Mountain Xpress 10.11.23

OUR 30TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 30 NO. 11 OCT. 11-17, 2023

MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 11-17, 2023

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C O NT E NT S

Midcentury modern, vintage furniture and home goods

WELLNESS

FEATURE

OF MIDCENTURY MODERN, VINTAGE, ANTIQUES & REPURPOSED RARITIES!

NEWS

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NEWS

FEATURES 10 ENDANGERED TO EXTINCTION? Conservation groups say forest plan could be the last straw for four bat species

34 FRESH AIR Women in outdoor recreation industry driven by passion, desire for inclusion

46 FITTING IN Asheville’s bra shops offer support for all occasions

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52 SISTERS OF SPIN Female DJs find strength in numbers

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60 DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN Asheville’s literary podcast scene blossoms

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COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick 3

LETTERS

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CARTOON: MOLTON

4

THE SHALLOT

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CARTOON: BRENT BROWN

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COMMENTARY

10 NEWS 24 NONPROFIT/BIZ ROUNDUP 26 BUNCOMBE BEAT

40 COMMUNITY CALENDAR 46 WELLNESS 52 ARTS & CULTURE

69 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 70 CLASSIFIEDS 71 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

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20 BEHIND THE WHEEL WNC ride-share drivers discuss benefits, drawbacks of life on the road

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STAFF PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Jeff Fobes ASSISTANT PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas Calder EDITORS: Lisa Allen, Jessica Wakeman ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Thomas Calder OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose STAFF REPORTERS: Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Chase Davis, Andy Hall, Justin McGuire, Sara Murphy, Greg Parlier, Brooke Randle, Jessica Wakeman Fall intern reporter: Murryn Payne COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Andy Hall, Braulio Pescador-Martinez CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Mindi Friedwald, Peter Gregutt, Mary Jean Ronan Herzog, Rob Mikulak REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Barrett, Blake Becker, Carmela Caruso, Storms Reback, Kay West PHOTOGRAPHERS: Staff: Cindy Kunst ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Tina Gaafary, Olivia Urban MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Sara Brecht, Vicki Catalano, Jamie Knox, Scott Mermel INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES: Hinton Edgerton, Jeff Fobes, Mark Murphy, Scott Southwick WEB: Brandon Tilley BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler ADMINISTRATION & BILLING: Hinton Edgerton, Mark Murphy DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS: Leah Beck, Marlea Kunst, John McKay, Alexis Miller, Desiree Davis Mitchell, Henry Mitchell, Angelo Santa Maria, Courtney Israel Nash, Carl & Debbie Schweiger, Gary Selnick

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OPINION

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

When cars and bikes collide [Regarding “Bike Riders Should Stay in Their Lanes,” Sept. 27, Xpress:] Bikers take up the whole lane because they don’t want to die.

I was biking downtown recently to volunteer at Downtown After 5 in the really nice bike lane on Lexington Avenue. An out-of-town SUV turned into a parking spot without a turn signal, and my bike and I flipped over the hood of the car.

The first words out of the Gen Z driver were, “It’s not my fault, you were in my blind spot!” When I got up and brushed the gravel out of my open wounds, I looked at him bewildered and said, “The first two things out of your mouth should be, ‘Are you OK?’ and ‘I’m sorry.’” Where is the empathy, folks?

I then said, “Can you give me 20 bucks so I can fix my bike?” The female in the passenger side got out and yelled at me, “We aren’t giving you s#$%!!”

Where is the empathy and accountability? Twenty bucks obviously would not buy me a new bike. “It’s not my fault, you’re in my blind spot” doesn’t heal my cuts or cover the medical bills.

Where is the empathy?

My dad used to say that whether a pitcher hits a rock or a rock hits the pitcher, it’s gonna be bad news for the pitcher. That’s the same with cars and bikes.

Empathetic and accountable people, feel free to Venmo me some money so I can get a new derailleur and wheel and pay the medical bills.

— Mark Strazzer Asheville

What a tourism director’s salary tells us about priorities In government, it’s vitally important to have priorities. Without them, nothing can get done. For example, in what order would you rank street repair and education? What about DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and zoning plans?

I don’t envy our elected leaders, whose job is to determine how to rank all the things they’re responsible for and put a monetary value on each.

Yet, it’s that budget that ultimately determines what’s most important, most valuable to Buncombe County.

It’s enlightening, then, to learn that Victoria “Vic” Isley’s new contract as the director of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority makes her the highest-paid public official in the county. So now we know conclusively what Buncombe County

No child should call a county office home

C A RT O O N B Y R AN DY M O L T O N prioritizes. Now we understand that tourism is more important than education, jobs, roads, DEI, health care or absolutely anything else.

Thank you, our elected and unelected county officials, for making this priority so perfectly clear to all us citizens — or as you likely refer to us: the rabble who just happen to live here.

— Mark H. Bloom Asheville

Another rink for hockey players and other skaters?

After reading your Sept. 22 cover story, “Beyond the Wheels,” about the growing popularity of roller-skating in Asheville [“Roller-skating Renaissance: Recent and Well-established Groups Discuss WNC’s Coasting Community,” Xpress], I couldn’t help but think you’ve omitted one of the major players in the skating community.

Asheville Hockey League has had the biggest wheeled sport in Asheville for the last two decades. This year alone, there are almost 300 youth and adult players with the league! It’s great to see other new groups follow the passion of skating in all forms, but it begs the question of possibly a new rink in the future? Our kids and adults have only this rink to play inline hockey for 60 miles, and more and more groups are vying for a place to skate.

Our son and daughter have been skating with AHL’s youth league since before they knew how to tie their own shoes (let alone those cumbersome skates). It has been amazing to watch how the sport of hockey has helped my kids, along with the other 140plus kids, build confidence and foster

friendships, not to mention the health benefits of staying active, all while having fun. The energy from the organization is incredibly positive, and one just needs to come down to the rink on a Saturday morning to feel it — plus the bonus of watching some healthy competition and great hockey playing is also a blast! Come catch a youth game from 9 a.m. (little Mites) to 12:30 p.m., when our oldest division starts.

The ever-growing community of enthusiastic hockey families who support one another is beautiful to see and be a part of, which is a far cry from the violent, hard-hitting sport people tend to associate with hockey. Asheville Youth Hockey is coed (20-plus girls in four divisions) and noncontact.

The league has also partnered with Asheville Parks and Rec to offer Free Learn to Skate nights. Members of AHL volunteer at community centers in town, bringing hockey to kids who wouldn’t have a chance to otherwise learn about our sport and offering scholarships and free equipment rental to new youth players.

I hope that we can find a balance for the use of the public rink at Carrier Park because it is the only place our budding little hockey players can get their game on. Again, we love to see all the new skaters wheelin’ around, but please, Asheville Parks and Rec, help us find a way to keep all these groups rollin’ and help ensure that our hockey kids don’t get squeezed out. And that future roller-skaters (quads) have a place to go as well.

— Jolie Kaiser, proud hockey mom Justin Kaiser, AHL Youth Commissioner, coach extraordinaire and proud hockey dad Asheville

In August, the Mountain Xpress published a letter I wrote regarding the future of forced pregnancies [“The Consequences of Forced Pregnancy,” Aug. 2, Xpress]. In that letter, I mentioned the reliance upon social services that women will be forced to rely on due to having a child that they are not financially prepared to raise. The need and dependence on medical services, federal SNAP benefits and the possible outcomes of these children will only grow. At that time, Mecklenburg County was already experiencing a tremendous shortage of foster care homes and housing. Forcing children to sleep in county buildings that substitute for beds and homes.

The Asheville Watchdog just reported that a problem is already taking place in Buncombe County.

Buncombe County children in our foster care system are now sleeping in county buildings. Can you imagine that this is what they are forced to call home? This is all happening while abortion, albeit with huge restrictions, is still legal. What will happen to the future children that women are forced to take to term? If we do not have support homes to take care of children now, think what the next few years will look like. All these children that women are being forced to bear will multiply to a number that is untenable for the county to take care of.

Once again, I say: It is imperative that we reverse the ongoing attack on women’s reproductive care and abortion. Every child should be a wanted child, a cared-for and loved child.

No child should have to call a county office building home.

— M.L. Kates Asheville

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MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 11-17, 2023

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OPINION

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

We can work together to help end human trafficking Over the summer, the film Sound of Freedom opened in theaters around the country and quickly raked in close to $190 million. The film tells the story of Tim Ballard, a former Homeland Security agent who has worked to combat child sex trafficking. The movie was gripping and emotionally compelling, painting a picture of heroic individuals fighting to rescue children from horrific situations far from home. Audiences left the theater with a sense of hope and inspiration.

The atrocities that are committed against children are horrific, and they often leave us with a sense of powerlessness and an inability to protect the innocent. It makes sense that this movie inspired hope and left the audience with a sense of vindication.

Unfortunately, the reality of human

trafficking is much more complicated than what is presented in Sound of Freedom.

The facts tell us that people of all ages, genders and races are trafficked.

Trafficking exists not only in foreign countries but here in our own schools, workplaces and communities, where it often goes unnoticed. In Western North Carolina, it is unique in each community. In our rural areas, trafficking is often familial and sometimes intergenerational. This can look like, for example, trading a landlord time with a child to satisfy rent owed. In the larger, busier areas of our region, tourism and disposable income drive the market for trafficking, as do survival needs associated with our unhoused community.

While it is satisfying to watch a movie in which the hero is strong and smart enough to save the day, the reality is that one person can’t end

THE SHALLOT Like The Onion, but purple

trafficking on their own. It will take the entire community working together.

One of the most common pathways to entry for people who are trafficked is a search for connection and love as well as a need for basic necessities.

People want to feel safe and cared for, and unfortunately, this can leave them open to manipulation. One way to help fight trafficking is to simply take care of each other. Check in on your neighbors and other members of your community. Keep an eye out for people who may be struggling and help however you can — whether that be lending an ear, bringing someone a casserole or donating time or money to organizations that work to help people meet their survival needs.

Another way to help end human trafficking is to join the Buncombe County Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition— a quarterly virtual meeting facilitated by Our VOICE, with the goal of offering our community the training, space for conversation and the shared language necessary to fight trafficking in Buncombe County.

To register for this coalition, please contact Our VOICE. Finally, get involved with organizations like Our VOICE and The Hundred Movement, which work to fight human trafficking and offer support to survivors. If you have the capacity, sign up to volunteer or make a donation of supplies or money.

It is a long road, but with all of us together, we can work to end human trafficking in our communities and support survivors who have lived through this experience and come out the other side. If you have any questions or would like more information, please reach out to Our VOICE at 828-252-0562.

— Rita Sneider-Cotter Executive director, Our VOICE Asheville

Draw maps that give voters real choices During the week of Sept. 25, the N.C. General Assembly offered three

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS •

A radically different approach

‘Hedgehogs in Business’ proposal creates in-office dispute A rare in-office scuffle occurred as Xpress staff deadlines were looming this week. Apparently, the news team had misinterpreted an interoffice memo from the (moderately illiterate) sales team. In it, the sales reps proposed a new special issue theme for the Oct. 11 issue: “Hedgehogs in Business.”

Somehow, Xpress reporters thought the pitch called for an entire issue dedicated to the 1970s Muppets feature about a diva pig exploring space.

Insulted by the concept, they refused. Tension mounted.

Utilizing Zoom to avoid actual fisticuffs, all editorial questions were answered and misinterpretations clarified by the sales team. (Though the news team remained skeptical about the actual proposed theme.)

With all departments on the same page (kind of), the sales team moved to organize a focus group to gather additional feedback on their vision for an issue dedicated to entrepreneurial hedgehogs (with a possible photo feature including other cute and cuddly rodents). The focus group, which included members of the porcupine community, took issue with the “cuddly” motif, which was seen as not being inclusive; they were also vocal about the issue being offensive to segments of the larger rodent community who don’t identify as hedgehogs.

In a total commercial sellout, the publisher nixed the whole thing and insisted on the “safe and traditional” cover story that you see today. To appease a potentially bitter staff, Xpress hosted an ice cream party during work hours.

Update: Hedgehogs were incorrectly identified as rodents, which they are not. We are sorry for this unfortunate error. X

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LISA GENEVIEVE ZIEMER CEO of VaVaVooom Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

Ziemer: How difficult it would be to originate a business that did not follow a typical tried-and-true formula. My previous businesses were basically “cut and paste” — both in industrial staffing and in-home care, which were fairly formulaic operations. When we launched in 2008, this endeavor was radically different from the norm at that time, both in concept and presentation — a lovely boutique based on a traditionally feminine aesthetic but with highly curated intimate toys and sexy, high-quality lingerie.

How do you feel women in leadership experience their roles differently today than they may have in the past?

My leadership role in my family or in my previous 22 years of business was essentially in a support capacity to my ex-partner/husband.

It was more in line with traditional social expectations than being a single female owner. Maybe it is because of who I am. Not so much the role, but leadership is challenging for me. I tend to be collaboratively minded, but that is not what is generally expected [in business], so relationships can be more complex than I had experienced with a masculine presence at the forefront of the business.

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

Working with so many different individuals of various ages, genders, political inclinations, life histories and educational backgrounds has accelerated my personal growth. In many ways, VaVaVooom has been a support system for not only clients but for staff to reconcile their own deeper personal and sexual quandaries.

In this arena of human sexuality, so much is still being learned and finally talked about openly. I am incredibly proud of what the current and past staff members at VaVaVooom have brought to this community and grateful for all they have taught me. X

CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN opportunities for people to come forward to offer testimony, as they will be redrawing districts this year for the U.S. House, N.C. House and N.C. Senate races in 2024. The closest venue to Asheville was in Hickory. Below is an edited version of my comments: I consider myself to be a voting rights advocate. I have been involved for many years with a number of nonpartisan organizations, both in the North Carolina mountains and statewide, working to advocate for better access to voting for all eligible to vote, as well as fair maps. I am here today, traveling about 75 minutes from my home in the west, to ask this committee and the N.C. General Assembly to do one thing: Please create fair maps.

I define fair maps as those that provide opportunities for all who wish to run for office a realistic chance for election and for voters to have real chances to elect someone who shares their values. When unfair maps are created, too many races for office are predetermined, with one political party and candidate having a significantly better chance to win than their opponents.

In a state that is considered “purple,” it should mean that delegations from North Carolina to the U.S. House should be close to evenly divided. In fact, in 2022, the number of Democrats and Republicans elected were evenly

divided — seven from each party. Will that be the case after the 2024 election?

In a democracy, it is important to have all opinions expressed, respected and considered. I am concerned that that will not be the case when maps are drawn for both the N.C. General Assembly and U.S. House this year.

As a person of faith, I ask you to have faith in democracy and the people of this state and draw maps that give people real choices.

— Ron Katz Asheville

More on A-B Tech’s ‘The Rhapsodist’ Kudos to Mountain Xpress staff writer Andy Hall for her Arts & Culture roundup report on The Rhapsodist, A-B Tech’s 2023 fine arts and literature booklet [“Around Town: A Weeklong Celebration of Women Musicians,” Sept. 6, Xpress].

Not only students and faculty contribute to this unique publication, but campus staff as well. The Rhapsodist is also available at the A-B Tech college bookstore in the Student Services/ Bailey Building, while supplies lasts.

— Kennon Webber Rhapsodist contributor and bookstore associate Asheville

Everyone should get the health care they need North Carolina finally will expand Medicaid, the government-run health care coverage for low-income people, on Dec. 1, nine years after the Affordable Care Act was implemented.

As of Dec. 1, 600,000 uninsured North Carolinians will become eligible for lifesaving health care.

While the move is to be applauded, we should remember that the state “reformed” (privatized) Medicaid for those on the rolls already and that lawmakers resisted taking this federal money for nearly a decade while thousands of poor and lowwealth people died from lack of care — at the rate of one or two every day.

What’s worse is that since the end of COVID provisions, some 69,000 North Carolinians have been thrown off the rolls already, and the purge continues, even though most of those found ineligible had only problems with their paperwork, not their eligibility. In the end, according to NC Health News, up to 300,000 could be thrown off the rolls.

North Carolina ranks 46th of 51 (that includes Washington, D.C.) in rates of people who have coverage, with 30.9% of people with incomes

below 138% of the federal poverty level uninsured. In Buncombe, the uninsured rate is slightly higher, at 33.3%, 77th out of the 100 counties, and Henderson ranks 95th, with 38.5% uninsured. While those rates will go down, they will not disappear, and with poverty being the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States, we should seek to cover people in poverty first — not as an afterthought.

We have a patchwork of health care systems in this country, and navigating our private, for-profit system, our single-payer (Medicare and Medicaid) and government-run (the VA) can be a nightmare, especially for someone who’s poor, working two jobs and still unable to get out of poverty — and more than 70% of those who will become eligible for care are working.

The Poor People’s Campaign has called for the expansion of Medicaid in every state, for protecting Medicare from privatization and its expansion to cover everyone.

That would be the best system; it just wouldn’t line the pockets of the wealthiest.

It is time to give Americans — all Americans — the health care they need and deserve.

— Leslie Boyd Candler X

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OPINION

No admittance

club’s members. Guess which lawyers and accountants get hired, who gets the service contracts, the insurance contracts and who supplies the goods and equipment the new facility needs.

And meanwhile, the balance of the business community, the folks who never had that privileged access, have to settle for the crumbs. Thus, in addition to emotional pain and suffering, selective membership based on race, color or religion can result in egregious restraint of trade.

A Jew in Asheville

BY JERRY STERNBERG During the first half of the 20th century, what I call the Moshe Cohen laws discriminated against Jews in various ways. They were barred from working in certain fields, barred from renting or owning property in certain neighborhoods, barred from resort areas.

They weren’t allowed to join elite social clubs, and quotas restricted their access to many colleges.

Most Jews in Asheville worked in retail, small manufacturing, recycling or in one of a handful of professions: medicine, teaching, accounting or the law. That might not sound so bad, but dig deeper and you can start to understand the detrimental social and economic effects of those “laws.” Particularly in smaller towns, exclusionary country clubs were a key factor in maintaining this system.

Country club membership provides access to the power structure in the form of invaluable connections to banks, insurance companies, developers, real estate people and so on. It’s not uncommon in some places for elected officials to be given honorary memberships — or, at the very least, to be frequent guests of members.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS To this day, many large, far-reaching business and political deals are struck in elite country clubs, whether it’s on the golf course or bellied up to the bar. Access to this inner sanctum, however, is denied to all those who for economic, racial or cultural reasons can’t get past the door.

If, for example, a highly desirable industrial prospect comes to Asheville, they’ll be greeted at the

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THE WRONG ’CLASSIFICATION’ JERRY STERNBERG airport by leading officials, the Economic Development Coalition and powerful local business executives. After a tour of the area, they’re taken to lunch at one of our country clubs, which are lavish, commodious and boast very fine golf courses and other amenities.

There they are introduced to more club members: local businesspeople and professionals who will seek to forge advantageous connections in the event that those company representatives decide to open their plant here. If there is a follow-up trip, they often bring their spouses.

On these occasions, the executives go more in depth with the local entourage, maybe looking at additional potential sites and visiting possible suppliers. In the meantime, the spouses are being treated to lunch, and quite often a dinner is arranged for the visitors and the many interested parties.

By the time the new company opens here, the incoming executives are already on a first-name basis with many of the country

Even back when I was young, there were two country clubs here.

The Asheville Country Club had many amenities, including a terrific golf course designed by the incomparable Donald Ross. Jews, however, were not allowed to join.

But in the early 1930s, the Great Depression devastated the ACC and substantially reduced its membership. So, out of the goodness of their heart and their financial desperation, the club admitted a handful of prominent Jewish families. Nonmember Jews were only allowed to visit the club as guests of members.

In 1942 Mr. Joseph Dave, one of those few Jewish members, proposed Mr. Charles Roth for membership. Dave had worked for my grandfather’s steel fabricating business before starting Dave Steel, which made an invaluable contribution during World War II. Roth’s family, meanwhile, built movie theaters and distributed films; he also developed a very fine restaurant called Biltmore Plaza and a bowling alley across from the passenger railroad station. I knew the Dave

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OPINION family quite well, and after a chance encounter recently, his grandson sent me an electronic copy of the following letter, which shamelessly proclaims that Mr. Roth, who was otherwise qualified to be a member, belonged to a “classification” called “Jews.”

Although the letter gives no justification for the quota, the clear implication is that if these lesser human beings were allotted additional memberships, it would somehow degrade the quality of the club.

And to the best of my knowledge as an active member of the closeknit local Jewish community, no Jews were admitted as members for decades afterward.

The other club in town was the Biltmore Forest Country Club.

According to the town’s website, “The country club was first envisioned when an existing country club in North Asheville would not let Edith Vanderbilt smoke on the premises.” So in 1922, she recruited an A-list of local bluebloods who created a new facility across town.

This club, however, was even more restrictive. According to everything I saw and heard over many years,

CLOSED DOORS: This letter from 1942 states that no more Jewish people could be admitted to the Asheville Country Club. Image courtesy of Jerry Sternberg Jews were not only barred from membership, but they weren’t even allowed to set foot on the property as guests.

DOUBLE STANDARD In reporting my experiences as a Jew in this community, I’ve become aware of a puzzling dichotomy.

Over the years I’ve visited several local Christian churches for occasions such as weddings. I would often tell members of those congregations what a beautiful church they had or how much I’d enjoyed the choir music. Without fail, they would immediately thank me and invite me to come back on Sunday to worship with them, even offering to come and pick me up.

Christians in the South are often encouraged by their faith to evangelize in order to save souls. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been handed a biblical tract or had one slid under my door.

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But here’s my conundrum: I grew up with many youngsters whose families belonged to the country club. We played sports together, visited each others’ homes, attended school and took part in organizations such as the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. In later years, I did business with many of them, and we worked together on various charities and civic activities. They were happy to drink in bars and play golf with me — as long as it wasn’t in the country clubs where those same activities were going on. So, why is it that they were willing to have me take part in their most revered and precious religious activities yet unwilling to challenge the discriminatory membership policies that kept Jews out of those exclusive clubs?

Asheville native Jerry Sternberg, a longtime observer of the local scene, can be reached at jvsternberg@ gmail.com. X

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OCT. 11-17, 2023

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NEWS

Endangered to extinction?

Conservation groups say forest plan could be the last straw for four bat species

BY GREG PARLIER gparlier@mountainx.com Day-dwelling humans may not have noticed, but there are far fewer bats fluttering through the night sky and munching on insects in the Southern Appalachians than there once were. And according to conservation groups, several species of nature’s only flying mammals could soon go from endangered to extinct if the U.S. Forest Service moves forward with logging as permitted in the recently passed PisgahNantahala Land Management Plan.

The Southern Environmental Law Center and five other conservation groups issued the USFS a notice of intent to sue in July on the grounds that it ignored its own scientific findings suggesting that logging in certain areas could drastically harm the habitat and feeding grounds of four already endangered

ALL EARS: Virginia big-eared bats, seen here hibernating in a West Virginia cave, are one of four endangered bat species that are subject to disturbance from logging in the Pisgah and Nantahala forests in Western North Carolina. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species, therefore violating the Endangered Species Act. If filed, the case will be heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

The species in question — gray, Indiana, northern long-eared and Virginia big-eared bats — all rely on specific types of forest conditions to survive as they battle white-nose syndrome, which has devastated the bats’ ranks, making habitat conservation critically important, says Ben Prater, Southeast program director for Defenders of Wildlife, a national wildlife conservation organization focused on protecting imperiled species and their habitats.

“We’re dealing with a real crisis of potential extinction. And that’s why a number of bats are currently federally listed, and why we really have to act to make sure that we’re protecting the bats that are remaining,” he says. “[The Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests] provide some of the best habitats available for these species. So, by protecting the integrity of our national forests, we’re able to help get these bats back on a path toward recovery, which is the goal of the Endangered Species Act.” The crux of the conservation groups’ argument is not that the 10

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USFS plans to expand logging, but that the plan fails to designate specific areas where intentional logging could be performed without causing harm, says Sam Evans, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center based in Asheville.

“The plan sets objectives to do big-patch logging throughout the forest, irrespective of what ecosystem it is happening in, whether it’s happening in old growth, whether it’s happening in a state-designated area that’s rare habitat — sort of just doing it sort of willy-nilly across the landscape,” Evans says.

For its part, the USFS argues that it did everything in its power to review the effect the plan would have on all imperiled species found in the forests and reported its findings to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the Endangered Species Act. “Protecting the species that call these forests home is an incredibly important responsibility that we take very seriously. We looked at the needs of more than 1,000 species in the development of the revised plan,” says USFS spokesperson Kimberly DeVall in an emailed statement.

“The USDA Forest Service worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure we are meeting the needs for bats that are currently listed as endangered and those that might be listed in the future. The Forest Plan requires us to continue to coordinate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service using the most current conservation information available,” she writes.

But Evans says public records requests made by SELC revealed the USFS glossed over the effects its logging plan would have on bats when it submitted its analysis to the Fish and Wildlife Service to review.

“The problem is that the Forest Service didn’t give the Fish and Wildlife Service their underlying assumptions. They didn’t show their work,” he says. “We understand what’s underneath those assumptions. And that is why we are so worried.”

A LONG TIME IN THE MAKING The 1976 National Forest Management Act requires each forest to have a land management plan to guide the management of forest resources. Both Western North

Carolina forests are covered by the 2023 plan, which went into effect in March and details priorities for managing competing interests — including conservation, recreation and timber production — for the next 20 years. Last updated in 1994, the forest plan covers more than 1 million acres of forest and took 10 years to finalize, partly because of thousands of comments from forest users and advocates.

The plan’s lack of specificity regarding timber production plans is what alarmed the conservation groups — SELC, Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity, The Wilderness Society, MountainTrue and the Sierra Club — when it came to protecting the bats, Evans says.

In the plan’s environmental impact statement, a required element of any forest plan, the Forest Service claims that habitat conditions for all forest bats will improve or remain stable partially because of the increase in “edge” habitat — forest edges that give way to openings in the tree canopy — that the logging plans will create. When logging is being conducted, forest edges are naturally created, and many bats rely on forest edges for habitat. However, Evans argues the Forest Service ignored the nuanced needs of each bat species, each of which seeks different types of openings near forest edges to roost.

“You cannot draw the line from A to B there. Some bats may benefit from large-patch logging projects, but the federally listed bats that

we’re talking about here will not,” he says.

Northern long-eared bats, for example, prefer foraging in intact, mature forests rather than “fragmented habitat or areas that have been clear-cut,” according to the notice to sue states. They “avoid foraging in or crossing large open areas, choosing instead to use treelined pathways or small openings.”

Similarly, Indiana bats “consistently avoid crossing or foraging in large open areas greater than 20 acres.” Virginia big-eared bats also forage near forest edges, but they “do not use clear cuts during foraging” and generally avoid “utilizing openings larger than half an acre,” according to the notice.

In other words, some edge habitat is good, as indicated in the plan, but edge is often useless to the bats if it’s located near the types of large open areas that are often created from timber harvests, Prater says.

To Prater, the known roosting tendencies of these particular species means the Forest Service should have been very specific when designating areas for logging and clear cuts. In fact, under the Endangered Species Act, Prater argues the Forest Service is obligated to “proactively work for the conservation and recovery of any listed species that are on these landscapes.”

“I think what we have is a plan that sort of falls short of that. It does not go far enough to help differentiate between where and what type of logging should happen and in what

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CLEAN WATER: Gray bats, seen here held by a researcher in a Buncombe County lab, prefer roosting near clean forest streams for easy access to the aquatic insects known to live there. Photo courtesy of Gary Peeples, deputy field office supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Asheville office MOUNTAINX.COM

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N EWS

Give thanks ...and have fun doing it!

BAT CAVE: Bats, seen here fleeing a West Virginia cave, might be searching for new roosting homes if the U.S. Forest Service goes through with logging plans as outlined in the Pisgah-Nantahala Land Management Plan. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service type of environments. It leaves, you know, tens of thousands of acres of prime habitat for the species vulnerable to rotational timber management, which is not appropriate for many of these species,” Prater says.

WATER QUALITY

Campaign starts Nov. 1 12

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Another major issue with the plan, according to the notice, is the potential impacts it will have on water quality because of the need for more roads to access more forest that is open for logging under the plan.

If current trends continue for how many miles of road are needed per acre logged, Evans writes in the notice, proposed logging levels would require 18.2 miles of road construction a year, far outpacing the Forest Service’s plans to decommission 1.2 miles of road per year, as documented in the 20-year plan. That contradicts the USFS’ claims that there is unlikely to be an increase in overall road miles during plan implementation in its notice to the FWS, Evans says.

In addition, argues Josh Kelly, a public lands field biologist for MountainTrue, the Forest Service already has a $40 million backlog of road maintenance and over 2,000 miles of roads to maintain in these two forests alone.

Roads, especially during construction, inevitably lead to erosion and increased sedimentation in streams, which is the No. 1 pollutant in forest waterways, choking out the important aquatic insects such as mayflies and stoneflies that bats love to eat, Kelly says.

Gray bats, in particular, roost near waterways to feed on the aquatic insects on which they highly depend, according to the notice.

“If you spend time on rivers and streams in Western North Carolina in the summer, you will see bats flying over those rivers and streams eating adult aquatic insects,” Kelly notes.

In response to these complaints, DeVall argues water quality was a priority of the USFS when drafting the plan.

“The revised plan prioritizes protecting water quality — in fact, that is

one of the reasons the Forest Service was established. Water is a life-sustaining resource for the Nantahala and Pisgah national forests and our local communities. The plan ensures water quality will be protected for future generations,” DeVall says.

But Evans, Prater and Kelly all note that those claims don’t mesh with the need for more roads that increased logging plans will require.

“You have to have roads to get that work done. Those roads introduce sediment and will cause significant problems for water quality. And with any degradation of water quality, you see the cascading effect of [a loss of] diversity in the stream, and you may not have the insect populations these bats need,” Evans says.

LAST REFUGE For all of these bat species, the rarity of the large, undeveloped tracts of forest found in Western North Carolina in the Eastern United States ramps up the pressure from conservation groups to conserve it as the bats’ last refuge.

“The southern Blue Ridge is a global stronghold for temperate

FOREST EDGE: Indiana bats typically roost along a wooded edge, but avoid areas that have been clear-cut in the last 35 years, researchers say. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hardwood forest, and as such, it is also the stronghold for the forest bats that like temperate hardwood forest. And so truly this is one of their most important and last refuges as far as habitat goes,” Kelly says.

Complicating the issue further for the planet’s second-most diverse group of mammals on the planet is their relatively slow reproductive rate. Bats generally only produce one

pup each season. So, when adults start dying off, they experience dramatic declines in population. That makes maintaining ideal summer roosting, foraging and maternity areas in the forest for these protected bats vital to their growth and survival, Prater says.

In ideal conditions, most bats live nearly 20 years, on average, according to the Department of the Interior, far more than the one to

two years most mammals as small as bats tend to survive.

The conservation groups say they don’t want to take the USFS to court. But they will, if they don’t feel as if the agency reacts in an honest way.

“We’ve been working trying to avoid litigation for 10 years. We can give it some more time. We want to know that the agencies are interested in fixing these problems,” Evans says.

For now, the conservation groups — and the bats — are waiting for a response from the USFS. “We feel that in the plan in this context for bats, and many, many other listed and rare species, they really deserved a specificity to help make sure that future managers can do the right thing. I think we all agree, the Forest Service, conservation groups and stakeholders alike, that we’ve got an incredible asset in our national forest, and we all are committed to seeing it managed for ecological integrity and sustainability into the future. But we can’t do that at the expense of wildlife that are [so desperate for us to] help preserve and recover them while they’re in this situation,” Prater says. X

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS •

Dive deep into what you love

AUTUM KIRGAN Owner and director of South Slope Acupuncture & Wellness Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

It’s quite the roller coaster!

Between caring for patients, handling marketing, managing a team, dealing with landlords and taking a moment for oneself, it’s a whirlwind. My advice? Dive deep into what you love about your business, and when something doesn’t spark joy, bring in an expert who’s passionate about it. We all deserve a little help on this wild ride.

How do you feel women in leadership experience their roles differently today than they may have in the past?

Today’s women leaders are walking the path paved by some amazing trailblazers before us.

While we’re reaping the benefits of a changing world, it’s not without its twists and turns. But here’s the bright side: There are more of us than ever. This means bigger support circles, fantastic mentors and awesome connections worldwide. With all these tools and networks, we’re forging an even more empowering journey for the future.

Cheers to that!

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

I started my first business in Cleveland County. I didn’t know a soul. Yet, with a dream in my heart, I built the premier acupuncture and wellness clinic over seven years. Recently, it was time to pass the baton, and I made sure it went to hands that cared just as much.

My accomplished goal was simple: Keep the community’s bond with acupuncture and Chinese medicine going strong. I learned you can build to sell and start all over using what you learned in the previous venture. X

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NEWS

‘Incontrovertible evidence’ Former Asheville water director says that shuttered pump station was key to winter water outage

BY JOHN BOYLE AN ASHEVILLE WATCHDOG REPORT A former City of Asheville water director — who was also a member of the Independent Review Committee that investigated the holiday water outage — says the city is overlooking the key to the crisis, and another major service disruption could happen if it’s not addressed.

Mike Holcombe, water director from 1993-97, remains adamant that the city is downplaying what he says is the major cause — the decommissioned East Asheville Booster Pump Station. That multimillion-dollar facility opened in 1993 and closed in 2010. The city has little documentation as to why it was shuttered.

The pump station was designed to boost water flow during periods of high demand. The outage, which the city primarily pinned to two closed valves and the frozen Mills River water plant, spanned 11 days over the Christmas holidays, shuttered businesses and left thousands without water.

Holcombe, a South Asheville resident, lacked water for five days.

“I have no hesitation — and believe I could defend in whatever forum I had to — that the absence of the pump station was 85% or 90% of the problem,” Holcombe said.

“The closed 24-inch valve, it was a problem, but if you’d had the pump station operational, you would’ve discovered that problem a lot quicker because you would have been pumping against a closed valve.”

In its official report, the IRC said three major factors played roles in the outage, including a closed 24-inch valve in the River Arts District and another that was open only 10%. The freeze-up of the city’s Mills River water plant in northern Henderson County, one of three facilities providing water to the city, was another key, the IRC said.

Holcombe believes that assessment is misleading. He cited a study conducted for the IRC last spring by a city consultant, Hazen Engineering, that showed what the projected water flow rates would have been during the crisis if the booster pump station had been in use.

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The IRC report called for a preliminary engineering study of the pump station to determine what would be needed to return it to service for “system redundancy during emergency events and future demand.” Water Resources Department Director David Melton initially said the preliminary engineering study could take 18 months, a time frame that Holcombe believes isn’t quick enough.

‘TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, I WOULD AGREE WITH MIKE HOLCOMBE’

OUT OF SERVICE: The City of Asheville decommissioned the East Asheville Booster Pump Station in 2010, and it has not been in use since then. It was designed and built in 1992-93, and in 2010, the city found it needed extensive repair or refurbishment . Photo by John Boyle “Incontrovertible evidence was provided to the City Council in the form of the attachments to the Hazen engineering report, which indicate that had the East Asheville Booster Pump Station been running, there would not have been any water system outage during Christmas 2022,” said Holcombe, who is critical of what he says is the city’s lack of transparency on the matter.

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Those flow rates and modeling have not been made publicly available.

If the Mills River water plant were to go out of service again, the city could be vulnerable, Holcombe says.

Holcombe is so passionate about the topic that he’s started a Facebook page about the East Asheville Booster Pump Station and why it’s so crucial.

The North Fork Reservoir near Black Mountain, with a capacity of 31 million gallons per day, is the city’s main water source. Nearby Bee Tree’s capacity is 5 million, and Mills River can produce 7 million gallons a day, according to the city’s annual water report.

The nine-member IRC, which included Holcombe and two other water experts, issued its report in June.

“The failure to locate the suspected closed 24-inch transmission valve in the River Arts District, possibly closed since April 2018, proved to be a major contributor to the event,” the report said. The water department was told about the closed valve nearly a year before the outage but failed to find it, Asheville Watchdog previously reported.

The IRC report noted the water system experienced unusually high demand when the problems began on Christmas as the temperature plunged to near zero. More than two dozen city waterlines, as well as scores of customer-owned lines, broke. But water utilities are designed to handle waterline breaks, Holcombe said.

“The thing people need to understand about waterline breaks is that is normal business at a lot of utilities,” Holcombe said. “So, you go and you valve it off where the break is … and it doesn’t affect anything else. It doesn’t affect supply.”

Ted Tyree, an engineer with the Knoxville, Tenn., water utility and a member of the IRC’s Water Systems/Operations subcommittee, previously told The Watchdog the breaks likely would have left just a few hundred people out of water.

The closed valves were key, Tyree said, because the city couldn’t get customers enough water once Mills River went down.

Asked about Holcombe’s assertions, Tyree said the committee “wanted to land on a consensus” for

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N EWS the city and the mayor in its official report, so it “stopped short of recommending staff bring that pump station back.”

But under “immediate recommendations,” the IRC report states the city should: “Evaluate the existing pumps at the East Asheville Booster Pump Station, by inspection and with pump tests, for the purpose of producing an EABPS Preliminary Engineering Report, detailing what will be needed to refurbish the EABPS and return it to useful service for system redundancy during emergency events and future demand.”

“It [the crisis] shouldn’t have been anywhere near the magnitude it was,” Tyree said previously.

The IRC described the outage as “avoidable and preventable.”

“I think the magnitude and duration was what was largely avoidable,” Tyree told The Watchdog.

“To a certain extent, I would agree with Mike Holcombe,” Tyree said. “But also, that’s not a cheap fix for staff, and they have done some significant piping improvements over the course of the years.”

The easiest, quickest fix identified was to get a valve assessment team in place to make sure all key valves are open, as the closed valves “would’ve alleviated much of the event,” Tyree said. The IRC also recommended better freeze-proofing at Mills River and communications improvements.

“With the pump station, I think where Mike is right is, yes, it would have helped, even with the valves closed,” Tyree said. “But there’s a price for that — I know all water utilities are not flush with money.

You’ve got to make decisions about prioritizing improvements, so where do you get the biggest bang for the buck?”

The 2019 Hazen Engineering report put the potential cost of rein-

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS •

Seeing the bigger picture

NICOLE LAETHEM President of TRS Junk Recyclers and The Regeneration Station Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

Laethem: When I first inherited the company, there were four businesses. I was faced with having to make hard decisions in order for the company to survive. Trying to take my emotions out of it, I took a step back to see the bigger picture and found the answer. I closed two of the businesses that were at a deficit to give my attention to the other two so that I could double down on my efforts. This allowed the company to thrive and enabled us to have a niche in the market.

When faced with a hard decision, try to gather as much information as possible. Having a vision and goals are needed in starting and maintaining a small business. Discover what motivates you because you will get discouraged many

16

OCT. 11-17, 2023

times over. Learn to ask for help.

Take advice from those who have experienced or have been successful in similar endeavors.

How do you feel women in leadership experience their roles differently today than they may have in the past?

I believe women in leadership roles are more accepted today than in the past. A woman’s place in my grandmother’s generation was first to be a wife, then a mother and ultimately a homemaker. She had decisions that were already made for her because of financial insecurities. My grandmother taught me the importance of education, learning a trade and being independent.

Today, I find more women are prioritizing their careers because there are more opportunities in the workplace.

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

When the pandemic shut down the world, the word “kindness” really sticks out in my mind. People came together in support of one another, and kindness is what got me through those very challenging times as both a small-business owner and as a solo parent. My position has taught me humility and to always remain humble. I continue to learn and grow from my own experiences while realizing that making mistakes is all part of the process. X

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OPEN IT UP: Former Asheville Water Director Mike Holcombe is convinced the decommissioned East Asheville Booster Pump Station would have prevented the holiday water outage that spanned 11 days in December 2022 and early January 2023. Photo by John Boyle stating the station at a “few hundred thousand dollars,” Tyree said, adding “I think it’d be closer to seven figures or more.”

Tyree and fellow IRC members Keith Webb and Mike McGill made presentations at the June 13 City Council meeting. While not scheduled to speak, Holcombe told the council the booster pump station was the key to the outage.

The $3.5 million booster pump station went into service in the 199293 time frame, according to the IRC report, and it “enables the full combined capacity” of 36 million gallons a day from the North Fork and Bee Tree plants.

Holcombe said in the four years he was water director, the station, designed to come on when pressure in the Haw Creek junction dropped below 200 pounds per square inch, probably did so “less than a dozen times.”

“And a couple of those times were major fires, which is another reason you need the pump station,” Holcombe said.

Once the Mills River plant came online in 1999, the pump station went into standby mode, he added.

CITY HAS NO SENSE OF URGENCY, HOLCOMBE SAYS Holcombe also criticizes the city’s sense of urgency in looking to restore the booster station.

Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer is aware of Holcombe’s campaign to get the station back online.

“Of course, this council supports the recommendations of the IRC and moving ahead with the study,” Manheimer said. “I assume Mike wants it faster.”

Manheimer, who was first elected to City Council in 2009 and became mayor in 2013, said she doesn’t know why the booster station was taken offline.

City Council member Maggie Ullman said she’s glad the city is considering the feasibility of reopening the booster station. She wants to see how the station fits in with today’s water system, what it would cost to restart and its benefits. And she offered a caveat.

“Theoretically, it could bring a solution and some practicality to the system, but you just don’t turn on a truck that hasn’t run in 10 years and it’s going to run beautifully,” Ullman said. “That’s the question I have.”

Holcombe said the station’s pumps were designed to last 100 years.

Ullman is skeptical that the booster pump being down was the main cause of the outage.

“The speculation on this that it was the silver bullet, I think that’s not what the report said,” Ullman said. “It said it was a piece of the puzzle, so to overexaggerate it as a silver bullet is not in service to us moving forward effectively.”

CONCERNS ABOUT TRANSPARENCY, TOO Holcombe also has concerns about the city’s transparency, saying key parts of a Hazen Engineering report given to the city, specifically modeling reports on water flow related to the pump station, were not included in publicly released documents.

The city previously denied The Watchdog’s request for the Hazen attachments, citing security concerns regarding disclosures of locations of key water equipment.

Holcombe said he was surprised and disappointed the full reports weren’t made public. He understood they were supposed to be released once sensitive information was redacted from the report, he said.

City Attorney Brad Branham maintained those modeling reports cannot be made public because of security concerns.

“The only portion of this that was fully redacted were the modeling exhibits,” Branham said via email. “Specifically, they contained considerable information protected from public record production due

NOT IN USE: Once the Mills River plant came online in 1999, the East Asheville Booster Pump Station, pictured above, went into standby mode, former Water Director Mike Holcombe says. Photo by John Boyle to sensitive security information.

However, the full executive summary of the report was produced at that time.”

The IRC and City Council received the reports in their entirety. Members of both bodies had to sign nondisclosure agreements, the city said.

Holcombe also said, and Tyree confirmed, that the IRC could not get any documents or paperwork explaining why the city chose to decommission the booster pump station.

“There’s not a single piece of paper written down documenting the retirement of the East Asheville Booster Pump Station,” Holcombe said. “We asked for it. Not a piece of paper — no email, no report.”

Holcombe said he thinks the city found the station unnecessary after the Mills River plant came online.

Holcombe also criticized the water department for saying the preliminary engineering report could take as long as 18 months.

THE CITY DISPUTES HOLCOMBE’S ASSERTIONS City of Asheville spokesperson Kim Miller provided answers to The Watchdog’s questions on behalf of the Water Resources Department.

Melton, the water director, has declined interview requests from The Watchdog.

Eighteen months is a “rough estimate” and it “encompasses the many steps in the entire process from identifying the scope of work to issuance of a final report,” the city said.

The city cited the language in the IRC’s recommendation that a “preliminary evaluation report” be done regarding the booster pump station.

“It is important to note that the recommendation made by the full IRC was to evaluate what would be needed to return it to service,” the city said. “City of Asheville staff are now working to implement the recommendation as suggested by the full Independent Review Committee.”

The city said its engineering staff conducted an analysis of the booster pump station, which it refers to as “the EABPS,” as recently as Sept. 11. Among other findings, it concluded: “While it may have been true that in 1992 the EABPS was required to get additional flow from the two eastern water treatment plants into the system, assertions that in the present, without the pump station, our system is limited to 25 million gallons a day from the eastern water plants or our total safe yield is reduced by 6 million gallons a day is simply not factual.”

Holcombe takes issue with that.

The booster station allowed for the expansion of service from the North Fork water plant from 25 million gallons a day to 31 million.

Combined with the Bee Tree plant, this gives a combined capacity of 36 million gallons.

But that’s “only if it can be introduced into the transmission/ distribution system at adequate pressure,” Holcombe said.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 18

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NE W S “When operational, the sole purpose of the EABPS was to take advantage of the full 36 million gallon-per-day treatment plant capacity from these water treatment plants,” he said. “Unless there has been an investment to improve the hydraulic capacity of the transmission lines between North Fork/Bee Tree and Haw Creek Junction, only through the operation of the EABPS can these volumes of water be delivered.

“City staff operated North Fork and Bee Tree during the outage and still could not refill the water storage reservoirs in South Buncombe and Candler Knob,” Holcombe said. “The EABPS operation would have prevented the storage reservoirs’ depletion.”

The city noted that the design of the pump station started in 1992.

“We are over 30 years removed from the water system conditions that were present and considered in the design of EABPS,” the water department said.

The city has conducted “substantial capital investments” in the water system, with infrastructure improvements each year. The city pointed to a $40 million bond project dating to 2007, which in part

included the installation of 47,000 feet of 24-inch transmission mains, replacing mostly 12-inch lines.

The scope of the recommended preliminary engineering report “should not be limited to just assessing what is needed to repair the pump station to its condition prior to its decommissioning,” the water department said. “To do so would be a massive oversight and borderline negligence, given the changes to the water system since 1992 when the pump station was designed.”

The water department “must consider needed pumping capacity for current and projected future conditions and pump size variation for increased operational control, which may make the pump station more useful than just in times of emergency.”

“We also must consider alternative locations of the pump station, as it may or may not be in the optimal location today, given the changes to

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS •

It’s what happens behind the scenes that matters most

TRINA & KAHLANI JACKSON Owners and operators of Asheville Pro Lash and Salon Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

Trina Jackson: I wish they would have told me about the many long hours that I would be spending and the sleepless nights that I would have running ideas through my head and figuring out a way to implement those ideas into money.

The problem is we see the outcome of hard work but never the many hours and the amount of things that are tried to create a successful business.

How do you feel women in leadership experience their roles differently today than they may have in the past?

In the past, women were kept in a box and not able to experience many job choices or own their own businesses due to

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OCT. 11-17, 2023

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the water system over the past 30 years since its original design,” the water department said.

Holcombe says the department’s call for a reassessment of the station’s location “points to a total lack of understanding of how crucial the pump station is in permitting North Fork to produce all the water that it was designed for.”

Holcombe noted that Hazen, in a 2019 analysis of the city’s system, “specifically identified the existing site as being the most cost-effective,” and the IRC agreed with that assessment. Tyree, the engineer with the Knoxville water utility, said Hazen’s assessment took into consideration that average daily demand is predicted to hit about 30 million gallons around 2028.

An assessment of the pump station system was conducted in 2009, the water department said.

“At that time, it was determined extensive repair or refurbishment

just being a woman. The fortunate thing about today is that we are able to be pretty much whoever we want and create the businesses that we want. I believe that women today are being embraced and uplifted in a new and important way. Our minds and bodies of work are being showcased and amplified and moreover respected in a greater way than in the past.

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

The most memorable experience was to be showcased in the Black Enterprise magazine. I was called early one morning, and it was my best friend from second grade. Her husband is my mentor. He has created many businesses and has been on the NASDAQ. So, I respect his opinion very much. He was in the background of the phone call, and there was great excitement. I was like, “What is going on, guys?”

And they said that they had seen our names, Asheville Pro Lash and Salon, mentioned in an article in the Black Enterprise. It talked about the mother-daughter team that we are and the work that we do at our salon! They were superexcited, and I was, too, knowing that in the ’70s and ’80s, the publication was a staple in our home. X

FROZEN: This photo shows the sedimentation basins at the City of Asheville’s Mills River water plant in 2019. Key parts of the plant froze up at Christmas 2022, contributing to the widespread water outages in the southern part of Buncombe County. Photo courtesy of the City of Asheville would be needed to the system,” the water department said. “That would need to take place before even being able to enter into discussions about bringing [it] back online and the costs associated.”

In 2015, the city brought in Rockwell Automation to evaluate the station’s electronic systems, the city stated. Rockwell’s recommendations said: ”These drives are 23 years old and have been obsolete for at least 14 years. Rockwell Automation no longer supplies parts for this product. These drives should be replaced with updated units that will enable parts and service for future years.“ Also, Rockwell no longer had product engineers with knowledge of the system.

YOU HAVE TO ‘HYDRAULICALLY JAM’ WATER INTO THE SYSTEM Holcombe, who earned a degree in business administration from Appalachian State University, started working for the city in 1978 as an account clerk in the accounting department. A year later, he became a planning and research director, a senior-level position assisting then-Water Director William DeBruhl.

Holcombe became director of the water department in September 1993 and served in that role until September 1997. He stepped down as director for health reasons but stayed with the city to oversee the construction of the Mills River water facility. Holcombe left city employment in 1999.

Holcombe was integrally involved in the construction of the booster pump station. Located in a sizable brick building off Riceville Road, the East Asheville Booster Pump

Station today sits behind a locked gate with a ”No trespassing“ sign.

In the early 1990s, Holcombe said, with system demand rising and the city operating two reservoirs and attached water plants, more capacity was needed. Mills River was not on the horizon then, and the pump station was the best answer.

North Fork had extra water, but it had to be pushed into the system.

“You can’t get that extra water into the system unless you hydraulically jam it in there during periods of high demand,” Holcombe said.

“You have to have it, and the 6-million-gallon expansion would not have happened unless we had the pump station there to get it into the system.”

The Christmas outage was exactly what the pump station was designed for — high demand caused the pressure at Haw Creek junction to drop, which would have triggered the pump station to come on and raise the pressure at Haw Creek junction and would have kept the key water tanks full.

Had that happened, “the South Buncombe tank would have stayed half full,” Holcombe said. “The Candler Knob tanks would have declined by 2 feet. No one would have known that there was a problem at Mills River, and everyone would have had a very merry Christmas and a very happy new year.”

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at 828-337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org.

To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/ donate. X MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 11-17, 2023

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Behind the wheel

WNC ride-share drivers discuss benefits, drawbacks of life on the road

BY JUSTIN McGUIRE

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

jmcguire@mountainx.com

No one keeps track of exactly how many ride-share drivers work in Asheville, but a Facebook page for local drivers lists more than 600 members. The group includes people who live as far away as Tennessee and South Carolina and who come to the area to work.

Bender, one of the administrators of the page, estimates that about 2,500 drivers are out and about on a typical Saturday night. That number is down considerably from pre-pandemic levels. A lot of the decrease, he says, is a result of Uber and Lyft reducing the percentage of each fare that drivers pocket.

“We used to be able to make $300$400 easily on a Friday or Saturday night. I don’t know how you would do that today,” says Bender, who has given 13,000 rides over the past seven years.

Drivers are responsible for their own gas, insurance, taxes and other expenses, further cutting into how much they benefit financially from driving.

Still, Bender and others agree that drivers can make money if they are smart about it. One key is to figure out the best times to work.

For many, that means weekends, especially during tourist season.

“On a Friday, it’s going to kick into gear about 3 p.m., and it’s probably not going to stop until after the bars close,” says Woodward McKee, owner of Asheville Taxi Co. “Saturday, it’s busy all afternoon, then a lull, and then totally crazy again Saturday night, and then very, very early Sunday morning is a huge rush. Everyone’s going to the airport.”

Smith says she nets about $20 an hour working ThursdaySunday evenings.

But riders can be found at less obvious times as well.

“No matter what day of the week it is, and no matter what time of the year it is, it’s always going to be busy between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. because everybody’s trying to get to work,” says Joel Clark, who drove for Uber and Lyft for more than a year before launching Roll with Joel in August 2022. The service caters to tourists by offering flat-fee rides to the airport, brewery tours, Blue Ridge Parkway drives and more.

Joel Bender has only one rule about what hours he works as an Uber driver.

“I’m retired, and I damn well do it when I damn well please,” the Asheville man says with a laugh.

“That is the best part of this: You get to turn it on and turn it off when you want.”

Bender is one of hundreds — or possibly thousands — of people in the Asheville area who earn money by driving other people around.

Some work for national app-based ride-share services like Uber and Lyft. Others ply their trade for local companies like Asheville Taxi Co., which offers the AVL Ride app. And a few bypass the middleman entirely by offering private rides.

Drivers interviewed by Xpress say the Asheville ride-share market presents opportunities to make money, mainly due to the influx of tourists in the summer and fall and a vibrant bar and live music scene. At the same time, Western North Carolina’s relatively small population spread out over several counties poses challenges not seen in bigger cities.

The key to earning in Asheville is to be strategic about where and when you drive and what kinds of passengers you pick up, they say.

And not every driver employs the same strategy.

“They kind of send you out there on your own,” Bender says. “You have to sort your way through it, which I thought was an interesting challenge. The more you learn, the

GOING MOBILE: Local ride-share drivers say Asheville offers opportunities to make money if you know what you’re doing. iStock photo better you get at it, the better your earnings become.”

Some never figure it out.

“When I started seven years ago, there were only about 16 of us that worked this area, and we all worked the airport primarily,” says Christina Bentley. “And then every year we got a flock of new drivers that would come in, and they wouldn’t last long. They would end up quitting, mainly because they didn’t know how to make a profit off doing this.”

Those who do stick with it find the driving life attractive for a number of reasons: You set your own schedule.

You meet interesting people — one local driver even gave Steve Martin a ride.

“I know more about Asheville than I did before, and I just enjoy talking to people and hearing their stories,” says Megan Smith, who started driving for Uber a few months ago because she needed income and a flexible schedule while trying to get her acupuncture business off the ground.

Nearly a decade after national ride-share services entered the Asheville market, Xpress checks in with drivers as they contend with decreased pay, high gas prices, wear

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and tear on their cars, and logistical difficulties at Asheville Regional Airport due to ongoing construction. And they say some passengers can be unruly, obnoxious or even dangerous.

OCT. 11-17, 2023

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“You make more money at night and on the weekends when the bars let out, but you have to deal with drunk people, and I refused to do that. I already got enough day drinkers as it was.”

Brad Kilbury started driving for Uber 2 1/2 years ago after knee surgery sidelined him from his regular job at Tyson Furniture Co. He saw it as a temporary gig.

“But I figured out it was making me more money than doing hard labor every day,” he says. “So, I just stuck with that instead of going back to work.”

He is reluctant to discuss his specific income but says he makes enough to keep him going.

Like Clark, he prefers to drive on weekdays, usually starting out around 5 a.m. and taking local residents without cars to work. Around 8:30 a.m., he heads to the airport to pick up newly arrived passengers and generally finishes up his day around 2 or 3 p.m.

He says many other drivers avoid picking up people headed to work.

Those folks are often down on their luck and are less likely to tip than tourists, he says.

Bender, who worked as a cabdriver in New York decades ago, agrees that tourists make the best tippers.

And he takes advantage by employing his considerable gift for gab.

“I generally engage my passengers in a lot of conversation, asking them about themselves and telling them a lot about myself,” he says. “They get a kick out of that. They want to know where to eat. They’re fascinated by the history of the town. Other drivers are just simply never going to be either raconteurs or personable enough to make that connection.”

DANGEROUS WORK Most drivers say the majority of passenger interactions are positive, whether they are driving locals or tourists.

“I’ve only kicked one person out of my car in 20,000 rides,” Bentley says.

Still, they acknowledge the potential danger inherent in the job. Smith remembers picking up a “sketchy-looking dude” she felt uncomfortable with. Kilbury had a man threaten to kill him. Anne Serpa

CONTINUES ON PAGE 22

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OCT. 11-17, 2023

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N EWS was robbed at knifepoint. More than one driver has had a passenger with a gun.

“I don’t ever go past midnight,” Smith says. “I have a dashcam.

Anybody that gets in my car, I have them tell me their name and make sure it’s the name on the app.”

The risks of the job were brought home by a gruesome New Year’s Eve murder that sent shockwaves through Asheville’s rideshare community.

Uber driver Julia Holland was shot in the back of the head in Canton by a passenger she picked up at the Treasure Club, an Asheville strip club, according to police. Her body had been mutilated when authorities found it.

Noah Bolden of Canton has been charged with first-degree murder in the case.

Holland was a member of the Facebook group and a good friend of many local drivers, Bender says.

“About half our membership are women, and the tragedy that occurred seemed to discourage many of them,” he says.

Police say Bolden, who had gotten Uber rides from Holland in the past, texted her directly to get a ride rather than going through the app.

Some drivers work off-app at times because it allows them to keep the entire fare.

Giving the ride off-app meant Uber had no record of the ride or the passenger, making the police investigation more difficult.

“We discourage people from doing that, but they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do,” Bender says.

Some drivers carry Mace and other forms of protection, though

Rides can be hard to find For many seeking rideshares in Western North Carolina, it can be difficult to find rides outside the airport/downtown Asheville axis.

Drivers say the simplest explanation is economic: WNC has a relatively small population spread out over several counties. It simply doesn’t pay for drivers to take a rider many miles away to an area that is unlikely to have return rides available.

“Too often I’ve taken rides to Hendersonville, and then I’m just there and I wait around for another ride. And there’s no ride,” says Megan Smith, who started driving for Uber a few months ago. “So I have to drive on my own time back to Asheville.”

Fellow Uber driver Brad Kilbury recently drove a man from Tunnel Road to Burnsville, where he was unable to find another passenger.

“So I had to go to Burnsville for an hour, and then I had to drive back from Burnsville for an hour. It paid 30 bucks and it slowed my day down,” he says. “I wasn’t happy that I did it, but the man was 80 years old, and he was going to pick up a truck to drive for work. And it’s like, ‘I can’t cancel on this guy.’”

Even an area as close as East Asheville is unlikely to produce a return ride, says Woodward McKee, owner of Asheville Taxi Co. Also, McKee says, it can be tough to keep drivers busy at non-peak times, making the job less appealing in a tight labor market where food-delivery services are competing for drivers. X

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they prefer not to give away too many details.

Kilbury, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 325 pounds, says he generally hasn’t felt in much danger, even when the passenger threatened to kill him. But he says Uber does a poor job of providing support to drivers and passengers who do sense danger. “I feel like they don’t really care. The responses you get from them on stuff, it’s all automated.”

But an Uber spokesperson takes issue with that characterization.

“Uber takes the safety of all users seriously, which is why we continue to invest in critical safety features like the ability to chat with a live safety agent, record trip audio in the app and share your trip with loved ones,” the spokesperson says. “In addition, we send safety information and tips to drivers that were developed in partnership with law enforcement.”

Safety concerns are one reason some drivers and passengers prefer to use Asheville Taxi Co. and its AVL Ride app, McKee says. Unlike Uber or Lyft, the company uses dispatchers rather than relying entirely on technology.

“We generally have at least two dispatchers watching our much smaller fleet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” he explains. “Our older customers in particular, or single women by themselves, feel safer knowing that they could just call the office if anything goes sideways. They can actually talk to a person, and you really can’t do that on an app.”

Founded in 2014, Asheville Taxi has hundreds of gig drivers in its system, with about 50 or so working in any given week, McKee says. In addition, the company maintains a fleet of eight sedans, four passenger vans and a Chevrolet Suburban to make sure it can cover requests even when it doesn’t have a lot of gig drivers working.

About half of Asheville Taxi’s business is from its app, with the rest coming from people who call after discovering the company through Google or a hotel front-desk clerk. “A lot of that has to do with a time-sensitive reservation, like where they need to be picked up without fail at 4 in the morning on Sunday. It’s not easy for big apps to guarantee that’s going to happen.”

DEMAND UNMET Clark says he founded Roll with Joel because he saw a need in the market.

“I always tell my customers that we’re a city of under 100,000 that sees over 11 million tourists a year,” he explains. “There’s just not enough people interested in transportation here in town to meet that kind of demand.”

Despite a decline in tourism from 2022’s record-breaking year, demand for rides is strong, Clark and other drivers say. He expects plenty of business during leaf season.

Clark is plugged into many highend resorts and hotels in the area and offers rides onto the Biltmore Estate grounds and to whitewater rafting and zip lining businesses in places like Marshall and Barnardsville.

He is not the only local driver who sees the benefits of offering non-appbased rides.

Bentley recently started a company and now does more private rides than rides through Uber and Lyft. She gets the word out through Yelp ads and local Airbnb owners.

Through her service, she has done flat-fee rides to airports in Charlotte and Atlanta and driven to Virginia.

“My longest trip was to Melbourne, Fla., with two Great Dane puppies,” she says. “A breeder here needed to deliver the dogs. They were my best guests.”

Serpa, the driver who had Steve Martin as a passenger and was robbed at knifepoint (on different trips, we should point out), also offers private rides. She once drove an Asheville woman to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for a family reunion. The family paid for the ride and for Serpa to stay in a hotel for the night.

“I’ve got stories for days,” she says with a laugh. “At least enough for a 90-minute Netflix special [about] doing this type of work.”

Bender says working as an Asheville Uber driver is nothing like his experiences of driving a New York cab in his early 20s.

“I wouldn’t want to do this there, I wouldn’t want to do this in Atlanta or Chicago,” he says. “But as a tourist town, these people aren’t trying to get to a meeting, they’re not in a rush. They’re here to enjoy themselves, they’re in a better mood.”

And passengers never have any trouble finding his car, he says, even though he doesn’t use the lighted signage you see on so many rideshare cars.

They simply have to look for the license plate that reads “IMURUBR (I’m your Uber).” X

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OCT. 11-17, 2023

23

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NONPROFIT/BIZ ROUNDUP

Moog lays off staff Just three months after local synthesizer company Moog Music announced that it had sold its company to inMusic, the company confirmed in a Sept. 27 statement that it had laid off part of its production staff. The statement did not confirm how many positions had been eliminated but noted that those who remain employed are friends, siblings and spouses of the company.

According to the statement, Moog plans to continue to be headquartered in Asheville, where the company says it will continue to design, engineer, service and manufacture instruments, although a selection of instruments will be produced by “trusted partners.”

“These changes are necessary for the future of Moog as we continue to face the ongoing challenges of manufacturing electronic instruments in America,” the statement read. “We’re grateful for the passion and care you have shown us. We ask that you please continue to show consideration to our employees and keep an open mind as we put the finishing touches on some of our most innovative instruments yet.”

WomanUP celebrates entrepreneurs The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual WomanUP Celebration in November, celebrating local women entrepreneurs and business leaders. More than 60 women have been nominated for this year’s WomanUP awards.

This year’s event, from 8-10:30 a.m., Friday, Nov. 3, at the Omni Grove Park Inn, coincides with the chamber’s 125th anniversary year.

To celebrate, the event will feature historical and forward-thinking elements designed to inspire, support and engage women in the region.

More information at avl.mx/d2e.

Carl Falconer to lead Homeward Bound Homeward Bound has selected Carl Falconer as the nonprofit’s CEO. Falconer has had a long career in homeless services and most recently was the CEO of a nonprofit serving the unsheltered homeless population in Broward County, Fla. Falconer, an Army veteran, has 24

OCT. 11-17, 2023

dislocated workers may be eligible for grant funding that would pay for up to 75% of the worker’s salary for up to six months. The Southwestern Commission and Land of Sky Regional Council have less than two years to distribute the grant funds.

More information at avl.mx/d2g.

Sabrina Delk joins Mars Hill as director

CHANGING TUNES: Moog Music laid off several of its production employees last month following the sale of the company to inMusic. In a statement, Moog said that it plans to continue manufacturing some instruments at its Asheville headquarters. Photo by Brooke Randle worked in organizations working to end homelessness since 1995, including stints at Clara White Mission and River Region Human Services in Jacksonville, Fla., and as CEO and president of Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance in Texas. Falconer’s anticipated start date is Monday, Nov. 6.

organizations on planning, leadership and advocacy. Casey has master’s and doctoral degrees in public policy from Carnegie Mellon and University of Southern Maine, respectively.

Apotheca opens new dispensary Asheville-based CBD, hemp and cannabis dispensary Apotheca opened its fourth location in Asheville last month. The new store, at 1078 Patton Ave., will be open from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. A fifth location is already in the works on North Merrimon Avenue. Apotheca also has locations throughout Tennessee and the Atlanta area. More information at avl.mx/prxn.

The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce awarded 13 $10,000 grants to local nonprofits in honor of its 125th anniversary Sept. 28. The Together for Tomorrow grants were made to organizations whose work aligns with the chamber’s mission of “Building Community Through Business.” The grants were funded

by Asheville chamber member businesses and ticket sales for the 125th Anniversary celebration. Recipients included All Souls Counseling, My Daddy Taught Me That and YWCA of Asheville. View the full list of recipients at avl.mx/d2f.

Casey Gilbert joins Thrive as CEO

Grants for dislocated workers

Civic advocacy nonprofit Thrive Asheville announced Casey Gilbert as executive director, effective Oct. 2.

Gilbert has worked with government, business and civic organizations to address a range of community challenges. She was executive director of Portland Downtown and Melbourne Main Street. She spent the past three years as a consultant to nonprofit

The Southwestern Commission and Land of Sky Regional Council received a $7.5 million U.S. Department of Labor grant to serve dislocated workers in Western North Carolina. Dislocated workers are those who have lost their jobs due to downsizing or closure, such as the closure of the Pactiv Evergreen plant in Canton. Employers who hire

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Together for Tomorrow

Sabrina Delk has joined Mars Hill University as the director of the new Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. In this role, Delk is responsible for recruiting students, organizing and executing extracurricular activities, and engaging businesses to help provide students with the real-world skills they need to transition into the professional world. Delk also will oversee the planning and execution of the center’s programs, including a small-business incubator, Main Street economic development facility, community outreach and financial literacy, along with student scholarship, internship and consulting programs.

Dodie Stephens named VP of marketing Explore Asheville, the destination marketing and management organization for Asheville and Buncombe County, announced Dodie Stephens as its next head of marketing effective Oct. 2. Stephens, who spent more than 15 years with Explore Asheville, will take the helm from long-time veteran Marla Tambellini as she plans to retire following 29 years of service.

New financial aid program at UNCA UNC Asheville announced the launch of Access Asheville, a new financial aid program designed to make education attainable for low- and middle-income North Carolinians. Access Asheville guarantees full tuition and fees coverage through grants and scholarships during fall and spring semesters for North Carolina residents whose adjusted gross income is $80,000 or less. The program is open to new first-year and transfer undergraduates entering fall 2024. More information at avl.mx/d2h.

Fire Chiefs Association seeks volunteers The Buncombe County Fire Chiefs Association, in partnership with the N.C. Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, is one of 14 departments and associations to launch the Critical Firefighter Recruitment Campaign, designed to achieve a viable and sustainable volunteer firefighter workforce.

The campaign coincides with Fire Prevention Month in October and Fire Prevention Week Oct. 8-14.

Over 80% of all North Carolina firefighters are volunteers, and the need for volunteers is high. Since 2020, North Carolina has lost 4,963 volunteer firefighters. More information at avl.mx/d2j.

Septic repair grants Asheville-based environmental group MountainTrue is partnering with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to provide septic repair grants to qualifying homeowners in Buncombe, Henderson, Mitchell, Transylvania, Yancey and Madison counties.

Private septic systems can begin to fail as they get older or due to neglect, but repairs can be expensive and out of reach for many residents.

Homeowners can apply through MountainTrue to see if they qualify for a state grant to cover the full cost of fixing their septic systems. More information at avl.mx/cgm.

McCarthys to receive John Cram award

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Gail and Brian McCarthy, the founders of Highwater Clays and Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts in the River Arts District, will be awarded for their service to the local arts community with the John Cram Arts Leadership Award. The award’s name honors local entrepreneur and philanthropist John Cram, who died in 2020. Cram founded Blue Spiral 1, the Fine Arts Theatre and Bellagio!

Art to Wear, and was a constant supporter of Asheville and the arts.

Award recipients have contributed significantly to the arts in Buncombe County. The award will be presented at the annual State of the Arts Brunch on Monday, Oct. 30, at The Orange Peel.

— Brooke Randle X

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS •

Challenge yourself

SALOMÉ LOOMIS Director of the Spanish Academy of Asheville Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

Loomis: This is a hard question. I feel we can’t wait for someone else to say or do something for us. Life is a continuous learning experience which never ends. This is ingrained in me, making it difficult to wait for instructions from other people. I think the best way is to encourage yourself to resolve the obstacles and try to find the solution right away, even when it is not the easiest option.

How do you feel women in leadership experience their

roles differently today than they may have in the past?

Fortunately, I never experienced any differences from traditional gender roles growing up.

I think everyone can dream as high as they want without exception of gender. I feel no matter what kind of person you are, the most important part is to have the desire to approach new opportunities in life and challenge yourself to keep working while constantly improving. I feel very blessed to have a supportive husband whom I can count on every day. I could not have been the leader I am today without him.

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

The most memorable experience is the loss of “trust” in a person. I have learned that all of us are very different, therefore we can’t always change other people. We have to move on and continue learning to achieve our goals in life, regardless of who surrounds us. X

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BUNCOMBE BEAT

Buncombe approves final settlement with former County Manager Wanda Greene Six years after the FBI launched an inquiry into former Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene for corruption, the county Board of Commissioners has reached a final mediated settlement with the Greene family, releasing them from further litigation.

Wanda Greene, her son Michael Greene, who also worked for the county, and daughter-in-law, Celena Greene, have agreed to pay the county $502,500 by December 2025. The payments are related to the improper use of county funds to purchase sponsorship and advertising at equestrian-related venues, said Philip Anderson, an attorney representing Buncombe County in the case, at the Oct. 3 board meeting.

Wanda Greene, who was the county’s manager for 20 years before retiring in 2017 just months before the FBI launched its investigation,

FINAL SETTLEMENT: Philip Anderson explains the details of the county’s mediated settlement with former County Manager Wanda Greene and her family in front of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners at the Oct. 3 board meeting. Photo by Greg Parlier

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pleaded guilty in 2019 to two counts of federal programs fraud, one count of making and subscribing a false tax return and one count of receiving kickbacks and bribes. She was sentenced to seven years in prison but was released in January 2022.

Several others, including Michael Greene, also received prison terms as a result of their participation in her various embezzling schemes.

The latest settlement, reached Sept. 22, stemmed from a federal lawsuit against former Commissioner Ellen Frost, who ultimately repaid $575,000 of county funds that she and Wanda Greene funneled into “various equestrian enterprises in North Carolina and Florida,” according to a 2019 Xpress report.

Buncombe County filed a lawsuit against Wanda Greene in July 2022 over her involvement in the improper equestrian-related payments, Anderson said, and a federal judge ordered Greene to pay more than $419,000 in September 2022.

After that order, Anderson said the legal team learned of fraudulent transfers that Greene was making to her son and daughter-in-law in an attempt to put assets beyond the reach of creditors. Instead of making payments to resolve the county’s $419,000 claim against her, Greene transferred cash and other assets to her family members, Anderson said.

The Greenes’ first payment to the county of $150,000 is due Oct. 22 with a signed guarantee to pay the remainder of the settlement, Anderson said.

“This has been a long process.

You have been very diligent and very effective in helping to recoup the taxpayer funds that were lifted by the former manager and her colleagues and former Commissioner Frost,” Commission Chair Brownie Newman told Anderson during the meeting.

In an original settlement in January 2019, Greene paid $750,000 to the county for kickbacks and bribes received from a general contractor, Anderson said.

Including the latest settlement, the county has recovered just under $4 million associated with misappropriated funds during the Greene administration, including for inappropriately obtained insurance policies, Anderson said.

Current County Manager Avril Pinder, who was hired in 2019, says she continues to fight to restore Buncombe’s reputation with its residents.

“From day one of being appointed to this role, I have been focused and intentional on rebuilding the public’s trust in their county government. As public servants, we don’t take our role of stewards of taxpayer assets lightly. In Buncombe County, we strive to make decisions based on our core values and to hold ourselves accountable to those values.

The Wanda Greene episode has been a blot on our reputation, but we are committed to ensuring no one can take our reputation from us again,” she told Xpress via email.

Education advocates fight for funding Red-clad local education advocates filled commission chambers once again to plead with commissioners to send more county funds to schools as teachers deal with low pay and high costs of living.

Commissioners ultimately passed the budget amendment as planned, sending $5.1 million raised from a property tax hike passed in June, plus another $1 million in reappropriated county funds, to local school boards to apply to a 2% supplemental pay increase for teachers and staff.

Oct. 3 was the county’s first opportunity to pass a budget amendment for schools because it takes 10 days for a state budget — passed by the N.C. General Assembly Sept. 22 — to become law when it goes unsigned by the governor, said Sam Riddle, budget analyst for Buncombe County.

MORE MONEY: Backed by members of local education advocacy groups, Soren Pedersen shares his analysis of how Buncombe’s cost of living is far outpacing pay for teachers and staff in local public schools. Photo by Greg Parlier Advocates from the Buncombe County Association of Educators and Asheville City Association of Educators speaking during public comment said a 2% increase to supplemental pay wasn’t enough.

“We are in a funding crisis, and you have a way to help it, so you have a responsibility to act. That is why we are here. You are not at fault. But you do have the power to help. We thank you for what you’ve already decided to do back in June. But we all know it’s not enough,” said ACAE President Timothy Lloyd, who is also a custodian at Asheville Middle School.

Soren Pederson, who spoke for a group of at least seven educators during public comment, sent commissioners a lengthy email Oct. 2, complete with his own detailed analysis of educator pay and cost of living in Buncombe County to argue for a 7% raise for teachers and staff, he said.

Ultimately, their pleas came too late. After a presentation from Riddle showed that Buncombe’s appropriations for K-12 schools have increased by almost 30% since fiscal year 2021-22, Newman said the county was doing the best it could to fund schools with little help from the state.

“We recognize that North Carolina being 46th in the country [in education funding] puts us all in a bind.

It does. When I look at what the county did last year to this year, I do feel like at the local level we are on a strong track. No other county in the state has increased funding for public schools by over a quarter,” he said. “I think we are making a lot of progress.”

Development plans for county-owned Ferry Road property unveiled The 137-acre, county-owned Ferry Road site is one step closer to being home to a 645-unit multipurpose development after the UNC School of Government’s analysis of potential site development was unveiled at the Oct. 3 meeting.

Buncombe contracted UNC’s Development Finance Initiative, which partners with local governments to attract private investment for large development projects, to conduct the analysis.

The proposed development would include 530 rental apartments, 115 homes for sale, space for providers of child care and health services, 72 acres of forest and almost 2 miles of greenways connecting to the Bent Creek trail system, according to DFI’s presentation.

More than half the housing units will be offered at less than market rate, with 55 rental units priced for those that earn less than 30% of the area median income. Rents will range from $375 to $2,500 per unit, and single-family homes for purchase will start at $195,000, according to the presentation.

The development is estimated to cost $210 million with a county investment of $34 million, said Sarah Odio, representative of the UNC School of Government. To cover the rest of the cost, the DFI and the county will seek a development partner for the project, with construction slated to begin in late 2025. County staff will hold three public meetings over the next month to explain the project and solicit feedback from neighbors.

— Greg Parlier X

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New report shows Buncombe schools outperformed state in most metrics last year Steve Earwood, Buncombe County Schools director of testing and accountability, laid out the successes and failures of the 2022-23 school year during the Oct. 5 Buncombe County Board of Education meeting.

In what he called an “autopsy” report, Earwood said the most telling data involved the cohort graduation rate — the percentage of high school freshmen who graduate within four years. Since 2006, the rate has risen by nearly 20 percentage points to 91% — nearly five points higher than the state average.

“A lot of people typically look at this as a high school measure, [but] that could not be further from the truth. The reality is this starts in kindergarten, where the foundation is laid. That’s where the excitement for school is built,” Earwood said.

Earwood also highlighted the district’s scores on the ACT, a national

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PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE: Buncombe County Board of Education members stand for the Pledge of Allegiance during the Oct. 5 meeting. They were joined by members of Clyde A. Erwin High School’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, who performed a presentation of the colors. Photo by Greg Parlier standardized test designed to measure college readiness. The district’s students scored 19.1 on average, almost a full point higher than students statewide.

In his analysis of school performance grades, Earwood noted that while 77.3% of the district’s schools received a C grade or better based on state standards, 10 schools qualified as low performing. A school is considered low performing if it receives a grade of D or F and either meets or does not meet growth expectations, Earwood said.

Five of those low-performing schools — Joe P. Eblen Intermediate, Clyde A. Erwin Middle, Woodfin Elementary, Emma Elementary and Johnston Elementary — are in the Erwin District northwest of Asheville.

Board member Kim Plemmons, who represents the Erwin District, contested this point. “I can tell you, they are not low-performing schools,” she said. “They are very good schools.”

Plemmons recommended that when determining a school’s performance, the district should consider how many students are learning English as a second language.

“There are many children that can’t speak English, or they know about ‘this much’ English. When they go home, they have parents that can’t speak English. I think we need to look at that,” said Plemmons. “I know it won’t change the state data, but I think we need to compare that to what’s going on.”

She said 21% of students at Eblen Intermediate, 32% at Emma Elementary and 37% at Johnston Elementary are still learning English, impacting their ability to score well on tests.

Earwood suggested that many of those students also fall within the category of economically disadvantaged students and are captured that way in his analysis.

He showed board members several scatter plot graphs to compare the two methods the state uses to determine school performance grades compared with the percentage of students that qualify for free or reduced-cost meals.

He said results on student proficiency, which makes up 80% of a school’s grade using college and career readiness and grade level placement tests, has a negative correlation with the amount of economically disadvantaged students at a school. The more students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals at a school, the lower that school’s achievement.

Conversely, results on student growth — a metric that makes up 20% of a school’s grade by comparing each student’s scores at the end of a school year with their expected growth during that year — have no correlation with the amount of free and reduced-price meal recipients, he said.

Earwood stated that growth is a better way to judge a school’s progress, and he is glad the state plans to redesign its grading rubric next spring.

Come to Cam’s place, because Board member Rob Elliot asked what trends Earwood saw for different demographic subgroups as a way for the board to better determine where more resources were needed.

“Some of us up here ran for the seat because we were concerned about what we know to be an achievement gap in our county that exists between subgroups,” he said. “That’s not really clear from what we just saw. … I would like to see that and understand more clearly what we are doing to address the gap.”

Jennifer Reed, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said one of the key factors to achieving positive results at a low-performing school is having highly qualified teachers in classrooms.

“It takes a more intense, intentional effort at schools like Johnston [Elementary] to make sure that we have the high-quality staff,” she said.

“And so, we wrap as many resources as we can around our schools that tend to have higher levels of economically disadvantaged students, potentially students of color and those who come in speaking a language other than English.”

Later in the meeting, the board voted unanimously, as required by

the state, to retain the principals in their current positions at all 10 low-performing schools. The other five low-performing schools in BCS are Enka Intermediate, Enka Middle, Charles D. Owen Middle, Oakley Elementary and W.D. Williams Elementary.

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Consolidation news Recently passed House Bill 142 requires Buncombe County Schools and Asheville City Schools to “jointly study the feasibility” of a merger of the two school districts.

The Buncombe school board unanimously passed a resolution at the meeting to empower Buncombe County government to facilitate the request on behalf of the school districts.

Superintendent Rob Jackson said the county would issue a request for proposals to conduct a study, which would then be reported back to both school districts. The districts have until February 2025 to report their findings and recommendations to the General Assembly, per the new law.

— Greg Parlier X

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N EWS

WANT THE FACTS?

Bail bond intricacies explained According to data from the Asheville Police Department, violent crimes — primarily aggravated assaults — increased 17.4% between 2021 and 2022. This, along with numerous instances of repeat offenders committing more crimes while out on bail, has led some people to question the effectiveness of the judicial system in Asheville.

APD Chief David Zack says his department often arrests the same people over and over again, primarily because of low bail amounts for repeat criminals.

“There has been a recurring problem where people charged with crimes are bonded out and then commit more crimes while they’re out on bail,” Zack says.

“It is like a revolving door at the magistrate’s office. Getting support for people is what we all want, but I don’t think the answer is just to turn them back out into the street.”

The latest edition of Xpress’s WTF — “Want the Facts?” — series looks at the procedures, issues and future of the bail system in Buncombe County.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR SETTING BAIL IN NORTH CAROLINA? Bail is a refundable payment that allows defendants to get out of jail until their court dates. The payment is used as collateral to ensure the defendant will return to court for trial or other court proceedings.

If the defendant shows up for court, the bail is refunded by the court.

However, if the defendant does not show up for court, the court keeps the money, and an arrest warrant is issued.

According to the N.C. Department of Justice, the sole purpose of bail is to act as a guarantee that a defendant will show back up to court. Bail is not intended to act as a punishment, as the defendant is presumed to be innocent pending trial.

A bail hearing is usually held within 48 hours of a suspect’s arrest. A magistrate examines the details of the case and the seriousness of the crimes and sets the bail amount. From there, defendants can either pay the bail in full or hire a surety, typically referred to as a bail bondsman, to pay the fee 30

OCT. 11-17, 2023

bail, meaning that the accused only have to pay if they fail to show up to court, creates the opportunity for some repeat offenders to commit crimes while awaiting trial.

HOW WILL NEW LEGISLATION AFFECT THE BAIL PROCESS?

on their behalf. In the latter case, the bondsman enters an agreement with the court, known as a bond, to pay the bail amount in full if the defendant does not show up for any trial hearings.

Bondsmen charge a nonrefundable fee, typically 10%-13% of the total bail amount, for their services.

If the defendant fails to show up for any and all court dates, then the bondsman will seek the full bond amount from the defendant.

HOW IS A BAIL AMOUNT DETERMINED IN NORTH CAROLINA? Generally speaking, magistrates preside over bail hearings and make decisions depending on the crime. They consider the severity of the crime, the character and history of the defendant as well as whether the defendant may pose a threat to society if released while awaiting a court date. Magistrates are not judges. They are independent judicial officers of the court.

Magistrates are not required to have law degrees.

While several districts in North Carolina have suggested bail amounts for certain charges, bail in Buncombe County is determined solely by the judicial officer presiding over the hearing on a case-by-case basis, accord-

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ing to the Buncombe County Magistrate’s Office.

Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams notes that while his office does not set bail, prosecutors often request specific bail conditions. “While prosecutors may not appear before magistrates, prosecutors can advocate for victims and public safety before judges,” says Williams. “Prosecutors can file motions requesting certain conditions of bail to be set, reviewed and modified by a judge to ensure public safety and the defendant’s appearance for trial.”

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES WITH BAIL BONDS? The bail system of North Carolina has been criticized as being ineffective. In its 2015 recommendations to the North Carolina court system, the N.C. Commission on the Administration of Justice and Law, a state-sponsored commission composed of North Carolina judges, lays out two primary issues with the bail system. In most cases, the only option for detaining highly dangerous defendants is to set a very high secured bail. However, if such defendants have enough financial resources, they can essentially buy their way out of confinement, posing a threat to the public.

Conversely, setting a bail that is too low or setting an unsecured

Recidivism is not unique to Buncombe County. Law enforcement agencies and district attorneys across the state have voiced concerns about bonds for certain serious offenses. In an effort to quell these concerns, Gov. Roy Cooper signed House Bill 813, known as the Pretrial Integrity Act, into law on July 7. The law went into effect on Oct. 1.

The act, which received bipartisan support, takes away the responsibility of magistrates to set bail for certain offenses. Instead, judges will determine bail for a person charged with specific violent crimes, or if bail should be refused. Additionally, the law specifies that individuals who are rearrested while on pretrial release must go before a judge rather than a magistrate to receive new pretrial conditions. If the judge doesn’t make a determination of conditions of release within 48 hours, it goes back to a magistrate to set the conditions.

— Chase Davis X

Glossary of Terms Bail: A set amount of money that must be paid before someone may be released from jail.

Generally speaking, the more severe the alleged crime, the more expensive the bail will be.

Bail bond: A written agreement between the court and a bail bondsman that states that the bondsman must pay the full amount of bail or forfeit a given collateral in the event that the defendant does not appear on a scheduled court date.

Forfeiture: A bond forfeiture occurs when a defendant skips court and the bondsman is forced to pay the amount of money guaranteed on a bail bond.

Surety: Any person, such as a bondsman, who takes responsibility for the appearance of a defendant in court. With the signing of a bail bond, a bail bondsman acts as a surety. X

MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 11-17, 2023

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FEA T U RE S

Elbow grease

Local women make strides in male-dominated industries

BY BROOKE RANDLE brandle@mountainx.com You might think that Allison Walker’s love of cars was handed down from a family member or mentor.

“I’ve always been a car fanatic,” remembers Walker. “I would ask my friends’ parents about their cars: ‘What kind of gas mileage are you getting? Do you have the four-cylinder or the six-cylinder?’ And they were happy to answer my questions.

But then definitely their head would kind of turn a little bit.”

But looking back, the 44-year-old chalks it up to destiny.

“I have a really, really big family, and no one is into cars. But everyone was aware that I was a ‘car girl.’

My first memories are car-related.

And so, it was kind of like fate,” she says. “This is just what I was meant to do.”

That passion to understand the inner workings of vehicles led Walker into auto repair, an industry that sees few women. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women made up only 1.4% of the industry in 1999. But by 2022, that number rose to 12%, signaling that the industry is slowly recruiting more female workers.

Walker is among a line of local women whose passions drove them to learn new skills and edge into traditionally male-dominated fields.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS Walker, who offers mobile car repair under the name the Wrench Woman, says she is both self-taught and certified with Automotive Service Excellence, one of the highest levels of certification a mechanic can receive. Walker, originally from Mississippi, has been in Asheville for just over a year. She says that she found immediate success after she began working for herself as a mechanic in 2013.

“I knew I had the aptitude for it.

I always wanted to work for myself.

So, I just started putting ads on Craigslist, and it took off like wildfire,” says Walker. “Honestly, I’ve never even remotely had a problem getting business. I’m really happy to be doing something that I’ve 32

OCT. 11-17, 2023

TURNING WRENCHES: Allison Walker, also known as the Wrench Woman, works as a mobile auto mechanic and is one of several local women making their way in traditionally male-dominated fields. Photo courtesy of Walker been obsessed with my whole life as my career.”

The notion of a hobby-turned-business is also true for Tracy Germer, founder of Handy Ma’am, an Asheville-based minor repair business. Germer says that she found herself doing repairs around the house while working as a stay-athome mom and came up with the idea while moving to Asheville from Washington state.

“I was actually visiting family on our way to Asheville, and they had a handyman over doing stuff around their house,” remembers Germer. “I noticed that everything that he was doing, I could do.”

That gave Germer the confidence to launch Handy Ma’am last year, Germer says that she’s had a steady flow of business doing everything from minor repairs and furniture assembly to changing light bulbs.

“My favorite jobs are what people call like the honey-do list or like a punch list, like when you have a lot

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of unrelated things,” Germer says.

“I just love spending a day doing those types of repairs, and I’m still learning a lot in every area.”

Roughly a quarter of repair and maintenance jobs were held by women in 2022, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Germer says that she learned many skills by observing handymen hired at her own home. And while her grandfather was into handiwork himself, her male cousins were most often the ones who were taught new skills, which Germer attributes to the strict gender roles of the time.

“He’s a wonderful man; that’s just how it was back then,” Germer says of her grandfather. “And now he’s really impressed with me.”

BOSS WOMEN But while women may be making strides in such industries, sexism and patronizing still abound.

Jenny Kallista has 30 years of experience as a bicycle mechanic and founded the Appalachian Bicycle Institute in 2010, which teaches bicycle repair and maintenance. She says she never let gender stand in the way of her passion for cycling.

She says her field is well suited for women, although few work in it. “I do think that women tend to have better dexterity and attention to detail. Those things are key when you’re a bicycle mechanic,” Kallista explains.

Still, over the years Kallista has found herself not being taken seriously at work or acknowledged for her years of experience. While she hasn’t had issues as an instructor at her school, she recalls instances of sexism when she was working as a mechanic in bicycle shops.

She remembers one occasion when a man walked up to the service counter where she worked and asked to speak with a mechanic on staff.

“And there I am, standing in my apron with a wrench in my hand and a bike behind me and grease under my fingernails,” she says with a laugh. “It’s like, what about what you see in front of you tells you I’m not a mechanic?

“I’ve had women actually kind of push back against the idea that ... I was the person that was going to be working on their bikes,” she continues. “So, sexism goes both ways and comes from different directions. It’s not always black and white.”

As an auto mechanic, Walker also has experienced sexism in her industry. Before working for herself, Walker says she tried working in mechanics shops but was constantly patronized. “They treated me like I was a novelty, which is weird because I have years of experience and I’m certified,” Walker says. “They’d be surprised that I did something quick. I’m like, ‘Really?’”

Walker adds that while some may think that she primarily serves women, most of her clientele are men. “Part of it, I think, is because [men] are probably attracted to me,” she says. “I hate to say that that’s a component of it.”

That component has led to a few unwanted advances and situations over the years, but most people are respectful, Walker says. “[Men] have asked me out for lunch. Don’t do that. I don’t want that dynamic at all. It’s rude,” she says. “Thankfully, it’s mostly been a lot of respect. I can’t complain too much about that, but there’s definitely some areas for improvement.”

HIGH GEAR: Jenny Kallista had 30 years of experience as a bike mechanic before opening the Appalachian Bicycle Institute, which offers classes in bicycle repair and maintenance, in 2010. Photo courtesy of Kallista Germer, for her part, says most of her clientele are single women, though some men have hired her as well. In her first year in business, she’s only had one interaction in which someone questioned her work. That said, Germer adds that being a woman in the repair industry nevertheless leads people to make assumptions about her and her abilities.

“Because I’m a woman, I’m gendered no matter what. People have expectations based on my gender.

They’ll say, ‘You must be a badass!’ and I’m like, ‘Well I mean, kind of,’” she says with a laugh. “But really, women can do this, and men can do this. One gender is not better or worse than another. It’s just different skills, different experiences, different ways of doing business.

And it’s not even that different. It’s just people.”

GENERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE All three women maintain that women and girls should leave the notion of gender roles behind and follow their interests.

Germer advises women who are interested in doing handiwork to start small and to take inventory of the skills they already know, even ones that may seem too minor to list such as changing light bulbs.

“Just know that many of the skills you already possess are actually going to fit the needs of someone out there,” Germer explains. “So, whether or not you think that it’s important enough, don’t devalue the

skills that you already have when you’re getting started just because somebody has a need for that.”

Meanwhile, Kallista says that her classes at the Appalachian Bicycle

Institute are often filled with women who are interested in learning the craft and becoming self-sufficient.

She explains that while men currently make up most of the industry, women who are interested in learning more are welcome, and the field is growing.

“Cycling, and mechanics especially, is certainly male-dominated, but I don’t know that it’s necessarily because the men are trying to keep women out because there’s plenty of women who have found great success. I’m a prime example of that,” says Kallista. “Work on as many bikes as you can, as often as you can. This is a profession that is born from experience, and it takes a lot of experience to become good at it.”

Walker sounds a similar note, maintaining that women shouldn’t be afraid to do what they love.

“First of all, don’t second-guess yourself. ... A lot of women are like, ‘Should I be doing this?’ Like they’re questioning themselves or questioning their abilities. I did, too,” Walker maintains. “But just go for it. Push hard and go for it. And don’t question it. Because if you love it, then you’ll be good at it.” X

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS •

Give thanks

Live in the moment

RACHEL BARAN Owner and operator of Sun Dragon Flower Farm Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

Baran: I think oftentimes when people start new businesses, they’re told to prioritize goals by creating a solid business plan. While that is so important to the health and success of your business, I wish that someone had told me that it’s just as critical to reflect on the current state of the business and to be proud of the current progress and success. It’s so easy to get caught up in “What’s next,” rather than, “Wow, look how far I’ve come!”

How do you feel women in leadership experience their roles differently today than they may have in the past?

I feel that in comparison to previous decades, there is much greater representation of women in leadership roles. In agriculture, for example, the share of U.S. femaleowned farms has increased over the past three decades. It’s still a really low number; something like 9% of U.S. farms are solely operated by women. But these women who are currently in leadership roles are thriving, and it’s amazing to see more women fill these seats at the table.

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

My most memorable experience was celebrating the first anniversary of farming full time after leaving my day job of three years. It took a tremendous amount of courage and grit for me to take that leap of faith.

The greatest lesson I’ve learned thus far is to reflect on my progress as I keep moving forward, because five years ago I only dreamed about being in my position, and I’m only just getting started. X

...and have fun doing it!

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33

FEA T U RE S

Fresh air

Women in outdoor recreation industry driven by passion, desire for inclusion

BY JUSTIN McGUIRE jmcguire@mountainx.com

Anna Levesque planned to go to law school. Lindsey Barr studied to be an aerospace engineer. Ruby Compton thought she would end up in the music business.

But the 9-to-5 office life wasn’t for these women, each of whom discovered a passion for the outdoors that changed their career trajectories.

They are all now business owners and leaders in Western North Carolina’s outdoor recreation industry.

“When I went rafting for the first time, I just was so blown away by the power of the river and how folks in that industry really prioritize joy and connecting with nature,” says Levesque, a whitewater kayaking and paddleboarding instructor who owns Asheville’s Mind Body Paddle.

“At a certain point, I was kayaking and rafting so much it turned into my career.”

Levesque and the others want to make rafting, hiking and other outdoor activities more inclusive.

Despite improvements in recent years, they say challenges — and outdated attitudes — still exist.

“Our vision is that the trail is there for everyone at every phase of life,” says Barr, who bought Blue Ridge Hiking Co. in February. “The company started as a way to help people who are traditionally underrepresented in the outdoors, specifically women, feel welcome and gain more experience.”

TRAIL BOSS Barr has a long history with outdoor recreation. She earned the

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RAPID SUCCESS: “I really feel like the river mirrors life, and life mirrors the river,” says whitewater kayaking instructor Anna Levesque, owner of Asheville’s Mind Body Paddle. Photo courtesy of Levesque Gold Award, the highest achievement of the Girl Scouts of the USA, while she was in high school in Winston-Salem. She also joined a Venturing Crew, a coed program of the Boy Scouts of America.

“I started backpacking, canoe camping and doing a lot more cycling and rock climbing,” she says.

“I always loved it, but I still didn’t intend to do it professionally.”

While earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from N.C. State University, she worked for the school’s outdoor adventure program as a hiking and backpacking guide.

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But it wasn’t until she started working as an engineer that she realized what she really wanted to be doing.

“I had some personal stuff going on and just needed to step away,” she says. “And when I did that, I realized the last time I was happy at work was when I was guiding.”

She took a job with an outdoor retailer in Winston-Salem in 2012 and ended up managing one of its stores in Eastern North Carolina. In January 2019, she became manager of Blue Ridge Hiking Co., which was looking to open a storefront in downtown Asheville after a decade as an online company offering guided hikes in Pisgah National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Dupont State Forest and other places.

Barr helped launch the company’s store on College Street and its Appalachian Trail-er bunkhouse and gear rental location in Hot Springs.

When Blue Ridge Hiking founder Jennifer Pharr Davis offered Barr the chance to buy the business last year, she leaped at the opportunity.

She wanted to make sure the company stayed true to its roots as a business serving women interested in the outdoors, she says, even though it has plenty of male clients.

Barr says women face unique challenges when participating in outdoor recreation. For instance,

she says, until recently backpacks and other hiking gear were designed for men’s bodies. The same goes for rock-climbing instruction.

“A lot of traditional techniques and gear rely on upper body strength, and women’s bodies just don’t have that same kind of strength,” she says. “So, learning to climb with my core and my legs, which are much stronger than my arms, just opened up a whole world to me.”

And while things have gotten better, she says women still face significant challenges when participating in outdoor recreation.

“Particularly right now, we’re seeing a lot of conversation around things like sexual assault and sexual harassment, and that’s really scary,” she says. “I talk to a lot of women, and the fear about backpacking alone is not animals or falling off a cliff. It’s men on the trail.”

That’s one reason the company offers women’s backpacking trips every month and why many female clients prefer to work with women guides, she says. But there are other reasons, including being more comfortable talking to female guides about dealing with menstruating or peeing in the woods.

Julie Jenkins of Greenville, S.C., became a client of Blue Ridge Hiking a few years ago. She says she has been happy with the company’s male and female guides but has been par-

PATHFINDER: Lindsey Barr, owner of Blue Ridge Hiking Co., says WNC is an ideal place for outdoor recreation. Photo courtesy of Barr ticularly impressed with Barr, who was her guide for a three-day wildflowers and waterfalls backpacking trip in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“She’s so grounded, and she’s just really smart. She has so much experience and knowledge that you absolutely feel safe.”

HAPPY CAMPER Like Levesque and Barr, Compton found her life’s calling during a college summer job, even if she didn’t know it at the time. While studying the music business at Middle Tennessee State University, she worked at a summer camp.

She graduated from college in 2007, just in time for the Great Recession. Music industry jobs were scarce, but jobs at camps weren’t.

Compton ended up as director of Green River Preserve, a coed summer camp in Transylvania County.

“A lot of hours and a lot of time and a lot of your energy and heart goes into working in summer camp,” she says. “It’s generally a job for young people. I got to a point where I got burned out and needed to step back.”

In 2018, she founded Ruby Outdoors, a Penrose-based business that provides training and support for the area’s many summer camps and outdoor programs. That includes

training in CPR, wilderness first aid and lifeguarding.

“Running a camp is a big job.

There’s a lot to do to train staff to be ready to take care of a bunch of kids,” she says.

Ruby Outdoors also teams with businesses like Blue Ridge Hiking Co. and with companies that have nothing to do with the outdoors, including a Brevard architectural firm. After Damar Hamlin of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills suffered cardiac arrest during a game in January, several companies reached out about CPR training for their employees.

Like Levesque and Barr, she sees unique challenges for women in the outdoor recreation field.

For example, she points out, CPR mannequins are often male bodies.

“I have seen studies that indicate people are more hesitant to offer that lifesaving care when it’s a body that’s not like the mannequin they practiced on.”

She also points to menstruation as something people need to be more comfortable talking about. “If you’re a male camp leader and you have girls in your camp, that may be something you have to deal with at some point, but you don’t really know anything about. Our male leaders need

CONTINUES ON PAGE 36

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EATS & DRINKS 2023 GUIDE NEW

EDITION

F E AT UR E S to be able to talk about that stuff and respond in those situations.”

And despite the fact many women are thriving in the outdoor recreation industry, sexist assumptions persist.

“I’ve had plenty of experiences of working with a guy and people defaulting to them as the expert,” Compton says. “And it’s like, ’No, actually I’m the one that has the experience here.’”

FACING FEARS

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As a college student in her native Canada in 1994, Levesque landed a summer job in the kitchen of a whitewater rafting company. That’s where she took the rafting trip that changed her life. She was particularly captivated by the idea of learning to face her fears.

She scrapped plans for law school and decided to become a river guide.

After graduation, she headed to a rafting company in West Virginia to do guide training and started a journey that took her to rivers all over the world: Ecuador, Canada, New Zealand.

Levesque earned a spot on the five-member Canadian national freestyle kayak team and compet-

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LIFESAVER: Ruby Compton, left, owner of Ruby Outdoors, oversees a lifeguard teaching session. Photo courtesy of Compton ed internationally for several years.

On the kayaking circuit, she met her husband, Andrew Holcombe, a Bryson City native who was a member of the men’s U.S. freestyle kayak team.

In 2004, the couple decided to make Asheville their home.

“It has world-class paddling,” she says. “But I’m also a yoga teacher and an ayurvedic health coach. So that’s the other reason why Asheville is so unique because it brought all of my passions together.”

That same year, Levesque produced Girls at Play, a whitewater kayaking instructional DVD for women because she felt the female perspective in kayaking was lacking.

“We were all kind of lumped in, expected to act like men, approach fear like men,” she explains. “There were a lot of gatekeepers. It was kind of an old-school approach: ’Don’t show vulnerability. If you cry on the river, you shouldn’t be out there.’”

While promoting the DVD in the United States and Canada, Levesque discovered many women were interested in learning about kayaking from another woman, which led to her starting Mind Body Paddle. “I was really passionate about empowering women in the sport, creating a space where people could show up,” she says.

Among other things, Levesque offers one-on-one kayaking instruction on the French Broad, Tuckasegee and Green rivers and stand-up paddle boarding lessons in Lake Julian and on the French Broad. She also runs a retreat in Costa Rica, leads a backcountry trip in Idaho and provides various coaching services.

“I strongly dislike the term life coach, but a lot of my paddling clients will hire me essentially as their life coach, their mental agility coach, so they can feel more empowered in all aspects of their lives,” she explains. “It’s about helping people work through fear because how you approach kayaking is how you approach life.”

Kayla Conner of Marshall started getting whitewater kayaking instruction from Levesque in August 2020.

Her goal was to be able to raft Class II rapids, meaning wide, clear channels that are easy to maneuver. But this year she was able to kayak on a Class V waterway with violent rapids that are long and obstructed and require a high level of fitness to navigate.

“With kayaking, a woman will have different challenges than a man will. We have to have more finesse.

We’re not necessarily as strong, and whenever men try to teach you, they just want to help you muscle through it. And you can’t muscle through water.”

Levesque also coached Conner on health, wellness and mental agility.

“It’s put me in charge of my life instead of me just living life and life living me. I have more agency, which gives me more confidence because I make my own decisions, I don’t just react to everything,” Conner says.

With such success stories to point to, Levesque has no regrets about forgoing a law career for the lure of the river — even if it took a while for everyone in her life to get on board.

“For a long time, my parents were like, ’When are you going to get a real job?’” X

FEA T U RE S

Community build

More than 1,000 volunteers gathered Oct. 4-8 near Ira B. Jones Elementary School in North Asheville to rebuild a community park, organizers say. The site, formerly known as Jones Park, has been renamed Candace Pickens Memorial Park. In 2016, Pickens was shot and killed at the location. Her 3-year-old son, Zachaeus, was injured during the violent attack; he lost his left eye but survived the shooting. The original park, built in 1999, was demolished in 2021 due to safety concerns. Dozens of businesses and nonprofits helped fund the project. All photos

by Brooke Heaton.

— Xpress Staff X

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ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

‘Democracy itself is on trial’ Calls for a more informed and engaged citizenry, 1923

POLITICALLY DISENGAGED: “Except as impelled by the rising temperature of a political campaign, how small is the minority that gives regular and serious study to the public business!” lamented The Asheville Citizen in a Jan. 22, 1923, editorial.

Photo courtesy of Buncombe County Special Collections; image altered by Xpress

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Concern over the future of American democracy lined the editorial page in the Jan. 22, 1923, edition of The Asheville Citizen. The paper posited that the public, by and large, neglected its duties to be informed and engaged citizens.

“Except as impelled by the rising temperature of a political campaign, how small is the minority that gives regular and serious study to the public business!” the editorial exclaimed.

And while the pulpit, press and other agencies played vital roles in awakening civic responsibilities, the paper continued, “it is to the schools, colleges and universities that we must look for the creation of a new type of citizen, one that lays primary emphasis on intelligent service to society.”

In the same issue, the paper ran a letter by E.H. Stillwater, a professor of history and social sciences at Cullowhee Normal and Industrial School (today’s Western Carolina University). In it, the professor argued for a new approach to schooling.

“The ultimate end and aim of all education is, or should be, the making of good citizens,” Stillwater wrote. “In the past we have aimed at making a good lawyer first and then a good citizen. In the future we shall reverse the order and strive to make a good citizen and then a good lawyer.”

The impetus, Stillwater continued, was the republic itself. “In this new and rapidly moving age when so many theories and radical experiments are being tried out, both in church and state, we stand in need of a larger social intelligence,” he asserted. “Democracy itself is on trial; and if it is to stand the test we must educate the masses for democracy.”

The professor pointed to a course on citizenship he led at Cullowhee Normal.

In it, his students studied “history in the making,” by reading and discussing current events as reported in the papers.

Along with his description of the course, Stillwater included an excerpt from an article written by his student Lucile Leggette, published in the September 1922 issue of North Carolina Journal of Education.

“Interesting discussions and various views expressed by members of the class, skillfully guided by professor Stillwater, resulted in a greater familiarity with present-day affairs and a better understanding of the correct attitude teachers should take in matters of vital interest to community, state, and nation,” Leggette wrote. “We hope that by next summer other schools will be able to offer just such a course to their students.”

Stillwater concluded his letter by emphasizing that the course’s popularity attested to the interest and need of the study.

The Asheville Citizen’s editorial, previously quoted above, agreed.

“Men and women of today have many calls upon their personal and civic interests,” the paper wrote. “The task of making a living is strenuous for the majority; the multiplicity of public questions is sometimes confusing; and yet the absolute failure of the American experiment in democracy can only be prevented by the intelligent and persevering interest of men and women in public issues.”

Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original documents. X

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR OCT. 11 - OCT. 19, 2023 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.

 Online-only events  More info, page 62-63  More info, page 64-65 WELLNESS ABCs & 123s For people looking to start a fitness journey with morning walks, stretching, and calisthenic workouts.

WE (10/11), 10am, Dr Wesley Grant, Sr. Southside Center, 285 Livingston St Therapeutic Recreation Adult Morning Movement Active games, physical activities, and sports for individuals with disabilities ages 17 and over. Advanced registration at avlrec. com required.

WE (10/11, 18), 10am, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave Community Yoga & Mindfulness A morning of breathwork, meditation and yoga. Bring your own mat.

WE (10/11), 11:30am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Free Zumba Gold Fitness program that involves cardio and Latin-inspired dance.

Free, but donations for the instructor are appreciated. For more information please call (828)350-2058.

WE (10/11, 18),

Magical Offerings October Stone: Shiva Lingam October Herb: Astragalus

10/13: Reader: Krysta 12-6pm New Moon Meditation Circle 6-7pm 10/14: Reader: Edward 12-6pm NEW MOON & SOLAR ECLIPSE Embroidery w/ Liz 2-4pm Handmade Holiday Pop-Up 12-6pm 10/15: Reader: Pardee 12-5pm Welcoming Circle 4:30-6pm 10/18: Reader: Abby 10-2pm What is Samhain w/ Byron 6-7pm

FULL MOON October 28th

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Mon.- Sat. 10-8pm • Sun. 12-6pm 40

OCT. 11-17, 2023

noon, Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave Tai Chi for Balance A gentle Tai Chi exercise class to help improve balance, mobility, and quality of life. All ages are welcome.

WE (10/11, 18), 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Dharma & Discuss People coming together in friendship to meditate, learn and discuss the Dharma.

Beginners and experienced practitioners are welcome.

TH (10/12, 19), 7pm, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Nia Dance Fitness A sensory-based movement practice that draws from martial arts, dance arts and healing arts.

TH (10/12, 19), 9:30am, TU (10/17), 10:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Tai Chi Fan This class helps build balance and whole body awareness. All ages and ability levels welcome. Fans will be provided.

WE (10/11, 18), 1pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Tai Chi for Beginners A class for anyone interested in Tai Chi and building balance as well as body awareness.

TH (10/12, 19), MO (10/16), 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Sacred Chant w/Adam Bauer Adam leads his chanting sessions with a gentle, grounded energy, guiding participants to profound levels of conscious awareness.

TH (10/12), 7pm, AyurPrana Listening Room, 312 Haywood Rd Yoga for Everyone A free-in person yoga class for all ages and abilities that is led by registered yoga instructor Mandy. Bring your own mat, water bottle and mask.

SA (10/14), 9:30am, Black Mountain Presbyterian, 117 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

IT’S ALIVE!: Beginning Friday, Oct. 13, at 7:30 p.m., Mel Brooks’ musical comedy Young Frankenstein takes over the Hendersonville Theatre stage. This iconic musical features a large cast, as well as eye-popping special effects and show-stopping musical numbers, including “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” to round out the show, rated PG-13 for adult humor and content. Photo courtesy of Hendersonville Theatre 9am, SA (10/14), 11am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Magnetic Minds: Depression & Bipolar Support Group Free weekly meeting for those living with depression, bipolar, and related mental health challenges.

Email depressionbipolarasheville@gmail.com or call or text (828) 367-7660 for more info.

SA (10/14), 2pm, 1316 Ste C Parkwood Rd Walking Meditatio Reduce stress, anxiety and increase health and wellbeing. Meditation instructions provided.

SU (10/15), 10am, Walk Jones Wildlife Sanctuary, Montreat

Free Meditation All are welcome to this one-hour silent meditation practice.

FR (10/13), TU (10/17), 9am, SA (10/14), 10am, Ganesh Place, 594 Ray Hill Rd, Mills River

Fall Flow w/Jamie Knox A level 1+ heat increasing flow with restorative bonds designed to warm the body, calm anxiety, and release excess heat built over the summer.

SU (10/15), 10:30am, One World Brewing West, 520 Haywood Rd

Qigong for Health A part of traditional Chinese medicine that involves using exercises to optimize energy within the body, mind and spirit.

FR (10/13), TU (10/17),

Yoga in the Park All levels welcomed, but bring your own props and mat.

Pre-register at avl.mx/9n6.

SU (10/15), 11am, 220 Amboy Rd

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Gentle Yoga for Queer & GNC Folks This class is centered towards creating an affirming and inclusive space for queer and gender non-conforming individuals.

SU (10/15), 1:30pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd Barre Fusion A high energy low impact practice that shapes, sculpts, and tones the body like a dancer. No experience necessary, open to all levels.

MO (10/16), 9:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Free Zumba An hour of dance fitness. All fitness levels are welcome.

No fitness experience required.

MO (10/16), 2:30pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave Metta Meditation Free in-person guided meditation focused on benevolence & loving-kindness. Beginners and experienced practitioners are welcome.

MO (10/16), 7pm, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Morning Meditation Everyone is most welcome to join the sit; however no

meditation instructions are provided.

TU (10/17), 7:30am, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday.

Exhibition through April 15, 2024.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Zumba Free zumba class; Registration not needed.

TU (10/17), 6:30pm, St. James Episcopal Church, 424 W State St, Black Mountain

Skip Rhode: Reflections - Opening Reception Community members are invited for a reception and evening with local painter, Skip Rhode, who will share more information about his current exhibition, Reflections.

TH (10/12), 8:30am, John M. Crawford Jr. Gallery, 360 Asheville School Rd

ART The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation This exhibition explores the many identities of food in daily life: whether a source of pleasure, a reason for gathering, a mass-produced commodity, or a reflection of social ideologies and divisions. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed on Tuesday. Exhibition through Oct. 22.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square Western North Carolina Glass: Selections from the Collection Western North Carolina is important in the history of American glass art. A variety of techniques and a willingness to push boundaries of the medium can be seen in this selection of works.

Surrender: Embrace Ginger Huebner’s new works are structured by edges and pathways of the natural world that act as touch points for her layers of color using the medium of chalk pastel. Gallery open Monday through Saturday, 10am, and Sunday, noon. Exhibition through Oct. 29.

Pink Dog Gallery, 348 Depot St Romare Bearden: Ways of Working This exhibition highlights works on paper and explores many of Romare Bearden's most frequently used mediums including screen-printing, lithography, hand colored etching, collagraph, monotype, relief print,

photomontage, and collage. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through Jan. 22, 2024.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square The Wool & The Wood Featuring needle-felted wool landscapes by Jaana Mattson and fine furniture by Scott Kestel. Gallery open Monday through Sunday, 10am. Exhibition through Oct. 29.

Grovewood Gallery, 111 Grovewood Rd Public Tour: The Art of Food A volunteer educator led tour of The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation.

No reservations are required.

TH (10/12), 6pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square Creation Class: Watercolor Fall Leaf All materials for the completion of a watercolor painting will be provided. Small exercises relevant to the painting will demonstrated before starting.

FR (10/13), 5pm, Haywood County Arts Council, 86 N Main St, Waynesville

Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees An immersive art installation that engages with concepts related to an imagined major event, species survival and adaptation. Recommended for ages 12 and over.

TH (10/12), FR (10/13), SA (10/14), 5pm, Center for Craft, 67 Broadway St Deb Williams: Anomalies - Opening Reception This exhibition will present new glass and mixed media work by local glass artist Deb Williams. The reception is free and open to the public and guests are encouraged to wear costumes for Halloween or circus themed festivities.

FR (10/13), 5:30pm, Mark Bettis Studio & Gallery, 123 Roberts St Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting Reflecting on the history of american realism one can see the endless variety of approaches artists choose to record their world. This exhibition continues this thread, offering viewers an opportunity to explore a singular and still vigorous aspect of American painting. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed on Tuesday.

Exhibition through Feb. 5, 2024.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square Mira Gerard: You Were Only Waiting for This Moment to Arise The artist presents paintings of peaceful spaces populated with wildflowers and plants—and the occasional figure of an animal or human— depicted in gloaming meadows and glimmering sunlight. Gallery open Tuesday through Saturday, 10am, and Sunday, 11am. Exhibition through Oct. 29.

Tyger Tyger Gallery, 191 Lyman St, Ste 144 Daily Craft Demonstrations Two artists of different media will explain and demonstrate their craft with informative materials displayed at their booths, daily. These free and educational opportunities are open to the public. Open daily, 10am.

Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Pkwy Skip Rhode: Reflections This exhibition features the artwork of local artist Skip Rhode from different periods of his life. Gallery open Monday through Friday, 8:30am. Exhibition through Oct. 27.

John M. Crawford Jr. Gallery, 360 Asheville School Rd

Spark of the Eagle Dancer: The Collecting Legacy of Lambert Wilson This exhibition celebrates the legacy of Lambert Wilson, a passionate collector of contemporary Native American art. Over 140 works on view tell the story of the relationships he built and the impact that he made by dedicating himself to this remarkable collection. Gallery open Tuesday through Friday, 10am. Exhibition through Dec. 8.

WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee Weaving at Black Mountain College: Anni Albers, Trude Guermonprez & Their Students The first exhibition devoted to textile practices at Black Mountain College.

Gallery open Monday through Saturday, 11am. Exhibition through Jan. 6, 2024.

Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St Laine Bachman: Eden Revisited A solo exhibition of lush, botanical paintings by popular artist Laine Bachman featuring real and imaginary creatures and goddess-like women with a deep connection to the natural world. Gallery open Monday through Saturday, 10am, and Sunday, noon. Exhibition through Oct. 30.

Bender Gallery, 29 Biltmore Ave Second Saturdays in the Canopy Artist’s of Art Garden come together to share demos of their creative process. Featuring different artists each month, creating in a wide variety of mediums, from oil paint and graphite to jewelry, fiber, metal sculpture and more.

SA (10/14), 11am, Art Garden, 191 Lyman St, Ste 316 Public Tour: Intersections in American Art Docent led tours of the museum's collection and special exhibitions.

No reservations are required.

TH (10/19), 6pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

COMMUNITY MUSIC WNC, Past & Present: Ballad Singing in the Great Divide Listen to Ian Kirkpatrick, local ballad singer clogger, and folklorist, share details of 20th century collections of local musicians.

TH (10/12), 6pm, Black Mountain Library, 105 N Dougherty St, Black Mountain

Black Violin Boldly merging string arrangements with modern beats and vocals to create a world where Mozart, Marvin Gaye and Kendrick Lamar harmoniously coexist on one stage.

TH (10/12), 7pm, Wortham Center For The Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave Chikomo Marimba Playing high-energy polyrhythmic arrangements inspired by the Shona tradition of central and south America.

TH (10/12), 8pm, One World Brewing W, 520 Haywood Rd The Jahidi Experience Sonic alchemist and sound healer, Jahidi, will lead this session with the power of sound, vibration, rhythm and melody.

TH (10/12), 8pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain YCA on Tour This season's opening concert offers a unique program featuring rarely heard instrumentation that combines voice with violin, cello and piano.

FR (10/13), 7:30pm, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place AmiciMusic: The Mendelssohns & The Schumanns A program that reveals the connections between two musically important families in Germany in the early Romantic period with a concert piano and cello.

SA (10/14), 2pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Mindful Mindlessness: A Ceramic History of Rock & Roll A celebration of rock'n'roll featuring live rock music, themed refreshments, a cash bar and more.

SA (10/14), 7pm, Citizen Vinyl, 14 O Henry Ave Candlelight: Featuring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons A live, multi-sensory musical experience illuminated by thousands of candles, allowing viewers to fully immerse themselves in classical music. This week features Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

SA (10/14), 8:45pm, AyurPrana Listening Room, 312 Haywood Rd Mark's House Jam & Beggar's Banquet Weekly Sunday pot luck and musician's jam with acoustic and plug in players. It's a family friendly community day so bring a dish to

share.

SU (10/15), 3pm, Asheville Guitar Bar, 122 Riverside Dr The Asheville Jazz Orchestra A special evening featuring a 17-piece Asheville Jazz Orchestra playing a variety of big band, swing, and Jazz favorite.

SU (10/15), 7:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Reuter Center Singers Seasoned seniors that study and perform classical, popular, show tunes and other favorites.

MO (10/16), 6:15pm, UNC Asheville Reuter Center, 1 University Heights Local Live Series: Jay Brown A bi-weekly local live series featuring a variety of talented local musicians.

MO (10/16), 7pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Open Folk A songwriters showcase where the audience is required to stay silent while six songwriters play three original songs each.

TU (10/17), 7pm, Funkatorium, 147 Coxe Ave Dark City Song Swap: Beth Lee, Jackson Grimm & Paul Edelman A new series focusing on talented local, regional, and national songwriters who both write and sing their original compositions.

WE (10/18), 7:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

LITERARY Wired for Dating Book Club Discuss neurobiology and attachment styles in love relationships, and apply the lyrics of secure love songs in dating. Look for table marked WFD. WE (10/11), 6pm, White Duck Taco, 388 Riverside Dr Joke Writing Workshop Hosted by Disclaimer Stand Up Lounge and moderated by Cody Hughes, weekly. Bring 90 seconds of material that isn’t working.

WE (10/11, 18), 6:30pm, Asheville Music Hall, 31 Patton Ave Poetry Open Mic Hendo A poetry-centered open mic that welcomes all kinds of performers every Thursday night. 18+

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N EWS TH (10/12, 19), 7:30pm, Shakedown Lounge, 706 Seventh Ave E, Hendersonville An Evening w/David Sedaris This event features a live reading of new material, time for audience members to ask questions for the author, and book signings before and after the event.

TH (10/12), 7:30pm, WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee Poetry Night Hear poetry from fellow artists in a welcoming space.

Participate with a rhyme, tell a story, sing a song, or even get something off your chest in a creative way.

TU (10/17), 5:30pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Center, 285 Livingston St Poetry Night Everyone is welcome to share a few poems or just sit back and listen. Signups to share will open 15 minutes prior to the start.

TU (10/17), 6pm, Oak & Grist Distilling Co., 1556 Grovestone Rd, Black Mountain

Please join us for our grand opening on October 22nd from 1–7pm when WagWorld will be showcasing the property, services, and upcoming spaces for our neighbors and their pups!

Visiting Writers Series: Affrilachian Author Crystal Wilkinson Crystal Wilkinson will discuss the role food plays in her writing.

Drawing material from her forthcoming food memoir with recipes, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, Wilkinson will be in conversation with UNC Asheville English Professor, Erica Abrams Locklear. See p64 WE (10/18), 6pm, Highsmith Student Union, 1 University Heights An Evening w/Donald Davis An evening of storytelling with Donald Davis, the author of 18 books and 40 original recordings.

WE (10/18), 7pm, Haywood Community College, 185 Freedlander Dr, Clyde

WagWorld Estate provides an all-inclusive opportunity for your dogs to play and stay! We offer doggy daycare, boarding, basic grooming, and other amenities to provide a premium experience for your pup!

This venture is owned and operated by Akasha Nickolas, a loud, proud, and fearless lesbian. She envisions WagWorld as an inclusive part of our community and supports Pride organizations and local animal rescue groups.

21 Redmond Road, Fletcher • wagworlddogresort@gmail.com wagworldedogresort.com • 828.585.2073 42

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Wilma Dykeman Book Discussions: Janet Hurley Janet Hurley, owner of True Ink and cofounder of Arteria Collective discusses her memoir Glove Shy: A Sister’s Reckonin.

TH (10/19), 7pm, W Asheville Public Library, 942 Haywood Rd Asheville Storyslam: Adulting Prepare a five-minute story about the highs and lows of coming of age and the trials and tribulations of getting there.

TH (10/19), 7:30pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave

THEATER & FILM Ben & Angela A young couple follow the twisty, sometimes hilarious, road of marriage from first infatuation through the kinks and perils and triumphs of the long haul.

TH (10/12, 19), FR (10/13), SA (10/14), 7:30pm, BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce St The Splatter Play Tina and her optimistic realtor parade a cast of unsavory potential buyers through a home, tormented all the while by the resident creepies and crawlies who aren't ready to move on.

TH (10/12, 19), FR (10/13), SA (10/14), 7:30pm, The Magnetic Theatre, 375 Depot St Scary Movie Night w/ Emote A scary movie double feature night featuring Beetle Juice and the Lost Boys. This is a donation-based movie night.

TH (10/12), 8pm, Different Wrld, 701 Haywood Rd, Ste 101 Reasonably Priced Babies Improv Show An improv comedy group that asks the audience for suggestions and then they make that come to technicolor life. Featuring Tom Chalmers, Mondy Carter, Karen Stobbe, Kim Richardson and Josh Batenhorst.

FR (10/13), 7pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's iconic drama about the American Dream that has been relevant to our history, and truly, our own interpretation of life and our ideas about success and failure.

FR (10/13) SA (10/14), 7:30pm, SU (10/15), 2pm, Hart Theatre, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville Romeo & Juliet: In Memoriam A celebration of youth, talent, and the enduring power of Shakespeare’s work through a moving, mesmerizing performance paired with an original score that blends classic and contemporary elements.

FR (10/13), 7pm, SA (10/14), 11am and 7pm, Attic Salt Theatre, The Mills at Riverside, 2002 Riverside Dr, Ste 42-O Alice’s Adventures in Murderland The play follows Alice Liddle, who returns to Wonderland after many years and finds it changed into a violent, unrecognizable wasteland. In order

to save the world she used to know from what it has become, Alice must confront the truth about this world and the truth about herself.

FR (10/13), SA (10/14), SU (10/15), 7:30pm, Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, 92 Gay St

was inspired by the book, Met Her On The Mountain: The Murder of Nancy Morgan by Mark I. Pinsky.

TH (10/19), 7:30pm and 8:30pm, Dr W.F Robinson Memorial Infirmary, 144 Cascade St, Mars Hill

Young Frankenstein Grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein inherits his family’s estate in Transylvania. With the help of a hunchbacked sidekick, Igor, and a leggy lab assistant, Inga, Dr Frankenstein aims to fulfill his grandfather’s legacy by bringing a corpse back to life.

FR (10/13), SA (10/14), SU (10/15), 7:30pm, Hendersonville Theatre, 229 S Washington St, Hendersonville

MEETINGS & PROGRAMS

Toybox's Monthly Puppetry Series A new series will feature original works by acclaimed award-winning puppeteer and clown Toybox, and will bring some of the best puppeteers in the nation as special guests.

SA (10/14), 11am, The Magnetic Theatre, 375 Depot St New Works Series Offering exciting script-in-hand readings of new plays by emerging local playwrights. The readings are followed by a talk back with the playwright and actors to provide feedback to the playwright.

SA (10/14), 3pm, Hendersonville Theatre, 229 S Washington St, Hendersonville Lecture & Film Screening: Oskar Schlemmer’s Bauhaus Dances w/Debra McCall A lecture by Debra McCall and a film screening of her reconstructions of Oskar Schlemmer’s 1920s Bauhaus Dances.

TH (10/19), 7pm, Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde A dramatic reconstruction of the three trials that took place in 1895, during which renowned Irish playwright Oscar Wilde was prosecuted for his homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas.

TH (10/19), 7:30pm, Belk Theatre, 1 University Heights True Crime Mars Hill University Theatre Arts Department presents a live immersive theatrical experience exploring the unsolved murder of a young woman in Madison County, North Carolina in 1970. This production

Free E-Bike Rental A free one hour bike adventure to experience Asheville's historic River Arts District, French Broad River Greenway, local breweries, restaurants and more.

WE (10/11, 18), 10am, Ace Bikes, 342 Depot St Beginners Aerial Silks Learn a new skill and be part of a supportive community. All bodies are welcome. Space is limited so registration is required.

WE (10/11, 18), 4pm and 5:30pm, Amethyst Realm, 244 Short Coxe Ave AARP: Decluttering An interactive talk about decluttering with speaker Sara Knapp.

WE (10/11), 11:30am, Bay Breeze Seafood Restaurant, 1830 Asheville Hwy, Hendersonville Intro to Golf One-on-one coaching, as well as tips and tricks to learn the game of golf. Participants responsible for green fees.

WE (10/11, 18), 10am, Asheville Recreation Park, 65 Gashes Creek Rd Eightfold Path Study Group A group will gather to study the Eightfold Path Program. Kris Kramer will host the group as a fellow participant and student.

WE (10/11, 18), 3pm, Black Mountain, Honeycutt St, Black Mountain Peace Education Program An innovative series of video-based workshops that help people discover their own inner strength and personal peace.

WE (10/11, 18), 5pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave Spanish Club Spanish speakers of all ages and levels are welcome to join together for conversation to practice the language in a group setting.

WE (10/11, 18), 6pm, Black Mountain Brewing, 131 NC-9, Black Mountain Intro to Ballroom Dance Explore the world of Latin and Ballroom dancing with such styles as swing, salsa,

foxtrot, rumba, merengue, and more.

WE (10/11, 18), 6pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain The Artist's Way Workshop A guided walk through Julie Cameron's world renown self-help book for professional artists, part-time creators, or anyone looking to discover and unblock their creative process.

WE (10/11, 18), 7pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain Community Choice Enjoy family activities including puzzles, board games, arts and crafts, and more. Kids ages 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

WE (10/11, 18), 6:30pm, Dr Wesley Grant, Sr. Southside Center, 285 Livingston St MBBC Networking Event w/Focus on Leadership A monthly networking meeting with a special guest speaker. The meeting will focus on why leadership is key and there will be food, conversation and networking.

TH (10/12), 11:30am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave Bowling for Adults 50 & Over A friendly game of bowling for adults 50 and over. Transportation provided from Grove St Community Center.

TH (10/12), 1pm, Sky Lanes, 1477 Patton Ave Kids & Teens Kung Fu Learn fighting skills as well as conflict resolution and mindfulness.

First class is free to see if it’s a good fit for you.

TH (10/12, 19), MO (10/16), TU (10/17), 4pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Recreate Asheville Community Workshop Help develop a community-powered comprehensive plan to guide Asheville Parks & Recreation's decisions for the next 10-15 years to connect, fix, build, and preserve recreation programs and parkland.

TH (10/12), 5pm, Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Rd Change Your Palate Cooking Demo This free food demonstration is open to everyone but tailored towards those with type 2 diabetes or hypertension and/ or their caretakers.

Our featured host is Change Your Palate's very own Shaniqua

Simuel.

TH (10/12), 5:30pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave Therapeutic Recreation Adult Supper Club Prepare and enjoy meals with new and old friends. Open to individual with disabilities ages 18 and over.

This week focuses on chicken and vegetable kabobs.

TH (10/12), 6pm, Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview Rd Swing Dance Lesson & Dance Swing dancing lesson and dance, every Thursday.

TH (10/12, 19), 7pm, Alley Cat Social Club, 797 Haywood Rd Nerd Nite October Featuring fun-yet-informative presentations across a variety of subjects. This week features Robert "Lem" Lemery, Knox Petrucci, Christian MacLeod and a costume contest.

TH (10/12), 7:30pm, The River Arts District Brewing Co., 13 Mystery St Creating a Textural Sunset w/Michell Sider In this three-day workshop, Michelle Sider, will take you stepby-step through her distinctive technique to create a stunning textural sunset mosaic.

For more details and to register, visit avl.mx/d24.

WE (10/11), TH (10/12), FR (10/13), 10am, Art Garden, 191 Lyman St, Ste 316 Kids Night In Let your kids work off extra energy with themed games, crafts, and special activities. Light dinner included, but advance registration at avlrec. com required.

FR (10/13), 6pm, Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave The Partial Annular Eclipse A day of education, fascination and breathtaking views.

PARI will have a variety of areas with chairs and picnic tables set up for you to observe the moon's passage across the Sun. Limited spots, reservation is required.

SA (10/14), 9:45am, Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, 1 PARI Dr, Rosman The James Vester Miller Historic Walking Trail: 2023 Church Exhibit An opportunity to step inside and explore four historic black churches on the JVM Walking Trail. This event allows community members of all ages to learn the history of the churches.

SA (10/14), noon, Multiple Locations, Citywide

Therapeutic Recreation Bowling League A five-week non-competitive bowling league for individuals that features games adapted with ramps and bumpers. Open to individuals with disabilities, ages 6 and over. For more information, please call (828) 232-4529.

SA (10/14), 1pm, Sky Lanes, 1477 Patton Ave Introduction to Knitting Participants will learn the basic skills of knitting, which include how to cast on, knit, purl, bind off, increase, decrease and knit in the round. Projects will include a headband or fingerless mitts, an infinity scarf, and a beanie style hat.

SA (10/14), 2pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain Fall Festival for Adults 50+ Celebrate the turning of the leaves with crafts, food, photo booth, pumpkin carving, and more.

SA (10/14), 3pm, Grove St Community Center, 36 Grove St Asheville Cuddle Collective This is a non-sexual touch based event that invites participants to explore platonic intimacy in a safe environment. Registration is required.

SA (10/14), 6:45pm, The Well, 3 Louisiana From Introspection to Celebration Exploration of conditioning connection with and creation of more coherent identity.

SU (10/15), 10am, $50, Center for Conscious Living and Dying, 83 Sanctuary Rd, Swannanoa Weekly Sunday Scrabble Club Tournament-style scrabble. All levels of play.

SU (10/15), 12:15pm, Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave Birding by Ear A four week course introducing the world of birding. Participants have two instructional sessions with an emphasis on birding by ear followed by two birding nature walks.

MO (10/16), 10:30am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd Sew Co./Rite of Passage Factory Tour On this 30 minute micro-tour, learn about sustainable and transparent business practices and hear about production processes and client collaborations. Preregister at avl.mx/cec.

MO (10/16), 11am, Rite of Passage Clothing & Sew Co, 240 Clingman Ave Ext

TU (10/17), 10am, Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview Rd

Celebrating Relationships: Open House & Community Appreciation An open house with local vendors, community activities and workshops. Kids 7+ are welcome to join.

MO (10/16), 2pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Mindfulness in Daily Life In this class, you will use the building blocks of mindfulness meditation practice, breath, body, feelings, and thoughts as we cultivate our capacity to be present in daily life.

TU (10/17), 11am, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

Feed Me Foam: Styrofoam Recycling Drop An open house with a styrofoam processing truck that will be collecting your styrofoam to recycle.

MO (10/16), 2pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave Chess Club Open to all ages and any skill set. There will be a few boards available, but folks are welcome to bring their own as well.

MO (10/16), 4pm, Black Mountain Brewing, 131 NC-9, Black Mountain Make Your Own Cemeterrarium Lori Cozzi will lead students in creating a Halloween-themed terrarium, complete with spooky accessories and a living plant.

All supplies included for an evening of skele-fun.

MO (10/16), 5:30pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain Black Men Monday A local group that has stepped up in the community to advocate for and mentor students through academic intervention.

MO (10/16), 7pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave Toddler Discovery Time Crafts, games, and playtime for toddlers.

Advance registration at avlrec.com required.

TU (10/17), 9:45am, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave Intro to Senior Games Sports Each week will cover a different sport. This is for people trying a new sport for the 2024 Asheville-Buncombe senior games.

TU (10/17), 10am, W Asheville Park, 11 Vermont Ave Therapeutic Recreation Adult Crafting & Cooking A variety of cooking and crafts for individuals with disabilities ages 17 and over each week. This week will focus on cooking apple cider.

Pisgah Legal Service's Annual Justice Forum This year’s speaker is Matthew Desmond, the Pulitize Prize-winning author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.

TU (10/17), 11:30am, UNCA Sherrill Center Understanding Solutions to Homelessness: Communty Response, Present & Future A 3-part learning series, presented by Homeless Strategy Specialist Debbie Alford, that offers community members the opportunity to learn more about the causes, responses, and actions that surround the homelessness issue in Asheville and the region.

TU (10/17), noon, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St A Stitch in Crime A drop-in yarn art circle where you can bring your current project or work on a new one while listening to true crime podcasts.

TU (10/17), 2pm, Black Mountain Library, Black Mountain Leadership Is Free Workshop: Growth & Development in 3 Areas A free six week course that will enhance your growth development in three areas of leadership.

TU (10/17), 5pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave Fall Succulent Pumpkin Planter Workshop An opportunity to create a living succulent arrangement on top of a real heirloom pumpkin. All ages welcome.

TU (10/17), 6pm, New Belgium Brewing Co., 21 Craven St Treks Hiking Club for Adults 50 & Over A low-impact hiking club offering leisurely-paced hikes for active adults. No hiking experience is required, but the hike covers over three miles on uneven terrain.

WE (10/18), 9:30am, Asheville Recreation Park, 65 Gashes Creek Rd

Dogwood Health Trust: 2023 Annual Meeting An annual open meeting with the public each year. All members of the community are invited to attend but must register at avl.mx/d2r in advance.

WE (10/18), 11:45am, Online Dollar Décor DIY Enjoy new crafts made from simple items you have at home or can be found at dollar stores.

Advance registration at avlrec.com required.

WE (10/18), 7pm, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Open year round.

WE (10/11, 18), 3pm, 60 Lake Shore Dr Weaverville Flat Rock Farmers Market A diverse group of local produce and fruit farmers, craftfood makers, bread bakers, wild crafters, art-crafters, and merrymakers. Every Thursday through Oct. 26.

TH (10/12, 19), 3pm, Pinecrest ARP Church, 1790 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock

Pack Square Artisan Market This market will showcase local handcrafted goods in the heart of downtown Asheville.

Every Friday through Oct. 27.

FR (10/13), 1pm, 1 S Pack Square Park Saluda Tailgate Market With over a dozen vendors, this agriculture-only market features an assortment of homegrown produce,

The Future Starts Now: Empowering Growth & Connection In this free one-hour workshop, you will work on viewing your future self in the first person rather than third. Kids 7+ are welcome to join.

TH (10/19), 5pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

LOCAL MARKETS Etowah Lions Club Farmers Market Fresh produce, honey, sweets, flowers, plant starts and locally crafted wares. Every Wednesday through Oct. 25.

WE (10/11, 18), 3pm, Etowah Lions Club, 447 Etowah School Rd, Hendersonville Leicester Farmers Market Farmers Market with over 30 vendors.

Locally grown and sourced selection of meats, produce, eggs, plants and flowers, baked goods, cheese, honey, sauces, crafts, art, and more. Every Wednesday through Oct. 25.

WE (10/11, 18), 3pm, Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Hwy, Leicester RAD Farmers Market Providing year-round access to fresh local foods, with 25-30 vendors selling a variety of wares. Handicap parking available in the Smoky Park lot, free public parking available along Riverside Drive.

Also accessible by foot, bike, or rollerblade via the Wilma Dykeman Greenway.

WE (10/11, 18), 3pm, Smoky Park Supper Club, 350 Riverside Dr Weaverville Tailgate Market A selection of fresh, locally grown produce, grass fed beef, pork, chicken, rabbit, eggs, cheese, sweet and savory baked goods, artisan bread, fire cider, coffee, pickles, body care, eclectic handmade goodies, and garden and landscaping plants.

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C OMMU N IT Y CA L EN D AR meat, and eggs within a 25 mile radius.

FR (10/13), 4:30pm, W Main St, Saluda Henderson County Tailgate Market Seasonal fruits, fresh mushrooms, vegetables, local honey, meat, eggs, garden plant starts, perennials and much more. Every Saturday through Oct. 28.

SA (10/14), 8am, 100 N King St, Hendersonville Hendersonville Farmers Market A vibrant community gathering space with produce, meat, eggs, baked goods, coffee, crafts, food trucks, live music, kids' activities and more. Every Saturday through Oct. 28.

SA (10/14), 8am, 650 Maple St, Hendersonville North Asheville Tailgate Market The oldest Saturday morning market in WNC, since 1980. Over 60 rotating vendors offer fresh Appalachian grown produce, meats, cheeses and eggs with a variety of baked goods, value added foods, and unique craft items. Weekly through Dec. 16.

SA (10/14), 8am, 3300 University Heights Asheville City Market Local food products, including fresh produce, meat, cheese, bread, pastries, and other artisan products.

Weekly through Dec. 17.

SA (10/14), 9am, 52 N Market St

Black Mountain Tailgate Market Featuring organic and sustainably grown produce, plants, cut flowers, herbs, locally raised meats, seafood, breads, pastries, cheeses, eggs and local arts and handcrafted items. Every Saturday through Nov. 18.

SA (10/14), 9am, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Mars Hill Farmers & Artisans Market A producer-only tailgate market located on the campus of Mars Hill University on College Street. We offer fresh local produce, herbs, garden and landscape plants, cut flowers, cheeses, meats, eggs, baked and more. Every Saturday through Oct. 28.

SA (10/14), 10am, College St, Mars Hill Autumn Market Browse and buy from local artisans and listen to a DJ dropping beats until the sun sets.

SA (10/14), 2pm, The Restoration Hotel Asheville, 68 Patton Ave WNC Farmers Market High quality fruits and vegetables, mountain crafts, jams, jellies, preserves, sourwood honey, and other farm fresh items. Open daily 8am, year-round.

570 Brevard Rd Meadow Market Browse goods and gifts from local makers and artisans with different vendors every week, you’ll find specialty items. Shop

for handmade jewelry, housewares, vintage goods, and crafts.

SU (10/15), 1pm, Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Hwy, Ste 200 Asheville Night Market Come explore dozens of vendors, great drinks, and tasty food.

SU (10/15), 6pm, The Odd, 1045 Haywood Rd

FESTIVALS & SPECIAL EVENTS Roll Up Herbal Bar A mobuke mocktail bar that specializes in garden-to-glass mockatils will be celebrating their opening with complimentary charcuterie, dessert bites, trivia, live music, and chances to win cool prices. See p62 WE (10/11), 3pm, Sunny Point Cafe Event Space, 9 State St StarTribe Ecstatic Dance with Liquid Bloom A collaborative music project dedicated to the fusion of world music and electronic elements. Drug and alcohol free, rain or shine.

FR (10/13), 6pm, Pack Square Park, 80 Court Plaza Fortune Favors the Smash Release that pent up rage by taking a sledge hammer to a decommissioned auto while listening to live music from Machine 13, Odd Squad, Slow

Stab and DJ Spit.

FR (10/13), 7pm, Fallout Art Space, 475 Fletcher Martin Rd, Alexander Freaky Friday Funktion w/Niles Prepare for high-energy bass and house music, live painting by Art of Kiki, local artist vendors and spooky vibes.

FR (10/13), 8pm, One World Brewing West, 520 Haywood Rd ReVIEWING 14: Black Mountain College International Conference This three-day conference will feature Keynote Speakers Brenda Danilowitz and Erica Warren. It’s open to the public and celebrates the opening of the museum’s exhibition Weaving at Black Mountain College: Anni Albers, Trude Guermonprez, and Their Students.

Visit avl.mx/d2d for the full conference schedule.

FR (10/13), 1pm, SA (10/14), SU (10/15), 9am, OLLI/Reuter Center, UNCA, 300 Campus View Rd Fall Native Plant Festival & Market An annual Fall Festival with local vendors, plants for sale, food, music and special speakers. Speakers feature Raven Sterling, Carrie Blair, Alan Smith and Preston Montague.

SA (10/14), 8:30am, Marshall Public Library, 1335 N. Main St, Marshall

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40th Mountain Glory Festival A small town celebration of Fall and the Glory of the Mountains with 150 crafts and food vendors. Enjoy local breweries and local entertainment for everyone. See p65 SA (10/14), 9am, Downtown Marion, Walk to End Alzheimer's: Buncombe County A walk to join the fight to end Alzheimer's disease. On walk day, participants honor those affected by Alzheimer's and aim to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer's care, support and research.

SA (10/14), 9am, Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Rd 2nd Lovely Asheville Annual Fall Festival This festival celebrates the natural beauty and the ecological preservation of nature and humanity in Asheville with live music, food, art, poetry, vendors and more. A fundraiser will also be held to benefit at-risk youth.

See p64 SA (10/14), 10am, SU (10/15), noon, 1 S Pack Square Park 55th Anniversary of the Carl Sandburg Home A celebration of 55 years with music and free tours at the Carl Sandburg Home. Tour tickets will only be available in person on a first come, first served basis on the day of the tour.

SA (10/14), 10am, Carl Sandburg Home NHS, 1800 Little River Rd, Flat Rock 2nd Annual Fall-ing w/ Families Fall Festival With food trucks, vendors, bounce houses, games, vendors, live entertainment and more.

SA (10/14), 11am, Martin Luther King Jr Park, 50 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr Pups & Pints Attendees can bring their four-legged friends for a paw-some good time with complimentary pet portraits, pet caricatures, live music, dog-friendly vendors and more.

Plus, enjoy beers by Archetype Brewing and WagBar. SA (10/14), 11am, Pack Square Parking Garage - Top Level, 26 Biltmore Ave 7th annual Cedar Cliffs Classic Tournament of Bands Enjoy food, face painting, hot cocoa, sweets, and fantastic marching band performances at this family-friendly

community event.

SA (10/14), 11:30am, AC Reynolds High School, 1 Rocket Dr InnovationFest Celebrate 10 years of innovation with live music, motivational speakers, multicultural food trucks, DJs, dancing and more.

Everyone is welcome.

SA (10/14), noon, The Franklin School of Innovation, 21 Innovation Dr Burnpile 2023 Enjoy a full-day of music by Deer Tick, S.G. Goodman, and MJ Lenderman alongside a tasting experience from a lineup of 50+ of the best breweries in the country and much more.

SA (10/14), 1pm, Beer Co. Forestry Camp Taproom, 10 Shady Oak Dr 7th Anniversary Party w/Kid Billy Come on out for a day of pizza, beer, live music, free cake, prizes, a raffle and more. Live music by NC-based multi-instrumentalist and singer Kid Billy.

SA (10/14), 6pm, Mad Co. Brew House, 45 N Main St, Marshall The 11th Annual Haunted Trail An entirely immersive and interactive spooky night out while also ensuring no contact.

Asheville Plays creates a show with a unique perspective on Halloween fun with 15 live action scenes for guests to watch and enjoy.

FR (10/13), SA (10/14), 6pm, Adventure Center of Asheville, 85 Expo Dr Burial's Burnpile After Party w/MJ Lenderman & Pile After-party for Burial's Burnpile Festival with music from MJ Lenderman, a songwriter born and raised in Asheville. Piles will also be performing.

SA (10/14), 9pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave 55th Anniversary of the Carl Sandburg Home A celebration of 55 years with music and free tours at the Carl Sandburg Home. Tour tickets will only be available in person on a first come, first served basis on the day of the tour. The Gathering Dark will present Sandburg's Songbag, an exploration of Sandburg's musical legacy through stories, songs and poems.

SU (10/15), 10am, Carl Sandburg Home NHS, 1800 Little River Rd, Flat Rock

Eliada Fall Festival & Corn Maze Eliada's corn maze is back with corn cannons, lawn games, hay rides, slides, custom-designed corn maze and more.

One-hundred percent of proceeds will benefit the children of Eliada to aid in their growth and success.

FR (10/13), 3pm, SA (10/14), 9am, SU (10/15), 10am, Eliada Corn Maze, 49 Compton Dr WNC Parade of Homes Explore cutting-edge designs and connect with talented building professionals in Asheville. No tickets required, just visit avl.mx/d1p for directions and tour information.

SA (10/14), SU (10/15), 11am, Multiple Locations, Citywide Fall Festival An annual Fall Festival with games, pumpkin painting, campfire, popcorn and more.

This family friendly event is free and open to all in the community.

SU (10/15), 3pm, First Baptist Church of Black Mountain, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain LEAF Global Arts Festival Explore indigenous art and culture as we celebrate Legends of Americas; experience live music, dance, performance arts, healing arts workshops and practitioners, the longest continually running poetry slam in the world, kids adventures and workshops, mountain drum circle and more.

TH (10/19), Lake Eden Retreat, 377 Lake Eden Rd, Black Mountain Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands Over 200 juried artisans featuring a variety of American craft ranging from contemporary to traditional works of clay, wood, metal, glass, fiber, natural materials, paper, leather, mixed media and jewelry.

TH (10/19), 10am, Harrah's Cherokee Center, 87 Haywood St

BENEFITS & VOLUNTEERING River Cane Work Days Focusing on removing Kudzu from river cane stands along the Wilma Dykeman Greenway in the River Arts District.

No experience needed.

Please sign up at avl.mx/d26.

TH (10/12), 10am, River Cane, 8 River Arts Pl

Trains & Trade That Made America Oktoberfest Oktoberfest and Pysanky fundraiser for Ukraine at this exhibit of original watercolors by artist Nadine Charlsen.

One-hundred percent of donations will be in support of Ukraine.

Live music by Chris Wilhelm.

TH (10/12), 5pm, The Wedge at Foundation, 5 Foundy St Stand Up For Veterans A benefit fundraiser for the Veterans Healing Farm. The evening will include music by unpaid Bill and the Bad Czechs, the Lads of AVL and stand-up comedians from Slice of Life Comedy.

FR (10/13), 5pm, Point Lookout Vineyards, 408 Appleola Rd, Hendersonville Rooted Gala A beneift for the Christine W. Avery Learning Center, with Buncombe County Commissioner Jasmine Beech Ferrrar, author Jaha Avery and the Westsound Band.

FR (10/13), 7pm, plēb urban winery, 289 Lyman St Gift of Life: A Benefit to Find a Kidney for Josh Michael A Benefit Concert to find a kidney for Star 104.3 Morning Show host Josh Michae.

Josh needs an O+ Kidney. All profits from ticket sales will be donated to the National Kidney Foundation.

SA (10/14), 2pm, Silverados, 2898 US-70, Black Mountain, NC Shane & Shane w/Willie & Korie Robertson 100th anniversary celebration with live performances by Shane and Shane, & Willie and Korie Robertson. Dinner will be available for purchase and this event will benefit the Black Mountain Home for Children.

SA (10/14), 3pm, Black Mountain Home for Children, 80 Lake Eden Rd, Black Mountain I Am What I Am: A One Woman Drag Origin Story A theatrical experience with live singing, enchanting narrative, and a unique exploration of Divine’s origin story. This production serves as a fundraiser for the ACLU’s Drag Defense Fund.

WE (10/11), 7:30pm, New Belgium Brewing Co., 21 Craven St

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WELLNESS

Fitting in

Asheville’s bra shops offer support for all occasions

BY JESSICA WAKEMAN jwakeman@mountainx.com Breasts mean different things to different people, according to sexual health counselor Aleece Fosnight, founder of Fosnight Center for Sexual Health.

Breasts can nourish children. They can provide pleasure for oneself and others. Some people love their breasts.

Some feel their breasts are a back pain-inducing nuisance, while others find their breasts don’t align with their gender identity. Some people have them removed in lifesaving surgeries.

Some people want their breasts to be larger or smaller, or they don’t want breasts at all.

Breasts can take on a lot of meaning and become important to self-image and identity. The women who own several boutiques selling undergarments in Asheville know the search for the right bra can be a fraught experience (as many who’ve experienced a meltdown in the dressing room can attest). They spoke with Xpress about the supportive garments they sell for diverse needs and how they make sure everyone has a bra that fits.

BE YOURSELF Upon entering VaVaVooom, customers are greeted with sex toys and kinky implements. But the downtown Asheville business is more than a sex toy shop. Toward the back of the boutique are racks of bras, lingerie and other undergarments for all genders.

“Everyone wants to feel wonderful and beautiful,” explains owner Lisa Genevieve Ziemer.

VaVaVooom sells bras and lingerie items for feminine bodies, ranging

SISTERHOOD OF SUPPORT: Hello, Gorgeous! co-owners Michelle Nailen, second from left, and Kim Broshar, far right, donated 500 “gently loved” bras to Lynn Harmon, far left, donations volunteer for Helpmate, and Pam King, second from right, development director for Helpmate. Photo courtesy of Maggie Slocumb from the classic virgin-white honeymoon sets to vintage-style corsets to bondage-style leather gear. The boutique also carries an Italian lingerie line for masculine bodies called Menagerie, which makes silk briefs, lace boxer shorts and lace thongs — the latter, she says, is the most popular item among men in the store.

VaVaVooom also carries burlesque accessories, including corsets and pasties, which cover the performers’ nipples. (Ziemer also tries to carry products for drag performers, noting she has access to shoes up to size 14, as well as larger sizes in legwear and body stockings for all genders.)

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Ziemer is intentional about the language she uses to discuss garment sizes. Instead of the industry standard “plus size” or “queen size,” she uses the term “luscious size” for larger fits “because it’s more [suggestive of] how a woman feels in her own body,” she says. “I think it’s a much kinder word.”

She shows Xpress a sexy, peacock feather-patterned bodysuit from the size-inclusive brand Thistle & Spire.

“We can’t keep it in stock,” she exclaims. It’s available up to size 3X (also known as 26-28), and she says that range has attracted customers.

Ziemer appreciates that the lingerie industry is being more inclusive of all

sizes and genders than it was when she opened VaVaVooom 15 years ago.

“When I first started, it was very, very hard to find any luscious-size-lingerie.”

FOR BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS Pink Regalia, which has shops in Asheville and Waynesville, specializes in bras for people who have undergone mastectomies, lumpectomies and breast reconstruction. These bras are worn as post-surgical prostheses and are classified as durable medical equipment, or DREs, by Medicaid, Medicare and insurers.

therapy, stretching, and the integration and gift of Esalen Marissa Gross NCLMBT 12281 point massage in her healing. Gross strives to create an environment

Marissa Gross did not follow the road most traveled to get into the world of massage.

After studying kinesiology and sports medicine at The Ohio State University, she also earned a BFA in Fine Art Photography, and finally a master’s degree in psychology in 2010. Marissa owned an Art Gallery in the outer banks of North Carolina, simultaneously practicing as an NCLMBT, and now calls Asheville her permanent home.

Marissa’s belief in the mind-body connection, mental health, and wellness in general, has guided her career. Studying under Robin Fann-Costanzo and Corey Costanzo led her to becoming a certified Esalen Practitioner. The Esalen modality is the perfect combination of mind-body, all encompassing, trauma-based work that connected her to her former teachings and guided her path forward.

At Asheville Centered Integrative Massage, Marissa welcomes all clients who seek specific musculoskeletal work, or simply relaxation and peace of mind. She applies a combination of trigger

of calm, safety, and solace. She also weaves her study of sports medicine into her practice with each client. She is a long-distance runner herself, and has completed over 14 marathons, including two Boston Marathons.

Asheville Centered Integrative Massage is located at 24 Sardis Rd. Unit F , Asheville, NC 28806. (Inside of Asheville Integrative Acupunture on the second floor.) View our hours and booking availibilty at: avlcenteredintegrativemassage.square.site.

Feel free to contact us at avlcenteredmassage@gmail and or Instagram @ avlcenteredmassage with any questions.

GENEROUS HEART: In addition to selling bras for women who have had all or part of their breast tissue removed, Stephany Semones, owner of Pink Regalia, says she also has a donation closet with free items. “We’re not letting somebody leave without something they need,” she says. Photo courtesy of Semones But Pink Regalia’s owner, Stephany Semones, didn’t want her shop to feel like a dreary, clinical medical-supply store. “I wanted to create a boutique that was for women who had breast cancer, but felt like you were shopping at a regular store,” she explains. “I wanted a beautiful shop where women felt safe.”

Semones and her staff are certified as mastectomy fitters, meaning they can fit and adjust bras and related supplies after a mastectomy, lumpec-

tomy or breast reconstruction. They’re trained in the practical skill of fitting women at this vulnerable moment, which requires emotional sensitivity.

Fosnight, the sexual health counselor, says a top concern of patients who have breast tissue removed is the aesthetics of their postoperative chests. She recalls tough conversations where women voice worries such

CONTINUES ON PAGE 48

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS •

Be courageous

MARLENE MECHANIC & ASHLEY KUPER Owners and operators of East Acupuncture Wellness Boutique Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

Kuper: The biggest piece of advice I would give is to put your energy into your community. Focus on like-minded businesses and help raise them up, and in return your businesses success will follow.

How do you feel women in leadership experience their roles differently today than they may have in the past?

I actually believe that we still have a long way to go regarding

how women leaders are seen and treated in the workforce. We have to constantly reflect on how we come across so as to not be “too much” of anything. One of the differences today is that perhaps there are more of us in leadership positions, and women are harder to ignore because we are more rooted in our worth.

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

We have memorable experiences every day at East Acupuncture Wellness Boutique. We have the honor of witnessing our community show up for themselves. We have manifested a community of mutual trust, respect and love that ripples into our personal lives, our family lives and so on. We have learned just how courageous our community is.

Diving into your physical, emotional and spiritual health takes courage, and we are thankful to have the opportunity to be a part of it. We receive the constant reminder that we need to be courageous in our work and in our purpose. X

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OCT. 11-17, 2023

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A pelvic and sexual health clinic exclusively for men!

WELLN ESS

Common conditions we treat: • Persistent pelvic pain • Sexual pain • Urinary urgency and frequency • Urinary and fecal incontinence • Constipation • Post-prostate cancer continence and sexual health • Erectile dysfunction We are a holistic interdisciplinary team that gives men the opportunity to address their most intimate concerns with a healthcare connection that leaves them feeling seen, valued, and heard. Our practice bridges pelvic, sexual, mental and nutritional health to offer men the most comprehensive approach. We blend compassionate, comprehensive, and person-centered care with up-to-date, evidence based therapeutic treatments. Learn more at drsusieg.com.

Meet the Founder:

Dr. Susie Gronski, PT, DPT founded this one-of-a-kind clinic because she saw a significant gap in pelvic floor therapy services available to men. With her deep understanding of the importance of trust and open communication in healthcare, she envisioned a space where men could openly discuss their pelvic and sexual health concerns, free from shame or embarrassment.

56 Central Avenue, Suite 103 dr.susieg

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(828) 545-2996 drsusieg.com DrSusieGronski

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SIZE INCLUSIVE: VaVaVooom owner Lisa Genevieve Ziemer prefers to use the term “luscious size” rather than plus size. Her shop sells bras, lingerie, burlesque and drag products, and legwear, like fishnets, in luscious sizes. Photo

by Jessica Wakeman as “I’m going to look ugly,” “I’m not a woman anymore,” or “Who am I now?” She underscores to all patients that “we are defined by more than our body parts,” she says. Still, Fosnight acknowledges that filling out and wearing bras post-operatively can be significant for the confidence of breast cancer survivors adjusting to the changes in their bodies.

Pink Regalia sells mastectomy bras for regular daywear as well as activewear; many have zippers in the front or Velcro straps for ease of removal when the chest and underarm area are healing after surgeries. The shop also sells drain pouches for the medical devices some women need to wear after surgery, which are fitted inside tank tops or T-shirts (also sold there).

Breast forms are also within Pink Regalia’s inventory. These are prostheses “made to mimic the volume of breast tissue that has been lost or moved,” and can be used by people who don’t want surgical reconstruction, says Semones. Made from silicone or foam, they come in various sizes, weights and shapes.

Some women complain that breast forms trap heat against their body and feel uncomfortable, Semones notes.

But Pink Regalia sells newer breast forms with cooling properties, and the pocketed bras sold to wear with them are made with cooling fabrics as well.

Semones and her two store managers also assist women in filing insurance claims for their postoperative supplies. “We want ladies to know that [these items] are covered through your insurance,” she says. “It helps to know that with all the medical expenses that you’re having when you’re going

through treatment, this is not one to add to that.”

Pink Regalia also sells bras women need for other life passages: nursing bras, pumping bras and maternity bras.

SIZE MATTERS After working in education for decades, friends Kim Broshar and Michelle Nailen pivoted to opening a lingerie shop in Woodfin. Hello Gorgeous! is dedicated to professionally fitting women in the right bras.

“Across the board, most women don’t really know how a bra should fit,” Nailen explains. Their inclusive size inventory ranges from 28-44, with cups from A to L, according to their website. Elomi, one of the brands they carry, is made for curvier bodies, and the brand Evelyn & Bobbie is also known for inclusive sizing.

Hello, Gorgeous! has a charitable arm as well. Nearly three years ago, the shop began collecting “gently loved” bras from customers, Nailen explains, which they laundered and tidied up. Last month Hello, Gorgeous! donated 500 of these gently used bras to Helpmate, a shelter for people leaving intimate-partner violence. The nonprofit says it’s an extraordinarily useful donation for the population they serve.

“Folks are often having to rebuild their lives from scratch [after making] the choice to flee for their physical safety,” program director Maggie Slocumb tells Xpress. “Knowing that we have that cache of bras in our clothing closet is such a relief.” X

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What Would You Do Without Neuropathy Pain Several years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemotherapy treatments. I'm now in remission and have felt blessed to be here except for so much pain. My feet and hands were constantly burning – a tingling sensation, almost like when your leg is falling asleep," shares Barbara of Biltmore Forest.

Barbara was suffering from Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy or CIPN. While chemo kills cancer cells, it also causes much bodily damage. Nerves, especially those far from the brain, are among the first to be harmed. 30-40% of cancer patients treated with chemotherapy experience peripheral neuropathy.

"Standing all day was not just a challenge, and it caused me physical agony. Keeping up with my busy schedule – forget about it. I couldn't even go for walks in my neighborhood."

Barbara, like so many others, was prescribed Gabapentin help with the pain and told there was nothing anyone could do. In Doctors’ words, 'there is no treatment for neuropathy.'

Then Barbara found Dr. Autum Kirgan, DACM, C.SMA, L.Ac of South Slope Acupuncture & Wellness. By blending the time–tested science of acupuncture with more modern medical technology, Dr. Kirgan has designed a natural solution for peripheral neuropathy.

"Acupuncture is incredible at restoring blood flow and stimulating damaged nerves, preventing them from dying off," says Dr. Kirgan. "We take our treatments a step further by integrating FSM Therapy which targets specific nerves in the body using microcurrent. FSM Therapy is like watering a plant. This treatment will stimulate the blood vessels to grow back around the peripheral nerves and provide them with proper nutrients to heal and repair.

After only four weeks of treatment, Barbara is already seeing incredible improvement. "I've taken the handicap placard off my rearview mirror and I am finally back to walking my neighborhood. I can't wait to see how I feel at the end of my program! I used to think that this pain was just the price I had to pay for still being alive. Dr. Kirgan has really given me hope for a better life!"

The number of treatments needed to allow nerves to recover fully will vary from person to person and can only be estimated after a detailed neurological and vascular evaluation. If you or someone you love suffers from peripheral neuropathy (of any origin), call 828-575-5904 to schedule a consultation with Dr. Kirgan and her South Slope Acupuncture & Wellness team.

They are waiting for your call.

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Empowering Women in Business and Massage Therapy Education

Hope DeVall

founder of the Western North Carolina School of Massage

wncsom.com 828-761-1553 707 Haywood Rd., Suite. 001, Asheville

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In the serene mountains of Western North Carolina, one woman is leaving an indelible mark on the world of massage therapy education. Meet Hope DeVall, the passionate founder of the Western North Carolina School of Massage.

Hope has been a licensed massage therapist in North Carolina since 2010. She was first introduced to her craft in the Dominican Republic, where she absorbed diverse techniques and perspectives that would later shape her approach to teaching.

Hope's journey didn't stop at massage therapy; she is also a certified yoga teacher, blending the wisdom of both practices to promote holistic well-being. Her firm belief in the importance of presence in practice has been her guiding principle throughout her career.

In 2012, Hope DeVall took a significant step in her journey by founding the Western North Carolina School of Massage. Her vision was simple yet profound: to provide a platform where aspiring massage therapists could receive top-notch education rooted in mindfulness and compassion. She designed a program that walks the delicate balance of Art and Science required for any massage practitioner. Her commitment to creating a growth-focused learning environment has set the WNC School of Massage apart, attracting students eager to follow in her footsteps.

But Hope's impact extends far beyond the walls of her school. She has been sharing her knowledge and expertise with licensed massage therapists across the country by teaching continuing education courses. Her dedication to enhancing the skills of fellow practitioners has made her a leading voice in massage therapy education on a national scale. She has received multiple awards for the massage program design, and individually as an educator.

What truly sets Hope DeVall apart is her hands-on involvement in shaping the curriculum of the Western North Carolina School of Massage. Her expertise and insights have been instrumental in designing and writing a comprehensive 600-hour entry-level massage therapy diploma program. This program not only equips students with essential massage therapy skills but also offers a 100-hour specialty certificate in clinical neuromuscular therapy—a testament to Hope's commitment to providing a well-rounded education and the technical skills required to be an excellent massage professional.

Furthermore, Hope DeVall has championed an advanced specialty program for Hospital-based massage, highlighting the versatility of massage therapy in various healthcare settings.

Beyond her educational endeavors, Hope is deeply committed to her community. She is actively involved in several local nonprofit organizations (centered around equity and accessibility), channeling her passion for healing and wellness into projects that benefit those in need.

In a world where women continue to break barriers in the business world, Hope’s story is a testament to the power of passion, expertise, and dedication. Her journey from a licensed massage therapist to an influential educator and community leader has been nothing short of extraordinary. Hope DeVall's legacy is one of empowerment, compassion, and the unwavering belief that the healing power of touch can change lives.

As we celebrate the achievements of women in business, Hope DeVall stands out as a shining example of what can be achieved when one follows their heart and shares their knowledge for the betterment of others. Her work in massage therapy education is not only shaping careers but also transforming the way we perceive the healing potential of touch. Hope DeVall is a true inspiration to women in business and a driving force behind the future of massage therapy education.

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45 Asheland Ave. Suite 103, Asheville NC 28801 Aging Backwards I had back pain for most of my life and as I aged, I constantly needed to consider just what I could do and how far I could even walk. I was sedentary, putting on weight and unhappy, but I didn’t know what to do to change this downward slide.

At 57 years old, I was drawn to take a workshop that turned out to be an introduction to the Kaiut Yoga Method, which I had never heard of before. Afterwards, I felt unbelievably good! Not cured, but better and hopeful.

Now with over 5 years of consistent practice, I know that I am aging backwards every day. At 62 years old, I feel better than I ever did in my 30s! I can only imagine that without this practice, I would still be on a downward slide into more and more chronic pain and disability.

I never thought that I would teach yoga but inspired by this approach and the amazing changes in my own body, teaching has become my life’s next chapter. In the four years that I have been teaching this longevity focused practice, I have witnessed remarkable changes in my students.

Yoga is a quest for our best version in the future. If you refuse to accept that getting old is a sentence of inevitable decline, I invite you to join me for a class. Let me help you to shift your path of aging!

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ARTS & CULTURE

Sisters of spin Female DJs find strength in numbers

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com Molly Kummerle didn’t set out to be a DJ. But the more she reflects on her journey to becoming DJ Molly Parti, the more it feels like destiny.

While fronting the Asheville-based trip-hop band Paper Tiger in 2010, the frequent need for an opening act prompted her to learn the trade. And as word got out that she was DJing, offers to perform started stacking up.

At that time, she notes, there were not a lot of local female DJs, outside of herself and Candice B. But even without many female role models, Kummerle felt inspired by the new and creative ways to explore music that singing and playing traditional instruments didn’t offer.

“It felt like I could bring together all of my background and influences as a kid growing up in St. Croix with steel drums and calypso to the kid [I became] living in Western North Carolina playing trombone in marching band [to] the 20-something who discovered acid jazz, along with my love for Motown, soul music, hip-hop and funk,” she says. “As a DJ, all of this finally made sense. I’m still fascinated and inspired by mixing genres in unexpected ways and also by turning people on to new music.”

And local fans have responded. A year after she turned the art form into a full-time career, Kummerle earned second-place for “DJ (Nonradio)” in the 2023 Best of WNC readers’ poll — her first time placing in the category.

Despite this recognition and success, Kummerle says she still deals with

FELINE INTUITION: Annelise Kopp, aka DJ Lil Meow Meow, has become one of Asheville’s most beloved DJs over the past decade. Photo by Chelsea Lane Photography everything from sexist pay scales to people doubting her technical skills.

“I’ll show up [at a gig] with my Rock N Roller cart and all my stuff, and people will be like, ‘Oh, are you going to set that all up by yourself?’

And I’m like, ‘No, I have a gnome that follows me around and does it for me,’” she says. “I don’t know if they do that because I’m a woman but I’m like, ‘Uh, yeah.’”

While these outdated politics subsist, a supportive professional community in Asheville and lowered

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Weaving Rainbows is both a Native Art gallery and a Community Healing Sanctuary. Our commitment for the space and project is ecological empowerment and uplifting art, beauty, cultural thrival and human togetherness.

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barriers to entry via technological advances have helped grow the number of local women in the field.

And though Kummerle says those statistics could and should be higher, when a given show’s set builds to peak energy and the crowd responds in kind, more than one victory has occurred.

STARTING THE PARTY Though Kummerle’s mostly selftaught, she says local male DJs Marley Carroll and Oso Rey were inclusive and helpful as she found her footing. And within a few years, the number of female colleagues began to increase.

Annelise Kopp, aka DJ Lil Meow Meow, stepped onto the scene with a number of one-off gigs in the early 2010s. Then in 2015, she and DJ Rachel Thorn began co-hosting Cherry Bomb, a monthly lesbian dance party at The Underground behind O. Henry’s. While that residency has since ceased, Kopp currently hosts a monthly themed dance party at Little Jumbo and performs at numerous other local venues.

“I’ve been accumulating records and dreaming up mixes and sets for

as long as I can remember, but having a monthly late night [gig] really felt like the turning point — and also when the name Meow Meow was born,” says Kopp, who finished first in this year’s Best of WNC poll for the second consecutive year. “I was lucky that it was such a fun and supportive crowd.”

In 2016, a year after Cherry Bomb launched, Honey Simone, aka DJ Honey, began dabbling in the craft.

At the time, her then-boyfriend was a DJ in town. Her two uncles had also been Black queer DJs in Chicago and New York City in the ’80s. She says what ultimately propelled her forward was a desire to see more women in the scene.

Simone quickly found support and guidance from Kopp and was also mentored by DJs Mesy and Zoti, who helped Simone get some of her first gigs. She feels that Asheville’s scene is easier to navigate than most because it’s not oversaturated and is more welcoming, unlike other cities she’s played — including Nashville, Tenn., which she describes as “still very much a boys club.”

She believes her fearless personality has also helped. “I have never been intimidated about walking into a room, mostly because I am a Black

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS •

Change is good

MELISSA MOSS Local artist and owner of Melissa Moss Art studio

FAMILY BUSINESS: Honey Simone, aka DJ Honey, carries on the tradition set forth by her gay uncles, who DJ’d in Chicago and NYC in the ’80s. Photo by Momentary Lapse Studio queer female DJ,” Simone says.

“There are so many other obstacles that I face on the daily, so trying to get a gig wasn’t as scary to me. And I also understand the reality of you’re not going to get everything you ask for, but that doesn’t stop you from moving forward.”

THE RECORD SKIPS While the number of Asheville-area females have steadily grown, challenges nevertheless persist. Simone notes that the pay gap between sexes extends across all industries, including music. But she says she’s gotten better over the years at asking for rates that she deserves.

Kummerle notes similar experiences. When she recently turned down an event she’d previously played at, the venue offered the gig to a male colleague. The two later discussed their rates, and she discovered his pay far exceeded what she’d earned. “He mentioned that he hadn’t really thought about the pay inequality until then,” she says.

Kummerle believes that women in her industry experience this and other challenges due to an underlying lack of respect for female intelligence as professionals.

“I think people don’t expect women to be good businesspeople,” Kummerle says. “They think I don’t know what I’m doing or I’m not going

to have a contract or we’re just going do this as friends. And I’m like, ‘No, we’re gonna go through the whole process because this is a business.’”

Simone has faced similar issues and notes many other female DJs in town do, too. They all work hard on their craft, Simone says, preparing carefully curated sets days before a show. But that effort and intention can be lost on attendees because of the DJ’s sex, resulting in disparaging actions.

“Sometimes people will come up before you can get 30 minutes in your sets, making a request,” Simone says. “I know you wouldn’t do this if I was a guy. I’m playing a set — I am the DJ that got hired to play a set at this club.”

Kummerle echoes Simone’s frustration, noting moments where “people walk in and come straight to you wanting to change what you’re doing before they even know what you’re doing.”

She adds that it’s always polite to ask if a DJ is taking requests before making one. Tipping is also good form. But even at private parties or weddings, where she takes advance and in-person requests, she still has to use her professional judgment on when to play a request or whether it’s appropriate for the event.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 54

Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

Moss: I think time management is a struggle for any small-business owner. You never feel like you can take time off because everything depends on you. I wish that someone had made me feel OK about taking time off for me. Burnout is real, especially in a creative business, and it’s really important to continue to love what you do.

How do you feel women in leadership experience their

roles differently today than they may have in the past?

I’ve been in the art business for over 20 years and have definitely noticed a change in the way women are perceived and treated. When I first started shopping my art around, I was told by a male gallery owner that I would never be able to show in a gallery without an MFA, which was wrong, of course. I just can’t see that happening today. “Womenowned” is something customers seek out now.

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

Last year, I moved out of my basement studio in my house into a studio in the River Arts District, a huge leap for me. It was scary at first, and I was out of my element, but now I love being a part of this artist community and interacting with customers. Change is good. X

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A R TS & CU LTU R E

GROOVE SEEKER: Molly Kummerle, aka DJ Molly Parti, has found her niche playing events and performing on Twitch. Photo courtesy of the artist

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“Music is a powerful tool, and as DJs we are responsible for taking people on a smooth journey. So sometimes I don’t play a request right away because it would be too abrupt to go in a straight line,” Kummerle explains. “I say, ‘Trust the DJ’ — there’s a reason they got hired.”

Even getting a decent gig, however, remains elusive for many women in the industry. Kopp stresses that any conversation about the challenges women face must acknowledge the experiences of nonbinary and trans DJs in the industry.

“There are a lot of precedents set regarding who has access, what they are allowed to play and how entitled crowds act,” Kopp says.

“Gatekeeping, unsolicited feedback, objectification — these are things we’re all up against.”

The key to overcoming these challenges, she adds, is working with venues and bars with supportive and forward-thinking staff and trying to cultivate different types of spaces. She feels fortunate to work with “really wonderful people in this town” — and that includes Simone’s Different Wrld, which has become a haven for the LGBTQ+ community.

But despite the growing number of ally venues, the late office hours that DJs keep bring its own potential concerns with crime as artists lug gear back to their vehicles, often after nearly everyone has left the club.

While Kummerle and Simone rarely perform deep into the night, they acknowledge the increased risks of assault and theft at night. And while Kopp is no stranger to coming home at 2 a.m. after multiple sets a week, she credits strength in numbers and says those same responsible venue

owners buoy her confidence in operating late into the night.

“I try to stay aware of my surroundings like anyone else, but I’ve never felt unsafe, and that’s largely because of the amazing community around me,” Kopp says. “We look out for each other.”

DISTINCT MIX The type of support Kopp spotlights is also at play in encouraging other local women DJs to join and grow the scene. Kopp notes that the prevalence of and access to digital DJing has lowered some of the barriers to entry that historically kept DJing somewhat of an elitist pursuit.

And while starting out can still prove cost-prohibitive, there are far more entry points into the field.

“I think it’s important to get instruments and tools into new hands — I mean, that’s the CliffsNotes story of how techno was born in Detroit,” she says. “Also, I think there is simply excitement around hearing music from different perspectives in a scene that has been overcrowded by white men.”

While Kummerle stays busy as an event DJ, she’s also found success on the livestream platform Twitch.

The online performances diversify her income stream but also provide artistic freedom and interaction with another diverse community.

“There’s something about the platform that really leads to collaboration,” Kummerle says. “I’ve had a lot of people help me with technology because it’s a lot to learn. And I’ve in turn helped a lot of other people.”

Kummerle also feels that the number of women who feel inspired to

try DJing after seeing other women doing it has greatly contributed to the growing numbers. And Simone adds that people’s desire to see others who look like them behind the boards has helped boost minority DJ numbers and that the simple need for people to release pain and trauma through movement has elevated figures overall.

“With all the tensions that we’ve experienced, especially in the past couple years, I see so much more dancing,” Simone says. “It’s a known thing — anywhere in the world that’s going through political and cultural stress, the dancing is going to explode.”

COLLECTIVE CRATE-DIGGING All three women are also committed to sustaining momentum by sharing their knowledge with other female DJs. Though mentorship so far remains informal, they’re available to answer questions and far prefer collaboration over competition.

“There are so many different kinds of DJs doing so many different

things that even if we all have the same tracks — which we do — we’re not going to spin them the same,” Kummerle says. “We’re not going to put them with the same other track.

It’s still such a creative profession to be in.”

As such, she, Kopp and Simone encourage young and upcoming female DJs to be true to themselves as well as their musical interests and unique visions. They also remind fledgling DJs to remember that their individual style won’t be — and shouldn’t be — for everyone. But if they stay true to themselves as well as their musical interests, they will find their audience.

“Go for it,” Kopp says. “If you are a woman, trans, nonbinary or otherwise marginalized by the music industry, definitely do it. I think there are a lot of people out here, including myself, who would be excited to support you.”

Kummerle adds that it’s important for aspiring women in the industry to set boundaries and establish their value. She notes that it took hiring a business coach for her to

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS •

Validation will come

ŠARA STRANOVSKY Director and owner of Bilingual Birdies Asheville Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

Stranovsky: Businesses require unbelievable amounts of admin work! Mostly kidding. I wish people had reminded me that you have to constantly believe in what you are doing because you will have doubts. I work with toddlers, new parents and schools, so people are often too busy to shower you with compliments. Focus on the quality and mission of your work, and validation will come.

How do you feel women in leadership experience their roles differently today than they may have in the past?

Women today are raising the bar higher and higher when

we weren’t even in the game in the past. I don’t think leaders “experience roles” because that sounds passive. Leaders, especially women, are creating their own hybrid roles and not merely fitting themselves into existing positions. I’m trying to do it all as a mom, business owner, artist, performer and educator, and I’m driven by that modern entrepreneurial spirit.

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

A very shy child attended one of my community classes with her mother. The child was quiet and angry, but she would light up in class in very subtle ways that were not easily visible to her parents.

The people pleaser in me would have instantly given the family a refund when they wanted to quit. But I encouraged them to stick with it, and by the end of a week or two, this child triumphantly broke out of her shell, and the parents were grateful. I learned to trust in the education, research, experience and mission behind my personal teaching style and program. X

turn that corner. But doing so was a game-changer.

“Knowing your worth and just asking for it and then not apologizing for it — that kind of attitude is looked at as more male,” Kummerle says.

“Navigating in a space of confidence makes it a lot less stressful. But it’s a business, and if you’re going into it with that in mind, it makes boundaries a lot better to have and a lot clearer.”

For Simone, much of her worth within the industry stems from the connection she feels as a Black person to the history of DJing. She’s emboldened by parallels she sees between downtrodden individuals in early ’80s New York City and her Asheville contemporaries finding solace and release through dancing.

Grooving to a DJ’s work, she says, has the power to save folks.

“Seeing people sweating and dancing collectively — it doesn’t matter who you are, everyone’s just in that room to dance,” Simone says.

“I think that is some of the most powerful ways of revolution. It was revolutionary then, it continues to be revolutionary now, and I’m going do my part whenever I can to keep that going.” X

Producing new plays by local and emerging writers, here in Asheville's River Arts District What makes The Magnetic Theatre unique in the WNC Community? The Magnetic is the only theatre in WNC solely dedicated to producing new plays. We focus on the experience of writers and don't require submission through an agency. Our goal for our theatre to be exciting, equitable and accessible to new theatrical voices.

The Magnetic Theatre is a woman-led Artistic Directors: Katie Jones and Jessica Johnson company. How do you think this influences its day-to-day practices and values? As a woman-led company, we are highly collaborative in our approach. Our leadership style is to ask questions, to make decisions in community and to take multiple perspectives into account when creating programming and developing best practices. What should a newcomer expect when they visit The Magnetic Theatre? If you've never been to The Magnetic Theatre, you can expect an eclectic black box in the River Arts District, warm and friendly staff members to greet you, and a theatrical experience that pushes the envelope through theme, style and genre.

How did you end up as the leadership team of The Magnetic? Both of us had worked on a couple of projects at The Magnetic before being asked to join the leadership team. Katie's background is in directing and performing, and Jess's is in stage management and non-profit leadership. Over time, we realized we work very well together and decided that working together as Co-Artistic Directors made the most sense.

Describe a favorite project you’ve worked on at The Magnetic. Two years ago, we both got to work on a new play called It's The Most ________ Time of the Year. Written by local playwright Erin McCarson, this was a family holiday play with a very unconventional 20 minutes of silent action as the opening of the second act. It was thrilling to watch audiences take this in and really experience the tension along with the characters. That experience has led to more theatrical experimentation, because we've realized we can 375 Depot St., AVL trust our audiences to come on the ride with us!

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ARTS & C U L T U R E

VISUAL ART

Keeps on ticking

Renovated Phil Mechanic Studios primed for next chapter

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com Asheville-based painter and longtime Phil Mechanic Studios tenant Stephen Lange jokes about the building being the Millennium Falcon of the River Arts District.

“It’s the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy,” he says. “People come down here from New York City, Miami, Germany. And if they’re curious about art and they want to see something they’ve never seen before, we have the most awesome conversations.”

But while Lange has been called Han Solo over the years, he says he’s more like Chewbacca when it comes to metaphorically “knowing where to hit [the walls] to make the light come back on” and helping keep the historic Roberts Street building active.

Maintaining both reputations hasn’t been easy, especially with multiple ownership changes over Lange’s decade of working inside the building. But after surviving rampant uncertainty, the spot lovingly dubbed “the Phil” by its tenants and clientele is resembling its old self — albeit with some much-needed renovations over the past year.

Though it never officially closed during the COVID-19 pandemic or in the midst of upgrades, the Phil will hold a symbolic grand reopening celebration on Saturday, Oct. 14, to reintroduce the building and its new roster of artists. The date coincides with the River Arts District Artists’ Second Saturday series, which encourages the public to tour open studios and meet working creatives.

’CONTROL AND SPONTANEITY’

ARTISTIC ANCHORS: Painters Stephen Lange, left, and Rebecca Harnish have maintained residency in the Phil Mechanic Studios through ownership changes and renovations. Photo by Andy Hall ENDURING APPEAL In 2014, Lange began renting an upstairs studio space in the Phil.

Within a year, he moved to a firstfloor room and took on the role of property manager — a position he kept when the building was sold to Texas-based developer James Lifshutz in 2016.

Over the next few years, Lange sustained the building as a home for working artists. But his management position was phased out in 2019, shortly after the building sold to Phil Mechanic Building LLC. Within a

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housed Pearce-Young-Angel Co., a South Carolina-based food distribution business; the basement was where nearly frozen perishables were stored.

More recently, Harnish upgraded to a street-level studio. “It’s been a very special place to me as my very first art studio — the only one I could reasonably afford in Asheville at the time — and now somewhere I can show my work to the world,” Harnish says. “It’s always had a Wild West kind of vibe, full of some of the most creative and unique people in town, in my opinion.”

Part of that charm has been its grungy, industrial feel. But she adds that with that ambiance came plenty of broken windows, long-forgotten storage and a leaky roof.

“It definitely needed some attention and love, and I’m glad to see the building restored a bit,” Harnish says. “After heavy rains, multiple studios would have water leaking in.”

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year, the Phil was sold again to the Atlanta-based commercial real estate firm Hatteras Sky. By then only four tenants (all artists) remained.

Lange attributes the exodus to the LLC’s lack of vision for the Phil and the company’s unwillingness to offer long-term leases to artists. But this March, as construction on The Radical (a hotel in the RAD, which Hatteras Sky also owns) wound down, management began actively advertising the Phil to new tenants and offering yearlong terms.

Lange’s current suite 3C studio originally cost $600 per month on a month-to-month basis. As of August, he has a year lease with Hatteras Sky and pays $1,600 for it and suite 3D, which he uses for storage. Hatteras Sky manager Amy Michaelson Kelly notes that rents throughout the building vary. Lange’s units, she says, have good access to the street and are considered premium spaces.

But the increased rates haven’t scared him away; nor have they influenced fellow tenant and painter Rebecca Harnish. She’s worked in the Phil since 2019, beginning in a tucked-away downstairs studio in a space known as the “Cooler.”

The name, Harnish explains, pays homage to the building’s original owner. Opened in 1928, the site

According to Kelly, completed repairs to the Phil in 2023 include the following: a new roof and new windows across the front of the building; adding modular heating and air conditioning to almost all spaces; new lighting; improved Wi-Fi; new interior paint; security devices and upgraded locks for all spaces; adding common area furniture; and updated bathrooms.

“Right now, we are installing heating and air in the common spaces such that the entire usable area building is conditioned. This work should be completed this fall,” Kelly says.

Additional plans for 2024 include the launch of an Israeli restaurant on the first floor. Unlike recent construction, Kelly says, future renovations on the new eatery should not impede studios and businesses inside the Phil.

That’s good news for Harnish, who weathered a sharp dip in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of restrictions, Harnish focused on her online presence and found creative ways to interact with outdoor shoppers amid social distancing. She adds that offering accessible prices on prints and cards helped sustain sales and that the break from her usual routine proved beneficial for her creativity. “[My studio] was an absolute haven during the pandemic, somewhere I could escape from my home and feel safe in,” she says. “The heavy industrial refrigeration door that separated the ‘Cooler’ studios from the rest of the building made

FRESH PATHS: Artists Rebecca Harnish, left, and Stephen Lange are optimistic about the Phil Mechanic Studios’ future. Photo by Andy Hall the space feel like an impenetrable fortress. It was a time of incubation of ideas, and now those ideas get to see fruition and exhibition.”

While her work has long been inspired by her travels and hikes all over the U.S., lately Harnish has been increasingly fascinated by local landscapes, flora and fauna.

“The incredible lushness and biodiversity of the Appalachian Mountains is what drew me away from the West, and I find endless inspiration in the textures created by fields of wildflowers, dappled light filtering through layers of forest canopy and the depths of mountains receding into the dewy atmosphere,” she says. “I love using watercolor to capture nature, as [it’s] a medium that lends itself to both control and spontaneity.”

THE NEXT CHAPTER As of press time, Kelly says that of the 30 available spaces in the building, 28 are leased. Artists occupy all but four studios.

“We intend for this to remain a creative space for artist studios, gal-

leries and small businesses and to add a casual restaurant with elevated cuisine,” Kelly says. “These uses provide a great amenity for The Radical and the RAD in general.”

Harnish says she is thrilled to see its studios filling back up, even as lease rates become more in line with other studio spaces around Asheville.

“As more and more artists start renting space and showing again, it’s starting to feel like more of a community again — a blank canvas to be turned into something beautiful,” she says.

Lange believes it’s important for artists to keep working studios and be present rather than just display in a gallery and not be present when potential patrons view their work.

“The artist dealing direct with the person who’s going to buy a painting, it keeps the artist honest, it keeps them humble and lets them hopefully develop a relationship with the person that’s going to have their creation for the rest of your lives,” Lange says.

He adds that it’s specifically tourists from New York City who, upon spending a few minutes in his studio, remark that they miss getting to see

Early anxieties When Jolene and Mitch Mechanic inherited the former PearceYoung-Angel Co. building from Mitch’s father, Phil, in 1999, hundreds of meat hooks dangled from the ceilings of the bottom floor, and several of the rooms retained heavy refrigerator doors. The building was then gradually renovated into workable artist spaces beginning in 2000, and many tenants stayed thanks to the Mechanics’ fixed rent system.

A 2009 Xpress article about the then-bustling artists’ haven describes a place where “clay is thrown, paints mixed, glass blown, metal pounded [and] fabric stitched” each day. At the time, its bottom floor was home to Blue Ridge Biofuels’ processing plant, which relocated to its current New Leicester Highway location in 2015.

When the Mechanics sold the building in 2016 to Texas-based developer James Lifshutz, Xpress reported that many residents speculated that the building would be gutted and artists kicked out. Instead, rents were only slightly raised, and the building retained its ragged charms. X

and interact with the artist whose work is on display.

“I’m genuinely glad to take the distraction and talk to people that are visiting Asheville,” he says. “The conversations that I have with people that are simply curious, they’re very meaningful as well as deeply spiritual — and hilarious.”

Though neither artist has anything extravagant planned for the Oct. 14 reopening celebration — “snacks, drinks: pretty standard art opening stuff,” Lange says — both are optimistic about the impact that The Radical will have on their block of Roberts Street and the RAD overall.

Lange sees the hotel as the potential source of a steady stream of patrons and an improvement over the structure sitting empty, a sentiment with which Harnish agrees.

“It’s such a far cry from the decrepit-looking historical building that had so much potential being wasted. It’s really beautiful now,” she says. “For the Phil, it feels like the start of something special on our little corner of the RAD — which, to me, has always felt like a bit of an outlier. I think the hotel will have a very positive impact on the studios and artists working there.” X

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57

ARTS & C U L T U R E

LITERATURE

‘Leaps between images’

BY THOMAS CALDER tcalder@mountainx.com When local poet Tina Barr was 11 years old, her younger brother, Riggs, died of bone cancer. After his death, Tina’s mother gave her a hardcover copy of Robert Frost’s poems. Poetry has been part of her life ever since.

Today, the award-winning poet lives in Black Mountain “in a cabin on the side of the mountain with the bears, turkeys, copperheads and deer,” she says. Her poetry collections include The Gathering Eye

(2004), Kaleidoscope (2015) and Green Target (2018).

In this month’s poetry feature, Barr speaks with Xpress about her poem “Threat” and the inspiration behind it, as well as advice on writing and publishing.

What inspired this poem?

My book Green Target is centered on Black Mountain and the cabin which I share with my jazz composer husband. In the poem “Threat,” I mention a tiny copperhead. One day, driving along Route 70, where it meets Grovestone Road, I saw an Ingles supermarket truck which had been sheared in half by a railroad

Threat

by Tina Barr

Through crushed August grass a child’s gray shoelace tugs itself, its tiny pebble of a head triangular, a wedge, therefore venomous.

Laced through a sneaker’s eyelets, it nips a finger, a tiny prick. One worries in the mountains. Goldenrod seeds our heads with bites from some insect. Meanwhile upright red rod flowers burn for hummingbirds.

Portable shield on his back, a turtle labors, feels with splayed paws, shows off his orange splotched arms, leopard patterned, bright as marigold, as oranges bowled all along the railroad, where a supermarket truck, pulling across, got its back half sheared off.

Cop cars beetled up and down the road.

A boy on vacation by a lake said, “Let’s go in,” but my husband refused. The boy, and another who went after him, drowned. Each night of his childhood my husband dreamed it, woke just before dying. One’s death is the period that ends the sentence. In Cairo on the sidewalk men link arms, like paper dolls I cut as a kid. All at once a waterfall of bodies bows to Mecca.

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OCT. 11-17, 2023

Poet Tina Barr on the power of juxtapositions

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ACTIVE READER: “I love poetry that requires the engagement of the reader’s imagination,” says poet Tina Barr. “I like opaque language, rather than transparent language.” Photo courtesy of Barr car as it crossed the railroad track.

Oranges had spilled from the truck all over the roadside. Cop cars surrounded this wreck.

My poetry often works through juxtaposition, so I included my husband’s childhood experience of witnessing two boys drown, another kind of catastrophe. I visited Cairo for five years in a row, and I really did see dozens of men at prayer, bowing to Mecca. So the threats run from a tiny snake to accidents to women alone in Cairo, who could feel threatened unless they know exactly how to behave.

What is it about juxtaposition that appeals to you as a poet?

I love poetry that requires the engagement of the reader’s imagination. I like opaque language, rather than transparent language. I like indeterminacy and leaps between images, images that are the meaning.

So I like a poem which contains shifts from one idea to another that may not be obvious.

How do you go about both challenging and inviting new readers into your work?

I have been writing and publishing since the 1980s, and because I studied literature so deeply, I’m not your typical reader. I have an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts and a master’s and doctorate in literature from Temple University.

My allegiance has always been to the making of the poems as a literary art.

Not every reader is going to understand my poetry. I know my poetry can be challenging, and I hope that

readers find it valuable. But I can only be true to the work, and if that means some readers don’t understand my work, I accept that reality.

Let’s talk about your process.

Does it vary per poem, or do you go into a new piece with a similar approach as far as self-discipline, expectation and drafting?

When I first began writing, I’d write a draft onto a yellow legal pad and type it up. I might have 40 versions of a poem before it was finished. So many years later, I do much of the thinking or composing in my head.

An idea or story I might hear through a friend could be a trigger for a poem, and then I am aware of needing other elements, a B and a C, which might form a poem. I really am “amalgamating disparate experience,” as T.S. Eliot suggested.

So do you sit down and actively thinking about juxtapositions? Or have you developed that part of your brain’s muscle to where you kind of let the initial story/image/concept sit with you and trust that other elements will emerge?

I’ll hear a story and I might jot down some notes, or I’ll read something and it will lead to a connection.

But you articulate the process for me very well: Yes, I do let that part of my brain’s muscle contemplate, sometimes unconsciously, and the elements do emerge, a connection between elements that interest my imagination. And then I will sit down and work for a couple of hours, typing directly into my Word [processing] program on my computer, so I keep

• WOMEN IN BUSINESS • developing the poem at one sitting.

Then I’ll take it with me, put it in my purse, and then beside the bed and edit it over a day or two.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about young poets who may come across our monthly poetry feature. What advice would you offer them as it relates to the craft itself as well as getting one’s work out there?

I was lucky enough to have a real grounding in great literature. So my advice would be to give yourself that opportunity and read (in translation) Beowulf, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, James Joyce’s short stories, Wallace Stevens and William Carlos Williams.

When one does so, one learns some degree of humility. Find a poet whose work you love; for me, it is W.B. Yeats, Yusef Komunyakaa, Pattiann Rogers, Tom Hennen, William Wright, Alice Friman and Eleanor Wilner. Poetry is not about content; it is about language. Read books about craft, so as a writer you learn where poetry comes from, received forms, its choral origins.

Publishing is completely different from the making of a piece of writing.

Our egos lead us to want to publish, but if that is a writer’s only motivation, it will bring disappointment. I would

suggest going online and searching “best poetry journals” to discover more about how journals are ranked.

I would not begin by submitting to the toughest journals, since they get so many submissions. I’d begin in middle-ranked journals and submit to a dozen journals at a time, across a range of kinds of journals, some less competitive, to give yourself a chance at acceptance. And do read the kind of work they publish to see if your work is a good fit. Even smaller journals receive thousands upon thousands of submissions.

Is there a recent poetry collection from a Southern poet that you’re fond of or excited to read?

This isn’t a recent collection, but I love Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse

by Valerie Nieman, who now lives in South Carolina. And William Wright’s Grass Chapels: New & Selected Poems, published in 2021.

They are both terrific writers. I also love Keith Flynn’s The Skin of Meaning and Joseph Bathanti’s Light at the Seam.

Who are the four poets on your Mount Rushmore?

W.B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop and Yusef Komunyakaa. X

Ignore the naysayers

EMILY QUINN Owner of Revolve Xpress: What piece of advice do you wish you’d been told prior to launching your business?

Quinn: There are so many people who rooted for and supported this endeavor. Unfortunately, there were also a lot of naysayers and people who doubted my ability to pull this off. It’s easy to get caught up in the negatives — especially when you’re under so much pressure. My advice would be to follow your instincts and not to let the naysayers inflict self-doubt. If you put your mind to it and commit to the cause, you’ll figure it out.

How do you feel women in leadership experience their roles differently today than they may have in the past?

In the past, women didn’t have access to jobs like we do now; especially opportunities to become small-business owners. Today, though, we’re still fighting for income equality so that we don’t always have to be the ones to sacrifice our careers and identities to compensate for our society’s lack of universal child care.

What is your most memorable experience as a business owner, and what have you learned from it?

A little shindig we hosted on a Friday last spring. It was a performing arts celebration with featured artists, live comedy and a live musical performance. It felt like a dream come true to have all of my loves happening in the same place: community and live arts mixed with my obsession for clothing and knickknacks. It was the first time I actually saw the space’s potential for becoming an accessible community space for the arts, and it was such a surreal and awesome experience.

I’m continuing to offer curated performances in the space, such as future live music events, musical recordings via Secret Sounds, comedy and readings. X

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59

ARTS & CU L T U R E

LITERATURE

Download and listen Asheville’s literary podcast scene blossoms

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com “There are podcasts all over the place,” says Hendersonville-based poet Tony Robles. “For every type of interest or persuasion, you can find something.”

Including literary podcasts, which have begun to multiply in the Asheville area over the last year. In addition to Robles’ “Listen & Be Heard,” which he co-hosts with Greenville, S.C.-based poet Martha Cinader, local podcasts “PBL Pod” and “Rock Is Lit” offer diverse takes on the writing community and explore what motivates authors in their creative pursuits.

ORGANIC MATTER “PBL Pod” wasn’t something Rachel Hanson had on her mind when launching the nonprofit Punch Bucket Lit, which hosts a monthly reading series at rEvolve in West Asheville. But as the events became more popular, she saw an opportunity to give writers more space to talk about their work in detail, especially those who had or would go on to read in the series.

“There is a lot to love about our readings, and while I’m not opposed to Q&A sessions, it’s never been something I wanted at our series for multiple reasons,” Hanson says. “The podcast then, in a way, sort of replaces a Q&A session. Plus, it has a wide reach. If you can’t make a reading, listen to our podcast to hear authors read a bit and talk about their work.”

These conversations are published on a weekly basis and, due to scheduling conflicts among her four-person leadership team (which includes Xpress managing editor Thomas Calder), the bulk of the recent interviews have fallen to Hanson. While her goal is to dole out future hosting assignments across the squad, her current practice has helped Hanson hone her approach — one modeled in part after her all-time favorite podcast, “Doughboys,” in which comedians/ hosts Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger review fast food.

“I’m inspired by how they listen to their guests and ask follow-up questions — or, at the very least, acknowledge what the guest has just said,” Hanson says. “That’s kind of a pet 60

OCT. 11-17, 2023

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS: Rachel Hanson, left, interviews poet Evan Gray for an episode of “PBL Pod.” Photo by Thomas Calder peeve for me: hearing an interview where a question is asked, answered and then the host just moves on to the next question.”

One topic she’s less motivated to bring up in “PBL Pod” episodes is an author’s process. Though Hanson acknowledges that everyone has a different approach and it seems like a question audiences are interested in, she finds the topic less appealing. She attributes some of this sentiment to her profession. In addition to running Punch Bucket Lit, Hanson also teaches creative writing at UNC Asheville,

where she regularly discusses process with young writers.

“So, when I’m in conversation with another writer — as opposed to a writing student — I am personally more interested in the intention behind a project,” she says. “‘What’s the story about, the intention and why is it so important and crucial that a writer had to get it on the page?’ For me, that’s way more interesting than any ‘how to’ kind of stuff.”

Asheville-area and North Carolinabased writers remain high priorities for Punch Bucket Lit. But as the pod-

TALK THE TALK: Clockwise from left, “Rock is Lit” host Christy Alexander Hallberg and “Listen & Be Heard” co-hosts Martha Cinader and Tony Robles enhance the area’s literary podcast scene. Photos courtesy of the artists

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cast evolves, Hanson and her team are interested in expanding the show’s reach to include authors and poets from outside the region and state.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/cvz.

THAT’S MY JAM Local author Christy Alexander Hallberg began her podcasting career as a guest. In 2021, she appeared on numerous shows to promote her debut novel, Searching for Jimmy Page.

Later, Peter Ferioli, co-founder of Pantheon Podcasts, approached her about launching her own.

She considered the proposal and reflected on existing podcasts that explore the intersection of music and literature. “There are a ton of shows that focus on nonfiction music-related books — rock criticism, memoirs, biographies, etc. — and some of those shows do include the occasional rock novel like mine, but none of them are devoted to that subgenre of literature,” Hallberg says. “I pitched the idea of a podcast focused on rock novels ... and ‘Rock Is Lit’ was born.”

In September 2022, Hallberg hosted her first guest, author Jeff Jackson, who is also the singer of the Charlottebased punk band Julian Calendar.

Hallberg credits Jackson with introducing her to the rock-lit genre. Years before either her book or podcast came out, she interviewed him about his 2018 novel, Destroy All Monsters: The Last Rock Novel, for a print publication. During their exchange, Jackson listed off a series of other novels that explored the music industry such as Dana Spiotta’s Eat the Document; Janet Fitch’s Paint It Black; Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad; and Don DeLillo’s Great Jones Street.

Throughout the podcast’s initial run, episodes were published each week and, in addition to an author interview, featured a music expert such as supergroupie Pamela Des Barres (author of the memoir I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie) and Danny Goldberg, former president of Atlantic Records, who also previously managed Nirvana and served as vice president of Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song Records.

But for the second season, Hallberg scaled back to an every-other-week publishing schedule, occasionally with one guest instead of two. Over the past year, she says she’s grown more adept at audio editing and has also enhanced her research as the show’s audience has grown.

“My listeners include other writers, music lovers and bibliophiles, so I try to consider what they want to hear,” Hallberg says. “I ask questions about craft, literary and musical influences. ... I’m always interested in hearing a novel’s origin story — where the germ

of the idea that would become the novel came from and how it grew.”

To learn more, visit avl.mx/d11.

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS While “Rock Is Lit” and “PBL Pod” were born in WNC, the “Listen & Be Heard” podcast has had more of a nationwide journey on its way to launching in Asheville.

Show co-host Martha Cinader first launched “Listen & Be Heard” in the 1990s in New York City as an open mic reading series for poets and storytellers. She eventually relocated to California, where she and Tony Robles met during a reading event in Vallejo, Calif. In addition to a shared interest in literature, the two both had backgrounds in community radio.

Decades later, the pair reconnected after discovering they lived within an hour of each other. They soon met with Davyne Dial, general manager of Asheville’s WPVM. And in February, the “Listen & Be Heard” podcast launched.

“The goal is to both present writers from the Carolinas to the rest of the country and the world, and also to introduce the Carolinas to writers who we think Carolinians might want to

know about, and who might not be being presented in bigger, more commercial media,” Cinader says.

She and Robles publish episodes every Wednesday, and listeners can either tune in to WPVM, 3-5 p.m., or find episodes on the “Listen & Be Heard” website or wherever podcasts are found. The co-hosts strive to cover a range of genres, including nonfiction and children’s literature.

“I love talking to authors because they’re quirky and there’s all kinds of things going on. I like getting into their heads,” Robles says. “Each author is really coming from a unique place, and I try to narrow down what is important to the author, what they’re really trying to say, and then just talk to them about what made them write that book — what’s really important to them.”

In addition to discussing the work at hand, Cinader works in questions on craft, as well as the business of writing, looping in bookstore owners, literary agents and publicists to help inform writers on how to get published. She and Robles are also encouraged by the recent rise in local literary podcasts and see the potential for collaboration and cross-promotion with their peers.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/d10. X

I began Hidden River Events 16 years ago in an effort to create a wedding facility and events venue where people can feel as if they are “guests at their own event.” I took my passion for the land-especially the beautiful Swannanoa Valley--and combined it with my love of beauty and respect for all kinds of people in order to create a business that is both elegant and kind, even as it is efficient.

Creating such a business has renewed my faith in humanity and, in the case of weddings, has renewed my faith in love.

We have served amazing couples in these last 16 years. Please contact us if you wish to have a stress free and simply beautiful event.

Hidden River Events

P.O. Box 9636, Asheville, NC 28815 • 828-333-3401 hiddenriverevents@gmail.com • hiddenriverevents.com

RiddleFest 2023 is October 21st, 7-9pm at the Burnsville Town Center 6 South Main Street | 828-682-7209 Tickets $20 - Purchase at the door or online at Eventbrite.com Concert headliner JONTAVIOUS WILLIS

Free Seminar

Saturday, Oct. 21 at 3pm

Sponsors include:

Jontavious Willis explores regional variations of the blues. He will review the roots of the blues and demonstrate the regional variations of country blues, focusing on the Piedmont blues. Open to the public.

Sponsored by NC Humanities.

“Jontavious is a great new voice of the 21st century in the acoustic blues. I love the way he plays.”

Taj Mahal, blues artist

Concert openers: Sam McKinney with Rhonda Gouge and Keeping Time

Produced by Traditional Voices Group | Info: traditionalvoicesgroup.org MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 11-17, 2023

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FOOD ROUNDUP

What’s new in food WNC FoodWorks opens at WNC Farmers Market The grand opening for WNC FoodWorks Training and Education Center is on Saturday, Oct. 14, 10 a.m.

The celebration will begin with welcome and thank-you remarks from Michael McDonald, executive director of the Center for Agricultural and Food Entrepreneurship, the organization’s parent body. The event follows with a formal introduction of the facility’s new manager, Matthew Shimko, a brief overview of the facility and services, and then 15-minute tours of the building at 11 a.m., noon, 1 and 2 pm.

The 50,000-square-foot shared-use commercial kitchen meets the needs of caterers, meal delivery services and other local producers of food and natural goods. Food trucks have easy access to the clean water exchange, and Blue Ridge Biofuels operates and converts the waste from a 100-gallon oil disposal unit. Prospective clients fill out a contract and, once approved, are given a door code to come and go as they need.

McDonald, who also serves as general manager for Blue Ridge Food Ventures — WNC FoodWorks’ sibling organization — says the major difference between the new facility and the one on A-B Tech’s Candler campus is more robust training and educational programming. This includes in-house training as well as space for community stakeholders to run their own programming. He says WNC FoodWorks can facilitate an “incubation phase” for small businesses, while Blue Ridge Food Ventures could be the “acceleration phase.”

“We are able to accommodate the very smalls with a less intimidating production environment here,” he says. “Like a mom and pop that just

wants to expand the capacity for preserving their on-farm produce. Or the entry-level-person catering operation.

Or somebody making 10 bottles of hot sauce at a time on their home stove, but wants to expand to making 20 or 30 cases. ... We want to provide them with the resources, the inspected facility, the equipment and the training to make that happen.”

The grand opening coincides with the WNC Farmers Market Harvest Festival, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., which will feature live music, local food, apple tasting, games and an antique tractor parade.

WNC FoodWorks Training and Education Center is at the WNC Farmers Market at 570 Brevard Road, Unit 9. For more information, visit avl.mx/d1z.

JAMBAR settles in Asheville JAMBAR, the organic energy bar company based in Marin County, Calif., has chosen Asheville as its East Coast headquarters.

The mission-based JAMBAR, which donates 50% of net profits to nonprofit organizations that promote music and active living, was founded by Jennifer Maxwell, who also co-founded PowerBar with her late husband, Brian, 35 years ago.

Maxwell’s inspiration for JAMBAR began after talking with one of her six children about the lack of tasty nutrition bars on the market. She started experimenting in her kitchen in 2016, using the same KitchenAid mixer that she used to make the first PowerBars. The final product, which

WILL WORK WITH FOOD: Blue Ridge Food Ventures General Manager Michael McDonald, left, and WNC FoodWorks Manager Matthew Shimko pose in the new facility’s classroom kitchen. Photo by Andy Hall launched two years ago, is made entirely of real-food ingredients, with two whey-based bars and two plantbased bars using sunflower protein.

Flavors include Chocolate Cha Cha and Musical Mango.

Last year Adam Smith, an Asheville native living in the Bay Area, pitched the idea of bringing JAMBAR to Asheville. He was visiting the JAMBAR facility after the company donated product to a youth mountain biking program he was leading.

“I was planning to move back to Asheville, but I didn’t have a job at the time,” he says. “And I thought, ‘This is a no-brainer’ — because it’s woman-owned, it’s philanthropic, it’s all organic. It’s everything that Asheville values.”

Maxwell agreed to his proposal and hired him on the spot. The decision also made sense because Asheville has the highest concentration of JAMBAR retailers outside Marin County.

The company is sponsoring over 50 area wellness events in the upcoming year.

“The bars are direct descendants of the original PowerBar, which so many people have this nostalgic connection to,” says Maxwell. “It’s just a wonderful thing to be part of, and people want to be part of it.”

For more information on JAMBAR, visit avl.mx/d20.

Mobile mocktails The grand opening for Roll Up Herbal Bar, a mobile bar serving “garden-to-glass” mocktails, will be held Wednesday, Oct. 11, 3-9 p.m.

The bar, operating out of a 1971 Volkswagen bus named Herbie, will be parked in the Sunny Point Café parking lot. Complimentary charcuterie from AVL Carcuterie Co. and dessert bites from The Rabbit Hole will be

Get tasty local meal Prep (ready in 3 minutes)

Enjoy 20% OFF your first order Use code: Mtn20

Order online at:

Ashevilleprokitchen.com 828.357.7087 62

OCT. 11-17, 2023

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Come Feast In Our Enchanted Zen Gardens served while live music, trivia and contests take place throughout the event.

Owner Sam Kearney, who honed her bartending skills at Sunny Point Café, says she created her mocktails in response to those who choose not to drink alcohol but want options beyond sugary beverages. “I’m here for the foodies that miss the flavor of a well-balanced cocktail, but don’t miss the hangover,” she says in a press release.

Adaptogen shots and blends can be added to any drink, and Kearney says she plans on working with “as many local farms as possible.” Kearney also offers a mobile indoor bar for rent, called Lil’ Buddy.

Sunny Point Café is at 626 Haywood Road. For more information on Roll Up Herbal Bar, visit avl.mx/d21.

Jettie Rae’s earns top Tripadvisor honors Jettie Rae’s Oyster House was named in the top 10 of Tripadvisor’s 2023 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Restaurants in the U.S. It is the only North Carolina restaurant represented on the Everyday Eats list.

Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best is awarded to restaurants with a high volume of above-and-beyond reviews and opinions on Tripadvisor over a 12-month period.

The restaurant features classic seafood dishes such as New England-style clam strips, Spanish octopus, Gullahstyle Carolina crab rice and oysters.

Several new dishes have been introduced for fall, including Outer Banks scallops with roasted winter squash and prawns with pecan romesco.

Jettie Rae’s Oyster House is at 143 Charlotte St. For more information, visit avl.mx/bef.

Locals win at the N.C. Mountain State Fair Several local contestants brought winning recipes to the N.C. Mountain State Fair.

In a contest run by the N.C. Egg Association and N.C. Dairy Producers Association, Amy Braman of Pisgah Forest earned first place with her Mexican street corn frittata recipe, with Sharon Gates of Leicester winning second place for her deluxe pizza frittata, and Jennifer Currie of Clyde placing third for her Dear Me, This Is Gouda breakfast frittata.

In the N.C. Dairy Producers Association’s Amazing Dairy Appetizer recipe contest, Martha Gates of Candler won first place for her cheesy

pot pies, Justin Pegg of Leicester followed in second for his pepperjack pepperoni pull-apart rolls, and Currie earned another third-place honor with her chunky, cheesy, piggy veggie dip.

For more information on the N.C. Mountain State Fair, visit avl.mx/bya.

ZENBURGER LOVE SHACK

ORGANIC. PLANT-EMPOWERED. COMMUNITY. LOVE.

The Trashy Vegan closes The owners of The Trashy Vegan announced via an Instagram post that they will be closing at the end of the year.

“We’re so thankful for our little trashy family (you!), for everyone who’s eaten a burger or liked our posts,” they wrote in the same post. “We couldn’t have done any of this for the last three years without y’all. So come see us for the very first time or the hundredth time! Either way, we love you and we can’t wait to feed you.”

Joel Boggs and Michelle Edwards opened the restaurant, which started years earlier as a food truck, last summer.

The Trashy Vegan is at 697 Haywood Road. For more information, visit avl.mx/d27.

227 S. LIBERTY ST. | (828) 201-2737 Phone Orders Welcomed HOURS: 11:30am - 6pm • Closed Tuesdays

— Andy Hall X

MENTION THIS AD AND GET 10% OFF YOUR ORDER

@zenburgersloveshacks • zenburgerloveshacks.com

Cafe

Brunch | Lunch | Dinner 7 Days a Week

Kanas Lam was born in Hong Kong, China, and spent her youth traveling around Asia and visiting all of the famous restaurants and cafes.

That special pastime stuck with her as an adult so much that she found herself frequently trying to replicate the dishes she loved. She leaned into her passion for good food and opened several restaurants in the last 10 years, but none brought her the joy she was seeking. She began to realize that her true passion was in high quality, artistically sculpted desserts. She knew it would be a challenge because this kind of baking is very difficult, so she enrolled in La Cordon Bleu Pastry School. At

school she learned so many different techniques and people that would influence her journey.

After graduating she set her eye on opening Sweets & Seats. The uniquely crafted desserts served here are well balanced and of the highest quality, such as their 73% dark chocolate from France, and aromatic herbs like organic lavender. It’s a combination of art and heart, all in a stylish setting.

You can enjoy cakes, cookies, bubble teas and more, with assorted buns and croissants coming soon. In her own words: All of my restaurants I will call a business, but Sweets & Seats is my dream. It’s meant to be.

Made fresh daily, in house | Special Occasion Orders Welcome

sweetsandseats.com

70 Westage Parkway Asheville, NC | (828) 565 6111 Gemelli.Restaurant

81 Patton Ave Asheville, NC 28801 828.424.7387 Lemon Meringue Tart

Macaron Tower

Strawberry Shortcake

MOUNTAINX.COM

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ARTS & C U L T U R E

ROUNDUP

Around Town The Lovely Asheville Annual Fall Festival The second annual Lovely Asheville Fall Festival, a celebration of the area’s beauty and the preservation of nature and humanity, takes place Saturday, Oct. 14, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 15, noon-6 p.m., in Pack Square Park. The free, family-friendly event is a fundraiser presented by nonprofit Asheville Creative Arts and Lovely Asheville Enterprises to support opportunities in arts and sciences for at-risk youths.

The festival will feature live music, spoken word, cultural activities, and local food and craft vendors. Musical performers include Lyric and her band, Women to the Front Band, The Free Flow Band and Delta House Jazz Band. One of the festival’s main attractions will be an exhibit paying tribute to individuals from the area who have gained worldwide fame or recognition, such as Roberta Flack and Nina Simone.

The idea for the festival came from a conversation between Ray Mapp and his friend Olympia Adams about the area’s natural beauty and the need for a festival to celebrate autumn. They created Lovely Asheville Enterprises and presented the idea to Asheville Creative Arts and the City of Asheville last summer, and in three months planned the first event, which attracted 500 attendees.

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“This festival is unique because it is designed to celebrate Asheville’s natural beauty and educate both tourists and residents about preserving [it] in sustainable ways,” says Mapp.

Mapp says he hopes the festival will continue to grow each year.

Pack Square Park is at 80 Court Plaza. For more information, visit avl.mx/d28.

Halloween indie film fest Cat Fly Halloween, a seasonal offshoot of Cat Fly Film Fest, will take place Friday, Oct. 13, and Saturday, Oct. 14. Highlighting local and regional filmmakers of the South, the event will feature indie camp and horror films in a community celebration of the “spooky season.”

“Horror is one of the most accessible genres for indie filmmakers, so it falls right in line with our mission of providing a screening platform for up-and-coming artists,” says Brittany Jackson, festival founder and programming director, in a press release.

On Friday at 7 p.m., the House of Black Cat Magic cat café will hold a donation-based backyard screening of Practical Magic. The event will

MOUNTAINX.COM

LOVELY DAY: Attendees line dance at last year’s Lovely Asheville Annual Fall Festival. Photo courtesy of Lovely Asheville include tarot readings and an ice cream truck, with proceeds supporting the café’s cats, as well as helping Cat Fly Indie Film to file as a nonprofit 501(c)(3).

On Saturday, the Wedge at Foundation will host screenings of 10 curated Halloween-themed short films all created by regional independent filmmakers, with genre and subject matter spanning from classic horror to dark comedy.

Costumes are encouraged throughout the weekend.

Cat Fly Indie Film, all-female-founded in 2017, is an Ashevillebased film collective that highlights up-and-coming regional, independent filmmakers and supports LGBTQ+ and minority groups.

The House of Black Cat Magic is at 841 Haywood Road. The Wedge at Foundation is at 5 Foundy St. For more information, visit avl.mx/a8t.

A culinary conversation at UNCA Award-winning author and former Kentucky poet laureate Crystal Wilkinson will talk about the role of food in her writing, including how it ties to cultural identity and inspires her, in the Blue Ridge Room of UNC Asheville’s Highsmith Student Union on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 6 p.m.

Hosted by UNCA and English professor Erica Abrams Locklear, Wilkinson’s talk will be the third in the Thomas Howerton lecture series “Diverse Roots at the Common Table: Culinary Conversations in the American South.”

“I’m honored to host Crystal Wilkinson on campus,” says Abrams Locklear. “She’s one of the most important voices in contemporary Southern and Appalachian literature. Her work draws attention to the lived experiences of Black people in

the mountains, stories that often go untold and underrecognized. I believe the event will be of interest to a wide range of people, from those who love literature to those who enjoy cookbooks and the food scene.”

Wilkinson’s new book, the culinary memoir, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks, will also be featured in the discussion.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. A livestream will also be available.

The Highsmith Student Union is at 1 University Heights. To register, visit avl.mx/d1q.

Medwick releases new album Asheville-based musician and writer Joe Medwick has released All My Friends, an album featuring many local musician friends including guitarist and singer-songwriter Doug Pettibone. Medwick recorded the album in an area all-analog private studio made of wood and stone, which he says reminds him of studios in Woodstock, N.Y. “It’s the best sounding room I’ve been in in ages,” he says, “and it really reminds me of Levon [Helm]’s because it’s architecturally designed like a chapel.

“I really wanted to get a live, warm-sounding record like my pals The Band and Little Feat.”

Medwick celebrated Oct. 4 with an album release party at White Horse Black Mountain. He’s also working on a podcast to be released sometime next year. “Joe’s Lost Interviews and Tall Tales” will draw from material he gathered while working as a documentarian with legends like Miles Davis and B.B. King.

For more information, visit avl.mx/d29.

Local poet’s new collection Local poet Nicole Farmer has released a new collection, Honest Sonnets: Memories from an Unorthodox Childhood. Farmer, who has lived in Asheville since 2017, says the inspiration came from the deaths of her parents, which occurred within five months of each other.

“Writing was a creative outlet for my grief,” she says. “I tried several times to write a prose memoir and failed. When I began reading the American sonnets of Terrance Hayes, Gerald Stern and Diane Seuss, it was like a floodgate opened. I had found

a form that was short and demanded that I tell the memory in a concise and structured way. This memoir is a love letter of sorts to my parents and my sister. We moved 16 times in my first 18 years, which created a very close family.”

Farmer and her husband moved to Western North Carolina to be closer to their daughters, who were attending UNC Asheville and Western Carolina University. She says she’s never lived in a place that felt as much like home as WNC. “The mountains calm me.”

Farmer has a reading scheduled at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café early next year.

For more information, visit avl.mx/d2b.

40th annual Mountain Glory Festival Marion’s annual Mountain Glory Festival will take place for the 40th year on Saturday, Oct. 14, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., in downtown.

Over 175 local craft, food, nonprofit and sponsor booths will fill three blocks. Live music will play on two stages, and the McDowell Arts Council Association will host the Mountain Glory Festival Quilt Show at 50 S. Main St. The event will also have a Kids Korner, with hands-on activities, and a contest awarding the best dressed pet.

Free shuttle services will run from Roses Discount Store parking lot at 600 N. Main St. every half hour.

Parking for those with disabilities will be available behind State Farm Insurance at 70 N. Main St. For more information, visit avl.mx/d2c.

— Andy Hall,

Give thanks ...and have fun doing it!

with additional reporting from Murryn Payne X

MOVIE REVIEWS THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER: After his third horror dud in five years, it’s writer/director David Gordon Green’s career that’s in need of an exorcism. Grade: D-plus — Edwin Arnaudin

Find full reviews and local film info at ashevillemovies.com ashevillemovies.substack.com

Campaign starts Nov. 1 MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 11-17, 2023

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

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11 ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Stand-Up Comedy Open Mic, 8pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Jay Brown (roots, blues, jazz), 6pm FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY Bluegrass Jam w/The Saylor Brothers, 6:30pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Well Crafted Music w/ Matt Smith, 6pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Jam, 5pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Above Ground (rock'n'roll, Americana), 7:30pm BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 6pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Ashley Heath (blues, Americana), 6pm CROW & QUILL Sparrow & Her Wingmen (jazz, swing), 8pm FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY Jerry's Dead (Grateful Dead & JGB Tribute), 6pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. FBVMA: Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Not Rocket Science Trivia, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Latin Night w/DJ Mtn Vibez, 8:30pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich, 7:30pm

SHILOH & GAINES Trivia Night, 7pm

MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Karaoke w/Banjo Mitch, 6pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA Poetry Open Mic, 8pm STATIC AGE RECORDS Cold Corpse Collective Presents: Farewell Felix (rap, hip-hop, emo), 8pm THE GREY EAGLE Superchunk w/Sluice (indie, punk, rock), 8pm THE ODD Macula Dog, Natural Blk Invention, Dot Com Bubble & Splash Blade (electronic, punk, noise), 9pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Andrew Wakefield (bluegrass, folk, and Americana), 7pm ONE WORLD BREWING Naomi Martin & Cheyenne Champion (acoustic), 8pm OUTSIDER BREWING Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Irish Music Circle, 7pm

PISGAH BREWING CO. Ethan Heller & Friends (psych-rock, funk), 6:30pm

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12

SALVAGE STATION Dirty Logic (Steely Dan tribute), 7pm

27 CLUB Stephen Evans & Chris Murray (funk, bluegrass, folk-rock), 10pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Rush (dance party), 9pm

SHILOH & GAINES Karaoke Night, 8pm SILVERADOS Oliver Anthony (Americana, country, folk), 7pm SOVEREIGN KAVA Django Jazz Jam, 7pm

EAST OF LA ALT-ROCKERS: On Friday, Oct. 13, The Red Pears, of El Monte, Calif., east of Los Angeles, will perform at Different Wrld, with support from Mexican Slum Rats and 60 Juno. The show starts at 8 p.m. and will showcase an alternative rock sound with garage, indie and cumbia influences. Photo by Robert Nuñez STORY PARLOR Multivitamin: A Night of Songwriting & Comedy, 7:30pm THE DFR LOUNGE Steve Simon & The Kings of Jazz (Latin, jazz), 7pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Karaoke w/Terraoke, 9pm THE GREY EAGLE • Patio: The Two Tracks (Americana), 5pm • Mapache w/Johnny Payne (pop, rock, country-folk), 8pm THE ODD PONS, Dish & Aunt Vicki (indie-rock, glam-rock), 8pm THE ORANGE PEEL The Lone Bellow w/Leah Blevins (folk, pop), 8pm THE STATION BLACK MOUNTAIN Mr Jimmy (blues), 5pm URBAN ORCHARD Trivia Thursday, 7pm WNC OUTDOOR COLLECTIVE Trivia, 6:30pm

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13 27 CLUB Sacrilege, 10pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Venus House Party, 10pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Mr Jimmy's Friday Night Blues, 8pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Spoonbill, Smigonaut & Exiszt (glitch, fun, electronic), 9pm BEN'S TUNE UP EK Balam (reggaeton, hip-hop), 8pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Seth & Sara (country), 6pm BOTANIST & BARREL TASTING BAR + BOTTLE SHOP Fancy Marie & Her Gentleman (rock, blues, Americana), 6:30pm

Trivia Wednesdays & Karaoke Thursdays NFL SUNDAY TICKET FRI LYRIC w/ Leeda Lyric Jones 10/13 Pop / Rock / Funk OURS SAT AFTER Feat. Eli Kahn & Jacob Bruner 10/14 Instrumental Hip Hop & Experimental

Your neighborhood bar… no matter where you live.

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FRI DIRTY DEAD 10/20 Grateful Dead / JGB Tribute Band 21+ ID REQUIRED • NO COVER CHARGE 700 Hendersonville Rd • shilohandgaines.com

D9 BREWING CO. AL “StumpWater” Lyons (acoustic, Celtic, folk), 7pm DIFFERENT WRLD The Red Pears, Mexican Slum Rats & 60 Juno (indie-rock, grunge, cumbia), 8pm

THE FUNKATORIUM Burial x Saint Vitus Burnpile PreParty w/ Choir Boy & Kontravoid (punk, dark-pop), 8pm THE GREY EAGLE Margaret Glaspy w/Bridget Kearney (alt-indie, rock), 8pm

FLEETWOOD'S Sun Goblin, Minka, Paprika & Floral Hygienists (indie, electronic, dance), 9pm

THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Speak Easy (funk, indie, rock), 7pm

GINGER'S REVENGE CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM Wife Island (folk-rock, jazz, country), 6pm

THE ODD Bold Burlesque Presents: Villians, 10pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB • Honky-Tonk Fridays w/ Jackson Grimm, 4pm • Jack Marion & The Pearl Snap Prophets (rock'n'roll, country), 9pm LA TAPA LOUNGE Open Mic Night w/ Hamza, 8pm MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Hope Griffin Trio (Americana, folk), 6:30pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Kayla McKinney (country, honky-tonk), 8pm ONE WORLD BREWING Emily Musolino (blues, soul, rock), 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL George Clanton w/ Frost Children & Death's Dynamic Shroud (electronic, vapor-wave, dance), 8pm THE RAD BREW CO. Mike & Amy Duo (rock, indie, Americana), 6pm VINTAGE KAVA Greg Candle (country, old-blues), 8pm WXYZ BAR AT ALOFT Dirty Bird (funk, blues, rock), 7pm WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road (rock, bluegtrass, Americana), 8pm

RABBIT RABBIT Silent Disco: Eat, Sleep, Rave & Repeat, 8pm

WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS The Comedy Zone Presents: Leonard Ouzts, 9pm

SALVAGE STATION Neighbor (soul, jam), 8pm

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14

SHILOH & GAINES Lyric (pop, rock, funk), 9pm SOVEREIGN KAVA Chris Cooper & Job Price Trio (drip-noise, experimental), 9pm STATIC AGE LOFT BRB: Boiler Room Bootleg Sessions w/DJ Grimmjoi, DJ Audio & DJ Rab!d Ron!e, 10pm

27 CLUB Crypt 24, Them Rockabilly & Tiny Tvs (garage-punk, psych, rock), 9pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY ...Like it's 1999 (dance party), 9pm ASHEVILLE CLUB Mr Jimmy (blues), 7pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Sarah Siskind (prog-rock, Appalachian), 7:30pm BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 6pm BEN'S TUNE UP Jaze Uries (house, electronic), 8pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Hunter Begley (alternative-country, folk), 6pm DIFFERENT WRLD Truth Club, Tombstone Poetry & Dish (alt-indie, rock, post-punk), 8pm FLEETWOOD'S Moths, Book of Wyrms & The Shrunken Heads (prog-metal, rock), 8pm FOUR POINTS BY SHERATON Comedy Hypnosis w/Jon Dee, 8am HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Rich Nelson Band (rock), 7pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB • Nobody's Darling String Band, 4pm • Nordmoe & The Rodeo (country), 9pm LA TAPA LOUNGE Karaoke Night, 9pm LAZOOM ROOM Scary-okie, 9pm NOBLE CIDER DOWNTOWN Don't Tell Comedy: Downtown Asheville, 7pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. • Phibian (indie-folk, Americana), 2pm • Carolina Drifters (alt-country, Southern-rock), 8pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Local Color Comedy Presents: War of Worlds, 8pm RABBIT RABBIT Rocky Horror Picture Show, 8pm SALVAGE STATION Illiterate Light w/Pocket Strange (alt-indie), 8pm SHILOH & GAINES After Ours w/Eli Kahn & Jacob Bruner (jazz, grunge, experimental), 9pm STATIC AGE RECORDS The Kingsbury Manx w/ Bhajan Bhoy (indie-rock, pop, psych), 9pm THE BURGER BAR Best Worst Karaoke, 9pm THE GRATEFUL ORGANIC DINER The Ada Khoury Band (rock, country, folk), 7pm THE GREY EAGLE Patio: Laney Jones & The Spirits (folk, indie-rock), 6pm THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Halden Vang (rock, blues, indie-pop), 6pm

THE ODD Party Foul Drag: Saturday Night Tease, 8pm THE ORANGE PEEL The Tallest Man On Earth w/Andrea Von Kampen (alt-indie), 8pm THE OUTPOST Stephen Evans & The True Grits (folk, rock, Americana), 7pm URBAN ORCHARD CIDER CO. SOUTH SLOPE Latin Night w/DJ Mtn Vibez, 9pm WXYZ BAR AT ALOFT DJ RexxStep, 7pm

THE GREY EAGLE • Burlesque Brunch, 12pm • Nick Shoulders & The Okay Crawdad w/ Riddy Arman (country, surf-rock, blues), 8pm THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Life Like Water (indie, folk, Americana), 2pm THE ORANGE PEEL Baroness w/Jesus Piece & Escuela Grind (prog-metal, rock), 7pm

PLĒB URBAN WINERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 4pm

FLEETWOOD'S Best Ever Karaoke w/KJ Cheryl, 9pm

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16

HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Totally Rad Trivia w/ Mitch Fortune, 6pm

DSSOLVR Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm DIFFERENT WRLD Acaedemy Order, Kangrot & Machine 13 (dark-wave, cyber-punk, death-rock), 7pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Quizzo! Pub Trivia w/ Jason Mencer, 7:30pm NOBLE CIDER DOWNTOWN Freshen Up Comedy Open Mic, 6:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. It Takes All Kinds Open Mic Nights, 7pm ONE WORLD BREWING Open Mic Downtown, 8pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Mashup Mondays w/The JLloyd Mashup Band, 8pm THE GREY EAGLE Generationals (garagepop, indie), 8pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN The Altamont Jazz Project (jazz), 8pm WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS The Comedy Zone Presents: Leonard Ouzts, 7pm

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15 27 CLUB Daisychain, The Silver Doors & Zillicoah (blues, psych-rock), 9pm ASHEVILLE PIZZA & BREWING CO. Standup Comedy, 6:30pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Dark City Kings (garagerock, country, pop), 2pm CATAWBA BREWING CO. SOUTH SLOPE ASHEVILLE Comedy at Catawba: Carmen Morales, 6:30pm DIFFERENT WRLD Tobacco City, Verity Den & Sally Anne Morgan (country, psychedelia, folk), 7pm FLEETWOOD'S Seismic Sutra, Forty Feet Tall & Rougarou (psychrock, post-punk), 9pm FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 3pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB • Bluegrass Brunch, 1pm • Traditional Irish Jam, 3:30pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Roots & Dore (blues, soul, roots), 4pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST • Sunday Jazz Jam, 1:30pm • Kid Billy (Americana, blues, indie-folk), 6pm PISGAH BREWING CO. Pisgah Sunday Jam, 6:30pm S & W MARKET Mr Jimmy (blues), 1pm SALVAGE STATION Here Come The Mummies w/Perpetual Groove (funk, rock), 7pm SOVEREIGN KAVA Aaron Woody Wood (Appalachia, soul, Americana), 7pm

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CLU B LA N D THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Mr Jimmy & Friends (blues), 7pm

THE ORANGE PEEL Unknown Mortal Orchestra (psych-rock, alt-indie, pop), 8pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA Poetry Open Mic, 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL DIIV w/Sword II (alt-indie, rock. dream-pop), 8pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN White Horse Open Mic, 7pm

THE GREY EAGLE MSSV w/Red Zephyr & ¿Watches? (rock, punk, jazz), 8pm

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17

Adult Superstore

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY • Trivia: Are You Smarter Than a Drag Queen?, 8pm • Karaoke w/Ganymede, 9pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL The Handsome Family w/ Drunk Prayer (dark-Americana), 8pm

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since 1998

FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY Bluegrass Jam w/The Saylor Brothers, 6:30pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR The MGB's (acoustic), 7:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Team Trivia, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Well Crafted Music w/ Matt Smith, 6pm

SILVERADOS Dark City Comedy Open Mic Night, 8pm SOVEREIGN KAVA Weekly Open Jam hosted by Chris Cooper & Friends, 6:30pm THE GREY EAGLE Clem Snide (alt-country), 8pm

Expires October 31st

2334 Hendersonville Rd., Arden, NC 828-684-8250 Open 9-11pm Every Day 68

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BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Jam, 5pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Ryan Furstenberg (indie, folk), 6pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. FBVMA: Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

FLEETWOOD'S Search & Destroy Karaoke, 9pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Latin Night w/DJ Mtn Vibez, 8:30pm RABBIT RABBIT Willie Nelson & Family (country, folk), 7pm SALVAGE STATION Cradle of Filth & DevilDriver (metal), 6pm SHILOH & GAINES Trivia Night, 7pm

FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY Jerry's Dead (Grateful Dead & JGB Tribute), 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Not Rocket Science Trivia, 6pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich, 7:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Billy Litz (Americana, blues, ragtime), 7pm ONE WORLD BREWING Dan Signor (multiple genres), 8pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Melodi Royale (neo-soul), 8pm OUTSIDER BREWING Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm PISGAH BREWING CO. The JLloyd MashUp (funk, jazz, reggae), 6:30pm SALVAGE STATION Noah Thompson (country), 8pm SHILOH & GAINES Karaoke Night, 8pm THE DFR LOUNGE Steve Simon & The Kings of Jazz (Latin, jazz), 7pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Karaoke w/Terraoke, 9pm THE ODD Paper Pills, Roamck & Hi Helens (emo, rock), 8pm THE ORANGE PEEL Clozee w/Daily Bread & Dreamers Delight (electronic, experimental, bass), 8pm THE OUTPOST Karma Dogs (rock), 7pm THE STATION BLACK MOUNTAIN Mr Jimmy (blues), 5pm URBAN ORCHARD Trivia Thursday, 7pm WNC OUTDOOR COLLECTIVE Trivia, 6:30pm

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19 ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Rush (dance party), 9pm

SHILOH & GAINES Songwriters Night, 7pm

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BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Jay Brown (roots, blues, jazz), 6pm

THE ORANGE PEEL Clozee w/Daily Bread & Dreamers Delight (electronic, experimental, bass), 8pm

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SALVAGE STATION Duane Betts w/Palmetto Motel & Cordovas (rock'n'roll), 8pm

20 off

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Stand-Up Comedy Open Mic, 8pm

THE ODD Sick Ride, Fifty Year Flood & Porcelain Parrot (death-rock, rock'n'roll), 8pm

DIFFERENT WRLD Qu33r Prom w/Otnes, Sunshine Scott, Lurky Skun, & Mary Kate & Ash, 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST The Grateful Family Band Tuesdays (Grateful Dead tribute), 6pm

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18

THE DFR LOUNGE GA-20 (blues), 7:30pm

MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Laura Thurston (folk, bluegrass), 6pm

SUN: Aaron “Woody” Wood & Friends 7pm MON: Ping-Pong Tournament 7pm TUE: Open Jam w/ house band the Lactones 8pm WED: Poetry Open Mic AVL 8:30pm/8pm signup

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F R E E W I L L A S T R O L O G Y BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Indigenous Semai people of Malaysia have an unusual taboo. They try hard not to cause unhappiness in others. This makes them reluctant to impose their wishes on anyone. Even parents hesitate to force their children to do things. I recommend you experiment with this practice. Now is an excellent time to refine your effect on people to be as benevolent and welcoming as possible. Don’t worry — you won’t have to be this kind and sweet forever. But doing so temporarily could generate timely enhancements in your relationship life.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus author Shakespeare reshaped the English language. He coined hundreds of words and revised the meanings of hundreds more. Idioms like “green-eyed monster” and “milk of human kindness” originated with him. But the Bard also created some innovations that didn’t last. “Recover the wind” appeared in Hamlet but never came into wide use. Other failures include, “Would you take eggs for money?” and “from smoke to smother.” Still, Shakespeare’s final tally of enduring neologisms is impressive.

With this vignette, I’m inviting you to celebrate how many more successes than flops you have had. The time is right for realistic self-praise.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I hope beauty will be your priority in the coming weeks. I hope you will seek out beauty, celebrate it, and commune with it adoringly. To assist your efforts, I offer five gems: 1. Whatever you love is beautiful; love comes first, beauty follows. The greater your capacity for love, the more beauty you find in the world.

—Jane Smiley. 2. The world is incomprehensibly beautiful — an endless prospect of magic and wonder. —Ansel Adams. 3. A beautiful thing is never perfect. —Egyptian proverb. 4. You can make the world beautiful just by refusing to lie about it. —Iain S. Thomas. 5. Beauty isn’t a special inserted sort of thing. It is just life, pure life, life nascent, running clear and strong. –H. G. Wells.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I read a review that described a certain movie as having “a soft, tenuous incandescence — like fog lit by the glow of fireflies.” That sounds like who you are these days, Cancerian. You’re mysterious yet luminous; hard to decipher but overflowing with life energy; fuzzy around the edges but radiating warmth and well-being. I encourage you to remain faithful to this assignment for now. It’s not a state you will inhabit forever, but it’s what’s needed and true for the foreseeable future.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The published work of Leo author Thomas de Quincey fills 14 volumes.

He inspired superstar writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, Nikolai Gogol and Jorge Luis Borges. Yet he also ingested opium for 54 years and was often addicted. Cultural historian Mike Jay says de Quincey was not self-medicating or escaping reality, but rather keen on “exploring the hidden recesses of his mind.” He used it to dwell in states of awareness that were otherwise unattainable. I don’t encourage you to take drugs or follow de Quincey’s path, Leo. But I believe the time is right to explore the hidden recesses of your mind via other means. Like what? Working with your nightly dreams? Meditating your ass off?

Having soul-altering sex with someone who wants to explore hidden recesses, too? Any others?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo journalist H. L Mencken said, “The average person doesn’t want to be free. He wants to be safe.” There’s some truth in that, but I believe it will be irrelevant for you in the coming months. According to my analysis, you can be both safer and freer than you’ve been in a long time. I hope you take full advantage!

Brainstorm about unexpected feats you might be able to accomplish during this state of grace.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran philosopher and writer Michel Foucault aspired to open up his readers’ minds with novel ideas. He said his task was to make windows where there had been walls.

I’d like to borrow his approach for your use in the coming weeks. It might be the most fun to demolish the walls that are subdividing your world and keeping you preventing free and easy interchange.

But I suspect that’s unrealistic. What’s more likely is partial success: creating windows in the walls.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): More and more older people are transitioning to different genders. An article in the Guardian (tinyurl.com/GenderMeaning) describes how Bethan Henshaw, a warehouse worker, transitioned to female at age 57. Ramses Underhill-Smith became a man in his 40s. With this as your starting point, I invite you to re-evaluate your personal meanings of gender. Please note I’m not implying you should change your designation.

Astrological omens simply suggest that you will benefit from expanding your ideas. Here’s Scorpio singer Sophie B. Hawkins, a mother who says she is omnisexual: “My sexuality stems from an emotional connection to someone’s soul. You don’t have to make a gender choice and stick with it.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian author Mark Twain said that in urgent or trying circumstances, uttering profanities “furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.” I will add that these magic words can be downright catalytic and healing — especially for you right now. Here are situations in which swearing could be therapeutic in the coming weeks: 1. when people take themselves too seriously; 2. when you need to escape feelings of powerlessness; 3. when know-it-alls are trying to limit the range of what can be said; 4. when people seem frozen or stunned and don’t know what to do next. In all these cases, well-placed expletives could provide necessary jolts to shift the stuck energy. (P.S.: Have fun using other surprises, ploys, and twists to shake things up for a good cause.)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In Roman mythology, Venus was goddess of love, desire, and beauty. Yet modern science tells us the planet Venus is blanketed with sulfuric acid clouds, has a surface temperature of 867 degrees Fahrenheit, and is covered with 85,000 volcanoes. Why are the two Venuses out of sync? Here’s a clue, courtesy of occultist Dion Fortune. She said the goddess Venus is often a disturbing influence in the world, diverting us from life’s serious business.

I can personally attest to the ways that my affinity for love, desire, and beauty have distracted me from becoming a hard-driving billionaire tech entrepreneur. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. How about you, Capricorn? I predict that the goddess version of Venus will be extra active in your life during the coming months.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Thousands of heirloom food species are privately owned and hoarded. They once belonged to Indigenous people but haven’t been grown for decades. Descendants of their original owners are trying to get them back and grow them again — a process they call rematriation — but they meet resistance from companies and governmental agencies that commandeered the seeds. There has been some progress, though.

The Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin has recovered some of its ancestral corn, beans, and squash. Now would be a good time for you Aquarians to launch your own version of rematriation: reclaiming what was originally yours and that truly belongs to you.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I like Piscean poet Jane Hirshfield’s understanding of what “lies at the core of ritual.” She says it’s “the entrance into a mystery that can be touched but not possessed.”

My wish for you right now, Pisces, is that you will experience mysteries that can be touched but not possessed. To do so will give you direct access to prime riddles at the heart of your destiny. You will commune with sublime conundrums that rouse deep feelings and rich insights, none of which are fully explicable by your logical mind. Please consider performing a homemade sacred ritual or two.

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MARKETPLACE 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 HIRING: ADVENTURE FACILITATOR to lead climbing, mountain biking, and canoeing activities at Trails Momentum. People of all colors, shapes, genders, ages, and backgrounds are welcome!

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Must live within 30 minutes of Asheville. Call 828-628-3562 or email job history to info@ largesizescrubs.com.

PROFESSIONAL/ MANAGEMENT ASHEVILLE POVERTY INITIATIVE/12 BASKETS SEEKS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Asheville Poverty Initiative/12 Baskets seeks an experienced Executive Director to lead the organization and build on its mission of building community and promoting economic justice. API works to dismantle stereotypes, reduce fear, and empower hope through telling stories across socio-economic differences. www.ashevillepovertyinitiative.org/employment ashevillepovertyinitiative. org/employment

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DIRECTV SATELLITE TV SERVICE STARTING AT $64.99/MO For 24 mos, Free Installation! 165+ Channels Available. Call Now For The Most Sports & Entertainment On TV! 855-401-8842. (AAN CAN) DON'T PAY FOR COVERED HOME REPAIRS AGAIN! American Residential Warranty covers ALL MAJOR SYSTEMS AND APPLIANCES. 30 DAY RISK FREE/ $100OFF POPULAR PLANS Call 877707-5518 Monday-Friday 8:30am to 8:00pm EST. (AAN CAN) FREE AUTO INSURANCE QUOTES for uninsured and insured drivers. Let us show you how much you can save!

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Patriotic Hearts’ programs help veterans find work or start their own business. Call 24/7: 844-875-6782. (AAN CAN) LIFE AFTER DEATH? French Broad Mensa presents a discussion on Near Death Experiences Oct 26 at East Asheville Library. Free to the public. Seating limit is 50.

Arrive by 5:45pm. Contact: 828-712-5570 for info.

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T HE N E W Y O R K T I ME S C R O S S W O R D P U ZZLE edited by Will Shortz | No. 0906

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People of all colors, shapes, genders, ages, and backgrounds are welcome to apply.

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12 Cry from one who’s fuming

38 Heath bar shelfmate

13 Oozes

39 Many links

18 Shankar at Woodstock

44 “Uh … huh-uh”

22 Prefix with gender

46 Lemony quaff

22 Jokester 23 Cordial shipbuilders?

27 Rude rejoinder popularized by the Fonz of 1970s TV 30 For real 31 Like cheering audiences 32 Something up one’s sleeve?

33 Classroom projectile

60 In the public eye 61 Let go 62 Marathoning powerhouse

40 ___ Paradise, narrator of “On the Road” 41 X a box, say 42 Superman’s baby name 43 Flap of skin hanging from a bovine’s neck 46 Fence-sitter’s question 48 Sacramental friars?

50 Oxford and Surrey in “Richard III”

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63 Phonetic initialism along Canadian roadways

25 Radio station on TV

48 Second rule of waste reduction

26 Canning tomato

49 Makes even

64 Nosegay

27 Maxims

53 Swindles

65 Black tea region

28 Lightens up?

54 Georgetown athlete

29 Travel kit filler 32 Back on a cruise

DOWN 1 Sharply turns back the other way 2 Worker welfare grp.

3 Run ___ 4 Start of a paint job 5 Myrmecologist’s specimen 6 Draw out 7 6-0 set, in tennis lingo 8 Bavarian “Bah!” 9 So far 10 Horse’s watering spot

52 Tooth trouble

11 What a marathoner may do around mile 20

34 Kind of counter in a supermarket 36 Take off 37 Dirt-digging research, for short

What to do and where to find it!

We provide tips on the well-known attractions, hidden gems and quirky oddities that make Asheville so beloved.

Pick up your print copy today in boxes everywhere!

Contact jobs@trailsmomentum.com for inquiries.

More information at www.trailsmomentum.com

45 Scale units: Abbr.

47 Obey

51 Novelist Chang___ Lee 56 Con Ed, e.g.: Abbr.

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35 Pens a seafaring tale?

This could be you!

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19 Great Plains people 21 Something that may be up one’s sleeve

HIRING:

Outdoor Adventure Facilitator to lead climbing, mountain biking, and canoeing activities at Trails Momentum.

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55 North Holland cheese town 57 Syrupy stuff 58 Good Grips kitchen brand 59 Rocksteady precursor

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

U P O N L O N G T H E R E O B O E H O N E D S O L E A D D E D C L A R I N E T S L Y F T Y E T T G I F B O R E D E D E N T U B A I D L E D S T OW Y O G A E R A S M I L E D S I G N A L S A I R L E A K E B A Y N E U R O N R A D L Y I N G I S N T S K I P N O S E D O S E S C H I P A D O M A L I G H A N A R I G H T N E S S A S I A C O L E M O N T Y T H E Y E V E R S O D A S MOUNTAINX.COM

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