Break out of your culinary comfort zone and join us for Charlotte’s annual citywide celebration of epicurean artistry in the Queen City. For two weeks in March, chefs, bakers, mixologists, brewers, restaurateurs and food truck entrepreneurs show off why Charlotte is a must-taste-to-believe destination you don’t want to miss.
As I write this, it’s been raining for a solid 24 hours, and the “feels like” temperature on my weather app is 34 degrees. That’s February in the Carolinas!
But March is another story. Sure, historically we’ve had freak late-season snowstorms in March — and the threat of overnight frost keeps us from filling our flower beds with snapdragons and begonias for a few more weeks. But in March, little signs of hope emerge in the form of daffodils, azaleas and fresh buds forming on our city’s majestic maples and oaks.
This issue is all about getting back outside after the dreary winter season. Selfishly, I may have come up with this theme to give myself a few things to look forward to during the gray days of winter. But we hope it will inspire you, too, to start thinking about sprucing up your outdoor spaces, or perhaps plan a trip where you can immerse yourself in nature after weeks of being cooped up inside.
Before winter set in, contributor Katie Toussaint participated in a forest-bathing session at UNC Charlotte and shares her experience on page 76. The relatively new practice originated in Japan as a remedy for a “nature-deficit disorder” in the modern world.
On page 16, Natalie Dick chats with Bill Bartee, the longtime owner of Jesse Brown’s Outdoors who turned a passion for the outdoors into a career helping others gear up and get out on the trails (and streams and rivers).
And in a case of bringing the outside in, Jay Ahuja writes about a new exhibition showcasing Davidson artist Elizabeth Bradford’s vibrant paintings inspired by backpacking and kayaking trips across North Carolina and the Southeast (page 28).
If, like me, you’ve been coping with an annual case of the winter blues, hang in there — spring really is just around the corner. SP
CATHY MARTIN EDITOR
1–In the studio with artist Elizabeth Bradford (page 28)
2–A south Charlotte backyard designed by Erin Peiffer (page 70)
3–Florence, South Carolina: The Carolinas’ next great foodie town? (page 38)
4–Reality-TV star Sunni Haralalka, who started a Charlotte social club to tackle loneliness (page 80)
5–Firelight at Shope Creek (page 84)
16 | southpark sit-down
Bill Bartee: Charlotte’s quintessential outdoorsman
24 | interiors
Outside in: A bedroom with a tranquil garden view
28 | arts
Elizabeth Bradford’s vivid canvases showcase the natural world.
34 | cuisine
Recipe: Barry Horton’s Moroccan Tofu
38 | getaways
Could the Carolinas’ next great food city be… Florence?
46 | around town
What’s new and coming soon in the Queen City
50 | happenings
March calendar of events
55 | art of the state
Paper and fiber artist Elizabeth Palmisano’s particular alchemy
61 | givers
Cycle4Success brings the thrill of mountain biking to kids in underserved communities.
63| bookshelf
March’s new releases
65 | simple life
With the dawn of spring, we begin again
69| well + wise
How bodywork can unlock healing
106 | swirl
Parties, fundraisers and events around Charlotte
112 | in plain view
A soaring sculpture welcomes visitors to the Queen City.
ABOUT THE COVER:
The pavilion at Firelight at Shope Creek, a back-to-nature oasis in east Asheville. Photograph by Ryan Theede Photography.
70 | Next level by Cathy Martin
photographs by Dustin and Susie Peck Erin Peiffer transforms a sloped lot into a family-friendly backyard with multiple spaces for relaxing and entertaining.
76 | Come to your senses by Katie Toussaint
Could a forest-bathing session be your next dose of preventative “medicine”?
Here’s how it works — and where to experience it in North Carolina.
80 | Finding friends essay by Krisha Chachra
Do we have the time, tools and tenacity required to cultivate meaningful friendships as we age?
84 | Back to nature by Cathy Martin
Head to Asheville’s Firelight at Shope Creek for a getaway that soothes the soul.
89 | Mountain glow by Cathy Martin
Nestled in Virginia’s Blue Ridge and just a short drive from Charlotte, Primland — an outdoor-lover’s paradise — unveils a luxe new look.
93 | Trails to town by Kayleigh Ruller
Waterfalls, cycling, wineries and more: A guide to South Carolina’s Upcountry region.
97 | 2025 Legal Elite
Top Charlotte lawyers in select specialties.
1230 West Morehead St., Suite 308
Charlotte, NC 28208
704-523-6987
southparkmagazine.com
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Whitley Adkins Style Editor
Contributing Editors
David Mildenberg, Michael J. Solender
Contributing Writers
Jay Ahuja, Michelle Boudin, Krisha Chachra, Natalie Dick, Jim Dodson, Asha Ellison, Juliet Lam Kuehnle, Page Leggett, Liza Roberts, Kayleigh Ruller, Katie Toussaint
Contributing Photographers
Daniel Coston, Richard Israel, Dustin and Susie Peck, Peter Taylor
Contributing Illustrator Gerry O’Neill
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Published by Old North State Magazines LLC. ©Copyright 2025. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Volume 29, Issue 3
people, places, things
Whether you’re a connoisseur or a casual wine drinker, there’s something for every palate at Charlotte Wine + Food Week (April 23-27). Tickets go on sale the first week of March for the 37th annual culinary celebration benefiting local childrens’ charities — and many events sell out early. Events include vintner dinners at local restaurants, the Collector’s Gala & Live Auction for serious oenophiles, and a Grand Tasting featuring bites from Charlotte chefs, more than 100 wines and live music. Presented by Truist, the week wraps with a Rose Brunch and a closing dinner. Learn more at charlottewineandfood.org. SP
Charlotte’s quintessential outdoorsman takes Jesse Brown’s beyond brick-and-mortar. by Natalie Dick | photographs by Richard
BIsrael
ill Bartee has never met a stranger. And if you’re one of the lucky people to have crossed paths with him, you’ll never forget him. The longtime owner of Jesse Brown’s Outdoors has a gift for gab that immediately puts others at ease. That, and a strong attention to detail, keeps loyal customers returning to the Sharon Corners store year after year.
“I can see the good in people — observation and a sprinkle of empathy for others,” he tells me when I ask him about his best traits. “I’m in the optimism and encouragement business,” he says with a smile.
A master storyteller, Bartee reels you in with his thick Southern drawl and ear-to-ear grin. (His
folksy demeanor had me within seconds during our recent lunch date at Rooster’s.) But don’t mistake his Southern charm for naivete. He’s sharp and savvy, and he excels at creating and curating authentic relationships with those he meets. Bartee has an innate likability about him — it’s no wonder he was student body president at Clover High School and voted “friendliest” and “best all-around” for the class of 1988.
Bartee’s connection to all things outdoors is intrinsically linked to his upbringing on an Angus cattle farm in nearby Clover, South Carolina.
“My introduction to the outdoors — or my vocation, as I like to call it — was doing my chores. My three younger brothers and I would feed the cattle and horses and do other chores before and after school,” he says.
“I was involved in everything I could be in my community growing up. 4-H, I played all kinds of sports, earned my Eagle Scout and was student body president,” Bartee says. He started working part-time at Jesse Brown’s as a teenager.
“Even though I lived in Clover, my dad worked in SouthPark, so I always felt a connection to this area,” he recalls.
Unsure where he wanted to go to college or what he wanted to do, Bartee chose Birmingham Southern College, a small liberal-arts school in Alabama, where “a cool uncle” had graduated. Four years later, he found himself back in Clover with a degree in marketing and finance and a minor in English.
“I had no idea what I wanted to do,” Bartee says. “So, I moved back home and began working full time at Jesse Brown’s.”
Little did he know then that his entrepreneurial journey was about to begin.
Before Dick’s, Bass Pro Shops and REI, there was Jesse Brown’s. Founded 55 years ago in Greer, South Carolina, by Jesse and Elizabeth Brown, the store relocated to what is now South End in the ’80s, permanently putting down roots in SouthPark in 1993. A year later, with a loan from his family, Bartee bought the business.
“Starting at ground level at Jesse Brown’s taught me the importance of detail,” he explains. “Paying attention to the feedback — positive and negative — that clients, company representatives, and senior employees shared has helped me be a better mentor to the younger generation, our future leaders.”
Jesse Brown’s ability to stand the test of time in the highly competitive retail world is a testament to its strong local ties and Bartee’s keen sense of grassroots marketing.
“Part of the charm of Jesse Brown’s success lies in how people
“Rooster’s is locally owned and has fabulous food, and Chef Jim Noble is a sportsman, client and friend of mine,” says Bartee, left. Above: Rooster’s coconut cake with cream-cheese frosting and crème anglaise.
perceive the outdoor industry,” he explains. “It’s evolved from activity-based shopping, like camping and fishing, to identity shopping. Customers aren’t just purchasing gear; they’re buying into a lifestyle that represents health, activity and wellness.”
Originally a specialty outdoor retail store, Jesse Brown’s mission now extends well beyond its physical location.
“We started as a climbing, camping, hiking and backpacking store. That will always be part of our DNA, and we celebrate that,” Bartee says. “As the years have passed, our products, brands and services have become more diverse.”
Fly-fishing has become a big deal at Jesse Brown’s. A “game changer,” according to Bartee. “We partner with fly-fishing agencies to send people to destinations you could not imagine,” he says.
Walking into Jesse Brown’s, it’s as if you’re visiting old friends. And the store’s team of experts includes renowned anglers and professionals from nationally recognized guide schools.
Bartee refers to shopping at Jesse Brown’s as “retail theater.”
“We are much more than just a brick-and-mortar store — we provide a great experience.”
If you haven’t visited Jesse Brown’s yet, you may have heard Bartee on his weekly radio show/podcast. For more than 27 years, he’s hosted “Carolina Outdoors” on WBT, where he shares ideas for outdoor activities and nature-related happenings. The show is a clever way to cross-promote the store.
A self-proclaimed “radio nerd,” Bartee’s always had a passion for talk radio.
“I call it being an audiophile. If I’m driving through a town and I see the call letters, I’ll try to find the local station and listen to anything from a high-school basketball game to an obituary — yeah, some places still have those on air,” he says.
The show’s audience is diverse, from truck drivers to doctors. The podcast ranks No. 2 among FeedSpot’s top North Carolina Outdoor Podcasts and boasts more than 93,000 downloads.
“The show’s goal has been to romanticize our love for the outdoors and to educate and appreciate it,” Bartee says. “For some people, the outdoors might just mean staying in a Holiday Inn with the window open,” he sarcastically quips, “but we believe there’s hope for them to enjoy someone else’s adventure or the impact that nature has had on them by simply listening and hearing those stories. The outdoors is for everyone.”
Bartee shares his love of the outdoors in another way: by hosting events — and lots of them.
“The beauty of Jesse Brown’s is you get to outfit people, but you also get to meet these people who have incredible backgrounds and talents,” Bartee shares as he entusiastically describes the store’s popular Storyteller Series — think mini-TEDx Talks — held quarterly.
“It started with customers coming in and sharing their incredible stories of travel adventures or personal experiences while they shopped,” Bartee continues. “That morphed into everyday people taking Jesse Brown’s stage to talk about their journeys, whether climbing high mountains, hiking the Appalachian Trail or some other life-changing experience.”
In addition to the Storyteller Series, Jesse Brown’s offers fly-fishing classes, including one with a guided float trip. The store even hosts a youth summer camp and regular guided walks along the Loop at SouthPark.
“SouthPark is a dynamic, growing and evolving area, and I believe that our connection to the outdoors and what it represents is increasingly important,” Bartee says.
These days, Bartee juggles running the store with his volunteer work in the community. He’s president-elect of the Charlotte Rotary Club for 2026-27. He also actively promotes the SouthPark business district as a board member for SouthPark Community Partners.
Bartee and his wife, Elizabeth, who have four children rang-
Left: Rooster’s smoked turkey BLT with provolone and avocado.
Below: Arugula salad with spiced pear, toasted walnut, chevre and walnut vinaigrette.
ing in age from middle school to college, will celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary in April. When I ask if his family is outdoorsy, he laughs and replies, “Well, my wife is the sport!” He recalls a challenging backpacking trip the couple took as newlyweds from Black Mountain Campground to Mount Mitchell. “I had overloaded her pack, and after a couple of miles, she let me know. It was a tough trip until I redistributed some of the weight to my pack — whew!”
Not surprisingly, family vacations are often visits to state and national parks.
“My kids all have a healthy interest in the outdoors, but I’m not sure about pursuing it as a career,” he says. That prompts him to think about the future of Jesse Brown’s — a succession plan.
“I don’t know the answer yet,” he says contemplatively. “Whatever the next step for Jesse Brown’s is after me weighs heavily on my mind.” For now, Bartee is focused on making Jesse Brown’s the best it can be.
“I try to be broad and diverse in my role as the face and the voice of Jesse Brown’s,” he says. “One of the most frequent questions I get is, ‘What’s your sport? Are you a rock climber? A fly-fisherman? Do you like backpacking?’ People try to pin me down, but I see myself as the conductor for the customer’s pursuit of those sports.”
But I don’t let him off that easy. After some prodding, and a long pause, he continues.
“Oh, the mountains. I love a wild trout stream. Part of the beauty of a mountain trout stream isn’t just the fishing aspect; it’s being alone in the fresh air and listening to the sounds and the quiet. The sport is just an excuse to be there. Also, saltwater fly-fishing is fantastic. It’s like hunting — you must use your eyes. You must see the fish and then cast to it while it’s feeding.”
Most famous people you’ve met: President George H.W. Bush, Michael Jordan and Col. Harland Sanders.
Something that might surprise people about you: I’m well-traveled. I have spent time in Southeast Asia; Bali; Java, Indonesia; Korea; Hong Kong; and Thailand.
Something overrated and something underrated: Overrated: All-inclusive resorts. Underrated: Active adventure vacations, supportive footwear and trekking poles.
Most frightening thing that’s ever happened to you: Taking a fall in a fastmoving trout stream. I pushed it too far on a trip in Montana and lost my rod, reel, everything. The worst part was my pride being wounded. Also, being lost in the woods — that’s scary. The secret is to keep your head and seek a solution.
This season’s hottest outdoor items: Sun-protective clothing and mosquitoresistant clothing. And outdoor Bluetooth speakers like TURTLEBOX, which are waterproof and built extra-rugged.
As we finish our lunch, I wonder what’s on Bartee’s bucket list.
“I would love to do more — more fly-fishing in great destinations, more hiking up tall mountains, and more travel to places I’ve never been,” he shares. “That’s one of the challenges of running a demanding small business that helps people do cool things in cool places: finding the time to do those things yourself.” SP
WATCH: Bartee has a personal rule of greeting everyone he meets with a big smile, direct eye contact and a hearty hello — no exceptions. That is, until he met Michael Jordan. Scan the QR code to hear what happened when they ran into each other at Taste of Charlotte.
A bedroom addition overlooks a tranquil garden. by Cathy Martin | photographs by 137 North
Maximizing the view of a peaceful private garden was a priority for interior designer Rebecca Bridges’ clients, retirees in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Ensuring the primary-bedroom addition blended with the existing home — a classic colonial-style house with hardwoods throughout — was also key.
“We aimed to have the addition look and feel as though it had always been there,” says Bridges, founder and principal designer at House of Drennan. To achieve that, the design team kept the flooring, trim and window style consistent with the existing home.
DESIGNER: House of Drennan
BUILDER: Signature Homes
ARCHITECT: Vinyet Architecture
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: TG&R Landscape Group
Rather than moving, the couple decided they wanted to age in place at their longtime home. That required relocating the original primary suite from the second floor to the home’s lower level. Looking ahead, the couple decided to make the new bedroom and bathroom ADA-compliant, with wider doors and zero-entry showers.
Inspired by the neutral palettes of West Coast design, the homeowners sought nat-
ural materials and warm wood tones with a relaxed, minimalistic feel, Bridges says. “We found lots of inspiration from magazines and coffee table books from both Amber Lewis and Gil Schaefer,” the designer says. Wooden beams in the bedroom add warmth and architectural interest. “The beams are faux-wrapped, and handmade by Signature Homes,” Bridges says. “They look solid and beautiful!” SP
In a new exhibition at Davidson College, Elizabeth Bradford’s vivid canvases offer a distinctive perception of the natural world.
by Jay Ahuja
Lia Rose Newman, director and curator of Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College, felt it was time to get back to nature. Enter Elizabeth Bradford’s Warp Weft Water Weeds solo exhibition, on view through April 9. In her paintings, the Davidson resident draws inspiration from outdoor settings, primarily across the Southeast.
“We had known and admired her work,” Newman says. “It expresses a deep message about conserving the land and what nature can do for us.” The exhibition is also about recognizing one of Davidson’s own. “It was important to honor her work over the past 50 years,” Newman adds.
Bradford spoke with SouthPark Magazine about her process, inspiration and being bold in her artwork.
Comments have been edited for length and clarity.
Obviously, your work is inspired by nature. How do you go about interacting with nature?
I used to just observe, but then I got engaged in backpacking. I’ve always loved camping, but I hadn’t been into ultralight backpacking so I wanted to do that in my 60s. I was just talking about it with some friends, how much I really wanted to learn how to do that. There were these two buddies of mine who said, “We do that once a month. Do you want to go with us?” So I did, and they are great naturalists and hardened campers. They know their way around the woods. They let me go with them and were patient with me and taught me so many things about how to survive in the wilderness.
And how did that lead to the art?
I’d been painting my normal environment, which was the [family farm], small town, nature around me, but once I got [out in the wilderness] it was so extravagant. The things I was seeing were so different from ordinary inhabited environment. Trees are allowed to grow there until they fall over. There are enormous trees and all kinds of lichen, mushrooms and wild orchids.
One of my camping buddies is a biologist, so he was always pointing out all these things I might have otherwise missed. He’s actually a stream specialist, which has been fun, too, to study the nature of streams. It’s just a fun deep dive to not only sleep on the Earth, but to be taught about it.
“Women are conditioned, particularly of my generation, to be quiet and not take up space. One of my avowed goals is to take up space. To speak through the work with some boldness.”
What are your favorite places to get inspiration?
We’ve been going a lot up to Wilson Creek [in Caldwell County]. It’s part of a giant park that draws trout fishermen, hunters and backpackers. There’s a huge gorge. It’s like North Carolina’s Grand Canyon. A lot of people from that area go there to spend a summer day. And there are a lot of wilderness areas — we found some places there that nobody goes much, off the beaten track.
They took me to Grayson Highlands [State Park in Virginia], but we also camped on Cumberland Island [in coastal Georgia]. We like to go to Goose Creek State Park, which is just off the Pamlico Sound. We take kayaks there. That’s super inspiring — I write about it, but I also paint it.
Some of my first more experimental landscapes were inspired after that first trip to Cumberland Island. Initially, my landscapes were couched in natural colors with a limited palette. After Cumberland, I started experimenting with extravagant color that was not drawn directly from nature. It was just so exotic that it called for something like that.
What is your process once you’ve decided to paint a subject?
Sometimes, I’ll do some pencil drawings to establish the composition. A lot of times, the paintings may revolve around something as simple as one tree — that’s sort of like a rectangle, so it becomes really tricky to make that rectangle interesting. I might move the
Left: Twenty-three Stream Crossings, Green,
lines of that tree trunk around 10 times with a pencil before I come to what I think is going to be engaging.
I’ll set up the basic bones of the construction of a piece with a pencil. Not always, but often. And then, a lot of times, I’ll start with the thing that is the most obvious in the foreground. Most people paint a background and then paint on top of it. I paint from the foreground back. I start with what’s immediately in front of me, and I paint it first. Then I paint the world around that.
Did anyone or anything influence your current style?
I spent an awful lot of time studying the impressionists and post-impressionists with deep interest. Early on, I was really fascinated by Georgia O’Keeffe, who is a great pioneer of taking the natural world and rendering it abstract. Of course, I was especially fascinated by her because she’s a woman, and there weren’t many of them to look to as role models. So, she was a feminist touchstone. Your work is vibrant and large-scale. How do you choose your palette for each painting, and how do you determine the size?
I like scale because it’s unusual in my life. Women are conditioned, particularly of my generation, to be quiet and not take up space. One of my avowed goals is to take up space. To speak through the work with some boldness.
The palette… sometimes in nature I see things trend toward a color, so I just use that color. So, a gray that trends toward violet,
I just use violet. I push things to extremes of what I perceive. And I like really pure hues. I like the clarity of color. I think that comes out of exposure to pop art and 20th- and 21st-century life.
How did you choose the paintings for this exhibit?
The paintings in this exhibit are the most recent things I’ve done. And it just happened to be a difficult time for me, so the work has some edges to it that are speaking about that. I didn’t realize it at the time I was doing them but now, in retrospect, I realize I was channeling those anxieties and those triumphs.
What do you hope that this exhibit at Davidson College, essentially in your backyard, will achieve that others may have not?
It is different for me, showing at Davidson, because this town and this school have supported me as an artist since I was in my 20s. People all over this town own my early work. They’ve just shown up, time after time, for the many exhibitions I’ve had in the area. Davidson has played a large role in my life just because it educates everybody in its sphere. I’ve always benefited from its intellectual generosity.
My hope for this show is that it brings a sense of joy, community and hopefulness. I always hope that my work inspires people to look at the natural world with greater reverence. SP
Warp Weft Water Weeds is on view at the Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College through April 9.
TALE OF THE PLATE:
It’s a busy day in Barry Horton’s kitchen at Sanctuary Bistro – a warm and welcoming staple of Charlotte’s Shops at Piper Glen. At the 5-year-old restaurant, which opened just weeks before the pandemic in February 2020, the food is fresh and ethically vegan.
As Chef Horton works orders down the line with this team, he begins to feel a familiar rush of adrenaline. Leaning forward on the tips of his toes, he steals a glance of the packed dining room. Laughter erupts from the bar — and he stops, only for a moment, to savor the scene. His inner child — the kid who happily devoured PB&J sandwiches while watching Graham Kerr’s “The Galloping Gourmet” reruns on PBS — would be so proud of the man he is
today. This was his dream.
“I always enjoyed the fast-paced environment of cooking,” says Horton as he recalls his culinary journey. “[It’s an] always-on-yourtoes job.”
Food became the center of Horton’s world at an early age. As he got older, he found ways to incorporate it into his daily life: He took his first job delivering pizzas, baked cookies with the kids he babysat and, eventually, enrolled at a small community college in Kansas City, Missouri, that would propel him to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland, Oregon.
After culinary school, Horton took an internship at The
Stanford Inn, a vegan resort and farm in Mendocino, California, where he learned in-depth about vegetable cookery under owners Jeff and Joan Stanford. Horton worked his way up from intern to executive chef at the inn’s Ravens Restaurant, where he transformed the menu from vegetarian to vegan. In 2006, at that very restaurant, he would meet the love of his life and doting business partner, Jennifer Jones Horton.
After a philosophical awakening in 2007, the parents of two children committed their lives to ethical veganism as a way to honor the interconnectedness of animal welfare, environmental sustainability and personal well-being.
“[We] opened a meal-prep service in the Bay Area, then our first restaurant in Berkeley in 2013,” says Horton. In 2019, the Hortons relocated to Charlotte to be closer to Jennifer’s parents in Beaufort, South Carolina.
Despite the difficulties of balancing family and career, Horton discovered an appreciation for teamwork and adaptability, essential qualities in both the kitchen and life. This philosophy of simplicity and flexibility mirrors his approach to cooking.
“Someone else’s recipe is just a guideline and starting point,” he says. After that, it’s up to the aspiring chef or home cook to be unafraid to make culinary art.
The Moroccan Tofu recipe he shares here is a simple-yet-elegant dish, and a gateway to the world of plant-based cuisine. This and other gluten-free and vegan recipes can be found in the Hortons’ cookbook, Sanctuary Bistro’s Recipes for Everyday Living: An Easy and Loving Approach to Gluten-Free Veganism, available on Amazon. SP
serves 4
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, julienned
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon garam masala
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup tamari
1/2 bunch cilantro, stemmed and minced
Pinch chili flakes
16 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-by-1/2-by-2-inch strips
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a sauté pan at medium heat, sauté onions until lightly browned, then add garlic and garam masala. Cook until fragrant.
3. Deglaze the onion mixture with white wine, and reduce by half.
4. Place the sautéed ingredients and the next five ingredients in a blender and process until smooth to make your marinade.
5. Place tofu in a single layer in a baking pan and cover with marinade. Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes. Any leftover liquid can be used as a sauce for the meal.
6. Skewer tofu and serve hot along with peanut butter dipping sauce (see recipe below).
PEANUT BUTTER DIPPING SAUCE
While this pairs well as a dipping sauce with Moroccan Tofu, it is also delicious for stir-fries, rice or pad thai dishes.
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 can coconut milk (refrigerate the whole can prior to cooking)
2 tablespoons wheat-free tamari
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
10–15 cilantro leaves
2 cups smooth peanut butter
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large sauté pan, heat the oil on medium heat.
2. Add the shallots into the pan and cook until they begin to brown.
3. Stir in the remaining ingredients gently. Cook until the peanut butter is melted.
4. Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender.
Could the Carolinas’ next great food town be … Florence? The South Carolina city’s annual wine and food festival (March 27-29) makes a strong case.
by Page Leggett
Consider Florence. Not the capital of Italy’s Tuscany region teeming with Renaissance masterpieces, but the city in South Carolina’s Pee Dee region. Unless you’re a native or have family there, you probably haven’t given the other Florence much thought.
Maybe you should. There’s no better time than the annual Florence Wine & Food Festival (March 27-29) to experience the renaissance our neighbor 120-some miles to the south has undergone. Florence has long been known for its pecan farms; the South Carolina Pecan Trail includes Florence and other Pee Dee towns. But today, it’s also known for barbecue, farm-to-fork cuisine, even a craft-beer scene.
Two Florence residents hatched the idea for the festival. Tim Norwood, who owns Victors restaurant with his wife, Anne, and Frank Chisholm — a wine expert and Arabian horse breeder — “wanted a festival that would put Florence on the map,” says Tamara Kirven, the festival’s executive director.
The festival got off the ground in 2017, took a Covid-related hiatus in 2020 and ’21 and returned in 2022 bigger and better than before.
Each year, there’s a big-name headliner, but otherwise it’s all Florence-area chefs. The homegrown talent helps set this festival
apart from some others, Kirven says. “It’s hyper-local.”
Another thing that sets it apart: The size. Last year, 2,000 festival tickets were sold. Compare that to Charleston Wine + Food, which attracts upward of 35,000. In Florence, you might actually meet the headliner. (My sister and I chatted with restaurateur and cookbook author Vivian Howard at last year’s event.)
Despite the locals being the stars, wine and food experts descend on Florence each year to take part. One of those is Charlotte’s Steve Hedberg, proprietor of Carolina Wine Marketing.
“Steve has so much knowledge about the wines he’s pouring,” Kirven says. “That’s something we wanted from the start — for every sip (and bite) to have the potential to be a learning experience, a true discovery.”
Hedberg is taken with Florence, calling it “charming, relaxed and friendly.” He notes the city’s walkable downtown with hotels and locally owned restaurants. “The city is very progressive in how they’ve embraced local agriculture and what people in the food world call ‘makers’ — not just farmers, but millers, coffee roasters, craft brewers,” he says. “Asheville prides itself on farm-to-table cuisine, and Florence is the same way.”
When organizers approached food and travel writers Matt and Ted Lee about headlining the 2022 festival, the brothers had a bigger idea, Kirven says. “They wanted to help host.”
In 2023, the Lee Bros. — Charleston natives and authors of James Beard Award-winning cookbooks and an Amazon best book of 2019, Hotbox: Inside Catering, the Food World’s Riskiest Business — became executive producers of the event, lending the festival instant cachet.
The headliners are culinary superstars who need no introduction to foodies and oenophiles. Katie Button of Asheville’s Curate headlined in 2023. Last year, Howard was the major draw. She put her eastern N.C. hometown of Kinston (she actually hails from the adjacent — and even smaller — Deep Run) when she opened Chef & The Farmer there in 2006.
This year’s headliner, pitmaster Rodney Scott, hails from Hemingway, South Carolina, but now calls Charleston home. Bon
Appetit named Scott’s eponymous King Street barbecue joint one of 2017’s best new restaurants.
Scott has elevated barbecue to an art form, and he has a James Beard Award to prove it. When the Beard Foundation named him Best Chef Southeast in 2018, he became only the second pitmaster to achieve the honor.
He has since expanded his porcine empire to Atlanta, Birmingham and Nashville, appeared on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, published a cookbook, Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ, and serves as a judge on Food Network’s BBQ Brawl.
“Rodney Scott, in anybody’s estimation, belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Carolina barbecue,” Hedberg says.
“He’s got a big, sunny personality,” Kirven adds. “And he’ll be in Florence for the entire festival,” which officially starts on Thursday at the annual “Meat and Meander,” a casual party at a brewery with live bluegrass music.
www.springdalecharlotte.com
Scott is a big draw, but Florence has its own burgeoning barbecue scene. Kirven cites Holt Bros. and Wholly Smokin’ as two local joints worth checking out.
And soon, there’ll be another reason to visit Flo-Town. Elliott Moss, the James Beard-nominated chef and pitmaster at both Asheville’s The Admiral and the now-closed Buxton Hall Barbecue, returned to his hometown and aims to open his own eponymous barbecue spot in time for the festival, Kirven says. Moss and Scott will team up during the festival to talk — and cook — ’cue.
Elliott’s, attached to Seminar Brewing, will serve whole-hog pulled pork, of course, but also burgers, beer-battered and smoked fish sandwiches, beer-can chicken, and chicken bog, a specialty of the Pee Dee region that features chicken, sausage, rice, onions and spices. The simple stew is a comforting one-pot wonder.
It’s not every small town that can claim four breweries, but Florence (South Carolina’s 11th-largest city, with a population of about 40,000) loves hops and yeast. Southern Hops, Local Motive and Wild Heart round out the quartet.
Beer lovers will find plenty to quench their thirst in Florence. But during the festival, wine is the star. Ray Isle, executive wine editor of Food & Wine and wine and spirits editor for Travel + Leisure, will lead wine tastings, as he has every year since 2022. “Ray loves Florence,” Kirven enthuses, “and Florence loves Ray.”
Festivalgoers can sample libations at the festival’s “Sip & Savor” wine stroll held in various downtown shops on Friday from 5:308:30 p.m. Nondrinkers also will find an array of zero-proof options.
One mocktail making an appearance on Victors seasonal cocktail menu — scheduled to launch concurrently with the festival — is the Springtime Spritz, made with strawberries from Florence’s Cottle Strawberry Farms.
Saturday afternoon’s activity is the Grand Tasting, followed by the concluding event of the weekend, The Final Pour.
If you haven’t been to Florence in a while (or ever), you might be surprised by what you find. Hedberg, who pours wine at festivals throughout the Carolinas, says Florence’s festival is one of his favorites: “It’s almost entirely staffed by volunteers, and the money raised is for specific local charities. It’s outside the realm of corporate influence.”
He looks forward to being in town for all three days of the festival. “Florence is a special place, and this festival over-achieves on every level,” he says.
The next time you hear anything about “Florence and the Renaissance,” you may have to ask: Italy … or South Carolina? SP
GO WITH THE FLO: Learn more and buy tickets for the festival that’s putting Florence, South Carolina, on the map at florencewineandfood.com. Experience what might be the Carolinas’ next great food scene March 27-29.
Festival director Tamara Kirven dishes on how to prepare for the festival and what to see and do while in Florence.
• Book lodging early. Hotel Florence (Tapestry Collection by Hilton) and Hyatt Place Florence Downtown are in the center of the action. Check Airbnb and Vrbo for houses and rooms to rent.
• Get dinner reservations, stat. Seating is very limited for the Friday evening Signature Dinners, and they often sell out quickly.
• The main event! Foodies won’t want to miss the Grand Tasting on Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. The most die-hard foodies and wine lovers can go an hour early for a more personal experience: VIP tickets allow you unfettered access from 11 a.m. until noon.
• Bring your appetite. Visit local restaurants while you’re in town. Kirven advises out-of-towners to experience a few Florence restaurants, including Town Hall and Victors, which she calls “Charleston-caliber.”
• City of art and culture. Check out the Florence County Museum to learn about the region’s history (and see outstanding art). The Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center, which opened in 2014, hosts acts such as Edwin McCain and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
• Venture beyond downtown. Kirven recommends driving “across town — which takes just 10 minutes — to a scenic spot on Palmetto Street near the Pee Dee River.” Bean Bar, Buddy’s (“the best smash burgers!”) and Local Motive are local favorites.
Laguna Beach, California, jewelry brand gorjana is opening a store in Center Court at SouthPark Mall. gorjana sells everyday and fine jewelry and has more than 90 stores in 20 states.
Discovery Place Nature is rebranding as Charlotte Museum of Nature. The museum at Freedom Park held a topping out ceremony in December and is expected to open in 2026. gorjana
Charlotte’s Bottle Cap Group (Whiskey Warehouse, Brazwell’s, Ink & Ivy) is reviving Nickyo’s Rodeo, a western-themed restaurant and karaoke bar in Eastover from 1985 to 1994. Nickyo’s will open this spring at 120 W. Bland St. in South End. The 8,600-square-foot restaurant will have an indoor stage, DJ booth and a courtyard. Pastry Chef Sam Allen, previously of Wentworth & Fenn at Camp North End, has joined L’Ostrica. Salted Melon Market & Eatery, which had a holiday pop-up market at Phillips Place, will open a permanent location at the shopping center this spring. Mazi, a new Mediterranean-inspired restaurant from Built on Hospitality (The Goodyear House, Chief’s, Folia) opened in South End. Blinder’s Sports Lounge opened in South End.
Dogwood Southern Table & Bar reopened at the Westin Charlotte. The contemporary southern-comfort-food restaurant serves lunch, dinner and “in-between and late-night” snacks seven days a week. It’s all part of a $25 million renovation at the uptown hotel.
“We’re ecstatic that Dogwood is coming out of retirement, and even more ecstatic with the grandeur that comes with it being a part of The Westin’s upfit,” says Rare Roots Hospitality Group co-owner Jon Dressler.
Dogwood was a stalwart in SouthPark’s Sharon Square for almost a decade from 2014-23. Former Dogwood favorites reappear on the menu, including: Duck and Dumplings (confit duck, pickled mirepoix and house dumplings), Hushpuppies, Oysters (charbroiled or on the half shell), and Baked Pimento Cheese Bites with tomato jam.
New menu items range from a Pork Shank with roasted vegetables, winter spices and pork jus to a Crispy Carolina Catfish with maque choux and chow chow. On the snack menu available between lunch and dinner, guests can sample Dogwood’s Bacon Jam, the pimento bites, wings, salads and a hot roast beef sandwich.
Light, open and airy, the large dining room is lined with cozy booths and conversational seating areas. Floor-to-ceiling windows deliver unobstructed views of College Street and Brooklyn Village Avenue. A grand horseshoe-shaped bar is central to the action and certain to attract the after-work crowd. — Michael J. Solender SP
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For more arts happenings this month, view our 2025 Arts Preview online at southparkmagazine.com.
Still Life at Home by Anne Buckwalter through April 9
In her first exhibition at SOCO Gallery, Buckwalter presents gouache on panel and gouache on paper works reflecting on the small pleasures of daily rural life.
Between the Quiet by YoYo Lander at the Gantt Center through May 11
The Sumter, South Carolina, native’s figurative and abstract collages often capture people in moments of reflection.
Cherry by Khalif Tahir Thompson at the Gantt Center through Aug. 17
Thompson’s vibrant pieces depict intergenerational family scenes, often inspired by family photos and writings from his grandmother.
Charlotte FC Home Opener
March 1
Soccer is back, and CLT FC kicks off season four vs. Atlanta United at home. Tickets start at $19.
Oscars Viewing Party and Fundraiser
March 2
Mingle with local filmmakers and creatives while watching the 97th Academy
Awards on the big screen at Independent Picture House. This annual event is a fundraiser for IPH, with live music, a silent auction, trivia and more. Tickets start at $80.
Charlotte Ballet: A Realm of Existence
March 6-8
This performance features four contemporary dance pieces, including Artistic Director Alejandro Cerrudo’s first ballet for Charlotte along with a crowd favorite from choreographer Johan Inger. Knight Theater; tickets start at $32.
Dreamgirls
March 7-9
This Tony Award-winning musical explores the rise and fall of a fictional girl group, The Dreams, as they navigate fame and the music industry. Presented by Urban Musical Theatre at Booth Playhouse. Tickets start at $35.
Run Jen Run 5K & Festival
March 8 | 7-10 a.m.
Join the fun at Symphony Park at this 13th annual fun run and 5K. Proceeds support local families facing the financial burden of a breast-cancer diagnosis.
ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament
March 11-15
Watch the magic before the madness as 18 ACC teams compete for the title at Spectrum Center.
KC & the Sunshine Band
March 13
It’s a Thursday night, but expect some Saturday Night Fever to take over Ovens
Auditorium when the Grammy Awardwinning ’70s band comes to town.
Passion for Bach and Coltrane
March 14 | 7:30 p.m.
Inspired by poetry of A.B. Spellman, this Grammy Award-winning album blends poems with music and classical with jazz. The Gambrell Center at Queens University of Charlotte. Tickets start at $19.50.
Joe Bonamassa
March 14
Hailed as one of the greatest bluesrock guitar players of his generation, Bonamassa’s set list includes new songs along with old favorites. Ovens Auditorium.
Jerry Seinfeld and Jim Gaffigan
March 22 | 7: 30 p.m.
The legendary comedians are co-headlining a 10-city tour, with a stop at Spectrum Center in uptown Charlotte.
Furnish For Good March GOODness Donation Drive
March 26-29
The nonprofit assisting individuals and families transitioning out of homelessness is holding a spring donation drive for gently used household furnishings. Learn more at furnishforgood.org SP
Scan the QR code on your mobile device to stay updated on events at southparkmagazine.com.
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Paper and fiber artist Elizabeth Palmisano’s particular alchemy by
Liza Roberts
For Charlotte artist Elizabeth Palmisano, inspiration comes from many sources: the material she works with, often handmade paper and fiber; her community, which includes students, fellow artists and complete strangers; and lately and most importantly, from a deeply felt calling to collect and transform the hopes and wishes of those people into art.
That art is often three-dimensional and always colorful. It typically makes a bold statement through scale, composition or unexpected materials but does so disarmingly, with a beguiling beauty. Her work has been exhibited at The Mint Museum and McColl Center.
It’s not surprising that her community — which she incorporates into nearly everything she does — loves her back. As a self-described wishkeeper, Palmisano has been actively collecting their anonymously submitted wishes to use in her art for the last few years, most recently gathering more than 1,000 handwritten
ones to incorporate into a massive, multidimensional mural on Charlotte’s 36th Street. Completed in September, NoDa Cloud Wall transforms a 23,000-square-foot parking garage wall into a colorful skyscape featuring three-dimensional clouds inscribed with those wishes.
“It’s really beautiful to see all the similarities that people have, from all walks of life,” she says. “We all kind of want the same things: always love, then wishes for family, or for children. Love and family are always first. It’s wild to me how vulnerable people will be if you give them an anonymous spot to ask for what they want.”
The pandemic started it all, Palmisano says. “It was really hard for me,” she says. “I’m an artist with a capital A first and foremost, but I teach classes and workshops because I love being with people. And I couldn’t do anything like that. So this was my way to collaborate with people without being in the same room. I
asked them to digitally submit a wish — and it could be anonymous — and I was going to make a piece of art for each wish submitted. Those were my first wishes, 58 wishes, and I created a piece of art for each one.” One recent morning, at uptown’s McColl Center, Palmisano was busy printing a limited series of card decks that feature her illustrations alongside wishes and affirmations: “I love fiercely, beginning and ending with myself” was one.
She jokes that her focus on affirmations and wishes allows her to be “a professional fairy princess at 40 years old,” but “because I’m an artist, I can get away with it.”
Still, so much outward, public focus can take an artist away from her own center, her own source of creativity. A recent fellowship at the McColl Center, during which she made paper vessels and curated an exhibit, Liminal Divine, that included her work and that of six other McColl fellows, inspired her to look within.
“I want to make art for me for at least the next six months or so,” she says. “So I’m diving really deeply back into my handmade paper and fibers.” The paper vessels at McColl and a recent commission to create a 60-foot-long piece of handmade paper and fiber allowed her to return to the delicate medium that she started with.
As a child in South Carolina and as a young adult living on her own without a high-school diploma, Palmisano not only had no access to art materials, she didn’t know “artist” was something someone could be. “I grew up in poverty, in a culture of poverty,” she says. Those roots underpin everything she does today. The first time she took discarded scraps of paper and fiber and reworked them entirely into a piece of handmade paper and sold it at an art show, it was a revelation — she felt she’d performed a work of alchemy.
“It made me think of the way I grew up and where that came from,” Palmisano says. “Using someone else’s trash. You figure it out when you have no other choice. You can’t say, ‘I’m not going to eat today.’ Or, ‘I’m just not going to get to work today.’ Or, ‘I’m just not going to have clean clothes today.’ You figure it out. And I think that has served me well.”
In late 2019, when she filled a giant wall at the Mint Museum with Incantation, an ethereal, abstracted skyscape made of handmade paper, paint and collage, it was the first time many viewers had encountered fiber art in a blue-chip museum.
“Boundary-pushing” is how the museum described the piece, both for its use of recycled materials and for “breathing new life
into objects not typically considered for use in the creation of art.”
It’s clear that the process of taking something discarded, breaking it down to its elements, and reworking it into something valuable and beautiful is not just empowering for Palmisano — it’s metaphoric.
And it’s always new. “Right now, I’m leaning deep into, ‘What do I want to make?’ I’ve got a lot of experimentation underway,” she says. “In the spring, I’m sure there’ll be something. I’ll be excited, like a kid walking up and handing you a dandelion they just picked: ‘Here’s my offering.’ Good work takes time, and I really want to give myself that time, because I want to continue to be able to do this work.”
SP
ANN PATCHETT is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels including The Dutch House, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
KEVIN WILSON is a professor and the author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang, both New York Times bestsellers.
Cycle4Success brings the thrill of mountain biking to kids in underserved communities.
by Michelle Boudin
Brenda Flores’ 11-year-old son didn’t really love playing outside — until recently.
“Aidan is not the kind of kid who is active,” Flores says. “He’s not into sports, and he was always laying on the couch. We’d already tried soccer and swimming and he was not into anything, so I thought we’d try mountain biking.”
A friend told her about a new program called Cycle4Success targeting kids who wouldn’t traditionally be exposed to the sport.
“At first he wanted to give up because it was hard. He kept at it, and it helped him improve his skills. Now he’s getting off the couch and playing outside with his friends, and he’s always riding.” Flores attributes Cycle4Success for helping her son find an outlet he never would have thought to try.
That’s exactly what Chris Bahr had in mind when he created the nonprofit in 2023. A mountain biker since 1990, he discovered the sport as a student at UNC Wilmington. “I got a bike from a pawn shop in college, and I had another friend big into riding. And the next thing you knew, we were on a trail.”
Now 55, Bahr realized the cost of the bike and proximity to riding trails could be a barrier for some. He started Cycle4Success to provide access to the sport for kids in underserved communities through scholarships and special programming.
Over six months, kids ages 10-14 go on weekly rides with instructors and take part in a race series. When they graduate from the program, the new riders are gifted an upcycled bike, a helmet and all the tools they need to continue riding.
“For me, it’s a recognition that there is a lack of diversity in the
sport I love. When I’m out here, I see predominantly white, middle-aged faces and I recognize there’s an opportunity to share the sport that I love with a broader population,” Bahr says.
“We want to share the benefits of freedom, fitness, fellowship and fun that come along with cycling and being outside,” he says. “We are bound by the belief that we have much more in common than our differences.”
The experience has been just as eye-opening for him as it is for the kids he now regularly rides with in west Charlotte.
“Two practices ago, we heard gunshots back and forth, and at first I wondered if it was fireworks. But one of the kids said, I know that’s gunshots.” Four of the kids shared with Bahr that they hear gunshots all the time.
“These are kids who are 9 to 11 years old, and that was a profound thing for me. It was a moment for me to recognize that theirs is a very different reality. Hopefully we’re providing something positive to get them outside and create some sense of unity at the same time.”
In the year and a half since he started the program, 20 kids have participated.
“We take them from novice to comfort and give them the confidence and everything they need to keep up with the sport, including a peer group. They’re all still in touch, and hopefully they continue a life of being able to ride.”
Flores says Cycle4Success has truly changed her son’s life.
“I’m so glad he finally found something that he really enjoys.” SP
compiled by Sally Brewster
Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR by
Steve Oney
Founded in 1970, NPR is America’s most powerful broadcast news network. Despite being overshadowed by the larger and more glamorous PBS, public radio has long been home to shows such as All Things Considered, Morning Edition and This American Life that captivate millions of listeners in homes, cars, and workplaces across the nation. In On Air, a book 14 years in the making, journalist Steve Oney tells the dramatic history of this institution, tracing the comings and goings of legendary on-air talents and the rise and fall — and occasional rise again — of brilliant and sometimes venal executives. Fascinating, revelatory and irresistibly dishy, this is a riveting account of NPR’s unlikely launch, chaotic ascent and ultimate triumph.
The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry
In 1927, 8-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just 12. Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for her beautiful mother. By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language, Clara crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters — the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape to the Jamesons’ family retreat, where Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind. Inspired by a true literary mystery.
The Antidote by Karen Russell
The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing — not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the dust-bowl drought but beneath its own violent histories. The Antidote follows a “prairie witch,” whose body serves
as a bank vault for peoples’ memories and secrets; a Polish wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch’s apprentice in furious flight from her grief; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town’s secrets and its fate. Russell’s novel is a reckoning with a nation’s forgetting — enacting the settler amnesia and willful omissions passed down from generation to generation, and unearthing not only horrors but shimmering possibilities.
The moon has turned into cheese. Now humanity has to deal with it. For some, it’s an opportunity. For others, it’s a moment to question their faith: in God, in science, in everything. Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty. And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now… something absolutely impossible. Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and terminal patients at the end of their lives — over the length of an entire lunar cycle, each get their moment in the moonlight. To panic, to plan, to wonder and to pray, to laugh and to grieve.
Twist by Colum McCann
Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist and playwright, is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. The sum of human existence — words, images, transactions, memes, voices, viruses — travels through the tiny fiber-optic tubes. But sometimes the tubes break, at an unfathomable depth. Fennell’s journey brings him to the west coast of Africa, where he uncovers a story about the raw human labor behind the dazzling veneer of the technological world. He meets a fellow Irishman, John Conway, the chief of mission on a cable-repair ship. The mysterious Conway is a skilled engineer and a free diver capable of reaching extraordinary depths. When the ship is sent up the coast to repair a series of major underwater breaks, both men learn that the very cables they seek to fix carry the news that may cause their lives to unravel. SP
Sally Brewster is the proprietor of Park Road Books, 4139 Park Rd., parkroadbooks.com.
DAVID YURMAN
With the dawn of spring, we begin again. by
Jim Dodson
If you live long enough, the saying goes, you will discover that healing takes time.
This ancient wisdom is being driven home to me because 15 days before I sat down to write this column, I received a complete left knee replacement.
Friends who’ve been down this path were quick to assure me that the pain and discomfort that accompanies major joint surgery can only be mitigated by time, patience and committing to an aggressive program of physical therapy.
Owing to a lifetime of sports injuries and a fulsome style of landscape gardening, I suppose I’ve always downplayed my naturally high tolerance for pain — until now.
“Did you happen to catch the number of the city bus that ran over my leg?” I groaned to my wife on post-op day three, often described as the peak moment of pain during joint recovery.
“Just relax and let your body heal,” was her response. “By March, you’ll be back in the garden and playing golf with a brand-new knee that feels great. It just takes some time to heal, babe.”
Of course, she was right. So, I shut my yap and let my body get on with its healing business without further interference from me.
It proved to be a wise move. After my second week of physical therapy, I had begun to regain the ability to walk without the assistance of a cane. The pain was also slowly vanishing — so much so that I did a walking tour of my garden to assess the winter damage.
This adventure got me thinking about how waiting for the pain to stop and the healing to begin is a common experience that touches every aspect of our lives.
As children, we fall down or cut a finger and run to mom or dad, who applies the bandage and
a kiss that makes the injury soon forgotten.
Every day on the news, however, we learn about children who live in war zones or are victims of child abuse. Their young lives will forever be damaged by the trauma they’ve suffered — a pain that will likely never quite vanish, leaving a wound that may never heal.
On a much larger scale, the recent devastation of homes and lives lost from Hurricane Helene and the raging wildfires of Los Angeles have produced pain and suffering on an apocalyptic scale, something that will take decades for communities to rebuild and heal. The outpouring of love and assistance from complete strangers to our mountain neighbors, however, speaks volumes about our shared human instinct for healing. A similar outpouring is already underway in the City of Angels.
On the scale of normal, everyday life, a lover’s broken heart may only require a few healing months of intense self-care, a good therapist and a new pair of shoes to begin the mending process. The psychic pain of losing a job, sending a child off to college, ending a close friendship or saying goodbye to a loved one or special place you may never see again can impose its own unique weight on the human heart. In time, only memory and gratitude for what was may soften the pain.
That, at least, is my hope.
One evening this past Christmas as we sat by the fire watching a holiday movie, our beloved cat, Boo Radley, suffered a sudden massive seizure. Boo was a large, gray tiger cat who entered our lives 14 years ago when my son Connor brought him home as a tiny feral kitten found at a train depot on a winter night. Connor named him “Nico” and kept him in his upstairs bedroom for several weeks before he moved to
Boston to accept a new job. At that point, we renamed him “Boo Radley” and watched him quickly take over the house. One minute he was grooming the ears of our big golden retriever Ajax, the next sleeping in kitchen pots and pans. He was always up to some amusing mischief that made us all smile.
For some reason, Boo took a particular shine to me, showing up at my desk every morning to playfully tap my computer keys as I wrote. The first time I let him outside, he followed me entirely around the backyard watching me plant roses and mow the lawn.
One summer evening near dusk, I saw Boo bolt across the backyard being chased by a young gray fox. Before I could come to his rescue, I saw the young fox running back the other way — chased by Boo. Crazy as it sounds, their game of tag went on for weeks.
When we moved to the old neighborhood where I grew up, Boo really found his stride. He supervised as I re-landscaped the entire property and faithfully came to sit under the trees with me every afternoon when the day’s work was done. Likewise, for over a decade, he never failed to appear from his nighttime rounds to sit together under the early morning stars while I sipped coffee and had a friendly chat with the universe. He usually snuggled up in my lap as the Almighty and I sorted things out. On most afternoons, he napped in the golden-hour sun in his favorite part of the garden, which I eventually named “Boo’s Garden.”
Like the original Boo Radley, he particularly didn’t care for strangers and proved to be fiercely territorial, ready to chase off any
feline intruder foolish enough to get too close.
Wendy liked to say Boo was simply guarding his turf — and his best buddy.
I do believe this may be true.
On the fourth night after my knee replacement, however, during the deepest pain of my recovery, Boo suffered his sixth seizure in five weeks. The promising medication he’d been on for a month simply didn’t work, proving the art of healing is as much mystery as it is science.
Following a sleepless night, we made the painful decision to end Boo’s suffering. Hours later, a lovely vet from Lap of Love came and put my best pal to sleep on his favorite blanket. I don’t think I’d ever felt such emotional pain. Over a cat, no less.
Every moment of this life, as my late grandmother liked to say, someone is waiting beneath a clock for a birth or a death or a chance to begin again.
The return of spring brings winter’s long wait to an end. It’s nature’s moment to heal and begin again.
With my brand-new knee, I can’t wait to get out into the garden.
But my best friend is gone, a pain that will probably take years to heal. SP
Jim Dodson is a writer in Greensboro. His 17th book, The Road that Made America: A Modern Pilgrim Travels the Great Wagon Road, will be published on July 1 and is available for pre-order on Amazon.
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If you’ve ever felt skeptical about certain mental wellness practices, you’re not alone. Many people hesitate to try approaches that seem unconventional or outside their comfort zone. In a world where we’re often socialized amid stigma to value logic and self-reliance, it can feel strange to explore methods that don’t align with the “just figure it out on your own” mindset.
As helpers and healers, we understand this hesitation — but we know that some of these so-called “woo-woo” interventions can lead to profound healing, growth, balance and connection. Most people are familiar with talk therapy — the kind where you share your thoughts and feelings and work through challenges verbally. But there’s another powerful approach to healing that considers the whole person: bodywork, or somatics.
Body work is learning to listen to the connection between the body and the mind and to pay attention to the body’s emotional experience. We have physical manifestations of emotions held in our bodies, our nervous systems, even in the way we move. Think about kids who complain of a tummy ache before going to school: It’s actually nervousness or anxiety. As we get older, we tend to condition ourselves to disconnect from our mind/body awareness and not listen to what our body might be telling us. We like to stay in our heads because we believe we can think our way to a solution or we may not feel safe being in our bodies. For those of us who have been traumatized, for example, we may not want to have awareness of what’s going on in our bodies. And yet, it’s there. As the Dutch psychiatrist and trauma researcher Bessel van der Kolk said: The body keeps the score
Learning to listen to your body’s signals can be incredibly empowering. Your body acts as an alarm system, offering clues as to what’s happening emotionally beneath the surface. I often teach clients to approach these physical sensations with curiosity. Ask yourself: “What is this feeling trying to tell me?”or “What triggered this sensation?” Once we have this awareness, we can use coping skills to soothe physical feelings, we can address and release trauma held in the body, we can work on reframing thoughts that lead to particular physical somatizations, and so much more. There’s no one-size-fits-all path, but the key is recognizing that your body holds wisdom.
One of the biggest gifts we can give ourselves is to bring compassion to the parts of ourselves that hold tension, heaviness or even numbness. If you’re willing to explore the connection between your body and mind, you might find a profound sense of wholeness and understanding. The body piece isn’t separate from the cognitive piece; it’s part of what makes you fully human.
Juliet spoke with Laura Phoenix, who specializes in yoga and bodywork for trauma recovery. Below are excerpts from their interview, lightly edited.
How do you define somatic experiencing (SE)?
In my practice and experience, the biggest part of holding an SE “container” is “felt sense.” Felt sense is uncomfortable emotional sensation that tells us that something is or was wrong. A lot of folks, having gone to lots of different types of therapy, are used to talking about things and have a great analysis of what their problems are and what has happened to them. And this often doesn’t get at the heart of it. Some of my most powerful time with clients is when we slow down and get to felt sense, and often we’re not saying anything at all.
Talk therapy is obviously valuable, and it’s important to find permission to also bring in the body piece. The combination is everything.
We’re whole beings. The cognitive parts of our brain that can think and explain and understand are valid and welcome. They also shouldn’t be driving the bus 100% of the time.
What does bodywork look like, outside of learning to soothe physical somatizations?
We can use movement as a tool to broaden our awareness. I can choose to move my body in a way that helps me settle. We don’t have to say a lot about it for the work to do its magic. There’s an invitation: Can we turn toward what’s happening in our body?
Can someone access bodywork before talk therapy?
They can absolutely access the body first. I’m a big believer in letting the person, to some degree, dictate their own healing journey. Go toward what feels right for you. Find a clinician you trust, because the medicine is in when both the therapist and client bring their humanness into the room. SP
Juliet Kuehnle is the owner and a therapist at Sun Counseling and Wellness. The full interview featuring Laura Phoenix can be found on Instagram @YepIGoToTherapy or wherever you stream podcasts.
a sloped lot into a family-friendly backyard with multiple spaces for relaxing and entertaining.
Tree-lined neighborhoods with gentle rolling hills are part of south Charlotte’s appeal. But anyone who’s lived in a home built on a steeply sloped lot understands the challenges that come with it. After all, what good is having a half-acre yard if you can’t garden, entertain or kick around the soccer ball?
Such was the case with this two-story colonial near SouthPark, with a yard that was pleasingly flat in the front but heavily pitched in the back.
“Before we did anything, this house had a very sloped backyard and a very small brick patio that was enclosed with a border around it,” says Erin Peiffer, owner and designer at Evergreen Landscape Designs. “It didn’t feel very open, and it was limited in terms of actually having a decent yard area to play in.”
With two active boys, the homeowners desperately needed a level space for the kids to play, as well as outdoor areas for the family to relax and entertain guests.
First, Peiffer added a retaining wall to create a flat play area, opting for artificial turf over sod.
“Turf is definitely ideal for people that have young families,” says Peiffer, who founded her landscape-design business in 2020. “If it rains, and you want to send your kids out to play in the backyard, [grass is] muddy and it’s a mess. It’s not as user-friendly.” Designed for high-traffic areas, turf also works well for families with energetic
dogs and is relatively low-maintenance, Peiffer says. “You don’t have to spray chemicals on it to keep it looking nice.”
With the yard level and the kids’ play area established, Peiffer turned her attention to the patio, expanding it and adding stairs to create a welcoming feel. Across the lawn, another small patio with a low stone wall provides a quiet spot for relaxing, and a natural area with Adirondack chairs has become a peaceful spot for morning coffee. Toward the back of the lot, Peiffer turned an existing garden shed into a picturesque corner by adding evergreen shrubs, pretty planters and sturdy stone steps.
**
Given the explosive popularity of outdoor living, Peiffer says a big mistake homeowners make is treating their outdoor space like it’s secondary to the overall home design. Wanting a quick fix, people
often hastily add trees and shrubs that are prone to die due to lack of thoughtful planning.
“There is a big science to it,” says Peiffer. “The right plant in the right place — and planted the right way — is really important.”
Peiffer, a self-taught landscape designer, left a successful corporate career to start Evergreen Landscape Designs. “I worked my way up the corporate ladder, so to speak,” she says. “It just got to the point where it just wasn’t enjoyable.” As an outdoors lover, Peiffer says landscape design seemed like a natural fit.
“Even at a young age, I was always one out playing in the dirt and not playing with Barbies. I’ve always just gravitated toward everything outdoors.” Her grandmother, an avid gardener, was also an inspiration and an early source of knowledge.
After attending a conference where she met and learned from two established architects, Peiffer began
taking classes to study the more technical aspects of the field, such as drainage and water flow, scale, and material selection.
“When you love what you do, you just continually learn it and continually try to get better. I just have a passion for everything outdoors and new materials, and the right way to do it.”
Now with five employees, Peiffer’s firm specializes in major outside renovations, from demolition and hardscaping to plantings and lighting. Her staff will even go as far as suggesting paint colors and sharing outdoor furniture recommendations.
“It’s really important to start with the design. Execution and the installation is obviously important, but you really need to have the vision of where you see your space going,” Peiffer says. “What we try to do is give people ideas that they never would think about.”
While elements like hardscaping and turf are fairly low-maintenance, gardens do require a certain level of attention. Once plants are installed, Peiffer stresses the importance of maintenance. “They are now your kids,” she tells her clients. “It’s an investment, and you have to take care of it.” SP
Could a forest-bathing session be your next dose of preventative “medicine”? Here’s how it works — and where to experience it in North Carolina.
by Katie Toussaint | photographs by Richard Isreal
Despite how it sounds, forest bathing isn’t a nude romp in the leaves. It’s a stroll through the forest, a form of meditation. Some even consider it a preventative treatment for illnesses.
“Trees keep themselves relatively healthy,” says Jennifer Bueno-Hutchens, a horticulturist and certified nature and forest therapy guide who leads forest bathing sessions at UNC Charlotte’s botanical gardens. “Whenever something is attacking them, whether it’s a disease, an insect, anything, they create and release this chemical called phytoncides.”
When people walk through the forest, she says, they “bathe” in these phytoncides and inhale them or absorb them through skin. Then the body can produce more white blood cells called natural killer cells, or NK cells, to attack illness. Our bodies can mimic the trees.
Forest bathing — also called shinrin-yoku or forest therapy — originated in Japan in the 1980s under the guidance of Dr. Qing Li. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, Li pointed to a nature deficit disorder in the modern world, with the sensory overload of crowded cities and long working hours contributing to negative health outcomes. Forest bathing could be a sustainable solution.
Today, certified forest-therapy guides around the world — and across North Carolina — offer guided experiences to improve community health.
“The focus of forest bathing is to slow down and be present where you are,” says Mark Ellison, certified forest therapy guide and founder of Pinnacle Forest Therapy in Sylva.
It’s different from hiking, which involves a destination. Forest bathing is an opportunity for a digital fast, and everything people experience can be applied to life in a broader context, Ellison says. “How to be present. Slow down. Take a break from tech.”
It’s easy to experience certain immediate benefits to the practice. Because the point isn’t to exercise or exert yourself in any way, your body and brain can let go of tension and
relax. “It’s allowing ourselves to go into that rest-and-digest mode,” Bueno-Hutchens says. “That calm-and-collected mode of your nervous system… It lowers your heart rate, your blood pressure. It lowers your stress levels.”
Ellison says, “It is as if mind and spirit have been reset.”
Guided forest-bathing sessions typically last two to three hours. Guides present participants with invitations to connect with nature by walking, sitting, observing and more. The invitations are meant to prompt curiosity, BuenoHutchens says. “As you’re shifting from being in your head to connecting to your body, connecting to your heart, it’s orienting our senses as a gateway into the present moment.”
I got present atop a mossy boulder during a 2.5-hour group session at UNC Charlotte’s botanical gardens. BuenoHutchens invited me and the other participants to turn on our senses and connect with the natural elements of a quiet glen: See what calls to you, and have a seat.
That boulder called to me. Once perched, we were told to notice. Take a look around, observe the colors, the shapes, the sounds, even the tastes. Do a full-body scan — do you have any needs? Do you need to stretch? Do you need to readjust? Notice the sensation of contact between you and the earth. My feet felt rooted in the packed dirt surrounding the boulder. The air tasted crisp and cold. I heard the warble of a bird. I felt — soothed.
I also got restless. Through the session, my group was invited to take in tiny details of our natural surroundings and see what intrigued us the most. We were invited to get to know a tree; to smell, touch and spend time with it.
It was unique and lovely — and long. Which made me question: If I can feel a benefit in the span of the first 10 minutes, why are guided sessions so drawn out? Ellison says the longer time frame allows people to fully step away from the modern habit of hurry and constant connectivity, and to change gears. “The invitations help people open up their senses to experiencing nature,” he says. “This time frame seems to be the dose of nature that works well. Certainly less time is fine, you just might not get the same level of restoration.”
START YOUR BATH — GET OUT INTO THE FOREST.
“Getting any time in nature is good,” Ellison says. “The more the better. And the higher the quality of the natural environment you are in, the more positive restorative benefits you will experience.”
There are several ways to explore forest bathing. If you want structure, consider booking an immersion with a North Carolina guide near the mountains (your day trip awaits!). And if you prefer to squeeze in a short session, visit a local nature preserve, or simply step into your backyard and head for the trees.
“You really can’t mess up forest bathing,” Ellison says. “It is not complicated. It is very simple. Which is why it is such a wonderful way for people to experience nature. Just go outside, and notice.” SP
Where to go forest bathing in North Carolina
Join Jennifer Bueno-Hutchens for therapeutic sessions to connect with yourself and your surroundings within UNC Charlotte’s botanical gardens. Nature therapy walks are the first Saturday morning of each month, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., and Gratitude in the Gardens — a walking meditation through Van Landingham Glen — events are the first Sunday of each month, 3-5p.m. Learn more at gardens.charlotte.edu/ events-calendar
WALK IN WESTERN NC
Mark Ellison offers private guided walks by appointment on the certified forest-therapy trail in Sylva, as well as in Cashiers and Highlands. He also leads group walks in Highlands for the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust. Learn more at pinnacleforesttherapy.com
PAUSE IN THE PIEDMONT COUNTRYSIDE
Explore Juneberry Ridge, a working farm and nature retreat in Norwood, about an hour’s drive from Charlotte. Upcoming guided forest-bathing events on March 8 and March 21 are followed by a family-style, farm-to-table lunch. Learn more at juneberry.com
Do we have the time, tools and tenacity required to cultivate meaningful friendships as we age?
essay by Krisha Chachra
Remember the days when making friends was as easy as running outside to join the neighborhood kids catching fireflies or playing a game of tag? Conversation was effortless; everyone was welcome. Unfortunately, making adult friendships is more complicated.
As we grow older, we tend to seek friendships that are about shared values and intentions. We all hope to connect with like-minded individuals, but we don’t know where to find them. Gone are the days where our friends were simply waiting for us at the end of our driveways. So how do we meet friends now? And once we find them, how can we expect to make deep connections when the majority of our time is spent building careers, running households and, for some of us, managing the needs of spouses, partners, kids and aging parents?
Turns out we’re not doing a great job at friendship. Despite living in an era of constant communication, last year the World Health Organization declared loneliness a “global public health concern” and launched a commission to combat it. Referencing studies that show loneliness can have significant negative impacts on health, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy stated that feeling lonely is as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
That’s why 36-year old Sunni Haralalka, who recently appeared on the Netflix smash show “Love Is Blind,” started CLT Social Queens. The group tackles loneliness by organizing in-person meetups at various venues across the Queen City and partners with small businesses — like med spas, game-show companies and fashion retailers — to add value to the experiences. Recently, Haralalka hosted a Galentine’s “speed-friending” event where participants had
timed conversations as they rotated through the group and shared personalized notes with each connection.
“Most people just need a place to meet friends,” Haralalka says. “Some people are shy and need encouragement to introduce themselves. The icebreakers help with that. Everyone leaves with contact information from new friends and sometimes even a small gift from the connection to remind them of that person after they get home,” she continues. “I am single and don’t have kids, but I have a lot of interests. Even though I am a social butterfly, I’ve found myself at home alone wishing I had someone to go out and do things with.”
Haralalka, who is the founder and CEO of Always Sunni, a social-media strategy and events company, started an Instagram chat group @cltsocialqueens in fall 2024 to find women who were feeling the same way. Over 200 women joined, and the idea of CLT Social Queens was born. Since last fall, the group has hosted three events and is responsible for hundreds of women walking away with new friends. Haralalka plans to launch a website to offer tiered-level memberships with discounts to future events.
“CLT Social Queens targets women over 30, but anyone is welcome,” says Haralalka. “We have ladies who are in their late 20s to early 50s. Making friends is not easy — so the more the merrier.”
For some people, however, a group setting isn’t as appealing.
“When your kids leave the house, you may not be interested finding someone to do things with but rather finding someone to share the things you’re already doing — like going to dinner or a performance,” says Sara Reals, an empty nester from Virginia who is now looking to relocate to her home state of New York. “I used
to have many parent friends through my kids, but they retired and moved away when the kids left. And now I feel like I’m back to square one. Now my circle of friends is very small and is about quality, not quantity.”
But how do you gauge quality? Just because you meet someone who is in the same place of life or has similar interests doesn’t mean compatibility for the long run. In my experience, a friendship is solidified when you can exchange ideas regularly and vulnerably. If you can build trust with the person over time to share personal thoughts, world views, and disclose what you admire and value, then your friendship will deepen and take on a quality above the rest. Here are a few tips for making lasting friendships.
Be a slow friend. You’ve heard of “slow food,” “slow travel” and the “slow lifestyle” movement — why not apply the same caution and intention to friendship? Slow friendship reveals the capacity of time and energy two people have (or desire) to give to each other. When it comes to friendship, our need to bond sometimes gives way to truly understanding if that person has the time and stamina to stay with you as you grow. Observe how motivated the friend is to get together and learn more about you. Are you the only one making plans to meet? Who is asking all the questions? Friendship is self-selecting. Friends who don’t have the capacity to meet up regularly or keep in touch will either fall away or be in your life occasionally. Try to manage expectations by accepting the capacity others are showing you they can give. Remember, circumstances
“Even though I am a social butterfly, I’ve found myself at home alone wishing I had someone to go out and do things with. ”
— Sunni Haralalka, founder of CLT Social Queens
in life change so even if the friend can’t keep up with you now, if you like the person, keep in touch. They may be able to give more of themselves down the road.
Once you meet someone, ask them questions. Interest is the sincerest form of respect. When you inquire about others in a friendly environment, it puts people at ease and signals that you care about what they think. Many people think asking questions is being nosy, when it generally has the opposite effect. Once you establish a rapport and you find you are enjoying the conversation, you can further show interest by arranging to meet in a different environment, where you will learn more about the person.
Friendship takes work — there is no getting around that. You have to follow up, and vice versa. Following up doesn’t necessarily mean meeting up. Mark your calendar when your friend shares something important that is happening in their lives — like a promotion or a major surgery — and follow up by texting them on the date to let them know you are thinking of them. When they meet you for lunch or give you a gift, send a thankyou note and offer to take them out next time — and then follow up. Gestures like these will also show the friend how you like to be treated and will elevate the friendship in the long run.
In the end, friendships require truly making time for each other. You must prioritize the importance of friendship in your life, even if it means only concentrating on one person at a time. Take it slow, show up and follow up. Spend time observing the qualities of the person in different environments, and then match your energy and capacity. Over time, a quality friendship will blossom — which is not only good for your soul, but according to the U.S. Surgeon General, also good for your health. SP
Charlotte writer Krisha Chachra previously taught journalism, public relations and interpersonal communication specializing in dating and friendships at Hawaii Pacific University.
Nestled in the heart of Newberry, South Carolina’s charming historic downtown, Newberry Opera House is a must-visit destination for anyone seeking world-class performances in an intimate and historic setting.
From operatic melodies and dynamic plays to iconic concerts and family-friendly shows, the Opera House offers an NYC-level cultural experience with the charm and warmth of a small Southern town. Pair your visit with Newberry’s walkable downtown, delicious dining and unique shops for the perfect getaway.
Plan your trip to Newberry, South Carolina, and experience why Newberry Opera House is a true treasure for the arts. We believe that the arts have the power to inspire, connect and transform communities. From thought-provoking stories to unforgettable music, this season offers something for everyone. Visit NewberryOperaHouse.com for tickets, upcoming performances, and more.
1201 McKibben Street, Newberry | 803.276.6264 | NewberryOperaHouse.com
March 7 | 8 p.m.
Steep Canyon Rangers
March 8 | 8 p.m.
Jefferson Starship
March 29 | 3 p.m.
All Things Equal: The Life & Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
April 11 | 8 p.m.
Squirrel Nut Zippers
May 14 | 8 p.m.
Five For Fighting Live with String Quartet
See the full schedule on our website
Head to Asheville’s Firelight at Shope Creek for a getaway that soothes the soul.
After driving down the gravel road and pulling up at my cabin for the night, I step out of the car and feel an immediate sense of calm. Maybe it’s the stylish-but-spare Scandi-inspired architecture, the gently bubbling stream just a few steps away, or the peaceful forest surrounding the property — or perhaps some magical combination of all three.
Amy Cavanaugh and Shari Robins bought the 22acre property in east Asheville in 2014. The longtime friends began renovating an existing four-bedroom hillside cabin to generate income while they planned their passion project: Firelight at Shope Creek, a cloistered retreat for couples, solo travelers, small groups of women and other wellness-minded travelers looking for a tranquil escape from the busyness of life.
“Design-wise, we wanted to build structures on the land that were fitting and timeless yet modern and allowed the outside in,” Robins says. Working with Asheville’s Rusafova Markulis Architects, the project
really started coming together in 2021 with the completion of two new cabins, an on-site chicken coop and a communal vegetable garden. Five more cabins, a covered open-air pavilion, private hiking trail and fire pits debuted in 2024. Future plans include a creekside sauna, a greenhouse and fruit trees.
The cabins are tucked in a quiet residential area that feels not quite rural yet still far removed from the buzz of the center city, just 9 miles away. While the minimal aesthetic is intentional, there’s nothing lacking in the attention to detail to ensure a relaxing stay: a pre-loaded woodstove waiting to be lit, homemade tea from the on-site garden, cozy blankets for chilly nights.
Cabins are sleek and modern with polished concrete floors, neutral décor and loads of natural light, creating a refreshingly uncluttered environment. But there are creature comforts, too, like plush bedding, heated bathroom floors, Wi-Fi and private hot tubs.
Designed as a retreat — more than just a place to sleep — each cabin has a deck with a grill; a kitchenette with an induction
cooktop, convection microwave, dishes and cooking utensils; and a refrigerator stocked with local beers and fresh eggs from the coop.
On weekends at the pavilion, guests can mingle with the owners and other guests while enjoying hot cocoa, tea and scones, and curl up with blankets by the fireplace or one of the communal fire pits.
While Helene caused some downed trees and a flooded culvert that washed out the road (which has since been repaired), fortunately the cabins at Firelight sustained little damage. A silver lining: When the creek flooded, washing away the topsoil in a grassy area near the pavilion, the owners were finally able to plant a longed-for native meadow, which will fill the valley with wildflowers come spring. SP
Firelight at Shope Creek is located at 39 Firelight Road in Asheville. One-bedroom Meadow and Woodland cabins are for adults only. A four-bedroom Hilltop cabin sleeps four. Pets are not allowed. firelightcabins.com
Driving around Asheville in early February brought a mix of emotions. While some parts of the city seemed just as I remembered them, other areas were almost unrecognizable. The devastation in some places, specifically parts of the River Arts District and Biltmore Village, is very real. Rebuilding will take months if not years, and the losses are heartbreaking.
The majority of the city, however, is open for business. Downtown, with its eclectic shops, award-winning restaurants and music venues, came through relatively unscathed. Biltmore House and its on-site winery, too, sustained little damage and has been open since early November. Getting into town was a cinch — rumors about road closures are just that, as most if not all major highways around Asheville are open. Many hiking trails in the region are open, as well.
The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority reported in January that lodging sales were down 57% in November, worse than the 2020 pandemic. People I spoke with, along with messages from hotel and restaurant owners on social media, confirm that business is still slow.
Now isn’t the time to be a fair-weather friend — our neighbors in western N.C. need us more than ever. Here are a few reasons to visit Asheville this spring.
— Cathy Martin
Asheville Strong: Celebrating Life and Community After Hurricane Helene at Asheville Art Museum
This exhibition features works by artists living and working in parts of Appalachia affected by Helene, from Georgia to Tennessee to western N.C. Through May 5. ashevilleart.org
Tutankhamun: His Tomb and His Treasures at Biltmore
Through replicas of artifacts, this exhibition at Amherst at Deerpark tells the story of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb and all the treasures within. March 21–Jan. 4, 2026, biltmore.com
RADA Outpost
While the upper River Arts District is open, rebuilding efforts continue in the lower-lying areas. In the meantime, a satellite gallery, the RADA Outpost, has opened downtown at 24 Lexington Ave. to showcase displaced artists’ work. riverartsdisctrict.com
Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville
Upcoming concerts include Bonnie Raitt (April 23), Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (April 5) and Tedeschi Trucks Band (May 14). harrahscherokeecenterasheville.com
The Orange Peel
Acts this spring include Ani Difranco (Mar. 15), Cosmic Charlie (Mar. 22), They Might Be Giants (Mar. 25-26), Neon Trees (Mar. 31), Rhiannon Giddens & The Old-Time Revue (April 30), Shakey Graves (May 3-4), Chris Thile with the Asheville Symphony (May 10) and Mat Kearney (May 17).
Music, art deco design and a Japanese-inspired spa by
Jay Ahuja
Asheville is an outdoor playground, but tickets to see gypsy-rockers Gogol Bordello indoors at the Orange Peel were the driving force for our Labor Day visit. We arrived and almost immediately stumbled upon another concert, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, that very night. We snagged two tickets from the box office at nearby Harrah’s Cherokee Center (with some guidance from our hotel concierge) and doubled down on our long weekend of musical enjoyment.
We stayed at the Flat Iron Hotel for its proximity to some of our favorite restaurants, galleries and music venues. We were cheerfully greeted at the front desk and offered a glass of sparkling wine or a local beer. We were also handed two reusable, compostable water bottles and made aware of the beverage station on our floor.
The nine-story Flat Iron opened in spring 2024 in one of Asheville’s first skyscrapers, built in 1926 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 71-room boutique hotel with an art deco design boasts the Red Ribbon Society, a chic basement speakeasy; a swanky rooftop bar with stellar views of the surrounding area and distant mountains; Caffe, a coffee and breakfast restaurant; and Luminosa, a luxe Italian eatery with a wood-burning oven offering pasta, steaks and pizzas. Most importantly, Flat Iron provides comfortable, nicely appointed rooms.
Breakfasts at Early Girl Eatery, appetizers and drinks at Wicked Weed, and meals at Rendezvous, Ukiah or Rhubarb are all a short walk or ride share away. Same for shopping at the Grove Arcade and Kress Emporium or a stroll through Aston Park
On day two of our trip, we came upon a flyer for private, outdoor, saltwater-hydrotherapy soaks in the woods at Shoji, a Japanese-inspired spa and lodge hidden at 2,500 feet in the hills of Asheville. After a morning hike and an afternoon wandering the grounds of the iconic Grove Park Inn, the spa was a surprise highlight of our stay. Shoji guests are provided with a cotton robe, towels and sandals before heading to an enclosed shower and saltwater hot tub with sweeping forest views. Massages and other add-on experiences are available.
Little did we know that within three weeks of our visit, Hurricane Helene would hit the region and wreak havoc in ways nobody imagined. While there is still much work to be done, most of Asheville is open for business and eager for visitors.
Nestled in Virginia’s Blue Ridge and just a short drive from Charlotte, Primland — an outdoor-lover’s paradise — unveils a luxe new look.
by Cathy Martin
Primland, the resort in rural Virginia just over a two-hour drive from Charlotte, has always expertly blended luxury accommodations with a rustic, outdoorsy flair. It’s perfectly OK — expected, even — to show up for an elegant farm-to-table breakfast wearing your Blundstones or camo quarter-zip: Enjoying the great outdoors is why you’re here.
Recent updates only enhance the luxe feel of this distinctive resort. Five years ago, I visited Primland for the first time and wrote about the experience in this magazine. Since then, the sprawling resort tucked in the Virginia foothills has joined the Auberge Resorts Collection, added new lodging, and debuted a fresh look from Dallas interior designer Chad Dorsey.
From the 20-minute drive across rolling hills from the entry gate to the main lodge, to the invigorating sight of a brilliant pink horizon at sunrise, a visit to Primland, Auberge Resorts Collection, is an immersion in nature. Summer and fall might be the most popular times to visit, but this is a four-season resort with countless diversions no matter when you come.
American quilt art and aboriginal paintings — handpicked by Bérengère Primat, one of the family-owned resort’s owners — don’t immediately seem like they’d go together, but at Primland, it just works.
Known for “relaxed luxury,” Dorsey’s design here introduces softer elements like grasscloth wallcoverings and textile art to the formerly modern, though more sparsely decorated, spaces.
In the lobby’s Great Room, with dual fireplaces and floor-to-ceiling views of Primland’s Highland golf course and the Blue Ridge Mountains, Dorsey’s mix of antique and contemporary furnishings exudes casual elegance. Multiple seating areas encourage guests to curl up with a book, enjoy a game of checkers or chess, sip a cocktail or hot cocoa, or indulge in conversation.
The check-in experience is new too, now occurring in a new “study” off the main lobby, adorned with plush wingback chairs and Pierre Frey wallpaper. The lodge’s 26 guest rooms got a facelift, too, but maintain the softly lit, cocoon-like vibes that invite relaxation.
Accommodations at Primland range from the lodge — the hub of resort activities — to fairway cottages, secluded treehouses (including two new ones) and larger mountain homes. The resort’s newest accommodations — a six-bedroom residence called Hawk Eye — boasts a view that will knock your socks off.
Spread across three buildings, the 12,000-square-foot home is perched on a point with panoramic views of the mountains and Dan River Gorge. Though I visited in winter, the site was breathtaking nonetheless, and sure to wow guests with a verdant show in spring and summer and a spectacle of color in the fall.
Upon arrival, Hawk Eye guests will find the refrigerator stocked to their liking, and a private chef can be arranged to prepare meals. In-home spa treatments and yoga classes are available, along with a private hike led by Primland’s on-site nature guide.
In the main house, a large open living area feels even more expansive with soaring 27-foot ceilings and a wall of windows overlooking the heated outdoor infinity pool and mountains beyond. Each of Hawk Eye’s six bedrooms — including two in a separate guest house — have mountain views as well. A third building houses a game room with a pool table, pinball machine, outdoor bocce court and more.
Outdoor activities — including horseback riding, shooting clays, RTVs, and golf on the resort’s highly rated Highlands course — are Primland’s big draw. But the resort also has a robust weekly events calendar for those just looking to relax and recharge.
Programming varies, but complimentary offerings range from yoga and mat pilates to guided nature walks and nightly fireside s’mores. And if you’re looking to explore the property at your own pace, there are more than 20 miles of private trails just outside the door. The spa at Primland offers massages, facials and body treatments, but all resort guests can access the indoor pool, hot tub and adjacent sun deck for a little R & R.
Moonshine Tales is a weekly pop-up where guests can sip fruit-infused moonshine cocktails, listen to live bluegrass music and learn about the history of this Appalachian tradition, which has links to the property. There’s an intimate wine cellar where the resident sommelier leads weekly tastings. And in the evenings, Primland offers an astronomer-led stargazing experience in its fourth-floor observatory, which boasts one of the largest privately owned telescopes on the East Coast. On clear nights, you’ll view planets, galaxies, comets and other celestial bodies. But in this remote destination far from city lights, the sheer volume of stars visible even to the naked eye is a wonder itself.
Primland’s recent renovation is most evident at Leatherflower, the resort’s rebranded restaurant serving breakfast and dinner and named for a flowering clematis native to the area. Floral wallpaper and plaid accents are reminiscent of a classic country inn and blend with modern elements like gentle curved banquettes and a linear fireplace.
The menu here emphasizes local mills and farms and ranges from a simple but flavor-packed pasta with preserved tomatoes to sorghum-lacquered quail to lamb with smoked potatoes, parsnips and thyme. You’re on vacation, so don’t pass up the pillowy Parker House rolls when the server drops them at your table to start your meal.
For a casual lunch or dinner, the 19th Pub has snacks, salads and sandwiches in a relaxed setting. And on weekends, the Stable Saloon hosts a family-style dinner in the loft over
Special activities are planned at Primland for most spring holidays, including Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Other upcoming events include:
The Highland Golf and Wine Classic
May 23-26 On Memorial Day weekend, kick off summer at the second annual event with wine dinners, a guest chef, two rounds of golf and a shopping pop-up.
Orvis Adventures in Virginia’s Highlands
May 30-June 1 During prime fly-fishing season, guests can expect a weekend filled with clay shooting and catch-and-release experiences led by Orvis-trained guides.
Primland’s former horse stable. Here, dishes lean heavily toward southern classics like fried chicken, North Carolina blue catfish, gulf shrimp, mac-and-cheese and hopping John. Mismatched furnishings contribute to a down-home, unpretentious vibe, and local banjo pickers keep the crowd entertained with classic bluegrass tunes.
Back at the lodge, wind down for the night on the outdoor terrace, where a fire blazes nightly and guests gather round and swap stories from the day’s adventures. SP
Waterfalls, cycling, wineries and more: A guide to South Carolina’s Upcountry region
by Kayleigh Ruller
Inow know what it’s like to want to wake up with the sun, thanks to a recent trip to the mountainous, river-studded Upcountry region of South Carolina. Waking up at sunrise, I found myself refreshed and ready to dive headfirst into my day and feel the elements. (OK, realistically I felt that way 10 to 15 seconds after the initial wake-up jolt).
This travel experience was notably different from the standard vacation mode — the fun, albeit tiring, late-night-wine-to-sleepingin routine. My week in the Upcountry — generally defined as the northwest part of the state bordering North Carolina and Georgia, and known to many as the Upstate — unveiled a different type of vacation — one that’s energizing, not depleting. Here are the places to explore, dine and stay that brought me back into my senses.
While nothing about this guide requires you to wake up with the sun, a few sips of that fresh mountain air and dips into clear water just might convince you.
Play is top priority in the Upcountry, an underexplored region where outdoor activities elicit a kind of childlike, playing-in-thegrass type of joy.
Scenic strolls are a big draw. In Greenville, take a city stroll on the 28-mile Swamp Rabbit Trail — a well-traveled greenway where you can pop in and out of cafes, restaurants and shops while you’re enjoying the fresh air. The Spartanburg Music Trail is a 30-minute, meandering downtown walk that provides a bit of history — and
a lot of steps. Who knew musicians that worked with Elvis and Paul Simon came right from Spartanburg? Just down the road, the Hatcher Garden and Woodland Preserve is a 13-acre botanical garden that, in my experience, does something wonderful for the nervous system.
Waterfalls are also a thing here. I visited the 400-foot Raven Cliff Falls in Caesars Head State Park and Rainbow Falls in Jones Gap State Park. The sweeping, eye-candy waterfalls are well worth the 4.4-mile and 5-mile hikes, respectively, to get there.
For the more adventurous, switch it up with some mountain biking at Paris Mountain State Park. The Bike Farm, slightly north of the Upcountry in Pisgah, North Carolina, offers half- and full-day guided bike tours. You might also get a rush of adrenaline while horseback riding in nearby Pickens. Led by Horseback Waterfall Tours, you’ll trot through bright foliage, rugged terrain and along granite slabs and waterfall-lined ridges.
For a leisurely activity on the opposite end of the spectrum, float along the Saluda River in Greenville. During the warmer months, the Saluda Outdoor River Company offers tube rentals for an unhurried, 2.5-hour glide down the river. Dogs are welcome to float, too.
If kids — or hey, adventurous and competitive adults — are tagging along on this trip, check out Greenville’s Flying Rabbit Adventures. This adventure center includes a high-ropes course with 53 obstacles and five ziplines.
My stay at Hotel Domestique in Travelers Rest transported me to a pastoral abode-meets-Alpine chateau. This hotel’s identity is built around cycling; the inn offers high-end bikes for rent, group biking trips and cycling guides upon request. But don’t shy away from Hotel Domestique even if you aren’t a cyclist — there’s a saltwater pool, an infrared sauna, a hot tub and a cold plunge tub, as well.
For a more immersive, tucked-away feel, snag a glamped-up tree house called The Forestry House in Travelers Rest. Situated
in a canopy of trees, the house is quite luxe and gives visitors an exclusive back-to-nature feel. If you’re visiting with a large group, the Keowee Waterfront Lakeside Retreat on quiet, quaint Lake Keowee is a wonderful option. Camp Buckhorn has a woodsy lodge and nine cozy cabins — simple, unfancy and tucked right into Paris Mountain State Park.
As lovely as a nature escape is, a go-big-or-go-home philosophy has its perks, too. At the Grand Bohemian Lodge in downtown Greenville, you don’t have to sacrifice an ounce of comfort for fresh air, a woodsy feel and direct access to nature. The lodge sits along the Reedy River, overlooks Falls Park and is entirely walkable to Greenville’s downtown attractions. A cocktail at the hotels’ aptlynamed Between the Trees restaurant doesn’t hurt, either.
South Carolina isn’t known for its wine, but that’s not stopping her from importing grapes and giving us the breezy vineyard experience we deserve.
Eagle Mountain Vineyards & Winery in Travelers Rest is set against the Blue Ridge Parkway. Outside, you can sip wine sitting by the fire pits, walking in the sculpture garden or playing bocce ball. At City Scape Winery in Pelzer, South Carolina — about 30 minutes south of Greenville — there’s a dog-friendly patio and a sweeping outdoor terrace for wine tastings.
For farm-to-table fare, you can actually see where your food comes from at several farms surrounding Spartanburg. Greyrock Farms, Harp & Shamrock Croft, and Hughey Farms offer a range of fresh local honey, produce, jams and jellies.
In Greenville, skip out on restaurant-decision fatigue and check out Foothill Foodie Tours, where a guide has the spots selected for you on this walking food tour. The themed tours encompass everything from date-night cocktails to Saturday-morning breakfast.
Filling with new blossoms and young foliage this spring and boasting a lineup of restorative accommodations, the Upcountry of South Carolina — just under a 2-hour drive from Charlotte — may just have you waking up with the sun. SP
Welcome Spring in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the town of Elkin is the perfect destination to welcome spring. Being part of North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley wine region, you can look forward to the Yadkin Valley Wine Festival, which takes place May 17 in Elkin Park. From fun and casual local events for the whole family like Food Truck Friday to buzz worthy white-line dining, food is another draw. Southern on Main, Pirates Landing and the Skull Camp Smokehouse among other options are sure to satisfy. If you’re looking for outdoor action, Elkin has it all! Put NC Trail Days, June 5-8, on your calendar for a weekend full of woodsy wonder. Nearby parks and trails offer mountain biking and hiking or you can hit the water for some kayaking and canoeing. After a wine tour or an outdoor excursion, head down to the Reeves Theater to catch a music performance or experience one of Elkin’s unique breweries or bars. Both Historic Downtown Elkin and the back-country roads delight with eclectic finds any savvy shopper would love to discover. Be sure to visit ExploreElkin.com for the town’s event calendar. VisitTheYadkinValley.com
At Modern Legal, passion, expertise and creative problem-solving drive every legal strategy crafted for clients across North and South Carolina. Led by Theresa Viera and a skilled team of attorneys, the firm understands the dynamic nature presented by every unique case. Whether the case requires full representation or a little support along the way, the team handcrafts legal strategies designed to fit each client’s needs. Modern Legal is committed to finding win-win solutions and delivering no-nonsense legal advice that families and clients can trust.
Modern Legal adapts to the ever-evolving landscape of family law, prioritizing access regardless of physical location or complexity. The Modern Legal team leverages legal advocacy, creativity and technology to meet clients wherever they are – literally and figuratively. Whether it is utilizing cuttingedge technology to enhance accessibility and efficiency via virtual legal proceedings or by employing the tools of collaboration and mediation, the Modern Legal team ensures clients receive nothing less than top-tier service.
Theresa’s passion for family law stems from her own experience with legal battles growing up. Determined to change the ripple effects of family law, she has built a team dedicated to helping clients navigate the intricacies of the law with clarity, confidence and unwavering support. With a deep commitment to helping families, Modern Legal strives to create positive and lasting impacts with the understanding that helping clients can lead to a stronger community.
Each year, SouthPark’s sister publication, Business North Carolina, publishes a list of the state’s Legal Elite, attorneys chosen by their peers as being top in their field. To identify the 24th Legal Elite class, Business North Carolina contracted DataJoe Research, a Boulder, Colorado-based software and research company specializing in data collection and verification.
DataJoe facilitated an online peer-voting process of all active members of the North Carolina Bar. Attorneys without an active license or who had disciplinary infractions were excluded from the list. Lawyers can’t vote for themselves or for members of the Legal Elite Hall of Fame (previous top vote-getters in a particular specialty). Votes for attorneys from another firm are weighted more heavily than votes for colleagues at the same firm. For research/methodology questions, contact the research team at surveys@datajoe.com.
DataJoe and Business North Carolina recognize that there are many talented lawyers who are not listed. This is a subset of talented professionals across the state. Inclusion in the list is based on the opinions of responding lawyers in North Carolina. DataJoe thoroughly ensures fair voting, but the company understands that the results of this survey nomination and internet research campaign are not an objective metric.
This year, about 1,300 lawyers were selected as Legal Elite. In this section, we highlight Legal Elite winners practicing in selected specialties in the Charlotte region. To view the full list, visit: businessnc.com/legal-elite.
Making a difference with the team at McIlveen Family Law
McIlveen Family Law is a firm committed to achieving the best possible outcome for their clients. With offices in Charlotte, Gastonia and Raleigh, the team is driven by passion and empathy to create a supportive environment and take a clientcentered approach for each individual family and case across North Carolina. Attorneys like Partner and Co-Founder Angela McIlveen and Senior Associate Attorney Joshua Finney lead with integrity and personal motivation to shepherd families to a better tomorrow.
To McIlveen Family Law, making sure families move forward in
resolution with dignity and a sense of hope, comes first. As a firm, they take joy in watching clients regain confidence, rebuild their lives, and reclaim clarity to create stable foundations for their futures — especially for their children. Through litigation, mediation or by simply providing supportive sounding boards, they guide families with honest advice with the goal of changing stressful situations into manageable processes.
As family law changes to emphasize alternative dispute resolution methods like mediation and collaborative processes, moving away from traditional courtroom litigation, McIlveen Family Law is committed to staying ahead by investing in developing technology and ensuring their attorneys are trained in modern, efficient approaches to resolving family disputes. As family structures evolve, they are also committed to providing expert guidance to all types of families. They plan to grow thoughtfully, focusing on strengthening client relationships, continuing to offer honest, top-notch legal services and focusing on deeper community engagement.
David R. Badger, David R. Badger
Paul Rudd Baynard, Offit Kurman Attorneys At Law
Stacy C. Cordes, Cordes Law
William L. Esser IV, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
Chip Ford, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
Joseph W. Grier III, Grier Wright Martinez Cole Hayes, Hayes Law
Andrew Thomas Houston, Moon Wright Houston
Luis Manuel Lluberas, Moore & Van Allen
Michael Leon Martinez, Grier
Wright Martinez
Jack Miller, Rayburn Cooper & Durham
Richard Rayburn, Rayburn Cooper & Durham
Zachary H. Smith, Moore & Van Allen
Glenn Clark Thompson, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin
Matthew Alexander Winer, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin
A. Cotten Wright, Grier Wright Martinez
HALL OF FAME: J. Michael Booe, Kennedy Covington (2002, 2003); C. Richard Rayburn Jr., Rayburn Cooper & Durham (2006); Richard S. Wright, Moon Wright and Houston (2016); Heather W. Culp, Essex Richards (2017); John “Woody” C. Woodman, Essex Richards (2021); Matt Tomsic, Rayburn Cooper & Durham (2023)
Catherine A. Barnes, James McElroy & Diehl
William P. Bray, Bray & Long
Patrick S. Bryant, Robinson Bradshaw Hinson
Milton Heath Gilbert Jr., Baucom Claytor Benton
Morgan & Wood
Kelly Rains Jesson, Jesson & Rains
Warren P. Kean, Shumaker
Loop & Kendrick
Nick Kendall, Johnston Allison & Hord
Katherine Kliebert, Kliebert Law
Christopher Henry Kouri, Maynard Nexsen
Lesley Attkisson Lewis, Moore & Van Allen
Thomas Duke Ricks, Alexander Ricks
David S. Rugani, Johnston Allison & Hord
Caroline Wannamaker Sink, Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson
George W. Sistrunk III, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin
David Lee Tkach, David L. Tkach
HALL OF FAME: Russell
M. Robinson II, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson (2002, 2003); J. Norfleet Pruden III, Kennedy Covington (2005); Robin L. Hinson, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, (2007); Peter C. Buck, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson (2008); Stephen M. Lynch, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson (2011); Grayson S. Hale, Morningstar Law Group, Mooresville (2013); Matthew Marcellino, Marcellino & Tyson (2020); Daniel Stephen Trimmer, Skufca Law (2022); Heather Culp, Essex Richards (2024)
Christine Elizabeth ClarkePeckham, The Law Office of Chrissy Clarke-Peckham
Christopher C. Fialko, Fialko Law
Elizabeth Freeman Greene, Flannery Georgalis
Lambert Franklin Guinn, Flannery Georgalis
Adam Hauser, Mecklenburg County Public Defenders Office
Bradford F. Icard, The Icard Law Firm
George V. Laughrun III, Goodman Carr Laughrun Levine & Greene
C. Melissa “Missy” Owen, Tin Fulton Walker & Owen
Gregory Plumides, Plumides Romano & Johnson
Bill Powers, Powers Law Firm
Claire J. Rauscher, Womble
Bond Dickinson
Eben Turner Rawls III, Rawls
Scheer Clary & Mingo
Anthony Glen Scheer, Rawls
Scheer Clary & Mingo
James Bradley Smith, James B. Smith
Jason C. St. Aubin, Marcilliat & Mills
Noell P. Tin, Tin Fulton Walker & Owen
Anne M. Tompkins, Cadwaladar
HALL OF FAME: James F. Wyatt III, Wyatt & Blake (2005); James P. Cooney III, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice (2008); T. Patrick Matus II (deceased), Essex Richards (2010); David S. Rudolf, Rudolf, Widenhouse & Fialko (2011); Michael J. Greene, Goodman, Carr, Laughrun, Levine & Greene (2014); Robert K. Corbett III, Law Offices of Harold Cogdell Jr., (2015); Ryan T. Smith, RTS Law Group (2016); George V. Laughrun II, Goodman, Carr, Laughrun, Levine & Greene (2017); Rob Heroy, Goodman Carr Laughrun Levine & Greene (2023)
Lillie Ashworth, Soni Brendle
Andrew Steven Brendle, Soni Brendle
Amanda Brisson Cannavo, Dozier Miller Law Group
Courtney Lynn Carter, Arnold & Smith
Chelsea Michelle Chapman, McIlveen Family Law Firm
Adrienne R. Cherry, Leitner
Bragg & Griffin
Kavita Christina Desai, James McElroy & Diehl
Nicole Applefield Engel, Johnston Allison & Hord
Jonathan Daniel Feit, James McElroy & Diehl PA
Joshua L. Finney, McIlveen Family Law Firm
Kyle Frost, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin
Kaylan M. Gaudio, Sodoma Law
Katie Walsh Gilbert, Rech Law
Seth Andrew Glazer, Godley Glazer & Funk
Tara Austin Harrawood, Marcellino & Tyson
Tia G. Hartley, The Law Office of Tia G. Hartley
James Gregory Hatcher, Hatcher Law Group
Penelope Lazarou Hefner, Sodoma Law
Paul Doughton Horton, Sodoma Law
Lindsey Ann Houk, Waple Houk
Elizabeth Johnstone James, Hamilton Stephens Steele & Martin
Jana Kelly Jones, Jana K. Jones
Irene Patrice King, King Collaborative Family Law
Julia Anne Kirby, Marcellino & Tyson
Carolyn Lovejoy KruegerAndes, Krueger-Andes Law
Matthew Krueger-Andes, Krueger-Andes Law
David Matthew Krusch, Plumides Romano & Johnson
Dara Duncan Larson, Duncan Larson Law
Lydia Bree Laughrun, Essex Richards
Lauren Ellis Leader, James McElroy & Diehl
Lauren Vaughn Lewis, Essex Richards
Angela White McIlveen, McIlveen Family Law Firm
Eric Steven Meredith, Jetton Meredith
Christopher D. Miller, Miller Bowles Cushing
Jennifer P. Moore, Marcellino & Tyson
Bethany M. Mulhern, Miller Bowles Cushing
Erica R. Nesmith, The Nesmith Firm
Corey Alexander Noland, Arnold & Smith
Victoria Marie Perez, Sodoma Law
Mark D. Riopel, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin
Kimberly R. Robertson, Dozier Miller Law Group
Rachel D. Rogers Hamrick, Charlotte Collaborative Divorce
Caitlin Elizabeth Ryan, Sodoma Law
Claire Joanne Samuels, Charlotte Collaborative Divorce Professionals
David K. Self, David Self Law
Tonya Graser Smith, GraserSmith
Courtney Hamer Smith, Tin Fulton Walker & Owen
Isla N. Tabrizi, Collins Family & Elder Law Group
John Paul Tsahakis, James McElroy & Diehl
Meghan A. Van Vynckt, Cordes Law
Theresa Eileen Viera, Modern Legal
Danielle Jessica Walle, Marcellino & Tyson
Angela Marie Watkins, Leitner Bragg & Griffin Law
Rebecca Wofford, Wofford Burt
Tiasha L. Wray, Wray Law Firm
HALL OF FAME: Richard D. Stephens, Dozier, Miller, Pollard & Murphy (2009); Stan Brown,
Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin (2013); Rob Blair, Essex
Richards (2016); Ketan P. Soni, Soni Brendle (2023)
Mary Burgett Ashley, Ashley Law Firm
Evan Michael Bass, Moore & Van Allen
James Scott Efird, St. Amand & Efird
Randall Wayne Faircloth, Regent Law
Walter D. Fisher Jr., Troutman Pepper Locke
Jonathan Peter Goldberg, Alexander Ricks
Susan K. Irvin, Irvin Law Group
William B. Kirk Jr., Kirk
Palmer & Thigpen
William F. Kirk, Regent Law
Robert G. Lindauer Jr., Johnston Allison & Hord
Timothy P. Logan, Parker Poe
Adams & Bernstein
Sarah Robinson Lucente, Kunkleman Lucente
LaDeidre Dianne Matthews, Fox Rothschild
Gary T. McDermott, McDermott Law
Daniel Adam Merlin, Alexander Ricks
David William Murray, Murray Law Firm
Jeanne A. Pearson, Johnston Allison & Hord
John F. Renger III, Renger Reynolds
Lawrence J. Shaheen Jr., Singh
Chris Stevenson, Kirk Palmer & Thigpen
Robert Wall II, Brady & Kosofsky
North Carolina, Federal, and Juvenile
For over 16 years, David Murray has focused solely on protecting landowners’ rights in the areas of eminent domain and zoning. Murray Law’s clients include commercial developers, home owners, hotels, churches, gas stations, and many other businesses and landowners whose properties may be impacted by public use projects. David focuses on cases where results make a real difference, whether that involves ensuring a landowner is fairly compensated when a governmental entity takes their property through eminent domain or helping landowners maneuver zoning ordinances so that their land can be developed how they desire.
David, along with the team at Murray Law, provides the highest level of individualized representation to each client through a tailored practice. Clients always speak directly with an attorney, and meetings with clients take place at their properties to help them determine the most favorable resolution to their unique situation.
As Charlotte rapidly expands with development under a newly adopted Unified Development Ordinance, Murray Law is strategically focused on helping owners navigate the UDO and its consequences on development. Along with development comes the need for expansion of public transit and public utilities. Expansion of public transit, such as the light rail, will require the city government to acquire a significant amount of property through eminent domain. David and Murray Law are well positioned to help property owners affected by this ongoing development.
Cameron Todd Ware, Johnston Allison & Hord
HALL OF FAME: Brent A. Torstrick, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson (2006); Timothy G. Sellers, Sellers, Hinshaw, Ayers, Dortch & Lyons (2010); George W. Sistrunk III, Hamilton Stephens Steele & Martin (2012); Diana R. Palecek, Fox Rothschild (2021)
S. Kyle Agee, Johnston Allison & Hord
Brian Carl Bernhardt, Fox Rothschild
Julie Marion Bradlow, DarrowEverett
Diane Blackburn Burks, Katten Muchin Rosenman
Lynn F. Chandler, Shumaker Loop & Kendrick
Christian P. Cherry, Crisp Cherry McCraw
Thomas A. Cooper, Austin Cooper Legal
Stephanie Daniel, Kirk Palmer & Thigpen
Janice L. Davies, Davies Law
David T. DuFault, Sodoma Law
Robyn Hicks-Guinn, HicksGuinn Law
Margaret Troy Kocaj, Kocaj Consulting
Robert D. Lyerly Jr., Maynard Nexsen
Andrew Lamberson Nesbitt, Nesbitt Law
Holly B. Norvell, Johnston Allison & Hord
SOUTHPARK PARTNER
LEGAL ELITE
Tanya Nicole Oesterreich, Oesterreich Law
Bailey Patrick Jr., K&L Gates
Erin Bray Patterson, Erin Patterson
Christian L. Perrin, Perrin Legal
Heidi Elizabeth Royal, Heidi Royal Law
Maria Magdalena Satterfield, Satterfield Legal
J. Darrell Shealy, Johnston Allison & Hord
Lucy Siler, Johnston Allison & Hord
Bradley T. Van Hoy, Moore & Van Allen
Jeneva Alicia Vazquez, Jesson & Rains
Jonathan Charles Windham, Essex Richards
Beth Ann Wood, The Law Offices of Beth A. Wood
HALL OF FAME: W. Curtis Elliott Jr., Culp Elliott & Carpenter (2004); Ray S. Farris, Johnston Allison Hord (2005); Christy Eve Reid (deceased), Robinson,
Bradshaw & Hinson (2009); Graham D. Holding Jr., Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson (2012); Debra L. Foster, Foster Royal (2017); Jessica Mering Hardin, Robinson Bradshaw (2021); Brooks Jaffa, Cranford, Buckley Schultze, Tomchin, Allen & Buie (2022)
Hailey Nichole Amico, Sodoma Law, Monroe
Sarah Ashley Barnett, Maynard Nexsen
Gavin Adams Bell, Flannery | Georgalis
Ross Joseph Bromberger, Rosenwood Rose & Litwak
Matthew E. Gerber, Johnston Allison Hord
Anna Christina Majestro, Allen Chesson & Grimes
Kelsey Nicole Hendry Mayo, Poyner Spruill
Joseph Walton Milam III, Rosenwood Rose & Litwak
Charlotte native Jana K. Jones is dedicated to advocating for fathers’ rights and supporting families during challenging times. A UNC-Chapel Hill and NCCU School of Law graduate, she has over a decade of experience in family law, focusing on divorce, custody and child support. Mrs. Jones’s background includes mentoring at-risk youth, supporting immigrant women and working with the Center for Child & Family Health. She is committed to achieving the best outcomes for her clients with compassion, professionalism and a focus on social justice.
J. Bradley “Brad” Smith, Managing Member of Arnold & Smith, PLLC, has been practicing law since 2004. He focuses his practice on criminal defense and personal injury law. His practice includes DWI/DUI defense, drug charges, expungements, weapons offenses, domestic violence, property crimes, sexual offenses and violent crimes. He also handles traffic violations, license restorations and vehicle seizures. In personal injury cases, he represents and advocates for clients in car accidents, dog bite victims, workers’ compensation claims and wrongful death claims.
The founding of Arnold & Smith, PLLC Smith co-founded Arnold & Smith, PLLC, with Matthew Arnold in 2007, beginning in a small attic office. In 2008, the firm restored The Historic John Carr Price House in Charlotte, preserving a local landmark and establishing its new home office. Today, the firm has offices in Charlotte, Mooresville, Monroe and Ballantyne, serving clients in North and South Carolina.
Arnold & Smith, PLLC is a one-stop shop for legal needs, covering criminal defense, family law, personal injury, workers’ compensation, business litigation, estate law and land use. The firm represents clients in both state and federal courts. The award-winning team at Arnold & Smith, PLLC, strives to achieve the best outcomes for clients through aggressive courtroom advocacy and strategic legal counsel. The firm continues to grow in size and areas of practice, allowing it to offer a wide range of solutions for many legal needs.
Lauren Trask Millovitsch, Creamer Millovitsch
Alexandra P. Nibert, Johnston Allison & Hord
Ashley B. Oldfield, Rayburn Cooper & Durham
Alaina Taylor Prevatte, Rech Law
Jackson C. Pridgen, Johnston Allison & Hord
Joseph Robert Shealy, Katten Muchin Rosenman
Shaefer Shepard, Jetton & Meredith Law
Sheldon M. Stokes, Johnston Allison & Hord
Kevin Giese Sweat, Lord & Lindley
Lindsey Umin, David Self Family Law & Mediation, Cornelius
Alexa Marie Voss, Godley, Glazer & Funk
Caitlin Hale Walton, Essex Richards HALL OF FAME: J. Christian Stevenson, Kirk Palmer & Thigpen (2012); Aaron Lay, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin (2016); Matthew T. Marcellino, Marcellino & Tyson (2018); Nancy S. Litwak, Rosenwood, Rose & Litwak (2019); Carl Burchette, Rosenwood, Rose & Litwak (2022)
DataJoe uses best practices and exercises great care in assembling content for this list. DataJoe does not warrant that the data contained within the list are complete or accurate. DataJoe does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions herein whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause. All rights reserved. No commercial use of the information in this list may be made without written permission from DataJoe. For research/methodology questions, contact the research team at surveys@datajoe.com. SP
is one of only a few board certified specialists in business and consumer bankruptcy law practicing in Charlotte. He represents every type of constituency and stakeholder affected by bankruptcy filings and was recently recognized by the American Bankruptcy Institute as one of the top 40 bankruptcy industry professionals under age 40.
For more information or to schedule a consultation, visit colehayeslaw.com
Don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of Weddings by SouthPark this spring. Reach brides- and grooms-to-be in this targeted, beautiful issue of wedding inspiration and resources.
Publication date: Spring 2025
Space deadline: March 10
Contact Jane Rodewald at 704-621-9198 or Cindy Poovey at 704-497-2220 to learn more. Visit us online at southparkmagazine.com/advertise
benefiting American Heart Association
Crown Ballroom at Charlotte Convention Center
February 1
One of Charlotte’s longest-running galas, this year’s ball celebrated volunteers, donors and lives saved through the AHA’s mission. photographs by Daniel Coston
A monthly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
benefiting WARD’s Foundation
Charlotte Country Club
February 1
At its third annual gala, patrons mingled among tasting stations and got their bidding paddles ready to support families dealing with a child’s rare disease diagnosis.
photographs by Daniel Coston
benefiting Cookies for Kids’ Cancer
The Casey
November 14, 2024
The event raised $420,000 and featured craft cocktails, mocktails and gourmet bites from local chefs, including Hannah Neville of Honeybear Bake Shop, Sam Diminich of Restaurant Constance, and Brittany Cochran of Stagioni, who was honored with the “Good Cookie of the Year” award.
photographs by Moving Mountains
Photography
A monthly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
Centennial Celebration
Founders Hall
December 11, 2024
At this final celebration of the Endowment’s 100th year, trustees announced plans to distribute $5 billion in grants across the Carolinas over the next 15 years. The news came 100 years to the day that James B. Duke created The Duke Endowment. photographs by Daniel Coston
A monthly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
benefiting Dream On 3 Charlotte Convention Center
January 25
This annual black-tie event honors local businesses that give back and supports the nonprofit’s mission to provide memorable sports experiences to young people with very serious health conditions. photographs by Daniel Coston
benefiting McCrorey YMCA Charlotte
Crown Ballroom at Charlotte Convention Center
January 20
This tradition brings together people to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. while raising funds to support one of the city’s oldest YMCAs. photographs by Daniel Coston
Kristy Woodson Harvey
Monday, May 5 • 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Mint Museum Randolph • 2730 Randolph Road
Your $60 ticket includes signature sips, savory bites, book talk and signing opportunity with Kristy Woodson Harvey plus a pre-order copy of Kristy’s latest book, Beach House Rules
SouthPark Magazine is thrilled to have Kristy Woodson Harvey, the New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of 11 novels. Enjoy the evening with Kristy as she shares a preview of her latest book.
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Each day, thousands of visitors — and longtime residents — cruise past this visual gateway leading into Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Here’s what you may not know about the soaring sculpture. by Michael J. Solender
Just off Billy Graham Parkway, Ascendus is a 60-foot steel, aluminum and laminated glass sculpture created by Portland, Oregon-based Ed Carpenter. The sculpture was commissioned by Charlotte’s Arts & Science Council (ASC) in collaboration with the city and airport in 2012. With its pointed, angular shape and precarious angle to the ground, Ascendus evokes motion, flight, and, as its name suggests, ascent.
Carpenter worked with local steel fabricator SteelFab on his creation, which is illuminated by 54 LED floodlights embedded within the sculpture.
The work’s colorful glass glows with yellow, green, red, blue and bright white light, yielding extraordinary twilight and nighttime views. As part of Carpenter’s design, color shades shift as viewers observe the work from a moving vehicle.
During the installation, Carpenter remarked on his affinity for the site. “There’s this beautiful background of green trees,” the artist said in a video made for ASC, commenting on the mounded natural area off the exit. “There are no billboards, and the site is a fine one to offset the sculpture and serve as a counterpoint to the soft, dark trees with the crispness and shininess of the work. To me, this is wonderful.”
We think so, too. SP
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