players. Songs played include traditional mountain tunes, hymns, and more modern music. The group meets at 1:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of every month in the basement of St. John’s. Pic’ & Play has been playing together since 1995. The more experienced members welcome new players, help them navigate their instruments, and guide them through some of the basics of tuning, strumming, and playing.
Franklin welcomes The Gatlin Brothers TheBrothers.Gatlin
The “An Appalachian Evening” series will continue at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville.Theannual summer concert series offers an ever-changing schedule of bluegrass, folk and old-time mountain music by award-winning artists — quality entertainment for the entire family. Rich in cultural heritage, the series continues to be a favorite with locals and visitors alike. All concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the air-conditioned Lynn L. Shields Auditorium.Performers include Pretty Little Goat Aug. 20 and The Kruger Brothers Aug. 27. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.479.3364 or click on stecoahvalleycenter.com.
Country music legends The Gatlin Brothers will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Celebrating 65 years in show business, Larry, Steve and Rudy, known to the world as The Gatlin Brothers, have accrued a lifetime of noteworthy achievements, including a Grammy Award, three ACM Awards (“Album of the Year” and “Male Vocalist of the Year”), along with multiple nominations and honors. The brothers have also accumulated eight No. 1 singles, 30 top-forty records, 24 studio albums and five BMI “Million-Air” Awards.
Tickets start at $25 per person, with priority seating available. To purchase tickets or to find out more information, click on smokymountainarts.com or call 866.273.4615.
SKA City. Concerts On The Creek
The annual Franklin Area Folk Festival, “A Celebration of Appalachian Heritage,” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center.
• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Music Bingo” with Hibiscus Sunshine every Wednesday, The Water Kickers 2 p.m. Aug. 21 and Balsam Hot Club Aug. 28. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the innovation-brewing.com.public.
• Frog Quarters (Franklin) will host Chuck Dorling & Sonia Brooks Aug. 20 and Shelley Arvidson Aug. 22. All shows are free and are held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Located at 573 East Main Street. littletennessee.org or 828.369.8488.
• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Blue Jazz 7 p.m. Aug. 20. Free and open to the public. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.
• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will host Peggy & Paula (oldies/soul) Aug. 20 and Blaze The City (pop/dance) Sept. 3 at KelseyHutchinson Park on Pine Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.
• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host “Trivia Night with Kirk” from 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday, Open Mic Night every Wednesday, Mathew Kelly Aug. 18, Red Zephyr Aug. 20, Derrick Pace Aug. 25 and Calico Bear Aug. 27. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.
• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Kind Clean Gentlemen Aug. 19, Krave Amiko Aug. 20 and Kevin Dolan & Paul Koptak 3 p.m. Aug. 21. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.
• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will host The Foreign Landers (Americana) Aug. 19 and Silly Ridge (Americana/acoustic) Aug. 26 at Town Square on Main Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.
• Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro (Dillsboro) will host Natti Love Joys (reggae/soul) 8 p.m. Aug. 27. Free and open to the public. 828.586.1717 or facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse.
• Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) “An Appalachian Evening” live music series will include Pretty Little Goat Aug. 20 and The Kruger Brothers Aug. 27. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. 828.479.3364 stecoahvalleycenter.com.or
• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host Doug Ramsay & Friends (singer-songwriter) 6 p.m. Aug. 19 and 26. 828.743.6000 or whitesidebrewing.com.
• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host a Community Jam 6 p.m. Aug. 18 and Liz Nance (singer-songwriter) 7 p.m. Aug. 25. Free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 or fontanalib.org/brysoncity.
• Yonder Community Market (Franklin) will host “Songwriter Sundays” with Jackson Grimm (Americana/folk) 2 p.m. Aug. 28. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. 828.200.2169 or eatrealfoodinc.com.
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• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host Ricky Gunter (country/rock) 3 p.m. Aug. 21 and Funk-N-Around 3 p.m. Aug. 28. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com.
• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, Day & Dream with Pink Eye Aug. 20 and Woofstock 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.
• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host Blue (Americana/bluegrass) Aug. 19, Beer & Loathing (rock/honky-tonk) Aug. 20, Somebody’s Child (Americana/folk) Aug. 26 and Eddie Clayton (singer-songwriter) Aug. 27. All shows behind at 5 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. noc.com.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Trivia Night at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday, Old Time Jam 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, Aimlessly Dead (Grateful Dead tribute) Aug. 19 and McKinney Aug. 26. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.
• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Open Mic Night with Ivor Sparks every Wednesday, Steve Heffker (singer-songwriter) Aug. 19 and 27, The Dirty French Broads (Americana) Aug. 20, Zip Robertson (singersongwriter) 5 p.m. Aug. 21 and Mountain Gypsy 5 p.m. Aug. 28. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.or
• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host Mountain Homecoming Singing 7:30 p.m. Aug. 18. Free and open to the public. 800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.
• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Caribbean Cowboys Aug. 18, Explode The Myth Aug. 19 and Virginia & The Slims Aug. 20. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.
• Moss Valley (Franklin) will host The End (Beatles tribute) Aug. 19. Gates at 6 p.m. Show from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Free and open to the public. Food trucks and beverages available onsite. Bring a lawn chair. Presented by Drake Software.
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• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host a semi-regular acoustic jam with the Main Street NoTones from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays. Free and open to the public. For more information, click on blueridgebeerhub.com.
Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host The Andrew Thelston Band (Fleetwood Mac tribute) Aug. 20. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.
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• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host The Gatlin Brothers (classic country) at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26. Tickets start at $25. smokymountainarts.com or 828.524.1598.
• Pickin’ In The Park (Canton) will host Rick Morris & Appalachian Mountaineers Aug. 19 and Steve Jordan & Mountain Tradition Aug. 26. Shows are 6 to 9 p.m. at the Canton Rec Park located at 77 Penland St. Free and open to the public. cantonnc.com.
• Farm At Old Edwards (Highlands) will host Nicole Witt (singer-songwriter) as part of its “Orchard Sessions” 6 p.m. Aug. 17. Tickets start at $25 per person. To purchase tickets, click on orchardsessions.oldedwardshospitality.com/
• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host The Carter Giegerich Trio (Celtic/bluegrass) from 2 to 5 p.m. every Sunday and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.
• Folkmoot Friendship Center (Waynesville) will host Bryan White (singer-songwriter) with Andrea Pearson and Ronnie Call & The Waterz Edge Band at 7 p.m. Aug. 20. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. For tickets, click on folkmoot.org.
On the beat
• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. 828.631.1987 or balsamfallsbrewing.com.
Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Jack Mollette (country) Aug. 20. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo in downtown. Free and open to the franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html.public.
• Concerts On The Creek (Sylva) will host SKA City (ska/indie) Aug. 19 and Dashboard Blue (classic hits/beach) Aug. 26 at Bridge Park in Sylva. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Everyone is encouraged to bring a chair or blanket. These events are free, but donations are encouraged. 828.586.2155 or mountainlovers.com.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyarts&entertainment 33
• “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.
The Cherokee Bonfire is a family-friendly gathering.
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• Farmer’s Market (with artisans) will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through October at 117 Island Street in Bryson City. Stop by the old barn by the river for local, homegrown produce, as well as baked goods, jellies and preserves, authentic crafts, and more. Food truck, picnic tables and live music. Leashed pets are welcome. Outdoor event. 828.488.7857.
• “Rivers & Brews” small town craft brewers festival will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the Nantahala Gorge. Live music, food and craft beer. For more information and ticket pricing, click noc.com/events/rivers-and-brews.on
• A “Foreign Film Series” will be held at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Each month, on the second and fourth Friday, two movies from around the globe will be shown. This program is in the Community Room and is free of charge. Masks are required in all Jackson County buildings. To find out what movie will be shown and/or for more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library. To learn more, click on fontanalib.org.
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• “Paint & Sip” will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24, in The Gem downstairs taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville. For more information on the event and/or to purchase tickets, click jum-brewery-taproom.monetandchardonnay.events/product/boo-on
The Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays through Oct. 31 at the Oconaluftee Islands Park in Cherokee. Sit by a bonfire, alongside a river, and listen to some of Cherokee’s best storytellers. The bonfire is free and open to the public. There will be no bonfire events in September. For more information, call 800.438.1601 or click on www.visitcherokeenc.com.
• “Wine & Workshop” will present a silk painting class at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, at the Haywood Handmade Gallery at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Led by artist Pamela Winn, attendees will make a fun piece of art, all while tasting a flight of wine and complimentary charcuterie donated by Bosu’s Wine Store. Class cost is $100. To register, click haywoodarts.org/wine-workshop-series.on
• “Art After Dark” will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. each first Friday of the month (MayDecember) in downtown Waynesville. Main Street transforms into an evening of art, music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open later for local residents and visitors. Dates include Sept. 2, Oct. 7, Nov. 4 and Dec. 2. For more information, click facebook.com/galleriesofhaywoodcounty.on
• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. For more information, call The Uptown Gallery at 828.349.4607 or contact Pat Mennenger at pm14034@yahoo.com. See more about Macon County Art Association at franklinuptowngallery.com and like, follow and share the Uptown Gallery on Facebook.
• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 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. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on gsmr.com.
• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood St. in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods. Special events will be held when scheduled. Mountainmakersmarket.com.
On the street
On the wall
• “Mater Fest” will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, 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.
On the table
Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling
• “Paint Your Pet” will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Innovation Station in Dillsboro. For more information on the event and/or to purchase tickets, click vation-station-dillsboro.monetandchardonnay.events/product/inno-on
For more information, click on wncpaint.events.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyarts&entertainment 34
• WNC Paint Events brings you “Paint & Sip.” This is a two-hour event, and you leave with your painting. Anyone 21 and up are welcome. Events will be held at the following locations once a month: 828 Market on Main (Waynesville), Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva), BearWaters Brewing (Canton), Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) and the Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin).
• “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, click on waynesvillewine.com.
• A free wine tasting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday and 2 to 5 p.m. every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.
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202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyarts&entertainment 36 WAYNESVILLETIRE,INC.MONDAY-FRIDAY7:30-5:00•WAYNESVILLEPLAZA828-456-5387•WAYNESVILLETIRE.COM Authorized Motor Fleet Management Maintenance ••TiresBrakesAlignment•RoadService•TractorTires• FOLLOW US AT @SMOKYMOUNTAINNEWS
The “Unto These Hills” stage production will be held at 8 p.m. nightly throughout the summer at the Cherokee Mountainside Theatre. This decades-old acclaimed outdoor drama traces the Cherokee people through the eons, through the zenith of their power, through the heartbreak of the Trail of Tears, finally ending, appropriately, in the present day, where the Cherokee people, much like their newly re-scripted drama, continue to rewrite their place in the world — a place based on traditional Cherokee values and modern sensibilities. For more information on show dates and/or to purchase tickets, go to visitcherokeenc.com and click on the “Events” tab.
HART’s production is being directed by Steven Lloyd and the cast features: Dillon Giles, William Ezzell, David Spivey, Kathy O’Connor, Brandi Andrade, Cheyenne Morris, Emily Dake, Dakota Mann, James Cloninger and Aaron Ybarra. To make reservations, call the HART Box Office at 828.456.6322 from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday or click on harttheatre.org.
A stage production of “The Book of Will” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 19-20, 25-27 and at 2 p.m. Aug. 21 and 28 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. Set in 1616, “The Book of Will” tells the story of how the lone survivors of William Shakespeare’s acting company worked together to save the plays. In the beginning, we discover that there are no copies to be found. All of Shakespeare’s originals were in the Globe Theatre when it burned to the ground. This is the story of a treasure hunt. Somewhere in London the plays or parts of them must exist, but where? The play by Lauren Gunderson uses a handful of actors playing multiple roles to tell the tale. Gunderson has become one of the shining lights in American Theatre and in 2017 and 2019 she was the most produced playwright in America. In “The Book of Will,” she weaves humor, mystery, tragedy and a high spirit of theatricality to tell the compelling story of how the plays we now take for granted were saved.
‘Unto These Hills’ explores the Cherokeeheritage. ‘Unto These Hills’ outdoor drama
HART presents ‘The Book of Will’
On the stage
The cast of ‘The Book of Will.’
ALSO:
• A stage production of the beloved tale “Alice in Wonderland” will be held on select dates throughout this spring at the Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee. The production is an original work by Havoc Movement Company that will be joining the Cherokee Historical Association for the spring season. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on cherokeehistorical.org/alice-in-wonderland.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyarts&entertainment 37 NowNewAcceptingPatients! Specializing in Pediatric Dentistry for Infants, Kids, Special Needs &Teens Asheville 828-274-9220 Waynesville 828-454-9156 Sylva ReynoldsWaynesvilleAsheville828-586-9333828-274-8822828-407-4034Sylva828-586-9333Mountain828-785-5825 Orthodontic Specialists for Kids,Teens &Adults Drs. Chambers, Baechtold, Haldeman, Pratt, Chambers, Hogue, Blackman, Wyble & BeGreatDental.comChadwick RETAIL HOURS MON-SAT 10-6 20 Church Street WAYNESVILLE 828.452.6000 classicwineseller.com A REA’S BEST S ELECTION Local author pens novel about pre-Depression Asheville I ’ve said it before — our local authors are “going to town” these days, and in this case quite literally. Asheville author Terry Roberts has a new book, “The Sky Club” (Turner Publishing, 2022). With glowing back cover blurbs from well-known popular North heexpectAsioususitandknowledgeCarolinaWesterndrawsnovels,evensomewheresomewhereshedeathbedheedingpovertyoftainshereMadisonPineSheGreatthe1929womanspectivetoldRoberts’WayneRobertChappell,authorsCarolinaFredLeeSmith,MorganandCaldwell,newnovelisfromtheper-ofayoungintheyearsto1931,duringearlyyearsoftheDepression.wasraisedonBigCreekinCountyinourmoun-andmovesoutthehillsandruraltoAsheville,hermother’swishesthat“makealifeelse...Ican’timagine.”AsinhispreviousRobertsfromhisownNorthheritageandofpeopleplaceandbringstolifeforthoseofpiningandanx-foragreatread.wehavecometofromRoberts,doesjustthat,with levity and just enough use of mountain dialect and use of locations that are real and still familiar to those of us who have lived here for a long while. In “The Sky Club” we start out with Josephine Salter as she moves from Madison County to her Aunt Brenda and Uncle Frank’s home on Charlotte Street in Asheville and as she tries to accommodate her wardrobe, her hairstyle and her mountain dialect to be able to find a job in a “foreign land.” Land, as she finds out, “that in town is a commodity — to be bought, sold and traded and was meant to be kept moving, just like money, because it was money.” Through her uncles’ connections, she is able to get a job working as a novice teller at the Central Bank and Trust Company on Pack Square. The early chapters are about her accomodating herself to city life and her new job at the CB&T bank. But she’s a quick study and is bright, focused and feisty, which bodes well for her in her new surrounds and in the story that enfolds. Through her job at the bank, Josephine (also known as Jo) meets many of the city’s power brokers and politicians. As a quick study, she quickly moves up the ranks in her job at the bank to eventually (BeaucatchertaintoppopularClub,ofisArrowood,meetswhomlies,wealthyAsheville’sone—Cameronknow,andShebookkeeping.accountingheadbecomeofandalsomeetsgetstoearlyon,Scotteldestsonofofmostfami-throughsheLeviwhothemanagerTheSkyAsheville’smounMountain) speakeasy and where Josephine is taken by Levi on their first “date” and where she dances the Black Bottom, the Peabody, the Turkey Trot and the Charleston to live music from a local band. As one might suspect, a romance between the two ensues and we are drawn in depth into the workings of Asheville’s social and financial life as a possible economic tsunami can be seen on the horizon by Josephine and her almost clairvoyant math skills. As a bank collapse seems inevitable from a mathematical point of view, and not wanting to be the bearer of bad news to the upper echelon of bank executives or her Uncle Frank, Josephine, as she says “goes to earth.”
To know how this saga ends, you’ll have to read it yourself. But perhaps the best way to sum up Terry Roberts’ new novel is from the mouth of his main character, Jo: “Make an Old Fashioned. Sweet and strong ... with a brandied cherry. Tastes like sex in a thunderstorm.”
“So I went to earth. That’s what a fox does when the dogs are on its trail. The fox goes to earth, meaning to its den. The place where no one or nothing can dig it out and chew its head off. I went to earth at the Sky Club.”
Author Terry Roberts will present his latest novel, “The Sky Club,” at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.
“It’s funny isn’t it. In the middle of the great panic, no money to be had, and people will still buy life insurance,” Levi quips. Or as Roberts narrates a little later on:
(Thomas Crowe is a regular contributer to The Smoky Mountain News and author of the multi-award-winning non-fiction nature memoir “Zoro’s Field: My Life in the AppalachianWoods.”)
“And as is so often the case when the panic strikes, the poor were the least affected because they didn’t have far to fall. They already kept a flock of chickens, they already put in a garden, they already ate squirrel and rabbit, fished the creeks and rivers. They were close enough to their food that no dollars came between the lots, the fields, the rivers and the cookpot. Pluck it, skin it, gut it, eat it.”
As the book progresses, with The Sky Club becoming ever more central to the story than “my life at the bank,” as Josephine calls it, and as one might expect for those who know the history of the Asheville area, the story becomes a fiction of The Sky Club versus the Biltmore Forest Country Club as Josephine journeys deeper and deeper into both of those worlds. As the Great Depression brings her bank down in a seismic crash, Jo finds a new home and a new job at The Sky Club. Eventually striking up a romantic partnership with Levi, she is drawn deeper into what is both a glamorous and precarious life of bootlegging, jazz, and love as Roberts’ tale captures and illuminates a story of money, greed and life after the crash — but not without its share of ironies and seeming contradictions.
Roberts’ direct ancestors have lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina since the time of the Revolutionary War. Many of them farmed in the Big Pine section of Madison County, a place that to this day is much as it’s portrayed in “The Sky Club.” Roberts’ debut novel, “A Short Time to Stay Here,” won the “Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction,” and his second novel, “That Bright Land,” won the “Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award,” as well as the “James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South.” Both novels won the annual “Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction,” given to the author of the best novel written by a North Carolinian.
Roberts returns with new novel
Born and raised near Weaverville, Roberts is the director of the National Paideia Center and lives in Asheville with his wife, Lynn.
To reserve copies of Roberts’ books, please call City Lights Bookstore at 828.586.9499.
On the shelf WriterCroweThomas
Since he started growing vegetables nine years ago, Griffith has carried flood insurance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, but the amount of money he got in return for the complete loss he suffered in 2021 was so small that he decided not to buy insurance at all this year.
Farmers recover from Fred amid inflation, weather worries
“I’ve had it all these years, and it couldn’t get no worse than last year,” he said of the FSA insurance. “And I could have done without it. I did do without it.”
“Then we had the politicians come in with the promise of everything,” he said, adding that those promises were much slower to be fulfilled, if at all.
“Ag funding always comes in little gullywashers,” said Haywood County Extension Director Sally Dixon. “It will be sunny, there’s not a penny in sight for anything farm-related, and then it rains suddenly. There’s all this money, and then it dries right back up.”
Mere hours passed between the water’s sharp rise and equally sharp retreat last August, but the impacts to farmers could linger for years, Dixon said.
OutdoorsSmoky Mountain News38
‘It can’t be like that all the time’
‘GULLYWASHERS’ OF AID
Local donations rolled in after the flood “fairly quick,” said Griffith, smaller amounts that nonetheless were instrumental in getting him through a difficult time.
“You have to be able to withstand that sometimes, because you can’t predict the weather,” he said. “But it can’t be like that all the Hetime.”wouldn’t have done it, he said, if not for his daughter and son-in-law, Cayleigh and Brandon Phillips. They’d been living out in Nebraska but wanted to come home to North Carolina, take over the farm, and raise their son, who’s not quite 2 years old. At 34, Brandon is much younger than the average U.S. farmer, who as of 2017 was 57.5 years old.“I’ve been around farming my whole life, and farming of scale, too, so it is a massive undertaking but it ain’t, I guess, because I’m used to big numbers,” he said. In a “past life,” he managed a chicken farm of 1.5 million animals.“I’m glad they’re doing it,” Griffith said of the Phillips’ decision — but he’s also nervous for them. They left good-paying jobs to come farm in Bethel, and a farmer’s finances are anything but secure. “You have to have price, quantity and quality,” he said “If you can get all three of those things, you’re going to be fine. But if you end up getting one of them, you’re not going to make any money. You can’t control the weather; you can’t control the price. You can do the best job you can do at your farm, and those other two things can make you or break you.”
“It has to be just about a perfect storm for you to get anything,” he said of the federal aid programs. “There’s so many conditions that you just don’t meet the criteria.”
“It’s always a foolhardy measure to think that floods are a one-and-done kind of thing,” she said. “A lot of the aftereffects, particularly agriculturally, that happen from a flood, it takes years to figure that out and truly be back to 100%.”
In addition to a lot of hard work, aid from local nonprofits and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services allowed
“Last year, I didn’t make anything, and I worked really hard to get back to zero,” Griffith said last week as he stood in his rehabilitated field, laden with ripe green peppers. Across the road hung rows of cucumbers, in total 20 acres of vegetables.
Griffith to break even last year, though lack of profit meant covering any personal expenses, like groceries or mortgage payments, from savings. Some of those funds took so long to come through, he had to decide how much to plant this spring before knowing how much he’d recuperated from last year’s losses.
BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS EDITOR W hen Gary Griffith woke up a rainy Tuesday on Aug. 17, 2021, he never imagined that by the next morning, the 12 acres of green peppers he’d grown along the Pigeon River in Bethel would rest in drifts miles downstream, the unofficial symbol of the catastrophic tragedy that was Tropical Storm Fred. After the floodwaters receded, Griffith — like many other farmers in Bethel and Cruso — was left without a crop to harvest and tens of thousands of dollars in damage to repair. Before the flood, he’d picked only about 25% of his cucumbers and 45% of his peppers. Surveying the damage, he questioned whether it was even worth fixing. At 62, did it make sense to keep farming?
A WHOLE NEW SET OF WORRIES
The extension center has fielded “lots of calls” from people who are struggling with contaminated soil, eroded topsoil and out-ofwhack nutrient and pH balances, said Dixon. All year, Griffith has been battling tenacious weeds in his pepper field, likely the result of seeds spread by the flood. Jay Johnson, vice president of operations at Haywood County distributor J.W. Tomato Co., said one of the growers he works with had to bring in “many, many dump truck loads” of dirt to replace topsoil scoured away by the floodwaters.
F
It came late, too. He applied for coverage immediately after the flood, and the check arrived about a month ago. He received a much larger relief check from the state around the same time, despite that application not becoming available until this spring, when the General Assembly allocated $50 million for assistance to farmers impacted by Fred.
A year after Tropical Storm Fred washed away his crop, Gary Griffith’s fields are once more full of green peppers. Holly Kays photo
Brandon Phillips is preparing to take over the farm from his father-in-law Gary Griffith following the devastation of Tropical Storm Fred last year. Holly Kays photo
Friends of Panthertown is hosting a series of trail work days this summer, and all are invited to pitch in.
Jay Johnson photo
Volunteers can request gloves, safety vests and bags from their local county maintenance office.
“A lot of them have chosen to cut back and scale their operations back a little bit,” said Johnson. “They’re always gambling when they plant a crop, but this is like the variables are stacked against them.”
FOCUSED FORWARD Griffith will never forget the thick muck and the sharp, earthy scent of green peppers that covered his fields the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. But he also can’t wallow in the memory. Time moves on, and so does the weather.
While the harvest season is only halfway over, Johnson said his company is about 15% below normal in the volume of tomatoes it’s purchased so far this year.
Griffith said his costs have “at least doubled” this year — but not his revenue.
Pitch in Panthertownwith
Sweep away litter this fall
“I already had hailstorm at the beginning of the season. We had to replant this whole field,” he said.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyoutdoors 39 golf | fish | hike | raft | dine | play | stay 1819 Country Club Drive, Maggie Valley M AGGIEVALLEY C LUB . COM Get to know Maggie. Between the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains rests one of the best golf courses in North Carolina JOIN TODAY and 100% of yourinitiation fee will be waived! Offer valid for Full Privilege Golf & Individual Golf Memberships. Contact Caitlin Bledsoe at 828-926-4831 for information.
“Flooding is something that you worry about when it’s happening, but crazy high fertilizer prices they worry about all the way through.”
— Jay Johnson
A week later, on May 27, another flood came through. It wasn’t nearly as devastating as the one resulting from Fred, and it didn’t affect Griffith. But closer to Canton, other farmers Weatheringsuffered.thestorm has always been part of farming, but the storms are coming fast and furious. Griffith worries for his daughter and son-in-law, but he also worries for all the young people who long to become farmers but can’t make the numbers“Whenwork. you love something that much, you work through the bad times because you know the good times are going to come,” said Dixon. “We’re all hoping that prices go down for next year. Hoping.” “If you’re not comfortable with gambling,” said Griffith, “farming’s not the right thing to do.”
Scheduled work days are: ■ Saturday, Aug. 20, meeting at Cold Mountain Gap Trailhead for corridor pruning and trail tread restoration on Macs Gap Trail. ■ Saturday, Aug. 27, meeting at Salt Rock Gap Trailhead for trail tread restoration and drain revamp on Macs Gap Trail. No previous trail work experience is necessary. Work days run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with about 5 miles of hiking on moderate trails while doing trail corridor clearing, pruning and some tread and drain work. Sign up at bit.ly/3Qn9Wl5. Learn more at panthertown.org/volunteer.
Neither Johnson nor Dixon said they know of any farmers who quit the business following Fred’s ravages — but both said that 2022 could prove just as challenging as last year. Farmers are grappling with astronomic price increases to fertilizer, diesel fuel, labor and nearly every other input.
“I think over the next two to three months we’ll really see what the effect of that has been,” Dixon said of the price increases. “Once we get closer to the end of the growing season, we’re going to see more people realizing that they’ve taken a loss, or that they’ve barely broken even because everything’s gotten so expensive this year.”
The N.C. Department of Transportation is looking for volunteers for the Adopt-A-Highway Fall Litter Sweep, which runs Sept. 10-24. Each April and September, the department calls on volunteers to help remove litter from roadsides. Volunteers from local businesses, schools, non-profits, churches and community groups play an important role in keeping North Carolina’s roads clean. To participate, contact the local litter management coordinator listed at bit.ly/3M7Dvo8.
This May, farmers in Canton dealt with another wave of flooding, albeit less devastating than that caused by Fred.
“We’re still on five-year-ago prices,” he said.
“Flooding is something that you worry about when it’s happening, but crazy high fertilizer prices they worry about all the way through,” Johnson added.
Friends of the Smokies raised $85,000 to support the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at its Smokies Stomp event held July 23 at Cataloochee Ranch in Haywood County.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyoutdoors 40
“The success of this function shows how much people value our park, and how much its economic contribution and protection of its environmental and cultural resources mean to all of us in North Carolina,” said
Adult pickup futsal games will be held 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays Aug. 25 through Sept. 29 at the Cullowhee Recreation Center. Games will be “call your own” in a five-versus-five format, lasting 10 minutes with the winner remaining on court. Jersey pennies will be provided, and shin guards must be worn. Cost is $1 per player, with no registration required.
Futsal, a type of indoor soccer, is played indoors on a smaller court than traditional outdoor soccer. Contact Andrew Sherling with questions at 828.293.3053, ext. 6, or andrewsherling@jacksonnc.org.
Take in Rufus Morgan Falls with a moderate 2-mile hike Saturday, Aug. 20, led by the Nantahala HikingTheClub.group will meet at 9 a.m. at Westgate Plaza in Franklin, across from Burger King, and carpool to the trailhead 13 miles away. Hikers should bring their own food and fluids. Non-members and wellbehaved dogs welcome, and no reservations needed. Contact hike leader David Starnes with questions at 828.349.7361.
Sign up for tennis Registration is open for tennis lessons, to be offered Saturdays at Mark Watson Park in Sylva starting Sept. 10. Lessons are available for kids in grades 1-6, with grades 1-3 meeting 10 to 10:45 a.m. and grades 4-6 meeting 11 to 11:45 a.m. Register online at rec.jacksonnc.org. Contact Andrew Sherling with questions at 828.293.3053, ext.6 or andrewsherling@jacksonnc.org.
A trout tournament offering $20,000 in prizes will hit Cherokee’s pristine streams Saturday, Aug. 27, to Sunday, Aug. 28. The Qualla Country Trout Tournament will feature tagged fish specially stocked for the event, able to be redeemed for cash prizes. Fishing will begin one hour before sunrise and end one hour after sunset each day, with prize redemption 2 to 4 p.m. eachCherokeeday. fishing license required to participate, with tournament registration available anywhere licenses are sold. Entry fee is $15. Open to all ages and legal fishing methods.Paula cherokee.com.828.359.6110,Price,paprice@ncPlay pickup futsal
Hike Rufus Morgan Falls
New HWA director greets community Meet the new executive director of Haywood Waterways Association 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.PrestonJacobsen has been leading the organization since June following the departure of long-time director Eric Romaniszyn. Perhaps best known locally as the man behind Local Yokel weather, Jacobsen previously served as the finance operations manager for the Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards.Lighthors d’oeuvres will be provided.
Barn dance raises $85K for the Smokies
The J. Creek performCloggersJuly23 David Huff Creative photo Preston Jacobsen. Holly Kays photo
Steve Woody, Friends of the Smokies Emeritus Board Director and a descendent of Cataloochee residents. The sold-out event drew 120 people and featured a VIP cocktail hour with cabins,restorationfundisPlaces,ForeverSmokies’FriendsbenefittingliveBand,ColbyingsquareCloggers,byperformanceSupperBlindprovidedmetBand,Bonafidegour-dinnerbyPigClub,J.Creekdanc-withLaneyandafundraiserofthewhichhelpingtheofbarns, mills and other historic structures throughout GSMNP.Friendsof the Smokies began fundraising for Forever Places in 2020 and is working to raise $9 million to fund a crew of preservationists on a permanent basis.
Fish Qualla country
Here is a partial list of 12 of the books I’ve read over the past 12 months.
1. “Diners, Dudes & Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture” by Emily J. H. Contois. “…food packaging communicates lively, important and complex cultural messages, including notions of identity for brands and consumers.”
Watch out for lane closures on the Spur
Through Thursday, Aug. 25, single-lane closures will be in place on the Spur between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge while Great Smoky Mountains National Park crews conduct routine maintenance operations. The closures will affect both north and southbound traffic and be in effect 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday of each week.
2. “Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science” by Erika Engelhaupt. “…we miss out when we stop being curious about the parts of life that are gross, awkward or scary.”
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park wants help identifying and documenting old homesite locations, and the public is invited to learn more about how to help with the project 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Swain County Visitor Center and Heritage Museum in Bryson City.Volunteer-in-Parks
RECOMMENDED READING
3. “Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals” by Hal Herzog. “…Bennett’s law — the desire to eat animals goes up as wealth increases.” (Dr. Herzog is a professor emeritus and researcher in psychology of Western Carolina University and writes for a number of different publications.)
6. “Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything” by Lydia Kang, MD and Nate Pedersen. “…Being healthy isn’t enough for many of us. We want more…And herein the quack truly thrives.”
Brent Martin will present his new book about iconic Smokies photographer George Masa at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. In “George Masa’s Wild Vision,” Martin explores the locations Masa visited in first-person narratives that contrast, lament and exalt the condition of the landscape the photographer so loved and worked to interpret and protect. The book includes seventy-five of Masa’s photographs, accompanied by Martin’s reflections on Masa’s life and work. City Lights Bookstore will be on hand with books for sale. Martin is the author of five poetry and nonfictions books, and his work has been published in a variety of literary journals. He lives in Cowee, where he runs Alarka Institute with his wife Angela Faye Martin. Free and co-sponsored by Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. 828.586.2016.
Family members stand outside the Jim Kirkland home. Donated photo George Masa. GSMA photo
Help the Smokies map old homesites
I tend to like non-fiction books about food, food history, science and medicine. What have you been reading lately?
While records of the 1,200 farms purchased between 1920 and 1940 to create the park are preserved in the park’s Collections Preservation Center, March estimates that the park contains more than 2,400 former homesites. The history of European habitation in the Smokies dates back to the 1790s, and many pre-20th century homesites are notFordocumented.moreinformation, contact Aday at 865.448.2247 michael_aday@partner.nps.gov. or Martin to present George Masa book
Frank March, who is leading the effort with Park Archeologist Allison Harvey, will be there with Park Archivist Mike Aday to talk about the project and add copies of historic records to the collection.Anyone with old photos, hand-drawn maps or other documents that can help the park identify homesite locations is encouraged to drop in. Aday will scan the materials and return digital copies and original documents back to the owner.
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyoutdoors 41 om .c m c tHaus . o s Y Y YOU DIR i n to t et n wnR Ho Homome meetowown PRIN ECT T MAIL & SIGN S Y S 19 . T,, T, Y, P. COPY Y SHOP 982 2r heP (42 outh of the CorileN(3/10 M YN,eetth Main Stror641 N T 828-586-H ed in the NAPtaoc(L ywvilleHshe509 A 87) thouse)r , NC Se Serervrvivining ng Yo You ou Si Sinincnce ce ESVILLE (4287)USA er)tentsCaroPutA A , NCA LVVA,e Buit., S SYL 98 98282. 2. V Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian Leah@InglesDietitianMcGrath- Dietitian 800.334.4936 written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath Ingles Nutrition Notes Ingles Markets… caring about your health
4. “The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home” by Denise Kiernan. “…the design of his house, his impact on the forests, his family, and the legacy he left behind…” (If you’re a Biltmore passholder or just a fan of visiting the Estate this look at how the Estate came to be and has survived will be of special interest.)
5. “Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases” by Lydia Kang, MD and Nate Pedersen. “…history can’t help but reveal to us that our choices as a species have direct consequences in how we get attacked by disease, in what ways, and how often.”
its impact on birds and humans, and what can be done to mitigate theseTheconsequences.programispart of the Zahner
The outbreak affected 400 poultry farms in 38 states since February, and in North Carolina more than 110,000 turkeys and 371,000 broilers were culled on the six turkey farms and three broiler farms in Johnston and Wayne counties with positive tests.Broilers — chicken raised for meat — are the top agricultural commodity in North Carolina, representing more than $3.6 billion annually in cash receipts for farmers. Every year, more than 916 million broilers are raised in the state, along with 31 million Poultryturkeys.owners are encouraged to continue following strict biosecurity measures and to monitor their flocks for signs of illness. Sick or dying birds can be reported to the local veterinarian, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Veterinary Division or the N.C. Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory System.
Murry Burgess is pursuing a Ph.D. from N.C. State, researching the impacts of sensory pollutants on songbirds.
Learn about the impact of light pollution during a free lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, at NatureHighlandstheCenter in pollutionwillherandbothheartcer,ditionscanlackcauseslightproblemsMostdevelopment.metabolismreproduction,migration,impactsLightConservation.”AvianPollutionDark:LightwillStateecologistBurgess,Highlands.MurryurbanatN.C.University,present“AintheHowLightAffectspollutionbirdandofthethatpollutionstartwithofsleepandleadtocon-likecan-diabetesanddiseaseinwildlifehumans.Intalk,Burgessdiscusslightsources,
Donated photo
202217-23,August NewsMountainSmokyoutdoors 42 Puzzles can be found on page 38 These are only the answers. O A O
Conservation Lecture Series, held at 6 p.m. Thursdays through Sept. 8. The Aug. 25 program is sponsored by Lane and Mark Murrah and Vicki and Donny Ferguson. For a full lecture lineup, visit highlandsbiological.org.
North Carolina is now officially free of High Path Avian Influenza, meaning that the state can resume export and international trade of poultry products.
N.C. declared free of bird flu
Light pollution gets a spotlight
The HPAI-free designation comes from the World Organization for Animal Health, whose guidelines state the designation can be granted once disease has been eliminated on all affected farms with no new infections detected during a 28-day waiting period.
The state has been on “high alert” since January, when migratory birds traveling through the state tested positive, said Agriculture Commission Steve Troxler. In March and April, nine poultry farms tested positive, resulting in a statewide ban on poultry shows and sales from April through June.North Carolina has been designated High Path Avian Influenza-free by the World Organization for Animal Health. This designation means that the state can resume exports and international trade for poultry
“Ourproducts.swiftresponse quickly controlled the outbreak,” said Troxler. “Achieving HPAI-free status is the last step we needed as a state to put this outbreak behind us.”
Calendar Smoky Mountain News 43
• Swain County Caring Corner Free Clinic is open Thursday’s 4-9 p.m. at Restoration House (Bryson City United Methodist Church). Office hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 a.m.-noon. Call 828.341.1998 to see if you qualify to receive free medical care from volunteer providers.
• Meet the new executive director of Haywood Waterways Association 3-5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.
B USINESS & E DUCATION
FUNDRAISERS AND B ENEFITS
•RegistrationPaintAndSipWaynesville.com/upcoming-events.isrequired,$45.MountainMakersCraftMarketwillbeheldfrom
•facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse.orStecoahValleyCenter(Robbinsville)
•pm14034@yahoo.com.Theexhibit“Members Challenge: Place” is open July 30-Sept. 10, in the Thompson Gallery at The Bascom Center for the Visual Arts. For more information visit thebascom.org.
• Maggie Valley United Methodist Church will hold a large yard sale from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the church barn, 4192 Soco Road in Maggie Valley. Proceeds benefit church ministries. For more information contact Barbara Planchock at 828.400.3144.
Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: Complete listings of local music scene Regional festivals Art gallery events and openings Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers Civic and social club gatherings phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.
• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Caribbean Cowboys Aug. 18, Explode The Myth Aug. 19 and Virginia & The Slims Aug. 20. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.
n
• BBQ and Live Music takes place at 6 p.m. every Saturday at the Meadowlark Motel. Call 828.926.1717 or visit meadowlarkmotel.com.
•828.538.2488.YonderCommunity Market (Franklin) will host “Songwriter Sundays” with Jackson Grimm (Americana/folk) 2 p.m. Aug. 28. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. 828.200.2169 or eatrealfoodinc.com.
• Haywood County NAACP will meet at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Canton. For more information contact bartelkatherine@gmail.com.
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“An Appalachian Evening” live music series will include Pretty Little Goat Aug. 20 and The Kruger Brothers Aug. 27. Shows begin at 7:30 p.m. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.479.3364 or stecoahvalleycenter.com.
• Storytime takes place at 10 a.m. every Tuesday at the Macon County Library. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.
• “Wine & Workshop” will present a silk painting class at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, at the Haywood Handmade Gallery at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Led by artist Pamela Winn, attendees will make a fun piece of art, all while tasting a flight of wine and complimentary charcuterie donated by Bosu’s Wine Store. Class cost is $100. To register, click on hay-
• Uptown Gallery, 30 East Main St. Franklin, will be offering Children’s Art Classes Wednesdays afternoons. Adult workshops in watercolor, acrylic paint pouring, encaustic and glass fusing are also offered. Free painting is available 10 a.m.-3 p.m. every Monday in the classroom. A membership meeting takes place on the second Sunday of the month at 3 p.m. All are welcome. Call 828.349.4607 for more information.
H EALTH AND WELLNESS
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• Indivisible Swain County will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, via Zoom. Email maryherr2017@gmail.com for a link or call 828.497.9498.
•www.panthertown.org/volunteer.atTakeinRufusMorganFallswith a moderate 2-mile hike Saturday, Aug. 20, led by the Nantahala Hiking Club. The group will meet at 9 a.m. at Westgate Plaza in Franklin, across from Burger King, and carpool to the trailhead 13 miles away. Hikers should bring their own food and fluids. Non-members and well-behaved dogs welcome, and no reservations needed. Contact hike leader David Starnes with questions at 828.349.7361.
• Paint and Sip at Waynesville Art School will be held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7-9:30 p.m. To learn more and register, call 828.246.9869 or visit noon to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood St. in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods. Special events will be held when scheduled. mountainmakers•market.com.FolkmootFriendship Center (Waynesville) will host Bryan White (singer-songwriter) with Andrea Pearson and Ronnie Call & The Waterz Edge Band at 7 p.m. Aug. 20. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. For tickets, click on folkmoot.org.
CLASSES AND PROGRAMS
•Deck.“Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m.3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or
• Wired Wednesday, one-on-one technology help is available from 3-5 p.m. every Wednesday at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Library. For more information or to register, call 828.648.2924.
Outdoors
• The annual Zahner Conservation Lectures will take place at 6 p.m. Thursdays from July 7-Sept. 1. To view the full lecture lineup, visit highlandsbiological.org.
A&E
• Learn about the impact of light pollution during a free lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, at the Highlands Nature Center in Highlands. For a full lecture lineup, visit highlandsbiological.org.
• “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, click on way-
• A lecture on the ancient support networks between plant and fungi will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, at the Highlands Nature Center in Highlands. Find the full lecture lineup at highlandsbiological.org.
• “The Legal Scoop - Employment law topics that impact 2022 and beyond” will take place from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, at Haywood Community College in the Hemlock Building. Cost is $25, includes light breakfast and lunch. RSVP Bia email to deanna.queen@haywoodemc.com. For more information contact Ellen Steele at 828.254.8800 or esteele@mwblawyers.com.
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• Friends of Panthertown will host trail work days from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20 at Cold Mountain Gap trail head and Saturday, Aug. 27, at Salt Rock Gap trailhead. Learn more
• A stage production of the beloved tale “Alice in Wonderland” will be held on select dates throughout this spring at the Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on cherokeehistorical.org/alice-in-wonderland.
The Mountain Makers Mushrooms and Music Festival will be held from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, in Sylva. There will be more than 70 crafters, live music, lectures, demos, workshops, wild food, footways and more. Information and vendor space available at jack-
COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Jack Mollette (country) Aug. 20. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo downtown. Free and open to the public.
• The Jackson Arts Market takes place from 1-5 p.m. every Saturday at 533 West Main St. in Sylva with live music and an array of local artists. Balsam Hot Club will play Aug. 20, Taylor Knighton will play Aug. 27.
• Cowee School Farmer’s Market will be held from Wednesdays from 3-6 p.m., at 51 Cowee School Drive in Franklin. The market has produce, plant starts, eggs, baked goods, flowers, food trucks and music. For more information or for an application, visit www.coweeschool.org or call 828.369.4080.
• Toddler’s Rock takes place at 10 a.m. every Monday at the Macon County Library. Get ready to rock with songs, books, rhymes and playing with instruments. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.
• “Rivers & Brews” small town craft brewers festival will be held from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the Nantahala Gorge. Live music, food and craft beer. For more information and ticket pricing, click on noc.com/events/rivers-and-brews.
G ROUPS AND M EETINGS
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• “Fall Fling Art and Craft Walk,” will take place from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, in Dillsboro. Musical entertainment Twelfth Fret will perform at 1 p.m. and We Three Swing will perform at 2 p.m. on Cannon’s
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K IDS & FAMILIES
•woodarts.org/wine-workshop-series.Chess101takesplacefrom3:30-4:30 p.m. every Friday in the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library. No registration required, for more information call 828.648.2924.
• Brent Martin will present his new book about iconic Smokies photographer George Masa at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Free and co-sponsored by Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. 828.586.2016.
•lage.com.FrogQuarters (Franklin) will host Chuck Dorling & Sonia Brooks Aug. 20 and Shelley Arvidson Aug. 22. All shows are free and are held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Located at 573 East Main St. littletennessee.org or •828.369.8488.MariannaBlack Library (Bryson City) will host a Community Jam 6 p.m. Aug. 18 and Liz Nance (singersongwriter) 7 p.m. Aug. 25. Free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 or fontanalib.org/brysoncity.
• Take a trip around the world with four different wines every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday 11a.m.-6 p.m. at the Bryson City Wine Market. Pick from artisan Charcuterie Foods to enjoy with wines. 828.538.0420
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• Learn about Entomology with ecoExplore at 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, at the Macon County Public Library. The lesson will begin with a livestream lesson from ecoExplore followed by a craft. For more information visit fontanalib.org.
ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES
• Moss Valley (Franklin) will host The End (Beatles tribute) Aug. 19. Gates at 6 p.m. Show from 6:30-9 p.m. Free and open to the public. Food trucks and beverages available onsite. Bring a lawn chair. Presented by Drake •Software.Pickin’ In The Park (Canton) will host Rick Morris & Appalachian Mountaineers Aug. 19 and Steve Jordan & Mountain Tradition Aug. 26. Shows are 6-9 p.m. at the Canton Rec Park located at 77 Penland St. Free and open to the public. cantonnc.com.
•franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html.QuirkyBirdsTreehouse&Bistro(Dillsboro) will host Natti Love Joys (reggae/soul) 8 p.m. Aug. 27. Free and open to the public. 828.586.1717
•nesvillewine.com.Afreewinetasting will be held from 6-8 p.m. every Thursday and 2-5 p.m. every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.
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ON STAGE & I N CONCERT
•sonartsmarket.com.TheAppalachianButton Jamboree Show will take place from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 17, at The National Guard Armory in Hendersonville. For more information call Julie McMahon at 616.634.8823 or email jmcma•hon8@hotmail.com.BridgeParkBoogie, an inclusive dance event for children and persons with disabilities, will be held from 2-6 p.m. Sept. 17, at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. For more information contact bridgeparkboogie@gmail.com.
To have your item listed email calendar@smokymountainnews.comto
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OOD AND D RINK
• The Franklin Area Folk Festival will be held Saturday, Aug. 20, at Cowee School, Art and Heritage Center. 828.524.6564.•Karaoketakes place at 7 p.m. every Friday at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley. Call 828.926.1717 or visit meadowlarkmotel.com.
• Cooking classes take place at the McKinley Edwards Inn from 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights. To reserve your spot call 828.488.9626.
• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host Mountain Homecoming Singing 7:30 p.m. Aug. 18. Free and open to the public. 800.849.2258 or fontanavil-
WNC
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before November 17, 2022, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All corporations indebted to said decedent and/ or decedent’s estate will please make immediate payment. Dated the 17th day of August 2022. Brandy Chastain, Administrator of the Estate of Robert Tyrone Chastain, Deceased Adam L. Shealy, Esq. Gilreath Shealy Law, PLLC 224 6th Avenue East Hendersonville, NC 28792 Pets HOUND/LAB MIX DOG, RUPERT 3 year old brown & white brindle boy. Happy, active; loves toys and car rides. Cratetrained. Asheville Humane Society (828) 761-2001 DD33USElapsweetashevillehumane.orgadoptions@BLACKMALECAT,ARTU10yearold,house-panther;lovestoysandhighplaces.Sometimescat,sometimesin-dependent.AshevilleHumaneSociety(828)761-2001adoptions@ashevillehumane.orgHAPPYJACK® tact. At Tractor Supply® Real AnnouncementsEstate PUBLISHER’S NOTICE All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Hous ing Act which makes it illegal to advertise ‘any preference, limitation or discrimination based on handicap, familial status or national origin, or an in tention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination’. Familial status includes children under 18 living with par ents or legal guardians and pregnant women. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any ad vertising for real estate in violation of this law. All dwellings advertised on equal opportunity basis. Rentals TIMESHARE CANCELLATION EXPERTS. Wesley Financial Group, LLC Over $50,000,000 in timeshare debt and fees cancelled in 2019. Get free informational package and learn how to get rid of your timeshare! Free consultations. Over 450 positive reviews. Call 844-213-6711 LONG TERM RENTAL NEEDED Looking for a long term rental available Oct. 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Noland - brianknoland.com • Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com • Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com • Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com • Ellen Sither - esither@beverly-hanks.com • Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com • Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com • Billy Case- billycase@beverly-hanks.com • Laura Thomas - lthomas@beverly-hanks.com • John Keith - jkeith@beverly-hanks.com • Randall Rogers - rrogers@beverly-hanks.com • Susan Hooper - shooper@beverly-hanks.com • Hunter Wyman - hwyman@beverly-hanks.com • Julie Lapkoff - julielapkoff@beverly-hanks.com Emerson Group - emersongroupus.com • George Escaravage - george@emersongroupus.com • Chuck Brown - chuck@emersongroupus.com ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com • Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com • Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com • Randy Flanigan - 706-207-9436 • Steve Mauldin - 828-734-4864 Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com • The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com • Darrin Graves - dgraves@kw.com Lakeshore Realty • Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com • Lyndia Massey- buyfromlyndia@yahoo.com Mountain Creek Real Estate • Ron Rosendahl - 828-593-8700 McGovern Real Estate & Property Management • Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com RE/MAX Executive - remax-waynesvillenc.comremax-maggievalleync.com • The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com • Ron Breese - ronbreese.com • Landen Stevenson- landen@landenkstevenson.com • Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com • Mary & Roger Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net • David Willet - davidwillet1@live.com • Sara Sherman - sarashermanncrealtor@gmail.com • David Rogers- davidr@remax-waynesville.com • Judy Meyers - jameyers@charter.net Rob Roland Realty • Rob Roland - 828-400-1923 Smoky Mountain Retreat Realty • Tom Johnson - tomsj7@gmail.com • Sherell Johnson - Sherellwj@aol.com DAVID WILLETT BROKER, REALTOR®, ABR® SRS, E-PRO® GREEN, SRES®, RENE, RSPS, C2EX CELL: 828-550-0220 71 NORTH MAIN STREET WAYNESVILLE SOLD 74 North Main Street Waynesville,828.452.5809NC 28786 Brian Noland RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL bknoland@beverly-hanks.comPROFESSIONAL828.734.5201 74 N. 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202217-23,August NewsMountainSmoky 48
