Representative Heath Shuler announced Monday that the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area has been allocated a federal appropriation of $748,955 for 2007. BRNHA’s appropriation was the third largest amount allocated to any of the 24 National Heritage areas that received federal funding this year.

Editor’s note: A group of nurses who work at the Haywood Regional Medical Center Emergency Room recently contacted The Smoky Mountain News. They said that during the controversy over the firing of Haywood Emergency Physicians, which took place last December, their opinions had never been sought by hospital administrators and never publicized in the media. A group of several nurses spoke to us about their concerns. Since their jobs could be jeopardized for speaking to us, we agreed to grant them anonymity. HRMC Administrator David Rice was asked to respond the allegations, but he said a pending lawsuit by fomer emergency room doctors prevented him from doing so. Since this story is presented from just nurse’s side, we are printing it in the opinions section.

Sitting around the kitchen table of a modest Haywood County home after a day on the job, the emergency room nurses said they just wanted their opinions on the matter heard. Throughout the controversy surrounding Haywood Emergency Physicians and Hospital Administrator David Rice, the nurses said no one had sought out their opinion.

By Dawn Gilchrist Young

“ ... and all day I turn over my own best thoughts,

each one as heavy and slow to flow

as a stone in a field full of wet and tossing flowers.”

— Mary Oliver

“Writing keeps me company living here by myself.”

— Zora Walker

What does a woman of 74 do with her spare time when her husband dies and her grown children all have lives of their own?

The Man in the Pickup Truck

You may be a man who drives a cadillac

and lives in a big house on a hill.

You may run a big corporation

and come and go as you will.

You may have a great big bank account

and think you have all the luck.

But the man who keeps the world going

is the man in the pickup truck.

He’s the man who built your big old house,

did the plumbing, electricity and all,

and if anything ever goes wrong around the place,

he’s always the man you call.

He keeps the wheels on your cadillac rolling,

works on the road on which you drive.

If not for the man in the pickup truck,

this world just couldn’t survive.

Dear Little Pluto

We don’t understand

what it’s all about.

They are putting you aside

and kicking you out.

You are one of the “nine” –

you were always there,

not to have you around

just doesn’t seem fair.

No one should change

what has always been true.

If I get to choose,

I’m keeping you.

Imagine how this scenario could work, if it was a reality: a state Department of Transportation in lockstep with the wishes of the state’s citizenry, an organization that went to great lengths to work with towns, counties and other entities to try to help reduce congestion by managing traffic with an eye toward quality of life instead of simply moving more cars.

By Michael Beadle

Jay Blackburn never figured he’d be competing against the best axe-chopping, saw-cutting athletes in the country when he enrolled at Haywood Community College two years ago. Now he’s planning to pursue a career as a timber sports athlete.

By Michael Beadle

Along with death and taxes, one of the most predictable things in life seems to be political scandal, and for the past quarter century few comedy groups in America have done a better job of poking fun at our elected officials than the Capitol Steps.

By Chris Cooper

Fusing soaring gospel harmony with finely tuned bluegrass firepower, Doyle Lawson has forged an easily recognizable and smoothly accessible sound over all these years. On his most recent Rounder records release he and his band display an effortless command of the music, all the while sounding as fresh and vital as any of the many “up and coming” groups.

Bill Dyar has long been interested in Native American dances.

When he was 15 years old, he formed his first dance team growing up in Georgia, and his interest in the Cherokee developed even more having a mother-in-law on the Eastern Band of Cherokee tribal roll.

By Chris Cooper

First, if you don’t already know (I sure as heck didn’t) fire up Google and read about exactly what a “strangelet” is. Pretty interesting, eh?

“The Sopranos”

Down now to the last five episodes before creator David Chase closes down the series for good, the show that changed television forever continues to be one of the few good reasons to pay for cable. James Gandolfini will probably never escape the shadow of Tony Soprano as he moves on inevitably into big budget films, but that is more a testament to the incredible intensity of his performances, and the sympathy he has for a character that is, to say the least, a flawed protagonist, than it is a commentary on his limitations as an actor. He has been at it ten years, and the character remains as complex and compelling as he was in the series’ first season. He has created one of the great characters in television history. I am still not sure where the show is heading as far as a conclusion goes — will Tony be killed? Go to prison? Lose someone close to him (I am betting on his son — “the sins of the fathers” angle)? With each episode here in the final season, the suspense continues to build, the sense of impending doom coiling around Tony more and more. The show now feels more like one long movie, a great film noir, than a television show, and what a great movie it is.

The Ponys, Turn The Lights Out

The year is still young and already there have been a handful of albums I have really enjoyed, including stellar records from the Kings of Leon and Arcade Fire and pretty good ones from Lucinda Williams and the Greencards, but this is the album I love the most, a collection of great songs from a youngish Chicago band that at first blush sounds like a savvy selection of covers of classic garage-rock gems from the 1960s. If you have heard of the Nuggets box sets, you’ll know what I mean and need this in your collection immediately. If not, think fuzzy guitars with a lot of reverb, power chords, soaring harmonies, hooks you’ll be humming all day. Think rock and roll without the frills and slick production. Put it on and turn it up.

Pablo Neruda

My favorite poet after Walt Whitman is my go-to poet when I am trying to convince freshmen and sophomores that poetry is actually worth their time after all. Last week, as I finished reading one of my favorite Neruda poems that has this as the last line—”I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees”—I looked up and saw what every literature teacher hopes to see, a classroom cast under the spell of poetry, every student paying rapt attention. Read another one, a girl in the back said. I did. You do the same, and you’ll be the richer for it.

— By Chris Cox

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Cameron Farlow, an intern at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Oconaluftee Visitors Center, reaches down to pluck a meandering millipede from the moist, dirt bank along the side of the trail as we hike up the ridgeline.

Ronald A. Johnson, who holds the JP Morgan Chase Chair in Finance in the Jesse H. Jones School of Business at Texas Southern University, is the next dean of the College of Business at Western Carolina University.

By Stephanie Wampler

My fluffy white dog was no longer white — his snout was grey with grease, the hair slicked back from his nose. My cheerful dog was not so cheerful — he was sprawled across the couch, stomach bloated, groaning miserably. My obedient dog was not so obedient — garbage was spread all over the porch, birthday cake crumbs and shredded paper towels littered from one end to the other.

By Kathleen Lamont

It was Saturday, March 24, and I was walking through the Greenlife Grocery parking lot in Asheville where the fourth annual Asheville Artisans Bread Bakers Festival was in full swing.

Custom jewelry business Studio 33 and its owner Diannah Beauregard won the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce Business Start-up Competition and a $10,000 prize last week.

By Kathryn Stripling Byer

Soon school will be over for the year. Students will leave their classrooms and bound out into a summer day, feeling free, at least for a little while. But free to do what?

By Michael Rey

I would like to offer some words of support for those Emergency Department Nurses at Haywood Regional Medical Center who were brave enough to contribute to the debate over recent changes there (I am referring to the article that appeared in The Smoky Mountain News on April 24). Even speaking anonymously, they have all put their jobs on the line.

Dr. Michael Ray, who worked for Haywood Emergency Physicians before quitting in summer 2006, wrote this letter to the Haywood Regional Medical Center Board after his resignation.

Roughly 45 percent of people (more than 2.9 million) in North Carolina lives in an area with unhealthful short-term levels of particle pollution ....

— The American Lung Association

Last week was Air Quality Awareness Week, and surprisingly, there is some news about air quality. At least one recently released report noted a decrease in smog in many areas of North Carolina.

Danny Bernstein still remembers her first tough hike — a three-day journey in 1969 up Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York.

By Chris Cooper

Ah ... the joys of moving. Once you’ve got everything boxed up and ready to go, there’s usually about 2 metric tons of junk left over that you just don’t recall collecting over the years.

By Michael Beadle

New York City has long enjoyed a reputation as a melting pot of music — especially when it comes to the jazz scene.

By Michael Beadle

An old German town has a very serious rat problem. Luckily, a stranger arrives with just the right solution. But how much will it cost the town?

Afternoon Naps with the Windows Open

A recent dental surgery has left me at home the past few days in recovery. And in that amount of time it’s been amazing to see the green appear outside my window.

• The ordinance only applies to development on slopes greater than 30 percent.

• Developers must file a hydrology report, geotechnical analysis and a tree survey and reforestation plan. They must also provide an assessment describing the impact of the development on the environment of the mountain.

• Earth moving should be limited to the minimum required for the footprint of the foundation, driveways and roads.

• The roofline of a home cannot must be at least 20 feet below any ridgeline.

• No wholesale clearing of trees in front of a home for views. Natural vegetation must be retained to screen at least 50 percent of a the face of a building when viewed from the nearest public road.

• Homes should use natural, earth-tone color pallettes.

• Outside light should be muted and kept from spilling onto neighboring properties.

• To avoid excessive cut-and-fill slopes for building pads, homes on hillsides should “step-down” the mountain with a split foundation to conform to the natural contour of the slope.

• Cut slopes cannot exceed a 1:1 ratio and fill slopes cannot exceed a 1.5:1 ratio. Cut-and-fill slopes greater than 35 feet in vertical height shall be benched at 35 foot intervals.

• Density follows a sliding scale based on the slope. Lots must be a minimum of two acres on slopes with a 30 to 35 percent grade; 2.5 acres on slopes with a 35 to 39 percent grade; 5 acres on slopes with a 40 to 44 percent grade, and 10 acres on slopes great than 45 percent.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Paul Bratter, a newlywed young lawyer, sits on the couch of his fifth-floor brownstone apartment after a long day at work.

By Chris Cooper

Sia: Lady Croissant

To a degree, it seems like Zero 7 makes “electronic” music for people that normally wouldn’t really dig the style. Besides the brilliant mix of orchestral, traditional pop and soul elements evident in their work, it’s their skill in casting vocalists that bring exceptionally distinct flavors and interpretive skills to the material that borders on genius.

Among those unique singers is Australian crooner Sia Fuller, who was featured prominently on the group’s 2001 release Simple Things. The tracks that featured her, “Destiny” and “Distractions,” displayed a singer with a similar tonal quality to artists like Nelly Furtado and Dido, but endowed with a bluesy grit and chops that easily eclipse the two.

Sia’s solo album from 2006, Colour The Small One expounded on her neo-soul vibe with a lush collection of songs that possessed a few things many artists in this style tend to skimp on — depth, colorful imagery and imagination.

With Lady Croissant Furler serves up one new studio track and a gorgeous (if rather short) live set from NYC’s Bowery Ballroom. The new tune, “Pictures,” clangs with bouncing mid-tempo power-pop beneath a tale that makes infatuation sound remarkably similar to a severe allergic reaction.

It’s the live set that’s the highlight here, proof that Sia (and a crack band of musicians) can deliver these songs without the aid of studio magic and trickery. The arrangements keep only the parts that really make these songs tick, and nowhere in the set does anything sound empty or lacking — if anything, many of these tunes shine a bit more in this stripped down format. “Numb” readily demonstrates this, reveling in the power and dynamics that only a live band can bring to a song.

Sia does her best Chrissie Hynde on the Ray Davies penned “I Go To Sleep,” which features guitarist Gus Seyffert laying some sly Wes Montgomery styled octaves in the verses. “Breathe,” her recent hit (featured on the wildly popular Grey’s Anatomy) surges with drama and intensity, and hearing her wail on the extended outro forces me to ponder why anyone is willing to settle for glossy, half-hearted attempts at modern soul by artists like Joss Stone when there’s an album like this just waiting to be heard.

Lady Croissant needs no butter or jam at all; it’s quite tasty just as it is.

David Gray: Shine: The Best Of The Early Years

It’s easy to forget that for the most part David Gray is a guitar playing singer/songwriter in the truest sense. This is partially due to the success of 00’s White Ladder and the single “Babylon,” which had his guitar sharing much of its space with prominent drum machine and synth burbles, blips and clicks. It’s not that those are bad things at all; it just makes hearing Gray’s earlier “folk and roll” based work that much more interesting.

Take a tune like “Late Night Radio.” It’s big. It rocks. Gray’s sensitive guy thing is fully apparent on much of this collection (culled from his first three releases) but it’s mixed up in varying degrees of production and delivery, from the aforementioned bombast to the near Americana crunch of “A Century Ends” and “Faster, Sooner, Now” to the undeniably Irish waltz of “Debauchery.” But the element that’s most consistent is Gray’s singular gift as a lyricist — a quality that prompted Joan Baez to describe him as the best since Dylan. Higher praise would be quite hard to muster up, eh?

Shine’s pacing is unusual in that it ebbs and flows in such a way that it’s tough to put your finger on exactly what period of his career some of the songs come from. “The Light” feels like a close cousin of “Babylon,” but it’s from 94’s Flesh. Sparsely arranged and bare, “Holding To Nothing” has the feel of a much earlier composition, yet it appeared on the album just before White Ladder. Despite any unintentional anachronistic trickery, it’s only the very oldest material that reveals a “young” sounding David Gray, and even then it’s more the production that gives it away than his performance, and by the end of Shine it’s hard not to imagine that Gray must’ve sprung from the womb with his talents fully realized.

The joy of both these CD’s is the opportunity to hear two musicians in settings that shed new light on the sounds you may have assumed to know pretty well. The common assumptions might be that a “session” vocalist (Sia) may not be able to hang too convincingly in the live arena, or that we only get introduced to an artist (Gray) once they’ve recorded their “best” album for a major label. But in the case of these two, they had “it” the whole time. We just had to catch up to them.

(Chris Cooper can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

By Michael Beadle

World wars, civil wars, the Crusades, wars of rebellion and independence. Why does humanity continue to go to war when the cost of destruction and loss of human life end up becoming more than we can possibly imagine?

By Carl Iobst

Down in the flatlands of Eastern North Carolina there’s an Apex man that’s got a powerful interest in sheep. Now just wait a minute ‘for you get the wrong idea ‘cause this ain’t one of them kinda stories.

Swain County is drafting a set of road standards that will serve its citizens well on two levels. First, the proposed ordinances would require developers to build roads that emergency vehicles can access, thereby providing protection for property and lives; secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Swain’s relatively new planning board is getting its feet wet by learning what it takes to develop land-use regulations and turn them into law.

Drivers on the Blue Ridge Parkway will be able to catch a few more views from overlooks through the Haywood County stretch of the popular scenic drive.

Warm weather brings with it a greater risk for mosquito-borne illnesses, but health officials say precautions can be taken to reduce breeding grounds.

According to public health officials, bites from infected mosquitoes are the primary cause of at least three serious illnesses common to the state: encephalitis and the West Nile Virus. 

To reduce exposure, county health officials recommend citizens take steps to reduce mosquito breeding grounds. That includes cleaning out rain gutters, birdbaths, old tires and pet dishes regularly. Other measures include filling yard holes, putting screens or other covers over rain barrels and repairing leaking outdoor faucets.

“The greatest way to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne disease is the removal of standing water around the house,” said Seth Early, environmental health specialist with the Haywood County Health Department. “So far, 2013 has been a very wet year, and that could make it easier for mosquito populations to grow this spring and summer.”

828.452-6682. 

A birds of prey program will put participants face to face with live raptors and give them a chance to spot owls in the night.

The annual “Owl Prowl” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 13, at the amphitheater behind the Highlands Nature Center. The night will begin with an educational program about birds of prey found in the mountains, featuring live raptors from the Charlotte Raptor Rehab Center. Afterward, attendees will break off into small groups and take a night walk through town in hopes of spotting owls.

The event is sponsored by the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society in conjunction with the Highlands Biological Station. It is open to children and adults and is free to attend. Those who wish to participate are asked to bring a flashlight. Parking is limited, carpooling encouraged.

828.743.9670 or www.highlandsaudubonsociety.org.

They are awfully cute, and often times look abandoned, but the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is reminding the public not to approach, touch, feed or move fawns seen hiding in the grass, brush or other vegetation. 

Deer are “hider species,” which means a female will hide her fawn while she feeds elsewhere. She might not return for several hours. 

So while the fawn might look abandoned and alone, it is often just waiting for the female to return. The fawn is well-equipped to protect itself. By the time it is 5 days old it can outrun a human and by 3 to 6 weeks of age the fawn can escape most predators.

“Spotted and lacking scent, fawns are well camouflaged and usually remain undetected by predators. The doe will return to the fawn several times a day to nurse and clean it, staying only a few minutes each time before leaving again to seek food,” said Ann May, a wildlife biologist with the Commission. “Touching, moving or feeding the fawn will do more harm than good.”

If the fawn is in the exact location the following day and bleating loudly or lying near a dead doe, residents are asked to call the commission for assistance.

919.707.0050.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be the site of an upcoming birds of prey program, featuring live raptors and interesting facts.

A summer night sky viewing event and open house will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, June 14, at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute campus high in the mountains of the Pisgah National Forest in Transylvania County.

Volunteers are being sought to work in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on its Wilderness Elite Appalachian Trail Crew (S.W.E.A.T.).

An Appalachian Lifestyle Celebration will showcase mountain culture, heritage, music, dance, storytelling, arts and crafts and demonstrations from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 8, on Main Street in downtown Waynesville.

Headliners for the festival include David Holt and Michael Reno Harrell. Holt will be taking the courthouse stage at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Harrell plays the stage at the south end of the street at noon, and the courthouse stage at 2:30 p.m. Storyteller Bob Plott graces the stage in at 3:15 p.m. 

Other live music and dance will be provided by Barefoot Movement, Fall Creek, Doug Trantham & Family, The Ross Brothers, Radio Hill Jam Group, J. Creek Cloggers, Southern Appalachian Cloggers and the Fines Creek Flatfooters, and pick up jam sessions along the street. Food vendors will also be available.

The event is sponsored by the Downtown Waynesville Association.

The festival coincide with the Civil War Commemorative Weekend on June 7-8 at the Shelton House in Waynesville. A living history war camp with military and civilian reenactors will be onsite. 

828.456.3517 or www.downtownwaynesville.com.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will receive more federal aid than originally promised after January’s rainstorms, flooding and mudslides.

In March, the Eastern Band became the first tribe to garner the Presidential Declaration of Disaster, which made it eligible for disaster relief assistance from the federal government. Previously, the tribe had to go through the state to receive any federal help.

In the declaration, the federal government committed to reimbursing 75 percent of the cost to repair any damages related to the four-day storms. However, the pledge has since been increased to 90 percent.

The estimated total federal contribution is $4.9 million, according to FEMA. Based on that, repair costs will come in close to $5.5 million. As of May 31, the government has paid out just under $3 million toward the tribe’s response and recovery costs. However, under the new reimbursement percentage, that number will increase by nearly $600,000.

Although the landslide on U.S. 441 through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the most prominent damage cause by the January downpours, it was not on tribal lands. The Federal Highway Administration paid for its repair.

— By Caitlin Bowling

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has settled a civil lawsuit claiming overflows from the tribe’s sewage treatment plant were backing up on nearby private property.

Linda Lambert sued the tribe in May 2011, saying sewage overflows on her property where she lived posed a health threat to her family. Lambert claimed that raw sewage gushed out of pipes and manhole covers onto her property and into nearby Adam’s Creek.

The case was voluntarily dismissed after the tribe reached a settlement with Lambert, apparently solving the problem by buying her property. Tribal Council in January voted to purchase her property for $350,000. The council meeting records said the property was purchased for the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant but makes no mention of the lawsuit.

The Eastern Band is upgrading its sewer system and the treatment plant, replacing old equipment and increasing its capacity, presumably allowing it to handle more volume and prevent back-ups. The tribe is still obligated to fix the problem and prevent overflows due to environmental regulations. The plant was last updated in 1997 when capacity of the plant was tripled. 

In Lambert’s suit, she claimed of negligence, trespassing, nuisance, violation of her civil rights and the taking of her property without compensation. Lambert’s attorney Mark Melrose said he was unable to comment on the case because of terms of the agreement.

— By Caitlin Bowling

To the Editor:

My first reaction to the county brand “Play On” was that it must be April 1. Quickly determining it was not, my second thought was, you gotta be kidding, the TDA in Jackson County didn’t really pay $50,000 to an out-of-state company to discern an appropriate trade name for our community in order to attract tourists.

Jackson County is minutes away from the most visited national park in America and on direct routes east, west, north and south. For “imagery,l;” it doesn’t get much better.

Twenty-five years ago, I was the executive director of a chamber of commerce in northwestern New Hampshire in the White Mountains. It was a four-season resort area made up of small towns on routes north (into Canada), south (to the rest of New England) and east and west.

An area that enjoys the natural attractions and allure that we do here does not need to post signs so stating. And I take serious issue with the premise put forth by Art Webb (president of BCF) that our “feeling good about it (meaning the brand) more than anything, determines success.”    

Jackson County doesn’t need a catchphrase, or a motto, and certainly not a brand, to attract visitors. What it does need to do is foster and create success stories and, in my opinion, $50,000 could have been far better spent nourishing that effort.

David L. Snell

Dillsboro

To the Editor:

Macon County commissioners can re-sponsibly reduce the property tax.

The county manager’s proposed 2014 general fund budget totals $46.6 million with no change in property tax rates. Commissioners Ron Haven and Paul Higdon have publicly proposed reducing the property tax rate in the 2014 budget by utilizing some of the county’s excess general fund balance to lower the property tax rate.

What is a fund balance? It is a savings account holding unspent taxpayer money from prior years. It’s prudent for Macon County to have a fund balance. Years ago, commissioners established a target level that has carried over to today. As of June 30, 2012, there was a fund balance of $18 million while the target was $10.7 million.

Commissioners appear divided over lowering property taxes to bring the fund balance closer to the target level. Commissioner Ronnie Beale stated in a recent article he would support a tax reduction if it didn’t affect services. The Higdon/Haven proposal does not affect the proposed 2014 budget. There would be no change in county services. It’s unclear where commissioners James Tate and Kevin Corbin stand on reducing the property tax rate.

Bringing the fund balance closer to the target would also lead to better budgeting. The excess fund balance leads to expenditures outside the approved budget, and fund balance is used to pay those costs.

Contact county commissioners if you agree the Haven/Higdon proposal is responsible before the 2014 budget is finalized.

Vic Drummond

Franklin

To the Editor:

We are well into this Legislature’s session. The governor has put forward his budget. The Senate has proposed its version, and the House is still crafting its spending plan. But instead of going forward together, building one North Carolina, we’re losing jobs, denying investment, terminating service, cutting off the very engines of our state’s economy.

In my district of Haywood, Jackson and Swain counties, we will lose approximately 400 jobs in healthcare by the action of this Legislature in denying Medicaid expansion. Also, more than 15,000 of my constituents with the greatest need will not receive health care coverage. MedWest of Haywood, Jackson and Swain — my district’s local rural hospitals — are really struggling to meet our needs. MedWest lost 240 jobs over the last two years due largely to the previous Legislature’s denial of $1 billion to Medicaid by not making North Carolina’s one-third match.

Now this Legislature is denying $2.5 billion of federal tax dollars to expand Medicaid. And in the face of that, MedWest is looking for a “capital partner.” They are in desperate need of resources. Rural North Carolina’s hospitals are in trouble because Raleigh is denying them the assistance and the revenue streams they need. This is typical of damaging effects done to rural citizens and communities.

 The governor and Senate virtually eliminate the Rural Center and Golden Leaf Foundation, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and Regional Partnerships from the budget. These institutions have been creating jobs and building rural North Carolina. After a generation of good work, for all practical purposes, they are gone. There will be two North Carolinas: one urban one with all the attention, and one rural left waiting. And we are still asking, “Where are the jobs?”

Rep. Joe Sam Queen, Democrat

House District 119

Waynesville

Nine sculptures were installed in The Village Green in Cashiers this past week in preparation for the opening of the 2013 Sculpture On the Green Biennial Invitational Exhibition. 

This special exhibit of visiting sculptures is the third such event sponsored by The Village Green. The exhibition features sculpture by nationally recognized artists. The pieces selected celebrate a variety of expression, style and material. Some are whimsical, while others more traditional. 

Visitors to the Biennial Sculpture Exhibition will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite piece of sculpture. Ballots will be in the information area located near the bathrooms by The Village Play. Votes will be tallied through September when the “People’s Choice Award” will be announced and presented to the winning artist, which will be on display through the end of the year. 

www.villagegreencashiersnc.com or 828.743.3434. 

The Cherokee Voices Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian grounds in Cherokee.

The event will feature continuous performances of dance, storytelling and music, and more than 25 demonstrations of traditional Cherokee arts and crafts. Harvey and David’s Catering will provide food and drink. The festival is sponsored by the N.C. Arts Council and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Also, two free tours of the Cherokee Heritage Trail are available at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., on a first-come, first-served basis.

The festival is free and open to the public.

828.497.3481 or www.cherokeemuseum.org.

Mega-country star Miranda Lambert hits the stage at 9 p.m. Friday, July 19, at Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center.

Lambert is country music’s reigning female vocalist of the year as named by both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music. She has also won the prized “Album of the Year” award from the Academy of Country Music for her second album, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” and from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music for her third, “Revolution.” She received the top country female vocal performance honor at the most recent Grammy Awards for “The House That Built Me,” and was recognized as one of People magazine’s Most Beautiful People and one of Maxim’s Hottest Women of Country.

Tickets are on sale.

www.harrahscherokee.com or www.ticketmaster.com or 800.745.3000.

“Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” will be showcased from June 13-30 at the Highlands Playhouse.

Holly’s brief life became the stuff of legend when he died in a plane crash. The production catches that unique mixture of innocence, determination, humor and charm that was Holly and wraps it up into a package that truly deserves the billing: “The World’s Most Successful Rock & Roll Musical.”

Tuesday-Saturday show times are 8 p.m., with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Tickets are $30 per person, $12 for children age 12 and younger.

828.526.2695 or www.highlandsplayhouse.org.

The 5th Trail Magic Ale release party is set for June 7-8 at Nantahala Brewing Company in Bryson City. 

A showing of the film “Paradise Falls” will coincide with the Jackson County Public Library’s second anniversary, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, in Sylva.