Capital at Play June 2017

Brandy Clements & Dave Klingler Silver River Center for Chair Caning p.20

Neal Hanks, Jr.

Beverly-Hanks & Associates p.78

Western North Carolina's Free Spirit of Enterprise

Dirt leisure

colu m ns

Capital “I” for “Insurance” p.32 Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Pop-Up Shops p.52 Student Column: Alex Walser of Bearded Crew p.70

&

l i b at i o n

Surfing p. 61

Downhill mountain biking in Western North Carolina lo c a l i n d u s t r y

Antiquing in Western North Carolina: How to do it, and where to find ‘em. p. 40

Volume VII - Edition VI complimentary edition

capitalatplay.com

June 2017

Ann Skoglund

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| June 2017

“Successful brokers love working at Beverly-Hanks.

Since 1976, Ann Skoglund and our team of professional associates have positioned Beverly-Hanks as the region’s most respected firm.”

- W. Neal Hanks Jr. -

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June 2017 | capitalatplay.com

3

Ann Skoglund Q&A WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS IN THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY? Deliver a concierge-level of service at the speed of light, while simultaneously providing services a client didn’t realize they needed.

And sometimes, it means giving unpopular advice. Success in this business depends on your ability to help people achieve their dreams better than anyone else.

BEING THE TOP AGENT 22 OUT OF 31 YEARS IS QUITE A FEAT. WHAT DRIVES YOU TO ACHIEVE THAT LEVEL OF CONSISTENT SUCCESS? A competitive spirit and furthering my clients’ interests have always been my top priority. During my 30-plus years, I’ve developed the skills, experience, and thought processes that successful people seek in an agent. By serving them with insight and astute advice, my reputation for delivering results has led to consistent growth.

HOW HAS THE LUXURY REAL ESTATE MARKET IN ASHEVILLE CHANGED SINCE YOU BEGAN YOUR CAREER? Luxury real estate in Asheville has gone from being a local market to a global one. Last year, I served people from Singapore as well as all over the United States. In 2016, 1 in 10 Beverly-Hanks’ sales were second homes, and I’m certain the percentage is even higher for luxury homes.

HOW HAVE THE MARKETING SERVICES YOU OFFER YOUR LUXURY SELLERS EVOLVED TO MEET THOSE CHANGES? I knew Asheville had changed when buyers arrived from Alaska prepared to make an offer if the home looked as good in person as online. The ability to share compelling photography and rich media has allowed our luxury real estate sellers to reach beyond Asheville.

Our affiliation with LuxuryPortfolio.com, the world’s most popular website for luxury real estate, amplifies this reach to the world’s most discerning buyers.

IT IS NOT UNUSUAL FOR TOP PRODUCING AGENTS TO CHANGE TEAMS. WHY HAVE YOU REMAINED AT BEVERLY-HANKS FOR OVER 30 YEARS? I have always felt that it was the perfect fit. The global network, marketing, education, and complete respect for each other and our clients makes it different here. Coupled with the ethic of giving back, there are few companies that encourage life balance so well while offering limitless opportunities to their agents.

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About Beverly-Hanks When you’re selling a luxury home, you want to be sure you choose the best. In Western North Carolina, that choice is Beverly-Hanks & Associates. Our professional agents are supported by over 55 marketing and operations personnel, allowing them to focus on what they do best: serving you.

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kay, Capital at Play readers, time for a pop quiz. Fill in the blanks: “________ may be simple or elaborate; useful or decorative; inexpensive, valuable, sometimes even rare. But for all their diversity, their one essential quality is: They are survivors. ________ are the stuff of life, reaching back decades or centuries and offering a glimpse of what it was like ‘way back then.’ _________ inspire curiosity about their individual history… fading over the years from everyday necessity to enjoyable curiosity.”

If you answered “artwork,” “books,” or even “automobiles,” you’re close; you get a “B.” (Although to be honest, it might be a stretch to describe a Ford Model T, in 2017, as “useful.”) But score “A” for “antiques,” which not so coincidentally brings us to one of our main stories this month, a report on antiquing in Western North Carolina. The above passage is from the introduction for “In Dust We Trust,” and in a stroke of serendipity, the writer who was assigned to traipse around and talk to some of the region’s antique dealers turns out to have been an antique collector and dealer himself. So he knows his subject matter—the story even includes photos of some of his personal pieces—and we trust you’ll find his informed opinion to be both entertaining and illuminating, particularly if you are an aficionado of antiques yourself.

Nicely dovetailing into the antiques story is a profile of a young couple who describe themselves as “chair nerds,” and if that term strikes a chord within you, consider it your extra credit score. Brandy Clements and Dave Klingler operate the Silver River Center for Chair Caning over in Asheville’s River Arts District, and encountering them was no less serendipitous, as one of the staffers here at the office heard about their business through a friend, who had heard about Silver River from their friend, and so on. (The profiles we publish in the magazine often originate in timely tips from you readers, so keep ‘em coming.) It probably goes without saying that the chair nerds know a few things about antique furniture themselves.

Elsewhere in the June issue, you’ll encounter a how-to/where-to report on downhill mountain biking in Western North Carolina; an intimate look at prominent local businessman Neal Hanks, Jr., of real estate giant Beverly-Hanks & Associates; and our usual “Insight” profiles and business columns (including the latest in our series of student-writers-profiling-student-entrepreneurs). I know I’ve said it before in this space, but it’s worth repeating: We have an extremely diverse, and hopefully engaging, issue, and we are grateful for your continued support and encouragement. Let us know how we’re doing, and until next issue...

Sincerely,

Fred Mills

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June 2017 | capitalatplay.com

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Fred Mills briefs and events editor

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Gene Adams, Joanne Badr, Park Baker, Jason Gilmer, Anthony Harden, Jim Murphy, George J. Pfeiffer, Shawndra Russell, David Simchock, Lauren Stepp

Information & Inquiries Capital at Play is Western North Carolina’s business lifestyle magazine. It embodies the idea that capitalism thrives with creativity—that work requires an element of play. Exploring everything from local industry to the great outdoors, Capital at Play is inspiration for the modern entrepreneur.

In every edition, we profile those who take the risk, those who share that risk, and those who support them—telling the untold story of how capitalists are driven by their ideas and passions.

We cater to those who see the world with curiosity, wonderment, and a thirst for knowledge.

We present information and entertainment that capitalists want, all in one location. We are the free spirit of enterprise.

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Editorial content is selected and produced because of its interest to our readership. Editorial content is not for sale and cannot be bought. Capital at Play is financially sustained by advertisers who find value in exposure alongside our unique content and with the readers who follow it.

It’s Our Business To Make You Look Good.

7 Convenient Locations!

Call (828) 253-3691 Or visit Online at swannanoacleaners.com

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| June 2017

This magazine is printed with soy based ink on recycled paper. Please recycle.

Copyright © 2017, Capital At Play, Inc. All rights reserved.

Capital at Play is a trademark of Capital At Play, Inc. Published by Capital At Play, Inc. PO Box 5615, Asheville, NC. 28813

Capital at Play is protec ted through Tr ademar k Regis tr ation in the United States. The content found within this publication does not necessar ily ref lec t the views of Capital At Play, Inc. and its companies. Capital At Play, Inc. and its employees are not liable for any adver tising or editor ial content found in Capital at Play. The ar ticles, photogr aphy, and illus tr ations found in Capital at Play may not be reproduced or used in any fashion without express wr it ten consent by Capital At Play, Inc.

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H E A R T S C A N ’ T W A I T. I N M ATTE R S O F T H E H E A R T, W E WAIT F OR TH E RIGH T P E RSON. WAIT F OR THE R IG HT TI M E A N D T H E R IG H T P L AC E . B UT WH E N IT COM E S TO H E ART H E ALTH , YOUR HEAR T C A N ’ T WA IT. Pardee’s Heart and Vascular team can see new patients WITH IN A F E W DAYS instead

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thi s page : A VARIET Y OF CHAIRS can be found at Silver River Center for Chair Caning. photo by Anthony Harden on the cover :

Downhill mountain biking at Beech Mountain. photo courtesy Beech Mountain Resort

F E AT U R E S vol. vii

20

THE WONDER OF WEAVING

BRANDY CLEMENTS & DAVE KLINGLER

ed. vi

78

MARKET FORCES

NEAL HANKS, JR.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com

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C ON T E N T S j u n e 2 017

of the endanger

p.18

LOCAL GIFTS BUYING GUIDE

photos courtesy Matt Hartell/REEB Ranch

40

lo c a l i n d u s t r y

Antiquing in Western North Carolina:

61

How to do it, and where to find ‘em.

colu m ns

32 Capital “I” for “Insurance”

Written by Gene Adams & George J. Pfeiffer

52 Here Today, Gone

Tomorrow: Pop-Up Shops Written by Joanne Badr

70 Student Column: Alex

Walser of Bearded Crew Written by Lauren Stepp

l e i s u r e & l i b at i o n

Downhill Mountain Biking: From bike parks to bike shops, a comprehensive guide.

insight

14 T he Gardener’s Cottage Libby Endry

Ashewell Medical Group Carly Brown, M.D.

| June 2017

briefs

36 Carolina in the West 56 The Old North State 74 National & World News

p e o p l e at p l ay

88 Spring 2017 LEAF Festival

Errata, May issue: (1) Page 14 (“Company Culture”) listed the year of death for Neal Hanks, Sr., as 1989; it was actually 1999. (2) On p.55 (“High Stakes”), the first two sentences in the final paragraph should have read, “Unfortunately, I’ve seen quite a few businesses fail that were not protected by the correct legal steps in formation and operation, which exposed them to personal liability for the actions of their business. With so much on the line, why wouldn’t you seek counsel at the very beginning in order to prepare thoroughly in all areas?”

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nsight

Planting The Seed A

For Libby Endry of The Gardener’s Cottage, the keyword is “creativity.”

fixture of Asheville’s Biltmore Village since 1997, The Gardener’s Cottage was envisioned by its founder, flower designer Bee Sieburg, as a place where locals and visitors could find nature-inspired gifts, unique items for both home and garden, local artists’ works, and unusual houseplants and orchids—in addition, of course, to elegant floral designs for all types of social gatherings. Sieburg eventually sold the business in 2004 to employee Laura Belsinger and Belsinger’s sister, Libby Endry, thereby ensuring an unbroken legacy.

“I had moved to [the Asheville area] in 2004 after graduating from Florida State University with a degree in apparel merchandising,” recalls Endry. “My sister had been living in Asheville for a few years before I got here, and we found out that Bee and Molly had decided to sell the business. We decided to go for it! I was only 22, my sister 24. I remember walking

flowers more and more and Bee began teaching me. Without her encouragement and mentoring, I would not have discovered that I had a talent or passion for designing flowers. Now I head up the flower side of the business as well, and that has been the most surprising part of my career so far, which I consider a milestone.”

The business continued to thrive, then in 2007, Belsinger and her husband decided to move to Florida, so Endry took the reins. It’s been challenging, she admits, but “extremely rewarding.” And as with any small business, there have been hurdles to overcome. Endry still has vivid memories of the flood in Asheville that hit Biltmore Village particularly hard. (“Six months after we took over the business! Luckily, the water stopped short of our driveway, but the scene was unimaginable. The village was a ghost town for months.”) And

“Being a creative person, I feel extremely grateful to do what I do.” into the shop the first day we were official owners... it was very surreal, exciting, and a little daunting.”

Case in point: When Endry and Belsinger bought the business, Endry put her energies into the retail side—including merchandising and planning out events—and relied on the shop’s “well-seasoned flower crew” that Sieburg had previously trained to take care of the flower side. “On occasion, however, I would find myself in a situation where someone needed an arrangement on the spot and we didn’t have anyone there to do it but me,” says Endry. “Little by little, I began doing 14

| June 2017

then there was the economic downturn a few years later, which changed people’s shopping habits—flowers typically not being considered a necessity—and prompted her to get creative with her own buying and marketing habits for the store.

The Gardener’s Cottage weathered these setbacks, however, a highlight coming in 2012 when they were featured in Flower Magazine. They were also able to buy a new van last year that they plan to use for what Endry calls “flower field trips” to regional cities, where they will host flower workshops, do pop-up shop events, etc. “I am always asking myself, ‘What we can offer people

life changing situations require All photos by Sunday Grant Photography

specialized

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LIBBY ENDRY

that will make them want to come to us over a possibly more convenient option?’ There is a lot of competition in the plant and flower industry these days, and I think in our case, it’s the fact that when you come to us for a gift or something for your house, you leave with a thoughtful, finished product. As with any small business, it’s customer service and the experience you give them that keep people coming back. I just want people to feel good when they come into the shop and leave feeling happy.”

Endry is optimistic about the future, noting, “We have been working on our outside courtyard area a lot this spring, getting it ready for special events we have planned this year. [We have] a demo/book signing with Asheville native ‘Mossin’ Annie’ June 17.” She adds that they will also have flower/planting workshops and events with artists.

“I have learned so much the past 13 years of owning the shop and have met some of the most wonderful people,” Endry enthuses. “Being a creative person, I feel extremely grateful to do what I do.”

Visit The Gardener’s Cottage online: www.TheGardenersCottageAsheville.com.

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insight

relaxation?

All In The Family For Carly Brown, M.D., founding Ashewell Medical Group wasn’t simply establishing a local practice— it was fulfilling a mission.

W

hen you think “primary medical care,” what comes to mind first? Convenience and ease of access? Quality of care? Affordability? It’s unfortunate but true that not everyone can check off all three boxes, and therefore it’s a perennial issue for many patients. That’s the issue Carly Brown, M.D., wanted to address with Ashewell Medical Group (AMG) when it opened its doors this past March.

Brown and her family had moved back to North Carolina in 2016, and as she recalls now, “After months of research and reflection I decided that I had found a better way to practice primary care. This was a model called direct primary care.

My experience in caring for patients in the traditional model was highly impactful in my decision to leave that model. I was quite successful in practice, but I just knew I could give more.

I wanted to focus more on prevention, counseling, nutrition, and wellness.”

“Our biggest success has been seeing our patients thrive. I love that I can practice medicine the way I think it should be practiced.”

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LARGE SHOP SELECTION

Brown was concerned that because most internists care for upwards of 3,000 patients, the level of care in the traditional model was compromised. Whereas the direct primary care (DPC) model limits the patient panel size to a much more manageable 500-800 patients, allowing for adequate quality time between patient and physician. DPC additionally provides an alternative payment model that eliminates fee-for-service medicine (“volume over value,” and marked by copays and insurance plan complexities) and replaces it with a flat monthly fee that covers comprehensive primary care services.

ASHEWELL MEDICAL GROUP office space.

“At AMG,” Brown explains, “I see only 500 patients, and as we hire more physicians, they, too, will only see 500 patients. This gives our patients six times the access compared to traditional doctors. Additionally, you have to give people access to affordable medications, labs, and medical imaging. We do all three.

We have an in-house wholesale pharmacy [and have] negotiated lab prices and medical imaging prices for our patients at a fraction of the cost of what they would pay at a traditional medical office or imaging center. We pass these services and goods on at cost. We don’t mark them up.

For this reason, we deliver primary care at significant savings.”

She adds that this model also means care at AMG is unlimited—no copays and worrying about filing insurance claims, no additional charges for follow-up visits and preventative care. “We are particularly big on transparency and simplicity at Ashewell. That is why you always know exactly what you are being billed. We went with four simple tiers of care, based CARLY BROWN on age. This has been shown to be the most effective way to maximize access.”

As one might expect, educating the public about the benefits of a different approach to health care is not necessarily a simple task.

(Brown: “I think our biggest hurdle is getting the word out that there is a better way!”) But AMG and similar practices

around the country are increasingly successful in that regard, because when people realize that they may need traditional insurance for specialty care, hospitalizations, and surgery, but they don’t need it for primary care, they ultimately can get better overall care while paying far less.

At the moment, A MG — par t of a cooperative of 300 practices nationwide that work together to negotiate prices for goods and services—is just Brown, a board certified internist, and office manager Kelsey Jones (an RN and nutrition specialist). Brown says she hopes to hire two more physicians who are committed to the direct primary care model.

“Our biggest success has been seeing our patients thrive. I love that I can practice medicine the way I think it should be practiced—direct care is particularly suited for people willing to think out of the box.

Hey, Elon Musk said, ‘I bet I can put rockets in space myself.’ In a way, direct care is the same. We take the middle men out.

“Really, we are a good old-fashioned doctor’s office. We just keep it simple and fair for everyone. I would describe it as a family, really. I treat every one of my patients as if they are family.”

Complete details on Ashewell Medical Group, including a detailed FAQ, are at www.Ashewell.com.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com

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local gifts buying guide

TIME FOR

Summer

June is a beautiful month, and these goods from local vendors make you feel sunny! << PERFECT TRAVEL COMPANION Especially for the beach, it’s your towel, your blanket, and your coverup in one. 100% Turkish cotton, dries quickly. ( $36-40 )

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WING TURBULENCE, GABRIEL, OIL ON CANVAS, 40” X 50”

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Bright, cotton tea towels in many designs and color patterns. ( $14.95 ea. )

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THE SPEARPOINT ‘RANGER’ Beautiful and rugged, this William Henry knife features zinc matrix turquoise inlaid in the handle and a Damascus steel blade. It’s the ultimate accessory! ( $2,250 ) Spicer Greene Jewelers spicergreene.com

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<<

GREENER GRASS CLUTCH A party-perfect straw bag with tassels. ( $72 ) Scout Boutique 18 Brook St #102, Biltmore Village

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| June 2017

Available in Blue/white or tan/white to keep you ready for any formal summer occasion. ( $275 ) Hunter and Coggins Clothing Company 28 N Spruce Street Asheville

This colorful contemporary oil painting has the feel of an early Renaissance fresco. It imaginatively depicts the turbulence of the wings of an angel. ( $8500 ) William Henry Price Studio williamhenryprice.com

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It’s a fresh look that can go from beachfront to town center, and handle all your necessities and more along the way. ( $140 )

NO MORE PENCILS/ NO MORE BOOKS This watercolor painting is reminiscent of push-pops, pink summer sunsets, and green mountain forests. Framed with a rag mat and a beautiful neutral blue-ish-gray frame.

(26H x 31W)( $1300 ) The Gallery at Flat Rock galleryflatrock.com

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VARIED STRIPE THROW BLANKET This ridiculously soft 100% merino wool Varied Stripe Throw Blanket (50 x 60”) is perfect for cuddling up by a campfire after a long day spent adventuring. ( $275 )

MODERN ART MOBILES Movement & Balance - 60 years of perfect design from Flensted (Denmark). Shown: “Kites”, 14x35” in green or black. ( $66 ) BlackBird Frame & Art 365 Merrimon Ave, Asheville

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MODO PAPER-THIN TITANIUM FRAMES Two (2) pair no/line bifocals with frame. ( $250 ) OneWay Eyeglasses eyeglasses-asheville.com

<< PYRITE SUN This Pyrite Sun wrapped in 14-karat gold wire is sure to make every outfit shine. ( $715 ) Biltmore Lamp & Shade Gallery biltmorelampandshadegallery.com

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paid advertisement 19 June 2017 | capitalatplay.com

Wonder OF THE

Weaving

Self-professed â&#x20AC;&#x153;chair nerdsâ&#x20AC;? Brandy Clements and Dave Klingler are helping to resurrect the nearly lost art of chair caning. written by shawndr a russell

20

| June 2017

|

photos by anthony harden

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com

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KLINGLER educating a student on the proper direction of the weaving.

Craftsmanship.

IT’S SOMETHI NG W E TA K E SER IOUSLY HER E I N Western North Carolina. We want our beer to be high quality, our art to be envelope-pushing, and our meals to be sourced from local produce. In Asheville in particular, perhaps this culture traces back to the Biltmore Estate’s impact on the city’s artistic culture and the influx of creators who flooded the city to help bring the estate to life. (It’s even reflected in the de facto residential Asheville home style, Craftsman.)

Among those proudly carrying this mantle of craftsmanship are Brandy Clements and Dave Klingler, the chair caning couple who opened the Silver River Center for Chair Caning in 2015 in Asheville’s River Arts District. These two serious “chair nerds,” as they like to say (they even have stickers touting the phrase), operate the only chair caning school and museum in the United States. They’ve truly built their lives around this niche craft, mixing Dave’s engineering background with the knowledge and experience that has been passed down to Brandy through four generations of chair caners.

Yet the word “niche” doesn’t feel right when you consider the importance of chairs in our daily lives and the long history 22

| June 2017

of chair making. As Dave explains, “People and chairs have a unique relationship. Chairs hold you; when people come visit, chairs facilitate conversation.” While this craft may be unfamiliar to many, modern-day caners have resurrected a skill that traces its lineage back to 1300 B.C. as a form of basketry.

Now, Brandy and Dave help keep this art form alive through chair caning classes, their small but well-curated museum, “chair nerd” merchandise, and, of course, repairing broken chairs. The latter provides their largest stream of income, but it’s often the part of the business that gets brushed to the wayside first, since running a business, coordinating with and teaching their students, and talking with museum visitors often makes for a fragmented day.

Chair Caning: A Brief History This ancient practice has long been a global trade, dating back to the 1600s when seat weaving materials were traded alongside spices and teas. In the 1700s, royalty sat upon tall, caned chairs, helping caned furniture gain steam as a global aesthetic, especially in warmer climates since the cane could withstand heat and humidity better than solid woods. In the next century, manufacturers churned out chairs and helped a seat weaving cottage industry thrive. As industrialization continued, however, the manufacturers turned to pressed caned seats, which didn’t require a human weaver but lacked the same quality or stamina. Today, many people think of wicker furniture and caned furniture as one and the same, although caned furniture refers specifically to woven seats and backs and not just any item made out of rattan stalk, a part of the palm family.

A Work in Progress Silver River is now part of caning history, thanks to their new (as of 2015) mission to document the history of caning and be an advocate for the dying art around the globe. In fact, this summer, Brandy is traveling to Scotland to meet with an Orkney chairmaker, who grows his own wheat to make his chairs. “My grandparents left land for us grandkids when they passed, so my portion is going to this trip. I need this trip right now. Annie Price [their business coach] talked about this recently as a ‘brain dump’ when you just need to process everything you’ve been consuming.” This trip won’t be the first which revolved around caning. “For my 40th birthday, we went on a chair nerd adventure in England after an English scholar invited me to a chair conference. Turn a corner, chairs everywhere! Also visited a stone chair called ‘A Lady’s Chair.’ I nicknamed the trip American Chair Nerd in London.”

Brandy lights up talking about these trips, and it’s apparent that for her, chairs are worth traveling the globe to see because they represent a piece of history and tell a part of that culture’s story, while allowing her to also share about caning with likeminded chair enthusiasts.

Chair Caning Dictionary To be a chair nerd, you must incorporate these terms into your vocabulary:

Chairgasm

The noise you make when you spot a beautiful chair.

Chair porn

Images and videos of beautiful, unique, or rare chairs from around the world to drool over.

#Canespotting

Used on social media when a piece of caned furniture is spotted.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 23

BR ANDY CLEMENTS, DAVE KLINGLER & ROSIE

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| June 2017

THE MUSEUM is a visual feast for chair nerds.

This educational and historical advocacy wasn’t always part of the plan, Dave notes, saying, “In the very beginning, we were just going to do picture framing, then we opened Go Chair Repair.”

Once their website launched in 2010, they were inundated with chairs, with eight being dropped off during the grand opening of their first studio, a smaller, windowless studio in another part of the River Arts District. As Go Chair Repair, for the first five years they were focused almost exclusively on restoration.

Yet churning out repairs didn’t satisfy Brandy’s passion for chair caning, and it was starting to have health consequences that at one point required a year of physical therapy for her shoulder. She also weathered “five years of disc stuff which keeps popping up” and both Brandy and Dave experience recurring “tennis elbow and nervy arm pain”—not atypical ailments in their line of work, apparently. The duo began thinking about a name change and about what their business could grow into, especially after Brandy saw The Art of Seating exhibit. “This super-rich chair nerd had this traveling chair exhibit, and I ran around it after a ten-hour drive, just geeking out,” she says.

(See the sidebar for details on the exhibition’s 2017 schedule.)

So, they reached out to Mountain BizWorks, which offers its Foundations business planning classes and helped them finetune their vision and business model. (Brandy has high praise for the organization: “We have done BizWorks stuff for at least eight years. In particular, Jodi Rhoden and Annie Price, who has her

own business consulting business, Birds Eye Business Planning & Adventures. Jodi works with her. We seriously could not have done it without them—Annie checks in on us periodically outside of ‘business business.’”) Plus, they wanted to be much more than just chair repairers; they wanted to be craftsman who both taught and continued to do their craft. “We knew it was time to elevate our craft,” says Dave, “so when we ran across a Chinese legend about the Goddess-Weaver that wove stars into a silver river in the sky, we thought, ‘That works!’”

The tale has also been spun into a chamber opera, and it serves as a guide for Brandy and Dave whenever it comes time to make a decision about the business as they strive toward loftier ambitions for Silver River. “I’ve tried to limit my committees and boards, but if you care, you over-give. I have to live by want-to versus have-to right now,” Brandy explains. Yet she stays active in the Southern Highland Craft Guild (“I thought it was going to be hoity-toity, but it’s so freaking helpful”) and has taken classes at A-B Tech to enhance her knowledge about running small business operations. Their renewed vision made it easier to say “no” to a potentially lucrative deal to buy out a retiring chair caning supplier, too. “We were so flattered, but the more we thought about it, with the customer service and logistics importing materials from India and China, the more we realized it didn’t align with our vision.” Neither regret passing up that deal.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 25

Before they opened Go Chair Repair, Brandy juggled being a yoga trainer, massage therapist, and waitress, but that all changed when she became an Artist in Residence at Grove Arcade Arts and Heritage Gallery in the fall of 2008. For Dave, after finishing his mechanical engineering degree, he had no interest in getting a “real job.” Instead, he too took up a family trade and started a woodworking/home repair/landscaping business with his brother. He felt like a kid again, hammering away in his grandfather’s shop when he was a boy.

Anyone who visits the shop will surely notice the commitment they have to their work.

Eventually, the two would meet in Folly Beach, South Carolina, at a point in time when both seemed to be looking for a change and a way to spend their days working with their hands. Brandy steered the pair toward Asheville, which she had fallen in love with during college summers teaching at the Falling Creek Camp for Boys in nearby Tuxedo, and they’ve felt at home here ever since.

Sharing the Knowledge High on Brandy’s list is to transition the business into a nonprofit. “The more I talk to these nonprofits like Lowell’s Boat Shop and museum, the oldest continuously running boat shop in America—well, it’s not a static museum,” she explains. “And (master woodworker) Peter Korn wrote a book in Maine and started out making furniture, teaching it, opened a school [the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, in Rockport, Maine], then it turned into a nonprofit. It’s important to establish yourself as an expert in the field first.

These people have been really helpful as we work to become a nonprofit.” They hope that becoming one will help ease the financial burdens of running a business, when really, they want to be running a museum and educational center and then only caning when they want to versus have to.

“Some days, you just want the shop to yourself and to just cane all day,” Dave says, and Brandy vigorously shakes her head in agreement.

The day I visited, they easily had 50 chairs in the back waiting to be caned for customers, and their current wait times are up to two months. “We will never run out of chairs to work on. At one point, people were coming in from Connecticut and Hawaii!” Brandy exclaims, laughing.

“I mean, we will never cane everyone’s chairs. Most of our 26

| June 2017

Chair Caning in the

United States of America Although Silver River Center for Chair Caning is the nation’s only chair caning school and museum, here’s where you can find other chair caning classes and exhibits.

THE WICKER WOMAN Edmond, Oklahoma

BLACK RIVER ACADEMY MUSEUM Ludlow, Vermont

THE SEAT WEAVER Westfield, Massachusetts

VILLAGES FOLK SCHOOL Keosauqua, Iowa

THE ART OF SEATING TOURING EXHIBITION

Splitting time in 2017 between Huntsville Museum of Art in Huntsville, Alabama, and Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, Arkansas

SLATER MILL

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

INSTITUTE OF MAKING London, England

Many historic, cultural, and folk festivals also feature chair caning, including:

ANNUAL ZWANZIGSTEIN FEST Croghan, New York

HUNTERSVILLE TRADITIONS DAY FESTIVAL Huntersville, West Virginia

GREEN RIVER PLOW DAY Campbellsville, Kentucky

CHAIRS, CHAIRS, CHAIRS! This is just a sampling of all the chairs they have to f ix.

You can also find a chair caner near you on Peerless Rattan’s World Map of Caners: PeerlessRattan.com

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 27

WARM DAYS COOL NIGHTS

colleagues are covered up as well. The more we realized people’s reactions, the more we realized we don’t need to hog all the chairs. We can let business walk out the door.

We used to begrudgingly work on some chairs, and now let some walk out the door since we can do some of the more complicated chairs.” To help reduce their workload a bit, they hired a part-time employee last year and also have an intern.

A fellow chair nerd from Raleigh also drives over about once a month to cover the shop for them.

It’s evident that they enjoy tackling older and rarer chairs, with Brandy mentioning wistfully she’d never gotten the chance to work on a particular style of chair. So, taking the nonprofit approach seems to make a lot of sense for their five-year plan, since it will free up time and energy to focus on quality over quantity as well as aid their goals to grow the craft. “We had a group of middle school kids come in from United Way, and to show them what we do, we brought out a bunch of hats and explained all our roles that way. By the end, we were wearing 15 different hats, and they got a kick out of us trying to balance them all on our head,” Dave says.

“Trying to juggle everything while also producing the work we need to make money is...” he trails off. “A lot?” I offer, and he grins and nods his head in agreement.

Earlier on, they tried working with museums and installations, but in those situations, Brandy said, “We’re often treated like ‘the help.’” This bias shows up in the way museums typically display chairs, too. For example, most places only credit the chairmaker and rarely mention chair caners, except at Yale University. They do have a partnership making woven seats for local chairmaker Brian Boggs to provide another stream of income. (Boggs was profiled in the June 2015 issue of this magazine.) But what really drives them is a shared vision to one day fill up a 10,000-sq.-ft. space with a distinct museum, workshop, and store sections to help ramp up educational opportunities and showcase a robust timeline of the history of chair caning.

Of course, a building like that doesn’t run cheap. Brandy mentions some of the nonprofits she’s been reaching out to, explaining that some get $300,000 in funding a year while others may get $1 million or more. They’ve been working with a mentor from SCORE who’s guiding them on what documentation needs gathered and advising the couple on paving the way to become a nonprofit, like getting published, public speaking, and being a visible advocate for caning.

Brandy appears to be relishing this role and shares that during a recent trip to drop off chairs in Winston-Salem, an unofficial group of 21 fellow chair nerds asked her if she’d give a short talk about caning. She spoke for over two hours.

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BR ANDY CLEMENTS continuing a family tradition of caning.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 29

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inside their working studio, museum, and chair shop that’s part of the Curve Studios in the River Arts District.

Anyone who visits the shop will surely notice the commitment they have to their work, which for Brandy stems from being the fourth generation caner in her family.

“Brandy’s father, he pushed Brandy into chair caning. He passed before he got to see all this. His energy is infused in this space,” Dave says, with obvious pride. Brandy’s aunt continues to cane in Norfolk, Virginia, and taught her much of what she knows. “She always told me, ‘Make sure you make enough for a manicure!’” The physicality of their profession has led to a lot of hacks-on-the-job, many of which Dave orchestrates by cobbling together makeshift tools. “Comprehensive books about chair caning are missing; it’s all piecemeal,” he explains. Brandy jumps in, “Exactly. There are no books, only some sparse instructional manuals.”

The lack of information available about how to actually do chair caning means that they’re constantly hacking little ways to save time or their wrists and fingers. Dave shows me one contraption that only saves about 10 seconds per use, “But those 10 seconds all add up when you’re doing the same thing over and over.”

Yet these struggles don’t seem to annoy Dave and Brandy; instead, they exude visible satisfaction when talking about one of their makeshift tools, or while instructing a student who’s struggling with a particular step in the process.

During my visit, a student in her sixties from Texas named Beverly was on her last day of a five-day bootcamp. During that time, she caned seven chairs in different styles and didn’t show an ounce of fatigue or creaky fingers. “I’m having a blast!” Beverly shared, a huge grin on her face. “I’m going to do this now when I go back home as my retirement business.” The business goal for their bootcamps and classes is to have at least four students at a time, and advisors have chided them to cancel when a class

WE SELL doesn’t have four signups. “But people book their travel and make plans months in advance sometimes,” Brandy explains, “and we just don’t feel right cancelling on anyone. Besides, we love teaching and getting people hooked on caning.”

I ask Brandy if Beverly is their core clientele. “Absolutely. The retirement set see this as a business they want to do, or some are just bored in retirement, and a majority are women.” She credits the craft movement and the American Craft Council as contributing factors that help drive students to cane, and they’ve had several repeat students, too. However, they do stress part of their mission is to introduce caning to the next generation; and to help, Silver River Summer School Day Camps are being offered for the first time in 2017. Camps will take place in June, July, and August and are divided

the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, in 2018.

This nonprofit started in 1925 and offers a wide range of classes from expert craftsmen year-round leading intensive weekend and week-long learning experiences. Forty-nine subjects are listed in their directory, including blacksmithing, beekeeping, and tinsmithing. And in 2016, Silver River hosted the Seatweavers’ Guild’s 9th annual gathering at the Folk Art Center, with hopes of hosting an annual conference here in Asheville at some point.

“We want to make it a chair caners’ mecca. From the get-go, that was part of the long-term goal,” Dave explains. “But opening a second location on the West Coast would be ideal, too,” Brandy adds, the entrepreneurial side of her brain

“We want to make it a chair caners’ mecca.

From the get-go, that was part of the longterm goal. But opening a second location on the West Coast would be ideal, too.”

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• Premium always paid for into three age groups: grades 1-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12. The one-day classes will be from 10AM to 4PM and cost $75. “Kids are really into it,” Dave says. “We just had one girl come in who said, ‘I want to do this,’ and you could see in her eyes she was determined. That was really cool.”

It’s easy to envision young Brandy responding with the same kind of vigor when her family first introduced her to caning. When I ask what they do for fun, they both sort of shrug their shoulders and give a clipped answer, “Beer, music, you know.” These chair nerds are all in, with seemingly little time spent outside the realm of their craft.

Their advocacy has begun paying dividends, including Brandy being accepted to teach chair caning at

kicking in, while Dave picks up his tools and starts working on a restoration. She shares, “I push him, and he reigns in my flittering; this wouldn’t work without that balance.”

The easy back-and-forth, flowing from work to conversation and back, shows this balance in action. As Brandy and Dave continue their mission to make Asheville synonymous with chair caning, they know one thing will be key to making their marriage and their growing business work. “You have to make time for yourself,” Brandy advises.

Sounds like a day of peaceful chair caning solo is in order.

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column

Capital “I” for “Insurance” For any business owner—no matter the size of the business—selecting your limits of liability can be a critical decision.

G

O

gene adams

CIC, is a Commercial Business Specialist and GEORGE J. PFEIFFER is Vice President at Insurance Service of Asheville.

N A LMOST A DA ILY BASIS, INSUR A NCE

agents enter discussions about liability coverage, including subjects such as Business Autos, General Liability, and Directors and Officers liability, among other types of insurance policies. Typically discussed are injury scenarios (both personal and bodily injury) and the potential lawsuits that result from such.

This inevitably leads to questions about how much insurance one should carry, and what specific “limits of liability insurance” one should have.

Most commercial insurance policies start with a $1-million-dollar limit of liability coverage “per occurrence.” Simply put, this means that one claim (or “occurrence”) could use up to $1 million of the insurance company’s money defending a client and paying any judgments rendered as part of a claim and/or a resulting lawsuit. This basic limit can be increased, of course, at additional premiums, to $2 million, $5 million, or as much as $50 million.

So how does one decide how much liability insurance to carry? What is the thought process?

What outside elements enter into the discussion?

Does investment/return or risk/reward play in to the equation?

The Calculation As a starting point, the question that’s frequently asked is, “How much are you going to get sued

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for?” This is a pretty open-ended question, and at first might seem a little flippant, but hopefully, if you have a thoughtful agent, it starts a discussion and a process that includes some of the following questions: “What can go wrong with your product or business that can result in physical injury or damage to someone’s property?” “Does your business have heavy-duty vehicles on the road that have the potential to injure multiple people and/ or cause a great deal of property damage?” “Does your business involve products that people ingest (think food, food products, etc.)?” “Do you advise other businesses and create plans for them?” “Do you advise individuals and create plans for their lives?” Questions such as these help you assess your business and your risk profile, and guide you in choosing your liability limits.

The point is that the type of business you have has an effect on the “limits of liability insurance” you want to carry. The services that you provide, the equipment that you own or use, and the everyday processes that you perform—all of these factors

G have a profound effect on what you may want in liability limits.

Often, when I am discussing limits of liability beyond the standard policy limits (remember, most commercial policies start at $1 million per occurrence) with a client, I can see them doing the math in their heads: “More liability coverage equals more premium” is the thought process. This part of the discussion should lead your agent to discuss the fact that twice the limit of liability, say going from a $1 million to a $2 million per occurrence limit, does not create twice the cost.

Frequently, it’s only a slight incremental increase to the next level, meaning you receive more protection for a very

THESE CONTR ACTS AND BANKING RELATIONSHIPS OF TEN COME WITH STIPULATIONS THAT REQUIRE CERTAIN LIMITS OF LIABILITY. modest increase in cost. The first level of coverage is the most expensive; the higher levels decrease in per unit cost.

This is an “affordability” discussion.

What can you afford? Where is the line between coverage and affordability?

After this point, the discussion often becomes much more wide-ranging. Talk with your agent about your assets and what other organizations similar to yours carry for their limits of liability.

Anecdotal information is always a part of any good discussion about liability insurance, i.e., what have other businesses run into and what do they see in the marketplace? Have others been sued? Caused damages? Of course, this information should not be presented by actually naming other businesses, but the essence is that there are businesses similar to yours out there.

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column

Risk Vs. Cost

What’s at Stake An analysis of proper limits of liability can get very technical in some cases. Depending on the sophistication of the business

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There are times when the limits of liability insurance a business carries are not up to the business at all.

Most businesses enter into contracts with other businesses.

There are almost always bank loans and banking relationships.

These contracts and banking relationships often come with stipulations that require certain limits of liability, or even requiring other types of insurance coverage that a business owner might not purchase if it were up to them alone.

An example of this is a business I worked with a few years ago. They were in expansion mode and went to a bank for a loan for the needed capital to add product, add space, and increase output. As part of the process, the bank required them to increase their current $1 million in liability coverage to $10 million. In addition, the business was required to buy what’s called key man life insurance on each owner (in which, if someone dies unexpectedly, the beneficiary of the policy is the company itself), and to increase the coverage on buildings and inventory.

This specific example leads to some conclusions. The bank’s risk management department had assessed what was needed for this type of loan, and the bank wanted assurance that its

money would be protected in case of a catastrophic event. And to get the capital, the business had to meet these criteria.

The good news? The increased cost for insurance was worth the investment, and as a result, the business was far better insulated from potentially dislocating events than in a situation where the owners simply bought what they thought they needed or wanted to afford.

Another important contract to consider is your lease. It often spells out limits of liability coverage and requires the tenant to carry specific amounts of General Liability coverage.

Does your agent ask to see your lease? They should. It carries very important information we need to know to write your insurance coverage correctly. Check your lease to make sure you are carrying the limits of liability coverage it requires. The landlords require this as a part of their efforts to limit their risk and to mitigate their damages for the risk you bring them by being a tenant in their building. The best thing about this is that your insurance policy protects you first.

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and its risk management department, it can lead to analyzing historical loss patterns, frequency of losses, and severity of those losses. A look at your risk profile and appetite for risk is also important in any case.

HAVING A WIDE-R ANGING DISCUSSION... AND THEN ANALYZING AS MUCH DATA AS POSSIBLE ARE ALL IMPORTANT PIECES OF THE PUZZLE IN DECIDING THE LIMITS OF LIABILITY INSUR ANCE YOU SHOULD CARRY. Something that I remind my clients of is that insurance definitely carries a cost. However, if you think insurance is expensive, you should think about the cost of being uninsured or under-insured. A major claim or series of claims can risk the CAPJUNE17

5/8/17

2:33 PM

very existence of what you’ve worked hard for over many years.

A great program of insurance with proper limits of liability coverage can preserve your income, your assets, the lives and incomes of your employees, and the other businesses that depend on yours for income. The effects can be wide-ranging.

I would add that nonprofit businesses also have a great stake in having proper limits of liability coverage. Your mission is important, and preserving that mission is important to your community, your employees, and especially your clients. Your directors and officers also have a need to be well-protected.

They are volunteers, and as such, expose themselves to liability for their decisions and for the nonprofit’s operations.

In summary, having a wide-ranging discussion with your insurance agent, other business advisors, attorneys, and partners with whom you contract, and then analyzing as much data as possible are all important pieces of the puzzle in deciding the limits of liability insurance you should carry.

Perhaps the most important thing, though, is considering what helps you sleep at night—knowing that you have done the best that you can to protect your business and your assets so that they are preserved far into the future while preventing catastrophic dislocation.

That is Important with a Capital “I.”

Page 1

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CAROLINA in the

WEST [

news briefs

Checkout Time jackson county

The much-loved High Hampton Inn and Country Club of Cashiers has announced it has entered into an agreement with Daniel Communities, in partnership with Arlington Family Offices, to acquire the property in June. The Birmingham, Alabama, headquartered Daniel operates properties throughout the South and Mid-Atlantic regions, while Arlington, based in Birmingham and Nashville, is one of the most respected private wealth management firms in the country. They will be acquiring a business that has been in a prominent local family for three generations. In a statement, Becky and Will McKee noted, “The soul-searching journey that led to the decision to sell High Hampton has been very difficult…

However, the scope and scale of capital

]

to keep High Hampton as polished and poised as our families expect continues to grow larger with each passing year.

Before too long the needs will outpace the available resources of High Hampton.

We will always be proud of this very special place and look forward to a wonderful future ahead for High Hampton.”

The McKees plan to hold a town hallstyle meeting on June 11 at 2PM at High Hampton’s Pavilion for the public.

bank which currently operates 13 banking locations in Buncombe, Madison, McDowell, Henderson and Transylvania counties. First Bancorp will acquire ASB Bancorp, Inc., in a cash and stock transaction, valued as of April 28 at approximately $175 million and slated to close in the fourth quarter of 2017, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Ultimately, the deal will solidify First Bank’s position as North Carolina’s leading community bank, and the combined company will have approximately $5.2 billion in assets, $3.9 billion in loans, and $4.3 billion in deposits. Both First Bank and Asheville Savings Bank have lengthy histories in serving their local customers and communities. The merger is not expected to affect current day-today operations, and should maintain the same employees.

Placing Local Art

Community Assets buncombe county

First Bank, a state-chartered community bank that operates 95 branches in North Carolina and South Carolina and is owned by First Bancorp of Southern Pines, is merging with Asheville Savings Bank, a state-chartered stock savings

CAB210_3rdPg_CovWaufLowe_r2.qxp_Layout 1 5/12/17 9:14 AM Page 1

henderson county

The Design Gallery sources locally and sells globally. The new interior design firm in downtown Hendersonville was launched by Dawn Driskill and Betsy Edwards, who, combined, claim 50 years’ experience in interior and architectural design. Their backgrounds span

Different interests.

Same passion.

Helping you meet your financial goals.

Exec. Vice President Amateur Chef

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Vice President Gardener

NMLS 419852

Senior Vice President Avid fly fisherman

1127 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, NC 28803 (828) 255-5711 carolinaalliancebank.com

residential, hospitality, and commercial projects in multiple countries. The business opened in time to ride the wave of the housing market boom, offering multiple opportunities with new properties and renovations. Current jobs include various local residential projects and work in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and Delray Beach, Florida. While the designers offer full-service interior design, their showroom is open for shopping. Through a partnership with The Gallery of Flat Rock, they satisfy a personal desire to support the arts by getting local talent to furnish accent decor, whether it’s a floral arrangement or a kudzo sculpture by Matt Tommey.

Inasmuch as possible, they locally-source custom furniture and cabinetry.

Transacting for Community Wellness watauga county

The Watauga County Commissioners agreed to sell the old Watauga High School property in Boone to Appalachian State University in exchange for the school’s Business Affairs Annex, valued at $2.8 million, and $15.5 million, payable over 20 years. Appalachian State leadership was interested in making more space

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the old north state

national & world

on campus for classrooms, laboratories, offices, and assemblies. The 75-acre high school property, recently appraised at $16.8 million, offered 35 acres of flat, buildable land for relocating nonacademic student support services, including parking and sports fields. Future actions might include restoring the running track, building dormitories, or setting up a campus daycare. The annex sold to the county would be used as a badly-needed indoor recreation center, and afford space for a swimming complex that can be used by high school teams. The annex’s 3.5 acres are located near the county’s wellness district, which already includes ball fields, tennis courts, and a greenway.

Appalachian will begin the transaction with a $25,000 earnest payment, and the deal should close September 30. In October of 2018, the university will turn the annex over to the county, and then in 2022, make its first annual payment to the county from its endowment fund.

Lay Your Head, Upon My Electrodes buncombe county

Peter Freer of Freer Logic is developing a headrest to help drivers focus. The

carolina in the west

device uses electroencephalography, a process that used to involve attaching wires to a patient’s head to measure brainwaves. Now, while regulatory agencies are slow to be convinced, Freer is performing EEG’s wirelessly with sensors embedded in an automobile headrest in conjunction with a desktop driving simulator. A person seated with a headrest watches the virtual road while a green status bar on the right side of the screen monitors fourteen types of brain activity.

As Freer calls out distractions, the bar diminishes. If the driver is sufficiently distracted, the simulator will stop. Freer is now trying to sell his neurofeedback concept to the automotive and furniture industries, displaying wireless EEG’s at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Freer has been developing the device for awhile, noting it took two years just to calibrate it.

He was inspired by 14 years of teaching math, science, and computer courses to children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. He is also the inventor of Play Attention games. Each of six games is geared to a different cognitive skill and uses neurofeedback to help the user focus.

A study conducted by Boston researchers indicated the games did help children improve attention management skills.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 37

carolina in the west

Reaching out to Artists’ Left Brains haywood and swain counties

Skyland Automotive, Inc.

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Two Western North Carolina community colleges held seminars to help artists with what is usually the most detested part of their work—the business end. Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center in Clyde held a summit with the name Crafting Your Success. Local artisans, professionals, and members of the school’s faculty offered advice on marketing and branding, money management, business planning, insurance, taxes, and legal considerations. Southwestern Community College’s Small Business Center offered three Thursday programs for artists in business at its Swain Center in Bryson City. Business Planning for Craft Artists shared the premise that business planning for arts and crafts ventures is vastly different from that for other enterprises. Business 101 for Craft Artists covered a lot of the same territory as the Clyde seminar. Lastly, How to Market Your Craft Business suggested ways to fill the gaps standing between getting marketable art in the hands of interested consumers, while remaining financially viable and compliant with pertinent laws. Presenter Deanna Lynch, whose textile company bears her name, explained seminars are important because “things change quickly.”

Eliminating Educational Lag Time yancey county

The Anspach Advanced Manufacturing School at Mayland Community College’s Yancey Learning Center graduated its inaugural class.

The school opened in April 2015 to offer a two-year degree in applied engineering and training in fields like automation, mechatronics, and design. Its mission is to develop a workforce with up and coming technology, instead of using 38

| June 2017

Attorney Tips on Employee Law the traditional method of teaching on obsolete hand-me-downs from corporate upgrades. To date, 72 students have taken classes. Six will get degrees and many others have received diplomas or certificates. Dr. William Anspach, an orthopedic surgeon, who, in his retirement, invents and manufactures tools for neurosurgeons and has led the effort to establish the school. The private sector raised $2.6 million, to which he contributed an undisclosed amount.

Another donor was BRP Spruce Pine, a manufacturer of recreational vehicles.

BRP has 30 to 40 openings for skilled manufacturers, and management is interested in new technology to reduce production times. Students at Anspach enjoy hands-on training with computer numerical control machines, a robotic arm, and a $250,000 3D metal laser printer purchased with a donation from the Duke Energy Foundation. A special barbecue and cake-cutting ceremony was held in the students’ honor prior to the college-wide graduation ceremony.

They Love It haywood county

Duke Energy is proposing a microgrid for a communications tower in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The tower, located atop Mt. Sterling in Haywood County, enables emergency communications for the park, and it is currently powered by an overhead line. The microgrid would consist of a 10-kilowatt solar array using a Fluidic 95-kilowatt-hour, zinc-air battery. The change would allow acres of right-of-way now needed for the overhead line to be returned to their natural state. The standalone generator also promises to be less expensive and more reliable than connection to a substation. In the current setup, if a power pole goes down, Duke has to rent a helicopter for repairs.

Duke already runs two microgrids, one at the utility’s research facility in Gaston County and another at a Charlotte fire station. The power station would cost

less than $1 million and take only a couple months to install, but the plans must first hurdle regulatory review under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act and secure the approval of the National Park Service. Approval from the North Carolina Utilities Commission came after the scheduled public hearing was canceled because all prior community feedback had been nothing but glowing.

Cars that Promote Wellness western north carolina

Four Seasons Compassion for Life, a nonprofit provider of hospice and palliative care, announced it will partner with Enterprise Fleet Management.

Four Seasons serves 11 counties in Western North Carolina, and its employees travel anywhere from five to 250 miles a day providing in-home healthcare. In light of the importance of vehicles to employee dependability and care for people with serious illnesses, executives determined it was wiser to invest in a fleet than in office upgrades.

In addition to saving the company an estimated $30,000 a year, the move is expected to improve employee wellness by reducing automobile-related stress. Enterprise delivered a total of 20 vehicles, Nissan Sentras and Jukes, to Four Seasons’ offices wrapped in the company logo, which is expected to improve brand visibility. The clinicians and community staff who drive the cars are given fuel and maintenance cards. Enterprise will manage the fleet, tracking fuel and mileage to schedule preventive maintenance. It also handles licensing, registration, and vehicle insurance. Enterprise Fleet manages fleets of 20 vehicles or more for public and private corporations and nonprofits.

With over 50 offices in the United States and Canada, the company manages over 430,000 vehicles.

KEEP DOCUMENTS Keep copies of important documents, such as handbooks/policies, disciplinary actions, etc., at home. You may not have access to them if you are terminated.

IS THE NON-COMPETE AGREEMENT I SIGNED ENFORCEABLE? • It must be supported by valid consideration – did you get something of value for signing the agreement?

• The limitations must be reasonable as to scope, duration and geographical extent – the courts have helped define what is reasonable.

John C. Hunter Attorney at Law

Providing experienced employee representation for over 30 years One North Pack Square | Ste 421 Asheville, NC 28801 828.281.1940 | jchlawfirm.com

MY HANDBOOK STATES THAT I AM AN “AT-WILL” EMPLOYEE. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN ?

1. Most employment relationships in NC are ‘”at-will” 2. This means that you can be terminated for any reason as long as it's lawful 3. It is not lawful if the real reason for your termination is prohibited discrimination, a violation of the public policy of the State, or in retaliation for doing something that is protected by certain state or federal laws.

4.There are other exceptions to the “at-will” status.

WHEN SHOULD I CONTACT AN EMPLOYMENT ATTORNEY •You have concerns about how you are being treated in the workplace or whether your termination is lawful.

•You are not being paid your promised wages, including accrued vacation pay after your termination.

•You are being asked to sign an employment contract, a non-compete agreement or a severance agreement.

• You have been denied unemployment benefits.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 39

Dust Trust IN

WE

Do you salivate at the sight of an antique?

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a dealer of antiques, why do you do it? written by jim murphy photos by anthony harden

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A COLLECTION of items for sale at Antique Tobacco Barn.

local industry

Where in Western North Carolina can you find antiques, and how much will they cost you?

More important, what exactly makes an antique an “antique”? Let’s discuss.

T

he objects may be simple or elaborate; useful or decorative; inexpensive, valuable, sometimes even rare. But for all their diversity, their one essential quality is: They are survivors.

Antiques are the stuff of life, reaching back decades or centuries and offering a glimpse of what it was like “way back then.” They inspire curiosity about their individual history: Who sat in that 19th century chair? Was it a farmer relaxing at the end of another exhausting day? A merchant waiting for customers? A banker listening to a loan applicant? Over the years, how many people owned it, sat in it and—finally—tucked it away in an attic to gather dust for decades?

Whatever its history, that antique piece of china, silverware, quilt, or chair has outlived numberless contemporary items, fading over the years from everyday necessity to enjoyable curiosity.

You may shy away from the idea of an antique in your home, thinking it will clash with your style and give your place the cluttered, fusty appearance of your Great Aunt Minerva’s overstuffed living room. But, whatever your style, there are probably some antiques that would not only complement it, but also add a unique touch of character.

From historical times to “the old days” and even down to the day before yesterday, people have lived with and embraced different styles, from the very formal crystal chandelier and polished mahogany to the primitive country styles where utility dictated design. The resulting products often offered a clue into the era when they were made and an example of the primitive cleverness we relied on before computers and 3D printers came along to solve many of our problems.

If you are thinking an antique or two might add a little something to your life, the first rule is find something you like. Check out some shops that offer a variety of styles and objects from different eras. Attend a couple of antique auctions, which are great vehicles for learning about old things. If you go to a museum, you can look at excellent examples of furniture, silverware, china, crystal—all the stuff of lives long ago. But you’d better not try to touch anything unless you want an immediate introduction to the security staff. The rule at an auction is just the opposite. At a preview, you are expected to hold the object of your interest, check it out up close and personal. Take the drawers out of a bureau to check the sides and back, to see if the brass pulls are original or if the piece has undergone any repairs. Then, once the bidding begins, you can watch what the “experts” in the room think a piece is worth. As auctioneers like to tell their audience: “You’re the experts. The more you bid, the more it’s worth.” Listen and learn. You can use an auction as your personal antique classroom, and you don’t have to spend a nickel.

Once you have decided what you like, begin shopping. Do not to hesitate to ask the dealer pointed questions: How do I know this is really old? Where was it made?

(England? Europe? United States?) Is it all original? No replaced parts? The dealer should be comfortable with these kinds of questions, and if you think he’s giving you an evasive answer or brushing off your questions, you probably want to move June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 41

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Beginnings

CIRCA 1800 continuous arm Windsor chair in author’s home.

on until you find a dealer you trust. But once you’ve found something you like at a price you consider fair, and once you’ve gotten satisfying answers to your questions, DO NOT HESITATE TO BUY IT. Actually taking the leap—and it is a leap of faith—can be a challenge, even to experienced antique collectors. The easy evasion is: “I’ll go home and think about it.”

And in all likelihood, you will never enjoy having that special object in your life. Buy it, take it home, enjoy it. And use it. That an object is more than 100 years old does not necessarily make it frail or delicate and does not require the owner to set it in some safe place to look at but not touch. Indeed, it is quite the opposite. The fact that a piece has made it to a ripe old age indicates that is sturdy and built to last. Don’t be afraid to use it.

Getting started in the universe of antiques can be a daunting experience. The uninitiated buyer may be confused, even overwhelmed, by the different styles, eras, the jargon dealers toss about—and particularly some of the price tags. One way to ease the tension is to embrace the customer’s ultimate defensive phrase—“Just looking”—and mean it. Early forays into antiquedom should be to shop, browse, ask questions, and not make a purchase until you feel comfortable with the experience.

The best place to start is at your computer. A number of websites—among them, NorthCarolinaAntiqueTrail. com and AntiqueMalls.com; (see the sidebar about online resources, p. 46.) —will point you to clusters of shops and auction houses where you can find anything from a 15th century suit of armor to a 1940s Schwinn bicycle. Unfortunately, you can also find reproduction pieces (repros) that have an antique look but don’t try to hide the fact that they are not old. Some are even dated in an inconspicuous place to alert the buyer.

Repros are disdained by antique purists, but they often make up a significant part of a shop’s inventory. In fact, some dealers have begun identifying them by the much loftier term, “antique inspired” pieces. Another caution is outright fakes. These are pieces that try to hide their newness by adding indicators of long use and wear to a piece manufactured mere months ago. These new items masquerading as antiques are a prime reason you should find a knowledgeable and trustworthy dealer.

Those websites offer a good starting point, but they don’t include every shop in every town. Once you decide on a destination, ask the dealer at the first place you stop to direct you to any other nearby shops. Most dealers are willing to help you; many will offer you a pamphlet that lists the shops in the area. They realize it is in their interest to help the buyer find whatever he’s looking for, agreeing that their best strategy is to steer a customer in

Early forays into antiquedom should be to shop, browse, ask questions, and not make a purchase until you feel comfortable with the experience.

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the right direction, even if it’s at a competitor’s shop. The antique market is limited, and it benefits all dealers to keep the buyers enthusiastic about their experience. Keep them coming back.

My So-Called Antique

When is an antique not an antique? And does it matter?

ANTIQUE The very term, “Antique,” is open to a wide interpretation. To the purist, an antique is an object that is more than 100 years old. Period. Ninety-nine years and eleven months doesn’t cut it. But to many commerce-minded dealers and forgiving clients, the 100-year rule is meant to be broken. They consider an antique to be anything old and no longer in production.

VINTAGE And beyond antique, we have the concept of “Vintage.” This one can be tricky, as there is no accepted range of dates to qualify a piece as vintage. But items from the 1940s and ‘50s are generally considered vintage. The key here is style.

A true vintage piece is one that exhibits a gracious and lasting design that places it in its original time frame. Consider the classic Eames chair: Absolute vintage!

It has the self-conscious and semi-sleek contour of mid-Twentieth Century architecture. (It would look perfectly at home in any building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.) And it still sits comfortably among today’s contemporary styles.

OLD After vintage, there’s the also-ran category of simply “Old.” This category could also be filed under the name, “Used.” If you look hard enough, you may stumble over an old piece that works for you—and the bonus here is that it will probably not cost very much.

SHOPPERS have to really dig to f ind the items they want.

JUNK Moving down the scale of so-called antique stuff, we reach the final category of —you’re going to love this—“Junk.” And here it is useful to offer the reminder that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. So the junketeers are out there, scrounging through flea markets and hoping to find that old Budweiser sign or other such dubious décor. If you’re collecting real antiques, an occasional flea-market foray can be fun, but don’t expect to find that hidden treasure.

COLLECTIBLES Outside the age-related categories sits an indefinable subset called “collectibles.” This label covers an almost infinite array of products. As a rule of thumb, you can assume that there is nothing man has ever invented or manufactured that another man has not collected. So “collectibles” can include Pez dispensers, sewing thimbles, Barbie dolls, Mason jars, and on and on and on. (Hey, what about vinyl records? —CaP Music Collector Ed.) Indulge your browsing among collectibles or run from them. It is your choice.

FOLK ART Another category outside the pure antique field is “folk art.” It can be old, not so old, or even so new the paint is still drying. But if your taste runs to colorful—and often creative—primitive design and structure, you can find examples in many antique shops and, if you’re lucky, even at some flea markets.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 43

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The Stores

In the wide world of commerce, it is the opportunity for profits that usually dictates what kind of business an entrepreneur will pursue. Antique dealers are different.

For the most part, they are in business because they love the stuff. Making money is certainly important, but the base motivation is the antiques themselves.

Nancy Roth and Joe Ewing are a typical case. Owners of The Nancy Roth Antique Shop in Tryon, Joe has been a dealer for 49 years and Nancy for 30.

“You have to have a passion for antiques,” Joe says. He is sitting next to Nancy on an upholstered antique love seat in their shop, surrounded by 18th and 19th century American country furniture—chairs, bureaus, cupboards—and Joe’s silver display, everything from punch bowls and serving platters to dinnerware. In a tall display case, a smattering of old, but definitely not antique, Christmas ornaments and children’s toys presents an anomaly in this room full of early Americana. But it is also a nod to the new reality: For the most part, young people—Gen Xers and millennials—do not embrace early styles. “We don’t have collectors any more,” Nancy says. Joe nods his agreement.

“Young people are not interested.”

Their advice to beginning collectors? “Buy antiques if you like them,” Nancy says. “They get you right here,” pointing to her heart. Joe returns to his theme about passion for antiques. “You buy one thing and that starts your passion.”

Nancy and Joe’s shop is one of several in Tryon and neighboring Landrum, South Carolina. Together, the shops offer a full day of “antiquing,” combining a pleasant drive with several places for an enjoyable lunch and shops

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(L-R) -Antique keys decorate the author’s desk. Antique blacksmithing tools for sale.

Circa 1850 food storage crock with cobalt blue tornado decoration,. repurposed to hold large kitchen utensils.

that have enormous variety of “stuff.” At Dark Horse Antiques, not far from Nancy Roth, one display is wall mounted with about a dozen vintage baseball catcher’s masks, and another wall of hubcaps. The items make no pretense to be antiques, but they offer interesting “out of the box” decorating possibilities.

Because most antique shops are mom-and-pop operations working on limited budgets, they don’t do much advertising, but there are many shops out there in every part of Western North Carolina.

About an hour from downtown Asheville sits the town of Waynesville, another hub of antique shops and another pleasant weekend drive. One of the shops is the funky and mostly primitive Sutton and Sons mall, where Ryan Sutton and his son, Larry, hold forth as a study in contrasts. Ryan

sports a white beard and ponytail, while Larry has gone in the opposite direction with a shaved head. But when they start talking antiques, they speak with one voice.

They opened their shop nine years ago at the start of the national economic crisis. It was a time when the antiques market was nearly on life support. But they made it work. “We brought stuff that nobody else had,” Larry says. “Real antiques.

Ours are dirty, dusty, and crusty. But they’re real. In dust we trust.” His father, Ryan, nods his agreement and goes on to explain his motivation to become a dealer. “We sorta fell into it,” he says. “I collected all my life. I collected Cherokee baskets, quilts my grandmother and great grandmother made. My great grandmother delivered mail on a mule, and I still have the saddlebags she used.”

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Compu-Browse: Antiques at Your Fingertips A multitude of antique shops and auctions dot the Western North Carolina landscape, but the cost of advertising has kept most of them from reaching the general public. The best way to find them is at your computer keyboard, where a Google search of Western North Carolina Antiques will get you started.

NORTHCAROLINAANTIQUETRAIL.COM

EXPLOREASHEVILLE.COM

BRUNKAUCTIONS.COM

This site along with AntiqueMalls.com are also good starting points. These sites contain statewide listings, but they are neatly divided into regional groups. The former site—which also publishes a brochure that you’ll find distributed throughout the region—in particular is useful, not only for its inclusion of city-by-city dealers (38 for the Western North Carolina region alone), but also for the partial list of proximate bed-and-breakfasts that traveling antique hunters can avail themselves of, and the schedule of upcoming antique shows— in fact, there’s one coming up in downtown Hendersonville on June 25, from 9AM to 5PM. (Details: HendersonvilleNCAntiqueTrail.com)

The website also will point you to some antiques in its Shopping section.

Finding auctions can also present a challenge. Brunk has its own website, which includes good photographs, descriptions, condition reports, and estimate prices of every item. It is an excellent resource.

SCREENDOORASHEVILLE.COM These generalized sites can get you going, but they do not include every shop in a given area.

Your Google search will also include websites for some individual shops, which you should check out. In Asheville a prominent shop with its own website is The Screen Door where more than 100 vendors offer everything from architectural pieces to vintage accessories.

AUCTIONZIP.COM Other auctions in the area are listed on a website called AuctionZip. Click on the antiques category, put in your zip code and how many miles you are willing to travel, and the site will show you a monthly calendar of auctions in your area. Click on your projected date of travel to find individual listings, many with photos of the auction items.

The computer offers a good starting point, but finding an antique shop is at best an imperfect science.

Be sure to ask the dealers about other shops they might recommend.

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Their shop now includes their own items, as well as 25 guest dealer booths, all of them offering country and primitive objects. Taken together, the inventory presents an eclectic mix of baskets, furniture, tools, commercial signs, pottery, license plates, and 33rpm record albums—to name just a few of their items.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, a shopper grabbed an old fruit box with a colorful label to serve as a “decoration for my daughter’s wedding. We’re working on a theme.” Another shopper said, “I’m not interested in antiques. I’m just hunting for odds and ends, knickknacks.” What is the most recent odd-and-end he bought? “A framed Egyptian painting. It’s not antique, but I liked it.” And a couple from Virginia found an old foot warmer at a reasonable price. “We’ll be able to make a profit on this. We’re dealers—part-time,” he said.

In fact, many, if not most, of the people who buy antiques are also dealers. An insider joke in the antique industry is that three dealers were trapped on a desert island with only one chair between them.

They sold it to each other often enough that they all made a living.

BOOTHS ABOUND at the Antique Tobacco Barn.

MIX ‘N’ MATCH: Antique carpet, with contemporar y furniture and antique dropleaf table and Windsor chair.

An insider joke in the antique industry is that three dealers were trapped on a desert island with only one chair between them.

They sold it to each other often enough that they all made a living.

Yet making a living is the tricky part. Most of the dealers who have booths in antique malls are pursuing a part-time hobby that occasionally produces enough income to pay for itself.

At Oddfellows Antiques in Asheville, owner Tom Haskin agrees.

“Most dealers don’t make much money,” he says. But Tom and his wife/partner, Kelly, have turned a good eye for interesting items and a willingness to work long, hard hours into a profitable business.

Tom makes two buying trips to England a year, returning with as many as 600 items. Most of them “are from the 1920s and ‘30s,” he says. “So they’re not technically antiques. But they have some age and a lot of character.” (See sidebar, p. 43, for a discussion about how to “define” an antique.)

Tom credits Kelly with spurring his interest in antiques. “She has a good eye, and she got us started,” he says. Kelly looks back to “when I started creating my own spaces, probably college. I started going to flea markets and stuff.” Tom and Kelly agree that the most enjoyable part of the business is the shopping: finding items that have character and an appealing look. Tom says it’s more fun “shopping with Kelly,” and she lets out a hearty laugh. “I go crazy,” she says. Kelly also enjoys the selling. “You meet great people.

There are still people who want a couple of character things in their June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 47

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CIRCA 1900, graduated stack of grain measures.

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| June 2017

house. The kind of stuff you can’t order on a department store website.” Her grin fades as she considers, “But I see far fewer people who are truly passionate about collecting.”

Kelly would like to see more young people developing an interest in antiques and, as if on cue, a 26-year old man approaches her with a question. He has been browsing through the shop and indicates a real interest in antiques. “I hate to see things destroyed,” he says. “They had real craftspeople back then.” How do his friends react to his interest? “Some of them are okay with it,” he says. “They’ll go out with me to the different shops, just to see what’s out there.”

Oddfellows shows mostly Tom and Kelly’s merchandise, but, as he notes, “We have five outside dealers,” he says. On a recent day, a customer was interested in a small four-drawer chest belonging to one of the other dealers. It had no price tag. Tom called the dealer, got the price—and made the sale.

Later, the buyer disclosed that he is also a dealer, who had driven here from Kentucky as part of a regular shopping trip.

Oddfellows is part of a complex of four shops that feature a similar spread of antique objects, from jewelry, old newspapers and magazines, and coins to mid-century furniture and art.

The sights… the seasons…

The shops sit on Swannanoa River Road, just down from what is probably the most widely known shop in Asheville, the Antique Tobacco Barn. At 70,000-sq.-ft. of floor space, a serious browser can spend hours among the statuary, furniture, oddments, and curiosities presented by more than 60 dealers. Manager Doug Begeman says the inventory is “not all antiques,” but he describes it as an “eclectic variety of collectibles and antiques.” The Barn is certainly among the most popular antique destinations in the Asheville area. On a recent Saturday, Doug says, “We had record sales,” going back over the 34-year history of the place. “It was the longest line I’ve ever seen.”

Moving beyond Asheville, another worthwhile antique destination is the High Country, where more than a dozen shops are sprinkled in Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, and their surrounding towns. Several of the shops are multipledealer locations, including the Hidden Valley Antique Mall in Boone. With more than 30 dealers, the selections range from the very old to the not-so-old furniture, farm tools, sports equipment, and even Santa statues. Whatever your taste, whatever you’re looking for, you’re likely to find something worth your attention.

the lifestyle.

Making Your Bid

Beyond mom-and-pop shops and multi-dealer antique malls, an essential antique experience is the auction. Between time spent at a preview and the hours sitting at the auction itself, you can get a good education, and you might even come away with a new (old) family treasure. The preview is usually open the day before an auction and in the hours before the gavel falls for the first item. The schedule is listed on the website announcement of the auction. Give yourself plenty of time to look carefully at the items. You want to check for hidden repairs, cracks, replaced parts, refinishing, or repainting. Finding any of those “problems” doesn’t necessarily mean you should avoid a piece; it merely helps you decide what price you’re willing to pay.

And when you’re calculating what you should pay for a piece, remember the buyer’s premium. This takes a little getting used to, but it is a staple of the auction business.

Most auctions charge the buyer 13 percent commission on any purchase, with a three percent reduction for “cash or good check.” That’s their way of discouraging credit-card purchases. Check out the rules of the auction before you bid. If you “win” something with a $100 bid, it actually will cost you $110 plus sales tax.

At the auction itself, many, if not most, of the bidders are probably dealers. Auctions are a prime source of inventory for them, and anyone making multiple purchases is almost certainly a dealer. Look for the person buying the kind of items you’re interested in, and then approach him and ask, “Where do you sell?” They’re usually happy to tell you, hoping you might become a customer. And, indeed, you might. That

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buyer has the kind of things that interest you. He probably has a lot more in his shop, and he likely knows a lot about those things. He might end up becoming a good connection.

In addition to the AuctionZip listings (see sidebar, p.

46), there is one auction house in Asheville that is worth

artifacts from around the world. Opening bids can range as low as $200, but it is not surprising when a special piece sells for six figures.

What may be surprising to the beginner is the number of bidders who actually attend the auction. You often see more empty seats than buyers in the room. Many of the bids come from a bank of telephones at the back of the room, where Brunk employees are taking bids from buyers across the country and around the world. The auction also includes on-line bidders and people who have left bids before it began. If you should bid on an object at Brunk, remember, the buyer’s premium here is 20 percent (23 if you pay by credit card).

Lauren Brunk, vice president of the auction house, spoke to the issue of online antiquing. “I think you get to a place where it takes time to develop connoisseurship of a type of object. That is rarely as appealing as it was a

That confidence becomes a matter of trusting the online dealer. The buyer must rely solely on whatever pictures and description the dealer offers. going to for the preview even if you have no intention of buying anything. Brunk Auctions on Tunnel Road (BrunkAuctions.com) features the best of the best in any category you can imagine. Their March auction, for example, included paintings, crystal, pottery, tapestry, furniture, lighting, rugs, sculpture, and other assorted

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generation earlier, when people socialized by collecting things.

There was a broader connectivity of collectors. Now that social contact isn’t seen as valuable. And it isn’t necessary, because now you can use Google or a website that might provide information for hundreds of auction houses. So much (of the antique business) has gone online that you have to have people buy confidently without actually having held the thing in their hands.”

That confidence becomes a matter of trusting the online dealer. The buyer must rely solely on whatever pictures and description the dealer offers and perhaps a dialogue via email to get more information. Brunk’s online catalog includes a condition report for every item. “We live here,” Lauren says.

“And we plan to continue being here so it’s just a long vision of how we treat people.”

But, as Lauren says, online buyers can’t hold the thing in their hands, can’t translate the seller’s listed dimensions into actual three-dimensional size, or see if the color might have been distorted a bit by the photography. Depending on the size of the purchase, the return process can be difficult and costly. Trusting the dealer becomes enormously important. Many websites link

to trustworthy long-time dealers who qualify as experts in their field. One source for “expert” dealers is the publication Maine Antique Digest. The newspaper’s website (MaineAntiqueDigest. com) contains links to their advertisers, who are among the best in their respective specialties. A buyer can certainly purchase the perfect object—exactly what he was looking for—online. But it requires a diligence and an acquired trust in the online dealer.

***

For young people furnishing an apartment or their first house, antique shops, auctions, flea markets, and the internet can provide a source for everything from kitchenware to a bed or sofa for far less money than new items would cost. The category “antiques” is a tiny player in the overall economy of Western North Carolina. It is not a significant employer; its annual sales wouldn’t amount to even a skinny slice of an economic pie chart. But antiques represent the ultimate in recycling, and the experience of flea markets, shops, and auctions can be an entertaining recreation. And it might even produce a unique and useful purchase.

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Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

The allures and legal considerations of pop-up shops.

F

O R Y E A R S NOW, A N E W T Y PE O F R E TA I L

merchant has been “popping up” everywhere. Short-term, temporary retail events, or “pop-ups,” serve as a marketing strategy for retailers and entrepreneurs looking to extend their brand into new markets, test their new brands with limited potential for loss, or take advantage of a short-term marketing opportunity such as a particular event or holiday.

J

joanne badr

is an Asheville native, and an attorney with Ward and Smith, P.A.

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Pop-up shops began to emerge more prevalently in 2009, during the depths of the Great Recession, when vacancy rates were sky–high and landlords were desperate to fill spaces. However, in recent years, pop-ups have come to be known as trendy business ventures with their own consumer demand, providing an opportunity for consumers to regain their excitement for in-store purchases.

Pop-up shops can be started within traditional buildings—occupying whole warehouse spaces or only a portion of an already-occupied building—or as stand-alone kiosks, carts, or motor vehicles such as food trucks. Some of the biggest players in the pop-up market are farmers’ markets, food trucks, pop-up retail stores, and festivals, but pop-up shops can run the gamut from big-name brand retail sales, start-up retail sales, and restaurants to one-time events such as dinner clubs or parties.

Consumers have come to expect unique shopping experiences from pop-up merchants, including distinctive products or food, an opportunity to shop locally, lower prices, and the intrigue that comes with knowing that the experience is a temporary

| June 2017

and short-lived one. The “here today, gone tomorrow” mysterious nature of pop-ups adds to their allure and is part of the reason why pop-up businesses have become a multi-billion dollar industry.

Examples of pop-up shops include: • A new clothing designer setting up inside a women’s hair salon for two weeks; • A pop-up Korean restaurant, set up within a cocktail bar, serving dinner on Mondays for two months; • A temporary specialty coffee and pastry counter, operating within a permanent storefront that sells local artwork— helping to generate free publicity for the emerging bakery planning to open a permanent storefront in six months; • A café on the beach, open for three summer months each year; • A kiosk selling specialty pet treats and toys, set up in a gardening center; and,

J • A frozen food company’s temporary restaurant—set up in a vacant storefront—where diners can settle their bill by snapping an Instagram post of the meal thereby helping to generate free publicity for the frozen food company’s line of products.

Just think of us as the company lifeguard.

While pop-up shops come in all different shapes and sizes, they do share a few traits. They typically have terms ranging from one day to six months, and are located in areas with higher foot traffic. And, in a world in which brick-and-mortar sales are slumping and purchases are increasingly being completed online (according to an April 2017 report released by the United States Commerce Department, retail sales in

POP-UP SHOPS DR AW CROWDS TO THEIR PHYSICAL LOCATION BECAUSE THEY ARE TYPICALLY LIMITED IN THEIR MERCHANDISE AND GENER ATE A SENSE OF EXCITEMENT THAT TR ANSLATES INTO BUILDING BR AND-AWARENESS OFFLINE. February and March showed their first consecutive declines since early 2015, and first quarter reports out of the United Kingdom were just as bad), pop-up shops draw crowds to their physical location because they are typically limited in their merchandise and generate a sense of excitement that translates into building brand-awareness offline. This business concept allows for existing and new retailers alike to ease their way into a new niche and test their brand, while minimizing their potential losses.

Pop-up shop owners aren’t the only ones benefiting from this trend. For example: • When a tenant’s lease allows the tenant to enter into a sublease directly with the pop-up shop, the main tenant is able to offset its overhead expenses for a short period of time.

• Commercial landlords leasing to pop-ups find it is easy to fill less desirable vacant spaces, or small portions of otherwise occupied buildings, without the need for much, if any, upfitting.

• Mall landlords are turning to pop-up stores to attract shoppers and boost revenue as department stores and other tenants struggle to combat the growth of online commerce. Pop-up shops attract new consumers to both the pop-up and to the landlord’s existing tenants.

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Legal and Logistical Considerations

As expected, these unique retail arrangements also come with their own unique concerns.

Location: Location is arguably the most important consideration when starting a pop-up shop: Choosing a busy area where the pop-up will garner attention by either complementing other businesses in the area, or conversely, by creating an edgy juxtaposition.

Control: Control can also be an issue. Some pop-up owners want or need to control the aesthetic and the experience created in the entire space, in which case they will look for a kiosk or a vacant premises to rent for a short-term basis, while others will desire less control, and be fine as a store-within-a-store where the aesthetics of a majority of the space will be controlled by the primary tenant or by the landlord.

Legal Issues: And, surprise, there are legal considerations as well. For example, in order for a pop-up to be permitted in a particular building, the pop-up’s use must be allowed in the zoning district where the building is located, whether or not the use will be short-lived. Temporary use permits and special event permits are sometimes an option for pop-ups, but that also depends on the zoning district in question.

The use of a pop-up shop may also require that certain licenses be acquired, such as a liquor license or an event license. Therefore, a pop-up business should typically begin its planning phase by gaining an understanding of how the city or county’s regulations will affect the intended use.

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Taxes: Each state, city, town, or county likely has its own tax structure applicable to retail establishments, restaurants, etc. To avoid disappointing legal problems, pop-up shop owners must become aware of tax collection and remittance obligations before starting operations.

POP-UP SHOPS HAVE BECOME POPULAR FOR GOOD REASON— THE CONCEPT HAS HELPED START-UPS TO LAUNCH, BIGSTORE BR ANDS TO EXPAND THEIR REACH, AND CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS TO CULTIVATE COMMUNITY WITH ONE-TIME DINNERS AND PARTIES.

Employees: If the pop-up shop hires employees, employment taxes and laws will apply. Failure to pay the requisite minimum wage or to follow other employment laws can result in liability long after the pop-up closes.

Lease or License? Both the landlord and the pop-up tenant will want to enter into a written agreement outlining the terms of a temporary lease or license. In certain situations, a landlord or property owner may

prefer to utilize a license agreement, which can be appropriate for very short term tenancies, and provide the landlord with leverage to revoke the license with short notice in the event of a breach by the pop-up shop of any of its obligations.

If the pop-up shop will be located within premises already occupied by one or more tenants, the landlord will want to be sure that any exclusivity clause in the existing lease or leases (i.e., a landlord’s agreement not to lease to any similar or competing tenant) will not be violated and that the pop-up shop’s use will not create a nuisance to existing tenants.

At A Bare Minimum, The Lease Or License Should Provide:

amounts, and the party who will control disbursed insurance proceeds. Even if the pop-up shop is only operating for a few hours per day or one day per month, it is essential to everyone involved—business owner, landlord/property owner, and customers alike—that the appropriate insurance is in place, including, but not limited to, hazard insurance, public general liability insurance, or worker’s compensation insurance. In some instances, the pop-up shop will be required to directly purchase this insurance, whereas other landlords will carry the additional insurance and pass the cost down to the pop-up shop as part of the rent; • The consequences to the pop-up for failing to vacate the premises at the end of the lease or license term;

• A description of the premises that will be leased or subject to the short-term license (with a diagram, if possible);

• The events of default and their consequences;

• The length of the lease or license;

• If applicable, parking availability.

• The permitted use of the space; • The hours/days of business operation; • The rent amount and payment interval; • The party responsible for paying utilities; • A description of any alterations the tenant or landlord agrees to make to the premises; • The extent and location of permitted signage; • The party required to provide insurance and indemnity obligations, and for what occurrences, in what

• The condition to which the premises must be returned at the end of the lease term; and,

Conclusion Pop-up shops have become popular for good reason—the concept has helped start-ups to launch, big-store brands to expand their reach, and creative entrepreneurs to cultivate community with one-time dinners and parties.

The buzz doesn’t come without some leg work, though.

Considerations regarding location, leases or license agreements, and insurance will go a long way toward ensuring that your pop-up business will “pop” (I had to), and that the legal ramifications won’t outlive the business itself.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com

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THE OLD

NORTH

STATE [

news briefs

Sustainable Business Model apex

ATI Industrial Automation broke ground for its second major expansion in four years to little fanfare. “Don’t look for any press releases from the state announcing that ATI’s expansion plan has made it eligible for financial incentives,” said CEO Robert Little to a small crowd. “We have never received anything from the government, and we have no plans on asking for any special treatment. We’re here because the area offers us a talent pool of educated personnel that we need, and we’re appreciative of that.” The buildout expands ATI’s facility to 185,000-sq.-ft. to accommodate 275 new employees and keep up with orders. Starting salaries will run from $30,000 for manufacturers

]

to $85,000 for engineers. The expansion will help reduce turnaround times for the industrial innovator. ATI is a developer and manufacturer of robotic accessories, specializing in tool changers and sensors. It already employs 300 in four countries. The company was founded in 1989, in Garner, North Carolina, by Little, Chair Keith Morris, and Chief Sensor Technologist Dwayne Perry.

in and out of their dorm rooms; $6,500 to Erika Bridges for her hair tie business Knot Average, that donates a percent of sales to charity; $5,000 to Charlotte Thompson for Water-You-Saving, a process that recycles shower water for toilet flushes; $2,500 to Jacqueline Stein for PE3RSs, which helps teachers see, using virtual reality, how students with learning disabilities view the world; and, $1,500 to Joseph McCabe’s Panther Propulsion, that proposes an efficient electric engine to replace jet engines for aircraft taxiing. The Pagon Family Promising Entrepreneur Fund then gave undisclosed amounts to Stein; Joseph Cochraine-Brown and Philip Butts, for SOW, a customizable learning regime integrated into a student’s regular online activities; and Rami Aoun and Taylor Elseroad, for a fine-tuned headhunter website.

Solution: Make the Problem Five Times Larger

You Win Again high point

At least two sets of startup grants were awarded to business students at High Point University in April. The school’s Business Plan Competition awarded $9,500 to Ryan Gilbert for his Student Storage business that helps college kids efficiently move

charlotte

Renovations to the ghastly derelict Carolina Theatre will finally take off, thanks to a 20-story luxury hotel that will be built on top of it. The theater

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opened in 1927 and closed in 1979. The city dismantled its façade and stored the elements under the theater’s stage. Beyond that, the theater was left to deteriorate, as one restoration mission after another proved abortive. In 2012 the city sold the theater to the Foundation for the Carolinas for $1. Then, Valor Hospitality Partners agreed to lease air rights above for a fouror five-star hotel. InterContinental, which targets international luxury travelers with 187 locations worldwide, was chosen for the brand because it allows more flexibility in design. A glass “jewel box” built out from the restored façade will enclose a new lobby and conform to the classy and glassy, 250-room, 20-story hotel skyrise above. Construction, costing an estimated $42 million, should start on both projects in tandem in May and end in 2019.

The Things We Do for Love

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national & world

same health issues. Because prescription pet food contains no drugs and only formulas available in other non-prescription products, and it is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, attorney Trip Coyne alleges the pet food companies have “improperly co-opted the term ‘prescription.’” Defendants include the manufacturers of Hill’s Prescription Diet, Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets, Royal Canin Veterinary Diet, and Iams Veterinary Formula; retailer PetSmart; and veterinarian chains Banfield Pet Hospital and BluePearl Vet. Mars Petcare owns the two latter brands and is a majority owner of both veterinary chains. Plaintiffs argue the vertical integration of the industry masks the markup scheme. Defendants argue the supply line constitutes only a small percentage of the prescription pet food industry and administering the formulas to pets without veterinary consultation could put them at-risk.

Exclusive Dining Proves Popular

wilmington

Ward & Smith, Professional Association is a lead firm in the class action lawsuit claiming prescription pet food is a “price-fixing conspiracy.” Prescription formulas may retail for 40% more than non-prescription premium blends developed to address the

36

mooresville

Caruso’s, the upscale Italian restaurant that sparked a social media frenzy after it banned children five and under, is now

the old north state

seeing a 50-80% increase in business nightly. The ban went into effect before Christmas, but it wasn’t until a local paper covered the story that everybody who was anybody had an opinion for or against. The restaurant had been receiving complaints from patrons, and customers had even walked out because of children throwing food, screaming, and running around. The final straw was when a child was playing her iPad too loud, patrons complained, and waitstaff asked the parents to lower the volume and they didn’t. Caruso’s webpage describes the restaurant as “traditional, classy, intimate;” but owner Pasquale Caruso said the atmosphere was becoming more like a local pizzeria. In addition to the business boom following the company’s decision to clarify its niche, Caruso’s is now ranked sixth out of 177 Mooresville restaurants on Trip Advisor.

For They Who Only Get Noticed in Crisis wilmington

Two former Cape Fear Public Utility (CFPUA) Authority employees are moving into the private sector to set up a public relations firm for water and wastewater professionals. President Mike McGill is leaving

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the old north state

his job as spokesman for the CFPUA. His public relations work with utility companies through the years included development of the world’s first water and sewer utility emergency notification system in 2008. Mike Richardson, who formerly headed Wilmington’s Sweeney Water Treatment Plant, will be retained as counsel. A third principal, Scott Marx, has 15 years’ experience in strategic communications. The entrepreneurs have over two decades of combined experience producing news and fostering public relations to cultivate “positive press.”

The new company, WaterPIO, will offer its services for utilities that don’t want to retain full-time communications staff.

Using traditional and emerging formats, it will provide routine noticing as well as round-the-clock emergency notifications and updates.

A Very Berry February asheboro

Nor th Carolina A g r icu lture Commissioner Steve Troxler described this year’s strawberry season as “unusual.” It takes about a month for blossoms to turn to berries, and this year a warm February led to early blossoms, which were then imperiled by March frost. Fortunately, fields were blanketed in time to protect what has turned into a bumper crop. Normally, the strawberry season runs from early April to mid-June, but this year, growers were harvesting in abundance by the vernal equinox. Even so, agribusiness experts anticipated no slowdown by Mother’s Day, which is usually prime time for the berries.

Strawberry Day events were scheduled for the state-operated farmers’ markets in Colfax, Charlotte, and Raleigh. The nonprofit North Carolina Strawberry Association now operates a Farm Locator on its website, ncstrawberry.com, for easy access to growers’ contact information so consumers can ensure availability before they stop by for fresh-picked or you-pick varieties. North Carolina ranks fourth in the nation for strawberry production.

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This Man Is More Like a Continent charlotte

Industry analysts don’t anticipate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will retire quietly; the list of awards he has amassed in his career takes pages to print. Word of the third-generation National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing hero’s plans to exit the sport at the end of the season were made public in April. Other recently-retiring NASCAR greats include Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, and Jeff Gordon, who is credited with making NASCAR a household word. With a fan base of thousands, Earnhardt is perceived by some as the last of the legends. Jill Gregory, chief marketing officer for NASCAR, said corporate executives knew the time would come.

But young drivers will not be pushed to be the next Dale or fit some prefabricated persona. Instead, promoters will highlight each driver’s authentic selling points.

Earnhardt’s achievements attracted serious sponsors for the Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 88, including Mountain Dew and Nationwide. Future high-octane sponsorships will be contingent upon the selection of a promising successor.

The Anti-Procrustes high point

A highlight of this year’s Spring Market was the Presto bed frame by Fashion Bed Group®. Its most amazing feature is it can be easily altered to accommodate full, queen, California king, or king-sized box springs. It comes in a box four feet in its longest dimension and weighing only 59 pounds. It can be assembled in less than a minute by one person with no tools because the parts snap into place, and it can be resized in seconds. The design incorporates two side rails, hinged for easy assembly, and three crossbars. All are made of tubular steel surrounded by durable styrene. When assembled, the frame can resist sagging under a ton of loading. The sleek, modern, dark brown

design is made for luxury settings. The Presto design saves end users money because retailers don’t have to warehouse multiple sizes, freight is inexpensive, and the owners can keep the frame as their lifestyle changes. Design Concepts “reimagined” the frame at the request of furniture manufacturer Leggett & Platt.

Their Cross to Bear raleigh

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina’s (BCBSNC) lawyers lost a federal court case claiming the federal government owed the state’s largest insurer $130 million. The amount was part of $2.87 billion the United States Department of Health and Human Services said the government owed insurers across the country for covering “older and sicker” patients in the Risk Corridors of the Affordable Health Care Act, in 2014 alone. BCBSNC was not paid an additional $175 million promised by the program in 2015. All told, BCBSNC has lost over $400 million from its ACA marketplace policies. Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby ruled there was no language in the law setting a deadline for the payments. A similar lawsuit attempting to recover $75 million owed the Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Company was dismissed in November, and the Chicago-based company has since gone out of business. The courts, however, ruled in favor of promptly paying $210 million owed Moda Health Plan, Incorporated, of Portland, Oregon.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 59

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So you want to go downhill mountain biking?

Nowadays, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier than ever, with a wealth of options whether youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a novice or long-time enthusiast.

leisure & libation

Dirt

Surfing

photo courtesy Beech Mountain Resort

written by park baker June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 61

leisure & libation

photos courtesy Matt Hartell/REEB Ranch

ith more contiguous public land in Western North Carolina than anywhere else on the East Coast, it’s no wonder that these green hills have become so popular for mountain biking. In the recent past, the sport has been a fringe pursuit, the terrain often more inviting to adrenaline junkies, and access sometimes requiring all day commitments.

That’s not the case anymore. Each year, more access for riding opens up, and with it, easier options for new riders. Public land like DuPont State Recreational Forest, in particular, has allowed casual mountain bikers and first-timers to hit world-class trails right out of the parking lot, and they don’t require hours of climbing like the infamous Pisgah National Forest.

Some cities and towns have their own public riding areas, too.

Boone and Brevard city planners have seen the influx of riders to their towns and have taken steps to draw in more riders, and diversify the types of riding. Rocky Knob Park in Boone, for example, has dedicated jump lines (which are exactly what they sound like—paths punctuated with ridges and mounds for jumping) for little guys and big kids alike, and fun, flowy stuff for new riders. Bracken Mountain Preserve in Brevard has 12 miles of multi-use single-track tucked inside the city limits, and some of the trails are featured in the annual Pisgah Stage Race. Oskar Blues Brewery has committed to funding a jump line on the property, which will firmly plant Brevard amongst the great mountain bike destinations.

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Technology has certainly played a role in the rise of mountain biking, too. The modern mountain bike is designed for maximizing the fun factor for everyone, from pros to newbies.

Better suspension, powerful brakes, and ride qualities focusing on rider control rather than sketchy speed are moving bikes out of shops at record rates. Many bike brands now offer womenspecific models that aren’t just pink. These bikes often have shorter reaches for the ladies and companies now offer lots of gear that is tailored to fit female riders. Kids’ mountain bikes these days have every dedicated rider wishing they had something similar growing up. Lightweight, full suspension rigs that fit a ten-year-old’s frame are easy to find now, and each year, these young riders push the limits of mountain biking to new heights.

Developments in trail-building techniques have evolved along with the bikes. Fall line skid trails were once commonplace, but now some trail builders and volunteers have figured out how to design trails to maximize the aforementioned fun factor, while at the same time keeping them from eroding. That’s a win-win in the temperate rainforest of Western North Carolina. Newschool trails can often be the best use of elevation, allowing some riders to play more and not drag on the brakes. These techniques have introduced thousands of new riders to the sport. Those old fall line trails are fun to let loose on, but a trail that doesn’t require braking or pedaling to hold speed is what we’re after here. Grabbing handfuls of brake the entire

BEFORE YOU HIT THE TRAIL… Anyone new to mountain biking should understand that it is never acceptable to go riding without a HELMET. Public land access is contingent on the responsible use of the trails, and wearing a helmet is the first step to safety out here. Some places such as bike parks require full-face helmets.

This form of recreation can get you pretty far out in the woods before you know it. Riders need to make sure they have all the right equipment should their bikes break. A MULTI-TOOL, with the correct size Allen wrenches on it, will help you if you wreck and knock your bars sideways. A Camelbak or other HYDRATION pack is the best way to carry enough water, food, tools, and spare tube to enjoy your day in the woods. Several water filters are also on the market; my favorite is the Sawyer mini-filter. Keeping a small FIRST-AID KIT with some band-aids, pain reliever, and allergy medicine are a good idea, too.

People with severe reactions to insect stings should carry an approved EPIPEN. The most important thing to carry with you is a MAP. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the route you choose, and make sure someone knows where you are going. It’s always best to have a RIDING BUDDY, too. All the area bike shops and outdoor outfitters (see sidebar, p. 68) have maps of Western North Carolina along with specific trail maps.

And take your CELL PHONE with you, just in case.

Most importantly, have fun out there!

photo courtesy Beech Mountain Resort

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 63

leisure & libation

way down a trail is discouraging for new riders, and it’s just not all that entertaining.

So where can you test the dirt, so to speak? We have put together a broad glimpse of the scene here in the mountains. You’ll be able to find trails that are tame but fun, where to go for lift access and backcountry epics, and what you need to take with you when hitting the trails. Maybe you’ll learn to love it, too.

The Best Riding Zones - Bike Parks Trails and playing outside are big business in Western North Carolina, and that’s part of the reason places like Bailey Mountain Bike Park and Beech Mountain Resort are investing heavily in their infrastructure.

Bailey Mountain Bike Park Just outside of Asheville, is a privately owned bike park with 15 trails to choose from. Riders are shuttled to the top in a Unimog (a retired flatbed army vehicle), and from the peak of the mountain, riders can choose from beginner level descents to the high-difficulty black diamond runs. Beginner and intermediate trails with names like Skywalker, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, Salvador’s Slalom, and Tunnel of Love will give riders a warmup before they’re ready to tackle more challenging blue runs like Jumanji and Welcome 2 The Jungle. Bailey has hosted a number of downhill races, including some collegiate level events. Some of the harder trails, like Olde Gregg and Black Mamba, are reserved for experienced downhill riders with the right equipment. The mountain has over 1,000 feet of vertical, which is how most resorts are measured. The more vertical, the more fun.

Bailey Mountain is more than just a bike park, though. Its owners, Guy and Jennifer Miller, bought the property with a vision to turn the mountain into a bike community with lots available for purchase. The mountain has 18 homesites currently on the market, with properties at least an acre in size. The Millers say they want the mountain to resemble ski villas, where riders can “ride in and ride out.”

Bailey is just three years old, and each year it grows. New lines develop, a little more trail gets built, and more stories are shared. The mountain has everything from women-only skill clinics, food trucks, and races, to paths that can provide easy laps with your buddies.

More info: www.baileymountainwnc.com.

Beech Mountain

photo courtesy Kristian Jackson/ Rocky Knob Mountain Bike Park

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Beech Mountain Ski resort outside of Boone has hosted a number of downhill events over the years, but access to the mountain has been exclusive to racers for some time. That has changed in the last few years, with the mountain investing in trails that are just enjoyable to ride, quite the contrast to the downhill tracks that have carved down

F LOWS LI K E J AGG E R What type of trail or trails do you intend to tackle?

It will probably help if you first know how bike enthusiasts refer to them…

JUMP LINE

CYCLOCROSS COURSE

This is a trail that has a series of jumps down the whole trail. It may or may not start with tabletops (flattening out the bike) and advance to bigger gap jumps.

This is a course that riders race in laps, usually, and has obstacles like stairs, steeples, and—preferably —lots of mud. Riders must dismount at some of these obstacles and get back on their bike quickly after running over them while carrying the bike.

FALL LINE A trail that cuts straight down the mountain. It’s called fall line because that is the line that water will take, the fastest and easiest way down. We don’t see too many fall line trails anymore.

PUMP TRACK

FLOW TRACK A trail designed for maintaining speed with little effort. It is a combined pump track and jump line. The jumps and features should be built so they do not force a rider to slow down or pedal in between. It’s like surfing, without the wave.

A small circular track with berms and risers that allow a rider to “pump” through the track, gaining speed by using momentum and downward force on the backside of each roller.

the mountain. Racetracks are designed to be hard to ride and to test the athlete, but now, using the same ski lift they run in the winter, beginner and intermediate trails are popping up.

Elevated Trail Designs, a duo of young rippers (mountain bike pros Peter Mills and Andrew Mueller) who are building trails up and down the East Coast, have been hard at work this past off-season, designing and building a trail network that anyone can enjoy, without having to pedal to the top.

Beech had around 15,000 riders visit the mountain last season, and staff at the resort only anticipate those numbers to grow.

Elevated Trail Designs co-owner Mills indicated that the company signed a two-year contract to reinvent the Beech Mountain trails, and he has been on the mountain working with a hydraulic excavator since the snow melted this spring, sculpting what he hopes will become an essential destination for bike enthusiasts.

Beech is also the practice mountain for both the Appalachian State University and Lees-McRae College cycling teams, as both schools are close to the resort. Beech has hosted collegiate national championship races, drawing university and college cycling teams from all over the country to compete. The mountain has also hosted its fair share of domestic professional races and international riders, too. The USA Cycling National Championships has been held at Beech in the past, and this

year, a stop of the Pro GRT tour hits the mountain June 16 - 18.

The Pro GRT—Pro Mountain Bike Gravity Tour—is a touring race series with stops all over the country. International talent can be expected to register, and it wouldn’t be racing at Beech without some mud.

Worth noting is that Beech is the only lift-served riding destination in North Carolina. Its high-speed lift can get riders and their rigs to the top of the mountain in less than five minutes. This year, that speed to the top will be welcomed because there are so many new trails. One beginner trail, the Green Mamba, is a smooth and flowy run to the bottom. The mountain will also have four blue trails this year, like the Hell Bender run and Blue Ridge Rocks; the only black trail is the Black Bear racetrack.

In addition, Beech works with Magic Cycles, utilizing an on-site bike shop to get people on downhill rental bikes. Magic has a line of Giant and Santa Cruz bikes to choose from, as well as a full-service bike shop in case you smash a wheel or forget your helmet. A season pass at Beech Mountain also includes a two-day pass at Snowshoe Resort in West Virginia.

Beech Mountain Bike Park opened for the season at the end of May and will remain open through October.

More info: www.beechmountainresort.com.

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leisure & libation

Kolo Bike Park Kolo is a privately owned bike park in the city of Asheville that gives riders that in town place to play on jumps, rollers, a pump track , and even a cyclocross course. The park opened several years ago and hosts skills clinics, cross races, and jump sessions. There is no need for a shuttle or big bikes at this park, but a dirt jumper or regular trail bike is perfect. Rentals are available, too.

Kolo is just part of the bigger Treetop Adventure Park, where there is much more to choose from. Ziplining, treetop adventure courses, rafting, and bungee jumping are all on the menu for birthdays, groups, and clinics.

More info: www.ashevilletreetopsadventure.com.

Rocky Knob Mountain Bike Park The aforementioned Rocky Knob, located east of Boone just off US 421, comprises 185 acres and was acquired in 2009 through a series of grants, including one to Watauga County for $500,000 from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund. Professional trail builders and regional volunteers subsequently created a park featuring eight miles of trails of varying terrain and skill level, four dedicated skills areas, a pump track, picnic shelter, bathrooms, and playground.

Complete info and a detailed trail map is at www.rockyknob.wordpress.com

REEB Ranch The newest bike park in Western North Carolina officially opened its gates this spring. Located just outside Brevard, and snuggled up next to DuPont State Recreational Forest, is the property owned by Oskar Blues Brewery. The Ranch is the site of the Red Bull Dreamline BMX competition held a few years ago. The bigger jumps the pros used have been scaled back, but much of the course is still there, along with food trucks, kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; skills areas, a restored air streamer camper for rent, camping, and, of course, beer.

The Ranch is one huge chunk of playground, and the hill above is already home to some unique single-tracks leading to a 40-ft. waterfall. Also featured is a popular pump track and an extra-large flow track. And you can be sure to see more when the Brevard College cycling team starts holding races there. Check their calendar for a summer slalom series put on by the guys at Cane Creek, a Ladies All Ride clinic, and the Pisgah Mountain Bike Fest this fall. The Ranchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s calendar stays busy with music and food truck festivals, clinics, races, and more.

More info www.reebranch.com.

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- Public LandsDuPont State Forest Lake Imaging Loop (intermediate) The 10,473 - acre D u Pont St ate Recreational Forest is located between Hendersonville and Brevard (the official “address” as listed on maps is 1300 Staton Road, Cedar Mountain, NC 28718). From the parking lot, go through the gate and ride past the lake on your right: • Left on Jim Branch.

• Right on Isaac Heath trail.

• Bear right on Locust.

• Straight on to Hilltop trail.

• Bear right, then left before bridge on to Buck Forest Road.

• Left on White Pine trail.

• Left on Hooker Creek trail.

• Left on Ridgeline trail.

Wintergreen Falls (easy) This ride should only take beginner riders an hour or so to pedal it round trip. The terrain is easy double-track, but wear a helmet anyway. Park at the Guion Farm parking lot: •Pedal left out of the parking lot in the field on Tarklin Branch Road.

•Left on Wintergreen Falls Road.

•The falls are up the creek.

Pisgah National Forest Coleman Boundary/Big Ivy Loop The Pisgah National Forest, comprising over 500,000 acres and including both Mount Mitchell and the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area, is just north of Asheville.

photo courtesy Beech Mountain Resort

Take I-26 towards Barnardsville to exit 15, then drive for about 10 minutes, passing through Barnardsville. Towards the east edge of town take a right on to Dillingham Road and continue until the road turns to gravel and you enter Big Ivy district. Continue for a half-mile until the right hand turn over a bridge where you will find the parking lot: •Pedal to the top of the only road up the mountain.

•Make a left on Laurel Gap. •Right on Andy Creek Trail.

•Left on Big Ivy Road.

•Straight through the next intersection; stay on the road.

•Left on Bear Pen. •Straight on Staire Creek to the parking lot.

Spencer Gap Trail Spencer Gap Trail is located in Mills River, just south of Asheville. From the Asheville Regional Airport, head south on the Asheville Highway (NC 280) for about fifteen minutes. Make a right on N. Mills River Road. Drive fifteen minutes, make a right on Wash Creek Road (gravel forest service road 5000). Drive another ten minutes and park at the parking lot before the spillway: •Ride through the gate.

•Pedal the gravel road uphill for about half an hour.

•Left on Spencer Gap trail.

•Right on Fletcher Creek.

•Left on the gravel back to the parking lot.

See selected list of Western North Carolina bike shops on the next page.

Editor’s Note: Author Park Baker, along with photographer Tim Koerber and the publishers of www.biketransylvania.com, produce the award-winning Bike Transylvania Magazine, a regional resource for cycling in Transylvania County and surrounding public lands. Baker moved to Brevard from Richmond, Virginia, to hide in the woods. He can usually be found in the middle of nowhere, probably out of water. He has raced up and down the East Coast, done countless hours of trail work, and led people on “three hour tours” more than once.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 67

leisure & libation

A SELECTED LIST OF AREA BIKE SHOPS Our region is dotted with shops that sell mountain and road bikes, most of them also selling bikes sized for women and children, along with gear, accessories, and apparel.

Many of them offer bike rentals as well, and these stores are useful locations for getting maps and information related to trails, events, and even clubs for biking enthusiasts.

Sycamore Cycles Pisgah Forest

Road/mountain bike shop; bike fitting and repairs; bike rentals and coffee bar.

> 112 New Hendersonville Hwy, >

Pisgah Forest NC 828-877-5790

Proud Employee Owners

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Hendersonville

Road/mountain bike shop; bike fitting and repairs.

> 146 3rd Avenue East, Hendersonville, NC > 828-693-1776 > www.sycamorecycles.com (both locations) The Hub and Pisgah Tavern

Mountain bike and outdoor gear/apparel shop; bike repairs; bike rentals and beer.

> 11 Mamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Place, Pisgah Forest, NC > 828-884-8670 > www.thehubpisgah.com Squatch Bikes & Brews

Mountain bike and apparel shop; bike repairs; bike rentals and beer.

> 170 King St, Brevard, NC > 828-877-2453 > www.squatchbikes.com

Motion Makers Bicycle Shop

Road/mountain bike and accessories/apparel shop; bike fitting and repairs.

Asheville > 878 Brevard Rd, Asheville, NC > 828-633-2227 Sylva > 36 Allen St, Sylva, NC > 828-586-6925 > www.motionmakers.com (both locations) Bicycle Thrift Shop/ Trips For Kids WNC

Donated bikes are refurbished and used to provide mountain bike outings and environmental education for at-risk children.

> 89 Thompson St, Unit F, Asheville, NC > 828 777-1022 > www.tripsforkidswnc.com

Liberty Bicycles

Road/mountain shop; bike fitting and repairs; bike maintenance classes; bike rentals.

Magic Cycles > 140 Depot St #2, Boone, NC > 828-265-2211 > www.magiccycles.com

> 233 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC > 828-251-4686 > www.youngbloodbikes.com

> 1378 Hendersonville Rd, > >

Youngblood Bicycle

Road/mountain/urban/kids bike shop; bike repairs; bike rentals.

Suite G, Asheville, NC 828-274-2453 www.libertybikes.com

Find Your Line Bicycle Shop

Road/mountain bike shop; bike repairs and rebuilding. > 487 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC > 828-585-7289 > www.findyourline.bike

Billy Goat Bikes

Road/mountain bike and apparel/accessories shop; bike repairs and rebuilding; bike rentals. > 1446 Brevard Rd, Asheville, NC > 828-633-7070 > www.billygoatbikes.com

Chainheart Cycling Studio

Carolina Fatz

Full-service mountain bike and accessories shop.

> 1240 Brevard Rd #2, Asheville, NC > 828-665-7744 > www.carolinafatz.com

Beech Mountain Resort

Road/mountain bike shop; bike repair s; mountain bike rentals; coffee bar.

> 828-387-2739 > www.beechmountainresort.com Boone Bike and Touring

Road/mountain bike and apparel/accessories shop; bike repairs; bike rentals.

Road/mountain bike and apparel/accessories shop; bike fitting and repairs.

> 897 Riverside Dr, Asheville, NC > 828-505-7301

> 774 E King St, Boone, NC > 828-262-5750 > www.boonebike.com

Saturday, July 1, 2017 A foot race to Sugar’s 5,300 peak by way of Easy Street, Gunther’s Way and Northridge. Entry fee includes a t-shirt and a downhill ride on the Summit Express.

Cruise into Sugar with your classic car, and park it in the classic car or truck parking area.

SUGAR MOUNTAIN RESORT LOCATED WITHIN THE VILL AGE OF SUGAR MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA

www.SkiSugar.com/Crawl 800-SUGAR-MT June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 69

column

Alex Walser – Bearded Crew

Cullowhee’s “bearded man” grooms a lifestyle brand.

T lauren stepp

recently graduated from Western Carolina University with a degree in English and is a freelance writer.

Questions/comments about this story? Email us at editor @capitalatplay.com.

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HE SE G OAT L E G GED HIK ER S W I T H salt-and-pepper whiskers and handlebar mustaches make growing and maintaining facial hair seem so effortless. But ask Western Carolina University (WCU) senior Alex Walser, and he’ll dish the truth: Being modishly hairy is harder than it looks.

In Cullowhee, a sleepy college town pleated between the Great Balsam and Plott Balsam ranges, 20-somethings find their way. Budding ecologists fly fish in the Tuckasegee, or “Tuck,” and wordsmiths study under award-winning novelist Ron Rash.

Some 50 miles outside of Asheville, students make a name for themselves. Walser, a marketing and management double major, goes by “bearded man.”

“People in class started calling me that because my beard is always there,” he says. “And how I keep it looking is reflective of who I am.”

He’s got lush locks, sure, but the moniker also nods to Bearded Crew, a men’s body product line he launched two years back. He says it started on the Nantahala River when he scored a summer gig as a rafting guide. By day, he navigated boats and duckies—inflatable kayaks—down class I and II rapids. When his feet finally touched dry ground again, he found himself hanging out with outdoor enthusiasts, many of whom sported the full-on, Rip

| June 2017

Van Winkle style beard. Inspired, Walser vowed to grow out his stubble. A year at least, no shaving or snipping. In beard lingo, that’s called a “yeard.”

Despite his commitment, beards get unruly fast.

“You have to put time in for it to shape up,” says Walser. It needs moisture to prevent scratchy frizz and dry skin. Being more experienced facial hair aficionados, some rafting buds let Walser borrow their beard oil. It would turn out to be a lightbulb moment; Bearded Crew grew from there.

But Walser didn’t jump straight into male grooming products. When he returned to school that fall, he used $500 from his savings to start selling T-shirts that promoted the bearded lifestyle. His touchstone slogan? “Just Grow It.” It was clever enough—a hairy spinoff of Nike’s “Just Do It”—but the profit margins weren’t cutting it. Each shirt cost $9 and sold for $18. Beard oil, on the other hand, could provide an even more generous markup and a tighter customer niche. It looked promising.

L With rent to pay in the meantime, Walser took a hotel night auditor position. “I worked third shift—11PM to 7AM,” he says. “It was a long haul, but many guests didn’t check in then.

So, I brought my laptop and conducted market research and did stuff for the business.” He eventually managed to save up $1,500 in seed money for glass bottles, essential oils, and labels, releasing the first beard oil, Raft Guide, soon after.

“It’s light on scent for men who don’t want to be smelling strong notes all day,” says Walser, noting that cedar gives it a woodsy accent and citrus adds brightness. The founding oil is joined by Show Time, a “cinnamon

NO MAT TER THE EVENT, WALSER ENCOUR AGES MEN TO USE BEARD OIL AF TER A SHOWER BECAUSE HOT STEAM OPENS UP PORES AND MAKES THE FACE MORE RECEPTIVE TO OILS.

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thunderstorm” that Walser likens to Big Red gum; Tea Tree House, a clean smell with a piney finish; First Date, a sweet vanilla and clove brew that’s supposed to woo ladies; and, Good Morning, a citrusy, lavender mixture.

Each oil is curated for a specific event, Walser explains. “Show Time is for when you’re feeling daring, while Good Morning is meant for, well, the morning. The lavender relaxes you and the lemon wakes you up.” No matter the event, Walser encourages men to use beard oil after a shower because hot steam opens up pores and makes the face more receptive to oils. In this way, the oil mimics the waxy material June 2017 | capitalatplay.com

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sebaceous glands produce to protect the skin. Still, it goes well beyond hydration.

“It adds weight and a non-greasy shine to the beard. When you comb it down, it takes on one unit with no flyaways,” says Walser. “What we’re really doing here is taking the stereotypical image of a bearded man—sloppy and unrefined—and turning it into a groomed gentleman.”

No wonder First Date was featured in AskMen magazine last year. At $25 per bottle, it’s Bearded Crew’s best seller. During a recent trade show sponsored by EPIC, a university initiative encouraging student entrepreneurship through Elevating Potential, Imagination, and Collaboration, it proved popular with frat brothers and longhaired beatniks alike. “I sold 20 bottles and people acted genuinely interested,” says Walser.

“All these bearded men appeared out of nowhere.”

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“PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH THE BEARDED LIFESTYLE ARE OUTDOOR ENTHUSIASTS, CONSCIOUS ABOUT THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT, AND NOMADIC AT HEART,” SAYS WALSER. “I WANT BEARDED CREW TO CONNECT CUSTOMERS TO EXPERIENCES LIKE R AF TING AND SKYDIVING. I WANT THEM TO LIVE BOLDLY.” But WCU does more than provide stubbly customers.

Assistant professor Wendy Cagle has been integral to Walser’s growth, so much so that he considers her a mentor. The former regional director of North Carolina’s Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), Cagle knows a thing or two about getting an idea off the ground. She grew up watching her father raise trout and her mother sell fabric in Sylva. After receiving her MBA and leading SBTDC, she now encourages budding entrepreneurs to bring their dreams to fruition, and hopefully stay local in the process.

“Around 98 percent of businesses in Western North Carolina have 500 employees or less. That’s just how important small businesses are to our economy; our topography just won’t support a large manufacturer,” says Cagle. “So, I applaud students who stay right at home and don’t move to Raleigh, Greensboro, or Charlotte.”

She does say that the biggest obstacle for young investors is access to capital. To assuage that stumbling block, EPIC has received a project grant from the Center for the Study

of Free Enterprise at WCU. (The Center is a multidisciplinary program that supports students and faculty in investigating economic theory and practice.) Select student entrepreneurs can use the cash to conduct market research, unpack marketing plans, apply to be an LLC, and commercialize.

“The start-up entrepreneurs coming out of WCU are an integral part of our economy’s future,” says Edward Lopez.

As the BB&T Distinguished Professor of Capitalism, Lopez proposed WCU’s Free Enterprise initiative in 2015. “I’m thrilled that the Center can support them through EPIC.” Having received funding, Walser is using the initial $500 installment to kick off a “Make America Bearded A g a i n” p r o m o t io n a l c a m p a i g n .

Clients will receive stickers, apply for giveaways, and even use a social media hashtag to share beard-related news.

He says his ultimate goal is to establish a “lifestyle brand.”

“People associated with the bearded lifestyle are outdoor enthusiasts, conscious about their carbon footprint, and nomadic at heart,” says Walser.

“I want Bearded Crew to connect customers to experiences like rafting and skydiving. I want them to live boldly.”

The 22-year-old is all for practicing what he preaches. In coming months, he’s releasing a mustache wax, First Kiss, and is conducting R&R on soaps.

He wants to pitch Bearded Crew to Bass Pro once he rolls out a few more products.

“Some people like watching television, but this is what I do for fun,” says Walser.

“At heart, I’m an entrepreneur.”

Dreams Happen with First Bank and Mountain BizWorks.

Whether you want to get a dream or give a dream, we’re working together to make the impossible, possible in the Carolinas. Get creative and pitch your dream (or the dream of someone you’d like to nominate). No matter how big or small, it could win the funding it needs to become a reality. Enter today!

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• A seat on First Bank’s panel of judges to determine Dream It, Do It Contest winners

To enter, share your dream at a First Bank branch in your area, or online at

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June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 73

UPDATES FOR

&

NATIONAL WORLD [

news briefs

You Gotta Have .art london, england

For $25 million, investor Ulvi Kasimov outbid nine other contenders for ownership of the top-level .art internet domain.

The domain was scheduled to officially launch and begin selling domain names with the .art suffix for as little as $15 on May 10. Over 2,000 domain names were sold during a preferred-access period.

Galleries, cultural organizations, and luxury brands were among takers. Apple, Incorporated claimed 36 .art domain names. Rolex.art and Beyonce.art were among the first names to go. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers began expanding the range of domains in 2012. Some high-demand names had to be sold at auction; .web went for $135 and .vip for $3 million. Jeff Sass, chief marketing officer for .Club,

]

describes the value as “having meaning on both sides of the dot.” Kasimov, an art collector himself, secured the domain hoping to improve access, infrastructure, and standards for online art sales.

would amplify baroreceptor signals. If a person suffered hypertension, it would cause the heart to slow more than it naturally would under vascular stress, thus lowering the risk of hemorrhagic stroke. An estimated one billion persons worldwide suffer hypertension but do not respond to available pharmaceutical treatments. In February the Food and Drug Administration approved MobiusHD for Expedited Access Pathway status, and California-based Vascular Dynamics is conducting pre-market clinical trials in the United States and Europe.

Just Boom norman’s cay, bahamas

Stop Dragging My Heart Around mountain view, california

Yossi Gross of Rainbow Medical in Herzliya, Israel, invented MobiusHD, a minimally-invasive treatment for hypertension. When vascular walls are distorted, baroreceptors in the blood vessels apprise the brain. The brain then signals the heart to adjust its pumping accordingly. Gross proposed a device which can be implanted in the carotid artery in a 50-minute procedure and

For quality and compassionate care, YOU CALL HOME, call Four Seasons today.

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On first blush, it appeared festival organizers Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule were merely in over their heads.

They promoted a big music festival in a faraway location without planning for adequate infrastructure. Closer examination revealed early warning signs. The Fyre Festival was billed as a luxury event on a private island formerly owned by Pablo Escobar. The island booked was not private, and Escobar never owned an island in the Bahamas. Just a few days before the

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festival, many performer slots were still billed TBA, while one of three headliners, Major Lazer, was actually booked in Texas. Another headliner, Blink-182, pulled out two days before opening night.

Festival-goers paid up to $250,000 apiece for luxury villas and gourmet meals that turned out to be refugee tents in a gravel lot with cold cheese sandwiches served in styrofoam, leading some media wags to label the event “Hunger Games for rich people.” The event was cancelled the day before, but many fans had already arrived. Class action lawsuits began with one for $100 million led by celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, and the duo has been banned from holding another festival in the Bahamas. Top “influencer” Kendall Jenner, who was reportedly paid $250,000 to plug Fyre on Instagram, may also be in hot water for running afoul of federal regulations that require individuals to disclose when they are being paid for their endorsements.

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carolina in the west

the old north state

through a program of British Columbia’s Ministry of Finance. The government claims the initiative is successful, having 82 participating companies. Early on, the program was projected to create 13,000 jobs in the province. Current data suggests that number may be as low as 122. The most recent data on additional investment, compiled in 2009, estimates the amount between $91 and $103 million. Actual numbers are hard to come by because the government keeps secret the recipients’ names and incentives awarded. As the program expands, it has offered at least two incentives for large foreign businesses that are not available to Canadians. Following inquiries by the New York Times, several firms, including three with United States sanctions for money laundering, were delisted from an organization recipients of the incentives must join.

Etsy Evolution new york city, new york

An Odor Not Unlike Salmon vancouver, british columbia

Government watchdogs are calling into question business tax incentives offered

Hedge fund Black-and-White Capital urged Etsy, Inc., in which it owns a two percent stake, to consider selling the company. A fter private talks, Black-and-White went public with its recommendations, faulting the “bloated”

national & world

company’s “ill-advised spending” and its website’s “horrendous search functionality” among other issues. Since its initial public offering two years ago, the online marketplace for handmade goods has seen corporate shares lose 30% of their value. Falling 1.5% short of its $98.4 million second-quarter revenue target, the company is responding to criticism.

Etsy announced it will cut 80 jobs, Chair Chad Dickerson is surrendering his CEO hat to board member Josh Silverman, and Chief Technology Officer John Allspaw is leaving the company. Etsy is hesitant to appear too financially-driven, as it must uphold commitments to community, the environment, employees, consumers, and suppliers to retain its B-Corporation status. It will continue to pay employees at least 40% more than the local living wage and cover the lion’s share of healthcare premiums.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Apply earth

SpaceX successfully hit a milestone with the successful launch of a recovered orbital rocket booster. Founder, CEO, and CTO Elon Musk told the public it had

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taken 15 years to reach that goal, and the next step would be to run spacecraft with a 24-hour launching and landing cycle. The company’s long-term mission is to colonize Mars. The SpaceX website currently advertises 473 job openings.

Almost half are for engineers and a third are for technicians. Miscellany include a lobbyist, a cook, and a barista. Not to be outdone, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which is also developing reusable rockets, posted 92 openings on its website. Half Bezos’ openings will also be for engineers, and another quarter of the hires will be technicians and management.

Bezos’ miscellany include university outreach specialists and staff attorneys to help negotiate launch contracts. At last count, Bezos’ New Glenn launchers were 84 feet taller than Musk’s Falcon Heavy rocket.

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Today’s homes are full of wireless devices, all emitting their own fields.

The composite field changes as objects move around, but the key to invention was the ability to identify distinguishing patterns for different forms of motion.

Lifeless matter disrupts the field rigidly, and living things have their own set of idiosyncrasies. By filtering out known disruptions, spectral analysis can then be used to identify unwanted interruptions, like burglars. Aura, a product available from Cognitive Systems, consists of a hub that looks like a Kleenex cube and a wall sensor that looks like a plug-in air freshener to monitor a home’s ambient field. It surveys and performs spectral analysis on a bandwidth between 680 and 4,000 megahertz, which covers most home wireless devices, within a range of 2,500 feet. Any action by an unrecognized human will trigger an alert sent to the user’s phone via app. Aura does not require visible light like motion sensors,

Writer’s Bistro and it covers places people don’t want cameras, like bathrooms.

A Research Yacht? ålesund, norway

Industrialist Kjell Inge Røkke, with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion, has contracted with the Norwegian shipyard Vard for the construction of the world’s largest yacht. At 595.8 feet, it will be six feet longer than Sheidh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s Azzam, the current record holder; and, at 16,000 gross tons, it will have 100 GT more cargo space than Alisher Usmanov’s Dilbar. Røkke’s yacht will be designed by Espen Oeino, and it should launch sometime in 2020.

The yacht will be known as REV, short for Research Expedition Vessel, and it is being built for the World Wildlife Foundation of Norway. With multiple sustainable features, it is being designed to withstand climatological extremes from equatorial to polar regions. It is being equipped with modern laboratories, helipads, hangars for autonomous and semiautonomous craft, a launch and a crane, an auditorium, and a scoop to clean up plastic. When the yacht is not on a scientific mission, it will be chartered to help raise money for research.

Keep on Rolling with the Flow wilmington, delaware

Amalgam Rx has gotten FDA approval for a rapid-response type 2 diabetes treatment. Once the disease is diagnosed, doctors typically prescribe low doses of insulin, which cannot be modified until the patient’s next appointment. For more responsive treatment, brother-sister team Ryan Sysko and Dr. Suzanne Clough developed an app, iSage Rx, that suggests regimen adjustments.

The doctor doesn’t prescribe a set dosage, but rather prescribes a beginning

dosage, a target glucose level, and the app. With each reading, the app adjusts dosages to move the next one closer to target. In addition, it has a variety of fun features like messaging and videos to make the process less frightening.

The app works for all brands of insulin, and the entrepreneurs hope to expand their algorithmic app for treating other diseases. Sysko and Clough are also the founders of WellDoc, the company behind the BlueStar diabetes management platform.

Subterranean Undercutting st. louis , missouri

Health Insurance giant Anthem, Inc., announced its intentions to split from pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) Express Scripts Holding Company at the end of its contract in 2019. As a PBM, Express Scripts’ role is to serve patients by negotiating drug prices and selecting the most cost-effective products when equivalent drugs are on the market.

PBMs make money from spread pricing, a differential introduced between what they pay pharmacies and bill insurance companies; taking cuts from rebates; and charging administrative fees. Express Scripts is one of only three big PBMs, the other two being CVS Caremark and OptumRx. If Anthem, which accounts for 17 percent of Express Scripts’ revenue, were to give its business to CVS, the PBMs would trade places as first and second largest. The split follows a lawsuit in which Anthem claimed Express Scripts overcharged it $15 billion over five years.

Express Scripts CEO Tim Wentworth countered Anthem had a special deal with his company that included a $4.7 billion upfront bailout.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 77

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D o w n to w n ve rl y- H an ks

19 76 .

O ff ic e ci rc a

NE AL HAN KS, SR

Market Forces written by jason gilmer photos by anthony harden & beverly- hanks

When Neal Hanks, Jr., found himself abruptly thrust into the leadership role at real estate giant Beverly-Hanks & Associates, he instinctively knew he would need to be forward-thinking.

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NEAL HANKS, JR

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 79

T

TIME CAN BE A FICKLE MONSTER.

There’s never enough. Even when you spend plenty of time with someone, when you lose them, you inevitably long for more time.

Neal Hanks, Jr., can understand. The president at Beverly-Hanks & Associates—Western North Carolina’s leading real estate agency, with a total sales volume for 2016 of $1.16 billion, according to the MLS—had a lot of time with his father, but that time was cut too short.

“My dad and I had a great relationship. We were very close, personally and professionally,” says Neal, as he sits in a small conference room at the corporate office with an overfilled to-do list on a yellow legal pad. “He died at a young age, but, and I’ve said this to many people, I spent more time with my dad than most people would if their father lived to be 100. We worked together six or seven days a week and then seeing each other like a normal family would. We saw a lot of each other and enjoyed the same things.”

Neal Hanks, Sr., and George Beverly merged their agencies—Beverly Realty and W. Neal Hanks & Associates—in 1976 to form a new company. They located it at 16 Church Street near downtown Asheville and then grew the company through their people skills and service.

This year the company celebrated its history, and while there was time to look back, Beverly-Hanks and Associates is more about forward thinking than past successes.

Still, almost 20 years after his death, Hanks, Sr., has a presence in the company. At the end of a hallway, past several glass-paneled offices, a portrait of him hangs on the wall. On the opposite wall, past the front desk and foyer and down another hall, hangs a more recent-looking portrait of Beverly.

Employees haven’t forgotten the elder Hanks. It’s hard to, especially when his son is quite similar. Maybe not in appearance, though, as Neal has a shaved head, compared to his father’s brown hair in the portrait. It’s in the way the two handle people. Real estate is, in essence, a people profession.

It’s about helping people. Neal learned lessons early on from his father and continues to put them into practice.

“He had a lot of dedication and drive and personality, and his whole persona led him to be what he is today,” observed Bill Miller, who joined the company in 1988, about Neal in a video about the 40th anniversary.

Time hasn’t stopped. It has, though, changed the way Beverly-Hanks & Associates, which is a full-service firm, with residential and commercial brokerage, plus marketing, developer, and mortgage services, operates. The merger of two agencies has grown into a company with satellite offices, an in-house mortgage company, 55 employees, and 320 independent contractor real estate brokers.

“My dad used to tell me all the time that you’re either green and growing or you’re ripe and rotten,” Neal says.

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HIGHEST EARNERS hallway

“I’m a big believer that you have to constantly try to get better, because if you’re not, you’re falling behind.”

Before Real Estate Some sons don’t want to follow in their father’s footsteps. Neal knows all about that. While he shared his father’s affection for the lakes of the mountains and the beaches and ocean of the coast as he grew up, he didn’t want to go into real estate. “It was never really on my radar,” he says. “I’ve always been a big outdoors guy, and I thought I wanted to get into the construction industry and be a contractor.”

The Hanks family moved to Asheville from Mobile, Alabama, in the late 1960s after Neal Hanks, Sr., was recruited to be the city planner and director of urban renewal. He worked that job for a few years, helped to overhaul public housing on Martin Luther King Blvd., and then decided to leave public works for real estate.

Like most teenagers and college students, Neal had a variety of jobs, beginning with grass cutter. His first job in retail included a polyester uniform and a deep fryer as he worked at Arby’s on Hendersonville Road.

He then switched to the Coach Lite Restaurant, which was owned by Cecil Cantrell and located in Skyland.

“The interesting thing about that place was they gave away free red wine at night. That tells you how much times have changed,” Neal says. “You go in there for dinner and the wine is complimentary. The owner would walk around and pour wine all night.”

After graduation from T.C. Roberson High School, where he played tight end and defensive end on the football team, Neal went to Appalachian State and majored in marketing. He also worked at Hounds Ears Country Club, being a part bellman-part valet. “I loved being in the mountains in the summertime,” Hanks says. “I met a ton of really neat people who lived there in the summertime.”

Midway through college, father and son had a conversation about the burgeoning family business.

The corporate office wasn’t the only physical address for Beverly-Hanks & Associates anymore, with satellite offices springing up as business increased. As a result, for Neal, the prospect of being in an office every day with his father watching over him no longer loomed, and this ultimately changed his mind about real estate. He switched majors and eventually graduated with a degree in real estate brokerage and finance.

He arrived at the Skyland office in 1987 and began in residential sales.

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com

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BEVERLY-HANKS company photo 2015

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Forty years ago, two of Western North Carolina’s biggest and most successful realtors joined forces and opened Beverly-Hanks & Associates. One man loved the commercial aspect of real estate; the other lived for the residential side of the business.

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Neal worked there for about six years and then worked for George Beverly, running the commercial division, eventually returning to Skyland, where he managed the office for five years. “I love the fact that this is such a relationship-driven business,” he says.

“Both with our associates and employees and our customers and clients. I love the fact that it’s different every day, every year. The industry is evolving, the town is evolving, and what we’re doing is evolving. It’s an ever-changing business.”

In 1999 Neal was named president of Beverly-Hanks & Associates.

His father was the chairman of the board. Their offices were beside each other.

Time, though, is a fickle monster.

The Company Framed headshots of the Beverly-Hanks biggest earners from last year hang in a straight on a wall outside a large conference room at the corporate office. Inside the conference room it has a different feel, with several watercolors of Asheville scenes hung on the walls.

There’s one piece, however, that’s very Asheville without a hint of hue-laden artistic beauty.

It’s a framed black-and-white newspaper advertisement from 1977, and one that speaks volume about the company that Hanks now controls. In the ad, two handsome men, wearing ‘70s-era three-piece suits, stand on a front lawn with three “for sale” signs in view. Two are laid on the ground. Another stands between the George Beverly and Neal Hanks, Sr. “Yesterday these men were competitors,” the ad reads. “Today they are partners.”

Forty years ago, two of Western North Carolina’s biggest and most successful realtors joined forces and opened Beverly-Hanks

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& Associates. One man loved the commercial aspect of real estate; the other lived for the residential side of the business. It was a merger of sensibilities that would help the company go on to dominate the regional real estate market for decades.

Now Neal is charged with continuing what those two stylish, suit-wearing salesmen started.

The corporate office is in a highly visible spot, a short walk from downtown Asheville, diagonal from the new Hilton Garden Inn complex, and at the intersection of College and South Charlotte streets. In addition to their Asheville/Buncombe County offices, other offices are in Henderson, Haywood, Polk, and Rutherford counties, and the company also does business in the surrounding counties of Yancey, Madison, and Transylvania. When he became president, Neal had only been

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with the company a little over a decade. “I thought I was ready at the time,” he says, “but in hindsight, I was awfully young.”

He did, however, have the two aforementioned businessmen in nearby office spaces available to answer any questions. If he had a question about commercial real estate, Neal could walk out his office door, take a sharp left, and meet with George Beverly. If there was an aspect of residential real estate that needed to be addressed, he would turn right out of his office, walk into the corner space, and speak with his father. Having such nearby resources proved invaluable for the young executive.

Things would take a tragic turn in 1999, however. Hanks, Sr., who had experienced a cancer scare some seven years’ earlier and had been cancer-free since then, abruptly became ill. His cancer had returned, and he underwent a single chemotherapy

treatment before he got sicker and suddenly died in June of that year. Neal was only 35 at the time.

“It was tough that he wasn’t here, but I had George Beverly, who is a brilliant business man, great real estate guy and mentor,” Neal remembers. “George was very solid foundational part of the company. There was such a strong relational bond between our sales associates and my father.

With his passing, we kind of locked arms together and went charging. That made it a little easier on me because our employees rallied and kept going.”

“I have to say this, Neal, Jr., really stepped up to the plate and took over for his dad and continued to do a fantastic job,” George Beverly observed, in a video about the company’s 40th anniversary. “I’m so proud of him. I wish his dad were here to see him.”

Changes Have Happened Since Neal took over the company as president, he has guided Beverly-Hanks & Associates through an economic downturn, an upswing in market growth, and changes in how real estate is marketed.

He oversees the administrative team and gets reports from the non-competing branch managers and the company’s vice presidents. He directs quarterly meetings where every employee and agent piles into a hotel ballroom to talk strategy and results. “My goal is to be forward-thinking and casting the vision to our leaders on where we want to go, and then to help them organize and get us there,” he says.

Along the way, Neal and his executive team have worked diligently to ensure that the company stays abreast of—often,

June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 85

ahead of—trends in the real estate business. Technology, Neal says, has been the biggest change. People, though, haven’t changed. The internet, with the ability to showcase videos, high-quality photography, and endless search options, has changed how potential buyers shop. Beverly-Hanks has sold homes sight unseen. New residents and businesses have arrived from across the country to make Western North Carolina home.

Neal wants to help people, and his company showcases that desire through its philanthropy programs. One, the Neal Hanks, Sr. Memorial Fund, gives the company a way to help local nonprofit organizations. Dozens of such groups, including United Way, Day of Impact, Manna Food Bank, and local Boys and Girls Clubs, have received assistance through the Fund.

It goes farther, though, than the corporate level. Neal is happy that many of his agents volunteer, give financially, or serve on local boards. “We believe we have a responsibility to make our community a better place to live.” he says. “We believe we’re selling the community and not just bricks and mortar, so we have a responsibility to make it as good as can be.”

William Murdock, executive director of Eblen Charities in Asheville, has known Neal for 20 years—in his words, “both as a friend and as a member of Eblen’s Board of Directors. So I’ve also known him aside from his work in the business community here.”

Eblen Charities is a well-known nonprofit organization, whose mission is to help area families with medical, housing, and emergency assistance. Murdock points out that thanks to the Neal Hanks, Sr., Housing Assistance Program, hundreds of families receive help each year. “And Neal certainly has led the way in doing so,” says Murdock.

First Citizens Bank’s Bob Roberts echoes Murdock’s sentiments, noting that Neal has tirelessly and consistently “given his time and talent to many organizations, Eblen in particular. We’ve served together on boards of a number of charities, and he is quite a force.”

Roberts, a regional executive vice president for First Citizens, adds that he first met Neal around 1994. “We’ve enjoyed a mutually beneficial business relationship, of course, and I’ve had the opportunity to see him grow professionally. From my perspective, two personal qualities in particular also stand out: He’s a very humble guy, with strong family values and his Faith; and he listens, really takes your opinion into account. Just a great guy.”

Beverly-Hanks & Associates has grown as the area has grown, and it isn’t uncommon to drive down a street and see multiple signs in front yards that represent their clients. Neal is now in charge of the company after he bought out George

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Beverly’s stock in 2006. Beverly retired from the company, but he still maintains his office in the corporate building and manages his commercial assets from there when he is in town.

mountains and the national forest. Those restraints will hopefully slow it from growing at too rapid of a pace. I think we’ll continue to have second homes and moving [here] for quality of life. Those are the same things that have brought people here for forever.

What’s different is that we’re going to see different housing products and what people want.

We have to continue to figure out how to market things the right way. At the end of the day, I think people will continue to seek real estate professionals to help them understand the uniqueness of Western North Carolina and to understand the real estate market, because it is unique and diverse.

“It’s not a cookie-cutter-type town. It’s what we’re constantly talking to our realtors about: This isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing, all products aren’t the same, and you have to help navigate and understand our region and housing market.”

“At the end of the day, I think people will continue to seek real estate professionals to help them understand the uniqueness of Western North Carolina and to understand the real estate market.”

The future of the company is in Neal’s hands, and he has the vision for where the company will go and how it will continue to be the area’s top real estate agency.

“I think Western North Carolina is going to continue to grow. It will continue to be a popular place. Everyone wants to be here,” he says. “The good news, in my mind, is that we have some limitations to growth because we are in the

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People Play at

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1. Cortina Jenelle Caldwell, LEAF Community Relations Director 2. Asheville’s Jon Stickley Trio performing

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3. Jennifer Jane Pickering, LEAF Executive Director 4. Singer/songwriter Martin Sexton performing

5. Asheville’s Leeda “Lyric” Jones in music fan mode 6. Micah MacKenzie and Tebbe Davis

The 44th LEAF Festival Camp Rockmont, Black Mountain | May 11-14 , 2017 Photos by David Simchock Photography (www.davidsimchock.com)

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events

– july 1 The Taming of the Shrew june 2

june

EVENTS june 1-11

The Remarkable Rhododendron Ramble

1-1:45PM Grandfather Mountain 2050 Blowing Rock Hwy, Linville, NC Everybody loves rhododendrons because they’re beautiful, heavenly, and dreamy.

But if love is understanding, you need to know more about these plants. So, you can take a tour with a park naturalist and learn all about their cycles, their place in the ecosystem, and the roles they have played for humankind through the ages.

> Admission: Senior $18, Adult (13-59) $20, Child $9, Infant (0-3) FREE > 828-733-4337 > grandfather.com

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7:30PM (Fri, Sat, Sun) Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre 92 Gay St, Asheville, NC ’Til the one day when this lady met this fellow. And they knew that it was much more than a hunch. That this shrew must somehow be a lady, so ’til she obeyed he would not let her eat her lunch. That’s the storyline for this one, but since their last performance, nobody has surpassed the Montford Park Players as North Carolina’s longest-running Shakespeare Festival, either. It’s rather romantic out there, under the stars, on the lawn with a picnic and a Tudor backdrop. Lisa Klepzig will be peddling Elizabethan chocolates, too.

> 828-254-5146 > montfordparkplayers.org june 2- 4

Toe River Studio Tour 10AM-5PM

Yancey & Mitchell Counties, NC This long-running tour (24 years) is held twice annually. 83 artists—potters,

oil and pastel painters, glass blowers, woodworkers, basket weavers, sculptors, textile artists, photographers, jewelers, soap makers, mixed-media artists—will participate, and six galleries will hold open houses. The Penland School of Crafts is nearby. A printed guidebook is also available for download. Opening reception at the Spruce Pine gallery is June 2, 5:30-7:30PM.

> 828-682-7215 > toeriverarts.org june 2-11

‘night, Mother 7:30PM (Fri, Sat), 2PM (Sun) Hendersonville Community Theatre 229 South Washington St, Hendersonville, NC A dramatization of the final hour of somebody who – It’s a horrible thought, but maybe it will make us more sensitive to the silent struggles of those around us.

>Tickets: $16 > 828-692-1082 > hendersonvilletheatre.org

june 3 & 4

Just Plane Fun! Air Fair and Fly-in

10AM-5PM Hendersonville Airport 1232 Shepherd St, Hendersonville, NC An event so nice, they named it thrice.

People can wander around the tarmac and look at different kinds of planes and antique cars and motorcycles, and check out the airplane souvenirs. A general invitation has gone out to pilots to land their cool craft and spend the day. If that’s not enough, aerial tours over the City of Hendersonville will run for either $35 or $100, depending on the size of the plane; but kids get to taxi around in the ornithopter for free.

> 828-606-1252 > westernnorthcarolinaairmuseum.com june 3

Midnight Plowboys

7PM Veh Stage, Tryon Fine Arts Center 34 Melrose Avenue, Tryon, NC This premiere bluegrass act from Asheville will hold a benefit for PacJAM. It

stands for the Pacolet Junior Appalachian Musicians, who are raising money to preserve traditional mountain music through instruction and performance.

>Tickets: Adult $14, Student $8 > 828-859-8322 > tryonarts.org june 6

Pints & Pretzels Open House

5-7PM Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Center for Graduate Studies 36 Montford Avenue, Asheville, NC Mix and mingle with Lenoir-Rhyne University graduate students, faculty, and staff, and learn about the many master’s degree programs offered. Included will be a presentation on programs, cost, financial aid options, and more.

> 828-407-4265 > LR.edu/asheville june 8 -10

Family Enterprise Research Conference

Family Business Forum, UNC Asheville One University Heights, Asheville, NC Fondly known as FERC, this is the SXSW for scholars of family firms. It’s dedicated to developing a community for conducting research to further the understanding of and creating usable knowledge in this field. Highlights will include panel discussions, awards ceremonies, a tour of the Biltmore Estate, and monetary awards for the best papers.

> Fbf.unca.edu/conference-details june 8 -10 ContinuuCon 2017

UNC Asheville One University Heights, Asheville, NC Last year’s ContinuuCon was such a smash, its organizers are bringing you a second wave. The event attracts artists and aficionados from all ’round the globe. So, UNC Asheville has agreed to host the sequel. This is the SXSW for the electronic glissando machine. Reception, two days of workshops and lectures, a dinner, and a concert.

>Tickets: $250 > continuucon.com

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June 2017 | capitalatplay.com 91

EILEEN FISHER

CELEBRATING 21 YEARS!

events

– july 2 Annie june 9

2PM (Thu, Sat, Sun), 7:30PM (Wed, Thu), 8PM (Fri, Sat) Flat Rock Playhouse, Mainstage 2661 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, NC It’s a heartwarming story about people learning to love each other in a mixed-income situation and top-level politicians coming in to save the day.

2onCrescent

828.274.1276 • 2oncrescent.com Open Everyday 11am - 5pm 4 All Souls Crescent, Biltmore Village

>Tickets: Senior $45-$48, Adult

(26-59) $45-$50, Student $30 > 828-693-0731 > flatrockplayhouse.org

june 10

Southern Highland Clay Fest

10AM-4PM Folk Art Center - Milepost 382, Blue Ridge Parkway, Asheville, NC

$799

with Free Sewing Classes For ForThe TheLove LoveofofSewing: Sewing:

This is an amazing opportunity to learn all phases of clay work from master artisans through observation and hands-on activities. Lots of masterpieces will be available for purchase.

> 828-298-7928 > craftguild.org

june 13

Neil deGrasse Tyson

7:30PM US Cellular Center, Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 87 Haywood St, Asheville, NC

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Dr. Tyson is in high-demand by major media outlets for his engaging, accessible views on pop-sci physics and cosmology. He may talk about agnosticism, the end of the universe, or Einstein. At least he’s right in saying Newton was the greatest physicist.

>Tickets: $77, $87, $215 > 800-745-3000 > ticketmaster.com june 14

Animal Birthday Party

10:30AM-3:30PM Grandfather Mountain 2050 Blowing Rock Hwy, Linville, NC It’s hard to believe all the animals at Grandfather Mountain were born on the same day; even harder to believe they’re all party animals. But anyway. To make the animals happy, everybody is invited for special outdoor education programs, games, contests, crafts, and surprises.

> Admission: Senior $18, Adult (13-

59) $20, Child $9, Infant (0-3) FREE > 828-733-4337 > grandfather.com

june 15 -17 Art In Bloom

Black Mountain Center for the Arts 225 W. State St, Black Mountain, NC For the 11th annual event there will be art on loan from regional galleries curated by BMCA Executive Director Gale Jackson, with 22 regional floral designers doing their wizardry. There will be a Gala Preview Dinner Party on June 15, and on the 16th and 17th attendees can explore Black Mountain with a local Cottage Garden Tour.

> 828-669-0930 > blackmountainarts.org june 16

7th Annual Doc Watson Day Celebration 4-8PM The Jones House 604 West King St, Boone, NC

Headliners include Charles Welch, Jack

Lawrence and Patrick Crouch, Presley Barker, and the Jeff Little Trio. Doc Watson needs no introduction—the Western North Carolina bluegrass icon won eight Grammy awards, and when he died in 2012, adoring fans loaded his statue in downtown Boone with flowers.

> 828-268-6280 > joneshouse.org june 16

Silveramics Trunk Show

4-7PM The Gallery at Flat Rock 2702A Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock, NC Various Flat Rock and Hendersonville venues for the visual arts partner on third Fridays for a Gallery Hop. The Gallery will host a trunk show by metalsmith Molly Sharp and ceramist husband David Voorhees. The look is rugged and reflective of nature.

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> 828-698-7000 > galleryflatrock.com june 17

Centennial Celebration of Biltmore Industries

12-5PM Grovewood Village 111 Grovewood Rd, Asheville, NC

Biltmore Industries celebrates its hundredth anniversary with exhibits and demonstrations of traditional fiber art from seven weavers. Share some of the birthday cake and listen to a presentation on the history of the quaint little turn-of-the-other-century village by Bruce Johnson, director of the National Arts & Crafts Conference at the Grove Park Inn since 1988.

> 828-253-7651 > grovewood.com

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events

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june 17

Firefly Twilight Tour

7-10PM Cradle of Forestry 11250 Pisgah Hwy, Pisgah Forest, NC Fireflies are so cute and symbolic.

When you see them, they’re almost always shining their little lights and moving upward. Now, these forest rangers are saying, “Beyond the peaceful, soft glows are betrayal and deceit.”

They invite you to walk the forest with them as heavenly shades of night are falling to get to the bottom of this.

> Admission: Adult $6, Child (5-15) $3, Infant FREE > 828-877-3130 > cradleofforestry.com

june 21

Sesame Street Live: Make a New Friend 10:30AM and 6:30PM US Cellular Center, Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 87 Haywood St, Asheville, NC The little Muppets of Sesame Street, in the news recently decrying proposed massive budget cuts to public arts funding, speak the universal languages of song, dance, and sharing cookies.

Since this is all about making friends, you may walk away being that friend it takes to make one.

>Tickets: $17 & $25 > 828-259-5736 > ticketmaster.com june 22

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3rd Annual WWBC Conference: Her Story, Her Journey 8:30AM-3:30PM US Cellular Center 87 Haywood St, Asheville, NC

The Western Women’s Business Center at The Support Center and the A-B Tech Small Business Center will host female small business owners, entrepreneurs, and members of community organizations. Breakout sessions address topics like pitfalls to avoid when applying for loans, storytelling, and how to market art. There will be a Zumba session to work off lunch.

> Registration: Door $45, Advance $35 > 828-633-5065 > carolinasmallbusiness.org june 24

Drums & Dragons

LOCAL INSTITUTE NOW OFFERING STEM CELL THERAPY

“In time, it’s our hope that this truly amazing therapy will eliminate the need for drugs and surgery.”

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8AM Lake Julian Park, 406 Overlook Rd Extension, Arden, NC

Two great tastes that go great together. CarePartners Foundation has decided to raise money through corporate teambuilding with the ancient art of dragon boat racing. By the time you read this, it will probably be too late to pull 20 of your coworkers together and raise the $1,500 entry fee and do the crowdsourcing thing; so you may as well come watch – and get ideas on how your team can win at the second annual event!

> 828-989-5067 > drumsanddragons.com june 24

Antique & Vintage Show

8AM-5PM Outdoors Downtown, Hendersonville, NC

Rain or shine, vendors will be out. They’ve been doing this for twenty-five years already. See the report on antiquing in Western North Carolina elsewhere in this issue.

> 828-233-3205 > downtownhendersonville.org

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june 24

ReptiDay

10AM-5PM Boone Building, WNC Agricultural Center 1301 Fanning Bridge Rd, Fletcher, NC This is your second annual chance to adopt a “slimy” critter for that special someone – or, if you’ve been there, done that, buy little Zilla a special treat. At last count, there were 24 vendors, with geckos, mini pigs, and who knows what-all.

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FREE EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR on stem cell therapy

at the Country Inn and Suites in the Westgate Shopping Center near Earth Fare and downtown Asheville.

Please call for the date and times, and to reserve your seat, as space is limited!

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events

the free spirit of enterprise

Scheduled presentations cover topics like anacondas and colubrid care.

>Tickets: Adult $12, Child (5-12) $5, Infant FREE > 863-268-4273 > repticon.com

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june 24 -25

Western North Carolina Farm Tour

12-5PM Details & map provided with registration.

Spring in the country mountains of Western North Carolina is nothing short of poetic, the soft verdant hills, the cute baby animals, and pastel flowers in the mist. The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project – aka ASAP - now presents an opportunity to get out of the car and step into the scenery and a chance to eliminate the table in farmto-table. Study the brochure to choose which farms match your philosophy and interests. Then, visit them at your own pace, stopping to say hello to the farmers, learn first-hand, and eat farm-fresh.

>Tickets: $30/carload > 828-236-1282 > asapconnections.org

LOCAL BEERS ON TAP OVER 50 TEQUILAS FRESH JUICE MARGARITAS

- historic biltmore village (828)505-7682 call ahead for preffered seating OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK CATERING AND PRIVATE DINING AVAILABLE

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june 26 – july 2 Asheville Percussion Festival: Mosaic of Rhythm Odyssey School 90 Zillicoa Street, Asheville, NC

At the 5th annual, attendees can learn different drumming styles in master classes conducted by fifteen accomplished drummers from around the world. They are coming here to collaborate and compose as well as teach. A master concert will be held July 1 at the Diana Wortham Theatre.

> 267-566-3911 > ashevillepercussionfestival.com

june 30

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 7:30PM Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium 349 Andante Lane, Brevard, NC Lise de la Salle is billed as “one of today’s most exciting young artists,” and if she can play Rachmaninoff anything like Yefim Bronfman, this show ought not be missed.

The piano part is fast-paced, mashing rhythms not divisible by two, broad-jumping the keyboard, often requiring six fingers at a time, and, most astonishingly of all, remaining wholly melodic.

>Tickets: $15-$57 > 828-862-2105 > brevardmusic.org july 6 - 9

Grandfather Mountain Highland Games MacRae Meadows, Grandfather Mountain, NC

In its 62nd season, with around 100 sponsoring clans each year. Heavy athletics include tossing things (such as telephone poles) up to 56 pounds for height and distance and wrestling. There will be races for men in skirts, a 5-mile uphill run, and a marathon. Plus Scottish instruments, sheep herding, dancing, Celtic wailing, and whiskey tasting. See the August issue of this magazine for a photo gallery of the 2016 Games.

> 828-733-1333 > gmhg.org

If your organization has any local press releases for our briefs section, or events that you would like to see here, feel free to email us at events@capitalatplay.com.

Please submit your event at least six weeks in advance.

Enjoy performances as

captivating as the view.

Summer Music Festival June-August 2017 Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Miss Opening Weekend!

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 6:00PM

Keith Lockhart Artistic Director

OPENING NIGHT: BEETHOVEN 5

also featuring pianist Garrick Ohlsson

SATURDAY JUNE 24, 7:30PM

SATURDAY SPECTACULAR WITH LEE ANN WOMACK

SUNDAY JUNE 25, 3:00PM

PETRUSHKA

TUESDAY JUNE 27, 7:30PM

RICKY SKAGGS WITH ORCHESTRA

conducted by Keith Lockhart

in collaboration with Mountain Song Productions

Visit our website for a list of all 80 performances.

brevardmusic.org | (828) 862-2105 | Tickets start at $15

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World Class Heart Care

Close to Home At Mission Heart, there’s a reason we’re consistently ranked in the top 2 percent of heart programs in America. Mission Heart has been a regional leader in cardiothoracic surgery and comprehensive heart care for more than 40 years.

Find a Mission cardiologist who’s best for you

(828) 274-6000 mission-health.org/heart

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