Mountain Xpress 06.09.21

OUR 27TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 27 NO. 45 JUNE 9-15, 2021

C O NT E NT S

FEATURES

OF ANTIQUES, UNIQUES & REPURPOSED RARITIES!

NEWS

12 ASHEVILLE GROWN PASSES THE BATON Sherree Lucas to lead local economic alliance

NEWS

36,000 SQ. FT.

8 WALK OF FAME Andrea Clark honors James Vester Miller’s contributions to Asheville

PAGE 10 UP WITH SMOKE Tobacco, once a key cash crop for Western North Carolina, has all but disappeared from the region in the wake of the 2004 federal buyout.

But cigar wrapper tobacco — ­ and its premium price — may give local farmers a new way to profit from the golden leaf.

COVER PHOTO Conner Stonbach

ARCHIVES

COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick 16 GROUNDED Army plan makes emergency landiing in West Asheville, 1949

3 LETTERS 3

CARTOON: MOLTON

WELLNESS

5 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN 18 HEALTH ROUNDUP Vaya to consolidate with Cardinal and other health news

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A&C

20 CAMERA READY Professional food photographers and stylists have an eye for the perfect image

18 WELLNESS 20 ARTS & CULTURE 28 CLUBLAND 30 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY

22 ENTER STAGE RIGHT Local theater companies launch indoor seasons

A&C

Best of WNC since 2014!

8 NEWS 14 BUNCOMBE BEAT

Large Apothecary Cabinet TRS Inventory on Shakedown St.

6 COMMENTARY

regenerationstation.com

30 CLASSIFIEDS 31 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

TheRegenerationStation

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STAFF PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Jeff Fobes ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson EDITOR: Thomas Calder ASSISTANT EDITOR: Daniel Walton ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Thomas Calder OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose STAFF REPORTERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Cayla Clark, Brooke Randle, Jessica Wakeman, Daniel Walton COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Cayla Clark CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Barrett, Leslie Boyd, Bill Kopp, Cindy Kunst, Gina Smith, Kay West ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Olivia Urban MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Sara Brecht, David Furr, Andy Hall, Tiffany Wagner OPERATIONS MANAGER: Able Allen INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES & WEB: Bowman Kelley BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler-Tanner ADMINISTRATION, BILLING, HR: Able Allen DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS: Desiree Davis, Henry Mitchell, Tiffany Narron, Kelley Quigley, Angelo Santa Maria, Carl & Debbie Schweiger, Jess Traver

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BY MOUNTAIN XPRESS ADVERTISING COPYRIGHT 2021 BY MOUNTAIN XPRESS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

Save the branch libraries for community’s well-being Moving to Asheville just as the plague set in was made easier by having ready, walkable access to our local Oakley branch of the city/county library system. The library is a source of information on topics near and far; it’s also a resource for the sharing of diverse ideas and the growth of a broader ecology of community.

And I suggest that money is not the foremost metric for individual and community well-being. We embody and enact what the library offers each time we have a meaningful discussion. The invaluable ecology of mind that is a library is embodied in our shared public thoughtfulness. Working through differences in outlook and creating worthy integrations among diverse disciplinary, practical, emotional and other kinds of understanding and commitment is the essential condition of a healthy body politic.

A city may be no better than the quality of its public discussions and decisions; the value of these depends on our ready access to both knowledge and to other persons and perspectives.

Every family and household, all children, each person — especially without convenient auto or bus access — needs a library that is easy to reach and use in physical, interpersonal and electronic ways to foster this kind of democratic interaction.

I vote to keep the Oakley and other branch libraries intact and alive to the possibilities of a new order of community flourishing for persons of all ages and backgrounds and for a thriving ecology of mind and natural surroundings.

— Guy Burneko Asheville

The TDA’s biggest-ever marketing spend Before we go hog wild on marketing Asheville to the world, can we pause (or at least more slowly ramp up) to consider what’s best for the city and its inhabitants? What results came from the study on tourism and the recent moratorium on hotel development?

How can the city best heal from the effects of the pandemic?

I think having the city immediately overrun with tourists may not be the best idea, except for the hotels. Yes, the restaurants that made it through deserve to be rewarded. But there are a lot of people struggling in this town.

And minimum-wage jobs (or less than minimum-wage jobs when you think of the restaurant servers) aren’t helping.

Fifteen million dollars on marketing?

Is that the best use of that money? I

Outrageous that we remain barred from public attendance at county and city meetings. Wholesale rape of this ilk packaged as “pragmatic,” while opposition is vilified, is shameful on all counts.

— Queen Lady Passion (Dixie Deerman) High Priestess, Coven Oldenwilde Asheville Editor’s note: Although some boards and commissions continue to meet remotely, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners returned to in-person meetings on May 18, and Asheville City Council was scheduled to resume in-person meetings June 8.

Dense development will ruin Asheville forever C A R T O O N B Y R AN DY M O L T O N agree with Ben Williamson [“Rampant Tourism or True Progress? Buncombe Commissioners Must Rein in the TDA,” May 12, Xpress] to defund the Tourism Development Authority until the state recognizes that Asheville needs a more useful distribution of these funds.

— Mark H. Bloom Asheville

Want to get back to ‘normal’? Get your shots I was a little girl, maybe 6 years old, when I saw a magazine photograph of children in a polio ward, imprisoned in iron lungs. That year, the Salk vaccine spared me that nightmare. I also remember a dot of pink on a tiny sugar cube: the Sabin vaccine. We all lined up in the school cafeteria and got our doses. Our parents were thrilled.

Diphtheria killed my mother’s younger brothers. Measles, mumps, chickenpox and rubella, the so-called “childhood diseases,” swept through my elementary school classrooms. My children were spared. What a difference vaccines have made in our lives.

Smallpox and polio are eradicated, and the childhood diseases are almost eliminated in the U.S. because of near-universal immunizations.

After a year of lockdown, overwhelmed hospitals and about 600,000 deaths, I was thrilled to learn a vaccine for COVID-19 had been developed. I signed up as soon as I was eligible. It is a blessing to have it now available free for absolutely all adults and teenagers.

But the CDC shows that just over half of adults in North Carolina have had a least one dose. I can’t understand it.

True, younger people are less likely

to be very sick, but that’s only part of the picture.

We need to stop COVID-19 from circulating and mutating into more virulent strains, strains against which the vaccine does not protect. For this to happen, everyone needs to get their shots. It’s not just for oneself, but for the entire community, that you roll up your sleeve. If you want to protect your parents and grandparents, your friends and neighbors with other health problems, the nurses and doctors in the emergency rooms, and first responders, and get back to “normal,” then get your shots.

— Julia H. Hall Lake Lure

The onslaught against climate change resiliency Regarding Charlotte Street development, etc.: Outrageous that Avl taxpayers’ property tax is raised 22% without a plan to preserve trees that lure residents and tourists.

Outrageous that the Charlotte Street “development” is currently allocating a mere 18 units out of 183 as “affordable,” withholding info that such will only last for 20 years, while the Preservation Society has offered to keep current occupants in affordable housing forever.

Outrageous that the 123-year-old obelisk is dismantled, erasing Avl history and a longtime rallying place to express dissent.

Outrageous we’re told density is inevitable at the cost of neighborhood character, noise, logistics (parking), flooding and sewer issues: Told we can’t decry sprawl and density infill while both are nonregulated and already rampant.

The more people we pack into the urban center will eventually ruin our town and lead to the worst traffic imaginable — forever — and for everyone. I hear the cry for affordable housing, but kill the golden goose? There is nothing wrong with affordable housing being farther out. Lovely towns nearby can handle the growth. Hotel industry workers can carpool or use organized buses.

Been through the Clingman-Hilliard intersection during rush hour? The lights are backed up past the RAD, and the problem continues to Patton Avenue and I-240. Impatient drivers rudely block the intersection. I doubt if the city is planning to widen the streets here. (The city is also habitually irresponsible about creating enough parking for their urban deluge.)

Every time someone living in the new dense developments goes out for a quart of milk, you have more cars packed on the old roads that already can’t handle the current population.

Asheville will be as sorry as Austin, Texas, now is. Our officials should take a visit. Fifteen years ago, my friends there said they couldn’t go downtown anymore — or go around downtown to go north, south, east or west. The developers threw up apartments along the busy inner corridors and guess what happened? Gridlock. Forever and for everyone.

(By the way, this is a practical solution to the flow of traffic, not “institutional racism.”)

— Annelise Mundy Asheville

The future of Charlotte Street Laura Berner Hudson’s commentary was well presented [“Future Vision: 101 Charlotte St. Deftly Balances Conflicting Priorities,” May 19, Xpress]. The future of Charlotte Street is a concern again

CONTINUES ON PAGE 4

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OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

in our Chestnut Hill neighborhood and with the Preservation Society, of which I am a longtime member.

While I don’t like opposing friends and neighbors who are afraid of the proposed development, I do think we need to recognize that the city is growing and changing, especially this area near downtown. The surrounding area has already been changing, and these once-grand old houses are in need of extensive work. To what end? In another area, this would make sense.

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JUNE 9-15, 2021

The reasons I and other people are attracted to the area north of I-240 are walkability, proximity to downtown, wonderful grocery stores, restaurants, shops, professional services, etc., as well as the historic neighborhood character.

The Killians have done well by our neighborhood for years, and I find their new development plans attractive.

I’ve worked on historic renovations for years and have been very happy in our present historic house in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood, but now at the age of 80 think an affordable,

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modern, two-bedroom condo here in this neighborhood may even be in my future.

— Wallace Paterson Asheville

Cramming 10 gallons in 5-gallon bucket of Charlotte Street I strongly disagree with Ms. Laura Berner Hudson’s recent piece in the

Mountain Xpress [“Future Vision: 101 Charlotte St. Deftly Balances Conflicting Priorities,” May 19]. Perhaps valid in theory, it presents her thoughts and solutions in a vacuum: 1. She quotes the Bowen report of about 3,200 additional households in the city by 2024. The two projects on Charlotte Street represent close to 400 of those households, meaning that 12.5% of that total will be crammed on an already overburdened two-lane road.

2. The “new” development calls for 18 affordable housing units.

More than that in terms of existing affordable housing will be destroyed in building this new monstrosity.

3. Ms. Hudson talks about “upgrading” the current infrastructure that makes high-density building preferable. And yet there has been no talk at the Council or Planning and Zoning Commission level on making that happen. Nor has there been any responsibility for the upgrade placed on the developer. If we already have challenges with water, sewer and traffic, then where/when would these upgrades happen? And the belief that Asheville will suddenly develop viable modes of public transportation is almost magical in its thinking.

4. The idea that more density leads to more affordable housing is a trope that has played out all over the world. If Ms. Hudson’s logic is to be believed, then shouldn’t New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, etc., be some of the least congested, most affordable places to live?

The last point is key to the troubling and not-so-subtle classism and racism that Ms. Hudson and others have presented. It has nothing to do with the “few who already have theirs” trying to keep others out; it is about trying to cram 10 gallons in a 5-gallon bucket. The view of Ms. Hudson and others that we have no choice but to be swamped under the deluge of people who want to be here is — in my opinion — misguided.

We can control the growth and do it smartly (by starting with following the existing guidelines that protect a quality of life for those already here). It seems the former and current chair of the P&Z Commission both have taken it upon themselves to argue against the existing rules and believe warehousing people in a city is better than living in a city.

— Lee Arevian Asheville

CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN

Charlotte Street, affordable housing and Asheville’s lure [Regarding affordable housing at the proposed 101 Charlotte St. development]: I agree with online commenter NFB: 10% is just not enough; we need at least 20% [“Future Vision: 101 Charlotte St. Deftly Balances Conflicting Priorities,” May 19].

We keep saying affordable housing; people are moving here because of what Asheville is — not the typical city you can find anywhere. We’re losing why people want to move here: nature and beauty. Just my opinion.

— Mari DeMauro Asheville

Unhappy medical encounter raises questions Is Mission Hospital incompetent?

Unkind? Greedy? All of the above?

I recently received a discounted (according to Mission billing) $221.60 bill from Mission Hospital for a doctor from an echo test I received. It showed the bill was fully my responsibility. This was despite the fact I had already paid Mission billing a discounted rate for my out-of-pocket share of the cost. ...

When I called the billing office, first I had to navigate through prompts to

pay my bill in full or arrange payments.

Eventually, I was able to reach someone in billing, who said to ignore the bill. I was concerned that perhaps this was a way to generate money rather than an honest mistake.

The day of my appointment, I was told to come to Mission Imaging for a CT scan at 1:50 p.m. ... When I arrived on time, I was told that my appointment was for 1:20 p.m. I was shocked, but relieved when they said they would still fit me in.

I waited a half hour to be called back.

The technician brought me to a room to prepare me for an IV. When I asked if there was a bathroom, the technician became angry and said we passed three on the way. The employee then decided to bypass me for another patient and told me to wait in an area nearby their office and that somebody would be with me shortly.

I didn’t at the time understand that the technician had decided to punish me for showing up late and then asking to use the bathroom. I thought that I was waiting for someone to take me back to another room for my scan.

The person taken after me fainted in the room, which caused quite a stir.

I was still unsure if I was waiting for somebody to see me or had been forgotten about. When I finally saw the technician come out for a minute, I asked if someone was coming for me, and they

ignored me. The next time I saw that employee, they said someone would.

Turns out that the technician was the someone. The employee laid into me for being so inconsiderate of the patient who had fainted, said they hoped I never would faint, that I was rude, showed up late, and why didn’t I use the bathroom when I was waiting for half hour to be called? I said I was worried that they might call me when I left to use the bathroom and thought it would be better to wait as I typically do when I have an appointment such as this.

I do not want to fight with you, I implored. I was impatient, I admit, and also annoyed, as three weeks prior, I received a similar test and was now having to mostly redo the test because my first test did not fully scan my pelvis (it was an abdominal exam, so done correctly by a different provider).

I was left quite angry and hurt asking: Is Mission incompetent? Unkind?

Greedy? All of the above?

In March, I received a letter of apology from Mission Health. At the same time, my response to the letter is that I see the problem as larger than one employee and a scheduling error, but one that is systemic in nature and not one that can be fixed by reprimanding one individual.

Unless they can get to the why, I don’t hold out much hope for improved health services.

— Ian Rudick Asheville Editor’s note: A longer version of this letter will appear at mountainx. com. Xpress contacted Mission Health spokesperson Nancy Lindell with a summary of Rudick’s points, but she did not provide a response for publication.

The letter of apology from Mission Health provided by Rudick admits that a team member made a scheduling error and that employees were working to prevent such problems in the future.

The letter continues, “Our expectation is that all of our team members partner effectively and provide care in a kind and appropriate manner. We apologize that you feel that this did not occur.

While the labor laws of the state of North Carolina do not allow us to share details of actions taken regarding our employees, we can assure you that we have followed our policies and processes in order to ensure this expectation is being upheld. …

“Mr. Rudick, we strive for every encounter at any of our Mission Health facilities to be a positive and healing experience for our patients, and we sincerely apologize that we did not meet your expectations. The leadership and staff will continue to learn and work on these opportunities you have shared with us.” X

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OPINION

What is smart growth?

A better solution for Charlotte Street

BY JESSIE LANDL In recent weeks, we’ve seen the fight over the proposed Charlotte Street development simplified down to an incredibly shortsighted headline — progress vs. preservation — and accusations of NIMBYism have been lobbed at preservationists in order to shut down what should be a much more nuanced conversation.

Here’s what we ought to be asking ourselves: What is smart growth, and how can we accomplish it in our city? Can we allow for growth and address our affordable housing needs while also combating climate change and maintaining the character of our neighborhoods?

Preservation, as architect and sustainability activist Carl Elefante told me recently, is not the goal but the tool for accomplishing that goal.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Economist and preservationist Donovan Rypkema had this to say about affordable housing: “You cannot build new and rent or sell cheap, unless there are very deep subsidies or you build crap.”

This expresses a fear that many of us have as we glance across

the landscape of new construction in Asheville. “The chance of a dwelling unit being razed and replaced by a more affordable unit is virtually nonexistent,” Rypkema points out.

The developers behind the roughly 180-unit 101 Charlotte St. proposal would have you believe that their project, with its promised 18 units capped at 80% of the area’s median income for 20 years, would make a difference in our city’s affordable housing crisis.

And yet, for decades, they’ve taken the income from the 13 homes they own on this block without reinvesting in them.

Based on mailboxes and electrical meters, there are an estimated 30-plus units in these homes.

The developers have pointed out that not all of them are habitable at this point and that they aren’t currently deeded affordable. But they’re much more affordable than the proposed new units would be at 80% AMI. And yes, your math is correct: The existing inhabited units add up to more than 18, not to mention the 30-something there might have been if the owners had been more conscientious landlords all these years.

When the people currently living in those units are kicked out, where will they go? And how long will it take before construction is complete and the 18 new units are up and running? Years, to be sure.

COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE The greenest building is the one that’s already built. Elefante first said this in 2007, and it is no less true today. A 2014 report by Rypkema spells out the impacts of demolishing even a single home: “To put these environmental costs in context, when a decision is made to demolish one modest-sized house in a Raleigh historic district, 62.5 tons of waste is generated for the landfill. That’s as much waste as one person would generate in 79.5 years. When the energy costs of razing and hauling to the landfill are added to the embodied energy already within the existing building, the demolition of a modest-sized historic home in Raleigh is equivalent to throwing away 15,285 gallons of gasoline.”

Asheville is a city that cares about the environment, and clearly, we must make preservation a tool in the fight against climate change. Even green construction takes decades to offset its environmental impacts, making up-fitting existing structures a better solution than demolition.

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CHARACTER AND CHARM

As Asheville booms with tourism and new arrivals from across the country, we seem to be losing sight of the very reasons people want to come here: our mountains and our architecture. Every time Asheville graces a list of top places to visit, there is mention not just of Biltmore House but of the eclectic mix of building styles in our downtown and our charming historic neighborhoods. If we demolish those old homes and mature trees and, by extension, the character of our neighborhoods, we won’t need to worry about where new residents are going to live or where tourists will be able to stay.

The demolition threat posed by 101 Charlotte St. is the biggest one we’ve faced since the failed 1980

JESSIE LANDL

“The greenest building is the one that’s already built.” plan that called for demolishing 11 blocks of downtown Asheville to build a mall. Think about it: Would today’s boom even have been possible if that debacle had been allowed to happen? We must consider the consequences of opening our historic neighborhoods to these kinds of threats.

THE SOLUTION

The Preservation Society has offered to buy eight of the targeted historic homes on Charlotte Street, which would be resold to individuals and permanently protected from demolition. In addition, the Preservation Society would orchestrate the sale of four more homes, at a discounted rate, to a local affordable housing nonprofit.

Together, the latter four contain 16 units that would be deeded permanently affordable — a much more meaningful and impactful solution.

This would leave the developers with more than 4 acres of property to work with (by way of comparison, the adjacent Fuddruckers site is less than 2.5 acres).

Acknowledging that Asheville’s historic resources are a valuable asset doesn’t have to mean an allor-nothing battle between progress and preservation. We can have both, and the result will be a city that grows in a healthy way. Old and new can work together to better accomplish our goals for affordable housing, density and combating climate change without throwing away the things we care about.

Jessie Landl is the executive director of the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County. X

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NEWS

Walk of fame

Andrea Clark honors James Vester Miller’s contributions to Asheville

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com Entrepreneur.

Philanthropist.

Patriarch. Former slave.

James Vester Miller was all of these and more, yet the master brickmason responsible for numerous buildings that defined the look of Asheville in the late 19th and early 20th centuries remains far from a household name.

In an effort to recognize this extraordinary person, Miller’s granddaughter, Andrea Clark, established the James Vester Miller Historic Walking Trail, which officially launches Saturday, June 19, at 1 p.m., at the former Young Men’s Institute Pharmacy on the corner of Eagle and South Market streets.

FAMILY HISTORY

A native of Cambridge, Mass., Clark moved to Asheville in the 1960s to connect with her father’s family, who praised the many great deeds of “Pa” Miller. Clark lived with and cared for her 96-year-old cousin, and on Sundays the two would go out to eat and drive around, during which the cousin would point to various buildings and say, “Pa built this,” and “Pa built that.”

At the same time, Clark, who studied photography while in Massachusetts, documented everyday life in the Valley Street neighborhood where she lived, carrying on the tradition of the 1930s Dust Bowl snapshots by Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. While walking the surrounding East End neighborhood and other parts of Asheville, Clark noticed how buildings and other markers often honored white historical figures but omitted the contributions of Black residents.

“You’ve got Thomas Wolfe, Thomas Wolfe, Thomas Wolfe. But you don’t have any statues of James Vester Miller,” Clark says. “They should have taken [the Vance Monument] and put him on that obelisk. He may have built it anyway.”

Clark explains that Miller collaborated with the structure’s architect, Richard Sharp Smith, on a regular basis; among other projects, the two constructed the YMI and the Asheville Masonic Temple. The Miller & Sons company went on to win many contracts in the white-dominated construction industry, including the Asheville Municipal Building at 100 Court Plaza, which originally housed the city’s police, fire and health departments, and the city jail. Clark eventually got a plaque honoring Miller installed on 8

JUNE 9-15, 2021

FIRM FOUNDATION: Andrea Clark stands outside Varick Chapel AME Zion Church, one of many Asheville structures built by her grandfather, James Vester Miller. Photo by Will Hornaday that building, and with so much of her grandfather’s work within a few blocks, she began thinking about setting up a walking trail with informational printed maps.

TRUE HISTORY

Clark got a grant to cover the project’s costs from local giving circle CoThinkk, which invests in the area’s communities of color. She then recruited Anne Callison Stokely from the Wilma Dykeman Legacy to write and edit the text, John Warner to handle photographs and 828:design for the layout. Printing was donated by The Daniels Group.

At the June 19 kickoff, Clark will speak about the endeavor at the YMI, then head to the first structure on the map, St. Matthias Episcopal Church at 1 Dundee St. The church and several other buildings on the nine-stop tour will be open to the public through 4 p.m., part of the robust slate of local activities taking place on the Juneteenth holiday.

The maps also include information on Miller’s plentiful other projects that aren’t on the walking trail. Among them are the old Asheville post office, which was demolished in 1932 when the city’s growth required a larger building and replaced by Pritchard Park; the 1917 front building addition to Haywood Street Church, which now features a fresco depicting Miller and his tools; and the Violet Hill Cemetery in the Emma community of West Asheville, which he was instrumental in founding and where he and other distinguished

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local Black figures are buried. Emma, where Miller built a 15-room house and raised six children with his wife, Violet, is also home to numerous other residences that he constructed, including several along Brickyard Road.

Eighty-one years after his death, Miller’s granddaughter is working on placing the maps around town, in locations such as the Chamber of Commerce and the LaZoom Room, and doing her part to preserve his legacy.

“Hopefully the history can be told and be told straight,” Clark says.

“Somebody said white folks like to have some kind of a written thing. And [with] Black folks, it’s the [spoken] word — we

send our history down through the word. But a lot of times, the written statement’s not true.”

As the map notes, “family stories and local tradition” credit Miller “with many buildings for which there is little documentation,” and the complete number of projects in which he or his company were involved will likely never be known. But with Clark’s combination of written and oral historical traditions, Ashevilleans of all backgrounds can gain a greater understanding of Miller’s achievements and an appreciation for one of the city’s lesser-known heroes.

For more information and to download a map, visit avl.mx/9gl. X

OFFICIALLY JUNETEENTH On May 4, Buncombe County declared Juneteenth an annual paid holiday and will be giving all employees the day off on Friday, June 18. In turn, county workers and other community members can more fully celebrate the anniversary of the day in 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas, first learned about President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation — and their freedom.

• Hosted by Grind AVL, the city’s first Black-owned coffee shop, the inaugural GRINDfest takes place Friday-Sunday, June 18-20, at 346 Depot St. Offerings include family-friendly activities, various arts performances and glimpses of work from businesses in Grind’s Black Wall Street Cohort. Free to attend. avl.mx/9gx • The second yearly AVL Juneteenth celebration returns to Martin Luther King Jr. Park., 50 Martin Luther King Drive, on Saturday, June 19, noon-8 p.m. Enjoy motivational speakers, music, vendors, kids activities — and Urban Combat Wrestling’s “Freedom Ain’t Free 2” showcase. Free to attend. avl.mx/9gy • The Jackson County NAACP presents its inaugural Juneteenth Journey to Freedom Together 5K Run and Fun Walk on Saturday, June 19, at Mark Watson Park in Sylva. The 5K starts at 9 a.m., with the fun walk kicking off at 10 a.m. Register online now or on-site beginning at 8 a.m. avl.mx/9gz X

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9

NEWS

Up with smoke

Cigar wrapper tobacco could revive disappearing tradition other sources of income like beef cattle and vegetables to keep the farm afloat.

“Many people nowadays would stay away from it because it’s so much work, but it’s just something we enjoy doing,” says Stonbach.

“We joke and say it’s in our blood.”

Matthew Vann, tobacco extension specialist and assistant professor at N.C. State University, thinks there may be a viable new crop for farmers like Stonbach: cigar wrapper tobacco. Unlike burley tobacco, which is shredded and used for cigarette filler, wrapper tobacco leaves must be free from blemishes, holes, sunburns and discoloration. And that quality commands a premium price, up to $6 per pound — roughly triple the going rate for burley.

FIELD OF DREAMS: Cigar wrapper tobacco, such as these rows grown as part of tobacco extension specialist and N.C. State University professor Matthew Vann’s research, could prove a more lucrative crop for Western North Carolina farmers. Photo by Vann

BY CARMELA CARUSO carmela.caruso@yahoo.com Driving between his home in Spruce Pine and his family’s Stonbach Farms in rural Mitchell County, Conner Stonbach says he used to see tobacco growing everywhere. But that was in the early 2000s — now, he says, “We’re one of the last ones left.”

Stonbach isn’t exaggerating. The U.S. Department of Agriculture

estimates that about 300 acres of burley tobacco, the variety traditionally grown in Western North Carolina, were harvested across the entire state in 2020. And the Asheville-based Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project has found that the number of regional tobacco farms fell by 97% between 1997 and 2012.

That drastic decline was driven by the federal Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004, commonly known as “the buyout,”

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which eliminated market protections for domestic tobacco. Profit margins have since decreased, Stonbach says, while production costs have continued to rise. He admits there isn’t much money in the crop anymore.

Nevertheless, Stonbach has been growing tobacco since he was 10 years old, and his father has 40 years under his belt; neither intend to stop. Pride and tradition have kept them in the tobacco fields, even as they’ve had to rely on

GIVE IT A TRY

Over the past two years, the N.C. State Extension and N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services research stations have experimented with growing cigar wrapper tobacco. Much of that work has taken place in WNC, supported by the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville and Upper Mountain Research Station in Laurel Springs.

“There is a learning curve. It is a relatively steep learning curve,” Vann acknowledges about the crop.

While burley tobacco does well with nutrient-deficient soil, wrapper tobacco requires careful fertilization so that leaves will be pliable enough to stretch around a cigar.

The plants also require gentler handling and attentive pest control.

But after a dodgy first year, Vann says, the research stations used their lessons learned to successfully grow a larger, commercially viable tobacco crop in 2020. Heading into a third research season with a $60,000 grant from the NCDACS, he’s optimistic and believes that the results will translate to growers throughout the region.

Chad Moody, research operations manager at the Mountain Research Station, explains that farms willing to invest time and energy into learning the new crop are likely to have the most success. “It’s not a perfect fit for everybody,” he says, but cigar wrapper tobacco is well suited for the small operations that have historically defined the region.

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LABOR OF LOVE: Stonbach Farms in rural Mitchell County is one of the few remaining tobacco operations in Western North Carolina, and farmer Conner Stonbach says the crop is “in our blood.” Photo by Stonbach According to the USDA, the average farm size across WNC counties was just under 90 acres in 2017, the year of the most recent Census of Agriculture. That’s less than half of the 182-acre state average and much less than the 441-acre national average.

A NEW LEAF

Despite an overall decrease in sales of tobacco products, Vann says there has been an increase in global demand for cigar wrapper tobacco. U.S. regions that have traditionally grown the crop — the Connecticut River Valley and the counties surrounding Lancaster, Pa. — are maxed out. Tobacco companies have begun looking to farmers in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina, states that have led the nation in burley and flue-cured tobacco production, to fill the need.

Vann suggests that WNC is the perfect growing region for cigar wrapper leaves. “You’ve got to have the right climate, the right air temperature, the right rainfall and the

right soil type,” he says. “We have a great advantage in North Carolina because of our growers’ experience with tobacco and because of our state extension system and our research system. We can do the research and get the information to the farmers to set them up to be successful moving forward.”

Backed by that research, farmers in North Carolina are slowly working the crop into their fields. Vann estimates that there were about a dozen cigar wrapper tobacco growers in the state in 2019, with more coming online each year since.

And he says tobacco companies are beginning to offer support such as free seeds, growing advice and temporary price guarantees.

Stonbach, who only recently heard of cigar wrapper tobacco, says he’s interested to learn more and is excited about potentially growing the new crop. A more profitable product, he says, could lead to “upgrading equipment, expanding production and possibly even buying more land.” But most of all, it would increase his pride in growing tobacco. X

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11

NEWS

Asheville Grown passes the baton It’s the end of an era: After 12 years helming the Asheville Grown Business Alliance, founder Franzi Charen is stepping aside. Charen grew the locally-focused economic alliance from 12 independent businesses at its inception in 2009 to over 550.

“I’d love to give the opportunity to somebody else to give it a rebirth,” says Charen. That opportunity is going to Sherree Lucas, who has served on the alliance’s steering committee for two years.

Lucas is the founder of Lucas Strategic Consulting, which draws on her background in marketing consumer goods and health care to advise other businesses. Her family moved from Berkeley, Calif., to Asheville two years ago, and she says she immediately “became very sensitized to how important local business is to the community.” Independent businesses are “part of what makes Asheville so unique,” she adds, and she sees her role

with Asheville Grown “to nurture and protect that.”

One program Lucas will continue is the Go Local card. The initiative started when the Asheville City Schools Foundation approached Asheville Grown in 2012 for fundraising help. The foundation had been raising money by selling books of coupons that were primarily for national chains, Charen explains, so Asheville Grown offered an alternative that provided discounts and deals for local businesses.

Half of each $18 Go Local card purchase goes to the ACSF. Asheville Grown has raised over $175,000 for schools since taking over the card program from the foundation in 2015.

Lucas will become director of Asheville Grown on Thursday, July 1.

Charen will continue to focus on her clothing boutique, Hip Replacements, and Project Equity, a nonprofit that works to support local business through promoting employee ownership. X

NEXT IN LINE: Sherree Lucas, left, will take over from Franzi Charen, right, as director of the Asheville Grown Business Alliance on Thursday, July 1. Photo courtesy of Charen

BY JESSICA WAKEMAN jwakeman@mountainx.com

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BUNCOMBE BEAT

Buncombe prepares for $21M payout from opioid lawsuit The wheels of justice set in motion

by Buncombe County nearly four years ago may now be close to delivering over $21 million to county coffers. During a June 1 meeting, the county Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a memorandum of agreement regarding the settlement of its litigation against pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis.

Buncombe was the first county in the state to file suit against those companies, noted senior staff attorney Michael Frue in a presentation to the board, having done so in November 2017. Since then, 75 other counties and eight municipalities across North Carolina have filed similar litigation, along with thousands of other local governments across the United States.

Those cases have been combined into a sprawling “multidistrict liti-

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SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT: Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara shared her excitement about a possible $21 million payout to Buncombe County from an opioid litigation settlement at a June 1 Board of Commissioners meeting. Screen capture courtesy of Buncombe County gation” at the national level, Frue explained, which is close to reaching an overall settlement of roughly $26 billion. By signing the memorandum, he said, Buncombe and other local jurisdictions would simplify how approximately $2 billion in attorneys’ fees would be awarded and speed up receipt of the remaining money. As of June 1, 19 North Carolina counties had approved the agreement, he told the board.

Commissioner Jasmine BeachFerrara, who served on a state committee tasked with developing the memorandum, said the money could only be spent on certain programs to fight the opioid epidemic — nearly all of which Buncombe currently has in place. “Once the settlement is reached and the funds start moving, they’ll be able to go to work that’s already underway and helping people get the treatment they need and begin rebuilding their lives and their families,” she said.

The funds would be released over 18 years, Frue said, but many details of the settlement remain sealed at the federal court level. He did not provide an estimate for how much funding would be made available immediately after the litigation concluded.

IN OTHER NEWS

Commissioners decided to postpone their vote on the county’s fiscal

year 2021-22 budget until Tuesday, June 15. By reinstituting a waiting period between the June 1 public hearing on the budget and the vote, the board returns to its historical practice; last year, the vote took place immediately after the hearing’s conclusion.

Only three people spoke during the public hearing. Asheville resident David Greenson expressed concern about potential inequities in Buncombe’s property taxes, noting that property values have increased disproportionately more for low-income homeowners than for the wealthy. Vicki Meath, the executive director of Asheville-based nonprofit Just Economics, suggested that the county should do more to support transit services.

And Keeley Knopp, a member of the county’s Library Advisory Board, asked the commissioners to allocate specific money toward educational library programming such as children’s storytimes and adult book clubs. Commissioner Amanda Edwards noted that $55,000 had been designated for that purpose in the proposed budget.

An executive summary of the budget is available at avl.mx/9hb, and an interactive online budget explorer with detailed line-item spending is available at avl.mx/9hc.

— Daniel Walton X

First of three reparations talks draws hundreds of viewers Black American historian John Henrik Clarke once said, “History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day; it is also a compass people use to find themselves on the map of human geography. ... Most importantly, history tells people where they still must go and what they still must be.”

History informed the first session in Asheville’s Information Sharing and Truth Telling Speaker Series, a public engagement effort about the city government’s community reparations program. The June 3 event at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium focused on the impact of city policies and practices that have led to structural inequity within the city’s Black population, such as redlining and segregation.

Roughly 100 people attended the discussion in person, while another 180 people viewed the event virtually and 45 people called in to listen by phone. Panelists included William Turner, author and former chair of the Department of Social Sciences at Winston-Salem State University; prominent civil rights attorney and Asheville native James Ferguson; and Sasha Mitchell, former chair of the Asheville Buncombe County African American Heritage Commission and a family and community historian. Darin Waters, UNC Asheville associate professor of history, moderated the event.

Community members were invited to share their stories and experiences and ask questions of the panelists.

One Black speaker, who did not identify herself, said she attended Asheville High School in 1969 — the year of a walkout by Black students protesting their treatment in the newly integrated institution — and asked if the city’s reparations program could include diplomas to students who were expelled after the demonstration.

“It was not a riot. It was a peaceful demonstration because we felt like we were not looked at as equals,” she said. “Would reparations be a part of [those students getting] a diploma? Would they be able to get recognition for being part of our school system?”

Roy Harris, a local Black historian and 30-year Asheville resident, noted how the city’s Black population appears to be dwindling.

And former City Council candidate

ing this topic frightens people. But I would remind those people that Black families have borne those costs for generations,” she said. “To think of every hurt, every life lost to cruelty, every life cut short by violence, hampered by lack of education, lack of access to medical care, and every other hurt that’s come with injustice, the pain and the suffering can seem almost impossible to measure.”

MAKING HISTORY: Panelists at the June 3 discussion included prominent civil rights attorney and Asheville native James Ferguson, left. Darin Waters, right, UNC Asheville associate professor of history, moderated the event.

Screen capture courtesy of the city of Asheville and Black community activist Dee Williams asked the panel how to get more people involved in the reparations discussion.

“There is a problem, as you look around this auditorium. Many of the people who need to be here, who have been dramatically impacted — and since I’m a native, I’m one of them — they’re not in this room,” she said. “How do we stop being excluded?”

“This is the very beginning, as far as I know, the very beginning of this process,” panelist Mitchell explained. “The stories that you’re sharing, that’s part of it. There are definitions about reparations out there, but one thing is that it’s not just about money — although that’s a big part of it. It’s also about apology. It’s also about making sure and promising that it will never happen again.”

Meanwhile, Asheville resident and retired lawyer Sidney Bach questioned whether the legality of the city’s reparations program would hold up if challenged in court.

“Before the city proceeds any further with a politically driven and divisive idea that will punish most of our citizens — Black and white — for past conditions that they had nothing to do with, it would be better if all of the city administration would first take the time and effort to inform itself of all federal court rulings and legal constraints that are applicable to any government attempt to adopt a race-based program,” said Bach, who is white.

“There’s nothing about this that’s race based,” countered Ferguson.

“This is based upon years of economic, psychic and virtually every kind of suffering you can talk about.

And there’s no court that has said you cannot find ways to address governmental created and caused injury and suffering.”

Regardless of the legality of reparations, suggested Mitchell, conversations on the topic would likely continue to be contentious.

“The true cost of reparations is astronomical. People are going to be upset when they hear numbers, because the idea of just discuss-

NEXT STEPS

The speaker series is part of a three-phase process to create and empower a joint AshevilleBuncombe County Reparations Commission. Half of the commission’s up to 25 members would represent areas impacted by policies that have created economic disparities. The remaining half would be appointed by City Council and the county Board of Commissioners.

Once formed, the commission would be tasked with making short-, medium- and long-term recommendations to repair the damage caused by public and private systemic racism. Members are projected to be named by the end of August; its first recommendations would be presented to City Council and the community in January 2022, with a final report scheduled for the spring of 2023.

The next part of the speaker series will be held on Thursday, June 10, and focus on current trends and disparities within the Black community. The final presentation will occur on Thursday, June 17, and will focus on future initiatives. Both events will begin at 6 p.m. at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. Participants can attend in person, call in or watch the livestream at the city’s website.

More information is available at avl.mx/9hn.

— Brooke Randle X Mountain Xpress 27th Annual

X AWARDS SPEAKING OUT: Members of the community shared stories and experiences, and asked questions about how the city should manage its reparations program. Screen capture courtesy of the city of Asheville

2021

Thanks for Voting!

Results will be published in September

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ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

Grounded Army plane makes emergency landing in West Asheville, 1949

JUNE 9-18, 2021 For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, opt. 1.

In-Person Events = Shaded All other events are virtual

ART Child's Play: Opening Reception A group exhibit focused on objects and materials iconic to childhood and playtime.

Featuring the work of Don Greeson, Jean Greeson, Janet Hickey and Janet Orselli. Open to the public.

TH (6/10), 5pm, Free, The Gallery at Flat Rock, 702-A Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock

AIRSHIP DOWN: In 1949, a military plane made an emergency landing in West Asheville. The craft remained grounded for five weeks before the Army produced the necessary resources for a successful takeoff. This image was taken at an earlier period, circa 1928. Photo from the Michael Reid Collection, courtesy of Buncombe County Special Collections, Asheville On May 1, 1949, lost and low on gas, Lt. Doyle M. Kizzire of the 106th Light Bombardment Squadron of Birmingham, Ala., had to think fast. Should he and his passenger parachute out of the two-engine, 4,400-horsepower Douglas B-26 plane, or should he attempt to land the craft on the small field below?

Choosing the latter, Kizzire reduced the ship’s speed and “circled at an extremely low altitude in the vicinity of Carrier Field for several minutes before landing,” The Asheville Citizen reported in the following day’s paper.

The plane, the paper continued, “came to a stop about 20 feet from the [French Broad] river.”

Within minutes of its emergency landing, the article added, “hundreds of people appeared at the field.”

On May 3, The Asheville Citizen reported that the plane would remain grounded for at least a week. Multiple factors played into the decision. The top concern involved the location itself. Carrier Field (today’s Carrier Park) didn’t offer much in terms of a runway, making a safe takeoff a logistical nightmare. Recent rain also left the ground too soggy to use.

Ultimately, the plane stayed grounded at Carrier Field for over a month. Then on June 10, the big day finally arrived.

“Several thousand persons stood in suspense late yesterday afternoon as the Army’s noted speed record holder, Col. Albert Boyd, a native of Buncombe County, used his jet flight 16

JUNE 9-15, 2021

experience to rescue … [the] Douglas B-26,”, The Asheville Citizen wrote in the following day’s paper.

“For normal take-off a B-26 requires 3,500 to 4,000 feet of runway,” The Asheville Citizen continued.

“Carrier field has less than two-thirds this distance.”

To remedy the mathematical dilemma, the Army installed four, 1,000pound jet-assisted takeoff, or JATO, units to the plane’s wing bomb racks — “first ever to be made on a B-26,” the paper declared. These units ran for approximately eight seconds, increasing the plane’s total horsepower to ensure the craft’s successful departure from Carrier Field.

Once airborne, Boyd didn’t travel far. He landed the bird at the Asheville-Hendersonville Airport (today’s Asheville Regional Airport), where a member of the 106th squadron waited to fly it home.

Of course, the flight’s distance didn’t matter to those who anxiously watched the plane’s initial takeoff.

“Although Col. Boyd could not hear it above the noise of the engines and JATO units, he received a well deserved cheer from the crowd,” the paper wrote. “They had been amazed at the simplicity of the operation and the speed with which the plane gained altitude.”

Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original documents. Special thanks to J. Harry Varmer for bringing this story to our attention. X

MOUNTAINX.COM

At First Light: NCGC Lighting Invitational New lighting exhibition.

Glass and light are brought together in unique and interesting ways.

FR (6/11), 10am, North Carolina Glass Center, 140 Roberts St, Suite B Heart of West Asheville Art Crawl A day of arts and crafts.

Participating businesses will be marked with yellow balloons.

SA (6/12), 11am, Haywood Rd Westside Creative Market Local handmade goods and artwork.

SA (6/12), 11am, Haywood Quick Stop, 495 Haywood Rd Racial Healing Through Art The YMI will host a reception for the exhibit with artists Shirley Walker Whitesides and Joseph Pearson.

Open for viewing now through June 22.

FR (6/18), 6pm, YMI Cultural Center, 20-44 Eagle St

DANCE Latin Dance Night Latin music and dance night.

WE (6/9), 10pm, Oklawaha Brewing Co., 147 1st Ave E, Hendersonville

SPOKEN & WRITTEN WORD Black Experience Book Club: Naughts & Crosses Bi-monthly book club sponsored by the YMI Cultural Center and Buncombe County Public Libraries. Discuss Naughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman.

TH (6/10), 6:30pm , Registration required, avl.mx/9gc

Swift Justice: Author Presentation City Lights Bookstore and the Jackson County Public Library are partnering for a presentation by Ronald Evans.

Evans will present his most recent true crime book. SA (6/12), 3pm, Jackson County Public Library, 310 Keener St, Sylva

First Congregational Benefits Babies A contact-free, baby supplies drive-thru benefitting the Children and Family Resource Center. For more information: lladerac@ mtholyoke.edu .

SA (6/12), 10am, First United Congregational Church of Christ, 20 Oak St, Room E-107 Stitches of Love: In-Person Meeting A group creating handcrafted items which are donated to local charities. Register: imjstewart@att.net.

MO (6/14), 7pm, New Hope Presbyterian Church, 3070 Sweeten Creek Rd

THEATER & FILM

Grant Wishes with the Trailblaze Challenge Hike 28.3 miles in one day while raising vital funds to grant wishes.

Informational session.

TU (6/15), avl.mx/9h4

Reel Rock 15 Outdoor film screening with food truck and libations.

SA (6/12), 9pm, The Riveter, 701 Old Fanning Bridge Rd, Mills River

Blood Drive at Archetype Donate and receive a COVID antibody screening.

TU (6/15), 3pm, Archetype Brewing, 265 Haywood Rd

Light at the Piazza Shakespeare & Friends present a musical that follows Margaret Johnson, a wealthy Southern woman, and her daughter Clara as they spend a summer together in Italy in the 1950s.

FR-SU (6/10-13), 7pm, 3pm (SU), $20, Rogers Park, 55 W. Howard St, Tryon World Premier: The Spirits Still Move Them — Moonshining in the Mountains The Center’s newest documentary film focuses on the iconic moonshiners.

TH (6/17), 7pm, $20, The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave

BENEFITS Pisgah Legal's Run for Justice Virtual 5K Raising awareness and funds for a local nonprofit providing free legal aid and anti-poverty services to neighbors in need.

SA (5/29), avl.mx/9e8 Rummage Sale: Fundraiser Benefitting the MAC archives.

SA (6/12), 9am, Rummage Sale , 47 Mountain Terrace Lake Junaluska Flea Market Proceeds from the flea market go toward projects integral to the Lake Junaluska community. SA (6/12), 8am, Nanci Weldon Memorial Gym, Lake Junaluska, Waynesville

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS Economic Justice With Vicki Meath from Just Economics.

WE (6/9), 2pm , Registration required, avl.mx/9h0 Introduction to Medicare: Understanding the Puzzle The Council on Aging of Buncombe County presents a webinar that will explain how Medicare works, the enrollment process, how to avoid penalties and ways to save money.

WE (6/9), 2pm, avl.mx/9hz Information Sharing and Truth Telling: Present Trends and Disparities Delivering community reparations for Black Asheville.

TH, TH (6/10, 17), 6pm, Registration required, avl.mx/9i0 Juneteenth Proclamation Singing, dancing spoken word poetry, an African Fashion Show and African drumming beats.

SA (6/12), 2pm, Hola Community Arts , 801 Fourth Ave East, Hendersonville 2021 WNC JeepFest Featuring both automotive and food vendors, along with other attractions.

FR-SA (6/11-12), 9am, Maggie Valley Festival Grounds, 3374 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley

Coffee with the Mayor Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk and Chief of Police Blair Myhand welcome questions at the second monthly event.

MO (6/14), 9am, Registration required, avl.mx/9i2 Sunrise Asheville Monthly Hub Meeting Connect with other hub members and hear the updates on what's going down in Asheville.

MO (6/14), 7pm , Registration required, avl.mx/9ep Bon Voyage Celebration Staff members Chanda Calentine and Jerry Crouch will be moving out of state.

Send them off with love, everyone is welcome.

MO (6/14), 4pm, The Boathouse at Smokey Park, 350 Riverside Dr Backyard Composting Basics This webinar will teach you how you can create compost at home.

TU (6/15), 10am , Registration required, avl.mx/9h2 The Collider & Color of Science: Celebration of Science Speaker Series Featuring Renee Fonseca, Human Genetics Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago.

TH (6/17), 5pm, Free, avl.mx/9bL Gem and Mineral Show 14th annual show.

Hosted by MAGMA and Jacquot & Son Mining.

Rocks, gems, minerals and more.

FR (6/18), Camp Stephens, 263 Clayton Rd, Arden

FARM & GARDEN Sowing Circle Presents Pocket Gardens w/Lisa Wagner Retired Director of Education at the SC Botanical Garden shares her experience with a variety of small meadow plantings using native Southeastern wildflowers and grasses.

SA (6/12), 10am, Registration required, avl.mx/9hh Grove Park Neighborhood Outdoor Living Garden Tour Self-directed tour.

Walk, drive, bike or ride trolley between stops. All proceeds benefit the non-profit Grove Park Sunset Mountain Neighborhood Association.

SU (6/13), 10am, $20, 324 Charlotte St

ZEN AGAIN: Ms. Brandon, guide for Namaste in Nature and children’s yoga instructor, will lead a kid-friendly yoga class at Carrier Park in celebration of National Get Outdoors Month. Kiddos should bring their own mats — along with their parents or guardians. Thursday, June 10, 9-10 a.m. Registration required; $5 suggested donation. avl.mx/9ib. Photo courtesy of Namaste in Nature DIY Terrarium Workshop: Air Plants Includes all information and materials needed to create a living terrarium.

FR (6/18), 6pm, $30, 828 Market on Main, 180 N. Main St, Waynesville

FOOD & BEER RAD Farmers Market Local produce, artisans and more.

WE (6/9), 3pm, Pleb Urban Winery, 289 Lyman St Flat Rock Farmers Market Local produce and other fare.

TH (6/10, 17), 3pm, 1790 Greenville Hwy, Hendersonville Hendersonville Farmers Market Local produce, artisans and makers.

SA (6/12), 8am, Historic Hendersonville Train Depot, 650 Maple St Mills River Farmers Market Local produce and goods from local artisans.

SA (6/12), 8am, Mills River Elementary School, 94 Schoolhouse Rd, Mills River

North Asheville Tailgate Market Local produce and makers.

SA (6/12), 8am, UNC-Asheville, 1 University Heights ASAP Farmers Market Large outdoor farmers market.

SA (6/12), 9am, A-B Tech, 340 Victoria Rd La Vie En Rosé Art & Wine Festival Artisans booths, musical performances by the Hendersonville Symphony and other local and regional artists and painting classes.

SA, SU (6/12, 13), 10am, $15, Marked Tree Vineyard , 623 Deep Gap Rd, Flat Rock Dowser Picnic Bring a potluck dish, dogs are welcome. For more information email: alexandratait@yahoo. com.

SU (6/13), 12pm, French Broad River Park, 508 Riverview Rd

FOR THE FAMILY Kids Yoga Sponsored

by Merrell Taught by Ms Brandon, guide for Namaste in Nature & children's yoga teacher specialist.

Kids should be accompanied by parents/ guardians.

TH (6/10), 9am, $5, Registration required, Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Rd

THE FEHR PIANO STUDIO Piano Lessons: all ages, experienced artistic teaching fully vaccinated Sand Hill Road: 1 Mile from 1/26 & 1/40 Juncture

(828) 777-0061

Fun Friday for Families: Abstract Monoprints Scavenger hunt and arts and crafts at the Wells Fargo Art PLAYce to create.

FR (6/11), 1:30pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square Fridays at the Folk Art Center Join a Parkway ranger for an evening of folklore focusing on Tricksters.

FR (6/11), 7:30pm, Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Pkwy

HEALTH & WELLNESS Yoga in the Park Alongside the French Broad River, all-level friendly Hatha/Vinyasa flow taught by certified yoga instructor Ceiara Cartony.

SA, SU (6/12,13), 1:30pm, Registration required, Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Rd, avl.mx/9ht Steady Collective Syringe Access Outreach Free naloxone, syringes and educational material on harm reduction.

TU (6/15), 2pm, Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Rd

Hammock Yoga Nidra sponsored by Merrell & ENO hammocks A guided Yoga Nidra session led by Miranda Peterson, owner/ founder of Namaste in Nature.

FR (6/18), 12pm, Registration required, Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Rd

SPIRITUALITY Re-Merge into Light A family friendly celebration with music, massage, and a short meditation. Donations to benefit the Light Center. Children’s yoga and activity table.

SA (6/12), 11am, $10, The Light Center in Black Mountain, 2196 Hwy 9 South Black Mountain Recipe for Serenity: Journey of Self Discovery How to reconnect with your inner joy and peace using the "Emotional Freedom" technique. Register: anancy08@gmail.com.

TH (6/17), 6pm, Free

BUYING OLD PAPER MONEY 10 yrs WNC/ETN notes, bonds, maps, currency etc.

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msg/ txt 865-207-8994 or email papermoneybuy@gmail.com

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JUNE 9-15, 2021

17

HEALTH ROUNDUP

Dr. Elizabeth Garbarino

by Jessica Wakeman | jwakeman@mountainx.com

Vaya to consolidate with Cardinal A Women’s Healthcare Practice Specializing in Gynecological Care

Welcoming New Patients!

828.575.9562 • LivingWellWNC.com

HEMP & HEALTH Consider the Source: We only sell locally produced CBD & Delta 8 THC flower!

Local Delta 8 Vape & Edible products are also available!

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Asheville-based Vaya Health and Charlotte-based Cardinal Innovations, two of North Carolina’s largest managed care organizations, announced on June 1 that they will consolidate ahead of the state’s transformation to Medicaid managed care. Vaya will assume responsibility for coordinating services for Cardinal Innovations members once the organizations are consolidated.

Vaya Health currently manages services for individuals with mental illness, substance use disorders and intellectual and developmental disabilities across 22 Western North Carolina counties. The proposed consolidation, if approved by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and county representatives, would mark the fourth such endeavor for Vaya: Previous mergers include New River Behavioral Healthcare in 2007, Foothills Area MH/DD/SA Authority in 2008 and Western Highlands Network in 2013.

In a press release announcing the move, Vaya leaders said the organization’s experience with transitioning members through consolidation efforts would be especially beneficial as the state’s public health care system undergoes a significant shift.

The first phase of N.C. Medicaid Transformation will launch Thursday, July 1, with five commercial health plans set to manage integrated health benefits for the majority of Medicaid enrollees.

As part of the second phase of transformation, expected to launch in July 2022, Vaya and Cardinal

HELPING HANDS: SistasCaring4Sistas doulas, from left, Nikita Smart, Wakina Robertson, Cindy McMillan and Sade Mustakem, who are part of a program that received a grant from the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. Photo courtesy of SistasCaring4Sistas Innovations are preparing to offer fully integrated care for people with a serious mental illness, a serious emotional disturbance, a severe substance use disorder, an intellectual/developmental disability or a traumatic brain injury.

Dogwood Health Trust chosen for Medicaid pilot programs NCDHHS has named Dogwood Health Trust the lead organization for its Healthy Opportunities Pilot in WNC. Dogwood is one of only three organizations to be chosen for the program through a competitive selection process.

The pilot will bring part of $650 million in state and federal dollars into the region through October 2024, along with more than $10 million in additional investment from Dogwood Health Trust. According to a DHHS press release, “The groundbreaking program will create a systematic approach to integrating and financing nonmedical services that address housing sta-

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bility, transportation access, food security and interpersonal safety into the delivery of health care.”

Healthy Opportunities allows human services organizations that address these unmet needs to receive Medicaid reimbursement.

To be eligible for and receive pilot services, N.C. Medicaid Managed Care members in WNC must have at least one qualifying physical or behavioral health condition and one qualifying social risk factor.

More information is available at avl.mx/9hu.

Good news

• The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina recently approved a grant of $54,496 to the Mountain Area Health Education Center for SistasCaring4Sistas Doula Services, which will support the salary of a community-based doula for one year. The program aims to eradicate racial disparities in infant mortality by providing education and doula services to families who face adverse maternal health outcomes before, during and after pregnancy. According to

DONA International, an organization for the education and certification of doulas, receiving support from a certified doula is linked to a reduced number of cesarean births, improved postpartum mental health and increased breastfeeding rates.

• The Community Foundation of Henderson County awarded a $27,000 grant to Safelight, a Hendersonville-based nonprofit that supports survivors of interpersonal violence, for repairs to an emergency shelter. Founded in 1984, the organization has helped more than 37,000 survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse in Henderson County. “Safelight’s emergency shelter has assisted over 4,250 survivors of abuse since relocating in 2008,” said Lauren Wilkie, Safelight’s executive director. “The grant from the Community Foundation of Henderson County will give us the ability to repair the roof of our emergency shelter so we can continue to provide a safe environment for those fleeing abuse.”

• The Daoist Traditions College of Chinese Medical Arts, an Asheville-based acupuncture and herbal medicine college, celebrated its 15th graduation on May 13. Students worked in a clinical setting throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and are graduating on time. The college undertook safety precautions, including daily disinfecting and social distancing, to remain open throughout the pandemic so students could continue their clinical education and see patients.

Free health support • This spring and summer, the YMCA of WNC will host free chronic disease management programs for area residents, including diabetes prevention classes. Both virtual and in-person classes will be offered in English and Spanish. More information and registration are available at avl.mx/9hv or by calling 828-575-2922.

Additionally, YMCA Nutrition Services provides fresh, free produce at locations throughout the region via the Healthy Living Mobile Market. The Mobile Market schedule is available at avl.mx/9hx. X MOUNTAINX.COM

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ARTS & CU L T U R E

FOOD

Camera ready

Professional food photographers and stylists have an eye for the perfect image get insecure or uncomfortable [in front of the camera] like people do, but it is a matter of time,” he explains.

“Food starts to fall pretty quickly; it starts to sink or melt. With ice cream, you literally have 30 seconds before it loses that crisp, frozen edge.”

Setting up the shot and knowing how a dish will be plated before it comes out of the kitchen are crucial to catching that tight window of opportunity. And though Robison doesn’t actually talk to the food he is shooting, he does listen.

“The food usually tells you how to shoot it,” he says. “A lot of food can only be shot one way. You can’t shoot a cheeseburger from above; it has to be from the side. Frequently a chef sees food one way, and as a photographer, I see it another.”

BY KAY WEST kwest@mountainx.com Raise your hand if you’ve snapped a photo of a crusty loaf of sourdough bread fresh from the neighborhood bakery’s oven, an exquisitely plated dinner from a favorite restaurant or decadent dessert from the hot new patisserie, then shared it on your social media.

On a daily basis, tens of thousands of food images — a plethora of G-rated food porn — are posted on Instagram by casual diners and legions of influencers, then often reposted on the culinary creators’ own platforms.

With all that exposure, who needs professional photographers? You do, reply professional photographers.

Tim Robison, a local food photographer who counts national culinary bibles Garden & Gun, Food & Wine and Bon Appétit among his many ongoing clients, says, “Magazines usually know exactly what they want; they have a shot list, and you’re look-

PICTURE PERFECT: Photographer Nicole McConville captures people, places, plates and products to tell a visual story. Photo by Nicole McConville ing for that wow image — that takes an enormous amount of preparation,” he explains. “Restaurants and hospitality groups want to build a bank of advertising imagery and website landing pages to pull from that tell a story very quickly. That calls for experienced professionals.”

PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES

Nicole McConville left a 16-year career in publishing in 2014 and transitioned her photography hobby to a body of work that includes people, products, fashion and food.

“Publishing was my training ground for the importance of imagery and visual storytelling,” she says. “You can have the best idea in the world from the most talented person, but unless you are effectively able to reach the appropriate audience, that wonderful idea isn’t going to take hold and take off.”

As McConville was establishing her business, she met budding baker Susannah Gebhart, and the two clicked. As Gebhart worked toward 20

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realizing her dream of opening OWL Bakery (which launched in 2016), she relied on McConville to help her create a visual story and brand identity for the business.

“That was my entrance to food photography,” McConville reflects. “And that experience of working really closely with a business owner to delve together into an exploration of what is your aesthetic style, what are your core values, what is your business trying to say and what audience are you trying to reach, informs all my work.”

Robison began his professional photography business as many do — shooting engagements and weddings.

But about 12 years ago, a short-lived food blog and subsequent Instagram posts chronicling his passion for cooking got the attention of magazines and restaurants.

“I love food, and I love to cook,” Robison says. “If I wasn’t doing photography, I would open a restaurant, but I have three kids. Food photography is kind of the best of both worlds and instant gratification.”

But shooting food for a living can be challenging, he says. “[Food] doesn’t

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Charlotte Autry sees the big picture from multiple points of view.

The food and prop stylist who went to school for journalism but learned her craft on the job, works most often with her husband, photographer Johnny Autry. Their collaborations can be seen in advertisements for major corporations such as CocaCola, in editorial spreads for national magazines and in cookbooks, notably local writer Ronni Lundy’s James Beard Award-winning book Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes.

“We have done about 20 cookbooks,” says Charlotte. “They are each a very big job, and to do it well you need about six people. You’re doing about eight to 10 shots a day on a tight schedule, cooking the food, styling the food and creating an environment with props.”

The Autrys have been working together for about 14 years — since before they married — and moved to Asheville nine years ago with their then-infant son. Their 3,200-squarefoot studio in the River Arts District has a kitchen and storage area for Charlotte’s enormous collection of props, including china, glassware, cutlery, serving pieces, linens and backdrops. But Charlotte notes that most of the finer tools and tricks of her trade fit into a much smaller space — tweezers, cosmetic wedges, Q-tips, syringes, petroleum jelly, superglue and denture adhesive, which holds food together.

Most of the Autrys’ work comes from clients based outside Asheville,

TEAMWORK IS DREAM WORK: Charlotte Autry styled the bowl of ramen for husband Johnny Autry to photograph. The image is one of many they collaborated on for a recent project with client Ramen Hero. Photo by Johnny Autry but the shoots are done mostly in their RAD studio, which proved to be a boon to their business in 2020, Charlotte points out. “A lot of the big magazines have in-house studios, and all those places closed,” she explains. “They knew us and knew we worked in tandem and were already quarantined together, so we got slammed right away and stayed that way until about last September when it tapered off some.”

PANDEMIC PIVOTS

While business boomed for some local photographers in 2020, others had to reframe their work. The pandemic hit photographer and stylist Sarah Snyder hard in both segments of her business — food and restaurants, and weddings.

Though she has a home studio, Snyder typically shoots on-site. So when many restaurants closed —

NEW STOCK: Photographer Nicole McConville partnered with chefs Ashley Capps and Travis Schultz to create the visual portfolio used to launch New Stock meal delivery service. Photo by Nicole McConville

including her longest-term client, Mellow Mushroom — her business shut down as well.

“So much of Mellow Mushroom’s brand is their atmosphere, and it’s hard to capture that when you’re closed,” she points out. “Restaurants were struggling so much last year just to stay afloat and professional photography was not a priority.”

Fortunately, Snyder’s background is in baking, and she was able to turn a part-time job at OWL into a full-time position to get her through the pandemic. And now, she says, her photography work is picking up again.

McConville also went back to OWL, assisting Gebhart in crafting the visuals to convey the shop’s pandemic pivot from dine-in to takeout. She also began working with her close friends, chefs Ashley Capps and Travis Schultz, who were reimagining their new food business, New Stock, before it even got off the ground.

“We came together for this when there was still so much fear and uncertainty in the air, but because we shared a sense of trust we just started,” McConville says.

Capps attests to the importance of McConville’s work in helping get their nascent weekly meal delivery service off the ground. “New Stock was born in the darkness of COVID,” Capps says. “Having professional photographs of our products was — and still is — the only way for people to see us. Thanks to Nicole’s understanding of our vision and her skill in creating beautiful images that clearly tell our story, we have been able to survive and expand.”

McConville and Robison emphasize that Instagram plays a role in maintaining relevance and presence for a food business. “A lot of restaurants find a window for some good light and snap their own shots for social media, to post specials or drinks,” says Robison. “It should be a daily thing.”

McConville agrees. “You don’t need to hire a photographer for that. But to tell your longer story — the whole story — you want to partner with a professional.”

Robison notes that the prevalence of amateur photography on social media has actually helped build his career: His clients have a trained eye and can clearly see the people who know what they’re doing. “Being a good photographer, in general, is being able to capture a good photograph under any conditions,” he says. “Being a food photographer also means finding and capturing the moment in a dish that makes someone want to eat it.” X

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ARTS & CU L T U R E

THEATER

Enter stage right

Local theater companies launch indoor seasons Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre opened the charming musical dramedy Church Basement Ladies on March 5, 2020, and enjoyed positive reviews and strong ticket sales. But before the show could finish its twoweek run in Mars Hill University’s Owen Theatre, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Chelsey Lee Gaddy, SART’s senior artistic director, to halt production — a pause that she and her colleagues figured was merely temporary.

“I just thought, ‘Oh, we’ll get to do a second weekend in a few weeks,” Gaddy says. “We had no idea that it was going to inflate to this giant pandemic.”

Over 13 months later, and after numerous virtual offerings, SART resumes live, in-person, indoor theater with the musical The Last Five Years, which opens Thursday, June 17. The show features a cast of two characters who only interact once, plus six crew members, several of whom are taking on multiple behind-the-scenes roles.

That scaled-back approach will remain consistent across SART’s 2021 season, which subsequently spans the comedy First Date in mid-July to dual December presentations A Southern Appalachian Christmas and A Christmas Carol.

“I just played it really safe with choosing our season,” Gaddy says. “We also selected shows that had streaming rights, so if the pandemic had reared its ugly head again, we had a plan to still bring virtual productions.”

For now, patrons are also required to follow SART safety measures. Masks are mandatory, regardless of vaccination status. The company will also conduct temperature checks at the door.

But despite these initial precautions,

DE-LOVELY TO BE BACK: Karen Covington-Yow plays Mrs. Cole Porter in “Love, Linda,” at Haywood Arts Regional Theatre’s secondary location, the Fangmeyer Theater, in March. The production was the Waynesville-based company’s first live offering in over a year. Photo by John Highsmith SART leadership is confident its fully vaccinated staff will welcome back a full house soon.

“In a perfect world, the hope is that by the winter, we will all be enjoying Christmas together in the theater,” says J. Ethan Henry, SART’s managing artistic director. “As trends are going in the right directions, people are getting vaccinated and we’re all doing what we have to do to help each other, I think the theater industry is going to come back even stronger than it was prior to the pandemic.”

Helping encourage that outcome are other area theater companies, each of whose staffs are likewise adjusting to the novel challenges of planning a season during a pandemic.

WARMING UP

Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville has been producing smaller shows at its secondary location, the Fangmeyer Theater, since late March.

Executive Director Steve Lloyd notes that the venue’s flat floor allows for tables to be spaced out in a responsible manner and its 50-person capacity has been met on almost every performance of the Cole Porter revue, Love, Linda, and the George Burns play Say Goodnight, Gracie.

With those encouraging practice runs complete and statewide indoor 22

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venue restrictions lifted, HART returns to its main stage on Saturday, June 12, for Sister Act Jr., which runs for two weeks. Attendance will be at full capacity, and masks are optional.

For the rest of the year, the company will host its intended 2020 season, with the exception of The Music Man, which Lloyd says would have had to be cast and in rehearsals at the beginning of May. With no guarantee that North Carolina guidelines would allow for 40 singers on stage at once by early summer, Lloyd pivoted to the George Gershwin revue, ’S Wonderful, which opens Friday, July 9, and requires far less rehearsal time and fewer people.

Additional programming includes Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Aug. 27-Sept. 19), The Diary of Anne Frank (Sept. 24-Oct. 10) and Harvey (Oct. 15-24), each of which Lloyd feels will prove popular with area theatergoers.

“Over the course of the past month, as we’ve been doing performances and having our patrons come back, they have been just so unbelievably happy to be in the theater and to see that we’re still here and still going forward,” he says. “I think the arts in general and live events across the board are going to have a blockbuster year because people are so tired of being cooped up and so tired of Zoom and watching things on screens.”

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Meanwhile, Asheville Community Theatre has taken down the plywood panels from its windows and is getting back to business with a four-show main stage season, slated to begin in October.

The first production will be Clue — the stage show, not the musical — with four weekends of adult casts. For the last two weekends of the month, the set will also be used for the youth production Clue Jr., one of several ways that ACT seeks to maximize time and resources as it gets back into its groove.

As will be the case for the sci-fi/comedy Fight Girl Battle World (February/ March 2022), the adaptation of Lois Lowry’s young adult novel The Giver (May/June 2022) and a musical slated for summer 2022, marketing director Jenny Bunn says each show will be double cast. Instead of having understudies who may never get a chance to perform before an audience, all four shows — none of which have casts larger than 10 people — will have separate rotating casts on the stage for two weekends apiece, under the guidance of the same director. In turn, nearly as many people as usually participate in an ACT production can be involved while limiting the amount of human interaction.

“It’s been interesting to think through the types of shows that we think are safe for us to produce in terms of COVID and that are still hopefully interesting for our community to be a part of and to come and see,” Bunn says.

During the handful of open weekends on the main stage between productions, ACT plans to pull in the curtains and offer content that would typically play in its 35below black-box theater — which has no targeted opening date — including Autumn Players Readers’ Theatre Showcases. Bunn adds that the management team would also love to realize ideas it devised during the pandemic but couldn’t implement.

Among the possibilities are collaborations with Grail Moviehouse to project rarely seen movie musicals and a guest curation series where local artists select a film that influenced them and engage in a post-screening discussion about its impact with the audience.

“The silver lining of COVID has been we had to do things that we’d never done before. That was our only choice, basically,” Bunn says. “We’re trying to keep some of that creativity and enthusiasm and thinking outside of what a community theater has been and what a community theater can be and should be.”

— Edwin Arnaudin X

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FOOD ROUNDUP

What’s new in food An Odd kitchen, downtown ciderkins and betting on beer

The Odditorium in West Asheville is known for many things — punk and heavy metal acts, drag shows, trivia and poetry nights, pool tables, pinball machines and a growing collection of freak-show oddities on display.

The venue has not, however, historically been known for its food.

“We have had free, fresh-popped popcorn since day one,” says co-owner Amy Marshall. “We tried out some microwavable frozen corn dogs, but they didn’t fly.”

While The Odd was grounded

by COVID-19, Marshall, co-owner Tamy Kuper and veteran Asheville chef Ben Hester did some frontporch pondering. “We gave a lot of thought to how we would evolve,” Kuper recalls. “You have to evolve or perish.”

The partners were also considering how to use their Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program funds and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan responsibly and wisely. “We wanted to do something that made sense for us, sense for staff and sense for the community,” Marshall says. “It made sense to add a kitchen.”

Working with Drom Construction, they tackled the cobbled-together building, carving out an open, diner-style galley kitchen where customers place and pick up their orders. As they exit, customers can tell Hester how awesome their Coach’s Way Burger was.

“We had an ’80s-theme prom here a few years ago, and I came as a coach, so the regulars have called me Coach ever since,” Hester

Welcome Back!

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UFO ALERT: Unbelievable Fried Objects dominate chef Ben Hester’s diner-style menu, now available into the wee hours at The Odditorium’s new kitchen. Photo by Syd Foto says proudly. “The burger is only one way: Coach’s Way — mayo, lettuce, thin-shaved onion, American cheese, mustard and pickles on a squishy bun.”

The burger is representative of Hester’s culinary ethos, which blends the nostalgic comfort food of his childhood, tasty bar fare of his adulthood and an avowed passion for what many consider lowbrow cuisine. “Something as simple as a slaw dog can be great if you do everything right — nicely toasted bun, hot dog with a good snap, delicious chili with the right texture and slaw with the right moisture,” he explains.

In addition to the burger and dog, expect a holiday-reminiscent cheese ball, tamales from Tortilleria Molina

on Patton Avenue, a sloppy joe based on Kuper’s recipe, fried-in-the-shell and seasoned peanuts by the bag and fried hand pies from local momand-son operation Towne House.

There will also be crispy, salty fries influenced by Mickey D’s, as well as a take on the fast-food giant’s Filet o’ Fish sandwich.

The Odditorium kitchen is cooking Monday-Thursday 5 p.m.-midnight, Friday 5 p.m.–2 a.m., Saturday noon2 a.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.–2 p.m., with drag brunch the second and fourth Sunday of every month.

The Odditorium, 1045 Haywood Road, avl.mx/9ga

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Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre Concert Schedule

Presented by Plugged-In Productions

Chris Knight | June 17 @ 6PM W/ TAYLOR MARTIN & WOODY WOOD PLUS CHRISTY LYNN BAND (DUO)

The Travelin’ McCourys Grateful Ball | June 30 @ 5:30PM

Molly Tuttle | July 7 @ 6PM

W/ JON STICKLEY TRIO

Del McCoury Band | August 5 @ 6PM

Upcoming Shows! SAM BUSH | August 11 @ 6 PM Tickets and Information

HAZELROBINSONAMPHITHEATRE.COM @HAZELROBAMP // @PLUGGEDINTUNES

A R TS & CU LTU R E

Bottoms up

Amie Fields and Lyndon Smith say it was always a dream of theirs to open an urban location of Botanist & Barrel Cidery and Winery, the business they founded four years ago with Lyndon’s sister Kether Smith and brother-inlaw Deric McGuffy in rural Cedar Grove. Their big-city dream came true May 27 with the opening of Botanist & Barrel Tasting Bar & Bottle Shop in the former location of the beloved Over Easy Café on Broadway in downtown Asheville.

“I feel like I kind of get the stink eye from some locals when I tell them where we’ll be,” Fields confesses. “But [owners] Carson [Lucci] and Eric [Burleson] are friends and knew we were looking for downtown space so told us about it as soon as they decided to close the end of last year.”

Over Easy fans can still sit on the same benches and belly up to the same marble bar. “We want you to come explore,” says Lyndon Smith. “We’ll have flights of cider and wine, ciderkins (weak alcoholic cider) and pet nats (natural sparkling wine). We want you to geek out.”

The owners also want visitors to eat — a small-bites menu showcases products from Cedar Grove neighbors, including Boxcarr Handmade Cheese and Meadowsweet Creamery — and try out a cider cocktail. “We have a fortified license but not a liquor permit,” Fields explains. “We are doing cider with a side of vermouth or sherry, for example, and you can taste the sherry then pour it in your cider.”

B&B has flipped the Over Easy kitchen into a lounge, which brings seating to 24, with additional capacity for about a dozen standing plus barrel tables on the sidewalk that can accommodate about six more.

There are 10 cider and wine taps and two for beer. Bottles are available to purchase and take away.

The tasting room is open noon-7 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.

Botanist & Barrel Tasting Bar & Bottle Shop, 32 Broadway, avl.mx/9gf

Popping with Pride Poppy Hand-Crafted Popcorn invites Western North Carolina residents of all ages to put down the bag of salted caramel popcorn — temporarily, of course — and pick up crayons, graphite, colored pencils, ink, pastel, watercolors or finger paint to create a piece of art for the Poppy Art Contest in celebration of Pride Month 2021.

The grand-prize winner will receive $500 and the opportunity to collaborate with Poppy’s team to design the art for the company’s second artist bag. The first bag, designed by local artist Annie Riker, celebrated the culture of Asheville with whimsical illustrations of bears, bikes and hiking boots.

Two dollars from the sale of each Pride Artist Bag will benefit the Campaign for Southern Equality, specifically the Southern Equality Studios project.

“We are so excited by this project and partnership,” says Poppy’s founder Ginger Frank. “We really wanted to get Asheville and WNC locals involved in celebrating Pride.”

The deadline to enter is Wednesday, June 30. To apply, visit avl.mx/9gg.

Betting on beer

It’s a sure bet that visitors to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee will find a beer to cry into — or celebrate over — since the recent opening of its Wicked Weed Brewpub, a satellite location of the Asheville brewery. Wicked Weed co-founder Ryan Guthy and Eastern Band of Cherokee Principal Chief Richard Sneed popped the cap May 28 on the 237-seat brewpub and walk-up tasting bar. Twentyfour original brews are on tap along with newly released Vidl wines and Wicked Weed’s oak-fermented cider.

The food menu includes bison sliders, baked pimento cheese, poutine and Hickory Nut Gap Farm bratwurst with Lusty Monk mustard. Open 4-11 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday.

Wicked Weed is at Harrah’s, 777 Casino Drive, Cherokee. For more information, visit avl.mx/9gj.

— Kay West X

Mountain Xpress 27th Annual

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2021

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ROUNDUP

Around Town

Purl’s Yarn Emporium leaves Wall Street behind Iconic Asheville staple Purl’s Yarn Emporium is relocating after over 10 years of central downtown residency — much to the initial dismay of its owners, Elizabeth and Rik Schell.

“We loved being a space where anyone could walk in and feel welcomed, regardless of their interest or knowledge of yarn,” says Elizabeth. “We tried to create a feeling of whimsy and curiosity, drawing locals and tourists alike to our little Wall Street neighborhood.

We hope to continue these intentions in our new space.”

Over the years, that whimsy was publicly expressed (much to the delight of downtown strollers) through fanciful shop window displays and periodic yarn bombings near their store, which left the Flat Iron sculpture, lampposts and even the trees adorned with colorful yarn creations.

The shop was able to stay afloat at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic despite mandatory closures, relying heavily on online orders. Despite social restrictions, the Schells strived to maintain a sense of community.

“Besides our virtual stitch groups, we found creative ways to keep sending out humor and meaning,” says Elizabeth. This included a window display created last summer promoting pandemic safety.

But ultimately, rent without reopening proved unsustainable. As they make the transition to their new location, the Schells encourage continued community support — not just for the emporium, but for any local business that has been affected by COVID-19 restrictions.

“Any small business that’s trying to reopen or just continue to survive after this past year needs all the support they can get,” says Elizabeth. “We hope folks will come check out our new space once we open on Wednesday, June 16, and just generally help spread the word about our new location and hours.”

Purl’s Yarn Emporium will open at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 16, at 830 Hendersonville Road; store hours will be Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Learn more about the emporium at avl.mx/9gv.

Bluff Mountain Festival goes virtual

The Bluff Mountain Music Festival will look slightly different this year, but the grassroots event remains dedicated to sharing the same message it has since it was first founded in 1996: Show the mountain some love and have fun doing it.

“Celebrating the 25th year of the festival is important because the festival itself is a testament to the resolve of a community,” says festival director Brandon Johnson. “The people that founded this festival had — and still have — a deep love for Bluff Mountain, which is just an outlet for a deep love of and connection to the landscape and lifestyle of the mountains.”

Adaptation is the name of the game, though Johnson notes replacing live music is no small feat. “There’s no way that a virtual festival can beat the real deal, but it does allow us to traverse time and space and showcase a range of past and freshly recorded performances,” he adds. “It also allows us to share some performances from some of our friends that are no longer with us.”

The virtual event will take place Saturday, June 12, and will air at 2, 4 and 7 p.m. on the Madison County Arts Council Facebook page. To learn more, visit avl.mx/9gp.

Mica Mine and feelin’ fine

Local poet Michael Hettich was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and grew up in the suburbs of NYC before moving to Black Mountain with his family.

His most recent book of poetry, The Mica Mine, won the Lena Shull Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. “The book is essentially a meditation on environment, place, family and our yearning for connection with the nonhuman world,” says the poet.

To purchase a copy, visit avl.mx/9gs.

Calling all makers The Big Crafty, a biannual craft fair that highlights the talent of local makers, is looking for participants for its Sunday, July 11, event in Pack Square Park. Making a comeback after a COVID-induced hiatus, the fair hopes to round up roughly 150 artists to help build community while supporting the arts. To learn more, visit avl.mx/9gt.

TOO SPOOL FOR SCHOOL: Elizabeth and Rik Schell, owners of downtown staple Purl’s Yarn Emporium, prepare to move to a new location after a long-term closure due to the pandemic. Photo courtesy of Purl’s Yarn Emporium

And calling all musicians

For the more musically inclined, 103.3 Asheville FM, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and Make Noise are partnering up and extending an invitation to local sound makers (of any variety) looking for the chance to show off their chops.

“Asheville FM is proud to highlight the art of sound, in all forms,” says KP Whaley of Asheville FM. “We hope the local community of DJs, spoken-word artists and others who entertain in this way can be recognized through this experience.”

To learn more, visit avl.mx/9gu.

— Cayla Clark X

MOVIE LISTINGS Bruce Steele’s and Edwin Arnaudin’s latest critiques of new films available to view via local theaters and popular streaming services include: THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT: Viewers shouldn’t expect much from the third film in a horror series, especially one missing the writers and director of its first two films, but some effort would be nice. Instead, we get occultbusters Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) stumbling around like AARP Fred and Daphne in search of a sneaky curse-giver. Corny moments far outweigh scary ones while making genre fans pine for James Wan to get back behind the camera.

Grade: C-minus. Rated R

COMFORT FOOD

UPDATED HOURS M/W/Th/F 8-3 Sa/Su 8-4 Closed Tuesdays

828 - 417-7424

tasteedinernc.com Find full reviews and local film info at ashevillemovies.com patreon.com/ashevillemovies

575 Haywood Rd. West Asheville

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JUNE 9-15, 2021

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CLUBLAND For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9 SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Jazz Night at SAB w/ Jason DeCristofaro, 5:30pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Well Crafted Wednesdays w/Matt Smith, 6pm ISA’S FRENCH BISTRO Jay DiPaola’s Live Lounge (solo acoustic), 6pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

FBO AT HOMINY CREEK Rusted Wingnutz (three-piece acoustic), 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Cane Mill Road (bluegrass), 7pm THE SALVAGE STATION Acoustic Syndicate (acoustic), 7pm THE ORANGE PEEL Hit Dogs w/Father Son Picnic (rock), 7pm

TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic Night w/ Tommy Yon, 6pm

THE BARRELHOUSE Logan Childers (blues), 7pm

12 BONES BREWERY Robert’s Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

THE GETAWAY TIKI BAR Getaway Comedy: Tiki Dawg AVL Showcase, 8pm

THURSDAY, JUNE 10 FLEETWOOD'S Terraoke! Karaoke with Terra, 6pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Open Mic, 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Lawn Concert w/ Jesse Barry and the Jam (blues, funk), 7pm THE SALVAGE STATION Dirty Logic (Steely Dan tribute), 7pm RABBIT RABBIT Sunset Rooftop Comedy Show, 7pm THE WEAVER HOUSE Mr Jimmy & Patrick Lockett Blues Duo (blues), 7pm TWIN LEAF BREWERY Karaoke w/KJ Salina, 8pm

FRIDAY, JUNE 11 BLUE RIDGE HEMP CO. DJ Camaro of Asheville 103.3 (DJ), 3pm

JUNE 9-15, 2021

BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah’s Daydream (jazz), 5pm

HOME GROUND COFFEE BAR & DELI Bluegrass Jam, 6pm

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Queer Comedy Party w/Ian Aber, 8:30pm

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BLUE RIDGE HEMP CO. Beat Maker Series Presents: Skvnk Ape, 5pm

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FLEETWOOD’S Shutterings (indie), 8pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Jangling Sparrows (Americana), 8pm

SATURDAY, JUNE 12 FBO AT HOMINY CREEK ROND (acoustic), 4pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Beauty Parlour Comedy w/Gilbert Lawand, 7:30pm THE SALVAGE STATION Ana Popovic (singer/ songwriter), 7pm ODDITORIUM Party Foul Outdoor Drag Show, 7pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. The ALR Trio (blues, rock), 8pm FLEETWOOD’S Deathbots/Miami Gold (punk, rock), 8pm ORANGE PEEL The Get Right Band (psychedelic indie rock), 8pm

PRETTY FUNNY: Dallas-based stand-up comedian Jasmine Ellis headlines a live show at the Asheville Beauty Academy. Ellis boasts an extensive resume, and her belly-busting sets have been featured in several major comedy festivals, including Moontower. She will be joined by local talents Ben Warren and Becca Steinhoff. Wednesday, June 16, 8:30-11 p.m. $15. avl.mx/9ia. Photo courtesy of Ellis SUNDAY, JUNE 13 ASHEVILLE CLUB Mr Jimmy at the Asheville Club, 3pm LIVE ON LINDEN Live on Linden: Black Sea Beat Society (folk), 3pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Finkelstein 3 (bluegrass), 4pm RIVERSIDE RHAPSODY BEER CO. Thinkin’ & Drinkin’ Trivia w/Allie, 5:30pm THE SALVAGE STATION The Broadcast w/Erin Lunsford (psychedelic rock), 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Russ Wilson & his Famous Orchestra (jazz), 7pm

MONDAY, JUNE 14 OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. It Takes All Kinds Open Mic Night, 7pm

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Blue Monday w/ Mr Jimmy (blues), 7:30pm

TUESDAY, JUNE 15 ARCHETYPE BREWING BROADWAY Trivia Night, 5pm MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Open Mic Night, 6pm ARCHETYPE BREWING Trivia Night, 6:30pm FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Team Trivia, 7pm SMOKY PARK SUPPER CLUB Magnetic in the (Smoky) Park, 7pm THE PAPER MILL LOUNGE Comedy Night w/ Gregg McGaha, 7pm TWIN LEAF BREWERY Tuesday Trivia with Eister, 7pm

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16 SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Jazz Night at SAB, hosted by Jason DeCristofaro, 5:30pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Well Crafted Wednesdays w/Matt Smith, 6pm HOME GROUND COFFEE BAR & DELI Bluegrass Jam, 6pm ISA'S FRENCH BISTRO Jay DiPaola's Live Lounge (solo acoustic), 6pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam, 6pm TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic Night w/ Tommy Yon, 6pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Witty Wednesday Trivia, 6:30pm 12 BONES BREWERY Robert’s Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Beauty Parlor Comedy w/Jasmine Ellis, 8:30pm

THURSDAY, JUNE 17 FLEETWOOD'S Terraoke! Karaoke with Terra, 6pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Open Mic, 6pm HAZEL ROBINSON AMPHITHEATRE Chris Knight (country, folk), 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 CaroMia Tiller & Rahm Mandelkorn (acoustic duo), 7pm RABBIT RABBIT Sunset Rooftop Comedy Show, 7pm THE SALVAGE STATION Yarn (Americana), 7pm TWIN LEAF BREWERY Karaoke w/KJ Salina, 8pm

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries actor Leonard Nimoy became megafamous by playing the role of Spock, an alien from the planet Vulcan in the Star Trek franchise. He always enjoyed the role, but in 1975 he wrote an autobiography called I Am Not Spock. In it, he clarified how different he was from the character he performed. In 1995, Nimoy published a follow-up autobiography, I Am Spock, in which he described the ways in which he was similar to the fictional alien. In the spirit of Nimoy’s expansive self-definition, Aries, and in accordance with current astrological potentials, I invite you to make it clear to people exactly who you and who you aren’t.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The poet Rumi declared “A lover has four streams inside, of water, wine, honey, and milk.” With that in mind, Taurus, I will recommend that you seek a boost in the honey department. Your passions and feelings have been flowing along fairly well, but lately they’ve lacked some sweetness. As a result, you’re not receiving as much of the sweetness you need from the world around you. So your assignment is to intensify the honey stream within you! Remember the principle “like attracts like.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I’m glad you’re not on the planet Saturn right now. The winds there can blow at 1,000 miles per hour. But I would like you to feel a brisk breeze as you wander around in nature here on Earth. Why? Because according to my interpretation of the current astrological omens, winds will have a cleansing effect on you.

They will clear your mind of irrelevant worries and trivial concerns. They’ll elevate your thoughts as well as your feelings. Do you know the origin of the English word “inspire”? It’s from the Latin word inspirare, meaning “blow into, breathed upon by spirit.” Its figurative meaning is “to inspire, excite, inflame.” The related Latin word spiritus refers to “a breathing of the wind” and “breath of a god” — hence “inspiration; breath of life.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian author Franz Kafka put his characters into surreal dilemmas. In his novella The Metamorphosis, for example, the hero wakes up one day to find he has transformed into a giant insect. Despite his feral imagination, however, Kafka had a pragmatic relationship with consumerism.

“I do not read advertisements,” he said. “I would spend all of my time wanting things.” In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to adopt his earthy attitude for the next two weeks. Take a break from wanting things, period. Experiment with feeling free of all the yearnings that constantly demand your attention. Please note: This break in the action won’t be forever. It’s just a vacation. When you return to wanting things, your priorities will have been realigned and healed, and you’ll feel refreshed.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Author Umberto Eco declared that beauty is boring because it “must always follow certain rules.” A beautiful nose has to be just the right shape and size, he said, while an “ugly nose” can be ugly in a million different unpredictable ways. I find his definition narrow and boring, and prefer that of philosopher Francis Bacon, who wrote, “There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.”

Poet Charles Baudelaire agreed, saying, “That which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal: from which it follows that irregularity — that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment — is an essential part and characteristic of beauty.” Then there’s the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, which reveres beauty that’s imperfect, transitory, and incomplete. Beginning now, and for the rest of 2021, Leo, I encourage you to ignore Eco’s dull beauty and cultivate your relationship with the more interesting kind.

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JUNE 9-15, 2021

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): One of the more evocative passages in J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel The Return of the King is about the warrior Éowyn. It says, “Then the heart of Éowyn changed, or else at last she understood it. And suddenly her winter passed, and the sun shone on her.” I’m predicting a comparable transformation for you in the near future, Virgo. There’ll be some fundamental shift in the way your heart comprehends life. When that happens, you will clearly fathom some secrets about your heart that have previously been vague or inaccessible. And then the sun will shine upon you with extra brilliance.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran actor and author Carrie Fisher had more than the average number of inner demons. Yet she accomplished a lot, and was nominated for and won many professional awards. Here’s the advice she gave: “Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action.

You don’t have to wait to be confident.” I hope you’ll employ that strategy in the coming weeks, dear Libra. The time is favorable for you to work hard on your number one goal no matter what your emotions might be at any particular moment.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio author Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881) had a gambling addiction for many years. At one point, he lost so much money betting on roulette that he had to take drastic measures. He wrote a novella in record time — just 16 days — so as to raise money to pay his debt. The story was titled The Gambler. Its hero was a not-very-successful gambler. Is there a comparable antidote in your future, Scorpio? A gambit that somehow makes use of the problem to generate the cure? I suspect there is.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In her poem Escape, Michelle Tudor addresses a lover: “Inside of you: a dream raging to be set free.” She implies that she would like to be a collaborator who provides assistance and inspiration in liberating her companion’s dream. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to make a similar offer to an ally you care for — and to ask that ally to do the same for you. And by the way: What is the dream inside you that’s raging to be set free?

And what’s the dream inside your comrade?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Author Martha Beck has helpful counsel for you to keep returning to during the coming weeks. “It isn’t necessary to know exactly how your ideal life will look,” she writes.

“You only have to know what feels better and what feels worse. Begin making choices based on what makes you feel freer and happier, rather than on how you think an ideal life should look. It’s the process of feeling our way toward happiness, not the realization of the Platonic ideal, that creates our best lives.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author James Dickey celebrated “the holy secret of flowing.” But he added, “You must be made for it.” In other words, he implied that the secret of flowing is a luxury only some of us have access to.

And because we “must be made for it,” he seemed to suggest that being in possession of the secret of flowing is due to luck or genetics or privilege. But I reject that theory. I think anyone can tap into the secret of flowing if they have the desire and intention to do so. Like you! Right now! You’re primed to cultivate a robust relationship with the holy flow.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Why do humans enjoy much longer life spans than other higher primates?

Here’s one reason: grandmothers. Anthropologists propose that earlier in our evolution, families with elder females especially thrived. The grandmothers helped care for children, ensuring greater health for everyone as well as a higher rate of reproduction than grandmother-less broods. Their longevity genes got passed on, creating more grandmothers. Lucky!

Having older women around while growing up has been key to the success of many of us. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to celebrate and honor the role your own grandmothers and female elders have played in your life. And if you’re a grandmother, celebrate and honor yourself!

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REAL ESTATE & RENTALS | ROOMMATES | JOBS | SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENTS | CLASSES & WORKSHOPS | MIND, BODY, SPIRIT MUSICIANS’ SERVICES | PETS | AUTOMOTIVE | XCHANGE | ADULT Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 advertise@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to advertise@mountainx.com EMPLOYMENT GENERAL CUSTODIAN (FULL-TIME, SECOND SHIFT) Evergreen Community Charter School Responsibilities: care and maintenance of school buildings and facilities, general custodial and light groundskeeping work. For more information, go to http:// www.evergreenccs.org/ careers .

SKILLED LABOR/ TRADES SKILLED LABOR NEEDED FOR MASONRY WORK Floating concrete slab needs busting up and new support poles; have engineer guidelines; call (828)808-6607 after 6:00 PM for further details.

WAREHOUSE OPERATOR The Warehouse Operator is responsible for receiving, storing, and distributing materials, tools, equipment, and products within the establishment. Reporting to the Warehouse Supervisor, this role interfaces with various SNBC departments, vendors, long haul carriers, and customers. https://sierranevada. com/careers/

ADMINISTRATIVE/ OFFICE FRONT DESK RECEPTIONIST WANTED AT RIVER ARTS DENTISTRY Candidate will work primarily at front desk, where candidate will be responsible for greeting patients and patient check-out, as well as all aspects of patient scheduling. Candidate will be able to discuss patient dental treatment in detail, and will be willing to learn billing and insurance to aid Office Manager. We will hire a person with excellent phone skills and attention to detail. A successful candidate will have continuous interaction with our patients, so you must enjoy working with all types of people. Our office is open 34 hours per week with no weekend or evening hours. Computer skills are required, along with a willingness to learn Dentrix dental management software.

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LOCAL TECH COMPANY HIRING FOR DATA COLLECTIONS TEAM Looking for a full-time office job with a great culture and

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SALES PROFESSIONAL Mountain Xpress is looking to add a new member to our sales team. Ideal candidates are personable, organized, motivated, and can present confidently, while working within a structure.

Necessary skills include clear and professional communications (via phone, email, and in-person meetings), detailed record-keeping, and working well in a team environment. While no outside sales experience is required, experience dealing with varied and challenging situations is helpful. The position largely entails account development and lead generation (including cold-calling), account management, assisting clients with marketing and branding strategies, and working to meet or exceed sales goals. If you are a high energy, positive, cooperative person looking to join an independent, community-minded organization, please send a resume and cover letter (no walk-ins, please) explaining why you are a good fit for Mountain Xpress to: xpressjob@ mountainx.com

PROFESSIONAL/ MANAGEMENT

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RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT The Resource Development Assistant works with the Resource Development team and is responsible for critical administrative and operational support tasks related to United Way's fundraising and relationship cultivation activities. Learn more: https://www.unitedwayabc.org/employment-opportunities .

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DATA & DONOR SERVICES MANAGER The Data and Donor Services Manager analyzes and prepares constituent data reports, process grants, and individual gifts. They also provide guidance, support, and training in the utilization of data through current and future CRM systems to advance UWABC's strategic objectives. Salary Range: $46,292 to $51,436 . See the full details and apply online: https:// www.unitedwayabc. org/employment-opportunities .

TEACHING/ EDUCATION A-B TECH IS HIRING A-B Tech is currently taking applications for a Lab Assistant Instructor, Small Animal Clinical position .

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WILDERNESS THERAPY FT POSITION Blue Ridge Therapeutic Wilderness is hiring fulltime staff. Live and work in the wilderness. Teach outdoor living skills, mindfulness, and traditional therapy tools.

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CAREGIVERS/ NANNY HOME HELP 7 DAYS DOWNTOWN Located Downtown, Dad ill w/ MS cannot walk w/2 teenagers 7 days June 15 mid-dayJune 22 mid-day. pays $150/day Cash. Needs Help with care giving for Dad, house keeping, some meal preparation etc.

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ARTS/MEDIA

NEWS REPORTER WANTED Mountain Xpress is seeking an experienced reporter to join our team.

You should have the chops to cover a wide range of issues of community concern including local government, community activism, education, economic issues, public safety and criminal justice, as well as some arts and culture coverage. You must be able to craft stories that convey important, timely information and empower readers to take part in meaningful civic dialogue and effect change at the local level. Qualified applicants will have experience in news-writing, have social-media skills, write efficiently and enjoy a fast-paced news-gathering environment. Must have knowledge of Asheville and WNC, be community-minded, have a keen sense of fairness with respect for differing points of view and be committed to Xpress’ mission of community-based journalism. Flexible availability required to cover some after-hours meetings and weekend events. This is a full-time position with

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Otherwise, NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Plaintiff will seek judgement by default against you and request that the Court declare that you have been duly noticed and had no objection. A copy of this notice will be published four (4) times in the weekly newspaper, Mountain Xpress. This is the 18th day of May 2021.

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edited by Will Shortz | No. 0505 |

ACROSS 1 “All Things Considered” airer 4 Sloth, e.g.

7 Wasn’t a smooth talker?

13 Singer Grande, to fans 14 “___ soon?”

15 Vanquish 16 Price of a horror film?

18 Expand to 800% 19 Big online site for uploading photos and memes 20 Antique 22 Word accompanying a lightning bolt 23 Spanish direction 24 Spanish royal 25 Balance 28 King in the “Jungle Book” films 30 Be quietly angry 32 “The Good ___” 35 Soap opera, e.g.

37 Where It. is found 38 Leave on the cutting room floor 40 This puzzle’s theme 42 Word with science or chocolate 43 Like Antarctica among all the continents 45 Historic enemy of the Iroquois 46 Poorly made 48 YouTube statistics 50 Put an edge on 51 Had the reins 52 On 55 Rearward 57 “Take ___” 58 Separates into groups that don’t communicate 60 “Turandot” composer 63 Shakespeare character who says “I kiss’d thee ere I kill’d thee” 65 They may come with bows and whistles

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66 Handle 67 Indisposed 68 Like the word “truthiness,” by Stephen Colbert 69 Besmirch 70 Follower of red, pink or black

DOWN 1 Blue-skinned race in “Avatar” 2 Like the two 40-Across in the grid for this answer 3 Telephones 4 Binaural 5 Accelerator bit 6 Infamy 7 Bird of myth 8 DreamWorks’s first animated film 9 Like the two 40-Across in the grid for this answer 10 Person pulling the strings?

11 Fish with tiny scales 12 “Dr.” who co-founded Death Row Records 15 Wyoming town named for a frontiersman 17 Tonkatsu, in Japanese cuisine 21 Bad look

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26 “Black Panther” princess/ superhero 27 Cut short 29 Loan-sharking 30 Fry in a shallow pan 31 Common street name in the Northeast 32 Language in which “Thank you very much” is “Diolch yn fawr iawn” 33 Where I-15 meets I-86 34 Like the two 40-Across in the grid for this answer 36 Inverted 39 Like the two 40-Across in the grid for this answer

41 Closest pal 44 Like the two 40-Across in the grid for this answer 47 Military alert system 49 Tiny purchase for a plumber 51 ___ Lane 53 Skateboarding maneuver 54 Classic name for a parrot 56 Tucker out 59 Only 60 Chest muscle, for short 61 57-Across, en español 62 Homer’s neighbor 64 Big airport inits.

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