! S U P WAM R Carrie Lare SIGN MANAGE Sulock ART & DE John Zara COVER DESIGN cca be Re ll, rte Ba , y, Emily Busey EDITORS Jaye nt WRITN Nathanael Rone odes, Halima Fly LAYOUT & DESIG RAPHERS Max Cooper, Bill Rh Jen Nathan Orn, en Gl OG ten Fit OT Carrie Lare PH e Frankel, Anne Margaret Williams David Forbes, Jak Rebecca Sulock, ERS Jaye Bartell, rd, Dane Smith, era Sh le Ky k, 2 ris, Emily Patric k. Copyright 201 rtell, Emily Patric WAMPUS Jaye Ba
DON’T BE FRIGHTENED!
WAMPUS IS SIMPLY
A LEGEND AMONG LEGENDS The story of the Wampus Cat has many versions in Appalachian and Cherokee folklore. By most accounts, the creature is a half-cat, half-human who either protects the village or terrifies it. (For our purposes, we'll go with the first.) The Wampus makes its home in the mountainous wood, loves to go out at night and has been described as both lazy and “quick to rile.” Just add “has a taste for craft beer” and “rides a bike to work” and the Wampus Cat is a WNC resident in full! For the past few months, Xpress has been privy to rumors of alleged sightings and other encounters with a skulking, dapper feline with a human shadow. We dismissed such reports as variations on the Bigfoot theme. Then we received a letter to the editor (on paper, in an envelope, with a stamp), signed “Wampus.” This year's Best of WNC celebrates the region's Local Legends — the people, businesses, food, art and music that make life in the mountains a saga of absolute quality.
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2012 BEST OF WNC
OCTOBER 10 - OCTOBER 16, 2012 • mountainx.com
A MEETING OF
ICONS
It is said that legend s are born, not made. But if a legend lives mountains and no on in the e sees it, does it get its picture taken? Wi recognition, a legend thout is just an untold story, a fable. As with the my of the sculptor Pygm alion and the statue th Galatea, the story of veteen Rabbit, or the the Velokra in your garden, only love makes it rea same is so for the ann l. The ual ening valentine to you Best of WNC poll. Each vote is a little enl ivr favorite restaurant, bar, retail shop or hik trail. Read on for loc al love made real, bro ught to life through the ing work and communit har y presence of the winn ers, your votes and ano d local legend: the eve ther r-smiling, nattily dre ssed harbinger of allBest of WNC — the things Wampus Cat.
SPECIAL THANK S TO
HF!
THE COSTUME S = HALL OF FAMER S FOUR STRAIGHT WINS
HOPPE